Jarret Keene
Contributing Editor, Music
Contact: Email
For 27 years, nothing happened to him. Finally, he earned a Ph.D. in English from Florida State University and, bored of Chaucer, moved to Las Vegas to chronicle the city’s underground music scene. He has written for every kind of media (Spin, BBC Radio, Godzilla fanzines) and has written and edited every kind of book (A Boy’s Guide to Arson, Las Vegas Noir). His primitive nuclear doom metal band Dead Neon terrorizes local dive bars.
Recent Articles
Venerable Music Mag Honors Local Student Musicians
May 15th, 2013
Students in the UNLV Music Department’s Jazz Studies program are keeping Las Vegas’s musical legacy intact. Pick up the June 2013 issue of longtime jazz publication DownBeat and you’ll notice the UNLV kids earned a few Outstanding Performance recognitions from the magazine’s 36th annual Student Music Awards. UNLV Jazz Ensemble I was honored in the Large Ensemble category, UNLV Latin Jazz Ensemble earned distinction in the Latin Group class, and John Summers received a Best Arrangement nod for his take on Michael Brecker’s “African Skies.”
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Soundscraper
BAR 702 Gets Rescued, Loses Old Name
May 7th, 2013
Mark your TV-watching calendar: On July 7, BAR 702 (3355 Spring Mountain Rd.)—the local live-music venue formerly known as the Sand Dollar Lounge—will appear on Spike reality series Bar Rescue. The show involves industry experts observing a struggling bar in action, then offering strategies and overhauls.
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After 25 Years, Contemporary Arts Center Gets New Directors and Newfound Maturity
May 1st, 2013
Walking into Contemporary Arts Center in January, you would have seen something unforgettable: a 42-foot-long inflatable nude self-sculpture with Sharpie-scribbled body hair and eyeglasses. The giant air-puffed nylon doll was part of New York artist Benjamin Entner’s Ego Sum, a show that referenced historical statuary and asked viewers to reconsider three-dimensional representation. ... With, you know, balloon figures of a naked dude in tube socks. Ego Sum was thoughtful, compelling and made people smile. It symbolizes CAC at its most successful.
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Soundscraper
Horizon's Rising
April 30th, 2013
So I was among the judges at the final round of Hard Rock Rising on April 13. Beginning in January, this global band-battle winnowed thousands of aspiring rockers down to a select 96 at Hard Rock Café locations around the world. The victor of the Vegas competition was Hyperion’s Horizon. This hard-rock quartet has been around since 2010, with the current lineup—Chaz Morris (vocals), Julian Barris (drums), Nicko and Ely Bracamonte (guitar and bass, respectively)—gelling last fall. Hyperion’s Horizon won $500 in cash and prizes, and now it’s up to online voters to choose the best 25 bands (hopefully with Horizon included). Then a panel of music-industry professionals will appoint the grand-prize winner and two runner-ups. The grand-prize winner goes on tour, records an album for Hard Rock Records, shoots a video and gets $10,000 in new equipment and gear.
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City of Las Vegas Hosts Colorado Rockers
April 24th, 2013
Denver indie-rock band Snake Rattle Rattle Snake slithers into Centennial Plaza at the Historic Fifth Street School (401 S. Fourth St.) at 6:30 p.m. April 27. (Local act American Cream opens.) If the school seems an odd venue to host a free rock show, that’s because it is. How did it happen?
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High on Rock ’n’ Roll
April 16th, 2013
My favorite local nonprofit Push Forward is throwing a cool benefit party with live music. All proceeds benefit Push Forward’s mission: giving at-risk Vegas youth a sense of direction, empowerment and mentorship via skateboarding. Three of my favorite ramp-worthy bands—The Swamp Gospel, Crazy Chief, American Buckshot—play at 9 p.m. April 18 at Beauty Bar. I look forward to seeing three other groups on the bill for the first time: Fuzz Solow, Unfair Fight and Mersa. Admission is $5, and it’s for a great cause—teaching kids to stay out of trouble by embracing skate culture. Get stoked!
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Two Exhibits Revel in Pathetic Portraiture
April 9th, 2013
In the mid-19th century, photography studios flourished. For a price, stylists, props and rented clothing allowed people to look wealthy—even if they were, in fact, poor. Thus, portraiture was an aspirational industry.
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Don't Bunk It Up, Tony Hsieh
April 9th, 2013
Well, there’s always live music Downtown. At least I hope so. Given Yayo’s music kabosh, the news that Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project had bought the Bunkhouse Saloon rattled my nerves.
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