Surprise, surprise: Scene in Vegas impresses

By Joe Brown

Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Everything in Las Vegas made a first impression on me this year.

A year ago today, I woke up on the floor in Vegas, after driving all night from San Francisco to take a job writing about culture and entertainment for the Las Vegas Sun. Friends were skeptical: “Culture in Vegas?” I have to admit I had my doubts, too.

And here I am, on the brink of another New Year’s Eve, waking up in my own bed with flashbacks of 2008, a year in which I talked with actors and air guitarists, impresarios and impersonators, adapted to 110-degree heat and shook snow from the palm trees outside my window.

I took a Cher-alike to see the diva herself open at the Colosseum, studied the strange skyline of the Strip with a group of Yale architects, covered the Nevada caucuses from inside a pyramid-shaped casino and watched a preview of the “Mamma Mia!” movie — with the cast of “Mamma Mia!” the musical.

My first official assignment was covering the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, an off-the-wall event that presaged a year of eye-opening experiences. With the arrival of Bette Midler and Cher at Caesars Palace — joining Elton John — the convergence pretty much turned the Colosseum into the gay Woodstock. I ordinarily thrive on irony and sarcasm, and so was more surprised than anyone by how much I truly enjoyed the honest, old-school showmanship of Barry Manilow and Donny & Marie.

One of the big perks of my new job was getting to explore the monuments of the Strip, the casinos and showrooms, of course, but also the resident shows of Cirque du Soleil. I was thrilled by “Ka” and “Mystere” and happily surprised by how much I enjoyed “Zumanity.” I suffered through a few flops, most memorably “Criss Angel: Believe,” which was unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.

In an attempt to get some perspective on this eccentric desert city, I caught up on Vegas-themed movies, from classics like “Casino” and “Leaving Las Vegas” to camp dreck like “Showgirls.” So when I saw this year’s Vegas-centric movies “21” and “What Happens in Vegas,” I was all the more disappointed because I had a little working knowledge of the place. I’m more than a bit bummed out by the lack of a repertory movie theater here to show classic movies and cult flicks.

I’m not much of a clubgoer, but I had a blast at concerts by the surviving Sex Pistols and the reconstituted Time and the raucous hair-metal homage Steel Panther. And I dipped a toe into Vegas’ burgeoning pool culture, which includes the aquatic Strip spectaculars “O” and “Le Reve,” but also Rehab, the city’s biggest, barest pool party at the Hard Rock, and the summer “dive-in movies” at Mandalay Bay.

The big discovery for me was how many bright spots there are for culture beyond the neon. I was happy to find the Composers Showcase, an almost-secret, unpredictable, once-a-month, word-of-mouth happening that’s the closest this town gets to an off-Broadway scene — about 2,500 miles off Broadway. Fresh from their evening performances in such shows as “Le Reve,” “Mamma Mia!” and “Jersey Boys,” dozens of singers, dancers and musicians head over to the Liberace Museum to unwind and take turns entertaining their cast mates, colleagues and peers.

Other local lights: The Las Vegas Academy’s production of “Cats.” The Elton John musical “Aida,” performed under the stars by Super Summer Theatre at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. Nevada Ballet and Las Vegas Philharmonic getting more impressive with each successive performance. The Insurgo Theatre Movement, “a wild west acting ensemble,” which scored with challenging stagings of the Kafka-inspired “Morphotic” and Shakespeare’s “Henry V.” Young Vegas rock band Think made some major moves toward the big time, and self-proclaimed “rock ’n’ roll publishing queen” Sally Steele stoked the local music scene with her Vegas Rocks! magazine.

It was sad that we lost the Vegoose music festival, but some new organizations got off the ground in 2008, including IMPACT (Imagine Museums, Performance, Arts and Culture Together), which brought together more than 20 purveyors and presenters of the region’s arts under one roof for the first time ever, and Nevada Marching Arts took the first steps toward creating a Vegas-based drum and bugle corps. Annual events such as the CineVegas film fest and the Vegas Valley Book Festival returned stronger than ever.

I’ll remember chatting with Andrew Lloyd Webber inside the Phantom Theatre — the “Cats” composer was here to coach the “American Idol” kids. But funnily enough, I was more star-struck when I met “Idol” runner-up David Archuleta just before the “American Idols Live” concert at the Thomas & Mack Center.

There was the personal pride in making a quick-witted comedian like Eddie Izzard laugh with an unexpected question or approach. And the job let me in on lots of surprises, like experiencing a Mexican circus in a North Las Vegas parking lot, laughing and screaming through the Fright Dome at Circus Circus at Halloween, finding the food and spirit of my Buffalo hometown at a Henderson bar, learning the best way to eat a cupcake from the founder of the Cupcakery and seeing Carrot Top in broad daylight, which deserves its own category.

I was informed and inspired by the work of my colleagues also covering the cultural scene in Las Vegas, especially Kristen Peterson and Jerry Fink; Las Vegas Weekly’s John Katsilometes and Josh Bell; the Review-Journal’s Mike Weatherford; City Life’s Mike Prevatt and Dave Suratt (are they the same person?); and reporter-bloggers Richard Abowitz and Steve Friess.

I guess when I think back on my freshman year in Vegas, my fondest and strangest memory is interviewing Celine Dion in her subterranean dressing room at midnight, just before she left town for a world tour. I had never paid much attention to the singer before seeing her “A New Day” spectacular, and strangely, I still find myself missing her. This year, I often listened to the title track of her new CD, “Taking Chances” — which turned out to be the anthem for exploring Vegas.

Happily, Celine told me she’d be back.

And so will I, happy to be here for Vegas 2009.