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Economy-Busting $40,000 Motel Rooms in Las Vegas

A library with dark, wood-paneled walls and a bookcase filled with leather-bound books sits adjacent to a regal living room at Caesars Palace’s Octavius Tower. You’d almost forget you were in Las Vegas if not for the tanning pool patrons outside the window. 

The antique-looking books in the library are seldom used, but they add to the villa’s residential illusion. So does the formal dining room that seats 12 and the media room with movie theater-style seating. 

The centerpiece of each villa is the patio overlooking the pool area. The villas opened last fall, but the new Garden of the Gods pool just began to welcome summer visitors. 

The three massive villas are the newest suites at Caesars Palace. With nearly 10,000 square feet of space, they’re some of the most opulent and largest suites on the Las Vegas Strip. The villas are on the second floor of Caesars’ unfinished Octavius Tower and are part of the resort’s long line of over-the-top suites.

 From the private elevator to the 24-hour butler service, everything about the Octavius villas feels exclusive, including the price tag. The cost for a night is $40,000. The price isn’t recession-friendly, but their patrons aren’t exactly struggling in today’s economy. 

The Octavius villas feel more like miniature mansions than hotel suites. Caesars spent about $15 million on each villa – a total of $45 million – to accomplish that goal. The villas are a collection of eclectic furnishings and faux artifacts, giving the feel of a collector’s well-kept home. 

Wilson & Associates designed each suite with an individual identity — an opulent Grecian palace, an Old World Spanish home and a Parisian luxury apartment.

The design firm is responsible for other suites at Caesars, as well as the fantasy suites at the Palms and the rooms and lobby at The Venetian. 

At 9,930 square feet, the Greek-style villa, which Caesars Palace dubs “Constantine,” is the largest of the three. The four-bedroom villa is far from subtle, but it’s subtly Greek with its fake marble columns and terracotta painted vases. 

After stepping off the private elevator into the marble foyer of the Greek villa, guests will find a formal sitting room, a grand Steinway piano and working fireplace. On the other side of the hall are rooms with a pool table, a restaurant-sized bar and a theater. 

Down a long hallway there are four bedrooms, each the size of a large hotel room, with walk-in closets and their own bathrooms. With custom marble and mosaics, no two bathrooms in the three villas have the same stonework. 

Inside the Greek villa, the master suite’s bathroom is almost as large as the bedroom itself. The bathroom is covered in green and beige marble and features his and her toilets, sinks and vanities. It also has a steam shower, towel-warming racks and flat-screen TVs, among other amenities. A marble-topped tub with gold-plated fixtures is the centerpiece of the lavish master bath. 

As trivial as they seem, the toilets are often the talk of the suites.  They’re controlled by remotes, function as bidets, have heated seats and the lid opens as guests approach. There’s never a reason to touch the toilet seat. 

The villas are filled with quirks galore: mirrors that turn into TVs, pianos that play themselves and chairs that massage to the beat of an iPod’s song. A networked system allows the butler to control every device in the villa. 

Though the three villas have different design schemes, they have similar amenities. The French villa is light and airy. The Spanish villa is designed with distressed wood throughout the main rooms. 

Off each living room is the patio that overlooks the pools. Each patio includes a fire pit, dining table and a private Jacuzzi. 

The view of Flamingo Road is less impressive. Those views are reserved for penthouses and other suites higher than the pool level. The resort’s two 10,000-square-foot penthouses in the Forum Tower are still the largest suites at the resort. Caesars Palace now has 11 villas, 11 penthouses and about 200 suites.

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Star Trek Memorabilia for Sale in Las Vegas Auction April 10

Fans of “Star Trek,” in its numerous incarnations, who also truly loved “Star Trek: The Experience” at the Las Vegas Hilton,” will surely feel they’ve died and been beamed up this Saturday in Las Vegas.

Popworx, the auction house that specializes in sales of television and movie assets, is holding the Star Trek auction at their warehouse (66 Spectrum Boulevard in Las Vegas) including various props and settings from the former Las Vegas resort hotel attraction. It was built during the era when Las Vegas thought it was going to be a family-friendly destination (what many call “The Bad Years”).

The sale focuses on the larger items from ‘ST:TE,’ including wall panels, furniture from Quark’s Bar, Starfleet costumes, and seats from the Klingon Encounter ride. Also on sale will be transporter room and hallway pieces from the Enterprise D replica that was part of the attraction.

The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Everything is cash and carry (so, rent that huge moving van now), and no credit cards will be accepted.

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Bellagio Gallery of Fine Arts in Las Vegas Leases Their Art

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston caused a tizzy of grand proportions six years ago when it leased 21 of its Monets to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art for an undisclosed price. The art world shrieked with fists of rage while Boston museum director Malcolm Rogers asserted that partnering with a for-profit has its perks: extra money in the public coffers and promotional benefits. 

Five years later the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego leased 17 contemporary works to the Bellagio gallery, giving Las Vegas a look at works by Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella, Sol Lewitt, Andy Warhol and others. 

Call it a financial boost for public institutions or an ethical slap in the face. Either way, Las Vegas, one of few cities in the United States without a public art institution, is reaping museum-quality works. 

Now in a one-two punch both institutions are shipping off their works to the Bellagio gallery for Figuratively Speaking: A Survey of the Human Form opening May 1. 

The work spans from the 19th century to present day. Artists include Pierre-August Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, Judith Shea and Yoshitomo Nara. Word has it that there will also be a Cindy Sherman coming in from the San Diego museum. 

Additionally, the MGM MIRAGE in Las Vegas is throwing in pieces from its own collection, including works by Renoir, Picasso, Edgar Degas and Fernand Leger.

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Emergency Art Comes to Rescue Las Vegas?

Sixth and Fremont may seem like an unlikely place for Las Vegas artists to congregate, and the El Cortez Casino may seem like an unlikely patron of the arts.  But the city’s growing supply of surplus real estate and downward spiraling financial vectors has opened up a budding entrepreneur opportunity reminiscent of SoHo in New York in the 60’s.   The business venture is called the Emergency Arts Creative Collective, Las Vegas’ latest contribution to the West Coast art scene. 

The El Cortez has a specific business need – increase foot traffic.  And the El Cortez also has an empty building just around the corner.  But opening another mini-mall collection of souvenir shops and yogurt bars won’t be enough to boost the number of Friday night slot players.  

What to do?  Why not take a page from the area South of Houston street in New York where, in the late 60’s, a dying bit of ill conceived government infrastructure that was turned into an art mecca of wide open spaces with great light and cheap rents.  The El Cortez is banking on it,  hoping that people will come to view exhibits and shop and then walk over to the casino for an evening’s entertainment.   

The local people behind the Emergency Arts are gallery owner Jennifer Harrington and her fiance Michael Cornthwaite, owner of the Downtown Cocktail Room.  “For a couple hundred dollars a month they [the artists] can have their own brick and mortar [location],” said Harrington. 

The Emergency Arts already has space rented to several artists, a vintage retailer, a coffee shop and a cafe.  On-site fixtures are being reused and recycled.  X-ray light panels will become part of a photographer’s display.  The large open sections of floor space, once the nurses stations and patient waiting areas, are being turned into general use display centers and communal meeting sights.  

“Part of the charm of this place are all the common areas, so people who rent very small spaces can come out here and use these bigger areas for meetings,” Harrington said. 

There’s a lot happening at Sixth and Fremont in Las Vegas now.  The April opening is just weeks away and more than 15 spots are still available for rent.  Those involved in the Emergency Arts Creative Collective are looking forward to introducing this artist venue to the Las Vegas community.  

Only time will tell if this is the beginning of a Vegas SoHo evolution.

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Burning Man Festival Gains Momentum

The official once-a-year celebration in Nevada occurs in Black Rock City, starting on Aug. 30 and running through Sept. 6.  But if you can’t afford to lose that much time from work – or simply don’t want to fry your ass with some 48,000 or so other radical and self-reliant Burning Man participants (called ”Burners”)  – there are other alternatives close to Las Vegas to get your radical art and nature urges on.

The first major event is “Forgotten City,” running April 22 through 25 in Nipton, California, one hour south of Las Vegas. 

The next artist conclave is on May 6 through 9 called, “Toast!” an Arizona burner event in Witch Well, Arizona.   Four days of large scale art, music, performance, and interactive participation. The Azburners are an interactive group of artists, performers, musicians and participants.  

Vegas Backstage Access has written many articles on “Burning Man” which can be searched on our site in the right hand column. 

And, here is a cool 360-degree movie style panoramic of the various enclaves comprising the big daddy Black Rock City event.

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Las Vegas Pawn Shop Doubles as Reality TV Show, Proving Junk Sells

Well, it’s not all junk.  But many may think their dust-collecting, largely abandoned asset won’t bring much money- that is until they haggle with Rick Harrison, center, or his father, Richard, left, or son Corey who co-own a hugely successful Las Vegas pawn shop, Gold and Silver Pawn. 

Recession?  What recession?  Boom times are out the roof, thanks in no small part to the History Channel’s hit reality TV series “Pawn Stars.” 

Back in July, before the show started, the family business about 70 customers a day that showed up at the 713 Las Vegas Blvd. South address. 

And now? “We do about 1,000 a day,” said beaming Rick Harrison. 

The 35 episodes of national TV exposure have doubled revenue and generated a non-stop waiting line of 50 customers throughout the day, which usually ends at 11 p.m. 

The Harrisons have even added a surreal touch for their customers: a velvet rope for crowd control, ala a Las Vegas nightclub. 

Two of the more shocking items that recently arrived: a bronze medal from the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics and a 1998 Denver Broncos Super Bowl ring.  Rick Harrison said he paid $700 for the medal and $11,000 for the bejeweled ring.  The medal came from a shoebox found in a garage by a son-in-law who was cleaning up after his wife’s father died. The family, who lived in the Midwest, was vacationing in Las Vegas and decided to sell the medal. 

“Names aren’t etched on Olympic medals so we have no idea who it belonged it to,” Harrison said. 

Harrison said the ring owner identified himself as a former landlord of Bronco safety Tori Noel, a late addition to the team roster. The former University of Tennessee standout saw little action that year in Denver, the first of back-to-back Super Bowl titles, and suffered a career-ending injury the next year during training camp. 

It’s not the only Super Bowl ring pawned at Gold and Silver. Harrison said he purchased Brock Williams’ ring from the 2002 Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots. 

Williams, a former cornerback at Notre Dame, was paid about $2,000 for the ring. He never returned to buy it back, Harrison said.

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Las Vegas’ New Art Junkie Mecca?

Believe it or not, Las Vegas does have a Downtown Arts District.  Yesiree, and, not only that, but they are offering up a second showing of cultural artsy-fartsy festivities with the inauguration of Third Friday this Friday, Jan. 15, starting around 6 p.m., running until approximately midnight. 

Following the footsteps of the economically challenged First Friday, now Las Vegans have the added opportunity to browse art galleries, enjoy the bands and mingle amongst fellow art fanatics twice a month — doubling the pleasure and doubling the fun- if not immediate income to producers. 

Taking place on the same Las Vegas streets and benefiting the same cause, Third Friday may be similar to First Friday in many ways, but it’s projected to vary slightly. 

While Cindy Funkhouse, of the Funk House and Fallout galleries, runs the beginning of the month installment, Cion Noble of the Box Office gallery and venue is coordinating this middle-of-the-month run. 

Hans Cewe , one of the owners of the Gypsy Den — a vintage boutique and art gallery which also triples as a music venue — is happy to see the rise of another event to bring people Downtown Las Vegas, hoping thing will expand from there. 

The Gypsy Den, also run by Cewe’s daughter Katie, will be offering up it’s stage to local bands for the night, with the lineup so far including local acts Vitamin Overdose, Close to Modern and The Marquees. 

Third Friday’s main focus is not merely on the patrons it brings Downtown, but also on the various artists involved. 

“It’s basically going to be a networking opportunity for creative people,” says Noble. “The theme is to network… I don’t anticipate vendors and crafts in the first couple of months — I’d like to see it grow into something that’s similar to First Friday eventually.” 

The mix of “creative people” so far set to ring in Third Friday’s opening night at the Box Office includes Cameron Grant, rock and blues bands Black Cherry Blue, Flux and JD Vittles, as well as a comedy improv and musical open mic event hosted by LV Freeze. 

In keeping with the idea of supporting Las Vegas arts, Funkhouse isn’t viewing the second installment as a threat. Instead she’s offering her support, “merely as a participant,” and opening her galleries’ doors — although she says the art on the walls will be the same as what’s viewed the first weekend of the month. “It’s not practical to change our show out every two weeks, that’d be too much work,” explains Funkhouse. 

If Third Friday catches on, perhaps the struggling downtown Las Vegas can look forward to a more regular crowd. Who knows, maybe a little more culture in our Sin City lives, with good eats, is a good thing.

Here’s a map of area, showing central Box Office.

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Learn about Women’s Inner Desires in Las Vegas

Learning about what makes women tick is a tall order, but, perhaps, a visual study of related art might be a plan.  In celebration of Harlequin’s 60th anniversary, the internationally recognized publisher is sponsoring an exhibition of original cover art that will focus not only on the changing shape of desire and fantasy but also on the social meaning and context of these images. THE HEART OF A WOMAN: Harlequin Cover Art 1949—2009 debuts at the Paris Gallerie at the Paris in Las Vegas on Oct. 24, 2009 and will be on display until Jan. 31, 2010. Open to the public free of charge, the gallery is located just outside of the Paris reception area. Hours of operation will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Harlequin

By presenting 60 years of cover artwork, the exhibition offers a unique insight into the profound transformations that have occurred in women’s lives over the past six decades.  These changes have been captured and reflected on the front of six decades worth of Harlequin novels and reflect cultural shifts in everything from private desires to the politics of gender. 

Although it is the stories of romance that charm the hearts of so many women, it is the artwork on the book covers that offers the first tantalizing hint of the pleasures that await between the covers. 

The show also spotlights some of the notable names who created these stirring pieces and how the artistic process itself has changed over the decades. 

More than a hundred original works of art will be displayed, from Harlequin’s beginnings in 1949 to the present day. 

Elizabeth Semmelhack is the curator of the exhibition.  She is also the head curator at a major museum in Toronto and, as an independent curator, she has curated exhibitions at the Museum of Sex in New York and the St. Louis Art Museum. She has also been a consultant to the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Semmelhack is the author of “Heights of Fashion.” 

Harlequin Enterprises Limited is the global leader in series romance and one of the world’s leading publishers of books for women, with titles issued worldwide in 28 languages and sold in 114 international markets. The company produces over 110 titles monthly and publishes more than 1,100 authors from around the world. 

Harlequin Enterprises Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation, a broadly based media company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.  Harlequin’s Web site is located at http://www.eHarlequin.com. Harlequin has offices in 19 countries, including offices in Toronto, New York and London. For more information please visit www.eHarlequin.com.

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Silver Slipper Gets New Las Vegas Home

The famous neon slipper once sat atop of the historic Silver Slipper Gambling Hall, a part of the Last Frontier Village, a replica of an old western town that was once located on Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas.  

Silver Slipper neon signAlthough the Silver Slipper opened in 1950, the sign did not go up until the 1960s. The Last Frontier became the New Frontier, which was eventually absorbed into the Frontier. The slipper was designed by Jack Larsen, Sr., a designer at Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO). The sign is 12 feet high and 17 feet wide. The slipper’s main body contains 900 incandescent light bulbs, with about 80 more in the bow. 

The slipper is part of Las Vegas’ $1.1 million Neon Sign Improvement Project that includes three vintage neon signs placed in the heart of the Cultural Corridor.  It was refurbished and set into place on the median island of Las Vegas Boulevard, located just south of Washington Avenue in what is called the Cultural Corridor of Las Vegas by eight workers from Ultra Signs on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009 at approximately 11 p.m. after first being refurbished by Rafael Construction. 

The slipper is the last of three Las Vegas vintage signs to be set in place on the corridor, following the Bow & Arrow Motel sign set into place north of Bonanza on Aug. 24 and, a week later, by the installation of Binion’s Horseshoe sign north of Washington Avenue.  New landscaped median islands are also being installed. 

City crews will now work to provide power and conduct a series of tests prior to the signs being officially put into service. 

The cultural corridor is made up of the highest concentration of cultural institutions in Las Vegas and includes Cashman Center, the Las Vegas Library, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, Lied Discovery Children’s Museum, The Neon Museum, the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park and the Reed Whipple Cultural Center.

Please watch the video of the installation:

http://video214.com/play/0IFyBBBcRJhslXBK3V5KOw/s/dark/

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Fine Art of CityCenter Artists, Architects on Exhibit at Bellagio in Las Vegas

Sadly, with most of the fine art style of Las Vegas museums closing up shop– Las Vegas culture — including the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at the Venetian and Las Vegas Art Museum, and lesser robust ones opening by appointment only, it’s refreshing to know the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art is apparently still going strong. 

Tomorrow, in fact, the Bellagio Gallery is debuting 12+7: Artists and Architects of CityCenter.   Organized in partnership with the CityCenter Fine Art Collection and its curatorial advisor Michele C. Quinn, the exhibition will feature sculpture, drawings, paintings and models by 12 of the contemporary artists and seven of the master architects whose work will dramatically change the artistic landscape in Las Vegas when the $9.1 billion, 76-acre CityCenter opens in December (please search for other articles using “CityCenter” in Las Vegas Backstage Access). 

The art exhibition will offer a sneak peek at the highly anticipated CityCenter development, showcasing artwork by such artists as Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer, Antony Gormley, Tony Cragg, Nancy Rubins, Peter Wegner and Richard Long. 

Also included are early sketches and architectural models of CityCenter’s towers, retail and the entertainment district designed by architects Pelli Clarke Pelli, Helmut Jahn, Studio Daniel Libeskind, Rafael Vinoly, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Foster + Partners and Rockwell Group. 

Admission is $15 for general admission, $12 for Nevada residents and seniors 65 and older, and $10 for students, teachers and military with valid ID.  Children 12 and younger are free.  Tickets and further information by calling 702-693-7871 or online at www.bellagio.com

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Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas Celebrates First Birthday

Elegant sin is still hanging on in Sin City as the Las Vegas’ Erotic Heritage Museum celebrates its first anniversary all this month with a one-of-a-kind exhibition entitled “Sex on the Streets,” featuring contemporary, noncensored artistic works inside the huge 17,000 square-foot museum. eroticheritagemuseum

In celebration of the exhibit, urban artists Vezun, Veks 3, KD Matheson, Dray, Damien Drake, Gearboxxxrox and Ras One are donating their time and materials to paint murals on the outside of the museum building. 

“Not only will this draw attention to the artists, but it will draw attention to the building as an existing body of work itself,” says Dr. Laura Henkel, EHM resident curator. 

The museum will showcase works by Mark Burns and art graduate Ann Davis Mulford; photo-realist Ross Johnson; pop artists Bobby Logic and Francois Dubeau; figurative artist Tom of Finland, Hector Silva; illustrative artist Michael Kirwin; and many more talented artists. 

The anniversary party will take place September 12 from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

For more information, www.eroticheritagemuseum.com

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Artist Bren Betaclan Pays it Forward– One Painting at a Time

Not everything or everyone requires a trillion-dollar federal government bailout.  Boston-based Filipino artist Bren Bataclan is committed to his personal quest of spreading happiness and hope all over the world with his inspiring paintings, one painting at a time. BrenBataclan

As a spin-off from his original “Smile Boston” project, for the past six years Bataclan has been turning many cold faces, symbolically pockmarked by the ravages of our economy, happy and beaming by stealthily leaving his cheery acrylic critters in parks, benches, libraries, trains stations, and street corners. 

Now, his “Smile Project” has spread like wildfire- in fact, his paintings are found in half the states – including on the Bellagio grounds in Las Vegas and the Strip – and in 32 countries, as well.

Betaclan simply leaves his colorful smiling paintings all over with attached no-string notes: “Take it, it’s free.” and “Everything will be OK.” 

He sees his cheerful artworks as an extension of his Philippine culture, which is proud of its people who can still muster a smile even at dire times.

“Life here can be very challenging, it’s a survival,” Betaclan said, “But people still find something to smile about.” 

Although not all of his art is for free – individual works sell from $10 to $3,000 and he has been commissioned  to do murals in schools, parks, hospitals, and showrooms, while being featured in newspapers, magazines, on television and radio – still, Betaclan is a strong believer that giving is as important as receiving, even in the worst of times.  

Don’t underestimate the determination and power of a single individual.

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Las Vegas First Friday ‘Art Crawl’ Event Takes Nosedive

Selling cultural art opportunities in Las Vegas that are ostensibly designed to benefit residents, and not so much the tourists, is apparently a very difficult sell. 

‘First Friday’ in Las Vegas started in 2002 as an art crawl, or a monthly block party on the first Friday of each month that includes downtown galleries and businesses in the Las Vegas Downtown Arts District.  Art galleries were open.  Musicians would take to the sidewalks next to psychics, poets and other strolling performers.  Crowds grew from a few hundred to as many as 10,000, requiring barricades, police officers and a host of special permits. 

But now all that has changed.  No white familiar tents dotting the landscape.  No stages blasting rock music.  No crowds lining up in large lines at food vendors. 

Funding problems are causing Whirlygig, the nonprofit organization running the event, to scale back considerably.  Founder Cindy Funkhouser has been seeking money, including private donations, but not enough has resulted to keep the festival going. 

Festival costs are in excess of $13,000 a month for barricades, stages, power, lighting and permits.  Las Vegas, which is a large support of the event, contributing $80,000 a year, now concentrates that amount on just six months, when crowds are the largest, rather then the entire year.  It hoped Whirlygig would grow into a self-sustaining organization.  It didn’t. 

Funkhouser says she and her husband, Rick Dominguez, want to get back to presenting the large festival, but says “We’re just kind of winging it.  I’m just kind of at the point where this is what it is.”

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Naked Mona Lisa Secretely Hiding in Las Vegas?

An original Leonardo da Vinci painting of a topless Mona Lisa may be just locked away in Las Vegas, being tracked down by art collectors. MonaLisa

Another Sin City urban legend?  Maybe not.  The wild scenario surfaced yesterday on MSNBC’s Web site about a similar da Vinci artwork now on exhibit in the Tuscan town of Vinci, the birthplace of da Vinci in 1452. 

“The newly revealed painting, hidden for almost a century within the wood wall of a private library, shows a portrait of a half-naked women with clear links to the famous (clothed) Mona Lisa,” according to Discovery News. 

The bombshell came at the end of the article when Alessandro Vezzosi, director of Museo Ideale, the museum that housed the painting, wrote, “Our quest for naked Mona Lisas continues.  We are now on the tracks of another interesting version of Las Vegas.”

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Las Vegas Art Scenesters Buckle Up for Bumpy Roller Coaster Ride

The Las Vegas Art Museum shutdown last month.  The Nevada Ballet has cutback on staff and postponed programs.  The Las Vegas Philharmonic is cutting back and holding on.   art

The Nevada Opera Theatre, though feeling the economic impact,  is cushioned somewhat by their pre-recession budgeting. 

“The effect on us has not been as traumatic as on the philharmonic and the ballet because of their much larger agenda and audience participation,” said founder and director Eileen Hayes, whose theatre actually has seen a budget increase from about $225,000 to $300,000. 

“Yes, contributions have been down, especially between the last two years and this year, but we’ve been in the mode of reducing our once big deficit dramatically over the last few years. And our audience attendance is really starting to rebound.” 

Beyond those factors, the company has not tied itself to a set season of performances and the attendant costs. When it does perform, it is at smaller, less expensive venues. Though for the past two years the company has not staged its usual production at UNLV’s large Artemus Ham Hall, Hayes expects that to resume. Tickets have been kept less than $50, and the group has kept close tabs on production budgets. 

“We’re just being very careful what we do,” Hayes said. “We have cut back on guest performers over the last several years. We used to bring in entire sets and costumes, but now we’ve gotten frugal and rent pieces locally and from Southern California. We used to rent entire sets from New York, but those days are gone.” 

At Opera Las Vegas, finances are actually on the upswing. Citing “prudent and creative fundraising,” Hal West, vice president of marketing and public relations, said his company is aiming for a 50 percent budgetary hike, increasing program investments from $50,000 to $75,000. Containing expenditures by staging only two productions this year, they briefly considered doubling the top $40 ticket price but nixed that notion. 

Similarly, the 32-year-old Las Vegas Little Theatre, Las Vegas’ oldest community theater, is functioning fairly well on a nearly $200,000 budget, maintaining six productions in the main stage theater and three in the smaller Black Box. 

“We’re not rolling in money, but we’re no worse than in previous years, paying our rent and electric bills,” said board President Walter Niejadlik, noting that keeping expectations reasonable and avoiding grandiose goals helps steady the balance sheet. “We’re not doing huge productions costing $20,000 a pop that never have a shot at making money back. It’s the undoing of a lot of arts organizations in this town. Everyone’s going to be the next greatest thing, doing art for art’s sake, but with no business sense.” 

Theater audiences traditionally skew older than for other art forms — on average, 65 to 70 years old, Niejadlik said — with more discretionary income to spend on the arts. But that demographic reality has a sad side: the steady attrition of season subscribers. Las Vegas Little Theatre loses about 70 subscribers a year. 

“Without being terribly morbid, they’re dying,” Niejadlik said. “We get a list of subscribers who have passed away. Our big focus is on getting younger folks into the theater.”

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Burning Man Turns Up Las Vegas Heat

Tired of the politico-speak, technobabble, and continuous water-drip torture of our choking economy?  Want to try your hand at building art- or a mutant vehicle?  Perhaps your cup of tea is spinning fire with  some poi and java?   If you don’t mind bringing in all your own sustaining necessities and using foot-power to travel, then you may enjoy escaping it all and heading to the Burning Man events in Nevada this year. burningman

Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind. It means different things to different people.  But suffice it to say that every summer 48,000 plus artistic Burning Man participants (aka Burners) meet in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada to create Black Rock City and re-engage with community, and celebrate shared values of radical self-expression and self-reliance.   Expressing and relying on themselves to a degree that is not normally encountered in one’s day-to-day life, they celebrate the power of community, honor the importance of art, and enjoy the immediacy of experience. Then they leave a week later – without a trace of having been there. 

This year the eclectic artsy clan will gather from August 31 through September 7.  Having an “evolution” themed event which promotes the very core of individual survival and philosophies of Charles Darwin and Natural Variation, the event urges participants to question themselves, where they’ve come from, and how they can adapt to our ever-changing world. 

Prior to that, though, Southern Nevada burners have just announced that they are gathering for the Dark Skies Arts Festival 2009, their own annual branded regional Southern Nevada Regional Burn event.  It will be at Mojave Drums in Meadview, AZ (about 100 miles north of Las Vegas) for four days from April 23rd through April 26th.   A limited number of 250 tickets have gone on sale yesterday afternoon, ranging in price from $45 to $75 each.  There will be no gate sales. 

The Las Vegas artist and performer community is small, but mighty and growing – they’ve increased the number of locals attending events every time they do them.  Their community is based on participation and communication, creating a growth outlet for creative people.  The Dark Skies community is planning this year to build an art installation, a mutant vehicle for roaming the playa (you can’t drive your own vehicle within camp), and put on various performances. 

Dark Skies promotes a radically inclusive, participatory, self-reliant, leave-no-trace event existing amid a gifting society environment (no buying and selling of goods and services) where people don’t direct others, but rather do what is necessary (they call it a “DO-Ocracy”).  It’s not a rave or camping trip – it’s a community. 

Dark Skies is accepting applications for either participating in or conducting workshops and special events. Last year they had a hula hoopin’ workshop, past life regression, fire spinning, solar power, creative rope bondage and more.  They also have crazy, zany events like a tightie-whities contest.  Deadline to submit workshop requests is April 17. 

Are we really just a very small piece of a gigantic cosmic puzzle?

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Junk for some is $900,000 art for others

Two San Francisco artists are suing a Gerlach farm-owner claiming he torched La Contessa, a replica of a 16th century Spanish galleon that often appeared at the annual Burning Man festival.contessa

Simon Cheffins, an artist, and Greg Jones, a mechanical engineer who helped build it, said in their suit that Mike Stewart, owner of Orient Farms, considered their creation “junk” and destroyed it on Dec. 5, 2006.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Reno, claims Stewart violated a federal law that prohibits the destruction of art work and seeks $900,000 in damages and also punitive damages and legal fees.

Although the ship was kept on property that Stewart had later acquired, the “Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990” protects and artist’s work regardless of where it’s housed, said Paul Quade, a Reno lawyer representing Cheffins and Jones.

Stewart, an outspoken opponent of Burning Man, never tried to contact the artists, Quade said, and had the debris left after the burning hauled away for “scrap.”
 
Quaid said that it took about 100 people more than 9,000 hours to build the galleon in 2001 and 2002 using donated funds and grant money.

“Performances of theatre, music and trapeze took place on La Contessa during Burning Man and other festivals,” Quade said. It was also featured as “a significant work of art” in numerous media outlets, he said, including Rolling Stone Magazine, the Discovery Channel, and the San Francisco Guardian.

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Las Vegas Downtown Art Museum Plans Kaboshed

mocaThe dream of Finnish businessman and European art collector Poju Zabludowicz was to come to downtown Las Vegas and build a contemporary art museum.  He and his wife, Anita, have been feverishly collecting art since the mid-1990s and had planned to privately fund and build the museum. 

But, at least for now, that dream will not come true.

 Likewise, the art community of Las Vegas is largely devastated and heartbroken. 

Zabludowicz, chairman and chief executive officer of Tamares Group, withdrew his group’s proposal to build the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in an old fingerprinting building on East Fremont Street in the Las Vegas Entertainment District.  He cited the poor economy for last week’s decision. 

Although Tamares, which owns several Las Vegas downtown properties, including the Las Vegas Club and Plaza, still plans to open MOCA at some undefined future time, it’s just not in the cards now to invest $12 million in a nonprofit venture. 

The City of Las Vegas also required that the museum be completed within two years, a timeline that didn’t work for Tamares.

 The Zabludowicz Collection includes more than 1,000 works by emerging artists of the late 20th and 21st centuries.  Some of those works had been planned to be brought to Las Vegas.  The art centerpiece, titled the “Large Field Array,” would have been a permanent installation of about 8,000 square feet, being comprised of 300 sculptures by British artist Keith Tyson, who won the Turner Prize in 2002. 

The City of Las Vegas has already contacted five other groups that previously submitted proposals for building on the site.  Most of them were for nightclubs. 

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who has long identified himself as a proponent of the arts, said that he doesn’t support a downtown art museum.  “It’s not necessary to have an art museum.  I want a mob museum,” said Goodman.

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Cirque du Soleil Art Exhibition Comes to Las Vegas

The creative genius of Cirque du Soleil will present their fifth annual collective art exhibition at The Rever Gallery at The Arts Factory, 107 E. Charleston Blvd., beginning on February 6 and running through February 27. 

More than 30 art pieces will be on display.   For information, call 702-352-0225

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Barack Obama Moves to Las Vegas

Barack Obama is now a permanent part of the Las Vegas experience.  On January 15 Madame Tussuad’s unveiled their Barack Obama wax sculpture at five locations, including their museum at the Venetian in Las Vegas.  The highly detailed sculpture shows the president-elect smiling with his arms casually crossed.

The artists at Madame Tussuad’s were prepared to update their presidential exhibit regardless of who won the election.  Clay molds were designed for both Senator McCain and then-Senator Obama.  Unlike most real-person sculptures that require meticulous measurements, photographs and video were used to create the best representation of both men. 

Obama’s arrival didn’t mean the end of President Bush.  While it’s true that at the Amsterdam Madame Tussuad’s, George W. Bush was left on the sidewalk surrounded by luggage, in most cases, the current president’s image will be carefully preserved in the museum archives.

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Morph Into President-Elect Barack Obama

In our Las Vegas Backstage Access blog posts we’ve given you information on how to register your new inaugural dress on-line to prevent the embarrassment of being seen wearing the same one as other women.  And we’ve given you the inside scoop on where all the Las Vegas inauguration parties will be.  But don’t just stop there. 

Now, you can top it all off and be morphed into Shepard Fairey’s iconic style print of President-elect Barack Obama with your own mug.  Just surf on over to http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com  (no .www) and upload your beaming photo, choose the word you’d like to have  placed underneath it, and – Viola! – you’ll be visually transformed immediately and effortlessly into Barack.  You can e-mail your work of art to all your family and friends.  Or just place in their gallery.

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Eye-Candy Galore at Las Vegas Art Museum Exhibition

It’s best to set an appointment now with your eye doctor, because on April 17 there will be lots to see as the Las Vegas Art Museum will start their hosting of 50 works selected by the National Gallery of Art from the Herbert and Dorothy Vogel collection, with an exhibition titled “Fifty Works for Fifty States.”   The national gift program distributes 2,500 contemporary works to 50 institutions- one in each state.

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Welcome to our Las Vegas VBA Blog

 

Vegas Backstage Access has launched live on the Web:

http://www.BackstageAccessVegas.com

Whew!  It was quite a long and challenging ride.  But it was well worth it.  Lots of careful thought and design planning time and effort went into our branding and launch. 

We’re all about writing and photographing on the Las Vegas entertainment, lifestyle, food, art, and travel scene. 

Feel free to read, write and submit anything you might think others in the journalism and photojournalism profession might enjoy.

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