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P UBL ISHERMichael Skenandore

EDI T ORI A LEDITOR Matt Jacob

SENIOR EDITORS Paul Szydelko, Xania Woodman

A&E EDITOR Cindi Reed

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Camille Cannon

SENIOR WRITERS Steve Bornfeld, Geoff Carter, Lissa Townsend Rodgers

CALENDAR COORDINATOR Ian Caramanzana

SENIOR CON T RIBU T ING EDI T ORMelinda Sheckells (style)

CON T RIBU T ING EDI T ORSMichael Green (politics), Al Mancini (dining),

David G. Schwartz (gaming/hospitality)

A R TCREATIVE DIRECTOR Ryan Olbrysh

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Jon Estrada, Cierra Pedro

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Anthony Mair

V EGASSE V EN.COMDIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA Nicole Ely

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Herbert Akinyele

ENGAGEMENT EDITOR Zoneil Maharaj

SENIOR WRITER, RUNREBS.COM Mike Grimala

ASSISTANT WEB PRODUCER Amber Sampson

PRODUC T ION / DIS T RIBU T IONDIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION Marc Barrington

ADVERTISING MANAGER Jimmy Bearse

DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Jasen Ono

S A L ESBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Christy Corda

DIGITAL SALES MANAGER Nicole Scherer

ACCOUNT MANAGER Brittany Quintana

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Alyse Britt, Robyn Weiss

IN T ERNS

James Cale, Aric Lairmore, Angeline Ramirez, Danny Webster

Ryan T. Doherty | Justin Weniger

PRESIDENT Michael Skenandore

VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING AND EVENTS Kyle Markman

DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS Michael Uriarte

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sherwin Yumul

MARKETING MANAGER Maureen Hank

FIN A NCEVICE PRESIDENT Rey Alberto

ASSISTANT CONTROLLER Donna Nolls

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT Linda Nash

HUMAN RESOURCES COORDINATOR Kara Dennis

LAS VEGAS’ WEEKLY CITY MAGAZINE | FOUNDED FEBRUARY 2010

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panying cocktails, demonstration, Q&A session and the recipes of the evening’s offerings. Today, enjoy a spring cook-ing demo and spring menu unveiling. On May 4, it’s a Cinco de Mayo festa demo. And June 22, learn summer rec-ipes. $45, 6 p.m., RSVP to 702-979-3609, MercaditoRestaurants.com/RedRock.

A P R I L 1 4Are pecans missing from your life? Celebrate National Pecan Day at Grand Lux Café, which has several sweet items on offer, including baked-to-order warm house-made chocolate chip pecan cookies, banana-pecan pancakes and caramel banana-nut French toast. Open 24 hours, in the Vene-tian, 702-414-3888, GrandLuxCafe.com.

A P R I L 1 8At Holy Hurricane, Ballast Point Brewery takes over Aces & Ales on Tenaya Way. Meet, hang and gossip with master brewer Yuseff Cherney while drinking Ballast Point beers from all 50 taps, as well as specialty casks tapped hourly. Plus, enter to win a trip to San Diego. 3 p.m., 2801 N. Tenaya Way, 702-638-2337, AcesAndAles.com.

A P R I L 1 9MTO Café’s next Sunday Night Sup-per Series transforms the Downtown location into a Korean brasserie. MTO chefs provide the amuse and soup, while chefs Daniel Ontiveros, Brian Howard, Brian Lhee, Ashley Traeger and Meilani Marriott provide four more courses, including dessert. $65, 5:30 p.m., 500 S. Main St., RSVP to 702-380-8229, MTOCafe.com.

A P R I L 2 5Hop heads rule at Big Dogs Brewing Company’s Peace, Love & Hoppy-ness festival all day long in the parking lot at the Draft House. Check out the more than 25 beers on tap from all around the region, as well as specialty bottles throughout the day. There will also be live music, food and a raffe. 3-9 p.m. 4543 N. Rancho Dr., 702-645-1404, PeaceLoveHoppyness.com.

A P R I L 2 9The guest-chef dinners continue at Made L.V. with pioneering chef Larry Forgione and his son, Buddy V’s ex-ecutive chef Brian, cooking up classic family-style dishes at It’s a Family Thing ($39). On May 13, Mike Minor whips up a Smokey Mexican Tequila Dinner. And soon after, dine with “Sammy D” DeMarco for a “magical and mysterious menu tour.” All dinners start at 6:30 p.m., call for details, 702-722-2000, Made-LV.com.

A P R I L 3 0The Deck at Aliante Casino launches its monthly poolside Jazz Under the Stars concerts with Brian Simpson.

The series continues May 28 with Pat-rick Lamb, June 25 with Alex Bugnon and July 30 with Lao Tizer with Chieli Minucci. $15, 7 p.m., 702-692-7777, AlianteGaming.com.

M A Y 2Wine Spectator’s Grand Tour rolls into town for its annual evening of tasting more than 200 of the world’s most highly rated wines. Meet and mingle with winery owners, winemak-ers and fellow wine lovers while taste-ing top-scoring wines, and dine from a light buffet—and keep the Riedel glass. $225, 7 p.m., in The Mirage, GrandTour.WineSpectator.com.

M A Y 5Cabo Wabo goes all out for its Cinco de Mayo Fiesta on the patio, featur-ing drink specials, live music and the restaurant’s signature Cabo San Lucas-inspired dishes. 702-385-2226, CaboWaboCantina.com.

M A Y 6Friends of the Shade Tree throws its 13th annual Girls Night Out char-ity gala at Hyde with a performance by Daniel Park. Ladies, this is your chance to dress up, dance and raise money for a cause that benefts other women in the Las Vegas community, as well as their children and pets. Enjoy an entertainment lineup by Corner Bar Management Group, libations by Southern Wine & Spirits and hors d’oeuvres by Hyde. $175, 6:30 p.m., in Bellagio, FriendsOfTheShadeTree.net.

M A Y 7The Venue Las Vegas and Wente Vine-yards partner to present a Winemak-er’s Dinner hosted by ffth-genera-tion winemaker, Karl Wente. This will be the frst event for the Venue Las Vegas, a 38,430-square-foot facility in Downtown Las Vegas, and its Con-noisseur Club. Tuck into four courses by chef Matt Contreras, including Moroccan-spiced lamb chops and Tahitian vanilla bean goat-cheesecake. $150, 6:30 p.m., 702-334-4708, TheVenu-eLasVegas.com.

M A Y 1 5 - 1 6Stone Brewing’s “Dr.” Bill Sysak drops into Aces & Ales’ Tenaya Way loca-tion for a Pre-Domination Cigar & Beer Dinner on May 15. Experience six beers personally chosen by Sysak paired with six courses prepared by chef Jason Glidden, plus cigars, a T-shirt and souvenir glass. ($100, 7 p.m., RSVP to 702-638-2337.) The next day, San Diego’s Stone Brewing Company takes over all 50 of Aces & Ales’ taps at the sixth annual Stone Domination. Meet master brewer Mitch Steele, and if you didn’t make it to the din-ner, meet “Dr.” Bill. 2801 N. Tenaya Way, AcesAndAles.com.

M A Y 2 1The Las Vegas Epicurean Affair re-turns to the Palazzo for its sixth year, raising funds for the Nevada Restaurant Association’s educational and scholar-ship programs, including ProStart, a national high school culinary skill and restaurant management program. Sam-ple cuisine from establishments both on and off the Strip, as well as a selection of libations and cocktails poolside. Tickets go on sale in April, 7 p.m. entry for general ad-mission, 6 p.m. VIP, NVRestaurants.com.

M A Y 2 2Mandalay Bay’s Beach Concert Series kicks off with Sublime With Rome ($50). Bring blankets, sit on the beach with a cocktail or wade in the surf while en-joying the music from the cool confnes of Mandalay Bay’s 1.6-million gallon wave pool. 9 p.m., MandalayBay.com/ Entertainment/Beach-Concert-Series.

M A Y 2 5Nothing to do on a Monday night? Check out Sake Mondays at Katsuya on the last Monday of every month, featuring complimentary sake tastings and half off all sake bottles—a great way to begin or continue your explora-tion of sake. 6-8 p.m., in SLS, 702-761-7611, SLSLasVegas.com/Dining/Katsuya.

M A Y 2 9There’s only one week left till the Car-nival of Cuisine with Mario Batali, so you’d better have your tickets for the June 5 extravaganza on the Palazzo pool deck. Sample award-winning cui-sine from restaurants in the Venetian and Palazzo, and participate in cooking demos as well as lavish tastings. Check Venetian.com/Entertainment/Events.html for details in the coming months.

M A Y 3 0Wander through the Springs Preserve and take in top local blues bands while sampling more than 60 craft beers from local, regional, domestic and international breweries at the sixth annual Brews & Blues Festival, sup-porting Keep Memory Alive. $35 in ad-vance, $40 day-of; $75 VIP ticket includes access to indoor lounge; members get $5 off admission; tickets on sale April 13; 4-8 p.m., SpringsPreserve.org.

M A Y 3 1Get your game plan together for Las Vegas Restaurant Week, June 15-26. For the frst time since 2011, the series will be spring-only, with 12 consecutive days of discount dining for a cause. As in the past, participat-ing restaurants will feature prix-fxe menus at price points ranging from $20.15 to $50.15, with a fxed portion of the meal’s cost donated to the Three Square food bank. Check out HelpOutDi-neOutLV.org in early June for details.

D o n ’ t f o r g e t t o c h e c k o u t t h e s e e v e n t s e l s e w h e r e i n o u r r e g i o n !

M A R C H 2 9Porcine culinary tour and competition Cochon 555 stops at Santa Monica with more than 36 chef-pre-pared dishes, plus butcher demonstrations showcas-ing the flavor and benefits of eating heritage breed pigs. Cochon555.com.

A P R I L 9 - 1 2More than 100 celebrity chefs and 250 wineries come together for three days and four nights of dinners and chef col-laborations, grand tastings, cooking demonstrations, and celebrity chef and winemaker golf tourna-ment at the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival. PBFW.com.

A P R I L 1 2Bubblyfest prepares for two pop-up festivals, one in San Francisco (April 12) and one in Los Angeles (June, exact date TBD). The main event, Bubblyfest by the Sea at Pismo Beach (Oct. 2-4), will showcase Champagne and more than 50 sparkling wines from around the world. Bubblyfest.com.

A P R I L 2 5All About Beer magazine and charity Beer Autism Hope’s first Hops And Hopes Craft Beer Festival in L.A. brings together craft brewers from across the country to combat autism. Attendees will get to taste suds from America’s best breweries, meet brewing legends and take part in craft-beer masters’ sympo-siums. HopCourage.com.

A P R I L 3 0More than 3,000 restau-rants across the country, including the Northern Nevada, San Diego and Palm Springs areas, will participate in Dining Out for Life, with a portion of the day’s proceeds going to support their local AIDS organization. An estimated $4 million will be raised. DiningOutForLife.com. – Jessie O’Brien

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NIGHTLIFEYour city after dark, photos from the week’s hottest parties and rockabilly DJ Lucky LaRue sticks to his vinyl

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#HBD, XSSix years into the life of Wynn’s largest nightclub,

Jesse Waits considers the efect

strong relationships have on DJ rosters

By Kat Boehrer

Avicii, who will perform at XS’s six-

year anniversary party, and Jesse Waits.

XS NIGHTCLUB IS COMING UP ON ITS sixth anniversary, which is a

huge milestone as far as Las Ve-

gas nightlife is concerned. Its book-

ings include names from among the

most famous DJs in electronic dance music.

Those, paired with extensive production elements and exceptional

hospitality standards, are what have kept the club going for so long.

XS managing partner Jesse Waits took a few moments to refect on

his relationships with such superstar DJs as Avicii, who will be play-

ing the anniversary party March 28.

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Did you specifically select Avicii to play the anniver-

sary party, or was it just convenient scheduling?

It was chosen. The second-year anniversary, we used Deadmau5. Third year was Skrillex, fourth was David Guetta, ffth Kaskade. We have differ-ent artists [each year]. Avicii and I are very close, and he wanted to do something special with us, so it was a good ft.

How have these personal relationships impacted the

business side of things for you?

With the politics of [the nightlife industry], having relationships with the artists helps secure where they want to be. When we’re put-ting offers in [to book DJs], it’s blind. We don’t know what the other clubs are offering. The DJs, they’ll say, “Hey, I want to stay with you. I don’t care what these others offer me.” That happens a lot.

How have you’ve become so close with these guys?

A lot of these kids had the same story when I frst met them: They were quiet and young, and maybe insecure. They were leaving home for the frst time, traveling the world, and not hav-ing any support or family, [other than] a tour manager. And they were coming to a city where they haven’t been before. [I was] somebody who would take them under my wing and give them some security and safety, and at the same time, they’d have fun. They’re looking forward to doing fun things they’ve never experienced be-fore. That was part of the whole bonding expe-rience for us, and it cultivated my relationships and loyalties with a lot of these guys.

What kinds of things do you do with the DJs when

you’re just hanging out?

I show ’em around, race cars at the racetrack

and shoot guns in the desert. Or we just go to my house and have bar-becues—regular things.

Who was your first close

DJ friend?

Tiësto [Tijs Verwest]. He came into town a lot, and we traveled to-gether. This is when it was Tryst only—XS didn’t exist. Tijs and I pal’d around; we few to Mi-ami. I had a place in Hol-lywood at The W, and he’d stay with me when he was in L.A. He basi-cally lived with me.

And you guys still keep in touch?

It’s funny, last night he sent me a WhatsApp [message] saying that he was reminiscing about the time when I frst met Avicii. It was through him. I had come home from the beach, and Tiës-to had a party at my house. There was this person in my bed, and I went into Tijs’ room and I was like, “Yo, Tijs, who’s in my bedroom?” And he’s like, “Oh, it’s some kid. Don’t worry about it. He’s a friend of mine.” So I go in there and there’s, like, beer cans and cigarette butts and tobacco all over the bed. And I’m pissed off. I’m like, “Get out of my room!”

A month later, I’m with Tijs again, and we’re in Miami seeing this kid DJ at a club. I look over and he recognizes me. He’s goes pale as a ghost and says, “Oh, I’m so sorry.” He was the kid that was in my bed, chewing tobacco. It was Avicii! And since then, he became a good friend.

From top: XS Nightswim; Zedd

performing at XS; and Waits at the club’s

two-year annivesary.

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THU 26Put those pinkies up, kids: You’re invited to a fancy party. Check out French designer Gilbert A. Chagoury’s spring ready-to-wear collection and sip cocktails at Scoop in the Forum Shops. Just frst give a heads up to RSVP@ScoopNYC.com. (In Caesars Palace, 6 p.m., ScoopNYC.com.) Wanna soak up the spotlight? Brooklyn Bowl is hosting another round of Rockstar Karaoke just for you. A live band will back you on your selection of more than 200 tunes. (At the Linq, 8 p.m., Vegas.BrooklynBowl.com.)

FRI 27Maybe you’re looking for food with your fun? Enter Nightshift at Lucky Foo’s, as the Asian-fusion restaurant busts out DJs, live

music and karaoke for your entertainment appetite. (8955 S. Eastern Ave., 8 p.m., LuckyFoos.com.) Another option is Nu Fridays at Urban Turban. The “Bombay Kitchen and Tapas Bar” offers 50 percent off beers, $4 well drinks and beats by residents Lance Le Rok, Bad Beat and more. (3900 Paradise Rd., 10 p.m., UrbanTurbanLV.com.) Local collective Behind City Lights is back to fll Hard Hat Lounge with nonstop grooves. The lineup includes sets from Dskovr, Namelss, LA Loser and Astro Gold. (1675 Industrial Rd., 10 p.m., Facebook.com/BehindCityLightsLV.)

SAT 28It’s been too long since the last Snoopadelic Cabaret on New Year’s Eve. Snoop Dogg has been busy recording music (“Peaches N Cream” with R&B legend Charlie

Wilson), and the at-home versions we’ve been throwing with rum and juice aren’t the same. Luckily, the D-Oh-Double-G is bringing the “speakeasy experience” back to Tao. (In the Venetian, 10 p.m., TaoLasVegas.com.) Now it’s time to nerd-out, reality TV fans. Vanderpump Rules’ leading manbabies Tom Sandoval and Jax Taylor host at Foundation Room. (In Mandalay Bay, 10 p.m., HouseOfBlues.com/LasVegas.fr.) Meanwhile, you can spot #RichKids of Beverly Hills stars Dorothy Wang and Morgan Stewart at Chateau. (In Paris, 10:30 p.m., ChateauNights.com.) We’ve been anxious for this one since it was announced in January: British production prodigies Disclosure have wrangled Eats Everything, Justin Martin and Jackmaster to join the debut of their Wild Life series at Light. (In Mandalay Bay, 10:30 p.m., TheLightVegas.com.)

SUN 29Cure your craving for sun-bathing with Dutch electronic duo Showtek at Wet Repub-lic. (At MGM Grand, 11 a.m., WetRepublic.com.) Bay Area hip-hop heartthrob G-Eazy drops rhymes at Drai’s. If club nights had a slow-dance section, we’d totally get all middle school during “Tum-blr Girls.” But it’s all good; we’ll turn up to the trap-tastic “I Mean It,” too. (In the Crom-well, 10:30 p.m., DraisLasVegas.com.) It’s the eve of the Night-club & Bar convention. The expo’s main man, Jon Taffer, will hold down The Bank, with DJs Ikon and Karma in the booth. (In Bellagio, 10:30 p.m., TheBankLasVegas.com.)

MON 30Speaking of the Nightclub & Bar convention, Marquee is home to the opening platinum party with a per-formance by rapper T-Pain and soundtrack by Vice. (In the Cosmopolitan, 10 p.m., Mar-queeLasVegas.com.) Also at the Cosmopolitan, swanky steak joint STK celebrates its fourth anniversary. The James Bond-inspired affair features sounds by DJ M!ke Attack and singer Nieve Malandra, plus a Moët Hennessy-sponsored bar. (10 p.m., TOGRP.com.)

TUE 31A couple of weeks ago, Martin Garrix posted an Instagram

pic of himself and Avicii work-ing in the studio. Rumors have been swirling ever since that a collaboration could be in the works. The two are in Las Ve-gas often enough. Maybe Avicii will tease new material tonight when he plays XS. (In Encore, 10:30 p.m., XSLasVegas.com.)

WED 1It’s April Fools' Day and you’ve got options! You can seal your roommate’s shampoo bottles with plastic wrap, replace the cream in Oreos with tooth-paste or turn everything in your fridge upside down. You can also decide whether you want to see Skrillex at Sur-render (in Encore, 10:30 p.m., SurrenderNightclub.com) or Tiësto at Hakkasan. (In MGM Grand, 10:30 p.m., HakkasanLV.com.) No foolin'!

ByCamilleCannon

NIGH

TLIFE

G-Eazy.

Disclosure.

Dorothy Wang and Morgan Stewart.

T I C K E T S & V I P R E S E R V A T I O N S | O M N I A N I G H T C L U B . C O M | 7 0 2 . 7 8 5 . 6 2 0 0 |

PARTIES

See more photos from this gallery at SPYONvegas.com

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[ UPCOMING ]

March 27 Jessica Who spins

March 28 DJ Loczi spins

March 31 DJ Crooked spins

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LAS VEGAS’ PREMIERE FOOD FESTIVAL, Vegas Uncork’d by Bon Appétit, rolls into town for its ninth year April 23-26 (VegasUncorked.com). With 23 events, Uncork’d showcases the talents of dozens of top chefs, including frst-time 2015 participants Emeril Lagasse and Brian Malarkey. But chef Julian Serrano is one of only a handful of chefs who has been there since the beginning (others include Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken).

“It’s a great accomplishment to have been there from the be-ginning,” Serrano says. “[Vegas Uncork’d] is good for the city and good for the restaurants.”

Fans come to Uncork’d not only to eat and educate themselves, but also to get up close and personal with some of the nation’s most respected chefs. And Serrano says he too looks forward to hanging out with his colleagues. “I’m on the phone with other chefs every day. It’s an incredible thing to get together with them, to share things about the business and have fun.”

Looking back on the last eight festivals, Serrano says the most memorable moment was con-ducting the frst opening-day saber-off (the event's ceremo-nial frst toast). The act of open-ing a bottle of Champagne by striking it with a massive blade is dramatic—and dangerous. And Serrano admits, “I was ter-rifed because I had never done it myself. I was thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I don’t want to screw up in front of all these person-

alities!’” It went off without a hitch, however. And the chef has been asked to do the honors again this year.

Serrano’s local empire has grown along with the festival. When Uncork’d launched in 2007, the only restaurant he had to represent was his award-winning Picasso. By 2010 he had launched his eponymous Aria tapas restaurant. And he’s cur-rently preparing for the April 9 opening of his Italian-inspired restaurant Lago in Bellagio, where he’ll host the saber-off and an April 25 Uncork’d brunch. The restaurant will feature patio seating with one of the resort’s best views of its famed fountains. And the chef says he’s excited about showing off the new space to the as-sembled foodies. “I feel a lot of pressure,” he concedes. “I hope we’ll be ready.”

Given his track record and the audience he’s expecting, Serrano will undoubtedly make his deadlines. And as the event’s newest venue, Lago will likely be one of the hottest spots for culinary power-meals. But right now the chef is worried more about business than schmooz-ing. “For me it is not as much of a party anymore,” Serrano says of Uncork'd. “In the beginning, I was more excited to hit the [dining] rooms with all these [chefs], and chase them down to shake all their hands. I still do a little of that. But now, it’s more for me about concentration and focus than the parties.”

That’s fne. It just means more room for the rest of us.

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From the BeginningAs Vegas Uncork’d nears its ninth birthday, we check in with a chef who has participated since Day One

By Al Mancini

Chef Julian Serrano and a rendering of

the Lago dining room.

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Jayne and Eric are equally comfortable at church and onstage.

blissful innocence and utter sincerity:� “I worked at an orange juice fac-

tory, but I couldn’t concentrate so they canned me. Then I worked at a blanket factory but it folded. Then I got a job at Starbucks but it was a grind.”� “A shipment of Viagra was hi-

jacked. They told us to be on the look-out for six hardened criminals.”� “If a man owns a gun and he has

no arms, is he still armed?”Once the frst “victim” is gunned

down, she trades shtick with Eric, the blowhard cop who charges in to inter-view witnesses:

Jayne on his shorty-shorts: “That’s a vio-lation of the penal code.”

Eric: “I moonlight on the side.”Jayne: “You moonlight on both sides

… more to the right.”Eric: “Do you know what happens

when you blackmail?”Jayne: “You never go back?”

* * * * *

“it’s really a sick thing we’re do-ing,” Jayne says about the murder plot. “But we bring in some camp, some hi-jinks. [It's] kind of ’40s radio stuff.”

Playing straight man to his wife—who is a former standup comedian and morning-zoo radio personality—didn’t come naturally to Eric, a veteran actor who in other shows has played Sonny to her Cher, Tarzan to her Jane and Caesar to her Cleopatra. “I had been the clown my whole life,” he says.

“After I met her, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I have to be the straight man, because she’s such a good clown.’ That was a learning curve to play the other side, because you have to play much more selfess. It takes real teamwork.”

Their professional/personal partner-ship began in 1989, when they met in Sacramento at Suspects Dinner Theatre, another interactive show. Romance went at full gallop for the divorced, sin-

gle parents. “Fifty-eight days later, we were married,” Eric says. “I said no six times,” Jayne notes. “Now we have three grandchildren and a fourth on the way.”

Beyond performing, religion bonded the pair. “I was divorced, I had a kid, I was anti-men,” Jayne says. “My world had gone upside down, and I was feeling empty. I started going back to church, but my Catholic upbringing was so heavy. He introduced me to Christianity as I un-derstand it now, as a nondenominational thing—just Christ alone. Religion itself has done a lot of yucky stuff.”

Describing himself as a “T.O”—for “theological offspring,” the son of a pas-tor—Eric addressed the reli-gion question early on. “My faith has been pretty strong my whole life,” he says. “After our frst date, I went home and called her and asked, ‘So what’s your faith?’ … That was crucial at the beginning. She was at a spot where she was searching.”

Search and ye shall fnd—which they did, and then some.

* * * * *

casually dressed in jeans on a recent Sunday, Jayne, striking and statuesque, mixes easily with her fock at Sin City Church, its name bluntly appropriate. “I have a heart for God, and I want your heart to get bigger for him,” Jayne says. “We’re not trying to beat it into you. We know we’re go-ing to fail. Hence the name—Sin City Church. We know we’re sinners.”

Adds Eric: “I’ve sinned more than enough not to be judgmental. To me, that’s the biggest misconception about Christianity—‘You think you’re so good.’ Well, no. The real essence of Christian-ity is knowing you need a savior, which means knowing you’ve been bad.”

Warm and energizing, Jayne draws congregants toward her after her sermon—today’s was on cultivating our best selves—at the church she co-founded with Reverend Rhonda Baker. Launched with “$25 and a Facebook page,” the church, Jayne adds, is “the only one planted in America by two women,” at least that they know of.

“I’m a female running a church, which is rare, though it’s becoming not as rare,” Jayne says. “But it’s still mostly a male narrative, so it’s breaking the stained-glass ceiling, if you will.”

Though not a co-founder or senior pastor, Eric serves on the church board,

ministers to congregants and helps oversee opera-tions, while Jayne—who is earning her master’s degree in business from the Harvard Extension School—helps in fnan-cial matters.

Adhering to the motto “Loving People to Life,” the church inside the campus of the Somerset Academy of Las Vegas

elementary school is heavily geared toward charity and volunteerism. Ten percent of donations go to a network of charities—including Opportunity Vil-lage, Global United Missions, Wednes-day’s Child, Nevada Donor Network and Speedway Children’s Charities—and volunteers are dispatched to hospital, hospices and homeless shelters.

Such Christian ideals sustain them, but 12 years ago that idealism was chal-lenged in the most awful way. While bicycling on Pecos Road near Windmill Lane, their 16-year-old son, Paul, was struck by a vehicle driven by another 16-year-old. He died on impact.

Jayne explains the aftermath: “He came to the funeral, and I forgave him instantly. Because I know how much I’ve been forgiven in my life, it was easier to

forgive. That’s what Jesus would do. Be-ing godlike in forgiving people changes lives. Many months later I met his moth-er in the grocery store, she just collapsed in my arms. She couldn’t believe I had completely forgiven, but it freed him up to live. He was only 16. Now he’s married with two kids, and he’s an attorney.”

After learning that, statistically, the majority of couples who lose children divorce, Jayne and Eric later renewed their vows at the Little Church of the West, and Eric says their relationship ad-justed to a new reality. “I didn’t want to lose Jayne, but then I realized I had lost Jayne,” he says. “Losing a child changes you. So I fell in love with the new Jayne.”

Rather than wreck her faith, her son’s death crystallized it.

“It’s a piece that’s missing, it’s a phan-tom limb, it’s the empty chair every Thanksgiving—it never goes away,” she says. “But we have to believe the faith we follow, so my faith went from con-cept to reality within 10 seconds. It in-tensifed for me that time is short so we want to make the most spiritual help—and the most laughs—that we can.”

* * * * *

claiming religious faith is eas-ier when nothing is at stake, and far harder—perhaps a deal-breaker—when something so precious is lost. Jayne and Eric Post kept the deal, living it day by day through their actions. By night, they live it laugh by laugh, as an infec-tious, if oddball expression of love.

So perhaps when, as DD, she tells the munching mystery-solvers that there’s been a twist in the plot, then leads everyone in gyrations to “The Twist” as Chubby Checker blares over the speakers, the giggles don’t qualify as a hallelujah chorus. Instead, it looks like a daffy pastor leading a cockeyed congre-gation in goofy prayer. And it’s fun.

Can they get an amen?

MARRIAGE CAN

BE MURDER

6:15 nightly,

Showroom

at the D Las Vegas,

$77 and up,

702-388-2111,

TheD.com.

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SOME VACANCY

March 26-28 are the last dates to check

out Table 8 Production’s Motel. Staged

in Downtown’s Gateway Motel, the

“immersive experience” is a creeper’s

dream that borrows themes of sex and

class from the 1897 German play, La Ronde.

Actors are encouraged to improvise so

each performance is unique … and intense.

Table8LV.com.

ART IMITATING ART

This weekend is also your final opportunity

to witness Venus in Fur, the second annual

collaboration between the Cockroach

and Nevada Conservatory Theatres. A

playwright auditions a woman so perfect

for the role he has written, it becomes

difficult to decipher what is real and what’s

on paper. See it play out March 26-29 at

Art Square Theatre. CockroachTheatre.com.

BY US, FOR US

We oughta applaud local emerging artists,

especially when their muse is Las Vegas

itself. Sin City-centric works by 12 UNLV

MFA students are on display in Creating

in the Desert, viewable at the Nevada

Humanities Program Gallery Downtown

through March 27. UNLV.edu.

CALLING ALL TREKKIES

Bunkhouse Saloon hosts Geeks Who Drink

for a very special Star Trek-themed pub

quiz on March 28. Questions will cover

territory from all TV iterations as well as

most of the films. No word on whether you

must successfully Vulcan salute to enter.

You will, however, need to cough up $5.

BunkhouseDowntown.com.

The

HITLIST

TARGETING THIS WEEK'S

MOST-WANTED EVENTS

By Camille Cannon

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What Happens When a #dreamMaker Gets Brave?When Charles Ressler enters the room, his enthusiasm

and passion fill it first. With a booming personality and

marketing background, he has a voice that resonates

across the city.

A New York native who has lived in Las Vegas for four

years, Ressler became embedded in the fabric of Down-

town as the head of communications and programming for

First Friday. When that role ended, leaving him somewhat

disenchanted with the ideals of the Downtown Project,

Ressler sought a new outlet. “The fear of becoming disil-

lusioned became the impetus behind finding something

constructive to reignite the altruism,” he says.

In late 2013, he found his spark: a way to unite social

media with everyday philanthropy. Called #dreamMaker,

it helps connect “dreamers” with “makers” via his Twitter

feed @CharlesRessler. In a year’s time, this idea facilitated

the achievement of 35 dreams. On April 2, Ressler debuts

the #dreamMaker app, which will allow anonymous dream-

ers and dream makers to create a profile, post dreams and

receive notifications, as well as designate favorite dreams.

“The more dreams you assist with, the closer you are to

your own,” Ressler says.

One of Ressler’s dreams is to return to the stage. Act-

ing as his own #dreamMaker, the former child performer

is producing, writing and starring in a solo show at

Reynolds Hall in The Smith Center on the same night as

the debut of his app (April 2, $22-$99, 702-749-2000,

TheSmithCenter.com).

Appropriately titled Brave, it’s directed by Larry Pel-

legrini of Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. It will benefit Opportunity

Village, I Have a Dream Foundation and the Las Vegas

Philharmonic. “One person, five people or 2,000 people, I

hope this calls people to believe in the community around

them,” Ressler says.

In preparation, he has been practicing aerial routines

with an original cast member of The Beatles LOVE and

working with vocal coach Jimmy Lockett (Broadway cast

of Cats and Starlight Express).

“Of all the brave people in that room that night,” Ressler

says, “I need to be the bravest in order to get the message

across about what living a brave life can garner.”

– Genesis Gonzalez

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MUSIC

AS THE SELF-PROCLAIMED “DEAN OF AMERICAN Rock Critics,” an early proponent of New Journalism and editor of count-less writers, Robert Christgau has infuenced journalism for decades.

You probably wouldn’t be reading this column if it weren’t for him.

Bob was one of my professors at New York University (two semesters of Writing Non-Fiction), briefy hired me to be his assistant (schlepper, sorter and occasional benefciary of promo CDs) and edited my frst piece for The Village Voice (about the But-thole Surfers). Even now, when I’m writing, one of Bob’s long-ago correc-tions springs to mind: a small warn-ing that those last few lines might be too lazy or too loquacious.

Of course, all writers have inspi-rations and infuences, including

Christgau himself. He shares many of them in his new book, Going Into the City (Dey Street Books, $28). It’s an alternately sprawling and focused memoir of how he got from Queens to Manhattan—about 13 miles geo-graphically, but 13,000 intellectually and spiritually. The book revisits the 72-year-old’s childhood in Flush-ing, playing stoopball, chuckling at Mad magazine and listening to the Yankees on the living-room radio. But “the city” lures those who grow up just beyond its glittering skyline and, after four years at Dartmouth and a few nondescript gigs, he winds up at the Herald Tribune, then Esquire, then a string of mass-media glossies and alternative weeklies before settling in at The Village Voice.

There are frsthand accounts of

Woodstock—“We smoked a lot of dope. We swam naked and fucked in the woods.”—and the early days of CBGB’s—“its squalid bathrooms more functional than history will record, its matchless sound system its only concession to success.” Yet, despite spending so much time backstage during rock’s golden age, Christgau doesn’t wallow in what he calls “Fame: An Inside View,” although his anec-dotes of hanging out with John Lennon circa 1971 illustrate a long-lost celebrity casualness—John and Yoko climbing two fights of an East Village tenement for a visit over Sara Lee coffeecake—be-fore unfolding into a consideration of Lennon’s Imagine.

As befts a critic, Christgau pauses to contemplate creative works such as Theodore Dreiser’s classic novel Sister Carrie and Television’s 1977 album Marquee Moon. He uses the Rolling Stones’ Aftermath to illuminate an era (it dropped when “something was happening and we weren’t yet attuned to what it was”). And he turns French cinema into a dating guide of sorts. These discursions help place Going Into the City in a time when the counterculture was young, when buzz took years to build, when bohemia required real-world shoe-leather to

fnd and when taking months to write an 8,000-word article on Bob Dylan was not only feasible but (somewhat) proftable. It’s not just Christgau’s words and experiences that drive Going Into the City, but his passion for reading and writing, which runs from the Bobbsey Twins to Dostoyevsky to Greil Marcus and fnally into editing authors such as Lester Bangs and Nelson George.

And, well, me. Bob’s NYU class was intense, about 10 students turning in essays to be taken apart, either in con-ference-table rewrite (Pick mine! No, actually, don’t pick mine …) or through his thoughtful pencil notations.

It’s served me well as a writer, and during my years as an editor and teacher. It surfaced when I sat with a student and picked through every sentence on the page, trying to balance pointed corrections with the glow of encouragement. I still have some of the papers I wrote for Bob. The pencil notes in the margins of one include “Its, not it’s” and “What? Why?” but end with “This is very good” and “Let’s get to work on something ambitious.” Words Robert Christgau has undoubt-edly said to many writers over the de-cades. I’m damned proud—and lucky—I was one of them.

[ OLD LADY IN A MOSH PIT ]

DEAN’S LISTThis music critic’s legacy extends far beyond the City

By Lissa Townsend Rodgers

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The Lazarus Effect (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩This is what happens when hip, smart actors

commit themselves to a horror movie. Mark

Duplass and Olivia Wilde ably play a scientist

couple whose work has led to a serum

that brings the dead back to life. And with

director David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi)

in charge, you can be sure this isn’t some

brain-munching zombie apocalypse. There’s

no point in overselling a conventional horror

picture that manages one good, cheap jolt

and a solid hour of dread. But Lazarus re-

minds us that a genre overwhelmed by junk

fare doesn’t need to be that way.

Unfnished Business (R) ★★✩✩✩A comedy with its heart in the right place

and everything else bizarrely out of joint,

Unfinished Business finds director Ken

Scott following 2013’s Delivery Man with

another dubious attempt to sell audiences

on Vince Vaughn’s sensitive side. Playing

a down-on-his-luck family man who takes

an ill-advised business trip to Berlin with

two unfunny sidekicks (Tom Wilkinson and

Dave Franco), Vaughn is the least of the

movie’s worries. It’s hard to deliver a good

buddy comedy when two of the buddies in

question are narrative dead weights.

Chappie (PG-13) ✩✩✩✩✩Writer-director Neill Blomkamp’s latest sci-fi

outing is a misjudgment. Robotic law en-

forcement droids have improved crime stats,

but gang activity is on the run. The police

order up more robots from the weapons firm

run by Sigourney Weaver. The firm’s lead de-

signer (Dev Patel) cracks the code for a new

iteration of droid, one that is fully human in

its techno-makeup. Meantime, the designer’s

colleague/rival (Hugh Jackman) continues

to press for funding on a sinister droid. As

voiced by Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley,

Chappie is a whining, dithering, bore.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (PG) ★★★✩✩Three years ago, The Best Exotic Marigold

Hotel relied on ensemble superheroics and

charmingly fractious banter. Director John

Madden’s easygoing follow-up resembles a

slightly scattered second season of a BBC

sitcom. We’re back in the Jaipur, India, retire-

ment hotel run by Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel),

who plans to open a second establishment.

The Maggie Smith character, a onetime rac-

ist, has mellowed and become Sonny’s co-

manager. The movie’s smooth to the point of

blandness, but its faces really do tell a story.

’71 (R) ★★★★✩This Belfast-set manhunt thriller puts us in

the precarious situation of a British private

stranded behind enemy lines. Screenwriter

Gregory Burke lays all this out with unusual

lucidity, though his teeming character ros-

ter can get a bit confusing. Burke wrote the

Scottish-warriors-in-Iraq play Black Watch,

and ’71 carries a similar gut impact. Focus-

ing on a young British soldier in the middle

of a Belfast nightmare might seem dodgy,

but it works; the ambiguities of purpose and

alignment prevent the audience from an

easy, reductive good-vs.-evil response.

Run All Night (R) ★★★✩✩Liam Neeson is our supreme late-winter

action star. The film co-stars Ed Harris

and Vincent D’Onofrio, and it also makes

room for a Nick Nolte cameo. Joel Kinna-

man, as Neeson’s bitter and increasingly

desperate son, may be the second-

most-important character in the film,

but I don’t remember much about him.

Directed, frantically, by Jaume Collet-

Serra, written by Brad Ingelsby, Run All

Night promises a sprint punctuated by a

lot of gunfire, and bleeding, and bodies.

Mission accomplished.

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palms.com ©2014 FP Holdings, L.P. dba Palms Casino Resort. All Rights Reserved.

SATURDAY

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Brian ChapinThe founder of the Great Vegas Festival of Beer

on the event turning 5, the current

state of beer and some transcendent brews

By Xania Woodman

Your Downtown Beer Fest is at the

Clark County Government Center

in the fall. Why did you bring both

festivals Downtown?

It’s a central location, a home base for the city. And they’re two of the best venues in town: the amphitheater—green, lush, grassy—and Downtown, where there is a lot of excitement. We’re able to grow the festival as the city grows.

You’ve said that the biggest

challenge last year was the festival

footprint, so you’ve overhauled

it. What’s different?

We’ve shifted it closer to what most people consider to be Downtown’s 50-yard-line. We are staying along that Fremont corridor, but we’ve shifted just a little bit east, closer to Eighth and 10th streets. It’s going to in-clude the Western Hotel, the Lla-ma Lot and Atomic Liquors. This footprint makes more sense, just being a little more put together and not so spread out.

What’s the state of beer today?

One word: insane. Limits are be-ing pushed and boundaries are being expanded. Craft beer has always been innovative, but the collaborations, pairings, how far craft beer has spread—it’s been awesome. Five years ago I would say “craft beer,” and people would ask, “What’s crap beer?” There is no doubt now it’s hit, people know it, they get it. It’s really neat seeing all these local breweries pop up, too. This year alone we had, like, fve open.

How will local brewers represent at

the festival?

We’ll have the biggest collection of local breweries that we’ve ever had for Great Vegas Festival of Beer. The Nevada Craft Brew-ers Association tent will feature from 15 to 20 one-offs, and [the traditional collective one-off brew] Banana Split will debut. It’s an easy-drinking German-style hefeweizen brewed with cacao nibs and vanilla beans. We’ll also debut a ffth anniver-sary brew that we created with CraftHaus Brewery. It’s an extra-pale ale that’s brewed with fve different hops and malt grains.

Will any of your personal beer

crushes be in attendance?

Man, there are too many to mention—Pizza Port Brewing Co. [of San Diego] and Able Baker Brewing Co. [Las Vegas] were crowd favorites last year, and both are returning. They always represent with unique brews. Rough Draft Brewing Co. and Alpine Brewing Co. are both stellar breweries out of the San Diego area that will debut.

You recently said that co-sponsor

Alpine from San Diego will change

my life. How so?

Until recently, that brewery created a very fnite amount of product. They’re just as good, if not better than most, in the art of harnessing the hops and making a really smooth, distin-guishable, balanced, yet unique IPA. They’re known for their Nelson IPA, and they’ve also got Duet, Pure Hoppiness and Exponential Hoppiness. These guys are a cut different. They’ve been able to niche themselves in an amazing way.

Lately I’ve embraced the silky

milk stouts, oatmeal stouts, brown

ales and porters. What should I

look for?

Local breweries have seriously upped their game. Look out for Big Dog Brewing Co.’s Bourbon Barrel-Aged Red Hydrant Ale and Joseph James Brewing Co.’s Milkshake Stout, both of which are spectacular. Old School—a brand-new brewery—is bringing a Vanilla Porter that is out of this world. If you’re a VIP, the Bruery is bringing its Bourbon Barrel-Aged Smoking Wood, which is nothing short of transcendental.

Any advice for festivalgoers?

Taste a lot and fnd some-thing—or many things—that you like. Don’t be afraid to try new things. You may not like old traditional Irish stouts, but maybe you’ve never had a milk stout and you’ll absolutely love it. Or maybe you’ve never had a peanut butter chocolate stout, and you’re just like, “Holy crap, I’m gonna seek this out!” The idea is to get people out of their comfort zone and to try things they maybe wouldn’t pull off the shelf or try at a bar, because they don’t want to commit to it. I also encourage pacing and get-ting a safe ride home. We have designated-driver tickets, and we have hotel blocks.

A little birdie tells me—OK, it was

you—that your event production

company, Motley Brews, is

expanding to San Diego.

Who told you that? Yes, we are, and we’re excited about it. San Diego is a mecca for craft beer. We’re bringing a unique festi-val experience to a market that touts almost 100 craft breweries. We’re targeting late summer.

GREAT VEGAS

FESTIVAL OF BEER

April 11, 3-7 p.m., general

admission $40 ($45 at door),

GreatVegasBeer.com.