Best Albums of 2018
- February 1, 2019 - 5:48pm
10. Jussie Smollett, Sum of My Music
No way Empire star Jussie Smollett was about to let a label – in his case, not just any label but Sony – stifle his musical ambitions. So he walked. Then he independently produced a stunning soul album called Sum of My Music. Smollett’s buttery croon and barefaced vulnerability are served on a smoldering bed of R&B grooves that bend contemporary urban trends in exciting and sincere ways. Same-sex love is a liberating act of defiance on the intimate organ-droned “Freedom,” the precursor to “I Know My Name,” a spirited self-determination chant and proof that going his own way was, clearly, the way to go.
9. Santigold, I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Sessions
Pure, unencumbered joy on a Santigold album? Yes, she was looking out for your darkened post-Obama spirit, recording a much-needed but little-heard antidote for 2018. For it, the dancehall queen opened the blinds and let the light in on I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Sessions. Deploying an intoxicating ush of reggae-tinged bliss on playful escapade “Crashing Your Party” and cosmic bop “Valley of the Dolls,” Santigold’s hallucinatory medicine goes down so easy you just might forget the sting of this last year.
8. Christine and the Queens, Chris
Gender constructs bend and break in the glistening queer-pop heaven of French artist Hélöise Letissier’s Chris. Rich in the singer-songwriter’s sense of self, the result of her own exploration of gender and its place in society, the subversive and complex Chris flexes a fully formed and thriving persona, where ambition, sexuality and electric pop-funk sizzlers are well within her spectacular reach.
7. Sugarland, Bigger
“So cut the cake, and let us eat,” country artist and queer ally Jennifer Nettles sasses on Sugarland’s first album in eight years. Given the surprising sociopolitical weight of the rest of her reunion with Sugarland bandmate Kristian Bush, it makes perfect sense that the duo’s call-for-cake is a call-for-equality: “Mother” conveys the pro-LGBTQ stance of its, yes, country music creators, while the wrenchingly too-real “Tuesday’s Broken” makes a case for stronger gun laws. It ends on “Not the Only,” leading us into a new year with a needed dose of unity and light.
6. Robyn, Honey
This isn’t the Robyn album we asked for. You wanted to dance more, and for that, dear queers, you have a trilogy of Body Talk bangers. Though lead single “Missing You” is the kind of Robyn song you’ll be happy to know will leave you feeling sad on the dancefloor, generally, Honey doesn’t bang; the Swedish pop star’s art changed because her life changed – a breakup, a death. Thusly, Robyn let Body Talk be Body Talk, and because she’s an artist she sculpted a new sound for a new era that forgoes the immediacy and lingering pop thunder of “Dancing on My Own.” Honey, then, with its ’90s-R&B vibe and low-key house throwbacks and wonky detours (“Beach2k20” anyone?), is its own sweet, weird and wonderful thing.
5. Pistol Annies, Interstate Gospel
Country artists Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley have been here before, narrating cheeky and earnest parables of love, life and other woes set to the Americana backdrop they’ve all independently pursued. But with Interstate Gospel, their collective supergroup is fine-tuned as they breathe new life into the road-less-traveled aphorism on “Milkman” and uncover the grimiest of family traditions in “5 Acres of Turnips,” as Lambert’s lament teems with aching regret: “generations of shame, in my granddaddy’s name.” Beauty ultimately triumphs, as does Pistol Annies on this, their most moving album.
4. Janelle Monae, Dirty Computer
In 2018, Janelle Monae came out and declared herself human. Her other reveal – that she is pansexual – is no footnote on a year that needed all the queer visibility it could get, but her latest finds Monae shedding the metal components of her android alter ego. For Dirty Computer, she came down to earth with bold, timely and lyrically charged assertions of being black, female and queer in an America where all the above is shunned. Her remedy for Trump’s America: a vagina monologue (“Pynk”) and a restorative message for the disenfranchised (“Americans”). Dirty Computer is an artist taking full advantage of her role as an activist.
3. Mariah Carey, Caution
Living tea-drinking legend Mariah Carey came to Caution without the world’s expectations on her shoulders, resulting in her most cohesive and self-assured set since 1997’s Butterfly. On “GTFO,” she kisses off the hims and hers she does not know in a composed and blasé purr, the whole low-key affair setting the stage for the diva’s chill defiance. This is Mariah emancipated from caring. This is Mariah in a negligee on a chaise lounge sipping her hot tea (and on “A No No,” spilling some too). This is Carey turning in one of the most experimental tracks of her enduring career, “Giving Me Life,” as elusive as ever during the song’s hypnotically eerie final stretch. This is what happens when you’re Mariah Carey on your own terms. To that I say, resoundingly: a YES YES.
2. Brandi Carlile, By the Way, I Forgive You
Veteran singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile came at us hard with the pen on By the Way, I Forgive You. Not a word was wasted, and the Grammys took notice, nominating Carlile – the most nominated female artist this year – for six awards, including Album of the Year, as well as Record of the Year and Song of the Year for her soul-reviving queer anthem, “The Joke.” Notably, the set lives in the space Carlile is most comfortable: the intimacy of a theater, where her towering rough-hewn howl has room to embellish and warm instrumentation emanates like a front-row seat at a Carlile concert. Lyrically, world injustices are brought to the fore with personal urgency and dramatic flare; the album is sad and dark and heavy. But it will heal you too.
1. Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour
On Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves follows her own arrow again, thank you very much, as she evokes a world so serene it’s hard to believe we’re living in it. Flowers grow and so does love. Rainbows break through the sky and so does hope. Musgraves’ Golden Hour reminds you of the here-and-now, her voice as sweet as the pretty things – and the pretty hard things (letting someone go on “Space Cowboy,” the year’s best breakup song) – she brings to life simply by reminding you they exist. That’s the point, of course: to turn an eye to the unseen, clouded by a volatile political and social state. But Musgraves’ majestic spin on simple pleasures is like returning to a place you love, where just the thought is comforting – a balm, a breather. The sound of a new day.
UNLV Art Exhibit - Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A.
- February 1, 2019 - 5:34pm
Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A.
An art exhibition at the UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art of work by a collaborative network of over 50 LA-based queer Chicanx artists produced through the 1960s to 1990s
Curated By: C. Ondine Chavoya, David Evans Frantz
Exhibition Dates, UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art:
January 11-March 16, 2019
Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. is a traveling exhibition that explores the intersections among a network of over fifty artists. This historical exhibition is the first of its kind to excavate histories of experimental art practice, collaboration, and exchange by a group of Los Angeles based queer Chicanx artists between the late 1960s and early 1990s. While the exhibition’s heart looks at the work of Chicanx artists in Los Angeles, it reveals extensive new research into the collaborative networks that connected these artists to one another and to artists from many different communities, cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations, and international urban centers, thus deepening and expanding narratives about the development of the Chicano Art Movement, performance art, and queer aesthetics and practices.
As referenced in its title, the exhibition also sheds light onto the work of Edmundo “Mundo” Meza (1955-1985), a central figure within his generation. Primarily a painter, but also known for his performances, design, and installation work, Meza collaborated with many of his peers towards developing new art practices amid emerging movements of political and social justice activism.
Axis Mundo presents over two decades of work — painting, performance ephemera, print material, video, music, fashion, and photography — in the context of significant artistic and cultural movements: mail art and artist correspondences; the rise of Chicanx, LGBTQ, and feminist print media; the formation of alternative spaces; fashion culture; punk music and performance; and artistic responses to the AIDS crisis. As a result of thorough curatorial research, Axis Mundo marks the first historical consideration and significant showing of many of these pioneering artists’ work.
Artists included in the exhibition:
Laura Aguilar, Jerri Allyn, Carlos Almaraz, Skot Armstrong, David Arnoff, Steven Arnold, Asco, Judith F. Baca, Alice Bag, Tosh Carrillo, Monte Cazazza, Edward Colver, Vaginal Davis, DIVA TV, Jerry Dreva, Tomata Du Plenty, Simon Doonan, Tomata du Plenty, Elsa Flores, Anthony Friedkin, Harry Gamboa Jr., Roberto Gil de Montes, Gronk, Jef Huereque, Louis Jacinto, Ray Johnson, Alison Knowles, Robert Lambert, Robert Legorreta (Cyclona), Zoe Leonard, Les Petites Bonbons, Scott Lindgren, Mundo Meza, Judy Miranda, Ray Navarro, Nervous Gender, Graciela Gutiérrez Marx and Edgardo Antionio Vigo, Richard Nieblas, Dámaso Ogaz, Pauline Oliveros, Ferrara Brain Pan, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Clemente Padín, Phranc, Ruby Ray, Albert Sanchez, Teddy Sandoval, Joey Terrill, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Patssi Valdez, Ricardo Valverde, Jack Vargas, Gerardo Velázquez, Johanna Went, Faith Wilding
Exhibition tour has been organized by Independent Curators International (ICI).
Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. is curated by C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz as part
of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, an initiative of the Getty to encourage ambitious research and exhibitions at Southern California cultural institutions. The exhibition is organized by ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries in collaboration with The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and organized as a traveling exhibition by Independent Curators International (ICI). Lead support for Axis Mundo is provided through grants from the Getty Foundation.
This exhibition is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support has been provided by The Calamus Foundation of New York, Inc., the City of West Hollywood through WeHo Arts—the City’s Arts Division and Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission, Kathleen Garfield, the ONE Archives Foundation, the USC Libraries, and the Luis Balmaseda Fund for Gay & Lesbian Archives, administered by the California Community Foundation. Funding for the exhibition tour has been provided by the generous support from ICI’s International Forum and the ICI Board of Trustees.
The presentation at the UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art has been organized in collaboration with support from Meow Wolf, The Intersection, UNLV Department of Interdisciplinary, Gender, and Ethnic Studies, MGM Resorts Art & Culture, and an anonymous gift in honor of Hilda Roop. Additional partners include UNLV Spectrum, Latinos Who Lunch, and The Art People Podcast, UNLV Student Diversity & Social Justice, the UNLV Department of Art, UNLV Public History, the UNLV College of Fine Arts.
The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada announces new officers
- February 1, 2019 - 5:18pm
The Board of Directors for The Center is pleased to announce the election of a new slate of executive officers. The Centers bylaws state that we must elect officers every two years and each officer can serve a maximum of three terms.
Joseph S. Oddo, Jr., former Vice President of the Board of Directors and Regional Manager for Cox Business has been elected unanimously to serve as President of the Board of Directors. In a memo that went out to staff on Tuesday evening, Oddo stated “Our first order of business remains the same, find a permanent Executive Director that we need, that you need and that our community needs with the skills to be able to lead our center with dignity, passion and strength for years to come!” He continues on to say, “We have some work to do and I know that with our shared love of this community, there is nothing we can’t achieve.”
In addition to a new President, a new Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary have been elected unanimously by the board.
Brian Hosier has been elected Vice President; Scott Ramer has been elected to Treasurer and Garrett Pattiani has been elected Secretary. Hosier, Ramer and Pattiani are elated to serve in this leadership capacity for The Center and are eager to get to work to increase our reach to the community!
The Board of Directors would like to thank our outgoing officers for their years of service to The Center and our community! Wendy Kraft departs as Secretary, Donya Monroe, current Interim Executive Director departs as Treasurer and Wayne Cassard departs as President. The Center is in a better place today because of the 2017-2018 Executive Committee and we thank them for their service. Cassard will continue as a member the Executive Committee as Past President and serve as council to the committee.
5 Tips to becoming their go-to booty call
- February 1, 2019 - 4:49pm
We’ve all had a random hookup we hope comes back for more.
Maybe they look yum naked or throw down the good-good like Thor’s magic hammer. Perhaps they give great post-bang convo or cuddle like an Olympic-level big spooner.
Whatever’s got you giddy for that one-time fling, here’s how to turn it into a regular thing.
1. Be Available But Play It Cool
If you’re lucky enough to get a ping for a repeat session, act natural – and suppress your eagerness to respond immediately. Let the text sit for 15 to 30 minutes, then hit back that you’re out with friends at the moment (people with active social lives are much more attractive than those loafing on the couch – to me at least), but suggest a time that you’ll be home (even if you already are) an hour or two later. Yeah, playing this card may mean that the object of your ass-fection will move on to the next person in line or be unavailable when you finally are, but this strategy allows you to pick up around your place and it gives you some measure of control from the onset since they’ll recognize that you’re not going to drop everything to get them back in your bed.
If you’re the one reaching out when you’re thirsty, send one text and one text only. They got it – even if they haven’t responded. Don’t get all Glenn Close about your non-relationship by blowing up their phone. Nothing makes people run for the hills faster than a creeper with boundary issues – no matter how big your assets are or how good in bed you think you are.
2. Keep Yourself and Your Digs Presentable
I met someone at a bar once that I got just drunk enough to go home with. I very rarely go to their place, and their spot was a perfect example why: Mattress on the floor, overflowing ashtrays next to the bed, the pungent smell of cat waste wafting through the barely furnished shanty. Totally turned me off. I couldn’t jet quick enough.
I expect that you don’t have this problem – I assume most homos (even the younger ones) don’t live in squalor – but if you look around your home and see anything that a guest might find offensive, like dishes piled high in the sink, pet hair everywhere, or a shit-stained toilet, clean it. Visitors deserve to come into a respectable situation, and failing to present yourself in a put-together manner basically says you don’t give a fuck – about you or them.
3. Show Your Interest, Not Your Desperation
If you’ve managed to get someone in your bed on multiple occasions, good on ya; you’re reaching pro status. But with that comes feelings a lot of times, and that scares some people. Don’t catch emotions. Coyly let them know you’re interested, but don’t be desperate about it. Not the sex, not the “something more.” It may evolve into that one day, and you’ll know if the sentiment is reciprocated (if you’re self-aware, at least), but for now, go with the flow, let things happen, be easy-breezy, my friend. You’ll both have more fun that way.
4. Remind Yourself That This Is Casual
If you find yourself developing more than lust for your now-frequent bed buddy, step back and assess the situation. Were you looking for a significant other when this started? Have they expressed a similar interest in you? Are you two on the same page, or is this just you getting ahead of yourself? Will this ruin the good thing you have? And what’s their deal? Is their life messy? Are they double-double toil and trouble? Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
5. Be Awesome in Bed
I’ll be the first size-queen to tell you that you don’t have to be hung like a college basketball player (only reason I watch the games; it’s March Madness in my pants, y’all) to be a boss in bed. I’ve slept with a few men lacking manhood who more than made up for it with all the right moves. A solid bangarang is about confidence, self-awareness, focusing on your strengths (maybe your make-out game is strong and they love to kiss), and giving that someone what they want and need times two. Ask what they like and follow through. Just don’t be weird, OK?
Personally I’m turned off by someone who’s overly aggressive and/or too panty – at least at first; we can work up to the kink – and neither of those first-fuck habits will warrant a follow-up sesh. Play it safe (figuratively and literally) while building the foundation for anticipation of the next time. If it’s memorable, they’ll be back for more – guaranteed.
The University Medical Center of Southern Nevada widens HIV testing in Las Vegas
- February 1, 2019 - 4:35pm
The University Medical Center (UMC) in Las Vegas has recently adopted broader testing for HIV.
On Dec. 1, which also marked the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day, the UMC adopted 12 year old guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommended testing for all Americans, not just those classified most at risk.
“We have the tools available right now to eliminate [AIDS],” Dr. Jerry Cade of UMC’s HIV program said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The CDC’s 2006 recommendation was not widely adopted. In Nevada, the number of new HIV cases has increased since 2012.
Now UMC’s response to this will be to test just about every patient who receives treatment there.
Reports the Review-Journal:
UMC is adopting what is called “opt-out” testing guidelines. Patients who are getting blood drawn in the hospital’s adult ER will be automatically tested for HIV unless they request otherwise. The change, which falls in line with the CDC’s guidelines, should reduce the number of new cases in a state that had the sixth-highest diagnosis rate in 2016 nationwide.
The hospital announced the protocol change as part of an effort to help Southern Nevada reach the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS’s 2020 “90-90-90” target goal to get 90 percent of all HIV-positive people to know their status, 90 percent of diagnosed people on antiretroviral treatment and 90 percent of people on antiretrovirals to achieve undetectable viral load levels, so the disease doesn’t spread.
“That will be one more patient who knows they’re positive,” said Cade. “For that individual patient, it means they’re going to live a longer and healthier life.”
UMC hopes their work will encourage other Las Vegas Valley hospitals to follow suit, together lessening the number of new patients living with HIV/AIDS in Nevada.
Las Vegas gathers to recognize Transgender Day of Remembrance
- February 1, 2019 - 4:23pm
Nov. 20 marked the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), and Las Vegas joined communities around the world recognizing the day.
Jamie Lee Sprague-Ballou, founder of Las Vegas TransPride, organized a week’s worth of events around TDoR, culminating in a vigil hosted the evening of Nov. 19 at 1140 Almond Tree Lane.
According to the Las Vegas TransPride website:
This is the original day that TransPride week has been built around, as we remember those who boldly lived as their authentic selves. We carry their voices with us, as we continue to fight for justice and equality.
TDoR recognizes the transgender lives lost through violence around the world that year. In 2018, 369 transgender men and women were killed, up more than 100 from 2017. Of those 369 deaths, 30 happened in the United States.
“These are hate crimes,” said Sprague-Ballou, according to Las Vegas Now. “We’re trying to bring the awareness of the hatred that exists against our community.”
During the vigil, 369 cards with names and faces of the victims could be seen covering a wall. All their names were read aloud, as happens every year with a new batch of names.
“Here in Las Vegas we are privileged, but we need to remember other places that don’t have the privileges like we do,” said Sprague-Ballou. “We would love there not to be a Transgender Day of Remembrance where we don’t have to have this day; where people would just know how to exist with us, and we’d not have that fear.”
“We carry their names, and we carry their hurt with us,” explained Sprague-Ballou further. “I would love it if we can come one year and say, ‘We have no names to read this year because everyone is treating us like people.’ What kind of world would that be?”
Attack on Las Vegas gay couple investigated as a hate crime
- February 1, 2019 - 3:38pm
Police are investigating an attack on a Las Vegas gay couple in November as a hate crime.
Suspects Kealan Abraham, 34, and Andre W. Duncan, 39, have had a hate crime enhancement added to their battery charges. If convicted, the enhancement means a longer sentence.
In addition to the hate crime charges, the two face charges of battery with a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, as well as conspiracy to commit battery.
The attack occurred outside the couple’s apartment. Their names were redacted in the arrest report, but detectives concluded they “were verbally attacked regarding their sexual orientation during the battery,” reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Writes the paper:
The battery happened on Nov. 29 as the couple was arriving home on the 1900 block of Simmons Street, near Rancho and Vegas drives. One of the victims was thrown onto a glass table during the fight, at which point, according to the report, Duncan picked up a piece of broken glass and began stabbing the victims. The couple’s injuries included broken ribs, a punctured lung, numerous lacerations and puncture wounds, the report stated.
However, the suspects and one of the victims already knew each other before the attack. At one point, they all worked at a single Walmart location, where issues began several weeks prior.
Abraham and the victim are reported to have had a verbal altercation while on the same shift, which included Abraham allegedly calling him an ‘abomination,’ this “because of his sexual orientation and the fact that the suspect knew that he had a boyfriend,” claims the report. Walmart was aware of the alleged comments and moved Abraham to the graveyard shift to separate the two.
According to the Review-Journal:
During that same argument, Abraham also allegedly used a derogatory word to refer to gay people in saying he “wants to kill” homosexuals, according to the report.
Two days before the attack, according to the report, Duncan also showed up at Walmart while the victim was working and confronted the victim, “calling him by the same derogatory terms previously used by the other suspect.”
Mott 32 Vegas - Hong Kong’s legendary restaurant opens new location inside The Palazzo at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas
- February 1, 2019 - 3:16pm
Mott 32, one of Hong Kong’s most award-winning restaurants and a culinary icon in contemporary Chinese cuisine, will open its first U.S. outpost this winter, bringing their Eastern concept West to The Palazzo at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas. The acclaimed menu combines authentic Chinese recipes handed down from generations with progressive cooking techniques. Paired with exceptional mixology methods and stunning design, the experience at Mott 32 is truly one of a kind.
“We wanted to do something different by bringing a little of Hong Kong to Las Vegas. Mott 32 is one of the only upscale Cantonese restaurants born in the Far East that will come to The Strip,” said Patrick Lang, vice president of restaurant and nightlife development for Las Vegas Sands. “Mott 32 is known for stunning design, innovative yet authentic Chinese cuisine, delicious hand-crafted cocktails and first-class service wrapped up in a vibrant, energetic environment. It is a unique brand that appeals to both Western and Asian customers perfect for our guests at The Venetian.”
The name Mott 32 comes from New York’s first Chinese convenience store that opened in 1891 at 32 Mott Street and was the nucleus for what is now a vibrant Chinatown in one of the most exciting cities in the world. Mott 32 is thus a celebration of Hong Kong culture and culinary tradition, and represents a modern Chinese city.
Farm-to-table cooking is at the heart of the restaurant’s menu. Led by Group Executive Chef Man-Sing Lee – a two-Michelin star chef in his previous role – and Vegas-based Head Chef Alan Ji, Mott 32’s culinary team meticulously sources the finest ingredients, allowing the authentic flavors to shine with delicacies derived from Cantonese, Szechuan, and Beijing cultures. The signature dishes at Mott 32 will include Apple Wood Roasted Peking Duck with Mott 32’s “Signature Cut,” Barbecue Pluma Iberico Pork glazed with Yellow Mountain Honey, Iberico Pork with Soft Quail Egg and Black Truffle Siu Mai and Crispy Triple Cooked Wagyu Beef Short Ribs.
Mott 32 is a playful scene with a design that dares to be different. Renowned interior designer Joyce Wang will oversee the design of Mott 32 Las Vegas after the critical success of her Mott 32 designs in Hong Kong and Vancouver, which includes winning the “World Interior of the Year” award out of all categories for Mott 32’s Hong Kong outlet.
In addition to pairing New York industrialism with classic Chinese elements, The Palazzo location of Mott 32 has an added layer of details rich in Las Vegas culture. Various areas within the venue are delicately lit by neon signage – a cerebral trick on the viewer, who could find this reminiscent of either urban Chinese street market signs or the glimmering lights of Las Vegas.
The designs pay tribute to the history of Las Vegas – from a dining table made out of a vintage Roulette wheel, or the chandelier adorned with a feather boa. These intricate design elements, along with the venue’s open, spacious and inviting layout, provide the perfect setting for a full night experience.
“This is a most exciting period in our company’s history,” said Malcolm Wood, Founder & Group Managing Director of Maximal Concepts. “With the addition of its fourth global branch, set to open in Las Vegas, Mott 32 will reinforce its position as the leading luxury Chinese restaurant around the world. We’re excited to introduce the U.S. to a unique, luxurious yet comfortable fine-dining experience with a standard of authentic Chinese cuisine that does not exist here yet.”
Mott 32 will be located inside The Palazzo at The Venetian Resort, spanning 11,715 square feet with five private dining rooms, and can accommodate up to 242 seats at any one time. Mott 32 will be open for dinner seven days a week.
The Howard Hughes Corporation Announces The Las Vegas Aviators
- February 1, 2019 - 3:00pm
The Howard Hughes Corporation®, owner of the Las Vegas 51s®, the city’s professional Triple-A baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL), and developer of the Summerlin® master planned community and the Las Vegas Ballpark currently under construction at Downtown Summerlin®, announced today the team’s new name - the Las Vegas Aviators®.
The announcement of the new name included the unveiling of the team’s new logo was made at a special event at Downtown Summerlin hosted by The Howard Hughes Corporation. The event was attended by close to 2,000 guests, including representatives from Minor League Baseball, former Major League Baseball players now living in Las Vegas, as well as season ticket holders, community leaders, and nearly a dozen little leaguers from throughout the valley.
The name change comes on the heels of the team’s September announcement of its new two-year Player Development Contract (PDC) with the Oakland A’s and in advance of the spring 2019 completion of the Las Vegas Ballpark. The new, state-of-the-art Triple-A baseball stadium will serve as home of the newly named Las Vegas Aviators with the home, season and stadium opener slated for April 9, 2019.
The Aviators name officially went live today with newly branded merchandise and apparel available for purchase at the Las Vegas Ballpark Sales Center at Downtown Summerlin, as well as online at AviatorsLV.com.
According to Weinreb, the name change pays homage to the company’s namesake, Howard R. Hughes, Jr., one of the twentieth century’s most successful businessmen whose passion for aviation and legacy of innovation includes significant aviation-related firsts and accomplishments. In the H-1 Racer, a plane he designed and built, Hughes set the land speed record of 352 miles per hour in 1935. Hughes went on to set other records, including the fastest coast-to-coast flight in 1937 and the fastest circumnavigation of the globe in 1938, then acquiring and successfully operating major airlines and aviation companies.
“Hughes’ vision and ambition was unmatched,” said Weinreb. “That, along with his imprint on Las Vegas, where his legacy has helped shape the community for decades, makes the decision to name the team in his honor an easy one. The Las Vegas Aviators is the perfect name for the city’s oldest professional sports team, one that is now launching a new chapter with a state-of-the-art stadium in Summerlin and a new major league affiliation.”
The name, the Las Vegas Aviators, was chosen from hundreds of names submitted by the general public through a competition in which the community was invited to participate in the naming process. According to Weinreb, the Aviators was a popular name nominated by many Southern Nevadans.
“Everyone is excited about our new name,” said Don Logan, the team’s President and Chief Operating Officer, who has been with the franchise for 35 years. “With new ownership, our impending move into the Las Vegas Ballpark and our new professional affiliation, this is the perfect time to rebrand the city’s beloved baseball team. The Aviators was a popular nomination from our fans, and it’s a fitting new moniker for the city’s first professional sports franchise as we start our next exciting chapter.”
Cirque du Soleil & Blue Man Group perform at Vegas Golden Knights Game
- February 1, 2019 - 2:49pm
On Saturday, Dec. 22, Cirque du Soleil and Blue Man Group brought their imaginative acts to the T-Mobile Arena as they performed on ice during two intermission breaks at the Vegas Golden Knights game against the Montreal Canadiens. Before the intermission performances and to mark the start of the game, audience members enjoyed the Canadian National Anthem serenaded by Rochelle Collins, regularly seen on stage at KÀ at MGM Grand.
During the first intermission, 25 cast members of the fan-favorite resident show KÀ, dazzled the audience as they rappelled from the ceiling cascading to the ice. Drawing inspiration from KÀ’s theme, a theatric battle took place between the imperial court and the chief archer and his spearmen when the court’s festivities were interrupted.
For the second intermission performance, Blue Man Group awed audience members with a one-of-a-kind musical performance of Creature Feature, an exclusive piece found only in their Las Vegas production. Featuring electrifying sounds made with unexpected instruments, like the Percussipedes and the Chimeulum, Creature Feature concluded with a unique tribal drumming experience that only the Blue Men could create.
Attendees also enjoyed KÀ and Blue Man Group virtual reality experiences on the plaza ahead of the game and were able to pose for photos with interactive billboards as their backdrop.