Posts Tagged ‘journalism’

Ah, gentler (and thinner) times. That’s yours truly with “Gonzo” Greg and Nicole at the Hard Rock Hotel in 2006 for the Gumball 3000 road rally Las Vegas visit. It was my first time hanging out with the pair, who at that time hosted Area 107.9′s morning show. We waited forever on the red carpet for alleged celebrities to show up (I was covering the event for the Las Vegas Weekly), and had to entertain ourselves somehow.

Bonus: Here’s audio of my appearance on Greg and Nicole’s radio show a year or so later, after I became the editor of Racket magazine.

Just so no one thinks I’ve been slacking off and doing nothing but making comics, here’s evidence to the contrary: The most recent (well, until a few days from now when another one comes out) issue of What’s On Las Vegas, featuring (aside from the raven-haired beauty distracting you on the cover) my stellar recap of a pampering session at The Art of Shaving inside the Mandalay Place shops at Mandalay Bay.

Yes, it’s a tough job, getting paid for undergoing a Royal Shave and writing about it, but you know, someone has to do it. Better me than you. And to be honest, the experience did give me a new appreciation for the, um, art of shaving. I now use a brush and aftershave and preshave oil and all that stuff … when I actually get around to shaving every few weeks.

Oh, and I’m still (though less frequently than I or my channel editor would like) writing about Las Vegas fine arts over at Examiner.com, in case you were wondering. I even posted something in the last 24 hours. So there.

Just so no one thinks I’ve been slacking off and doing nothing but making comics, here’s evidence to the contrary: The most recent (well, until a few days from now when another one comes out) issue of What’s On Las Vegas, featuring (aside from the raven-haired beauty distracting you on the cover) my stellar recap of a pampering session at The Art of Shaving inside the Mandalay Place shops at Mandalay Bay.

Yes, it’s a tough job, getting paid for undergoing a Royal Shave and writing about it, but you know, someone has to do it. Better me than you. And to be honest, the experience did give me a new appreciation for the, um, art of shaving. I now use a brush and aftershave and preshave oil and all that stuff … when I actually get around to shaving every few weeks.

Oh, and I’m still (though less frequently than I or my channel editor would like) writing about Las Vegas fine arts over at Examiner.com, in case you were wondering. I even posted something in the last 24 hours. So there.

This Fine Arts Examiner thing is interesting. It’s giving me an opportunity to broaden my understanding of facets of the arts I’ve previously had little experience with. During my time as a contributor to the CityLife and as editor at both The Rebel Yell newspaper and Racket magazine, I covered visual art inside and out, from interviews with artists and gallerists to assessments (let’s not call them reviews) of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and other gallery staples.

But areas such as dance, opera and — to some extent — poetry are fairly undiscovered territory for me, journalistically.  So forgive me if I stumble a bit, but I have to say I’m fairly pleased with my first review of a ballet performance, and expect to see more such coverage in the near future. Here’s what you may have missed:

• Nevada Ballet Theatre breaks genre barriers with “American Masters”
• Clark County School District students given a “VOICE” in the art world
• Contemporary Arts Center encourages culture lovers to get “Off The Strip”

In the works are reviews of the “Classic Contemporary” show at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art and the new Danielle Kelly exhibit at Henri & Odette, and other stuff that’s all artsy and whatnot. If it’s your thing, be sure to sign up for RSS updates. Go art!

It makes sense that my two stories in this month’s issue of Six Degrees Las Vegas are published back to back in the magazine (pages 44 and 46). The Killers opening the new Joint concert hall at the Hard Rock Hotel ties in directly to the Vegas-spawned quartet’s headlining of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, as both events take place the same weekend, and not by coincidence.

One great side effect of Coachella’s relative proximity to Vegas is the visits by a number of bands and artists scheduled to play that three-day festival in Indio, Calif. right here in Sin City the same weekend. This year, all three headliners are performing pricey (and mostly sold-out) shows: The Cure on Friday, April 17 at the Pearl inside the Palms resort, Paul McCartney on Sunday, April 19 at the Joint, and the aforementioned Killers show opening the new-and-improved Joint, also on Friday.

Of course, I’ll be going to none of the above shows. I’ve seen the Killers enough times to last me a few years, Cure tickets were mind-numbingly expensive and Sir Paul … those tickets went in the blink of an eye. Really, there are a number of concerts I’d love to hit that are coming to Vegas soon, including Depeche Mode and the once-in-a-lifetime (since Lollapalooza) combo of a fully reunited Jane’s Addiction and Nine Inch Nails. But ticket prices for these shows (both at the Pearl) have been so exhorbitant ($95 at the low end for JA/NIN and $200 on the high for DM) that no reasonable person, especially not in this economy, can afford them. But given that they’ve been selling briskly, there are apparently a lot of unreasonable people out there.

So in the midst of everything else I have going on, I decided to add just one more little thing to my plate, and if you either a) like art, b) live in Las Vegas or c) even better, both “a” and “b,” then this news is for you: I’ve recently joined Examiner.com as the Las Vegas Fine Arts Examiner. What does that mean?

Not sure, actually. But I think it means I’m writing about art in Vegas.

So far, I’ve written three stories in the last three days, and haven’t even done my pre-First Friday round-up yet, so for anyone who STILL thinks there is a dearth of arts culture in Sin City, I have only this to say: THPPPPT.

If you want to keep up on what’s new and upcoming in the world of fine (and, let’s be honest, not so fine) art in this unholy desert outpost we call home, please subscribe to my Examiner.com RSS feed. Or you can go old school and bookmark that nonsense.

So in the midst of everything else I have going on, I decided to add just one more little thing to my plate, and if you either a) like art, b) live in Las Vegas or c) even better, both “a” and “b,” then this news is for you: I’ve recently joined Examiner.com as the Las Vegas Fine Arts Examiner. What does that mean?

Not sure, actually. But I think it means I’m writing about art in Vegas.

So far, I’ve written three stories in the last three days, and haven’t even done my pre-First Friday round-up yet, so for anyone who STILL thinks there is a dearth of arts culture in Sin City, I have only this to say: THPPPPT.

If you want to keep up on what’s new and upcoming in the world of fine (and, let’s be honest, not so fine) art in this unholy desert outpost we call home, please subscribe to my Examiner.com RSS feed. Or you can go old school and bookmark that nonsense.