FESTIVE FEELINGS KNOW NO BOUNDS
The Nightclub & Bar Show naturally takes on the feel of a busy bar. Loud music plays, lights flash and free alcohol abounds for attendees at the convention. Black curtains divide the party from the rest of the unadorned convention hall.
But the curtains didn’t stop the party atmosphere from escaping, giving custodian Veronica Avila a few seconds’ break from work to dance in a shower of confetti.
BY JOHN LOCHER/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Before they could be found on two out of every three soccer moms and sorority girls, few things said rock ’n’ roll more than tattoos.
The two will be reunited this weekend, though, during the first Art & Ink Festival at the South Point.
The event kicks off at 4 p.m. Friday with a food truck festival and concludes with the 5:30 p.m. Sunday announcement of the winners of the classic car show.
In between, the festival will feature live music, art shows, burlesque performances and pinup fashion, along with some of the best tattoo artists around.
Bassist Lee Rocker and drummer Slim Jim Phantom, both former members of the Stray Cats, will perform Friday, with KC & the Sunshine Band, Tommy Tutone and Toto’s Bobby Kimball taking the stage on Saturday.
Vendors will be on-hand to sell clothes, art and accessories each day.
3-11 p.m. Friday, 1-11 p.m. Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15 for Friday and Sunday and $25-$40 Saturday. For more information, call 702-7978005 or see www.lvartink.com.
Eight actors play more than 60 characters reflecting on the 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard — who was beaten, tied to a fence and left to die — and its effect on the Wyoming town where it happened in “The Laramie Project.” Off Strip Productions’ staging of the acclaimed “documentary theater” piece concludes its two-weekend run at the Onyx Theatre — a 100-seat playhouse inside The Rack, a fetish shop in Commercial Center on East Sahara Avenue.
“The Laramie Project,” 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Onyx Theatre, 953 E. Sahara Ave. Tickets: $20; call 702-732-7225 or go online to www.onyxtheatre.com.
To celebrate its grand opening, the newest valley location of Rita’s Italian Ice will give free Italian ice for a year to the first 50 people in line today who donate a personalcare item, which will be given to the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth.
The new location is at 2192 N. Rainbow Blvd. Regular hours are noon-9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and noon10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. There’s also a Rita’s at 693 N. Stephanie St., Henderson.
Cirque du Soleil’s “Viva Elvis” isn’t fondly remembered, but no one blames singer Toscha Comeaux, who was one of the bright spots. Her blues group Flat Five with Woody Woods kicks off a new series of Sunday afternoon music at the Las Vegas Shakespeare Company, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North.
Tickets are $10 for the 2:30 p.m. show; call 702-528-0455.
Why you should go? To see a local boydone-good with alternately sultry and dancefloor-friendly R&B. After attending Las Vegas Academy, Ne-Yo scored big as a songwriter, producer and singer of hits such as the Grammy-winning “Miss Independent.” He’s now senior VP of A&R for Motown.
8 p.m. Friday; Boulevard Pool at The Cosmopolitan, 3708 Las Vegas Blvd. South; $55, 702-698-7000.