Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

John Katsilometes gears up for the Hart & Huntington fashion show

Journalists have been referred to as "ink-stained wretches," but I, for one, have never been inked. At least, I've not been tattooed. That might one day change, and if it does I'll take a needling at the Hart & Huntington Tattoo Company at the Palms.

The business was founded by freestyle motocross champ Carey Hart and John Huntington and is billed as the first fully operational tattoo parlor at a resort casino. Hart's move to the mainstream (if being married to Pink can be considered mainstream) continues Tuesday night as Hart & Huntington hosts a fashion show at ghostbar in the Palms.

The event begins at 10 p.m. and is open to the public. The showcase will serve as the season finale for the A&E show "Inked," which centers on the company's colorful characters and equally colorful artwork.

The H&H brand has expanded to include shirts, belts, hats wallets, wristbands, bags and purses. H&H markets both upscale collections (sold at fine department stores) and a more affordable standard line. An example of the former are embroidered jeans by Mia Brasilia, which are splashed with tattoo artwork from H&H artists. The suggested retail price: $600.

Thus, Hart has accelerated rapidly in the retail world, though many of his fans will always regard him as the inventor of the "Hart Attack" maneuver - a backflip on a 250cc bike.

NoteMart

The ink's on me: Continuing this whole body art theme, PussyKat Tattoo owner Dirk Vermin met up with introverted Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman on Friday morning to promote a fundraiser for the children of slain Metro Police Officer Henry Prendes.

In an appearance at the Harley Davidson store on Fremont Street, Goodman lent his time (and left arm) to Vermin for a temporary tattoo to help publicize a daylong celebration Saturday in Prendes' honor. Using the same painted-on process he employed for James Caan for an episode of "Las Vegas," Vermin swiftly finished off a rendering of Prendes' badge surrounded by wings.

Vermin has done thousands of tattoos, but on Sunday said, "This was my first mayor."

Unlike a real tattoo, no needle actually penetrates the skin - so in this case we can honestly say Mayor Goodman was feeling no pain ...

Driven to success: Hosted by Ice Cube, Spike TV's AutoRox awards were presented Friday night at the Fremont Street Experience. The show will be broadcast on April 18.

Also on hand were Oscar winners Three 6 Mafia and all-star rock band Camp Freddy. Three 6 Mafia performed its Academy Award-winning song "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp" (which might or might not have fallen on deaf ears on Fremont Street) and Camp Freddy churned out Cheap Trick's "Surrender."

As for the awards, the Corvette Z06 was honored as Car of the Year, Best Sports Car and Deal of the Year ...

Interested parties: Luxor President Felix Rappaport and "Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce" creator Ivan Kane took in "Hairspray" on Saturday night; Rappaport made sure to check out the audience (which was ebullient, or happy) as it left the theater. The show is said to be doing good numbers, still, with particularly strong support for the weekend matinee performances ...

All things being relative: On Saturday the Rolling Stones played mainland China - Shanghai, specifically - for the first time, and the top ticket price was $374. That's lower than the $472.50 top price the Stones commanded at the MGM Grand in November, but $374 is roughly the equivalent of three months' wages for most Chinese ...

Maybe that rap ban isn't such a bad idea: Pure at Caesars Palace has announced a listening party April 21 for Kevin Federline's upcoming rap album, "Playing With Fire" ...

Yes, they close: While making a late-night Slurpee run at 11:30 p.m. Thursday at the 7-Eleven on West Sahara Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard, I was stopped by a pair of locked doors. Eh? The store's floors were being cleaned, it seemed ...

Love for cell: The CTIA wireless phone convention, which wrapped its Las Vegas show Friday, reports that there were 207,896,198 cellular subscribers in the United States in 2005. That's an increase of 25.7 million from 2004, the largest year-to-year growth on record, and today about 70 percent of the entire U.S. population uses cell phones ...

Crossing over: Responding to an item about license plates on Porsches, reader, author and custom cruciverbalist Gail Beckman notes the plate CRSSWDS on her 1985 1/2 Porsche 944. Beckman is a creator of crossword puzzles (hence the term "cruciverbalist") who in January released the crossword puzzle book "Las Vegas Puzzles of Attractions and Points of Interest."

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