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L A S V E G A S W E E K LY

12.24.20

56-GAME NHL SEASON WILL BEGIN JANUARY 13 The NHL and NHL Players’ Association on December 20 announced plans for a 56-game regular season beginning January 13. Training camp for the Vegas Golden Knights will open January 3 at City National Arena. The pandemic-altered season will run through May 8, and the playoffs will end in mid-July. There will be no preseason games. The goal is to make the 2021-22 season, for which expansion Seattle will enter as the league’s 32nd team, as normal as possible. “While we are well aware of the challenges ahead, as was the case last spring and summer, we are continuing to prioritize the health and safety of our participants and the communities in which we live and play,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. This regular season will be played exclusively in-division, meaning the Golden Knights will play each division opponent eight times. And the divisions will be altered. The Golden Knights will play in the newly formed West Division, which will include new opponents Colorado, Minnesota and St. Louis, in addition to familiar foes in Anaheim, Arizona, Los Angeles and San Jose. Teams are expected to play in their home arenas. The top four teams in each division will make the playoffs, which will return to a 16-team format after last year’s 24-team tournament. The divisional realignment was made necessary by the strict border protocols between the U.S. and Canada, realigning the seven Canadian teams into their own North Division, and eliminating the need for border crossing. –Justin Emerson

WEEK IN REVIEW WEEK AHEAD EV E N TS T O F O L L OW A N D N EWS YO U M I SS E D

One bright spot on an otherwise disappointing night for the Raiders on December 17: the play of backup quarterback Marcus Mariota (8), shown here launching himself between Chargers defenders on his way to the end zone during Las Vegas’ 30-27 overtime loss at Allegiant Stadium. Mariota passed for 226 yards and ran for 88 more. (Steve Marcus/Staff)

12.24.20

IN THIS ISSUE

08 12 26 34 36

Health & Wellness: Calming techniques after a tough year Cover story: 2020 actually had some positives. Really The Year in A&E: Our favorite albums, TV, books and more Food & Drink: The year’s most memorable meals Sports: Recapping a big 12 months for Vegas teams

L A S V E G A S W E E K LY

STORIES FROM LAST WEEK $900 BILLION RELIEF Capitol Hill negotiators sealed a deal December 20 on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. The agreement will establish a temporary $300-a-week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.

NO SPECIAL COUNSEL NEEDED Breaking with President Donald Trump, outgoing Attorney General William Barr said December 21 that he saw “no reason” to appoint a special counsel to look into claims of election fraud or the tax investigation into the son of President-elect Joe Biden.

SAN JOSE STATE WINS TITLE Nick Starkel completed 32 of 52 passes for 453 yards and three touchdowns to lead San Jose to a 34-20 win against Boise State in the Mountain West Conference championship game December 19, completing an undefeated season.

TRUMP’S MOVE CHALLENGED President Donald Trump’s expected move to his Mar-a-Lago club after he leaves office next month is being challenged by attorney Reginald Stambaugh, who says a 1990s agreement allowing Trump to convert the Florida property into a business prohibits anyone from living there, including him.

RUSSIAN HACK Federal authorities expressed alarm December 17 about an intrusion into U.S. and other computer systems around the globe that officials suspect was carried out by Russian hackers. The nation’s cybersecurity agency warned of a “grave” risk to government and private networks. The intrusion might have compromised federal agencies and “critical infrastructure.”

Teacher Candy Collins-Adams, left, hands out toys and shoes during a drive-thru charity event sponsored by local philanthropist Bob Ellis at Martinez Elementary School in North Las Vegas on December 17. (Wade Vandervort/Staff)

MIRAGE TO CEASE MIDWEEK OPERATIONS All operations at the Mirage—including its hotel, casino, restaurants and all other amenities—will be closed from noon Mondays until noon Thursdays starting January 4. MGM Resorts International noted that weekday business levels have been notably “low due to COVID-19 and the restrictions on group gatherings.” The company said it doesn’t expect the closure to last past February. Business has been modest since the state-mandated closure but has been especially slow lately, with international travel essentially nonexistent this holiday season. Las Vegas hotel occupancy in October was down more than 40% from the same month in 2019. –Bryan Horwath

RECORD DRY SPELL FINALLY ENDS It took eight months, but the Las Vegas Valley finally experienced measurable rain. The record of 240 days shattered the previous one of 150 rainless days, which stretched until July 21, 1959, said Caleb Steele, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. For rain enthusiasts, there’s not much more to celebrate. The 0.04 inches at McCarran International Airport, an official measuring site for the weather service, is the only rain expected for the foreseeable future. –Ricardo Torres-Cortez

CIRCUS CIRCUS DEBUTS NEW THRILL RIDE AT ADVENTUREDOME Four arms rotate in fast, intermeshing orbits, like a carnival ride on steroids. At the end of each arm is a gondola carrying four riders, reaching top speeds of 14 rotations per minute. The ride is NebulaZ, the newest attraction at Circus Circus’ Adventuredome. It’s the first new ride to open at the five-acre indoor park since 2013. Riders catch air for about three minutes as they fly over the top of NebulaZ, which stands more than 32 feet high. The ride lasts for about three minutes. Adventuredome adheres to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guideline, meaning employees and guests are required to wear face masks. In addition, routines of disinfecting park elements have been elevated, a spokesperson for the park said. –Staff

LV W H E A LT H & W E L L N E S S

12.24.20

BY GENEVIE DURANO

Exercise. There’s probably no single thing you can do to ease anxiety faster than simply moving your body. Exercise lowers cortisol, the body’s stress hormone, and releases endorphins, which improve mood and act as a natural painkiller. Any kind of movement will do, even a quick walk around the block or a spin on the bike.

Write in a journal. Writing things down stops the thought spiral. Don’t overthink it—just write down whatever comes to mind. You’d be surprised how much of a relief you’ll feel when you release your fears and anxieties on the page.

3 2020 has left us all in a state of anxiety. Here are 20 ways to leave it all behind

Meditate. Meditation, just like anything else, is a practice, so don’t be intimidated when starting out. There’s no wrong way to do it—as long as you’re finding a sense of calm, you’re doing just fine. If you need a little help, there are plenty of apps, such as Calm, Headspace, Inscape and 10% Happier, offering guided meditations.

Practice deep breathing. Stress and anxiety activate the sympathetic nervous system, which sends you into fight-or-flight mode. This results in faster heartbeat and constricted blood vessels. When you do deep breathing exercises, you activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls the relaxation response. Focusing on your breath slows down its pace.

(Shutterstock/Photo Illustrations)

Listen to music. From classical to headbanger, the kind of music that soothes is completely subjective, so find out what works for you. Check out some ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos on YouTube, too. These are specific sounds (such as rain or the crinkling of cellophane) that can elicit a pleasant tingling in the brain and promote feelings of happiness.

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LV W H E A LT H & W E L L N E S S

Tidy up. A cluttered space leads to a cluttered mind. Cleaning up your surroundings can make a huge difference in your well-being. And as a bonus, you’ll be moving your body, so you’ll get double the benefit of decreasing anxiety.

Sing or dance. There’s no better stress reliever than dancing like nobody’s watching. Or get in your car and do some carpool karaoke, guaranteed to put you in a good mood.

Art therapy. The American Art Therapy Association describes art therapy as “an approach to mental health that utilizes the process of creating art to improve mental, physical and emotional wellness.” From painting and drawing to sculpting and simply doodling, creating a piece of art can do wonders for anxiety. Studies have shown that even looking at a piece of art can improve mood.

Get crafty. Along the same lines as art therapy, crafting can also elicit a sense of calm. Knitting, in particular, has been shown to have therapeutic benefits. But any craft that engages your mind and your hands will quell your anxiety.

Cuddle. Oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, is most prominent during childbirth and breastfeeding, as a way to create mother-baby bonding. Hugging and cuddling with a loved one also produces the hormone, which helps keep anxiety at bay.

Play with your pet. Your brain also produces oxytocin when you play with your pet. Besides, who can resist the sight of a furry, four-legged friend?

Solve a puzzle. From crosswords to jigsaw puzzles, being fully immersed in an activity that challenges your brain redirects anxiety and dissipates it. Finishing a puzzle also gives you a sense of accomplishment.

Read a book. Hop off the infinite scroll and pick up a real book, which offers a clear beginning, middle and end. Like solving a puzzle, getting lost in a book allows you to set your reality aside, even for just a few hours.

Try aromatherapy. Aromatherapy is the use of plant extracts like essential oils to promote health and well-being, and research has shown that lavender oil is just as effective in treating anxiety as a benzodiazepine like Xanax or Valium.

Go out in nature. The outdoors is the safest place for us to be during the pandemic, and we’re fortunate that we live in a climate that doesn’t have inclement winter weather. Take advantage of it, and spend some time out in nature. It’ll do wonders for your mental health, and in the process you’ll get a dose of vitamin D, which helps boost the immune system.

Spend time in a garden. The Japanese practice shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, as a way to improve mental well-being and reduce stress. While we may not have verdant forests near us, you can do something on a smaller scale by spending some time in a garden. Being around plants and trees allows for the intake of fresh oxygen, along with a fresh perspective.

Have a cuppa. If you’re already feeling anxious, a highly caffeinated drink like coffee isn’t the best idea. A cup of tea has many benefits beyond warming you from the inside out. Green tea, for example, contains polyphenol antioxidants that have been shown to lower anxiety by increasing serotonin levels. Or opt for herbal teas with lavender and chamomile leaves, both known to have calming effects.

Take a hot bath. Water also has a very calming effect on the body. It literally takes the weight off you so you can let go of the stress you’re carrying. A good bath, along with some mineral salts or essential oils, will restore and rejuvenate. Take one before bedtime, and sleep like a baby.

Take a nap. We’re less able to handle stress and anxiety when we’re exhausted. Sleep is the only way to reset our minds and our bodies. A midday nap is a gift you give yourself.

Find a therapist. Sometimes we just need to talk it out, and having a trained therapist to guide us is an invaluable resource. The pandemic has given rise to teletherapy, so you won’t even need to leave your house to get some professional help. Find a therapist you connect with to better handle whatever 2021 might have in store.

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LV W C OV E R S T O R Y

12.24.20

W R A P P I N G Hand-washing stations in casinos

2020

2020 2020

2020 NOT ALL BAD

020 020

An emphasis on sustainability

202 202 202

Normalizing therapy This year took a toll on all of us, but if there was a silver lining, it’s that so many people turned to therapy for the first time, signaling a lessening in the social stigma around mental illness, and, perhaps, fewer negative connotations toward therapy in the future. Though some might never have considered therapy to combat their personal struggles prior to the pandemic, COVID-19 and the resulting shutdowns led to widespread feelings of loneliness, anxiety and depression. That helped many feel less judgmental toward others—and themselves—when seeking out help for grief and pain. I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (known as ADHD) and depression a month before we entered quarantine in March, and society’s openness about such struggles during the pandemic made it easier to talk about my own. This year also allowed me to take stock of what’s important, reassess my goals and find ways to adhere to better boundaries while developing a routine. Therapy remains a scary concept for many people, though younger generations are thankfully embracing it more than our parents once did. As we move forward into 2021, it’s important to recognize that life is difficult, and that no problem is too big or too small to discuss with a licensed therapist. There’s no shame in acknowledging our past dilemmas, current struggles or future anxieties, and addressing those issues head-on can make us better equipped to have healthy and fulfilling relationships with others and with ourselves. If you find yourself running on fumes in the new year, remember that it’s OK to speak with a professional. Getting started is the hardest part, but the reward is immeasurable. –Leslie Ventura

020

Booze home delivery

12.24.20

LV W C OV E R S T O R Y

13I

Driving less, walking and biking more

Increased communication with friends and family through technology When a friend sent me a video message out of the blue in the springtime, I have to admit I rolled my eyes, silently complaining about the prospects of adding another social app to my chaotic personal timeline. But that invitation to link up on Marco Polo ended up as my main salvation this year. Without having to schedule an appointment, I’ve been able to see my real and honorary nieces and nephews lip-syncing to Bad Bunny, squashing raspberries into every crispy well on the surface of a waffle, dancing their way through bedroom glow-stick raves and telling their quarantined grandma how much they love and miss her. It’s been a long time since we’ve been together, but I’ve actually seen these kids more this year than the ones before. Why weren’t we doing this all along? –Brock Radke

Is it really a concert if you can’t smell the drummer’s sweat? Bunkhouse regulars used to pressing close to the stage lost the scent in 2020, when in-person live music went all but extinct around the world. If they picked their spots wisely, however, they might still end the year with some memorable concert moments, thanks to livestreaming. I caught several good web shows— some ticketed, others free—including Guided By Voices, Dinosaur Jr., Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold and a Jazzfest Berlin set from the Anna Webber Septet. And while I would have preferred seeing them in person to watching on a screen, there are obvious advantages to watching this way. For starters, you get new views of the action. No matter how close to the stage you get, you aren’t getting a zoomed-in overhead look at Webber’s drummer, Ches Smith, roaming his kit. There are also logistical considerations. Need a quick bathroom or beer break? Hit pause, and don’t miss a song. And then there’s this, and it’s a biggie here in Las Vegas: Odds are, even if 2020 had proceeded as normal, none of the aforementioned acts would have stopped here anyway.

Artists, musicians and performers broadcasting their work on Instagram and Facebook

Which means these livestreams were our only shots at catching them, random YouTube clips aside. We get the big names in Vegas, of course, but a lot of others pass us by, and have for years. And think of all the small towns around the globe that simply aren’t on tour routes. Livestreams to the rescue. Would I pick a stream over being in the crowd? Almost never. Would I choose it over a drive to LA to see a show, given all the time, expense and energy that goes into that? Quite possibly. And would I pay to watch— and support—a favorite act playing a special show somewhere else on the planet, knowing it was my only chance to “be there”? Absolutely. So here’s hoping livestreamed shows remain part of the music world’s arsenal even once venues reopen, as a supplement—not an alternative—to in-person gigs. You can still find ways to rock out in your family room, and maybe kick up some sweat of your own in the process. –Spencer Patterson

12.24.20

New projects

2020

This godforsaken year, with its endless months of forced isolation, shook us out of our comfort zone and gave us more time—and a reason to slow down and try new things. Baking was such a hit during the early days of the pandemic, grocers ran out of yeast. No problem; bakers turned to sourdough, which pulls wild yeast from the air. And according to NPR, the newfound popularity of DIY home improvement projects has caused the price of lumber and other supplies to spike, when there aren’t full-out shortages. These sorts of endeavors offer lots of benefits: new skills and a sense of satisfaction, quality time with loved ones and saved money, if all goes according to plan. Still, Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies predicts the home improvement trend won’t last beyond the pandemic. Keep those hot glue guns at the ready, and let’s prove ’em wrong. –C. Moon Reed

Political activism

2020

Prioritizing sleep In our modern life, hyperproductivity has become the norm. It seems everyone has a side hustle, and, through the filtered lens of social media, it’s no longer enough to be a person; one must also be a brand. And as a result, we’ve sacrificed a most essential, yet underrated, biological function: sleep. Now that the pandemic has screeched society to a halt, however, it’s given us an opportunity to recapture our circadian rhythm. Those who work from home can take naps instead of long lunches, and weekends are now primed for sleeping in. There’s no shame in it; in fact, a full night of sleep is one of our best defenses against illness. When COVID-19 recedes from our collective consciousness, let’s continue making sleep a priority. We now know we’ve been missing out on it all along. –Genevie Durano

W R A P P I N G

2020

Feeling grateful every day

2020 2020

LV W C OV E R S T O R Y

2020 2020

LV W C OV E R S T O R Y

The realization that we don’t have to be productive all the time to be a valuable member of society

Travel to any country in Asia, and you’ll find that wearing a mask in public is so common, it doesn’t even elicit a second glance. The continent’s history of mask wearing dates as far back as 1910, during a plague outbreak in Manchuria, China. The Japanese took up the preventive measure during the 1918 Spanish Flu, and the SARS pandemic in 2002 solidified the practice in other countries. Increasing air pollution in recent decades, in countries like India, Bangladesh and the Philippines, has also been a factor in folks using face coverings. There are many reasons Asians wear masks, but the primary one is an ingrained cultural idea that the actions of one person affects many. Wearing a mask—to protect your family and your neighbors when you’re sick—is but a small manifestation of the collectivist ethos that undergirds Asian societies. If we learn anything from 2020, it’s that we don’t live in a bubble. In a post-pandemic world, long after we’ve reached herd immunity and COVID-19 isn’t as deadly as it is now, we should continue to wear our masks in times of illness. Because that’s what civilized society does— we look out for one another. –Genevie Durano

2020

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LV W C OV E R S T O R Y

12.24.20

Increased consciousness about rent insecurity We’ve all been guilty. We make plans with friends or family, only to cancel at the last minute. We reason that there will always be another brunch on another weekend. We assume time’s on our side, and the people we care about will always be there. This year has upended all of that, of course. “Social distancing” has became our norm, and it’s been a daily heartbreak to be so far from those nearest to our hearts. Birthdays, graduations, weddings, funerals—these touchstones of everyday life have been lived out and witnessed on impersonal electronic devices, and we are sadder for it. Worse yet, of course, more than a million and a half people around the world have already succumbed to COVID-19, a tragic reminder that the people we care about won’t always be around. For some of us, life may eventually resume to normal after the pandemic, but let’s create a real new normal. Let’s make plans and actually keep them. Let’s reach out to long-lost friends and reconnect in real life. Let’s not miss out on another moment to tell family members, in person, how much we love and appreciate them. –Genevie Durano

This year, we became more aware of Las Vegans in danger of losing a place to live—friends, coworkers, and too often, ourselves. And even though the governor’s office recently extended a state eviction moratorium into 2021, the effects of this pandemic-related economic downturn won’t be easily or quickly repaired, and a lot more of us might be evicted. “[November evictions are] up 1,876 cases in a month compared to last year—a year without a pandemic, mass unemployment or an economic crisis,” says attorney Bailey Bortolin, policy director for the Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers, citing figures from Las Vegas Justice Court. Even with state and federal protections in place, people are “falling through the cracks. … They bring suitcases to court. Shelters are full,” Bortolin says. At this point, there’s little reason to believe 2021 will be much better. We need to keep those folks in mind even after the virus is contained and businesses are back at full capacity, as the ripple effects of this calamitous lockdown threaten to displace Vegas households possibly for years to come. –Geoff Carter

W R A P P I N G

2020

2020 A renewed commitment to our entertainment industry When the first lockdown took effect in March, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak directed that large-scale construction jobs should continue. Casino workers were laid off, but some were furloughed with limited pay. Restaurants were allowed to keep skeleton staffs to fill takeout orders. Make no mistake: All of those industries still suffered catastrophic, indelible losses, particularly at the small-business level. But each of them had some kind of safety net in place, even if it didn’t save many jobs. Our entertainment workers— performers, stagecraft workers, all manner of support personnel— seemingly had none. The long-term effects of this lockdown on the Entertainment Capital of the World aren’t that difficult to predict. Le Rêve and Zumanity have closed forever. Numerous acrobats and variety performers visiting from other countries are losing their work visas during shutdown; they’ll be compelled to leave Vegas if they haven’t already. And we scarcely want to think about the fate of our live music venues: Not only are they in danger of losing their leases, but the bookers that fill them are going bust, too. This can’t happen again. It shouldn’t be happening now. A Vegas without live entertainment is a ghost. We need to fully acknowledge that entertainment is this town’s bedrock industry, and create stronger safety nets to protect it. –Geoff Carter

The freedom to wear elastic-waist pants

12.24.20

LV W C OV E R S T O R Y

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Expanded outdoor dining

Las Vegas is like most communities across the country in that its inhabitants have (hopefully) developed a sharper understanding of the local economy and how each individual can make a small but meaningful contribution for collective success; choosing homegrown retail and restaurant options is also fun and spreads positive vibes. And we’ve never been more strategic about eating, changing the way we shop and cook and when and how we

decide to treat ourselves. The bread-baking cliché might be played out, but it offers powerful lessons about self-sufficiency and sustainability. And making your own food at home is a very basic foundation of an overall healthy lifestyle, something many of us took for granted before this very odd year. Our changed grocery store and kitchen routines have made it clearer how every dollar we spend impacts our day-to-day existence. –Brock Radke

2020 2020

Becoming more efficient and responsible consumers

Many of us were forced into this adjustment due to a sudden decrease in resources. Others did so just because we had the time. Whatever made it happen, most of us have become much better buyers in 2020 as the pandemic has deeply affected our sense of value. Mobile internet access didn’t create conscious consumerism, but the convenience and ease of access has helped make thoughtfulness a bigger part of the decision-making process.

SOCIAL DISTANCING. THE PAHRUMP WAY. Stay healthy and happy at one (or many) of Pahrump’s socially distant adventures, just 60 miles west of Las Vegas. Enjoy a private hot air balloon ride with panoramic views of the valley, embrace fresh air on a scenic hike, or explore local eats – courtesy of curb-side pickup options. Because following the rules doesn’t always have to be boring.

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L A S V E G A S W E E K LY

12.24.20

SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE

An inexpensive stereo setup can fill your home with music BY GEOFF CARTER

f you consider yourself an audiophile, stop reading now. I’m about to recommend a whole bunch of home audio setups that might compel a true audiophile to let loose a stream of technical jargon and hurtful comments. If you’re the kind of person who owns a tube amplifier, reading about $100 wireless smart speakers might make your head explode. But something everyone can agree on, audiophile and entry-level user alike, is that we need music in our homes. Especially now, with music venues shuttered and a bumper crop of truly great records now in release (see Pages 28-29 for a few of our favorites). And playing those records through a single Amazon Echo speaker, or through a soundbar designed for use with television sound, is a poor substitute for what every American home used to have, from the 8-track era all the way through the salad days of the CD carousel: a decent hi-fi setup just for music.

WHY STEREO SOUND IS BETTER

Most of today’s stand-alone smart speakers—for purposes of this discussion, those made by Amazon, Apple, Google and Sonos—are built to deliver stereo sound, with two sound drivers. But “they’re so close together that the sound has virtually no separation, and winds up sounding like mono,” wrote Steve Guttenberg (no, not the Police Academy guy) in a 2016 CNET article. And home stereos were created to emulate the sound of live performance, which isn’t just about closeness or volume; it’s also about dimension and spatial depth. Even minute differences between stereo channels can place sounds at specific points in space and trick you into believing that blazing cowbell solo is happening inside your personal space. “A great stereo recording listened to over a decent pair of speakers or headphones has an almost physical, three-dimensional presence,” Guttenberg wrote. “When playing music for an evening’s entertainment, the large and subtle shadings of depth and space from one recording to the next are endlessly fascinating.” The last time America seemed to understand that was during the iPod craze of the early 2000s; these days, most people seem content to plop a Google Nest speaker on a bookshelf and call it a monophonic day. The good news is, many smart speakers now support stereo pairing. Many of Amazon’s smart speakers can be paired with each other (and an optional subwoofer), creating a true stereo setup. Google’s new Nest Audio speakers are pairable, and you can get them in a two-pack bundle that shaves $20 off the total price (they’re $99 apiece) and includes three free months of YouTube Music. And Sonos is offering a pairable, $99 bookshelf Wi-Fi speaker through—hang onto something!—IKEA. Point is, you don’t have to spend a fortune, or research German-made speakers whose brand names sound like speaking with a mouthful of cookies.

SPEAKERS 4-8 FEET APART

HOW TO SET UP STEREO SPEAKERS “There are few things more galling than seeing a pair of stereo speakers huddled together on a bookshelf,” Andrew Murphy wrote in a July 2020 article at tech buying guide What Hi-Fi? (whathifi. com). Again, the effect of stereo speakers is wasted unless you have the two channels properly separated and placed in such a way that you can find a “sweet spot” between them, where Thundercat’s sizzling production skills can really fry your noodle.

L A S V E G A S W E E K LY

Proper placement of your speakers is dependent on several factors, including the size and shape of your room, your own personal preferences and, of course, the individual characteristics of whatever speakers you own. Cambridge Audio makes these general recommendations: Place your speakers 4 to 8 feet apart; have them facing in the direction of the greatest length of the room; move them slightly away from the wall to improve the mid-range and mid-bass frequencies; and patiently allow 20-30 hours for new speakers to “run in,” which basically means allowing the fabric of the speaker cones to stretch properly, like breaking in a pair of shoes. Cambridge Audio offers even more useful advice, and more shoe analogies, at this link: bit.ly/3nql16E. Now, if you’d like to fall down the rabbit hole with real intention— arms thrust upward in surrender, screaming “woo-hoo”—the folks at audio equipment retailer Crutchfield offer a “room acoustics guide” (bit.ly/3p2lgoW) that addresses issues like “reflected” sound bouncing off walls (they suggest drapes to absorb it, or strategically placed objects to diffuse it) and flutter echo, which is … well, maybe they should explain it. Point is, if this stuff is important to you, you’re probably setting up something more nuanced and much, much more expensive than $100 smart speakers, and are rolling your eyes right now. (See, again, the opening disclaimer for audiophiles.) Good luck and shine on, you crazy diamond.

CHANGE YOUR STREAMING SETTINGS This might be important, depending on how good your speakers and ears are: If you’re listening to streaming music over your Wi-Fi network at home—not in your car or at the gym, where the costs of cellular data can bury you— go into your settings and bump up the audio quality to its highest level. Spotify Premium’s high-quality set-

ting is equivalent to a 320kbps CD— and Tidal, bless it, offers lossless 1411kbps and master quality sound, as close to perfect as streaming audio can offer. (Kbps is shorthand for “kilobits per second,” and more is better—the more bits you have, the richer your streaming file will sound. 320kbps is equivalent to a high-quality MP3; 1411kbps is a CD.)

At its normal setting, Spotify streams music at a compressed 160kpbs. You’re literally not hearing the entire song. And since the whole point of making this stereo setup is to remember how freaking great it feels to be in a room with live musicians, we should make a point of pulling as close to the band as we possibly can.

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(Shutterstock/Photo Illustration)

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BINGE THIS WEEK MUSIC

STREAMING BLOCKBUSTERS COVID-19 might have scuttled holiday plans, but it won’t stop Hollywood from delivering big movies. On Christmas Day, Disney/ Pixar’s Soul debuts on Disney+, and Warner Bros./DC’s Wonder Woman 1984 appears on HBO Max and in select theaters.

PAUL MCCARTNEY: MCCARTNEY III Fifty years after the legendary Beatle released the solo record McCartney (amid the band’s breakup) and 40 years since that album’s sequel, McCartney II, Macca has unleashed the third edition in the series, and he’s songwriting remains as sharp as ever. From the mostly instrumental “Long Tailed Winter Bird”—peppered with the catchy refrain “Do, do, do you miss me?”—to the somber “Women and Wives,” in which he casually observes, “What we do with our lives seems to matter to others,” curiosity and a lust for life pervades McCartney III. Sometimes serious, other times cheeky, Britain’s greatest granddad remains as much in search of meaning and love at 78 as he was when the world first fell in love with him. –Leslie Ventura

FILM COOKBOOK

MODERN COMFORT FOOD BY INA GARTEN The 72-year-old Food Network star gained a new generation of fans last spring with her video recipe for a giant vodka cocktail. The Barefoot Contessa’s good cheer and heavy pour are what we need to see us through the rest of 2020. Find it in her bestselling cookbook of 85 delicious and indulgent recipes, such as grilled cheese and cream pies. –C. Moon Reed

GODMOTHERED Since 2011’s Bridesmaids, erstwhile Las Vegan and Bishop Gorman grad Jillian Bell has improved every film in which she’s appeared—imbuing even the smallest roles with sufficient personality to run the whole show, as she finally did in 2019’s Brittany Runs a Marathon. She does it again in Godmothered, playing an aspiring fairy godmother named Eleanor Fay Bloomingbottom (!) with notes of Amy Adams’ performance in Enchanted and Will Ferrell’s in Elf. It’s a sweet little family Christmas movie with its own charms, but Bell elevates it. Disney+. –Geoff Carter

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The String Cheese Incident’s Michael Kang

GEORGIA COMES ALIVE Dave Matthews, Diplo, Portugal. The Man, Bob Weir, Big Freedia and many more play this one-day “virtual music festival,” a benefit for Georgia grassroots voting registration efforts. Donate as little as $10, and you can listen in on December 26. bit.ly/37FSe8K

Bob Weir Jason Isbell

(AP/Photo Illustration)

LIVESTREAMS

NEW YEAR’S EVE CONCERTS

Jillian Bell in Godmothered (Courtesy/Disney+)

OUR PICKS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

THE BEE GEES: HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART The long arc of The Bee Gees’ career began in the ’60s with heartrending ballads and reached its high note in ’70s disco. Maurice, Robin and Barry Gibb are an indelible part of pop culture, with hits seared into our collective brains. (You can’t go to a karaoke bar without someone busting out “Stayin’ Alive.”) This new documentary traces the brothers’ ride to stardom—the good, the bad and the open-chested polyester shirts. It’s quite a trip down memory lane, punctuated by Barry Gibb’s unmistakable falsetto. HBO. –Genevie Durano

Justin Bieber’s December 31 livestream show— free for T-Mobile customers, $25 for everyone else, at justinbiebernye.com—will surely draw the largest “crowd,” but it’s far from the only game in town that night. A few other options for ringing in 2021 … Missing Brooklyn Bowl? (And what Vegas music fan hasn’t been?) Take a virtual visit to the venue’s Nashville counterpart, where alt-country hero Jason Isbell and his band The 400 Unit will play NYE at 6 p.m. Vegas time. Tickets cost $25 in advance and $30 day of, and are available at fans.live. Bob Weir is no stranger to New Year’s Eve, having played a slew of year-ending shows during his days with the Grateful Dead (12/31/78, anyone?) and since, and this year he continues the tradition accompanied by Wolf Bros—bassist Don Was and drummer Jay Lane, plus keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and pedal-steel guitarist Greg Leisz. Tickets cost $20 for the show, which begins at 7 p.m. Vegas time at fans.live. And if money’s tight, you can still close out 2020 with a musical celebration, courtesy of The String Cheese Incident. The Colorado jam band will stream a seven-hour party—comprising its 2001 concert film Evolution and its three-set NYE 2016 performance—absolutely free, starting at 5 p.m. Vegas time at nugs.tv. –Spencer Patterson

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NEW PERSPECTIVE LEGACY CLUB

Opening December 28. Sunday-Wednesday, 4 p.m.-2 a.m.; Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m.-4 a.m. Circa, 702-247-2258.

Circa’s Legacy Club offers homage, along with cocktails and atmosphere BY BROCK RADKE

f the cavernous, energetic sportsbook and rooftop pool are the centerpieces of the new Circa Resort and Casino, its Legacy Club, set to debut on December 28, is an elevated escape from all the action. Perched atop the 458-foot hotel tower that also opens for the first time this week, the luxurious lounge marks a completely different direction for Downtown nightlife while fitting neatly into the newly established Circa brand. “I think it’s hard to compare, because there definitely is nothing like this Downtown,” says Alice O’Keefe, Circa’s director of design and architecture. “When we developed the concept, we looked around Las Vegas—but also outside Las Vegas, because it was important to create a destination. You can’t say it’s like the Foundation Room [at Mandalay Bay] or the other bar rooftop experiences. That’s not to take away from what’s already been done, but really it’s about creating something new, because people in Las Vegas and visiting Las Vegas are hungry for something new.”

Like Circa, Legacy Club aims to attract Vegas visitors from all over, not just the Downtown customer. And its striking features should create that kind of excitement in no time. An incredibly rapid elevator ride from the first-floor casino to the 60th floor opens into a lobby decorated with busts of Las Vegas’ founding fathers, including Steve Wynn, Bob Stupak, Howard Hughes, Jay Sarno,

Benny Binion and Jackie Gaughan. Commissioned portraits of the same figures line the hall leading into the indoor-outdoor venue, which provides a first glimpse of the stunning panoramic views of our Valley. Fire pits and cozy seating arrangements line the expansive outdoor space, and the plan is to adjust operating hours so sunset viewing is always available. Indoors, high

(Photos Wade Vandervort/Staff)

ceilings add drama surrounding the 12-seat bar with a build-your-own Old Fashioned program, and intimate lounge seating areas offer flexibility. A photo-worthy display of more than 60 pounds of gold bars centers the space near a dancefloor. It might be serene in the late afternoon hours or even rowdy into the night, but Legacy Club showcases Circa’s diversity. The few seats at the bar provide an interesting juxtaposition to the 165-foot-long Mega Bar in the casino downstairs. And there will be a dress code at the sky-high lounge. “We’re not encouraging people to come right out of the pool up here,” O’Keefe says. “The idea is to go back to your room, get presentable and come up. There are a lot of different zones and more intimate areas at Legacy Club, and to have this size and scale, I don’t think there’s anything else like it. It’s not just a Downtown attraction. People are going to be coming from the Strip, and that’s really what we wanted.”

where the sagebrush glistens This year's been a littleâ€Ś different. But here's the thing: Nevada always has been. In the best of ways. Dreaming of a change of scenery? Truth be told, there's nowhere with more room to roam than right here-your very own state. Just hop in the adventure-mobile and let the Silver State do the rest. Your next Nevada near-cation awaits. And when you're ready for a wander, Nevada will be waiting for you.

Ready to Discover Your Nevada? Your future memories are calling. DiscoverYourNevada.com

PYRAMID LAKE

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THE YEAR IN

ARTS AND

Memorable music, superb TV, key Strip and local happenings and more

STRIP ENTERTAINMENT (Presented chronologically) RuPaul’s Drag Race Live opens. The Vegas version of the hit TV show took over for Donny & Marie in the Flamingo Showroom in January. R.U.N shutters. Cirque du Soleil’s ambitious original action-thriller called it quits in early March after a four-month run at Luxor. Garth Brooks plans Allegiant Stadium concert. The country megastar was set to open the $1.9 billion venue on August 22 but was forced to postpone the concert, now scheduled for February 27, 2021. Extravaganza opens. A new showgirl-laden homage to all things Vegas was staged just once at the classic Jubilee Theater at Bally’s in March, before the pandemic shut down the Strip. Extravaganza was one of the few largescale productions to reopen in the fall, with limited capacity audiences.

(Sun File)

Brock Radke

Roy Horn dies. The legendary illusionist and animal lover, who paired with Siegfried Fischbacher to help reinvent Vegas entertainment, died from complications of COVID-19 in Las Vegas on May 8.

Human Nature leaves Venetian. In June, the Australian singing group signaled the end of its seven-year run at the Sands Showroom and began looking for a new home on the Strip. Le Rêve ends. Wynn Las Vegas announced its aquatic spectacular won’t return after more than 6,000 performances over 15 years. Allegiant Stadium opens. The Las Vegas Raiders played their first home game on September 21—without fans in the stadium but with The Killers performing (prerecorded) at halftime, on Monday Night Football. Vegas shows return. New COVID-19 guidelines announced on September 29 allowed X Country, Absinthe, Thunder From Down Under, Jabbawockeez, Carrot Top and others to perform live in front of audiences again. But less than two months later, adjusted pandemic restrictions capped audiences at 50 people, slowing the city’s entertainment resurrection. Zumanity concludes its run. Cirque announced in November that the sexy, 17-year resident production at New York-New York won’t be back, but that the company’s other Strip shows will return when viable.

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LOCAL CULTURE C. Moon Reed

(Presented alphabetically) Area15 opens. The otherworldly arts and entertainment complex began its first phase in September with a unique mix of immersive art installations, sculptures, shopping, food and drink, rides, murals, ax throwing (!) and more. We’re all awaiting the next phase, when its Meow Wolf exhibit opens in 2021. The arts world goes online. In 2020, innovation was the name of the game: Zoom plays and Facebook live storytelling by A Public Fit and Poor Richard’s Players; livestream concerts by Las Vegas Philharmonic; video tours of art galleries, virtual residencies at the Rogers Arts Loft and online classes at Open Art Las Vegas. Creators kept creating—just not in person. To all those writers’ groups, book clubs and play readers meeting faithfully online, we salute you.

Believer Magazine teaches drawing. Every week, a different artist shares their talents as part of the free, online Friday Night Comics workshop. Watch in real time or binge them all later at believermag.com/comics-workshops. Black Mountain Institute gets an onair book club. As part of the Nevada Reads book club, BMI produced Severance Radio, on which a who’s who of the state’s literati discussed Ling Ma’s novel, Severance, at blackmountaininstitute.org/severance-radio. Broadway in the H.O.O.D. celebrates 10 years. Live performances might be limited by COVID-19, but that can’t take away from the incredible legacy created by this nonprofit organization, which helps at-risk youths access theater. Las Vegas Book Festival goes virtual. This year’s pandemic-friendly event stretched into a “virtual book week,”

ENTERTAINMENT

and readers can still watch the happenings—including readings, discussions, poetry and more—at lasvegasbookfestival.com. Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art launches a pandemic drawings project. With exhibitions nixed by the shutdown, the UNLV venue’s curators pivoted to a collaborative project, A Drawing a Day Keeps the Pandemic Away, inviting the public to respond to daily prompts and post art on Instagram. The result is a stunning and timely nine-volume archive, viewable at digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/barrick_ drawing. Majestic Repertory Theatre creates drive-in theater. The immersive Arts District company took its show on the road—literally. Majestic made national news with its drive-in shows, performing The Parking Lot, Horrorwood Video and more. New murals cover the Valley. The naturally socially distanced art form bloomed in 2020, with highlights including Nanda Sharifpour’s light installation at Soho Lofts; an array of murals at the former Moulin Rouge casino; Eric Vozzola’s back wall at Area 15; and Camila Magrane’s “Transmigrations” at Downtown Grand. Nevada Ballet Theatre connects through Instagram. Unable to perform at the Smith Center, NBT performers took to the social media platform, bringing fans into their lives and taking the beauty of dance beyond the stage.

Zumanity (Pierre Manning/Courtesy)

Allegiant Stadium (Wade Vandervort/Staff)

Eric Vozzola in front of his Area 15 mural (Wade Vandervort/Staff)

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ALBUMS

Geoff Carter

It was an awful year in most respects, but 2020 produced some outstanding music. If these artists are able to tour these works next summer, it’ll be a concert season for the ages. 1. Perfume Genius, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately Mike Hadreas has given the best album of his career, the best album of this year and probably one of the best albums of this young decade with this genre-hopping masterwork. 2. Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher Heartrending and sonically lush, Punisher is a layer cake we’ll be enjoying for years to come. “Kyoto,” with its anthemic chorus smartly punctuated by horns, is worth a 33 1/3 volume all by itself. 3. GoGo Penguin, GoGo Penguin The cult favorite jazz trio wows again with its fifth LP of complex instrumentals that could be Aphex Twin tracks, but for the fact they’re all performed non-electronically. 4. Moses Sumney, græ Sumney’s future-soul opus soars even in its quietest moments. “Virile,” “Me in 20 Years” and “Polly” are too big, passionate and restless to be contained by headphones. 5. Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud Katie Crutchfield got sober before writing this material, and you can feel her clarity, optimism and sense of purpose; there’s a humanity and warmth to these 11 folky songs that permeates down to the bone. 6. Gorillaz, Song Machine Season One: Strange Timez Damon Albarn recently made the wise decision to change Gorillaz from an albums band to a songs band. The result is this terrific collection of one-offs, featuring Robert Smith, 6lack, St. Vincent, Beck, Slaves and more. 7. Run the Jewels, RTJ4 “You watch the cops choke out a man like me … You’ve been robbed of your empathy,” Killer Mike raps on “Walking in the Snow.” RTJ4 is a propulsive, relentless exhortation to unplug from Twitter and do something. 8. Haim, Women in Music Part III Equal parts breezy, beachy pop-rock and peak Laurel Canyon-like lyrical meditations, Haim’s third album is ready-made for radio play—while also being way too good for it. 9. Yves Tumor, Heaven to a Tortured Mind A blast of woozy, sexy, soulful, rump-shaking, fist-pumping rock-andsoul that feels like it traveled in time, from an era when rock was something parents feared their kids might get into. 10. The Avalanches, We Will Always Love You Though they’ve largely abandoned the plunderphonic approach of Since I Left You and Wildflower, the perfectionist Australian group’s third LP is every bit is as sweet and uplifting as those modern classics.

Case Keefer

In an unfamiliar year, I leaned heavily on familiar music. Most of my favorite albums were ones I saw coming, and looking back, it’s comforting to know something in 2020 went according to plan. 1. Touché Amore, Lament Contemplate, cry, marvel and mosh all at once. Famed producer Ross Robinson helps bring the most creative and complete set of songs out of a band now solidified as one of the best melodic hardcore acts of all time. 2. Hum, Inlet Armed with modern recording technology and the freedom of a self-release, the spacey ’90s alternative pioneers’ riffs stretch further than ever on a surprise return after 22 years of silence. 3. Run the Jewels, RTJ4 In a career built by sounding equal parts profound and incendiary, Killer Mike and El-P have never been more profound and incendiary than on this album released amid the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. 4. Deftones, Ohms Many veteran bands fail when they try to make a smorgasbord of an album drawing from the best parts of a long, disparate discography. But Deftones never fail.

5. Fontaines D.C., A Hero’s Death On the antithesis to last year’s debut Dogrel, the Irish punks show their range by trading in outwardly blasts of aggression for more measured, brooding introspection. 6. Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters A pre-shaken bottle rocket of catharsis, ready to lift off at a moment’s notice before returning to the launching pad and self-igniting all over again. 7. Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher Poignant, riveting and wry, one of the best millennial songwriters has carved her niche and somehow keeps getting a little better across a steady stream of releases through multiple projects. 8. Ecostrike, A Truth We Still Believe A no-frills, all-thrills love letter to straight-edge hardcore, with nods to the genre’s greats laced throughout, including a presumably inadvertent but no less thrilling reference to Vegas legends Faded Grey. 9. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Reunions It’s easy to take an artist who releases consistently great but similar-sounding records for granted. These often-perfect alt-country songs should make it impossible to do so with Isbell. 10. Today Is the Day, No Good to Anyone Misery wrapped in existential dread and inevitable Armageddon. It’s as if longtime noise merchant Steve Austin knew what was coming when he released his metal project’s 11th album during the final week of February.

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Spencer Patterson

The Weeknd (AP)

LOCAL MUSIC

The pandemic left local musicians without a performing outlet this year, but creative Las Vegans persevered by releasing new music throughout 2020. (Courtesy)

My 2020 listening habits were informed, of course, by the year’s brutal backdrop, which means more than ever, my year-end list reflects a desire to escape through music. Maybe you’ll find something here to help you through tough times, too. 1. Gunn-Truscinski Duo, Soundkeeper These spacey, droning tones— steeped in organic, folky flavors— never failed to calm my nerves after a long, stressful day or during an especially restless night. 2. Guided By Voices, Surrender Your Poppy Field/Mirrored Aztec/Styles We Paid For Cheating? Maybe. But choosing just one of GBV’s three superb albums would shortchange the extent to which Robert Pollard further lengthened his songwriting legacy in 2020. 3. Okuden Quartet, Every Dog Has Its Day but It Doesn’t Matter Because Fat Cat Is Getting Fatter Free-spirited jazz masters Matthew Shipp (piano), William Parker (bass) and Hamid Drake (drums and percussion) mesh beautifully with Polish woodwind hotshot Mat Walerian on a two-hour romp that gets pretty far out without losing its footing. 4. Anna Högberg Attack, Lena Another wondrous jazz adventure, from a Swedish sextet that continues exploring fearlessly on its second group project. 5. Fleet Foxes, Shore The aural equivalent of comfort food, in a time of much discomfort. 6. The Necks, Three More gorgeous mood music from a longtime Australian trio dedicated to making every outing count. 7. Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl, Artlessly Falling With Amirtha Kidambi already dazzling in the vocal seat, the addition of prog-rock hero Robert Wyatt seemed unnecessary—but his three-track guest spot actually ups the mystique of composer/guitarist/leader Halvorson’s imaginative ensemble. 8. The Weeknd, After Hours The joy at first hearing this album seems so far away now, considering what has happened to the world since, but put it on while prepping dinner, and you’ll get your household dancing anyway. 9. Mary Lattimore, Silver Ladders The harpist enlists Slowdive’s Neil Halstead to guest and produce, and the results are as hypnotic as that would portend. 10. Yves Tumor, Heaven to a Tortured Mind Funky and forceful, this wellspring of psychedelic soul commands me to hit repeat every time I spin it.

Leslie Ventura

1. Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters A record about preserving one’s sense of self, calling out injustice and breaking free from that which holds us back. 2. Perfume Genius, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately Michael Alden Hadreas creates bountiful atmospheres soaked with emotion, painting intimate pictures of lovers past and present. 3. Moses Sumney, græ One of the most beautiful albums of 2020 delves wholeheartedly into the experience of being an outsider, tapping into the loneliness felt by all of us during the pandemic. 4. Chloe X Halle, Ungodly Hour Beyoncé recently presented sisters Chloe and Halle Bailey with Billboard’s Rising Star, and Ungodly Hour reflects all the soul and power you’d expect from a Beyoncé-vetted act. 5. Dehd, Flower of Devotion The Chicago three-piece channels jangly, rom com-fueled power pop with howling, lo-fi post-punk on a record that feels as and new as it does classically familiar.

6. Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud Katie Crutchfield has come a long way since the indie/emo early days, and if any album in her catalog signifies a more mature, well-rounded direction, it’s this one. 7. Grimes, Miss Anthropocene What Claire Elise Boucher lacks in child-naming skills she more than makes up for in decadent, ethereal electro-pop. 8. Destroyer, Have We Met Dan Bejar’s January release marked a darker departure, and its themes of loss now feel like a premonition of 2020. 9. Wolf Parade, Thin Mind The Montrealers’ fifth album doesn’t quite pack the punch of its earlier work, but the trio’s keyboard-laden indie rock remains vibrant especially on single “Julia Take Your Man Home.” 10. Mac Miller, Circles This posthumous album reveals just how troubled—and hopeful—the young rapper was.

Shamir resides in Pennsylvania these days, but we’ll never stop counting the local native among our own. October’s self-titled LP garnered praise from Pitchfork to Rolling Stone, and it’s no wonder why. With a charismatic and distinct falsetto and a knack for writing emo-leaning indie tunes, Shamir gets better with every release. In August, The Killers released their sixth studio album, Imploding the Mirage, which the Weekly’s Geoff Carter awarded four stars, writing, “Nearly every one of the 10 tracks overflows with confidence and ardor, at a time when this city—this country, this world—could use both.” Las Vegas band The Silver State released its first album in six years, welcoming singer Caleb Lindskoog back to the desert after 13 years in New York. YRUYMI finds the trio working in perfect harmony, melding atmospheric indie rock with poignant lyrics on life, death and all the things that happen in between. After surviving a heart attack earlier this year, rapper Phil A made a full recovery and paired up with MC Rasson Arigato to record Philagato in one day during the pandemic. The record also features LMNO, Flashius Clayton and Jay NiCE. Also on the hip-hop front, Vegas rapper Hassan released a new EP in July, Getting 2 Old 4 This, which takes on Karens, Oscar Goodman and even erectile dysfunction with his signature dose of sarcasm and humor. Other notable releases included Public Comment, an EP from garage-rock band Same Sex Mary; Already Long Gone by country singer Paige Overton; Nothing in the Dark, the latest full-length from poppunks Mercy Music; Daydream Delphi from indie stalwarts Black Camaro; The De2our from rapper Ekoh; and Island of Forgotten Toys from heavy-rock outfit Kilfeather. –Leslie Ventura

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The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix/Courtesy)

er Ki ng (Net flix/Courtesy)

that inspired it). I could watch the superpowered Hargreeves siblings bicker and reconcile all day; it’s almost a buzzkill when they have to do regular hero stuff. 9. Truth Seekers (Prime Video) Simon Pegg and Nick Frost explore X-Fileslike territory … and they don’t skimp on the laughs or the jump-scares. Watch closely for the musical joke they set up over several episodes. 10. Tiger King (Netflix) I didn’t want to get sucked into this reality-show crap, but options were limited at the time; there was a pandemic going on. And there’s a certain guilty pleasure in watching a show in which nearly every last soul is the Worst Human Ever.

High Fidelity (Hulu/Courtesy)

6. The Amber Ruffin Show (Peacock) The comic and Late Night With Seth Meyers writer joined the latenight fray in September and hit the ground running. Her enthusiasm is contagious, and her “smart but silly” take on the news sharpened to a fine point. 7. The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance as chess prodigy Beth Harmon is a superstar turn. Take away every last thing surrounding her, and you’d still be captivated by her work in this series. 8. The Umbrella Academy Season 2 (Netflix) This superhero series continues to defy expectations (and improve upon the Gerard Way comic

ig eT Th

This year I leaned heavily on comfort viewing—funny shows, lighthearted fare and a lot of old favorites. (I rewatched nearly the entire runs of The Office, the original Star Trek and Letterkenny, some of them multiple times.) But this year also delivered several astonishingly strong debuts and sophomore seasons. 1. Ted Lasso (AppleTV+) The central idea of this sleeper hit is a radical one for these times: It’s about adults being decent to each other and owning up to their mistakes. It’s also about an American coaching Premier League football, but you’ll love it for the humor, the full character arcs and Jason Sudeikis’ leftfield hip-hop references. 2. How to With John Wilson (HBO, HBO Max) In this offbeat documentary series, cameraman and narrator John Wilson explores New York City, meeting and filming strangers—and falling down one previously unexplored rabbit hole after another. You’ve never seen anything like it. 3. The Mandalorian Season 2 (Disney+) The first season of this runaway hit only skirted the edges of the Star Wars universe. This season, showrunner Jon Favreau steers us right into it, bringing back longtime fan-favorite characters and settings while introducing new kinds of storytelling to the franchise. 4. What We Do in the Shadows Season 2 (FX/FX on Hulu) Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s crew of Staten Island vampires is even more lethal— and hilarious—in its second outing. 5. The Great (Hulu) Don’t watch this comedy-drama—based on the ascension of Catherine the Great—for its historical accuracy. Watch it to see Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult having a great time chewing up all that historical scenery.

(AP)

Geoff Carter

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The Mandalorian (Disney+/Courtesy)

Devs (Hulu/Courtesy)

TELEVISION

Spencer Patterson

Like most everyone, I surely watched more television in 2020 than in any other year of my life. A lot of that time was spent on recent shows I’d missed—(Cobra Kai, Mr. Robot) or rewatching old classics (Community, Lost), but I also took in loads of new stuff. (Oh, and I don’t have HBO, just so you know.) 1. Better Call Saul Season 5 (AMC) The best show around somehow got even better in its penultimate season, peaking with Saul and Mike’s desert detour, “Bagman.” 2. The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) Stop searching for Bobby Fischer. Beth Harmon is the chess hero the world had no idea it needed.

3. The Mandalorian Season 2 (Disney+) Even before surprise guests began arriving onscreen (!), the evolving Mando/“Child” dynamic had us watching the clock till Friday liftoff. 4. High Fidelity (Hulu) This smart, diverse, musically dynamic show had so much going for it … making Hulu’s decision to cancel after one season unfathomable. 5. Ozark Season 3 (Netflix) Whether they’re in it by force or choice at this point, the Byrdes’ saga remains wildly unpredictable, without the twists ever feeling cheap. 6. MLB Now (MLB Network) Baseball looked quite different in 2020, but Brian Kenny’s commitment to serving “thinking fans” with next-level content and consideration remained constant. 7. Brockmire Season 4 (IFC) Speaking of baseball, what’s not to love about Hank Azaria’s turn as prickly/lovable announcer Jim Brockmire? 8. Dead to Me Season 2 (Netflix) Believable? Not especially. But with Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini in top form, that hardly seems to matter. 9. The Boys Season 2 (Prime Video) The best superhero show that isn’t really about superheroes got more interesting in its second go-round, introducing a racist character and then beating the absolute crap out of her. 10. Devs (Hulu) This strange sci-fi one-off starring Sonoya Mizuno and Nick Offerman didn’t always succeed, but its deep thoughts were a welcome distraction.

The Boys (Amazon Prime/Courtesy)

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FILM Geoff Carter

This isn’t a list of the year’s top films; these are merely films that I enjoyed. There aren’t even 10 of them; I didn’t see most of the films released this year due to screen fatigue. (Also, two potential favorites—Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Soul—were unreleased at press time). Let’s hope 2021 brings us back into cinemas … and that there are cinemas to return to. 1. The Personal History of David Copperfield Armando Iannucci (Veep, The Death of Stalin) condenses Charles Dickens’ epic story into a breezy two-hour comedy and fills it with great actors (Dev Patel, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw, Benedict Wong and more) and enough warmth and whimsy to make an instant classic. 2. Palm Springs Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti get stuck in “one of those infinite time loop situations,” but that’s not the main thing this whip-smart romantic comedy has to offer. It’s more like one of those personal growth-and-self-forgiveness situations. With dinosaurs.

3. Da 5 Bloods Spike Lee elicits outstanding, must-see performances from Chadwick Boseman and Delroy Lindo in this Vietnam-based Western. Lindo’s desperate, angry “right on” monologue, aimed right at the camera and at us, deserves to win him an Oscar strictly on its merits. 4. Mank Lots of movies have been made about the making of Citizen Kane, but none have even come close to approaching that film’s deathless artistry. Director David Fincher and stars Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried come awfully close. 5. American Utopia David Byrne can now say he’s been central to two of the greatest concert films of all time. Just as Jonathan Demme rewrote the rules of concert movies with Stop Making Sense, Spike Lee rewrites them again in filming Byrne’s barefooted, cleverly choreographed, ecstatic Broadway show.

PODCASTS Genevie Durano

There are more than 850,000 podcasts available, covering every topic under the sun. Tune the world out for a bit and start playing catch up. 1. Floodlines This is the story of Hurricane Katrina as you’ve never heard it before, told by people who lived through it. The human toll is heartbreaking, the bureaucratic incompetence maddening. Fifteen years on, the tragedy still stirs up a tidal wave of emotions. 2. Nice White Parents An astounding piece of journalism by Chana Joffe-Walt, this five-part series focuses on one school in Brooklyn, throwing open its doors to reveal the systemic inequity baked into the American education system.

3. 1619 Nikole Hannah-Jones’ Pulitzer Prize-winning series for The New York Times,, which traces the impact of slavery in America’s identity, is no less moving in audio form. This is history we didn’t learn at school, taking place before the official founding of this country. 4. The Daily Even in the year of no commute, The Daily,, strategically designed to be the length of the average workplace trek (around 22 minutes), continued its dominance in the podcast charts. If you’re a fan, you know your day doesn’t start right without Michael Barbaro’s singular voice diving deep into one important New York Times story. 5. Dead Eyes This might be the most endearing podcast of the year, built around a trauma suffered by actor Connor Ratliff when he was fired by Tom Hanks in Band of Brothers … because America’s Dad thought Ratliff had “dead eyes.”

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Genevie Durano

Mank (Netflix/Courtesy)

BOOKS

6. NPR Politics This election year would have been even harder to get through if not for the team at NPR Politics cutting through all the noise. 7. Even the Rich This podcast lifts the veil on famous mononyms like Britney, Beyoncé and Versace, stripping away the artifice of stardom. What’s underneath is rarely pretty. 8. Staying in With Emily & Kumail Need tips on how to live your best quarantine life? Let funny guy Kumail Nanjani and his wife, Emily Gordon, be your audio guides. 9. The Michelle Obama Podcast The former first lady has wisdom to spare, and her podcast is a respite from the nonsense that clogs up our digital lives. 10. Rabbit Hole The internet has transformed not only our daily lives, but our very nature as human beings. If that thought keeps you up at night, this sixpart series from New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose is a must-listen.

1. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson Wilkerson writes really big books, both in pages and scope. The follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning The Warmth of Other Suns posits that caste, a system of societal hierarchy seen in other parts of the world, is manifested most profoundly in the treatment of Black Americans through historical and contemporary oppression. 2. A Promised Land by Barack Obama This first of a two-volume memoir reminds us that words matter, and they can be eloquent, too. Get off Twitter and savor these 768 pages slowly, because there’s no release date yet for the second part. 2. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell The grief a parent feels over the loss of a child is an immense force. Author Maggie O’Farrell imagines this as the engine that propels William Shakespeare to write his masterpiece Hamlet, after the loss of his 11-year-old son Hamnet to the bubonic plague. It’s a portrait of the Bard as you’ve never seen him—not the literary genius of history, but simply a father overcome with sorrow. 4. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett In a year that had race on the forefront of our national consciousness, this novel about twin sisters during the Jim Crow era who pursue divergent paths— one chooses to pass off as white and the other does not—asks hard questions about racial identity. 5. The End of October by Lawrence Wright There’s no shortage of pandemic lit on the shelves, but Wright’s eerily prescient novel, published just before COVID-19 hit the world in earnest, has so many similarities to our present predicament, this really is one instance where truth is as strange as fiction.

C. Moon Reed

Here’s an unranked list of recommended 2020 books with a local focus or connection. Eat a Peach by David Chang In this honest memoir, the renowned chef, restaurateur and star of Netflix’s Ugly Delicious discusses his rise, his struggles with depression and his life as an American child of Korean immigrants. Sandstone & Silver: An Anthology of Nevada Poets edited by Heather Lang-Cassera Beloved local publisher Zeitgeist Press presents an anthology featuring 55 Silver State poets. At the Sands: The Casino That Shaped Classic Las Vegas, Brought the Rat Pack Together, and Went Out With a Bang by David G. Schwartz The latest project from the Las Vegas historian and UNLV leader shines light on a pivotal Old Vegas casino. Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue by Geoff Schumacher The longtime journalist and Mob Museum executive delivers a revised and expanded version of his biography of a true Las Vegas icon, offering new insights on Hughes’ interactions with the mob, a CIA project, aviation and more. The Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of Time by Ben Ehrenreich The recent Black Mountain Institute fellow explores climate change, the Mojave Desert and more. Publishers Weekly describes it as a “beautiful meditation on adapting to future cataclysm.”

Michelle Obama, Howard Hughes (AP); David Chang (AP/Photo Illustration)

LV W F O O D & D R I N K

12.24.20

MEMORABLE MEALS There’s so much about 2020 we’d rather forget, but not these dishes

n a year that saw us hunkering down in our homes, the Weekly staff still managed to get in some delicious bites. Here are some of our favorite plates that didn’t come out of our kitchens. We’re looking forward to the time when we can go back out there and truly appreciate our city’s vast culinary offerings. Until then, stay safe and tip your servers and delivery people generously.

Brunch Burger, Wolfgang Puck Players Locker One of the most reliable restaurants in Summerlin turned into the most reliable sports bar and grill just before the pandemic landed. A fall visit to the Players Locker patio yielded one of the most indulgent brunch bites of the year: a perfect patty with white cheddar, crunchy bacon, special sauce and a runny egg. Downtown Summerlin, 702-202-6300. –Brock Radke Burrata, Graffiti Bao It might be easy to miss on a menu of flavorful steamed bao buns, creative dumplings and Chinese takeout classics, but this unorthodox combo of creamy burrata cheese with a perfect scallion pancake and a powerful dose of garlic chili sauce is a must to complete your Graffiti Bao feast. 7355 S. Buffalo Drive #1, 702-3236033. –BR (All photos Christopher DeVargas/Staff)

86th Street Square Pie, Metro Pizza We’ve already touted this light, crisp Sicilian-American hybrid that notched a third-place finish for Metro pizzaiolo Chris Decker at the 2017 International Pizza Challenge. But it deserves extra acknowledgment as top-flight takeout—a richly delicious pizza that gets even better on the second day. Don’t forget the cup-andchar pepperoni. Multiple locations, metropizza.com. –BR

Cauliflower tacos, Bomb Tacos Jonesing for takeout but trying to avoid that heavy, too-full feeling? Given the same treatment as Bomb Tacos’ shrimp, these veggie vessels are hands down the best and won’t leave you feeling guilty after. 3655 S. Durango Drive #27, 702-262-0141. –Leslie Ventura Chocolate bun, Din Tai Fung Come for the xiao long bao, stay for the chocolate bun, which should cap every meal at the Taiwanese dumpling destination, now at Aria. The bun’s soft and fluffy, and the chocolate warm and rich. Each bite is an explosion of delight. Aria, 702-5908650. –Genevie Durano

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LV W F O O D & D R I N K

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Fried chicken with rice, Jollibee The Philippines, a country three-quarters the size of California, loves fried chicken, and Jollibee is its go-to chain, with more than 3,000 branches dotting its islands. The hand-breaded chicken (in regular or spicy), when paired with rice and gravy, is comfort food through and through, exactly what we need in these uncertain times. Multiple locations, jollibeeusa.com. –GD Glazed Doughnut Burger, Sickies Garage The menu at Sickies, an encyclopedia of brews, burgers, wings, sandwiches and appetizers, is fun and playful. Take the Glazed Doughnut Burger, for example. Who would have thought two glazed doughnuts holding together a beef patty, American cheese and peppered bacon could be so delicious? Town Square, 725-735-5400. –GD Gnocchetti Sardi, Osteria Fiorella Marc Vetri’s out-of-nowhere Italian hot spot in Summerlin is a treasure trove of all-time favorites and rustic delights, offering one of those menus where everything sounds so good, it’s tough to choose. Find some space for this adorable pasta dish drenched in the brightest basil pesto you’ve ever tasted. You won’t regret it. Red Rock Resort, 702-797-7777. –BR Japanese A5 Wagyu Sandwich, the X Pot The best sandwich I ate this year was not a massive pile of meat on bread but a blink-and-it’s-gone treat. Japanese A5 Wagyu tenderloin from the Miyazaki Prefecture, sandwiched between delicate toasted buttermilk white bread, is about as perfect a bite as you can get. It melts in your mouth and gets seared in your memory. Grand Canal Shoppes at Venetian, 866-888-9768. –GD

Crab XLB, Shanghai Taste One bite of these decadent, meaty pork and crab soup dumplings and you’ll be hooked for life. Just don’t burn your mouth on them. 4266 W. Spring Mountain Road, 702-5706363. –LV Five-cheese pesto pizza, Pizzeria Monzú If you’re looking for a pizza that doesn’t make you feel like you’re eating pizza, look no further than this elevated herbaceous option, made lovingly with scamorza, mozzarella, ricotta. Parmigiano and Pecorino Romano. 6020 W. Flamingo Road #10, 702-749-5959. –LV

Japanese Rolled Omelette, Sparrow + Wolf Sparrow + Wolf’s brunch has many standouts, but the one we’ll keep coming back for is the Japanese Rolled Omelette. Served with dashi crème fraîche and scallions, it’s a delicate interpretation of the classic egg dish. This is next-level brunch stuff. 4480 Spring Mountain Road #100, 702-790-2147. –GD Pretzel with beer cheese, the Front Yard at Ellis Island Who doesn’t like a pretzel with cheese? This girl, usually. But the Front Yard’s giant, home-baked pretzel is so soft— and the beer cheese so decadent—it will win over just about anyone. 4178 Koval Lane, 702-733-8901. –LV

Sprouting Up Ramen, Jinya We keep coming back for this hearty, kitchen sink-style ramen creation: thick noodles in pork and chicken broth with savory pork belly, spicy bean sprouts, a seasoned soft-cooked egg, crispy fried Brussels sprouts and notes of black pepper and ginger. It has just the right amount of every flavor and texture you need to get through winter. Multiple locations, jinyaramenbar.com. –BR The Violette Club, Violette’s Vegan Whether or not you’re vegan, you can enjoy this delicious sandwich that comes smothered in pesto and piled high with veggies. 8560 W. Desert Inn Road, 702-685-0466. –LV

LV W S P O R T S

12.24.20

BEST IN SHOW

WRAPPING 2020 bubble placeholder

Counting down the top 10 2020 moments in Vegas sports BY CASE KEEFER

he sports world was far from immune to the effects of COVID-19, as several negative consequences stemmed from its spread. But all things considered, the adjustments eventually made to go forward were impressive. So, let’s focus on the positives when it comes to sports in 2020 and look back on the top 10 moments across a variety of areas.

Raiders shock Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium Over a 14-month, 22-game period including a Super Bowl, Kansas City lost only once—40-32 to Las Vegas on October 11 in the Chiefs’ home stadium. The Raiders went toe-to-toe with their potentially dynastic rival and came out on top in a performance that, at least for the moment, validated everything they had done since Jon Gruden arrived as coach in 2018. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if the Raiders could have toppled the Chiefs again at Allegiant Stadium a month later, but they gave up a late touchdown to lose 35-31.

Golden Knights win on back-toback nights to end regular season It was impossible to know at the time, but Vegas clinched its second Pacific Division title in three years by going to Alberta and winning in Calgary and Edmonton on March 8 and 9, respectively. The season was paused four days later, with the Golden Knights having gone 11-2 over the previous month as new coach Peter DeBoer settled in. DeBoer was helping turn defenseman Shea Theodore, who scored in both games, into a star and making a goalie split between Marc-André Fleury and trade-deadline acquisition Robin Lehner work. Rockier times were ahead in the NHL’s bubble restart five months later, but at the moment, it felt like anything was possible with the Golden Knights.

Bishop Gorman and Coronado basketball play instant-classic on ESPNU Las Vegas has turned into a hotbed for basketball talent over the past decade, and there was no better coronation than a nationally televised game between the area’s two best teams January 24. The action lived up to the hype. Coronado’s Jaden Hardy (the top-rated recruit in the country in the class of 2021) got the Cougars out to an early lead … but they couldn’t hold off the now nine-time defending state champions. Gaels senior (and current LSU starter) Mwani Wilkinson broke out with 17 points, including a fourth-quarter alley-oop dunk to give Gorman a 70-62 victory.

Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk deliver UFC fight of the year Five days before the world was paused for COVID-19, in the last major local sporting event, the two top women’s strawweight fighters staged a memorable co-main event at UFC 248. The champion Zhang’s 20-fight win streak was pushed to the brink against a relentless attack from the former champion Jedrzejczyk, who fought through

a hematoma swelled to the size of a baseball on her forehead. The T-Mobile Arena crowd gave a standing ovation after the five-round fight went the distance, despite no one knowing for sure who would win. The judges ultimately sided with Zhang via split decision.

Golden Knights sign Alex Pietrangelo in free agency Despite the disappointment over a Western Conference finals loss, making it that far isn’t a bad result for the vast majority of NHL franchises. It would have been hard to blame the Golden Knights’ front office for not making significant changes ahead of the next season, but that’s not their M.O.

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As it has continually over the past few years, Vegas targeted one of the top available players and stopped at nothing until it got him. Pietrangelo is two years removed from leading the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup victory and gives Vegas one of the best defensive one-two punches in the league alongside Theodore. Other fan bases dream of their teams being as successful and aggressive as Vegas has been in crafting its ideal roster.

men fought to a draw last year. The bout was outfitted with all the glitz the division was known for in the ’90s, including entrances that saw Fury carried out on an oversize throne and Wilder sport a 40-pound costume as a tribute to Black History Month. After Wilder got blown out in a near pick’em fight, losing via seventh-round TKO, he blamed the outfit for tiring out his legs.

Heavyweight prizefighting returns to the Strip For the first time in nearly 20 years, a lineal heavyweight championship fight attracted a sold-out crowd, when Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder rematched February 22 at MGM Grand Garden Arena, after the two

UNLV’s men’s basketball squad shocks No. 4 San Diego State The rival Aztecs were three wins from an undefeated regular season—and already celebrating a Mountain West conference championship in the pregame—when UNLV visited Viejas Arena on February 22. What happened next was a glimpse at the long-term vision then-first-year coach T.J. Otzelberger has for the UNLV program. UNLV played fundamentally sound and hit just enough shots to upset San Diego State 66-63. The victory propelled UNLV to a four-game win streak to end the regular season, getting it over .500 despite a trying season and giving the program its biggest win in nearly a decade.

■ LAST WEEK: CHARGERS 30, RAIDERS 27 (OT) The Raiders’ dim playoff hopes almost completely burned out with another defensively deficient performance. Las Vegas allowed LA rookie quarterback Justin Herbert to bust out of a late-season swoon with 314 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and a game-winning rushing touchdown in overtime. The Raiders mostly kept up with the Chargers despite losing quarterback Derek Carr to a groin injury in the first quarter, with replacement Marcus Mariota racking up 314 combined yards.

RAIDERS

Las Vegas Aces reach WNBA Finals The Aces stayed on their path of annual improvement in their third year since moving to Las Vegas, taking the WNBA’s two-month bubble season in Bradenton, Florida, by storm. Forward A’ja Wilson made up for the absences of center Liz Cambage (who opted out of the season) and guard Kelsey Plum (who injured her Achilles in preparation to play), by morphing into a full-blown superstar. The former No. 1 overall pick captured the league’s MVP award and led the Aces to the overall top seed in the playoffs. They were swept in a best-of-five finals series against the Seattle Storm, but with Wilson on board, should remain in contention for years to come.

Raiders open Allegiant Stadium with upset win over Saints There’s no sports league bigger in the U.S. than the NFL. And, for a long time, there appeared to be no sports league less likely to give Las Vegas a chance than one that barred players from even attending conventions here five years ago. But that all officially changed September 21, when the Raiders opened the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium against a perennial power and Super Bowl favorite in the Saints. Las Vegas fell into an early 10-0 hole, but controlled New Orleans from there and went on to a 34-24 victory. Nothing else came close to better announcing Las Vegas’ sudden ascendance as one of the top sports cities in the country.

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Raiders safety Erik Harris brings down Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10), December 17 at Allegiant Stadium. (AP/Photo Illustration)

Report

Bishop Gorman, Coronado (Steve Marcus/Staff), Others (AP/Photo Illustrations)

Circa sportsbook opens With sports betting sweeping the nation and now legal in 18 states, the world needed a reminder that Las Vegas remains the industry’s mecca. Circa provided that by unveiling the largest sportsbook on earth—featuring a $20 million, 78 million-megapixel screen—as part of the new Downtown resort’s grand opening at midnight October 28. Invited guests were allowed into Circa a few hours early, which fittingly meant the sportsbook’s first crowd watched the Los Angeles Dodgers top the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 6 to win the 2020 World Series.

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■ THIS WEEK: DOLPHINS (9-5) AT RAIDERS (7-7) When: Saturday, December 26, 5:15 p.m. Where: Allegiant Stadium TV: NFL Network Radio: 920-AM & 92.3-FM Betting line: Dolphins -3, over/under 47.5 Opponent: The Dolphins are still alive in their quest to earn a wild-card playoff slot behind rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who took over midseason for Ryan Fitzpatrick. In an interesting wrinkle, Mariota and Tagovailoa are both Hawaii natives, and the former has served as a mentor to the latter since he was a child. Miami’s real strength has been on defense, however, where the Dolphins might have the best pairing of cornerbacks in the league in Xavien Howard and Byron Jones. Miami has played well away from home this year, going 4-2 on the road. Injuries: Carr joined a lengthy list of starters who missed some or all of the Chargers game, including receiver Henry Ruggs (COVID-19), defensive end Clelin Ferrell (shoulder), cornerback Damon Arnette (concussion), safety Johnathan Abram (concussion), linebacker Nicholas Morrow (concussion) and receiver Hunter Renfrow (concussion). There’s hope some or all of those players could return this week including Carr, who’s “50/50” to play, according to head coach Jon Gruden. –Case Keefer

VEGAS INC BUSINESS

12.24.20

Bottom line on diversity, equity and inclusion, per consultant: It’s good for business

BY BRYAN HORWATH he creation and sustainment of a diverse workplace culture isn’t just an altruistic trend these days, it’s also a pathway to business success. That’s the view of workplace consultant and author Bea Boccalandro, a panelist on a recent conference on workplace “diversity, equity and inclusion” presented by the Downtown Vegas Alliance, a nonprofit downtown business advocacy organization. “If we do well-executed DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion], that leads to profound shifts in human interactions, culture and thought patterns,” Boccalandro said. “That’s going to show up at the surface level, which is quarterly earnings.” Boccalandro said company cultures can change when what she calls “workplace societal contributions” take place. She said few acts can be as meaningful as the furthering social justice causes, which fall squarely into the diversity and inclusion categories. “To me, there’s no question that there’s a business case [for DEI],” Boccalandro said. “I think it’s so strong, if you want your business to be around in five or 10 years, you better get on board because this is going to be the new normal. You can’t run a business now and not take care of employee safety, and that’s how [DEI] will be thought of in the future.” Nowadays, Boccalandro said, “nobody questions the wearing of hard hats on a construction site, but there were no hard hats in 1930.” Boccalandro—whose book Do Good at Work was published this past fall—did admit that research is inconclusive on nailing the correlation between being more diverse and increasing profits, but she’s nonetheless confident there’s a connection. “If you think of it like exercise, we don’t measure the correlation between doing 10 curls over 10 weeks and living two additional days because of it,” she said. “But we know that doing regular exercise prolongs life. ”

Anthony McCrary, who founded Diversity Management Partners, a DEI consulting firm, said the first thing any company should do is conduct an audit to spotlight what it’s doing well and where it can improve. “It’s good to commit to very descriptive DEI target goals and objectives,” McCrary said. “That takes a committee, often of executives and some ambassadors or champions of DEI, to help develop short- and longterm goals. Start small and take incremental steps to develop such a program.” While DEI buzzwords and task forces have become more common in corporate circles, entrepreneur TaChelle Lawson (who was not a part of the panel

discussion) said there’s a danger in trying to become more diverse and inclusive by simply filling a quota. Lawson, a Black woman, founded the FIG Brand Strategy Firm, a Las Vegas-based consulting agency that touts itself as providing “diversity and inclusion brand incorporation without all the fluff.” “Personally and professionally, I find this huge rush to diversify business to be irresponsible,” she said. “Companies need to be thinking about more than hiring Blacks, Latinos and Asians to fulfill diversity numbers. It should be about hiring the best talent for your brand, not hiring because you’re afraid of looking racist.” Hiring to fill a diversity quota, Lawson said, will end up making companies less inclusive. “I’d be surprised if more than 15% of companies out there had an actual diversity and inclusion hiring strategy,” Lawson said. “The opportunity is to level the playing field, but too many are afraid to have those uncomfortable conversations about how we got here in the first place. … Where I think most companies fall short is being inclusive.” At the heart of what would be a more meaningful sea change, Lawson said, is if corporate leadership structures were more diverse. According to Fortune Media, the most recent list of Fortune 500 CEOs listed only five African Americans, though Blacks make up about 13% of the population. “Look at any casino company on the Strip,” Lawson said. “They’re going to hit their diversity numbers. Plenty of Blacks, plenty of Latinos, but look at their leadership. … That’s a different story. That’s diversity, but it’s not inclusion.”

Diversity Management Partners founder Anthony McCrary (Christopher DeVargas/Staff)

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VEGAS INC BUSINESS

12.24.20

VegasInc Giving Notes Move 4 Less assisted HELP of Southern Nevada by moving new mattresses and frames into seven client apartments. The support is a continuation of the company’s two-pronged philanthropic initiative, Moving Our Community. The program encompasses providing moving services to nonprofit organizations for essential items related to their beneficiaries and to families affected by COVID-19 who need to relocate. Duncan Lee, a prominent Nevadan and first-generation immigrant, in partnership with the Governor’s Office for New Americans, established the Esperanza Fund to support Nevada’s immigrant communities and strengthen nonprofits working with them. The fund was established with a $750,000 gift from the Open Society Foundations, founded by George Soros, which works for justice, democratic governance and human rights. Nearly $250,000 has already been granted to community organizations in the weeks since the fund’s inception. Recipient organizations include: Asian Community Development Council, ACTIONN, Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center, CSN Foundation, Dream Big Nevada, Ethiopian Christian Fellowship Church, Immigrant Home Foundation, Make the Road NV, Mi Familia Vota, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, REACH Las Vegas and UNLV Diversity Initiatives. The American Heart Association awarded $7,700 to three Las Vegas schools to continue its commitment to help educators make whole-body wellness a priority. The grants were awarded to Discovery Charter School – Hillpointe Campus ($3,000 for physical activity equipment), Eileen Brookman Elementary ($2,800 for outdoor activities and equipment), and Quannah McCall Elementary ($1,900 for physical education equipment). Communities in Schools of Southern Nevada received more than $90,000 in materials and cash donations during its eighth annual Fill the Bus school supply drive in support of Clark County School District students in partnership with KSNV News 3/The CW Las Vegas and Lotus Broadcasting Las Vegas. Residents and representatives from local corporations and businesses, including Credit One Bank, Sands Cares/ Venetian, Walker Furniture and others personally dropped off monetary and supply donations. Other supporters include Bank of America, IKEA and Las Vegas Raiders Foundation. The National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health awarded a grant expected to total $3.3 million to Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for

Brain Health to establish the Nevada exploratory Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. The three-year award will help build the infrastructure and initiate statewide collaborative activities needed to establish an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center focused on reducing disparities faced by individuals with dementia in rural settings. In addition, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the NIH awarded a five-year grant expected to total $3.8 million to Virendra Mishra, Ph.D., associate staff, to identify biomarkers to predict dementia in patients with Parkinson’s disease. 24Meals, a nonprofit started by the Fresinski family of Henderson to provide chef-prepared meals delivered along with messages of encouragement, now serves meals to more than 150 households each week and has delivered more than 6,500 meals to date. Its efforts have been made possible by donations of food, cash and volunteers, as well as support from Wilder Gourmet and the Fresinskis’ own financial contributions. So far, 68 chefs have participated. For more information, visit 24Meals.org. Cox Communications celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month by honoring state Sen. Yvanna Cancela; East Career and Technical Academy Principal Darlin Delgado; Cox Director of Human Resources Nileen Knoke and Salvation Army Director of Social Services Juan Salinas. Cox donated $1,000 each to Communities in Schools, Leaders in Training, Project 150 and the Salvation Army on behalf of the honorees. In addition, Cox recently donated $5,000 to the nonprofit Create a Change Now, which is dedicated to educating and empowering healthy living for children and families. The Las Vegas Natural History Museum recently received two grants, totaling over $45,000, from Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. These grants help offset the financial hardship resulting from the COVID-19 health emergency so the museum can continue inspiring a better appreciation and understanding of the world, the environment and ourselves. UnitedHealthcare donated $1 million to Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada to be distributed over the next three years. The money will be used to provide up to 300 seniors with food deliveries, decreasing the wait list and increasing food security across Clark County, and support the operation of the Renewing Hope Program for Men, which supports homeless men with a desire to gain self-sufficiency.

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