Pop Up Pizza partner and chef Michael Vakneen (photos by Justin Yurkanin)

Ever since the Plaza Hotel and Casino reopened in September with trendy restaurants and swanky new furniture, I have actively encouraged people to call it the Plasmo. Why? Because the refurbished downtown establishment opened on the heels of the Cosmopolitan and appeared to be co-opting its buzzy urban vibe.

It wasn’t just the contemporary furniture from the unfinished Fontainebleau. Instead of indie rock at the Book & Stage, the Plaza has indie theater in the edgy Insurgo Theater Movement. They don’t have the Chandelier Bar, but you can pair cheap drinks with putt-putt golf at the Swingers Club. I practically rolled my eyes when I heard the Plaza was opening a pizza place. The Cosmo’s “secret” pizza had been out of the bag for months. Surely the Plaza’s Pop Up Pizza would be a pale imitation.

You could smell the pizza from the sidewalk. The air carried layers of yeast, tomato and bubbly cheese. It’s a definite improvement over the old smells (urine, sweat, feet) that lingered outside the original Plaza.

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Web guru and Greenspun Interactive editor Rob Curley is officially leaving the Las Vegas Sun. He joined the company in 2008, after riding a professional juggernaut all the way from Lawrence, Kansas to the Washington Post. He is best-known as an evangelist of “hyperlocal” journalism that focused on things like high school football and restaurant listings.

After its ballyhooed beginnings in Kansas and Florida, his hyperlocal model ran into trouble at the Post and here in Las Vegas. The Post shuttered his LoudonExtra.com after his departure. And his big crossover effort here, 702.tv, vanished after four months. Journalists at the Sun called him Harold Hill, a reference to the fast-talking swindler at the center of “The Music Man.”

In a letter posted on Poynter, CEO Brian Greenspun said Curley would be returning to the Midwest. He didn’t describe Curley’s professional plans.

Las Vegas CityLife covered his troubled tenure at the Sun in this 2010 article.

Sacha Baron Cohen in "The Dictator"

BY COLIN BOYD

In The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen plays a fish out of water, acclimating himself to American culture and offending everyone in sight while he does it. You could begin that sentence with, “In Borat,” or “In Bruno,” and not make any other changes. Therein lies the problem with The Dictator: Unless Baron Cohen really throws a Hail Mary of a racist joke or something, this movie is going to be pretty familiar.

He does complete a few of those passes — if we’re being generous, maybe half a dozen — but almost nothing else in The Dictator lives up to his obvious but recently dulled comedic gifts. Admiral General Aladeen (Baron Cohen) is a ruthless despot, the Supreme Oppressor of the North African country of Wadiya. After an assassin’s bullet kills his double, Aladeen insists that his second-in-command (Ben Kingsley) hire another lookalike in time for the Admiral General’s trip to the United Nations.

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The Drums (photo by Mike Prevatt)

This is not a proper review of The Drums sold out concert last night at Body English. The Drums merely provided us with an opportunity to comment about Body English as a local concert venue. And this will most decidedly be a rave.

I’ve seen three bands perform at the former Hard Rock Hotel dance spot: The Roots, who played a private show that remains one of my favorite live performances ever in Las Vegas; Two Door Cinema Club, a high-energy show that swept me up even though I’m not a fan of the Irish indie pop act; and now, The Drums, who discovered at the same time I did that they have a rabid fanbase in Las Vegas. Who knew?

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Drake, right, and J. Cole

The concept of power is a funny thing. Not like Game of Thronesian, decapitory monarchism. But the power that comes with being an international superstar. All of the 10,000-odd people inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena Friday night witnessed it in two seconds, whether or not they realized they’d just become an example of this shallow sociological survey. Ten songs into his Club Paradise tour set, during the title track of his platinum-selling sophomore album Take Care, Aubrey “Drake” Graham lifted his shirt just enough to wipe sweat from his face.

The response was deafening. And the following responses were nothing less for the remainder of a pretty incredible performance.

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At Thursday’s School Board meeting, teachers from one of the district’s highly touted turnaround schools were abuzz. Seems half of their administrative team — three out of six administrators — will be, in the following weeks, making a premature exit from the “turnaround thing,” leaving for other venues next year. This is one of the schools constantly being promoted in the district’s “partner,” the Las Vegas Sun, as if it has gone, in one year, from a ghetto school to something resembling the elite Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Mass. This is also a school bragging that it has raised its attendance rate from 90 to 93 percent this year.

When asked about its attendance improvement, one teacher said the school has been “getting rid of the bad lemon students,” i.e. kids with poor attendance. This is what is known in the profession as cooking the books. Get rid of the recalcitrant students and attendance rates instantly go up. (more…)

Photo by FREEMAN WHITE

Then, my man-buddy texted.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“Getting gas, but I have to go back home. Where are you?”

“In the alley behind Beauty Bar. Hurry. You’ll want to be here before 9:30.”

I asked what was going on, but he didn’t answer.

My interest was piqued. (more…)

Cast of "Evil Dead" (courtesy photo by Michael Close)

BY DAVID MCKEE

As suddenly as he left Onyx Theatre earlier this year, peripatetic producer Sirc Michaels has taken Evil Dead The Musical from Insurgo Theater Movement’s upstairs space at the Plaza Las Vegas to “the venue originally desired for the show”: David Saxe’s V Theater, at Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile Mall. Evil Dead will play on Fridays at 10 p.m. and Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. beginning June 22.

*Or will it? Significant elements, including ticket prices, were undetermined when the news broke midday. In fact, according to David Saxe Prods. spokeswoman Shelly Bruner, although there have been talks between Michaels and Saxe, “nothing has been signed.” Saxe himself was in Hawaii and unavailable for comment.

On April 25, Insurgo founder John Beane announced Sirc Michaels Productions would bring a restaged version of its Evil Dead staging (initially seen last October at Onyx) to Insurgo’s third-floor, 100-seat space at the Plaza. Two weeks to the day, that deal was off. However, unlike the acrimonious Michaels/Onyx divorce, the dissolution of his brief Insurgo relationship is amicable.

“It only appears to be short notice,” says Michaels. “I have been working like a dog every day … for the past six months, and this is some of that hard work paying off.”

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Mike Thompson shoots Brett Bolton (photo courtesy: Bolton)

As a reminder that Vegas’ independent filmmakers need to step their game up to escape the shadow cast by indie powerhouse Light Forge Studios, brothers Mike and Jerry Thompson just won another 48 Hour Film Project with “Super Awesome Buddy Squad,” beating out The Goondock Saints’ musical “Under the Christmas Tree.” Light Forge took home honors for Best Film, Best Director, audience choice (for their group), Best Special Effects and Best Graphics.

“It was super tough [to shoot] in 48 hours,” Mike says. “But it’s not too grueling anymore because we enjoy it. The first couple we did hurt. But at this point we bite off the exact amount we think we can chew with the people we have.”

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The Mad Caps (photo courtesy of Tsvetelina Stefanova)

A Ticketmaster link reveals a joint headlining show with Boulder City’s Dude City and Vegas-turned-Seattle duo The Mad Caps at the Cosmopolitan’s Boulevard Pool on Aug. 30. It marks the first instance of local talent headlining a show at the property beyond the indie-friendly Book & Stage lounge.

However, with a bigger stage comes a bigger cover. You’ll pay $20 at the door for the show, and a whopping $30 ($20 + fees) if you pony up through Ticketmaster. Never mind the usual complaints about covers over $5 for downtown shows — $20 seems like a hefty price to see such familiar faces. After all, it was only last summer where patrons enjoyed shows by alternative rock upstarts The Joy Formidable and The Naked and the Famous at the same venue — albeit on a side stage — for free. So what gives?

According to a Cosmo rep, the two bands are part of a new live series called The BLVD Social Club -Thursdays Live, which aims to highlight lesser-known national musical acts. While no other locally affiliated bands have yet to be announced, the initial lineup is promising. Things kick off May 17 with critically acclaimed act Dr. Dog, at the same price as the Mad Caps/Dude City show. Ascendant alt-rock band Fun plays Aug. 16, and is one dollar more expensive than the aforementioned shows due to a charity promotion. Beloved local DJ MIKEATTACK will spin in between bands.

The series would seem to compete with similar poolside summertime concert events held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Silverton. Those in swimwear will have access to the complex’s pools.

The hotel-casino’s rep didn’t have any additional information regarding the shows’ price points. That a Dude City/Mad Caps show costs as much as one with the hottest rock band in the country either flatters our homegrown talent, or underestimates what locals will pay to see one of their own perform. Perhaps the ticket costs must remain consistent during the promotion, as each show is $20. Personally speaking, I’d pay $20 to see Mad Caps and Dude City before I’d spend $5 to see Fun, but that’s just me.

Here’s a list of the other artists — some of them graduating from previous Book and Stage engagements — playing Thursdays Live: The Henry Clay People (May 24), K Flay (May 31), White Denim (June 14), Elan Atias (June 21), Terraplane Sun (June 28), BJ the Chicago Kid (July 5), The Band of Heathens (July 12), AWOLNATION (July 19), Aloe Blacc (June 26), Yellow Ostrich (Aug. 9), Polica (Aug. 23), Barcelona (Sept. 6), and Ryan Leslie (Sept. 20). Tickets are already on sale.

The series is booked by Austin, Texas promoter C3 Presents, which books all of the Cosmopolitan’s music events.

This blog was updated on May 7.

Kid Meets Cougar plays at The Junkyard for Neon Reverb music festival

Just when it looked like Tim Thurtle, the former owner of now-defunct Area 702 skatepark and all-ages venue, had found a reasonable solution for throwing all-ages concerts, the city has shut him down.

On May 2, the city voted against reinstating The Junkyard’s special events permit after the  management team of extended-stay hotel Desert Manor received noise complaints, according to the city clerk’s office. The new outdoor music venue, located at 1st Street and Garces Avenue, sits across the street from Desert Manor.

“Six people raised a stink and it stopped our progress,” Thurtle says.

Up until now, it always seemed as though Thurtle had another idea, a back-up plan, for keeping live music accessible to the valley’s underage crowd. But for the first time, we heard Thurtle out of ideas. “We’re financially screwed,” he says. “This has kicked our ass and we just don’t know what to do.

“It’s always the same thing: [They say] ‘We love that kids want to come downtown … but they can’t come here.’”

I had lunch last week with Jimmy Shoshani and Rimon Hirmiz at Tiffany’s Cafe. The two men are partners in a venture to reopen White Cross Drug Store as a grocery store called White Cross Market.

Shoshani also owns Bells Market, across the street from White Cross and next door to Luv-it Frozen Custard. Two weeks ago, we wrote a story about how this made some people in the community uncomfortable, since the convenience store was a magnet for vagrants.

Shoshani was not able to comment at the time, but wanted to offer a clearer picture of his plans for the shop. Over pastrami sandwiches and grilled ham and cheese, the two men discussed their plans for the site. Afterward, he and Hirmiz walked me through the gutted interior, which they’d like to transform into a full-service grocery, with packaged meats, produce, deli counter, wine, beer, liquor and a little bit of gaming.

Shoshani will not be moving Bells Market into the White Cross space. The grocery store is a completely new venture. He and his partner also took exception to negative descriptions of his convenience store. He bought Bells Market in 2010. Before that, it was a Mighty Mart. Problems with vagrants and drunks around the store began before he ever moved in, Shoshani said, and he has worked hard to clean it up.

In fact, he produced a letter from his landlord, who called him the best tenant he’s had in 40 years. Shoshani has actively reached out to community groups and hosted neighborhood cleanups.

Downtown has been snubbed by major grocery chains for years. Shoshani and Hirmiz see opportunity in a space that is critical to downtown revitalization. If you’re a resident of the area, and there’s a certain type of beer or cereal you’d like them to carry, go to Bells and ask for Jimmy. He’ll do his best to help you out.

Revelers at Electric Daisy Carnival 2011 (file photo by Bill Hughes)

Understandably, the success of last year’s first Las Vegas Electric Daisy Carnival jolted more life into our city’s quickly rising electronic dance music (EDM) scene. So much so that this year, EDC’s festivities actually begin earlier this year, with the EDMbiz music conference running Tuesday-Thursday, June 5-7, with Bassrush Massive that Thursday night.

Bassrush Massive is fairly self-explanatory: A bass massive at Orleans Arena produced by promoters Bassrush and Insomniac (the latter being the folks behind EDC), featuring Datsik, Knife Party and Bassnectar, among others, as a pre-party of sorts to EDC’s June 8-10 main event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

And while we could spend the next couple paragraphs touting the heavy, aurally arousing featured artists, the unique thing here is EDMbiz. The conference, to be held at the Cosmopolitan, is a forum for connecting electronic dance music creators and industry/scene folks (from Atlantic Records, Marquee Dayclub and Nightclub, Burning Man, et al) to discuss anything from festivals and technology to sponsorships and nurturing the expanding EDM community. It’s like SXSW or NAB — but with bass. Or, our own version of Miami’s Winter Music Conference, the planet’s reigning EDM conference.

And for the folks who aren’t into all the womping and whirring … it might be a good week to take that Mt. Charleston trip.

Tommy Marth (photo from Facebook)

“I’m sorry I missed you. And happy belated birthday, my friend. I owe you cocktails, hi-fives, and one very long and very uncomfortable hug, complete with deep groaning.”

Very few people could send me that e-mail and not weird me out. One of those few people was Tommy Marth. In fact, that recent, final (and censored) message could almost sum up our relationship. And if you, too, were honored and lucky enough to have a relationship with the longtime local saxophonist, nightlife/venue professional, writer and onetime CityLife contributor, and passionate music lover, he might’ve bestowed you the same sort of affection. For while he was renowned for his sarcasm and perverse humor, he was also unfailingly loving, sincere and generous to those to which he felt close. And that’s why there has been such a tremendous outpouring of shock and grief at the April 23 announcement of Marth’s death at 33.

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Dr. Dre, left, and Snoop Dogg (photo by Max Plenke)

It’s bittersweet, walking onto the Empire Polo Fields on Coachella’s closing day. On one hand, we can say goodbye to $10 tacos, stamina-crumpling heat (above 100°F all three days) and swarms of walking Walgreens pharmacies describing every moment as the best fucking moment of my life. But we won’t harsh their buzz.

Price, heat and Walgreens notwithstanding, Sunday didn’t go out like a lamb, and we even got to see an act we’d only heard rumor of rocking — and who verified the claims. Band of Skulls, an English rock outfit with more licensed music than it has actual songs, proved it can do more than spruce up Twilight’s soundtrack. For two Englishmen and one Englishwoman, Skulls make a surprisingly American take on rock ‘n’ roll. It’s dirty, like they record in a Louisiana swamp. It’s gritty, like it was made for jukeboxes in biker bars. And with wide enough range to convey sadness on one track and game time on another, it’s the kind of music that can fit a million scenarios — but favors the ones that end in fist fights (for which we’d recommend both “I Know What I Am” and “Blood“).

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