VEGASinsight

Get a good look at this Eye of the Tiger. It’s as much as you’re going to get, now that this weekend’s Survivor concert at the House of Blues Las Vegas has been canceled. Yep, if you were among those who purchased tickets to see ’80s hair rock band Survivor play their hits, um — did they have another hit besides “Eye of the Tiger?” — on Sunday, Aug. 24, go back to the box office and get your wastedhard-earned money back. Of course, if there were any ticket holders, I guess the HOB wouldn’t have canceled, huh?

That now makes four HOB August shows that have been canceled or rescheduled. Maybe our local blogging friend Mr. Davis was right — maybe rock is dead in Las Vegas!

What Would Bubba Do? (Photo by Erik Kabik | Retna)

We interrupt our usual music and art coverage to discuss something of slightly more substance (not that Bob Dylan playing the Joint isn’t substantive, but stick with us here): the growing need for cleaner, greener energy in this country. It seems like the average American has only become concerned with alternative energy sources when filling his or her gas tank started requiring home equity lines of credit, but the truth is, all those tree-hugging leftists have been right all along. We’re delivering this planet to hell in a handbasket with our ugly addiction to “dirty” fossil fuels such as coal and oil.

With that in mind, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and University of Nevada, Las Vegas are hosting the National Clean Energy Summit at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion today and tomorrow. But why here in Nevada? We’ll let the Summit’s official website clear that up: “Nevada is at the epicenter in the debate of how America should generate and use energy in the future. Nevada has abundant clean energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and efficiency technologies that could be developed to meet its future energy needs.”

Plus, you know, that Reid guy’s been fighting against building a nuclear waste dumping facility at Yucca Mountain for as long as we can remember. So he has a vested interest, y’all. In addition to industry leaders, scientists, policy experts, citizens and the media gathering at this two-day summit, the Clinton who did get nominated as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate (and spent two pretty rad terms in office), William Jefferson, kicked things off today with the keynote speech. Our favorite lens-wielder, Erik Kabik, was at Cox Pavilion, and brought us back some photos of the proceedings. Oh sure, there won’t be tousled rock stars or hot chicks, but there sure will be a lot of political power. And we think that’s sexy.

These hairstyles are headed for a heartbreak.

I came across an interesting post on a local blog mourning the closing of a number of local music venues — many of which closed years ago — and declaring the “once booming music scene of Las Vegas is nearly gone.” Really? Now, would that be the “booming music scene” that gave false hope to bands such as 12 Volt Sex, Professor Punn and Attaboy Skip? Because the music scene that came after the closure of Mr. Davis’ vaunted venues — The Boston, the Huntridge, Sanctuary — has not only spawned arguably Las Vegas’ most commercially successful music groups (The Killers, Panic at the Disco, The Cab), but has also seen the stabilization of centralized, small-scale venues (The Bunkhouse, Beauty Bar, Jillians) while those overpriced casinos continue to reinvest those ticket sales into music venues such as Wasted Space, Revolution Lounge and the forthcoming Rok nightclub.
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