Electric Daisy Carnival sets the stage in Las Vegas

It was 19 years ago, to this day, that I stumbled upon my first rave party. I was in the military and a seasoned attendee of the mainstream club circuit. I’ve always enjoyed music, especially dance music. Long before the repetitive beats of electronic music reached my ears, I was listening to (what is now called) synth-pop, funk, and even upbeat R&B. DJs like Junior Vasquez, Shep Pettibone, and Georgio Morodor we’re already remixing dance floor friendly renditions of the music that I enjoyed. It was then on that serendipidous evening out at a watering hole, when a young bar maid handed me and my friends a hand printed piece of paper with directions to an “after party” with dance music. I had little recognition that what I was being invited to was actually a rave party.

Had I been pummeled with the same negative annotations that much plagues the media today about raves. I would have not likely attended that party so many years ago. Nor would I have probably experienced one of the greatest moments of life. Now don’t get me wrong, part of the experience is the whole surreal nature of the rave. It’s the feeling of anonymity while still being connected. It’s the euphoric feeling you get (with or without chemical induction) that occurs when you are asynchronous with others. Times have changed and so has the rave itself. But for the most part, I see it as a positive way of expression and an exercise in self-reliance.

Festivals like the Electric Daisy Carnival are not “raves” as one who has experienced the real deal will tell you. If you want an example of what a rave really is, you’d be surprised. Talk to one of the many local underground DJs, they can tell you that the rave is definitive subculture that rivals the punk rock scene in the early 70s or hip-hop culture of the 80s. That’s not to say that the Electric Daisy Carnival and its parent company Insomniac Productions aren’t well versed in rave culture. This festival indeed started out as an underground rave party some 15 years ago, along with other quarter-yearly parties thrown by the same company.

Yet, people become concerned when they hear that something like this is coming to their town. A single death among 80,000 attendees last year (for any event) is hardly a cause for excitement. Yet the media continues to blow the truth out of proportion. They selectively refrain from giving the numbers of comparative events or reflect on the events of the past as a catalyst for information. Instead, it’s talked about the single death.

But if you’ve attended any of the major nightclubs here in Las Vegas you’ll be first to notice that the format isn’t much different. Between the visual and auditory stimuli and the pushing of legal narcotics at $10 a glass or $400 for the bottle, you find that what the Electric Daisy Carnival is pushing is nothing different. It’s just doing so on a greater scale. If you’ve ever thought about going to South Beach, Miami for the Winter Music Conference then you’ll know that what Insomniac Productions offer a similar experience but catering towards the more youthful at heart.

What appalls me the most, though is the level of hypocrisy that occurs regarding this event. If you’ve ever attended one of the pool parties along the Strip, you’ll find that nothing more than narcissitic cess pools of sex that’s fueled by cocaine and booze. The soundtrack is practically the same as their night time counterparts yet there’s no hiding the true ugliness and shallowness that isn’t restricted to the wading area of the heavily chlorinated pool water.

While nightclub and pool club security claims to have a “zero tolerance” for drugs and actively pursues regular and thorough searches. These are selective and the number of ODs or accidents due to exhaustion and dehydration are never released nor discussed. Yet, an insider whom I have the acquaintance to have known for many years says that there’s at least two incidents per weekend day.

Instead, these people are discreetly taken from the party by EMT trained security and then reported elsewhere on property. And only very rarely, on the most busiest of weekends, do we ever hear about these incidents on the news or in the paper. If we’re lucky, we get a first hand account from somebody’s Twitter account or maybe a rare piece of footage via YouTube.

Even Oscar Goodman, our city’s happy-go-lucky mayor is taking a hand’s off approach to the presence of the dance music festival. Perhaps, he sees it as a something to generate income. Thousands of attendees travel from Las Vegas to Los Angeles when the festival was being hosted there. In the process, they’d spend in total of thousands of dollars. From the ticket, to hotel rooms, to dining out, and even in gas. The stage is set for Las Vegas and it is rumored that Pasquale Rotella, owner of Insomniac Productions has a multiple year deal with the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to do the show.

http://www.electricdaisycarnival.com/LasVegas/

http://www.lvrj.com/news/electric-daisy-carnival-invading-las-vegas-after-recent-problems-124175554.html?status=error&action=requestPassword&errorCode=203

http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/14923536/raves-reputation-doesnt-faze-goodman?redirected=true

Some of country music’s finest at the CMT Awards

Okay, I’d be lying to you if I told you that I was a long time fan of country music. That’s not to say that I wasn’t paying attention. As a kid, my father was a truck driver and favored classic rock. He had a vast record collection that included the likes of Hank Williams, Jr., David Allan Coe, and Johnny Cash. While en route to family camping trips, I’d listen to my casstte tapes of Kenny Rogers on my Walkman. In my adult years, I spent some time in the military where I served with people of different backgrounds. This exposed me to many different things, including modern country music.

For years, music has been a passion of mine. I love all kinds of music but I definitely would have my preferences. While I do prefer some styles of music over others, country wasn’t high on my list for years. I’ve always been a fan of the blues, though. This music drives from the soul and is expresses the human experience and it was to my pleasant surprise to hear some modern country artist taking the blues approach to songwriting. This sparked my interest even more. My preferences in country music still tend to sway towards the more party rocking songs (called Outlaw Country – I’m told) but I’ve grown to like other songs as well. I’m grateful to fully expand my musical palette and watching the CMT Awards was as much an education and a fun watch.

Now, keep in mind that this is Country Music Television. This is the music video affiliate of the MTV Networks that also own Nickelodeon, Spike, and the parent channel of the same name. This is the same network known for gala awards that often focus very little around true talent and more about viewer hype. The CMT Awards are a fan-based award on par with other award shows that the Networks present. The presentation of the handful of awards come from industry and pop icons and are interluded with performances from the nominees and acting emcee, Kid Rock.

Kid Rock is among the handful of former rock stars making the country conversion. His performance with other rock transfer, Sheryl Crow was (in my opinion) one of the best of the night. They sang their duet, Collide, harmoniously and passionately. This is how I always envision the classic country duet going back from June and Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton with Kenny Rogers. The competition was stiff for the coveted Belt Buckle Award for Collaborative Video and not even Sheryl Crow’s “panty flash” could render enough votes to beat “Beiber Fever”.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I do think that Justin Beiber is a highly overrated icon that is generously riding on laurels of his affiliation with MTV Networks and his parents are playing the world for chumps all the way to the bank. But I accept his bubble-gum-pop presence for what it is. So when I saw the video for the powerful love ballad done with country superstars (and personal favorite) Rascal Flatts, I couldn’t help but feel odd about a teenage boy singing about love, sex, and infedelity. “That should’ve been me,” he says. Really? Okay. Nonetheless, the fact that the song beat out a classic remake of “Coal Miner’s Daughter” with Loretta Lynn, Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow or even the moving live duet between powerhouse Jason Aldean and triumphant Kelly Clarkson song, “Don’t You Wanna Stay” for the Best Collaboration Award shocked me to no extent. The lesson here: never underestimate the power of Beiber Fever. But some advice to the Biebs – this is an awards show. Do yourself a favor, show some class. Pull your pants up and leave the “ghetto-speak” for more “urban” networks. This is country music not a hip-hop show.

Which bring me to the subject of Ludacris and my only question is, “How is this guy relevant to country music?” Again, don’t get me wrong. I know and actually enjoy “Luda” on a musical level. Which says alot since commercialized rap sits about as well with me as a $.99 salsbury steak frozen dinner. Dirt Road Anthem is a great written song but the necessity of Ludacris on it just didn’t feel right. More on that later.

I do want to talk about my favorite performances, though. Long before I fully devulged into country music, I was listening to Rascal Flatts. What can I say other than they create lyrically powerful music. So much, that their song “I Won’t Let You Go” has been declared my new “official” love song. A title that goes to an alternative track that dates back nearly two decades. I’m thoroughly glad that they chose to perform that song rather than continue to ride the “Beiber train”.

Speaking of “train”. Anybody else wonder why whenever the band Train was mentioned, it consisted of just the lead singer, Patrick Monahan? I’m sensing some Gwen Stefani action happening here. I actually really do like the band together but don’t be surprised to see him working on some solo albums in the future. But I digress. I didn’t mean to derail the topic. This is about the CMT Award performances. I just wanted to point that out.

I can boldly say that I thoroughly enjoyed the stunning performances of the Zac Brown Band, who gave me that same feeling I got when listening to my dad’s records long ago. The multi-person setup of the band and folksy/bluesy sound really reminescent of the traditional jam band. Think Grateful Dead without all the acid.

Another standout performance was Lady Antebellum. I’ve grown to really like their sound, alot. The two vocalists seem to compliment each other well and the haunting piano melodies really tie it all together. The big surprise of the night, though was the direct transition from the ballad “Just a Kiss” to a classic funk groove in the form of the Tom Jones and Prince classic: “Kiss”. Lead vocalist, Hillary Scott even donned a purple tailed jacket in tribute to “the purple one” himself.

But the most powerful and stunning performance came from Sugarland. I can admit, that I was never much of a Sugarland fan up until this point. Seriously, for the most part I found them to be (for lack of better words) a very “fabricated” band. Not much of their music ever really stood out in my mind to be an instant classic. I’ve even turned away tickets to see them locally and given them to others I figured would enjoy them more. But their performance of “Stand Up” at the CMT Awards was nothing short of amazing.

Dedicating the performance to those in America’s heartland and Southern Coast whose homes were ravaged by storms, two of Joplin’s own were waving a white flag with the word LOVE written on it. The letter “O” contained a peace symbol. Shots to the crowd revealed several smaller versions of the flag waving above their heads. Video footage and still shots were displayed on the large LCD screens behind the performers. The message of the song was clear: “Stand Up, Use your voice!” I’m certain that there wasn’t a dry eye in the place and if you didn’t at least well up inside, your capability of human emotion could be in question. This performance is what defines country music. It made a believer in me, that’s for sure.

The long awaited return of Shania Twain didn’t come without a pitfall. One of country music’s signature divas had herself a little stumble on her way to the stage to do a presentation. This will eventually be edited out from the re-broadcasts (shame on you MTV for post-editing a “live” show). If you were on the West Coast, you’ll have to go to YouTube. But being the class act that she is, Shania took it in stride, later to broadcast online a not-so-needed apology from her dressing room.

The final award was given out by an obviously inebriated Kid Rock (don’t hate, it’s a party) trying to play out a scripted “shocker” moment with Taylor Swift as the winner of the Video of the Year Award. Sadly, her live acceptance in front of crowd at a show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin broke up into static. Now, I’m going on the limb here is saying that this girl doesn’t get the respect she deserves. From Kanye dissing her at the MTV Video Music Awards to this, Taylor just can’t get a break. It’s saddening really. She has incredible vocal range and she has a likeable personality. MTV Networks is a world-class broadcaster yet a decent satellite confrence connection for the winner of one of their most sought after awards is limited to what appeared to be just some guy with a cell phone. I surely hope that their sponsor, Verizon wasn’t the provider of the broadcast.

In the end Jason Aldean, who was nominated in several categories but shunted on every one would close out the show. He sang his hit Dirt Road Anthem which included the ill-placed Ludacris spouting that “History has just been made” in the end of the performance. Sorry, Luda but I beg to differ. You’re not the first rap artist to team up with a country music star and you’re not likely going to be the last. In fact, the legendary Rev. Run from Run DMC fame teamed up with Colt Ford on his new album that came out this same year. Either Run or even Colt Ford would have made the cut. Ford also recorded the song with Brantley Gilbert this year and was present at the Awards. Aldean finished the final performance with his boot stomping hit, My Kinda Party. But sadly, the crowd seemed to be just ready for the afterparty as the production credits rolled and cut the performance short.

From a awards show standpoint, this was a decent production. Not great by any means but decent. I was glad to see some of my favorite artists perform live. Some did better than others. Was this a five-star awards ceremony that could stand its own against the Grammy’s or Country Music Awards? No, but it was fun and for the most part enjoyable to watch. My only advice, from a fan’s point of view would be to leave the “live” element in tact. Wardrobe malfunctions and slip ups on the runway make for a good show. With all the “reality” TV your MTV Networks promotes, how about letting something that is actually “real” happen. Also, I really did expect to hear more from upcoming notable artists like Thompson Square, Colt Ford, and The Jane Dear Girls who were also nominated. If you’re going to have them on the performance list, at least let us see the performance not a snippet with the just the main chorus.

Overall, though the CMT Awards was enjoyable to watch. It’s part of my re-integration into country music and provided me with a catalyst to see some of the faces of the names from the CDs that I’ve bought this year. It gave me the oppotunity to see some of them performing live before I take the greater plunge and invest my dollars into a concert. It helped me realize really how much I do enjoy country music.

I’m giving the CMT Awards 2011:
General 3 Star rating – Could’ve been better, but wasn’t all that bad.

The reign of Goodman continues in Las Vegas.

Well, it seems like the only thing you need to forge a career in politics is to be associated with somebody else who is charismatic enough to sell your vote. Forget about running a city with political know-how. Forget about building sanctions to allow this city to grow. Nevermind knowing what abatement is or the difference between two different zone variances are. All you need is a good marketing campaign and to be the successor of somebody who was rather liked.

It just goes to prove that we’re in a world that doesn’t give a crap about how it gets done but rather how good you look doing it. George W. Bush did it twice with horrendous results. Now a new mayor, well sorta new mayor, sits in power of what could have been the greatest city model of beating this depression. Her opponent, answered the questions about the items listed above without even as much as a pause. That’s because her opponent, without a shadow of a doubt, knew what it took to run a city.

In the future to come, her opponent would have known what the various charts, figures, and tables regarding development, business sanctions, and civic ordinances mean. She would have known exactly the financial impact of a certain type of development would have on the community it resides in. Her opponent would have known when the greedy were coming in to swoop in to take advantage of a crippled economy and her opponent would have sent them packing.

But instead, the city gets the woman who we’d like to have as our grandmother. The woman we like to visit on weekends who lets us color out of the lines while watching grandpa practice his chip-shot off the 14th hole in Summerlin. The woman who, aside from bestowing us with great and valuable gifts, has no clue about us. She doesn’t know about that bully at school that you can’t shake and her answer to that D minus in math is to “study harder.”

At this point, the city can only hope that what is blatantly obvious is true. We can hope that she is nothing more than an extension to her husband’s legacy. We can hope that it’s him, not her, actually pulling the strings. Her husband’s legacy wasn’t all that bad. He did do some great things and will forever be an icon for the city. Let’s just hope that his legend is enough to carry his wife through as it did for this election.

What saddens me the most, though, is that the voters treated this election like just another episode of American Idol. Despite the very public campaign by all the candidates, the people surely didn’t take the time study the issues. They didn’t bother to take a solid look at what this city needs to recover. They placed their vote on the most popular candidate. They cast their ballot for the one who did the best job at not addressing the issues but had a better marketing team.

So they want to ban smoking in Las Vegas?

First, I’d like to state that I’m not a smoker and in all honesty, I believe it to be a nasty habit that I choose not to partake in. This choice, is mine however and is based on not only the scientific study on the ill effects of it but also that I don’t enjoy the aesthetics of it. Meaning, that I don’t want my home smelling of burnt tobacco or the paint on the walls to turn a shade of yellow.

But that doesn’t mean I have the right to restrict my friends and associates from enjoying a smoke. If they’re at my home, I have them step outside. I have an ashtray set aside for them. When all is said and done, I have one of my smoker friends empty the ashtray they used to dispose the ends of their cigarettes and ash. Although it’s not a flawless system, it works and most people I know that smoke are respectful of the rules.

I’d like to call attention a recent ad campaigning for “clean indoor air” in Nevada. This advertisement states states that many major cities like Los Angeles, New York, and other metropolitan cities have adopted clean indoor air legislation (read: smoking ban). This ad also tries to pull on the local heartstrings by claiming that this city is already a wonderful place but could be better. It compares the city of Las Vegas with the other cities around the world and discreetly states that the only difference between these world class cities is that there is an indoor smoking law. Thus claiming that the city isn’t up to par with the others.

My problem with this is two fold. First, there is already a smoking ban on any establishment serving food in the area or where children may be present. This law has put a significant hurting on many local bars and taverns that have depended on the service of both food and alcohol to patrons. This law has also impeded on the rights of smokers in very outdoor places like bus stops and public parks. I can agree to limiting the smoking in places where children are accustomed to be. Family restaraunts, grocery stores, shopping stores, even liquor stores can ban smoking. But when was the last time you saw a child (of whom the law was passed to protect) sitting at a tavern. It’s illegal to have children inside a gaming area. But some do just pass through with their parents. But a law does exist. So if a law already exists, why do they need another one expanding the regulation of it?

Next comes the presentation of this law. Las Vegas has always been the city where you went to do things that you couldn’t do at home. In most cities in this nation, trying to get an alcoholic drink after 2am and before 9am is nearly impossible. You can stay in a premium hotel for a standard or economical price. You can catch a Broadway show without having a reservation. If you drive a few miles out of the county, you can go to a brothel and fulfill sexual fantasies. And up until tribal gaming laws were passed, gambling was illegal in most places.

For decades, this has been the appeal of Las Vegas. It’s where people go to do things that they can’t do at home. The anti-smoking law doesn’t just impede on the those who smoke. It’s impedes itself on those who remember when you were asked if you wanted to be seated in the smoking or non-smoking section of a restaurant. It impedes itself on those who go to places like dive bars, taverns, or gambling establishments knowing that there is going to be people smoking there. The law doesn’t help Las Vegas at all. In fact, it takes away one of the things that make this city unique.

The solution is simple and it’s not about blanket laws that are in the interest of a select few. It’s about personal accountability. If you’re going to go into a place that allows smoking. You can choose to wear a mask to filter the smoke. You can choose to accept that you’re just one part of an expansive group of many diverse individuals. You can choose to not go at all and find an establishment that caters to you. But overall, it’s your choice that is enforced by you.

The Race is on in Vegas for mayor of Sin City!

I’m no hater of Oscar “used to be a Mob Lawyer” Goodman. He’s actually done some good things with the city and has done a decent job keeping this city somewhat above water in economic crisis. Yes, as political candidates go, he’s a joke. But then again, the city he represents doesn’t tend to take itself too seriously either. But the truth remains, good deeds aside, this city needs solid political leadership if we’re to ever truly overcome the hump of this depression. We need a leader to move us in a positive direction and be pro-active rather than just deal with the blows as they’re dealt out. For decades, Las Vegas has always been a city that has been able to recover. With a low-cost of living index and high job availability it’s been the place to go to get your career started, go to school, buy a home, start a business, or retire. But that margin has dropped incredibly since 2008 giving way to the highest foreclosure rate in the country, layoffs due to lower tourist numbers, and one of the worst rated school districts in the nation. On the scale of things, there’s not much a mayor can do to change these things. But there are ways they can give a push in the right direction. Mayoral candidate Chris Giunchigliani has a proven record of doing this. As a member of the city council, she has done her best to give businesses better opportunity to open shop and fought for the “little guy” in Vegas. Thus making life a bit better. Carolyn Goodman is nothing more than an extension of her husband. A glorified grandmother figure from Summerlin whose political affiliations aren’t much better than the PTA or local Pop Warner Football Club. That’s not to say that she isn’t charismatic or that she’s a bad person. It’s just that aside from being the wife of the mayor, where has she been? I’m not a political backer by any means. In fact, the mayoral race is restricted to those in the City of Las Vegas proper, of which I live just outside city lines. What I am is somebody whose life could be effected by such leadership. I’ve seen Giunchigliani in action. I have yet to see Carolyn Goodman in action. If Goodman wins, it clearly was based on popularity of contest and not political campaigning. If she wins, it’s because her husband made the right friends in the right places. It’s because Carolyn Goodman is riding the coat tails of her infamous husband. Not because she was a solid candidate.