December 8, 2008
Jazz is an art form that crosses many boundaries, and many jazz lovers say they see colors and images when a great jazzman plays. So it is perhaps not surprising – though no less thrilling – to find that when a jazzman paints, you can hear music. That happened to me when I visited the art studio of longtime jazz player Thurman Hackett, who has recently taken up residence in Las Vegas. Continue reading »
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What? You didn't make plans for Nevada Day? Sure, this state holiday, now observed on the last Friday in October, often catches folks by surprise. But don't let another year go by without checking out the annual open house at Castillo del Sol, Lonnie Hammargren's peerless house of wonders on Sandhill Road. You know the place – the one with the Statue of Liberty's arm sticking up over the cinderblock wall. The rest of the place is just as … odd. 
Great news! Norm Clarke has a new book out!
"Norm Clarke's Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales"
Norm Clarke has been a part of my Las Vegas experience since I arrived here in 1999. We “met” the first time I opened the Las Vegas Review Journal and caught sight of the black eye patch on page three. I admit, my first impression was, “OMG, how silly. A celebrity gossip column gets higher billing than local news.” But it didn’t take me long to understand that celebrity gossip is local news in Las Vegas. 
The final round of the 2008 Liberace Piano Competition was an event Liberace himself would have enjoyed, and he’d certainly have reason to be proud of it. It’s just one of the programs sponsored by the foundation he founded back in 1976. For me, the competition was more personal, stirring up memories of a time in my childhood when the maestro's laughter was particularly welcome. 
The Russian community in Las Vegas might fly under the radar but its world-class performers soar high above the stages of the Strip. Others from the former USSR contribute to Valley life in such areas as medicine, technology, real estate and gaming, and while there’s no distinct ethnic enclave, Russian foods are available at two markets and an acclaimed restaurant. Having wandered through two adventurous years in Russia back in the '90s, I was happy to find a bit of my former home away from home here in the Valley. 
Everybody loved Liberace. He was the Glitter Man … Mr. Showmanship … the performer with the million-megawatt smile. And if we sometimes thought his virtuoso piano playing was a little hokey, a little over-the-top, well, it was all part of the rhinestone-studded package. But it turns out Liberace had a serious side, and the charitable foundation he established before his death now supports young pianists in both the classical and the spectacular traditions. 
The new Erotic Heritage Museum opened on Industrial Boulevard earlier this month, the brainchild of Ted McIlvenna, a Methodist minister, and Harry Mohney, owner of the Déjà Vu Showgirls strip club next door. Walking a fine line between pornography, sex ed, fine art and good fun, the museum celebrates sex and the First Amendment with equal enthusiasm. Wipe that leer off your face, and come check it out. 
Horse racing fans can get their fix year-round, but the six-week meet of the Saratoga Racetrack in upstate New York is prime time for me. I grew up in Albany, N.Y., 30 miles south of Saratoga, and every summer I looked forward to spending some time at the track. Lucky for me, I can enjoy the Saratoga experience right here in Las Vegas -- in any casino’s race and sports book. 
Las Vegas began its big growth spurt back in the 1980s and 1990s, and it hasn’t let up in the new millennium. Since I moved here in late 1999, the place has grown by leaps and bounds. The building boom continues, the population has risen more than 45 percent, and the dirt road I took to the grocery store has become a six-lane asphalt thoroughfare. Why, we've even acquired a Komodo dragon. What next? 
It isn't every plant nursery that lets you take home a 12-foot saguaro, kiss a miniature pig, and get married in a chapel overlooking Red Rock Canyon. But Cactus Joe's is no ordinary place. It's worth the trip out to Blue Diamond to check out Joe Davidson's enterprise, whether you need a cactus or not. 
