Jamaican: Reggae loyalists hoping for an anchor in Las Vegas

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, June 10, 2004 | 8:43 a.m.

What: "Reggae in the Desert" featuring Eek-A-Mouse, Yellowman, Bonafide and GDB.

When: 6 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Government Center Amphitheater.

Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 at the gate.

Information: 455-8200.

Southern Nevada is home to a Jazz Society and a Blues Association. We have an Opera Association, and there's even a Jam Band Society.If you're a local fan of reggae music, however, you're more or less on your own.

The genre P born in Jamaica in the 1960s and made popular in America by Bob Marley during the 1970s P had a hub in Las Vegas for a brief period of time.

From January 1993 through October 1996, Fremont Street Reggae & Blues brought some of the top names in reggae to downtown Las Vegas, including Burning Spear, Black Uhuru, Pato Banton and Toots & The Maytals.

Locals packed the club's reggae room for those acts, but owner Terry O'Halloran ultimately could not offset the location's costs, eventually shutting it down and moving back to his hometown of Omaha, Neb.

Yet even without a designated home to anchor the scene, reggae loyalists continue to support their music of choice.

Saturday's third annual "Reggae in the Desert" concert at the Clark County Government Center Amphitheater is expected to draw more than 2,000 fans. Sharing the bill: Jamaican favorites Eek-A-Mouse and Yellowman, along with local bands Bonafide and GDB.

"The music is positive," said Brian Saliba, spokesman for Clark County Parks & Recreation and founder of the "Reggae in the Desert" event. "It sends out good vibes, and it brings out all types of people. Men and women, adults and children and people of all races and creeds enjoy it."

Donovan Stephens, one of five Jamaica-born brothers who comprise Bonafide's lineup, said the local reggae base is solid, but could be stronger.

"It's good, but it could be better and I think it's getting better," said Stephens, who moved to Southern Nevada five years ago. "We've been trying to build it up. We get some (local) work, but we'd like to get more."

Stan Rankin-T has been a mainstay on the local reggae scene since relocating from Jamaica 21 years ago. His Caribbean Lifestyles shop (1151 Las Vegas Blvd. South, just south of Charleston Boulevard), carries a variety of old and new reggae music, along with Marley T-shirts and other related memorabilia.

Rankin-T, who also hosts "Reggae Happenings," a three-hour show on UNLV's KUNV 91.5-FM at 3 p.m. on Saturdays, insists Southern Nevada's reggae scene remains "strong and powerful."

"It did slow down, but it never stopped," he said. "Reggae music preaches love and culture. When you listen to reggae, you get an idea of what you want to be. All cultures support reggae: Indian people, Hawaiian people, Asian people, Spanish people, black and white."

O'Halloran noticed that diversity during his three years as the owner and operator of Fremont Blues & Reggae.

"I was pleasantly surprised that there was a culture of people from other countries in Las Vegas, Africans and Jamaicans that I got to know over the years," O'Halloran said in a phone interview from his Omaha, Neb., club, Murphy's Lounge.

"We had a real loyal clientele. It wasn't big enough, but we had a hard-core group that was very supportive."

O'Halloran said that while his 300-person-capacity reggae room occasionally filled for large-scale shows, the venture couldn't turn a consistent profit.

"I never had a month that made money, and I was running out of bullets," he said. "The overhead was a little too much. Maybe I should have been in a cheaper part of the city."

Local concert promoter A.J. Gross, who operates A.J. Presents promotions, said that construction of the Fremont Street Experience's canopy also severely crippled the nightclub's chances of surviving.

"When you couldn't drive on the street anymore, business went to crap," Gross said. "During that canopy construction, it was horrific. We had two years of construction, and people weren't coming downtown."

In late 1996 O'Halloran sold the club. Today the site is part of the Neonopolis commercial development and retail center that anchors the east side of Fremont Street.

Gross, for one, thinks the night spot might have worked better in today's downtown environment.

"At that point, they didn't really want live music downtown," Gross said. "They had grandiose plans for downtown, and that was before Oscar Goodman was the mayor.

"Nowadays, if that place were there, Oscar would bend over three times backwards to keep it there. He knows how important it is to keep young people coming down there."

Rankin-T, who performs around town with his group Stan Rankin & Meshack, said he looks forward to the day another reggae club opens in Las Vegas.

"I think someone would be really successful right now if they opened a reggae club," he said. "Outdoor reggae shows are very successful in this town."

Stephens' band travels to Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle to supplement local shows at locations such as Margaritaville Las Vegas and Gordon Biersch.

Last weekend Bonafide even played a bar mitzvah at a Las Vegas family's home, performing "until the police had to come" in the wee hours of the morning.

"We had an unbelievable time," Stephens said. "People just need to take a chance on reggae music."

Ultimately, though, Stephens said that it will probably take another giant-sized talent for Southern Nevada's reggae scene to expand greatly.

"We need somebody like that to come along," he said before adding with a hearty laugh, "Hopefully, I'll wake up tomorrow and be that guy."