A World Apart

Tuesday, March 27, 2001 | 8:28 a.m.

Spend a few minutes talking to Rod and Leslie Belford and you'll get an earful of stories about their earnest-yet-whimsical attempts to promote culture in Las Vegas:

They were given the boot at a local Borders bookstore for not censoring a foul-mouthed poet who spewed four-letter words during an open-mike poetry reading they sponsored.

Their Worldfolk magazine and thrown-together, late-to-middle-of-the-night AM radio shows were "a lot of fun," but short-lived.

Their musical events, held at local clubs, feature acts so musically diverse that audiences waiting for country-Western tunes were scared away during the punk acts, and gospel fans holding out for soulful sounds were offended during rap performances.

But those aren't problems to the Belfords, founders of the Worldfolk Foundation, a nonprofit grass-roots organization with the sole purpose of highlighting local arts and music. Rod will tell you, with a laugh, it's all about "mixing it up."

"Worldfolk has an educational component," he said, explaining its eclectic forums that range from performances by folk rock bands to a Bulgarian accordionist, to a man playing the Australian didgeridoo (a wind instrument made from a long branch) to a body art (tattoos and piercings) fashion show. "We like to educate and inform.

"We're like the ringmaster of the cultural circus," he added, followed by a long stretch of laughter. His warm sense of humor and laid-back attitude is helpful when promoting culture in a city that brings in personal stories from every corner of the world, but settles for more mainstream fare.

Over the course of six years the Belfords, who are in their 40s, have taken their circus of offbeat poets, artists and local bands over the airwaves, to music and other festivals and venues created for smaller fringe bands that don't often get the chance to perform at area clubs.

Their last-minute musical fund-raisers and their Feed'm festival -- held in concert with Las Vegas' annual Eat'm music convention for emerging bands -- have raised donated canned goods (the admission price) and funds for local charities.

The foundation's Battle of the Bands event, held last May in conjunction with Las Vegas Weekly's Battle of the Bands event, drew 45 bands.

More recently the Woldfolk Foundation held its third annual Koko Awards, spotlighting silent, out-of-the-way altruists who rarely, if ever, are recognized for their efforts to help others in the community.

The foundation has been on hiatus following the Koko Awards and has no concerts scheduled until its next Battle of the Bands event in May, Leslie said.

But another event could be scheduled at the last minute, she said in true Worldfolk spirit.

Improvising as a rule

Derived from a Bob Dylan fan club called Highway 61, the Worldfolk Foundation moved into the Las Vegas subculture scene six years ago.

With the afternoon sun pouring through the open door at Wordworks on South Valley View Boulevard, where Leslie operates her desktop publishing business, Rob recently recalled Worldfolk's evolution.

It started with Highway 61's potluck dinners and meetings at members' houses, he said.

"Then people started bringing guitars and harmonicas. That was the springboard to WorldFolk."

They started Worldfolk magazine, which attracted an eclectic mix of writers the Belfords solicited over the Internet, including a zoology director at Harvard University who reviewed CDs. But the magazine survived only four or five publications.

Soon after, the Belfords learned of KLAV 1230-AM, a local time-brokered radio station that allows people to buy time to create their own shows.

"We plunged right into the radio scene," Rod said.

"And, you know, we had never done radio before," Leslie added. "We went to the library, got a book, figured it out. We were on our way."

Before long they had four radio shows devoting air time to visual artists discussing their artwork, and local bands playing live.

"For the longest time we were known as punk-band promoters," Rod said.

More so because the bands were estranged from the mainstream, Leslie added.

Similar to other efforts, the radio shows were impromptu.

Their hosts included Silvana, a retail clothing store clerk with an Australian accent, who happened to answer the phone when Rod called to solicit advertising for the radio shows and then asked her to be a host.

Silvana had a really good voice, Rod said. "The bands really loved her."

Despite cramped quarters at the radio station, bands came in and performed live.

"The drums would be set out in the hallway, the guitar in the bathroom and a mike in another room," Rod said. "That segment went over great. We should have just stayed with that show."

But they pursued multiple on-air outlets on the AM airwaves that, they said, didn't transmit a signal very far.

"It was costing us $200 a week," Rod explained. "Being it was AM, it was hard to sell advertising."

Meanwhile the art show plunged because it was hard to convey art over the air, Rod added. "Then we had a blues show that Leslie and I hosted. That was fun.

"After a year and a half we decided to pull the plug. From time to time, I miss it."

Stage shortage

These days, with a new website, the Belfords hope to expand their efforts by creating a sort of webzine, which will relinquish the pitfalls they ran into with their print magazine -- distribution and advertising.

With the website, the Belfords said they are trying to create a pipeline between the Las Vegas and Southern California music scenes, giving local bands opportunities to play outside the area.

"It makes it hard when there's 200 bands and there's only six spots a week," Rod said, referring to the handful of clubs that feature live local music, such as Legends Lounge on North Lamb Boulevard and Boston Grill & Bar on South Jones Boulevard.

"We're never at a loss for bands," Rod said. "Sometimes we have more bands than the venues we have scheduled. Sometimes we get in trouble ..."

"... For scheduling eight acts in two hours," Leslie interjected.

But, Rod said, he doesn't want to tell bands that there is no place to play.

The admission price to most Worldfolk shows, which are typically held every couple of weeks, is usually $3. Worldfolk runs announcements seeking bands to perform in local alternative publications.

"People send us tapes all the time," Rod said. "There's so many bands and musicians in town. It's mind-boggling. Yet they're under the cloud of gaming.

"The only way to be a paid musician (in Las Vegas) is to sell your soul to a casino and play Top-40 songs," he said. "Artists are really struggling. This town is so hard for them (in which) to make any mark. A lot of them are just playing in their living rooms until they find a place to play.

"Eventually you're going to have to leave, go to larger markets, to be well known.

"A lot of bands break up and re-form. There's a saying that goes around, 'It's always the drummer' " that causes the breakup, Rod said. "Because of that we have a drummer's directory" -- an informal directory that connects drummers with bands in need.

Scene summation

Rod, a New Jersey native, has watched Las Vegas grow in the 26 years he's lived here and said he doesn't anticipate a cultural growth spurt here.

"Of the 4,000 to 5,000 people who move here a month, how many of (those) move here because of culture, as opposed to people who move to San Francisco or Seattle?" he said. "We don't get those kind of people. I don't think we ever will. People move here for one kind of thing. It's usually to work, retire or (for) the weather. They love Siegfried & Roy, Wayne Newton.

"There's no cultural conscience that's always here. It's hard to get a foothold and keep that foothold."

Local musician Mark Huff, who has played in area clubs for 20 years and performs at Mandalay Bay's House of Blues and at the Hard Rock hotel (including opening shows for Dylan), previously performed at Worldfolk events and on its radio shows.

"He's been such an enthusiastic supporter for music and art in town," Huff said of Rod Belford. "That's what drew me toward him as a friend. He works with a lot of the underdogs because they can't get a break anywhere else.

"Most of the bands around here are not into what Worldfolk is all about," he added. "There's a pocket of people concerned about that stuff, but (the enthusiasm) comes and goes."

Regardless of the fluctuating enthusiasm, Rod and Leslie said they've accomplished what they've set out to do.

"If we quit today it would be a very satisfying experience," Rod said. "We met so many people. Everyone has a story."

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