It’s been a while since I’ve written about a nightclub, let alone the nightlife scene in general. It may be hard to believe right now, knowing me as the artsy-fartsy, mom-and-pop-patronizing guy you all know and love, but back in the earl 2000s, I actually covered a lot of nightlife for the CityLife, and ran the nightlife section of LVLocalMusicScene.com. This was back in the C2K-Baby’s-Ra era, and I was already entrenched in the scene from a combination of old-school underground party promoting and helping my ex-wife run oxygen bars in the then-new-school megaclubs. So it was a short jump from that to reporting on the nocturnal goings-on, and it also helped break me out of the local music writing ghetto.

Of course, later on, I’d spend a lot more time in nightclubs when I ran the nightclubs section of VEGAS.com, and eventually when I had access to VIP tables regularly as editor of Racket (a topic we’ll come back to one day), which led into my stint helping launch DailyFiasco.com, itself heavily focused on mainstream clubbing. But since leaving DailyFiasco three years ago, I’ve focused mostly on writing about what most pleases me: art, music and geek culture, and I’ve only stepped into a nightclub once or twice a year for special events.

I have to admit, though, I’m pleased with what turned out to be my first assignment for M life, MGM Resorts’ in-house quarterly magazine. It’s a feature (and a well-designed one, see below) about the resurgence of the DJ in Las Vegas nightlife, and while, yes, it explores only MGM Resorts day- and nightclubs, I was happy to write an article about parties where the focus isn’t on celebrity hosts or tired promotions. Not only is the DJ making a comeback, but so are once-marginalized musical styles such as house and trance, which were relegated to side rooms and off-night promotions for years in lieu of Top 40, hip-hop and mash-ups. If I could stand to put up with the people and the pricing, I’d almost actually willingly go to one of the DJ parties about which I wrote in the article!