VEGASinsight Archives

When you get high, all fonts display like it’s still the 1970s.

It’s no big surprise that there will be marijuana-themed events held on Sunday, April 20. It’s no surprise that one of the places holding such an event is Beauty Bar (517 Fremont St.), where we’re pretty sure its patrons are typically high on plenty of things other than, and including, pot. But we’re mildly surprised that the CineVegas Film Festival is showing it’s true color — green — by bringing a free screening of Super High Me to Beauty Bar’s backyard at 10 p.m. that night.

Yes, on 4/20, so long as you are 21 and over, you too can enjoy free popcorn and not free cocktails while you watch stand-up comedian Doug Benson getting super high for 30 days while on the road. Oh, and it has something to do with exploring marijuana legislation or something, man.

Check this out: If you want to “roll” your own screening of Super High Me, you can totally do it for free by visiting the movie’s website and following some simply instructions. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Nick Thune thought it would be funny to have himself photographed smoking a pipe in front of fabric. We hope his stand-up is much better.

I know we’re usually so serious around here, reporting on stuff like art and charity and film and … Soulja Boy’s tour getting canceled … so here at VEGASinsight, we figured it was time to lighten up and have a few laughs. Thankfully, local comic Bryan Bruner and journalist/comedy junkie Julie Seabaugh have teamed up to bring the bimonthly “Fear and Laughing in Las Vegas” to The Canyon Club inside the Four Queens (202 Fremont St.).

The hilarity kicks off this Saturday, April 12, with headliner Nick Thune and featured comic Brandon Muller, with Bruner hosting, at 9 p.m. Seattle native and Los Angeles resident Thune has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Comedy Central and is working with ABC in developing a sitcom.

Tickets are $15 in advance via Ticketmaster or $20 at the door the night of show. Look for some magic dragon high-jinks the following week when “Fear and Laughing” hosts “ExtravaGANJA: A Medical Marijuana Event” on April 19. Looks like “ExtravaGANJA” is canceled, according to publicists for the show. Damn potheads.

Option 1: Picture of skinny white guys with shaggy hair. Option 2: Hot chick in band T-shirt. Yeah, that was a tough choice.

How popular are these “Say What?!” parties that Indiekrush.com and Mojorepublik.com put on? Well, let’s just say we’re really glad it appeared most attendees showered before crowding into Beauty Bar for the last installment a few weeks ago. The electro-rocking party series returns to ye olde Salon of Beauty at 517 Fremont St. on Saturday, April 19. On the outdoor stage behind the bar, check out Los Angeles disco-rockers Funeral Party, along with One Pin Short, Novelty Act and Slow Children, while inside, providing a soundtrack for your 10-minute bar wait, Nitecells, Grimehaus, ABOM, Noel and VaJayJay will rock the dirty electro, nu-rave and indie tunes.

As usual, expect live painting, both on canvas and on hot, naked bodies, a photo booth from DML photography and in a twist we fully support, a free keg on the dance floor. It all starts at 10 p.m., with $3 well drinks from 10 to 11 p.m. There’s no cover at the door, but it’ll cost you $5 to see the bands out back – unless there’s some last minute lineup change as there was with the Black Angels show, in which case, the price is subject to change.

Art by Timothy Anderson, debuting at The Fallout this Friday.

If you didn’t get enough art at last week’s First Friday event downtown – and maybe you did, but you just don’t remember through your wine-induced haze – then you may want to swing by The Fallout (1551 S. Commerce St.) this Friday, April 11. New works in graphite and ink on paper by Timothy Anderson are being unveiled at the opening reception for this exhibit from 6 to 9 p.m. Anderson’s surreal drawings will be on display at The Fallout through May 16.

Of course, maybe looking at art isn’t your style. Maybe you need some pointy-haired, emo-tastic rock ‘n’ roll. If that’s the case, then $10 gets you Verbatym, Love It Or Leave It, Away We Go!, Hitting On Hannah and This Romantic Tragedy at Jillian’s Las Vegas (450 Fremont St.) that night at 6 p.m. as well.

If there seems to be a mysterious increase in the number of hot rods, beehives and pomade use next weekend in Las Vegas, that must mean it’s time for yet another edition of Viva Las Vegas, the big rockabilly weekender that essentially takes over the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino from April 10 to 13. It’s year 11 for this annual fete, which features a car show, burlesque competition, art show and dozens of rockabilly, R&B and roots rock bands from across the globe performing live at the property’s showrooms and lounges.

As with any convention, sometimes the peripheral events are just as – if not more – interesting as the main show. Such is the case with the second Cocktails & Cheesecake Party being thrown by Java’s Bachelor Pad at the newly-whitewashed Art Bar (1511 S. Main St.). Happening on Friday, April 11 at 7 p.m., the Cocktails & Cheesecake Party will feature burlesque performers including Kalani Kokonuts, Ava Garter, Betsey Bosen, Bunny Bravo and Ravenna Black, music spun by DJ GooGoo Muck, and all sorts of other swinging action.

Cover for the event is only $5 and hosts include Gigi Valiant, Kay O’Hara and Java himself. If you miss this, you are one cat with low hep quotient. Check out the 2006 event photos and more by clicking here.

Blue is the official color of bathrooms in communist Romania.

Things you should care about: Nevada Public Radio. The CineVegas Film Festival. The last days of communism in Romania. Support all three of these concepts this Thursday night, April 3, at the Galaxy Neonopolis Theatres on Fremont Street when CineVegas hosts a screening of Golden Palm Award-winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days at 7 p.m.

The film, which dazzled judges and audiences at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, takes place during the final days of communism in Romania as two college roommates make arrangements for an illegal abortion.

All proceeds from the $10 ticket price benefit Nevada Public Radio, so not only will you get to see a poignant foreign film, but you also get to feel good about it as you wash your bucket of popcorn down with a gallon of Coke. Pre-order tickets by clicking here.

Hey, remember we told you about the opening of Chris Waters’ “Waiting” at the Jennifer Marie Gallery next Thursday, April 3? Well, as long as you’re going to be at the under-renovation Arts Factory (101 E. Charleston Blvd.), you may as well swing by Trifecta Gallery as well, where the opening reception of JW Caldwell’s new show will be held from 5 to 8 p.m.

Entitled “Dismounting Your High Horse With Style and Grace,” this series of paintings are about fear and failure, resulting in hope and strength. It’s the merger of pop and populist with a frontier twist. If you don’t come for the art, well, at least you can taste the featured wine of the month from Tinocos Bistro.

Two hot chicks. One awesome band.

We can’t keep up with these hip kids. They come up with new party ideas every week, it seems, and they’re all designed to maximize the obfuscation as to their true purposes. Well, Los Angeles’ largest weekly indie and electro party, The Heist, is smashing headfirst into Las Vegas’ own Say What?! this Saturday, March 29 at the Beauty Bar (517 Fremont St.) at 10 p.m.

Austin, Tex.’s The Black Angels will headline the band lineup on the outdoor stage, which also includes Los Angeles’ The Start, Atlanta’s City Sleeps and our own Hello Astro. DJ VaJayJay will fill in the space between bands outside, while inside the bar, DJs Hyphy Crunk and Score from The Heist will join Say What?! residents Grimehaus, ABOM and Noel.

Expect other madness such as performance art, live painting, body painting, a screening of the movie Blade, and some sort of Buffalo Exchange-sponsored Stunna Shade contest. Cover is free for the bar, $5 if you want the bands in the back (and why wouldn’t you?) and well drinks are only $3 from 10 p.m. to midnight. Sounds like a Saturday night plan to us.

Left: Photography by Chris Waters. Right: Painting by Brent Becker.

We already know all the cool kids will be in downtown Las Vegas for the monthly First Friday proceedings on April 4. Though many of you like to skip the arts festival and go straight to the after-parties (you know who you are), you might want to try balancing those Jager shots with some culture.

VEGASinsight recommends checking out “Waiting,” the solo show of photographer Chris Waters’ work at Jennifer Marie Gallery (Arts Factory, 101 E. Charleston Blvd., #205). If photography’s not your thing, but slappin’ paint on canvas is, head over to MTZC (Commerce Street Studios, 1551 S. Commerce St.) for the first solo show by Brent Becker, “(CON)temporary (DIS)connect.” There is an opening reception for Waters’ show on Thursday, April 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. if you want to get a sneak peak before fighting your way through a thicket of eyeliner-drenched emo kids on First Friday.

Speaking of kids, the hipsters of The In Crowd and Indiekrush.com are providing an all-ages outlet for booty-shaking inside the Attic (1018 S. Main St.) at 9 p.m. with Infamous: The Masquerade. This dance party features DJs Bul!m!atron, Teen Wolf, Autobahn, ABOM, Va Jay Jay, and Geno spinning dirty eelctro, nu-rave and bangers. Cover is only $5 before 10 p.m., $7 after. (more…)

Sierra Pacific Resources, the parent company of Nevada Power Company, added its name to the elite Founders circle of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts with a $1 million donation to the future Union Park resident’s capital campaign. Sierra Pacific joins a number of other $1 million-plus Founders, including Beverly and Jim Rogers, Cirque du Soleil, the Fertitta Family, MGM Mirage, and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, which pledged a windfall of $100 million last fall.

The Smith Center is scheduled to break ground late this year, providing the $470 million dollars it needs is raised. With the campaign already tallying more than $400 million, it looks like things should be right on track for the performing arts center, just one piece of downtown Las Vegas’ Union Park master plan that also includes the Frank Gehry-designed Lou Ruvo Brain Institute.

“We applaud Sierra Pacific Resources’ commitment to making Nevada a better place to live,” said Smith Center President Myron Martin, “and appreciate their leadership in helping us make the Smith Center a LEED certified performing arts complex.” (more…)