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

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GOLDEN KNIGHTS COULD WELCOME BACK FANS SOON Vegas Golden Knights fans could return to T-Mobile Arena as soon as March 1. Following an announcement from Gov. Steve Sisolak that large gatherings can be expanded to include sporting events, a Golden Knights spokesman confirmed February 15 that the team will submit a plan for government approval to welcome back spectators for home games. If approved, the Golden Knights could host up to 20% capacity (about 3,500 fans) as soon as March 1. Vegas hosts the Minnesota Wild on that day and has 17 home games from that date onward. Under previous state restrictions, large gatherings like sporting events were capped at 50, too small a number for the Golden Knights to consider. Under the new regulations, organizations are permitted to begin filing plans for consideration. Even with approval, no large gatherings can be held before March 1. The Golden Knights have played 14 games this season and 10 at home with no fans. One of their road games was in San Jose, which does not currently allow fans. Two games have been in Arizona against the Coyotes, where capacity restrictions allow for spectators. Golden Knights General Manager Kelly McCrimmon said that even having 20% of a full building is a major difference. “It really was a much better atmosphere than the games we’ve been part of with no fans,” McCrimmon said. If the Knights' plan is approved, they will release information about tickets and entry requirements at that time. –Justin Emerson

WEEK IN REVIEW WEEK AHEAD N EWS YO U S H O U L D K N OW A B O U T

A worker in Richardson, Texas, breaks ice on a frozen fountain on February 16. Temperatures dropped into the single digits as snow shut down air travel and grocery stores. (LM Otero/Associated Press)

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IN THIS ISSUE

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Cover story: Omega Mart? Just say Meow! Family: Teaching kids beyond the classroom The Strip: Apéro Show debuts at Town Square Food & Drink: New Italian from James Trees Sports: Chicago Cub Kris Bryant looks to bounce back

STORIES FROM LAST WEEK WHEN SHOULD WE CELEBRATE NEVADA DAY? Nevada Day was observed October 31 until 1999 when the Legislature changed the holiday to the last Friday of the month. But a bill introduced this month would undo that action, setting Nevada Day’s official observance on October 31—no ifs, ands or buts. “I have heard some information that I hadn’t thought about previously. This is what the legislative process is for, right?” said Assemblyman Steve Yeager, who introduced the bill.

Visitors who fly to Las Vegas will soon be landing at Harry Reid International Airport. The Clark County Commission unanimously voted February 16 to rename McCarran International Airport for the retired U.S. Senate majority leader and Searchlight native. Commissioner Tick Segerblom, who led the renaming charge, said rebranding costs will be covered by private contributions.

BITCOIN EXCEEDS $50,000

HE SAID IT

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WELCOME TO HARRY REID INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

“Whatever our ex-president claims he thought might happen that day ... whatever reaction he says he meant to produce ... by that afternoon, he was watching the same live television as the rest of the world. A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name. These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags, and screaming their loyalty to him. It was obvious that only President [Donald] Trump could end this.” –Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., whom, despite making this speech February 13, voted not guilty in Trump's impeachment trial

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

The seemingly unstoppable rise of Bitcoin continued February 16 with the cost of a single unit of the digital currency rising above $50,000 for the first time. The same Bitcoin just one year ago would have cost $10,000. The price is up almost 200% in the past three months.

PUNK ROCK BOWLING REVEALS 2021 DATES, LINEUP Punk Rock Bowling, which canceled its 2020 Las Vegas festival due to the pandemic, has revealed details for its 2021 edition—scheduled for September 24-26 at Downtown Las Vegas Events Center. Devo, NOFX and Circle Jerks are set to anchor a bill that also includes Streetlight Manifesto, Lunachicks and Propagandhi. General admission three-day passes for the outdoor, all-ages event are on sale now for $170 plus fees at punkrockbowling.com.

The High Limit room, above, and a Tower Premium Suite, at right, are part of a nearly complete $25 million renovation at the El Cortez in Downtown Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/ Staff)

OMNIA TERRACE, OTHER HAKKASAN VENUES SET TO REOPEN IN MARCH Hakkasan Group announced February 16 it would reopen Las Vegas venues Omnia at Caesars Palace, Wet Republic at MGM Grand and Liquid Pool Lounge at Aria in early March, with all three pivoting from normal operations in order to adhere to state restrictions for nightclubs and dayclubs. The terrace at Omnia, which overlooks the Strip, is set to return to action March 5 and operate on Fridays and Saturdays starting at 10:30 p.m. This is the first time any portion of Omnia has been open to the public since mid-March 2020. Social distancing will be enforced at the outdoor lounge-style area. Wet Republic also reopens March 5, scheduled to operate Thursdays through Sundays starting at 11 a.m., and Liquid follows March 12 with the same schedule. Both dayclub venues will operate as an extension of their respective resort pools “to support customer demand during the summer season,” with reservations required for hotel and non-hotel guests. General admission is currently not permitted at dayclub and nightclub venues. Several dayclub venues on the Strip operated as pool lounges last summer. For reservations and more information, visit omnianightclub.com, wetrepublic.com or liquidpoollv.com. –Brock Radke

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

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MENTAL HELP How to take care of teens during the pandemic

(Shutterstock/Photo Illustration)

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

BY GENEVIE DURANO

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ince schools shut down in March, Clark County School District’s early-warning system, which monitors students’ mental health episodes, has sent more than 3,100 alerts to district officials, according to a recent story in The New York Times. That has prompted CCSD to hasten the return of in-person learning for some elementary school grades. Those mental health issues are part of a nationwide trend that’s worrying mental health experts such as Dr. Lisa Durette, program director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at UNLV. “There was a study through the University of Texas that pulled data for teens that were presenting to the emergency room for suicide attempt. And the data from the end of the last quarter of 2020, compared to last quarter of 2019, showed about a twofold increase in the rate of adolescents coming to the ER for suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts,” she says. The increase is can be attributed of the stresses of the pandemic, according to Michael Spindler, a consultant at Never Give Up Youth Healing Center, a residential treatment facility in Amargosa Valley. “In the last eight months, our referrals have doubled,” he says. “I call this the other pandemic—a mental health pandemic that is a direct result of COVID-19.” Social isolation has been one of the biggest factors in the uptick in depression and anxiety among adolescents since schools closed in the spring, according to experts. “The isolation is [taking] their normal adolescence,” Durette says. “Think about all the other things that come with the academics of school— sports, clubs, organizations—that’s your identity. This is not something they’re able to access right now.” Sasha DeCania, chief clinical

officer at Ignite Teen Treatment, a teen residential rehab program, agrees, noting the critical period in adolescent development when teens seek autonomy from their parents and approval from their friends. Being stuck at home with parents is the absolute opposite of the normal order of things, and this exacts a psychological toll. “Teenagers’ primary task is to be social; [they] understand who they are by their relationships and connections with others, away from their families. That’s

feeling is entirely warranted. “Parents need to provide children with an opportunity in the home to talk about what they’re feeling, that it’s OK to feel anxious and scared and apprehensive,” Spindler says. “They’re not bad feelings. Reassure them that yes, we’re going through a very tough time now, adults, too. But we’re gonna get through it. That’s the key. Give your child permission to feel what they’re feeling. Don’t brush it off. Don’t minimize it. Because what they’re feeling is real.

THEY’RE NOT BAD FEELINGS. REASSURE THEM THAT YES, WE’RE GOING THROUGH A VERY TOUGH TIME NOW, ADULTS, TOO. BUT WE’RE GONNA GET THROUGH IT. THAT’S THE KEY. GIVE YOUR CHILD PERMISSION TO FEEL WHAT THEY’RE FEELING. DON’T BRUSH IT OFF. DON’T MINIMIZE IT. BECAUSE WHAT THEY’RE FEELING IS REAL. ACKNOWLEDGE IT.” –Michael Spindler, Never Give Up Youth Healing Center

a primary thing before you launch into adulthood,” she says. So how can parents support their children during this extraordinarily challenging time? One of the most important things they can do is simply validate their teens’ feelings, and give them space to mourn the losses they feel—from missing friends to missing out on touchstones like school dances and field trips. It might be tempting to tell them to just buck up, but teens need to know that the anxiety they’re

Acknowledge it.” As for the pressure of academics, DeCania advises parents to take it easy—both on themselves and their teens. She cautions putting too much stock on alarmist stories about kids falling behind in school. Sure, distance learning isn’t equivalent to in-person instruction, but it doesn’t mean kids’ futures—collegiate or otherwise—are doomed. “Framing it that all these kids are going to suffer and never get caught up is the biggest enemy,” DeCania

says. “We need to focus on the present and not on the future. … This is a time to be safe. This is a time to be comforting, to be loving and to be understanding. Put it in perspective—these are circumstances that come every 100 years.” One silver lining to emerge from this pandemic is the newfound emphasis on prioritizing adolescents’ mental health, the experts say. There are more help outlets available now than ever before, especially with teletherapy and telemedicine becoming more prevalent. “There are resources that are abundant in Clark County and throughout the state, for kids and teens, many of which are low-cost and even no cost, like the mobile crisis response team, through the Department of Child and Family Services,” Durette says. Above all, parents can support their teens by simply being present and paying attention, focusing on building relationships and talking to them. And DeCania says you can’t underestimate teens’ need for physical proximity and affection in this time of social isolation. They might not say it out loud, but sometimes they really just need that hug from Mom or Dad. “Make an effort to sit down to dinner together to make sure there’s time for affection,” DeCania says. “Can you watch a movie together, play a video game together? Who needs more screen time, but if you can do those things and make space for physical contact? Absolutely.”

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5-MINUTE EXPERT

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CREATE BETTER PASSWORDS

While most modern websites and apps won’t allow you to make a password that doesn’t feature a mix of numbers, letters and special characters like slashes and ampersands, they don’t always tell you that an old password no longer passes muster. Every time you visit a website or open an app you haven’t touched in a while, make a point of checking the last time you changed your password. Many cybersecurity experts recommend changing passwords every three months; some even suggest doing it monthly. It’s safe to say, however, that if a password is more than 90 days old, you should change it on the spot. In a 2018 article, Chris Hoffman, editor of the tech site How-To Geek (howtogeek.com), offers these suggestions on creating a durable password:

Don’t wait to get hacked before changing your passwords BY GEOFF CARTER

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s you read this, someone could be attempting to access your online data. The sheer number of recent data breaches and cyberattacks—last year alone saw successful hacks of Instagram, YouTube, Marriott, Nintendo, Virgin Mobile and, oh, yeah, the U.S. government—suggests that future attacks aren’t just possible, but extremely likely. And while there’s nothing we can do to prevent large-scale data thefts short of having no online presence at all, we can take quick steps to protect ourselves. We can change the way we create, use and safeguard our passwords. Most of us don’t give much thought to our passwords. In an August 2020 report, NordPass, a password management service (more on those shortly), produced a list of the 200 most popular passwords found in data breaches. The top three? “12345,” “123456” and “123456789.” Also popular: vertical lines from QWERTY keyboards (“asdfghjkl”), common phrases such as “iloveyou” and “hello,” and, yep, head-slappers like “password” and “computer.” The study notes that these same weak passwords appear on the list year after year. If you see one of your passwords among them—perhaps even one you use across several accounts, for the sake of convenience—you’re an ideal candidate for ransom attacks, in which you could be locked out of your accounts and charged a ransom to regain access to them, or full-on identity theft, where you might not even be aware of the damage being done to your credit and reputation until it’s too late. Here are some ways to take yourself off that tempting list.

Avoid dictionary words and groups of dictionary words. “Any word on its own is bad,” Hoffman writes. And they don’t get better when you mix them up: “ ‘House’ is a terrible password. ‘Red house’ is also very bad.”

Use a minimum of 12 characters. “A longer password would be even better.” Use numbers, capital and lowercase letters, and symbols/special characters. But don’t arrange them in too obvious a way—see below.

Avoid obvious substitutions. “P@ssw0rd” is a nonstarter. But while it’s easy to create a random string of letters, numbers and symbols, actually remembering it is another thing entirely. Hoffman suggests thinking up an easy-to-remember sentence that includes all of those elements. The example he gives is “The first house I ever lived in was 613 Fake Street. Rent was $400 per month,” which shortens to “TfhIeliw613FS.Rw$4pm”—a 21-character password few could guess.

(Shutterstock/Photo Illustration)

USERNAME

PASSWORD

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5-MINUTE EXPERT

ADD A STEP You might have noticed that many sites and apps now offer something called “2-step” or “2-factor verification.” Get on it. It means that the site will send a verification code to another device—a phone or laptop—that you’ll use to complete your login. It’s a simple, elegant solution that confounds anyone who manages to swipe one of your devices.

KEEP PASSWORDS SAFE

It might seem obvious not to write passwords on Post-Its and stick them to your desk, but that might not be the only place your passwords are sitting out in the open. Some web browsers that offer to generate and store passwords for you also make those passwords ridiculously easy for an unscrupulous party to access. Leaving your computer unattended for 30 seconds—at work, perhaps, or at a coffeehouse while you pick up an order—gives the unscrupulous more than enough time to open your browser and grab your entire password list.

USE A MANAGER

Password managers are as good as their name: They keep your passwords—all your passwords—securely locked up. All you need to access dozens or even hundreds of distinct, machine-generated logins is a single password (please make it a good one) or a fingerprint scan. Password managers can even log in for you; they’ll prompt you to enter your master password or fingerprint at any login screen, and the app will do the rest. Some of the most popular password managers include Dashlane, Keeper, 1Password, BitWarden and NordPass, and their subscription prices rank from nonexistent to premium. If you’d like to see them rated against one another in terms of cost and functionality, check out PCMag’s list of “The Best Password Managers for 2021” (pcmag.com/picks/the-best-password-managers).

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GET lost in the SUPERMARKET BY GEOFF CARTER WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY WADE VANDERVORT

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Ready to switch dimensions? With the help of local collaborators, superstar collective Meow Wolf has brought large-scale immersive art to Las Vegas

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here are spoilers ahead. If you’d like to walk into Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart without knowing what lies beyond its grocery aisles, skip this piece until after you’ve visited the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based art collective’s 52,000 square-foot immersive and interactive art installation at the recently opened Area15 experiences, dining and retail mall. You have to see it for yourself. After that, you can return to this article to learn more about the world of Meow Wolf, though I confess I’m not sure I fully understand it myself. Even the Meow Wolf collective doesn’t seem to have all the answers, or know where the questions are coming from. In Meow Wolf: Origin Story, a 2018 documentary film, one of its members half-seriously claims, “Meow Wolf is this entity that is using us to channel itself into the world.” Omega Mart is Meow Wolf’s second permanent installation—arriving after Santa Fe’s House of Eternal Return—and their second entry into Las Vegas; the group took over the Life Is Beautiful festival’s Art Motel space in 2017. If you were there, you have some idea what Meow Wolf has to offer: laser harps, portals to the unknown, room-size bowls of “ramen.” The collective has a unique talent for producing and soliciting works of maximalist art, collecting them in warehouse-size spaces with innocuous facades and tying all those artworks together through inventive visual segues

and mystery-box narrative. Simply put, they build wonderfully weird movies you can walk through. “Our work is for people that don’t necessarily go to art galleries and art museums, who feel like they want to see artwork and have it [as] an important part of their lives, but might feel a little alienated by the art world,” says Corvas Brinkerhoff, Meow Wolf’s executive creative director. “We’re trying to build a bridge to those people and say, look, art is valuable. And all this brilliant work that all these artists are making deserves to have a place where it can be seen, and where the artists can be supported in the process of making it. “That’s our model,” he continues. “Instead of looking for a few very wealthy benefactors to support the creation of this work, we’re democratizing it, saying, ‘Everybody is going to support it by paying a little bit of money to come experience it.’ And then we can pass that money on to the artists, and they can be treated fairly for once.” Meow what? Let me tell you the one about the time an artist collective walked into a bowling alley. It’s got a bit of a setup, so please stick with me. In the mid-1990s, Downtown Las Vegas was home to an artist group that called itself the Lower Oakey Collective, or the Lower Oakeys for short. (Most of them lived in a house on East Oakey Boulevard.) They were painters, sculptors, makers, musicians, performers; everything they did had elements of all those disciplines. I remember clearly one of their shows where I was put into a mirrored, coffin-like “time machine” containing fake vine leaves, speakers playing a warbling acoustic guitar and a TV showing a woman doing cartwheels on a grassy lawn. At the end of the clip, the mirror above me was revealed to be two-way glass, and lying on top of it was the woman I’d just seen in the clip, feral and hissing. She’d been in the box with me the entire time. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing several pieces of immersive art. I’ve blissed out inside several of James Turrell’s color rooms, including Las Vegas’ own Akhob at Crystals;

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MEOW WOLF’S OMEGA MART

Monday-Thursday, 3-9 p.m.; Friday, 3 p.m.midnight; Saturday, 10 a.m.-midnight; Sunday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; $30-$45. Area15, 3215 S. Rancho Drive, 725-241-6300, meowwolf.com/ visit/las-vegas.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS

Meow Wolf encourages visitors to buy tickets online beforehand. (Not a bad idea in any case; they could sell out at the door.) Masks that cover the nose and mouth are required. Guests are encouraged to keep a safe distance from other parties, and touchless hand sanitizer stations are provided throughout the property. High-touch surfaces like handrails are cleaned frequently, and the fresh air exchange of the HVAC system has been increased.

made prolonged eye contact with Jordan Wolfson’s creepy pole-dancing robot at New York’s David Zwirner Gallery in 2014; and gone beyond the infinite in a replica of the 2001: A Space Odyssey suite (“The Barmecide Feast,” by Simon Birch and KplusK Associates) at the 14th Factory pop-up in LA in 2016. But I remember the sheer audacity of that Lower Oakeys box—a jolting, singular experience, most of the components of which were probably fished out of a junkyard. Meow Wolf began much the same way. “We were a volunteer organization for our first seven years,” Brinkerhoff says. Loosely grouped anarchic artists reacting to what they perceived as an exclusionary fine art scene in Santa Fe, members of Meow Wolf pooled their money to rent spaces (the first a “crappy warehouse,” in a not-great part of town, Brinkerhoff says), fished raw materials out of a Salvation Army dumpster and created whatever they pleased. The scale and ambition of their installations increased over the years, even through internal leadership struggles and outright tragedy, and they sank every penny they earned back into building bigger and more richly layered installations. People lined up by the thousands to enjoy them—even the gallerists of Santa Fe’s fine art scene, who invited the collective to show within their spaces. Finally, the group decided to get a permanent space. They found an old 20,000-square-foot bowling alley for sale, and on a whim, approached Santa Fe resident and Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin with a proposal: If you buy us this decommissioned bowling alley, we’ll build a Victorian-style house inside, riddled with portals to other dimensions. Martin, flush with HBO money, agreed. “A Victorian house, lost in time and space,

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Keep your eyes open for unexpected finds … everywhere.

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other dimensions, other times, a secret story you would have to decipher … [they] were pushing all my buttons,” Martin explains in the 2018 documentary. He remains with Meow Wolf in what’s described as a creative advisory role. The permanent installation, called House of Eternal Return, opened in 2016 and was an immediate hit. Its audience extends far beyond Santa Fe, drawing visitors from all over the world; at press time, more than 10,500 Instagram videos and images bear the #houseofeternalreturn hashtag. Its success transformed Meow Wolf from a scrappy, local, anarchist collective into an international name in themed entertainment pretty much overnight. Soon after, Meow Wolf began looking to build installations in other cities; Denver was picked first, Las Vegas a short time later. (Meow Wolf Denver opens later this year.) Yet for all their success, the members of Meow Wolf retain their can-youbelieve-we’re-doing-this? mindset. In keeping with its origins, the collective involved Las Vegas’ art scene at the ground level. “There’s such a wealth of artists and performers here, and just so many people for us to collaborate with,” Brinkerhoff says. “We’re always actively trying to undermine our own biases and find new ways to bring artists into the fold.”

And once Meow Wolf selected a group of local collaborators—including Kent Caldwell, Heather Hermann, Jerry Misko, Miguel Rodriguez, Brent Sommerhauser and many others—it got out of their way. “It’s been really easy to work with them,” says multimedia artist Brett Bolton, who collaborated with illustrator Spencer Olsen on a couple of Omega Mart pieces. (Look for a wormhole-like vortex and “something that looks like it’s going to [steal your] essence and use it for a factory fuel.” Yes, he’s serious, and yes, his description is accurate.) “It’s a crazy machine that they’re building, you know, all the different installations and collaborating artists, and I’m happy to say that it’s been really positive.” And Vegas artists were paid for their contributions—another big change from Meow Wolf’s hardscrabble beginnings. How Las Vegas at large will receive Omega Mart is tough to predict. Tourists will flock to see it, of course—the Meow Wolf name is only getting bigger—but local Vegas is not like Santa Fe. Our art scene, both high and low, is much smaller in comparison, and stands in the long shadow of the hospitality industry. We can boast of dozens of casinos, malls, restaurants and bars that are themed to within an inch of their lives, some of them so legitimately bizarre that Meow Wolf could build a tunnel to them.

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It takes a lot to stand out in a city this full of overwhelming, eccentric delights. And, amazingly, Omega Mart pulls it off. I can’t say for sure, but I think even the Lower Oakeys might have been impressed by Meow Wolf’s shoot-the-moon ambitions, and its efforts to incorporate local Vegas artists into its thing. “It’s so important to us that the community of Las Vegas feels like ‘this is for me,’” Brinkerhoff says. Wholesale lunacy Omega Mart is, on its face, a supermarket. It seems normal enough at first glance—aisles of shelf-stable items, a produce section, a butcher counter, even a blood pressure-testing station. But a closer look at the products on the shelves reveals that something is … off. The “Old Caltucky Style” barbecue sauce—I’m sorry, “Freedom Glaze”—promises “smoky mesquite vigilance.” The deli meats are sliced open to reveal cosmic dust and Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” The dairy section is malfunctioning; cartons of milk and butter are stretched out in one long digital glitch. And the garden area— located just beneath custom-made piñatas by Justin Favela, depicting the Seven Deadly Sins—offers “Armed Daffodils,” a cheery flower with a prehensile “arm” at its center. You could easily lose a half-hour wandering the market shelves, enjoying

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GETTING TO AREA15 Though it’s readily visible from Interstate 15—on the west side of the freeway, between Palace Station and Chinatown—actually driving to Area 15 takes some doing. If you exit onto Spring Mountain Road West, turn right on Aldebaran Avenue, then right again when it ends at the Desert Inn Arterial exit ramp. That’ll put you onto Rancho Drive, mere feet from the property. If you exit onto West Sahara Avenue, turn left onto Rancho, and be careful not to take the freeway ramp. (Of course, as Meow Wolf’s Corvas Brinkerhoff notes, once we all have AI-driven cars, directions won’t matter anymore.)

all the wordplay, puns and double entendres Meow Wolf packed into its salable goods. (According to the box, the Armed Daffodil is “nature’s handsiest flower.”) But all that abnormal retail had to come from somewhere, and soon enough, you find them: portals to other places. One snakes into the refrigerated section, like pulled taffy; another opens into the garden section, past flowers with eyeballs and toothy expressions of surprise. (It’s a teeny bit creepy.) Walk through these portals and … wow. The market section of Omega Mart is good-sized, but it’s completely surpassed by the vast spaces that sit on the other side of those portals. There’s a wavy, seemingly melting desert landscape, whose psychedelic grandeur is accentuated by an original Brian Eno score; it flows into a multiple-story factory space, whose musical pulse was created by Amon

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Tobin. (Other big musical names adding their vibes: Beach House and Santigold. Pitchfork was impressed enough with Meow Wolf’s Vegas soundtrack to make note of it.) And both of those spaces—along with a darkly futuristic warren of “corporate offices” and a few other spots I’m not telling you about—are packed with enough maximalist art, interactive pieces and raw story to make your three-hour visit rush by. Everywhere you turn, there’s something begging to be noodled with. (Meow Wolf is taking the utmost cautions with surfaces and crowding during the pandemic; see Page 13. But be aware that there are some tight spaces and touchable objects.) Brinkerhoff notes that there are several giant stories unfolding within the space, including those of a shadowy corporation (Omega Mart’s parent company “Dramcorp”). Brinker-

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hoff says it’s “trying to save humanity from itself” by experimenting with what looks like alien technology. A zealous resistance group—shades of Meow Wolf’s beginnings here—is standing against these corporate overlords wielding what little it has. There are RFID-accessed computer terminals and old-fashioned phones scattered throughout that yield clues to the mystery (Brinkerhoff says the phones mostly deliver recorded messages, though “you also might get a live human”), and videos that advance the story—about three hours’ worth of original footage. You’ll have to return to this otherworld several times to begin to unravel all these threads. That said, you’ll want to come back just for the art. Claudia Bueno’s “Pulse,” made from multiple sheets of etched glass, shimmers like sunshine dancing on a lake. Carey Thompson and Brian Pinkham’s “Juke Temple” plays hypnotic games with color and shape. And I’m a big fan of “Vibration Elevator,” conceived by Brinkerhoff himself. It’s a truly odd hybrid of discotheque, photo booth and X-ray machine—a room of strobing lights that throws fleeting images of its inhabitants onto its walls between pulses. “It’s sort of

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anti-narrative, anti-intellectual,” Brinkerhoff says. Though “there’s something here for everyone” is timeworn cliché, it’s close to accurate here. Aficionados of high art will discover at least a few things that fascinate them; lovers of high-concept art should find even more. Music geeks will trip out on what could be taken as visual albums, while cinephiles will marvel at the visuals and plot elements. Kids will love all the sights and sounds, plus the giant slides that corkscrew down the factory room. (Some, er, adult journalists might have enjoyed the slides, too.) And it probably goes without saying that you can Instagram the hell out of the place. Omega Mart opens in Las Vegas at a strange time, and not just because of COVID-19 restrictions and the virus’ chilling effect on our city’s multimillion-dollar entertainment scene. People’s motivation for visiting Vegas was changing even before the Valley locked down last March: Gaming revenues were shrinking while new restaurants and bars proliferated, and the arrival of professional sports literally remade the city skyline. We’ve become a place for superstar residencies, foodies and interstate tailgates. It’s been many years since we’ve had anything like a wholly immersive themed space (Star Trek: The Experience

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at the Las Vegas Hilton, 19982008) or a tourist-focused art museum (the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at the Venetian, 2001-2008). Meanwhile, our local art scene is showing uncommon resilience in the face of disaster. Galleries are holding distanced or virtual openings, and UNLV’s Barrick Museum is soldiering on. In the preceding years, giant-scale art has been steadily invading the Strip and Downtown: a Jenny Holzer piece at Aria, a Shepard Fairey on Fremont Street, a Georges Rousse at the Cosmopolitan. Perhaps Las Vegas is ready for something as surprising, peculiar and unclassifiable as Meow Wolf. And Meow Wolf, through years of hard work and a gentle push from the Father of Dragons, is ready to win over Las Vegas and stay here awhile; Brinkerhoff says the group has “at least 10 years’ worth of space” to expand into at Area15. “When we started out, [it] was really about creative exploration … and it sort of evolved into this immersive experience design,” Brinkerhoff, gesturing around the spectacular desert room. “I feel like there are more colors on the palette now—all of this technology and immersive storytelling, being able to work at this scale and with amazing collaborators. It just gets more and more fun.”

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The upper level of Area15’s Emporium video-game lounge (Steve Marcus/Staff)

The space beyond What else does Area15 have to offer? BY GEOFF CARTER

Omega Mart is vast, but it occupies only a third of Area15. The rest of the 200,000 square-foot, charcoal-color mystery box—a cooperative effort between New York-based firms Beneville Studios and Fisher Brothers—is devoted to unconventional dining, entertainment, retail and art. So much art, in fact, that some of it spills out of the building into the parking lot. A sculpture park, Art Island, sits in front of the main entrance; it features several large pieces of erstwhile Burning Man art, including Michael Benisty’s “In Every Lifetime I Will Find You” (a metallic couple locked in an embrace) and Ivan McLean’s “Giant Disco” (a huge disco ball on spider-like legs). There are impressive pieces inside Area15, too, particularly Bart Kresa and Joshua Harker’s “Shogyo Mujo,” the imposing, digitally mapped video skull that greets you as the inner doors slide open. Two trippy, immersive installations await on the second level. The kunsthalle-style Museum Fiasco space features “Cluster,” an enveloping lightand-sound installation by Barcelona, Spain-based Playmodes Studio—the “audiovisual research” collective that created the “Beams” installation for

Life Is Beautiful 2018. (Playmodes contributed to Omega Mart, as well; look for the light beam “cubicles.”) Next door is Wink World, a 3D gallery and suite of six infinity rooms created by Blue Man Group co-founder Chris Wink. (Wink also serves as Area15’s “director of content and cool sh*t.”) At this time, it should be noted that while it’s free to enter Area15 (though a COVID-19-mandated reservation is required), most of its experiences— the virtual driving range and cocktail lounge Five Iron Golf, hatchet-hurling paradise Dueling Axes, full-body VR attraction Oz Experience, augmented reality tour Particle Quest, indoor zipline Haley’s Comet, flight simulator Birdly, immersive music and video show Gallerie 360, electronic mind-reader Brainstorm, outdoor rollerskating rink ElectroRoll and the aforementioned Museum Fiasco, Wink World and Omega Mart—are all separately ticketed attractions. (Admission to the two-story Emporium video game lounge is free, but the classic arcade games and pinball machines aren’t; you’ll need to change cash for tokens.) Some experiences can be grouped—the $30 adults/$24 children 12 and under “Birdbrain Bundle”

gets you unlimited visits to Oz, Birdly and Brainstorm. But if you want to see everything there is to see at Area15, these individual attractions will cost you $5-$35 per adult, per visit. If you’re feeling particularly immersive, you could also visit Area15 just for its food and drinks, and take in its free art pieces before or afterward. Todd English’s the Beast serves up delicious pizzas, burgers, noodles and other rib-sticking dishes from the James Beard Award winner. “Soda pop & candy shop” Rocket Fizz offers rare and nostalgic sugar rushes. Oddwood features craft cocktails under the softly glowing branches of a 25-foot-tall LED maple tree created by Color+Light. East Coast import Emack & Bolio’s scoops up its sustainably sourced, small-batch regular dairy and vegan ice creams right next to Las Vegas artist Henry Chang’s Mad Max-inspired art car Valyrian Steel. And later this year, Lost Spirits Distillery will offer “exceptional fine dining [and] world-class whiskey and rum” in a space approximating “a surreal amusement park, complete with boat rides, undersea trains and spectacular holograms.” Visit area15.com to choose your adventure.

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LAW AND ORDERS Solde Vintage’s Emily Driscoll splits her time between vastly different pursuits

BY LESLIE VENTURA

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as Vegan Emily Driscoll co-owns Solde Vintage, a new online store selling curated housewares and adorable antiques. With the help of her business partner and friend Brandon Folmar, Driscoll has quickly put her local business on the map, growing a devoted fanbase. In addition to being a young business owner, the 25-year-old is a mom, a law student at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law and an engaged political activist. We caught up with Driscoll to chat about launching Solde Vintage, what she likes doing when she isn’t scouring thrift stores for treasures and more. How did Solde Vintage come to be? I’ve always had a lot of fun with collecting vintage items and decorating my house. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do it alone, so I asked my friend Brandon if he would be interested, because I really admire his taste in interior design and vintage. It happened pretty quickly after that. We just started buying and posting things before we really knew what people wanted. Once we tested the waters, we realized people don’t buy furniture a lot—it’s expensive and takes up room. We noticed our trinkets and bric-a-brac sold better, so we started focusing on that—vases and dining sets, little catch-all trays and vanity boxes, things that are practical and cute that people can use. Was it something you came up with during the pandemic, or have you always want to run your own store? It kind came out of wanting to make money during the pandemic while still do something that I enjoy. I lost my job last March, so I was getting restless with not having a sense of independence in the way I make money.

Emily Driscoll (Wade Vandervort/Staff)

How long have you been into vintage? Since I was a kid. My mom collects antiques, and I remember going to garage sales with her. She has a big collection of crystal and a lot of family heirlooms. I personally started buying my own vintage stuff in middle school.

WEEKLY Q&A How do you find items to sell in your shop? Trial and error. We buy stuff that we would want in our own houses. And we started listening to what our customers were saying. A lot of them said, “Can you look out for a particular item?” We try to curate based on what our customers ask us and tell us what they’re buying. Right now, “lovecore” is popular— anything with hearts or cupid or angels, or anything that’s baroque. We like to look for those things a lot. Personally, I love the ’80s and postmodern, anything brass—like your grandma’s house but a little bit sexier. I think it’s a good overlap. What’s a favorite item you’ve found? One of the cooler things was a side table with a magazine rack underneath and a smoked glass top. It was so cute. I posted it for super cheap, and it sold within a minute. Something I love about our store is that we take pieces that look ordinary on the shelf and make them look really special.

That’s true, the images of your products are so beautiful. How do you photograph them? That’s probably the most labor-intensive part of our process. Once or twice a week we get together and clean everything, taking stickers and tags off. We almost always take pictures in natural light. We just look at a particular piece and try to think of the best way to emphasize its unique features, and photograph it accordingly. Glass pieces look really good in the sun. When you can get the shadow of colored glass on the pavement, it looks really pretty. Brandon takes most of the photos, and he does an amazing job. What are some of your favorite online shops for knickknacks? Resident Objects and Shopgirl LA. They do a lot of postmodern lacquer pieces, which I really love. Those are harder to find in Vegas; they come up more in Southern California. Astro’s Place is another store in LA that focuses on postmodern pieces. I really wish we could sell more postmodern pieces, but in Vegas, midcentury to ’70s really rolls supreme.

Shop Solde Vintage on Instagram at @soldevintage.

What advice would you give people considering starting an Instagram business? I think the most important things are branding and how you take your pictures. The aesthetic of a store can be so much more valuable than anything you have in it. Also, just staying consistent on social media—it helps boost you on the algorithm. What interested you about going to law school? I was working in the service industry, and it was really difficult [doing that as] a single mom. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with my daughter, and the money in the service industry is really inconsistent. You volunteered as a legal observer during the Black Lives Matter protests. Would you consider yourself an activist? I don’t like to use that word because there are people who do a lot more work than me, but I am involved politically. Did your politics motivate you to study law? It really didn’t occur to me until a year into law school how important law is in upholding systems of oppression, and what a big responsibility it is to be an attorney or even a law student. I’ve always been politically inclined and civically engaged, but I really found my niche once I realized the overlap between law and social justice. It seems silly that I didn’t realize it before law school, but I don’t know that the law is the problem—it upholds the entire structure we want to fight against. Is law school as tough as everyone makes it out to be? Yeah. I didn’t really believe people before I went into law school, and then I got there and it’s worse than you could imagine. The way it’s structured is a total hazing process.

(Solde Vintage product photos by Brandon Folmar/Courtesy)

What is your area of focus? Right now I’m kind of focused on civil rights and criminal defense. I’m looking at being a public defender.

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Downtown 3rd Farmers Market (Steve Marcus/Staff)

BEYOND THE Healthy Eating

A few ways parents can teach their kids about the world BY GENEVIE DURANO

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t’s been a long year of distance learning. The kids are Zoomed out, and parents are undoubtedly burned out, too. While there’s not much you can do about the mandated curriculum, there’s plenty you can teach your kids about the world beyond the classroom. ¶ Alternative-schooling families have lots of ideas for teaching kids experientially. Worldschooling, for example, is an educational movement that advocates for children getting an education by interacting with the world around them through travel and other real-world experiences. It’s like a hybrid of homeschooling and unschooling, where children’s innate curiosities are explored by presenting them with new opportunities beyond the four walls of a classroom. ¶ You don’t have to go to that extreme, however. Distance learning is here for now, but there are things you can teach your kids about the world that don’t require staring at a screen. And the best part? There’s no homework involved, just fun. Here are some ideas.

One great way to teach kids about healthy eating is to show them where food comes from. Take them to farmers markets (lasvegasfarmersmarket. com, fresh52.com, facebook.com/ IntuitiveForagerFarmersMarkets) on the weekends and have them chat up the produce purveyors. They can ask about which fruits and vegetables are in season, how long it takes to grow something and what the nutritional values are of certain foods. Then have them pick out stuff to take home, and let them help out with the cooking. You can also take them to pick-yourown places like Gilcrease Orchard (gilcreaseorchard.org) or Vegas Roots (vegasroots.org) to give an even more hands-on experience. They’ll feel vested in what they’re eating, and you’ll be instilling a lifetime of healthy habits.

FAMILY

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Eleven-year-old Jude Romero (left) and Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones load up a car during a Thanksgiving food distribution event at Desert Breeze Community Center in November. (Steve Marcus/Staff/Photo Illustration)

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Politics

Philanthropy

Teach kids the importance of helping others through volunteer work. One major need right now is at food pantries. Check out Three Square food bank (threesquare.org) for volunteer opportunities; you and your kids (especially older teens) can work offsite or at drivethru distribution centers and keep safe during the pandemic. Delivering With Dignity (deliveringwithdignitylv.org) is also looking for drivers to deliver food to those in need. Tote the kids along, and spend some quality time in the car talking about being helpful members of society. Have younger kids who like to draw or write letters? Find local nursing homes accepting letters for residents, or check out loveforourelders.org. Some of these seniors haven’t had visitors in months, and they would welcome friendly correspondence.

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Our country has never been more divided, and while it’s easy to fall into our own echo chambers, it’s crucial to teach kids about different points of view. Set aside time each week to discuss current events. Check out learningforjustice.com for resources on teaching kids about civics and digital literacy. They’ll learn how to find reliable online resources, evaluate sources for bias and learn how to engage constructively in digital communities. If your kids are passionate about a social justice cause, help them find contacts for your local officials at usa.gov/elected-officials so they can write letters or make phone calls. They’ll learn the importance of having a voice in government. And the fight for racial justice doesn’t end when the marches on the streets quiet down. Go to idealist.org and help kids navigate resources on what to do today (and every day) to strive for equality.

Environmentalism

Greta Thunberg was just 15 years old when she started her “School Strike for Climate” protest in front of the Swedish parliament building. Since, she has inspired millions of people around the world to speak up about climate change and to get legislators to do something about it. Start small with your kids by teaching them the importance of recycling. Take a tour of the Southern Nevada Recycling Center (vegasrecyclingcenter.com), the largest residential recycling center in North America. The recycling technologies employed in the state-of-the-art, 110,000-square-foot facility will fascinate and educate kids while turning them into lifelong recyclers.

Republic Services’ recycling center (Sun File)

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BINGE THIS WEEK

FOLK UNLOCKED An online music festival running February 22-26, Folk Unlocked will feature more than 1,000 acts, including Los Lobos, Terrance Simien, Flor de Toloache, Keb’ Mo’, The McCrary Sisters and many more. Tickets cost $25, and proceeds benefit the Village Fund. bit.ly/2Nbn6X6

MUSIC

RYLEY WALKER & KIKAGAKU MOYO: DEEP FRIED GRANDEUR With concerts on pause, acts have been digging through their vaults for unreleased live treasures. Japanese psych-rock outfit Kikagaku Moyo (which you hopefully caught at Beauty Bar in 2018) has already unearthed two archival recordings in 2021: Live at Levitation, featuring numbers performed at Austin Psych Fest in 2014 and ’19, and Deep Fried Grandeur, a 2018 Le Guess Who? (Netherlands) festival set that teamed the quintet with American folk-rock warrior Ryley Walker and his three-piece backing band. The results— two spacey, 18-minute guitar-forward jams— should please fans of trippy late-’60s Grateful Dead tapes, or others up for some cosmic exploration. –Spencer Patterson

EXHIBIT TV

THE MUPPET SHOW “It’s time to play the music; it’s time to light the lights.” And at last, it’s time to watch all five seasons of the original Muppet Show on Disney+. Originally airing from 1976-1981 and featuring all the original Muppet performers, including the great Frank Oz and Jim Henson, this comedy/variety series remains among the weirdest things ever shown on television. Elton John, Mark Hamill, Debbie Harry, Steve Martin, Diana Ross and many illustrious others dared to guest-star in this stuffed-felt madhouse—and were routinely and hilariously upstaged by Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, the Electric Mayhem and “Pigs in Space.” Nothing compares. Disney+. –Geoff Carter

EMILY SARTEN: AWAY FROM KEYBOARD Multimedia artist Emily Sarten likes to play with the imagery of paradise. The second-year UNLV MFA student’s show, Away From Keyboard, takes viewers on a sly, topsy-turvy version of the perfect vacation. Inviting the viewer to “immerse yourself in artificial splendor,” Sarten uses video and installation to question assumptions about desire, consumerism, technology and gender. The exhibit speaks to our feelings of pandemic-fueled isolation, social media stress and Zoom fatigue. For example, in “Arts and Leisure (Crying),” Sarten dons a swimsuit and poses in front of a fake beach as sad-face emojis swim around the screen. Schedule a free appointment to view the art at eventbrite.com/o/31786727369. Through February 26, UNLV’s Grant Hall Gallery. –C. Moon Reed

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LAST WEEK TONIGHT He’s back! John Oliver is still taping his show remotely—in front of a white backdrop he likens to “the Pillsbury Doughboy’s butt crack”—but his comedy-journalism (or journalism-comedy) remains on point. And we need it now more than ever. HBO/HBO Max.

A still from Emily Sarten’s “Arts and Leisure (Crying)” (Courtesy)

OUR PICKS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

WEBSITE

VIRTUALVACATION.US It could be several more months before flying is deemed safe. In the meantime, satisfy your wanderlust at VirtualVacation.us, where you can visit cities all over the world via real-time videos. Walk around the streets of New York City on a rainy night, or stroll through Venice on a crisp fall day. You can also opt for a driving tour, down the narrow streets of Bangkok with its colorful candy-colored cabs or on the winding roads in Naples, with the pool-blue bay on the periphery. After a cloistered year, you’ll feel your world expand. –Genevie Durano

TV

BLOWN AWAY This reality competition takes on the cutthroat world of glass blowing, and if that doesn’t sound exciting, it surprisingly is (who knew?). The cinematography’s top-notch, and if you’re into ASMR, watching people contort and cut hot, liquid glass is strangely satisfying. Netflix’s second season puts a new crew in the hot shop, but only one talented glass blower has what it takes to be crowned the best in blow. Netflix. –Leslie Ventura

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THE STRIP

Ex-Zumanity regulars regroup for Apéro Show at Town Square BY BROCK RADKE

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enderson-born designer and artist Niccole Dunn found herself in an unfamiliar situation about a year ago. She started her career in costuming and wardrobe at a young age and was already on her way when she turned 18 and was able to travel on cruise ships to help install shows. Eventually she settled in with Cirque du Soleil and MGM Resorts and was the wardrobe lead for Zumanity at New York-New York until the show shuttered last March. “I had never been out of work a day in my life and had become pretty good at working two or three jobs at the same time,” she says. “In entertainment, you’re always hustling and finding the next thing, and I had grown my skills past wardrobe into other aspects of theater.” Getting furloughed was tough, but Dunn and her

husband, Jorge Salomone, who also produced video content for Zumanity, tried to stay busy with side gigs. Officially an MGM employee, Dunn was terminated after six months but told she would be able to resume her position. But Cirque permanently closed Zumanity in November. “There was a short period of, OK, what’s next?” she says. “There was a group of us [staying in touch], and we realized we have the opportunity either to give up or to try something. So we opted for try.” Dunn, Salomone and Zumanity dancer and circus artist Angelique Janowski formed Visionary Pack Collective, the company behind Apéro Show, a variety show inspired by European cabaret. It opened at the Baobab Stage at Town Square on February 12. Contortion, aerial performance and acrobatics are big elements, and the

cast includes Janowski dangling from hoops, Le Réve performers Damir Mouzdybaev and Natsumi Miyazaki, straps artist Roman Tomanov from KÁ and Absinthe, longtime Zumanity contortionist Tsatsa Erdenebileg (you know her from the famous water bowl act) and juggler Vladik Miagkostoupov from Zombie Burlesque. If veteran artists from such acclaimed shows united to start something new under normal circumstances, it would be a big deal. The debut of Apéro Show during a pandemic that has decimated the Vegas entertainment scene is mind-bogglingly exciting.

ROMAN TOMANOV (LEFT) AND NATSUMI MIYAZAKI OF APÉRO SHOW

“Certainly it’s a risk, and it took all of us to take a big deep breath, but we’re committed and we’re going to do this,” Dunn says of creating a new live entertainment experience under the tight restrictions of the pandemic. “We took stock of what we have in our bucket of skills and … in the places we found holes, we definitely reached out to experts. And surprisingly, everybody has been so generous and amazingly helpful. That has reaffirmed my faith in humanity.” It’s no coincidence that Baobab Stage is operated by another former Zumanity artist, dancer Wassa

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(Rebel Mind Creative/Courtesy)

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Coulibaly, who runs the adjacent café and boutique a platform for artists, and it’s so sad we’re going as well. Coulibaly says some work had to be done to through this time when we have so many artists prepare the space for Apéro Show, including calling on training and training with nowhere to perform.” rigger friends to reinforce existing aerial points over Apéro Show opened with an audience of 40 seated the stage and to install a pole for Miyazaki’s act. in pairs, three-tops and four-tops; Coulibaly says it Baobab has been hosting varied entertainmight be able to expand that number, now APÉRO SHOW ment throughout the pandemic, including that restrictions were loosened on February Friday-Sunday, the Cirque Social Saturday-night perfor15, increasing capacities from 25% to 35%. 7 p.m., $50, mances, which have moved to Wednesdays. Dunn is stacking safety practices on top of aperoshow.com. Baobab Stage There have been music and comedy shows in Baobab’s, breaking everything down on the at Town Square, the café, too. show’s website. Artists perform masked and 702-369-6649. “This place was created for when you are tested regularly and social distancing is have something you have to say outside of maintained backstage and throughout the your work, and I was so motivated going venue. The show might be new, but the proback to the show after this side gig,” says Coulibaly, ducers are by no means inexperienced. who was still in the Zumanity cast when she took “We have a really high bar — cast, crew, everybody,” over the Town Square space. “I just like creating Dunn says. “We get there.”

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NOISE

A SCRIBE CALLED

QUEST

Rapper Nate Quest tackles Vegas life in his work BY LESLIE VENTURA

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ate Quest hasn’t stopped rapping since he began, back in high school. Now, the 30-year-old Las Vegan doesn’t just rap, he writes and produces, and has multiple records to show for his talents. Many of those records were released under the project name POW Mindset, with Quest’s friend Nick Crucial. “But we also make solo projects,” Quest says. His latest album, Insignia, was released in 2020, and he has another, tentatively titled The Coming of Age, set to drop in March. “I like talking about subject matter that other artists don’t dive into,” says Quest, who’s taking on the role of sole producer for his upcoming LP. On Insignia, Quest tackled some emotional themes. Songs like ‘“Fade” focus on the prevalence of alcoholism in Las Vegas, with Quest rapping over ethereal beats and lush piano riffs. “It’s something that might be taboo to talk about—everyone goes out [or feels like] it’s no big deal— but I feel like stopping and observing and saying, ‘Maybe that’s not the best thing for everyone.’” Insignia also focuses on protecting your energy. “One of my favorite lines is [about how people] ‘only seem to come around every time they need you,’” he says, referring to the track “Daily Concerns,” on which he raps with the hazy, Mac Miller-esque flow for which he’s known. “That’s another NATE QUEST recurring theme. Instagram.com/natequest “I don’t know if it’s necessarily just Powmindset.com/nate-quest Vegas,” he continues, “but so many things are based on what you have, the glitz and the glamor of the Strip. There’s going to be times where people are more concerned with what you have than who you are, because of what the city represents. But the most beautiful thing about that is you find people who are the exact opposite, which is the light at the end of the tunnel.” Quest’s own life is looking bright these days. He’s expecting his first child, and while he says “the pandemic is without a doubt a terrible thing,” he explains that it has allowed him and his wife to get closer than ever before. “We’ve gotten to spend so much time together. I used to work long hours at a bar. Being able to spend time with my wife and really recognize what is important has benefited our relationship in so many ways.” The MC has also been able to focus on his art more than ever. “I love performing; it’s my favorite part of making music,” he says. “But it’s nice to take a step back from it, because it gave me the ability to make as much music as possible. I have another 20 or 30 beats in the vault.” Quest says The Coming of Age centers on a willingness to evolve and mature. “It’s basically about growing up and taking on new tasks, just adapting and knowing what you want from life.” Nate Quest (Mike Leisure/Courtesy/Photo illustration)

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ART

“Black Lives Matter I” by Robin Brownfield

ART OF PROTEST

Left of Center Art Gallery presents powerful show Bending the Arc

BY C. MOON REED | PHOTOGRAPHS BY YASMINA CHAVEZ

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n a 1968 speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” Those words, inspired by 19th-century abolitionist Theodore Parker, are engraved on the South Wall of King’s Washington, D.C., memorial. Barack Obama often quoted them, and even had them woven into an Oval Office rug. And now, North Las Vegas’ Left of Center Art Gallery has themed a new art show around them. Curator and gallery director Marylou Parker says gallery founder and director Vicki Richardson thought the time was right for Bending the Arc, considering the events of the past year. “We wanted to provide an opportunity [for artists] to be part of what’s going on, to stand up for justice right now.” The by-appointment-only show features 15 creatives, including many well-known Las Vegans including former Clark County Poet Laureate Vogue Robinson; accomplished painter Harold Bradford; and Chase R. McCurdy, who currently has a solo exhibition up at UNLV’s Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. “We hope that this will offer some hope that there are

still people in the world that are willing to stand up and fight for what’s right,” Parker says. The group show offers a kaleidoscope of perspectives and methods of looking at social justice. Sociology professor-turned-artist Robin Brownfield presents mosaic portraits of people who have been killed by the police. “They’re very powerful pieces,” Parker says, explaining they gave her goosebumps while she was hanging them. Diane Bush offers a spray-painted coronavirus ball. “She’s just so brilliant,” Parker says. “You just have to

come see it. It’s a really amazing piece.” Lance L. Smith brings a charcoal rendering of the artist’s mother titled “No One in the World.” Smith says the portrait serves as “an acknowledgment of the presence and teaching from Black maternal energies on how to navigate an [unjust] world.” Artist Orlando Montenegro depicts pilgrims at the U.S.-Mexico border wall. Bobbie Ann Howell, known for her intricate cut-paper designs, has two pieces in the show: one inspired by the #MeToo movement and

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OBSIDIAN & NEON Las Vegas photographer Jeff Scheid and writer/CSN prof Erica Vital-Lazare are collaborating on a powerful project, a portrait and profile series titled Obsidian & Neon: Building Black Life and Identity in Las Vegas. Three important portrait-profiles from it debut in Bending the Arc. Vital-Lazare says they illustrate “three facets of the Black American experience with social justice and policing.” ■ Activist Tenisha Freedom. A leader in “Organize the State Out,” Freedom was one of the first to mobilize Las Vegas protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. Freedom is pictured by the Bonanza Road murals of Malcolm X and Tupac Shakur.

■ Second-ever Black Assistant Sheriff Greg McCurdy. The 30-year police veteran chose to be photographed on the West Side, where he grew up, with his commendation. ■ Teena Acree, whose uncle Byron Williams was killed by police action. In 2019, Williams was pursued by police for not having bicycle lights as he traveled down Bonanza Road and MLK Boulevard. The coroner’s office ruled his death a homicide. Acree flew to Las Vegas to have her portrait taken at the location where her uncle died. “It’s just a haunting photograph,” Vital-Lazare says. “There’s so much dignity and grief in it.” Vital-Lazare says Scheid’s image captures “the persistence in which she wants to pursue justice for her uncle but also wants to make sure that policy changes, so no other family will have to endure such hardship again.”

“Hands Up or I’ll Shoot” by Dayo Adelaja

A close-up of “Resilience” by Saundra Lyle

another titled “176-Souls-People-Bodies,” about the Ukrainian flight shot down in January 2020. Additional participating artists include Dayo Adelaja, Sylvester Collier, Denise R. Duarte, Adolfo Gonzalez and Saundra Lyle. “I hope that [viewers] see the messages behind the work,” Parker says. “I hope that they will feel what the artists felt when they were creating this piece.” Note: Social distancing protocols are in place and gallery capacity is limited. Advance reservations required.

BENDING THE ARC February 10-April 30, by appointment, free. Left of Center Art Gallery, 2207 W. Gowan Road, 702-647-7378, leftofcenterart.org.

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“4 Ronnie: He Was by Far That One” by Jeff Scheid

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GREATEST

Roasted chicken piccata

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FOOD & DRINK James Trees

HITS

James Trees’ Al Solito Posto elevates classic Italian favorites

BY BROCK RADKE | PHOTOGRAPHS BY WADE VANDERVORT

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hen you heard that the chef behind Esther’s Kitchen in the Arts District and Ada’s at Tivoli Village was opening an even bigger Italian restaurant at Tivoli, you knew it was going to be good. But you didn’t know James Trees was going to team up with the LEV Restaurant Group—the company behind a diverse slate of local restaurants and bars including the Golden Tiki, Evel Pie, La Strega and the Downtown Summerlin steakhouse soon to take over the Andiron spot— to create Al Solito Posto, which transformed Tivoli’s former Brio space into a restaurant that feels casual and comfortable yet highly refined, just like the food itself. “The biggest thing we debated in the beginning was this room, which was divided into four sections by pony walls and had banquettes in the middle. I thought it was so weird,” Trees says. “Me and the partners were sort of arguing whether or not to keep the banquettes, and then one day we came in and … let the demo guys go with no instruction, and they cleared the room. The only thing remaining was the bar. We had this full space with no walls, and it was crazy but cool, a clean slate.”

Designer Amy Kim, who had worked with LEV on La Strega in nearby Summerlin and on the beloved, dreamy environment at Gabi Coffee & Bakery in Chinatown, took over. “She really understood how we were working on this project, free-flowing,” Trees says. “It takes more time and definitely costs more money, but it’s more thoughtful toward the space.” Al Solito Posto (“in the usual place”) feels like a place that could be inside a luxury Las Vegas Strip resort. Trees and his collaborators—among them executive chef Emily Brubaker, who cooked in such destinations including Sage at Aria and Joël Robuchon at MGM Grand— have targeted locals who appreciate the city’s fine dining experiences and the high level of service it affords but don’t necessarily want to hit the Strip to get it and aren’t always in the mood for fancy food. “We have a menu we feel represents the classics done extremely well—not just the greatest hits, but the best of the greatest hits done in a cool way,” Trees says. “There’s a lot of technique hidden in the layers of a chicken Parm. It’s about taking all that care and putting it into the things people already love. These

guys made a hundred pans of lasagna patio will be eating it. You could also to get it right, trying a bunch of stuff, start with a simple, savory version getting a bunch of notes, trying of minestrone ($9) or an Italian again, over and over.” charcuterie and cheese board ($15), That’s a lot of lasagna, and isn’t or hot antipasti like fried burrata lasagna always great? This lasagna cheese ($13) or grilled octopus with al forno ($22) features handmade arrabbiata sauce and grilled sourpasta, a rustic Bolognese sauce and dough ($16). herbed ricotta adding a creamy Of course, pastas are stellar. Bucatouch. Other must-try clastini ($16) gets the caprese sics include crispy eggplant AL SOLITO POSTO treatment and the straightWednesday, Parm ($20), spaghetti and forward cacio e pepe ($16) is Thursday & veal and beef meatballs Sunday, 5-10 p.m.; a champion, but you’ll want Friday & Saturday, rigatoni alla vodka with ($22) and Brubaker’s 5-11 p.m. soulful Sunday gravy ($25), Calabrian chili first ($20). Tivoli Village, decadent with braised Steaks and chops, chicken 702-463-6781. beef short rib, meatballs and fish, and a Kurobuta and tender veal breast. pork shank ($27) with horseThat one’s a centerpiece to radish and lemon breadremember, too good to make it home crumbs round out the homey menu. for leftovers. Al Solito Posto is very different The team playfully created a new from Esther’s, but Trees says it’s rendition of beef carpaccio ($18), similar in that it’s “that place you one of the most popular dishes at can go any day and have a great meal, Brio, upgrading it with top-notch and you don’t have to spend a lot of ribeye and garlic truffle aioli. When money.” It’s still early, but Al Solito restaurant capacities are permitted Posto seems to have accomplished to increase, everyone on Solito’s that mission.

The menu runs deep at Al Solito Posto.

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STONE-GROUND SUCCESS Milpa puts a healthy spin on Mexican favorites BY GENEVIE DURANO

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J Flores, a native Las Vegan, has been cooking in kitchens since he was 16 years old. He worked his way up the ranks, learning from the best on the Strip: José Andrés, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, Wolfgang Puck and Bobby Flay. Flores was at Chica when the pandemic hit, and, like a lot of his food-industry peers, he found himself without a job. Flores used it as motivation to pursue his dream of running his own restaurant. “I gathered a lot of people that were unemployed, especially my family and friends, and I was like, ‘Let’s do something together.’ Luckily they were on board; they saw my vision.” The result is Milpa, a modest eatery in the southwest Valley offering a fresh, healthy take on Mexican cuisine. When Flores visited Mexico City, he was inspired by the small cafés offering good salads, homemade tortillas, breakfast items and a coffee program. His menu at Milpa consists of bowls, salads, build-your-own tacos and sides. The foundation of it all is the in-house stone-ground masa program. Flores brings in corn from Mexico and grinds it using a molino. “We cook it and grind it here, so you get these wonderful colors—blue and shades of red and yellow—of fresh corn tortillas every day.” The tortillas are a wonderful accompaniment to the compact menu. The build-your-own tacos ($9-$13) come with four pieces, more than enough to house the proteins (chicken, short rib barbacoa) and accompaniments (cabbage, pickled onions, radishes, cilantro and lime). There’s also a vegetarian cauliflower tinga. Come for breakfast and try a tetela ($9.25), a triangle masa pocket. The black bean version combines scrambled eggs, cheese, avocado, jalapeño and salsa verde, while the mushroom and squash option brings a sunnyside up egg, roasted cauliflower, shemeji mushrooms and salsa macha. And don’t forget to take home some tortillas, available in fours ($2.50) or by the dozen ($7).

Short rib barbacoa tacos and more at Milpa (Christopher DeVargas/Staff)

MILPA 4226 S. Durango Drive, 702-247-4147. Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

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Top, from left: sticky spicy tofu, air-fried mini chimichanga, salted caramel pudding parfait. Below: Michael Monson with okonomiyaki-style vegan frittata (Benjamin Seider & Michael Monson/Courtesy)

MONSONMADETHIS Instagram @monsonmadethis YouTube.com/MonsonMadeThis

@monsonmadethis spreads vegan inspiration online BY LESLIE VENTURA

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ichael Monson went vegan four years ago, and he’s never looked back. With better health and a better conscience, Monson turned to YouTube and Instagram in the hopes of sharing his story with others. “I had blood work done. I had high blood pressure and I was prediabetic,” Monson, 40, says. “It was basically, like, you either need to make some changes in your diet or we need to put you on medication. I tried more paleo, lower-carb diets, and I didn’t really care for those—my numbers were a little bit worse.” Preferring to avoid staying on medication for the rest of his life, Monson made the decision to go vegan. “I spent the first two or three days watching vegan YouTube cooking shows, and that’s how it happened,” he says. “It was initially for health reasons, but then I

started to learn more about the ethical side, and that’s what kept me going. I was just like, I’m vegan now; I’m never going back.” Monson says that in order to stay committed to a vegan diet, it helps to truly embrace what he calls “the trifecta: health, the environment and animals. I think it’s important to have conscientiousness of all three to make it stick,” he says. Through his Instagram and YouTube accounts, the vegan cook, also known as @monsonmadethis, rethinks comfort-food favorites like salted caramel pudding, butternut squash bisque, monkey bread and lasagna. “When I first went vegan, it was before Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger,” Monson says. “There were maybe one or two vegan cheeses that nobody

bought, because they were disgusting.” But now there are so many alternatives, giving up meat is easier than ever, he says. These days, Monson takes a different approach to his online content, documenting his weight-loss journey and emphasizing whole grains, beans and veggies. His platform­—“making a video and showing what we actually cook”—is proof that the vegan lifestyle can work. “If you’re determined to make the change, it becomes easier.”

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REFRESHED AND READY Vegas baseball great Kris Bryant prepares for a pivotal season in Chicago … or elsewhere BY CASE KEEFER

K

ris Bryant grins as he cuts off an interviewer’s question, shuffles over to a batting screen and slides behind it at Las Vegas Ballpark in Downtown Summerlin—a reaction to the loud thump he just heard during fellow local pro baseball player Drew Robinson’s nearby batting practice session. “I’m going to protect myself,” Bryant tells a small group of media members with a laugh. Bryant, one of the most decorated athletes ever to come out of Las Vegas, seems to be enjoying the informal February 11 practice session—noteworthy considering that last month, he admitted to “at times” not having as much fun on the diamond recently as he did when he was younger. The Chicago Cubs’ third baseman and former National League MVP took exception to ESPN turning his candid, complex comments from a podcast appearance into a story, and the latest round of debate surrounding the 29-year-old took off from there. Lost amid the fallout, however, is this: Bryant seems to have recaptured the thrill heading into the 2021 Major League Baseball season. “I have a great peace of mind now,” says Bryant, who’s been working out all across the Valley—from the Aviators’ ballpark to the batting cage at his father’s house—as he prepares to leave for the Cubs’ Mesa, Arizona, spring training on February 21. “I’m ready to go play. That’s where I want to be.”

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The Bonanza High graduate faces a pivotal season coming off the worst year of his career. Bryant hit for a .206 average with just four home runs and 11 RBIs while missing 22 games during the pandemic-shortened campaign. He was known for his durability during three straight All-Star seasons to begin his time in the majors, but injuries have since started to sideline him more frequently. But, in addition to last year’s recurring oblique ailment, he has also missed time with finger, wrist, knee and shoulder issues since 2018. Bryant is set to enter free agency for the first time after this season, but many

presume he won’t make it there with the Cubs. He has been the subject of trade rumors for the past several years, and they’ve resurfaced heading into training camp, with the New York Mets regarded as a potential landing spot. Bryant says he has come to accept the reality that he might move on from the only franchise he’s known. The Cubs drafted him second overall in the 2013 MLB Draft, and few envisioned him in another uniform after he led Chicago to its first World Series title in 108 years during his 2016 MVP season. “It’s really a day-by-day thing, because things change so quick in the game and opinions change and stories come out, but they’re a nonstory,” Bryant says about possibly playing for another team. “It’s hard to be in this position, but I guess I can say I’m enjoying it a little bit more because I have things in my life that are more enjoyable now. Whatever happens, happens. Whatever team I’m on—and hopefully it’s the Chicago Cubs for the rest of my career; I’ve always said that—I’m always going to go out there and give it all I’ve got.” Bryant and his wife, Jessica, welcomed their first child, son Kyler, in April 2020, and Bryant says fatherhood has helped his offseason mentality. He used to stay plugged in to all the latest baseball news, particularly all the speculation regarding his own future, but he says he has disconnected for the past several months in an effort to spend more time with his family. Aside from his own training, he has stayed away from sports entirely, not even watching the Raiders in their first season here. Bryant says he still puts pressure on himself to perform up to his standards, but he has a new perspective heading into his seventh season. “It’s easy to get caught up in expectations, but there are much more important things,” he says. “That’s kind of where my head is at. “It’s not like you don’t care; it’s just that maybe you cared too much. I have a lot more to play for now, and it’s a really nice feeling.”

(NHLI via Getty Images)

Kris Bryant (AP/Photo Illustration)

PLAYER OF THE WEEKLY: MARC-ANDRÉ FLEURY The goalie started all four games last week and won three of them—including back-to-back contests Saturday and Sunday—compiling a .943 save percentage and 1.51 goals-against average in the process and shutting out the Avalanche. He was also named the NHL’s second star of the week.

Report THIS WEEK’S VOTE 1. Marc-André Fleury 2. Jonathan Marchessault 3. Zach Whitecloud 4. Max Pacioretty/Chandler Stephenson (tie) As voted by Las Vegas Weekly’s panel, based on games played February 8-14. SEASON STANDINGS 1. Max Pacioretty (15 points) 2. Mark Stone (14 points) 3. Marc-André Fleury (12 points) 4. Jonathan Marchessault (11 points) 5. Shea Theodore (7 points) 5 points for 1st place in a week, 4 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd, 2 for 4th, 1 for 5th UPCOMING GAMES February 20 vs. Colorado Avalanche at Lake Tahoe, noon* February 22 vs. Colorado Avalanche, 6 p.m. Games air on AT&T SportsNet & 98.9-FM/1340-AM unless otherwise noted. *Game airs on NBC. STANLEY CUP ODDS: 6-TO-1 at Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook PROSPECT WATCH: DYLAN FERGUSON The 22-year-old goalie pitched a shutout in his Silver Knights debut on February 13, making 24 saves in a 3-0 defeat of Bakersfield as Henderson improved to 4-0-0 on the season.

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Billion-dollar decade: Startup enjoys meteoric rise, with help from MGM

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BY BRYAN HORWATH bout a decade ago, MGM Resorts International’s former CEO took notice of a Las Vegas startup called PlayStudios. Led at the time by Jim Murren, MGM became an early partner with PlayStudios, which creates free-to-play mobile and social platform casino games in which players can earn real-world Las Vegas comps at hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues. That foresight by Murren and then-MGM president Bill Hornbuckle paid off in perhaps its biggest way yet this month, when PlayStudios, now valued at over $1 billion, announced plans to go public. The move—PlayStudios will be listed on the Nasdaq Composite index once the deal is approved by regulators, which is expected to happen later this year—was made possible in part because of an announced merger between PlayStudios and Acies Acquisition Corp. Acies is a blank-check company that Murren, who has since stepped down as MGM’s CEO, founded with a group of other investors with backgrounds or interests in gaming. Blank-check companies, also known as “special purpose acquisition companies,” do not have commercial operations but rather exist to raise money through an initial public offering for the purpose of buying an ownership interest in a specific firm. Murren said the announcement would help strengthen the “connective tissue” between brickand-mortar gaming resorts and the digital space. “The market that [PlayStudios] is in is so vast, so much larger than the casino gaming business,” Murren said. “Jurisdictionally, and in terms of its growth potential, the casino business is very limited. The world of PlayStudios is vast and growing by double-digit rates.” Often seen on Facebook through its myVegas-brand-

ed options, the PlayStudios collection of virtual games range from casino classics like blackjack and slots to a colorful concoction called Kingdom Boss. Loyal players can build up rewards points that can be used for stays and deals at MGM resorts. With about 400 employees companywide—about 75 of those jobs are based in Las Vegas—PlayStudios figures to keep growing, said Andrew Pascal, its co-founder and CEO. An injection of $250 million in private capital from a handful of firms, including MGM, will help with those growth targets.

PlayStudios CEO Andrew Pascal (Playstudios/Courtesy)

“This is going to allow us to really accelerate the growth of our business now,” Pascal said. “I think our ceiling is going to be a function of our creativity and how open we will be to opportunities.” In addition to MGM, PlayStudios partners with about 275 entertainment, retail, travel, leisure and gaming brands. Loyalty points can go toward anything from a stay at the Bellagio to concert tickets or a cruise. “Nobody else in our industry has a loyalty program like what we have,” Pascal said. “I think that’s a reflection of the collective that founded the company— people who came out of leisure and hospitality and brought decades of institutional knowledge around loyalty marketing mechanics.” Pascal credits Murren and Hornbuckle for their belief in the vision Pascal and his partners had. “From the very beginning, Jim and Bill bought in,” Pascal said. “People are now engaging with our games and, in turn, with MGM’s brands every day. People take advantage of the benefits that they can earn. They want to take a vacation at the Bellagio.” In an increasingly digital world, Murren has essentially doubled down on what he calls the trend of the day. “This company is at the epicenter of the most important trend in entertainment today, which is the convergence of live entertainment and digital entertainment,” Murren said. “It’s what everyone wants to talk about today. Andrew saw this back in 2011, and I think it’s so great that this is a Las Vegas-based company that was born here, lives here and is growing so rapidly.”

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VegasInc Notes Credit One Bank appointed Saurabh Gupta as chief development officer, overseeing the bank’s IT department. Gupta previously served as an engineering and architecture leader for IT organizations in bank- Gupta ing, credit card and travel domains. In this senior technology role, Gupta is focused on software development, delivery transformation, product engineering, digital modernization and technology innovation. The Vox Agency is the official agency on record for Emporium Arcade Bar Las Vegas, a distinctive entertainment destination inside Area15.

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Sean Zaher was promoted to vice president with CBRE Advisory and Transaction Services. Zaher specializes in representing industrial property owners, landlords and occupiers in the lease and disposi- Zaher tion of industrial real estate. For the past four years, Zaher’s team has been named the Industrial Specialist Top Producers by the SIOR Southern Nevada chapter. In 2020, the team closed more than 92 transactions, totaling over $850 million. Kevin Sigstad, a former president of both the statewide Nevada Realtors and the Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors, has been elected to serve as a National Association of Realtors Sigstad regional vice president. Sigstad will represent Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

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Brass Cap Development announced its partner, Tim Castello, CCIM, was appointed as a planning commissioner for Clark County. Castello was selected to join the planning commission by Clark County Com- Castello missioner Ross Miller. Hutchison & Steffen was named the Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year by the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada. Additionally, the firm received the Lied Award for Most Pro Bono Cases by a Law Firm. These awards come after a years-long commitment from the firm

to provide high-quality pro bono legal service to the Southern Nevada community in conjunction with the Legal Aid Center. The Smith Center for the Performing Arts added five new members to its board of directors to help it propel culture and arts education in Southern Nevada. The new board members include: John R. Bailey, managing partner of Bailey Kennedy Attorneys at Law; Cindy Ellis, business owner and philanthropist; Dana Lee, retired marketing professional and philanthropist; Elaine Sanchez, marketing and communications executive; and Shari Wong, media and communications professional. Professional Women in Building, a council part of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, announced official appointments of those who will be leading the organization this year. The new officers include: chair, Elisha Scrogum of Taney Engineering; treasurer, Denise Meeker of Taylor Morrison; co-chair, Kali Stoner of Richmond American Homes; and secretary, Monique O’Neill of DR Horton. The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas received a score of 100% on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2021 Corporate Equity Index. This commemorates the resort’s ninth consecutive year earning a perfect score on assessment of LGBTQ workplace equality. All In Aviation was recognized as North American “Training Center of the Year” for 2020 by Cirrus Aircraft, a global manufacturer of personal aircraft. Colliers International Las Vegas announced Nicholas Gordon as its newest associate vice president and broker within its investment division. Gordon’s professional background includes more than 20 years of experience as Gordon an entrepreneur and investor. In addition, Stacy Shapiro, CCIM, joined the Willmore Industrial Team. Shapiro has more than 15 years of experience in health care real estate and development. Shapiro Desert Radiology welcomed two veteran physicians and one physician’s assistant to its team: Dr. Osman M. Tahir, Dr. Sameer Rehman and physician assistant Kristin Glen.

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PREMIER CROSSWORD

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“ON A MISSION” BY FRANK LONGO

HOROSCOPES

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 18 BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Poet Stéphane Mallarmé wrote, “Spirit cares for nothing except universal musicality.” He suggested that the supreme intelligence is an artist making music and telling stories. Music and stories include all human adventures, not just the happy stuff. Honor and celebrate the marvelously rich stories of your own life—and feel gratitude for the full range of experience with which they have blessed you. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Blogger Rachel C. Lewis confides, “I love being horribly straightforward. I love sending reckless text messages and telling people I love them and telling people they are absolutely magical humans and I cannot believe they really exist.’ ” The coming days are a favorable time to offer brazen praise, declarations of affection and naked confessions. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Become more of who you are by engaging with more of what you are not. Study this rant by Polish poet Adam Zagajewski: “Read for yourselves, read for the sake of your inspiration, for the sweet turmoil in your lovely head. But also read against yourselves, read for questioning and impotence, for despair and erudition, read the dry, sardonic remarks of cynical philosophers. Read those whose darkness or malice or madness or greatness you can’t yet understand, because only in this way will you grow, outlive yourself and become what you are.” CANCER (June 21-July 22): You’re on the verge of breakthroughs. Novelist Tom Robbins writes, “If you take any activity, any art, any discipline, any skill, take it and push it as far as it will go, push it beyond where it has ever been before, push it to the wildest edge of edges, then you force it into the realm of magic.” LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In her story “Homelanding,” Margaret Atwood writes, “Take me to your trees. Take me to your breakfasts, your sunsets, your bad dreams, your shoes. Take me to your fingers.” Delve deeper into the mysteries of people you care about. You will generate healing and blessings by cultivating reverent curiosity and smart empathy and crafty intimacy. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You’re about to reach the end of your phase of correction and adjustment. To mark this momentous transition, consider this proclamation by poet Jeannette Napolitano: “I don’t want to look back in five years’ time and think, ‘We could have been magnificent, but I was afraid.’ In five years, I want to tell of how fear tried to cheat me out of the best thing in life, and I didn’t let it.”

2020 KING FEATURES SYNDICATE ACROSS 1 Doorway part 5 Mix for a deli sandwich 13 Snooty sort 20 River in Europe and Asia 21 Long, bitter speech 22 Popular hot sauce brand 23 Calf-length skirt 24 Navigable sea route in southern Chile 26 Hayloft sites 28 Home to Boise: Abbr. 29 Extra game periods, for short 30 Distrustful 31 Designer for Jackie Kennedy 35 1958 Leslie Caron film 38 Head dog 39 — tai (drink) 42 Really must 47 Tag again 51 One mapping terrain 53 In excess of 54 “Woe —!” 57 Prefix with sense 58 — Melodies (old cartoon series) 59 Stand-up comedy TV series 64 Ending for form 65 Wince 66 Pakistani’s language 67 Like circles 71 Daniel Boone or Johnny Appleseed 76 Lustrous gem 79 Pushpin’s kin 80 Jewel box for music 84 Color 85 Kia Sedona competitor

90 94 95 96 97

Mystery’s Christie Org. offering tows Actor Morales Sundae toppings Florence institute near the Uffizi Gallery 100 New York Giants’ div. 103 Gussied up 104 MGM’s lion 105 Tree yielding chocolate 107 “QED” center 109 Eric the Red, for one 115 Alvin of choreography 119 Klutz 122 Pumped stuff 123 Flood stopper 124 All through the dark hours 130 Show sleepiness 131 Most promising 132 “Been there myself, man” 133 Really liking 134 Combination punches 135 Sends along 136 Org. associated with the nine missions featured in this puzzle DOWN 1 Very big 2 Common typeface 3 The Treasure of the Sierra — 4 Flashy jewelry, informally 5 Mag staffers 6 “Skedaddle!” 7 Tastelessly showy 8 Sports venues 9 Suffix with sect

10 Illuminated 11 “Peek- —!” 12 Skillful and clever 13 JFK datum 14 Fall behind 15 Religious convert’s cry 16 Anecdote 17 Atoll part 18 Wound result 19 Actor Danza 25 Soup additive, for short 27 Strikebreaker 32 Bar drink 33 Skedaddle 34 “— little teapot ...” 36 Shiba — (Japanese dog breed) 37 Virus, e.g. 40 A.D. part 41 False god 43 German “the” 44 Sundae topping 45 Sheer linen fabric 46 Greek mountain nymph 47 Use deep massage on 48 Blackhearted 49 Strauss of jeans 50 Sports venues 51 — double life 52 TV show since fall ’75 55 Feng — 56 Old Ford make, in brief 60 Pinnacle 61 Those people 62 Kicks on football fields 63 Suffix with ball or bass 68 Spanish for “dry” 69 Lamarr of Boom Town 70 Esoteric

72 Camcorder button abbr. 73 Primitive kind of diet 74 Freezes 75 Creole veggie 76 Winner, informally 77 Foretell 78 Razz 81 Water, to Juanita 82 Mounts, as a gemstone 83 Formerly, formerly 86 2001 computer 87 Train support 88 Harvard rival 89 Singer Gill 91 Golf peg 92 Melon variety 93 Golden — (senior) 98 Cavity fillers’ org. 99 Mega years 101 Most preferred: Abbr. 102 Corkscrew 105 Baby bed 106 Analyzes in a lab 108 “TiK —” (#1 Kesha hit) 110 Stares at creepily 111 Enter, as to a database 112 An ex-Trump 113 Lizardlike amphibians 114 Port of Italy 115 Hair hairdo 116 Pumped stuff 117 Suffer defeat 118 Discharge 120 Leave — (reward the server) 121 World Cup gp. 125 GI tour gp. 126 Intersectors of aves. 127 French “the” 128 Vie for the affection of 129 Sister Act figure

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It’s not a good time to be obsessed with vague abstractions, fear-based fantasies and imaginary possibilities. But it is a favorable phase to rise up in behalf of intimate, practical changes. Don’t be angry and militant about big, complicated issues that you have little power to affect. On the other hand, get inspired and aggressive about injustices you can truly help fix. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes,” declared author André Gide. For those of you who aren’t poets novelists and essayists, alter Gide’s statement: “The most beautiful things are those that rapture prompts and reason refines.” Or maybe this: “The most beautiful things are those that experimentation finds and reason uses.” SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The poet Nayyirah Waheed has some advice for you. She writes, “Be easy. Take your time. You are coming home to yourself.” The coming weeks will be a time for you to relax more deeply into yourself—to welcome yourself fully into your unique destiny; to forgive yourself for what you imagine are your flaws; to be at peace with the exact life you have. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “The chief object of education is not to learn things but to unlearn things,” wrote author G. K. Chesterton. You should put an emphasis on unlearning things that are irrelevant, meaningless and obstructive. This will be excellent preparation for your next phase, which will be learning a lot of useful and vitalizing new things. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) got off to a rough start. Symphony No. 1, his first major work, was panned by critics, sending him into a four-year depression. Your rookie offerings won’t get the kind of terrible reviews that Rachmaninoff’s did. But at least initially, there may be no great reviews. Keep the faith. The rewards will come in due time. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Ancient Greek playwright Euripides was popular and influential—and remains so to this day, 2,400 years later. But five of his plays, Andromache, Alcestis, Helen, Medea and The Bacchae, have the same exact ending: six lines, spoken by a chorus, that basically say the gods are unpredictable. Avoid similar behavior. It’s very important that the stories you’re living right now have different endings than all the stories of your past.

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