Geoff Carter
Senior Writer
Contact: Email
Geoff Carter has been writing about Las Vegas since 1994, when he joined the staff of Scope, the alternative magazine that would later become the Las Vegas Weekly. He wrote for virtually every publication with “Vegas” in its name—including Vegas.com, the Las Vegas Sun and the self-published Geoff Carter Lives in Las Vegas and is Awesome —until 2002, when he took a ten-year “weekend” trip to Seattle. He returned to Vegas in May 2012 to become one of Vegas Seven’s senior writers and to be the editor of DTLV, the authoritative, yet mellifluous voice of downtown Las Vegas. His work has also appeared on MSN.com, in Time Out’s 1000 Songs to Change Your Life and in the Seattle Times. And he won an award once, but he gave it to his dad.
Recent Articles
Tour Buzz: Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker, Yellowcard and Black Sabbath
May 15th, 2013
I wish I could muster more enthusiasm for the 15th annual Tiger Jam at Mandalay Bay, this one featuring Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker, on May 18 ($61-$134).
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Tour Buzz: The Rolling Stones, Foreigner and Steely Dan
May 6th, 2013
THE LIKELY LADS: Brand-spanking new music comin’ at ya! The Rolling Stones are scheduled to play at the MGM Grand on May 11 ($150-$750). A quartet of fresh-faced lads from London, the Stones meld disparate influences—blues, rock, psychedelia, even a hint of disco—into an aggressively seductive sound that one can only describe as “Rolling Stones-like.” Perhaps you’ve heard their hit singles “Satisfaction,” “Brown Sugar” or “Start Me Up,” or maybe you’ve seen the band’s guitarist Keith Richards in a cameo role in the Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean movies—but in any case, they’re on their way up. People are talking about the Rolling Stones, wondering they’re going to do with the next 50 years of their career. And after they’ve played this big deal, headlining Vegas show, their long-awaited stardom will surely come.
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Tour Buzz: Paramore, Marina and the Diamonds and Weezer
April 29th, 2013
In late 2010, brothers Josh and Zac Farro of Paramore—who play at the Joint on May 3 ($36)—announced that they were quitting the band they helped found. The band released a statement that emphasized the amicability of the split—“We want Josh and Zac to do something that makes them happy”—and all was well until the Farros released their own statement, which basically accused singer Hayley Williams of distorting reality and using the band as a launching pad for a solo career.
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Let's Go Crazy
As Prince gets ready to rock The Joint, take a look back at The Purple One through the years
April 25th, 2013
What can one possibly say about Prince at this point in time? The artist formerly known as The Artist—scheduled to play four shows over a two-day stand at The Joint, April 26-27 ($55-$95)—has reportedly been pouring himself into his live performances of late, reportedly playing two-hour sets loaded with classics and covers.
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When Share and Share Are Not Alike
Project 100 seeks to replicate the Zipcar model—but with a hefty price tag
April 24th, 2013
I’ve lived car-free in Las Vegas for one year. In that time, I’ve gotten around on bicycle, by bus and by carpooling. And every day for the past year, I have missed Zipcar, the car-sharing service I used while living in Seattle. Now the Downtown Project is introducing Project 100, a car-sharing service that also includes bikes and shuttle buses (a mobile app will determine what’s closest to you).
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The Nightclubization of Schools: a Daydream
April 24th, 2013
The tipping point was the residencies. Admittedly, when they began, we were all for them. Legendary primatologist Jane Goodall did a 13-day run at Halle Hewetson Elementary and we were so amazed, so pleased; here was someone with a career’s worth of material, someone with all the juice she needed to do a world tour, doing a Vegas residency. “We’ve evolved,” the critics said.
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Tour Buzz: Prince, Iamdynamite and Kendrick Lamar
April 22nd, 2013
THE MAN FROM MINNESOTA: What can one possibly say about Prince at this point in time? The artist formerly known as The Artist—scheduled to play four shows over a two-day stand at The Joint, April 26-27 ($55-$95)—has reportedly been pouring himself into his live performances of late, reportedly playing two-hour sets loaded with classics and covers. (Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote that Prince played both Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” and, puzzlingly, Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” during a September concert.)
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A Garden Grows Downtown
April 17th, 2013
Joyce Sportsman and I are sitting in front of John S. Park Elementary School, talking about the Jacob Sportsman Memorial Garden, a community garden she hopes to create there together with local sustainable living group Green Jelly. It’s exciting stuff, and I can’t help but feel righteous just talking about sustainability in a town that rarely gets credit for its environmental awareness.
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Re-evaluating David Bowie as Critics’ Impact Fades
April 16th, 2013
On October 19, 1995, at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas concertgoers offered what, at the time, was a fairly accurate representation of the mid-’90s critical consensus on David Bowie. Bowie shared the bill with Nine Inch Nails, whose frontman Trent Reznor he fiercely admired; he even went so far as to record an album, the grisly and morose Outside, that Reznor himself could have made if someone had only given him a kitten or something.
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Tour Buzz: Band of Horses, Hot Chip and Depeche Mode
April 15th, 2013
Gonna be nice to have Band of Horses galloping through Vegas for a night. From “Factory” to “The General Specific” to “Knock Knock,” this glorious Southern-fried indie rock outfit—which is scheduled to play poolside at the Cosmopolitan on April 20 ($25)—pretty much owns the sound of feeling at ease with yourself. I can think of few finer ways to begin a hot Vegas summer than with “Is There a Ghost” reverberating in my head. Band of Horses is part of the great influx of Coachella bands wiping their boots on our “welcome” mat, so let’s show them a good time.
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