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
Gifts for Creative People
Stuff your special someone’s stocking with ideas from Vegas Seven’s arts and entertainment-themed holiday gift guide
November 22nd, 2012
When it comes to holiday celebrations, Las Vegas is a city of putting out. And by putting out, we mean giving presents to people you love—really love, perhaps in the biblical sense. Lucky for you, we at Vegas Seven have provided an assemblage of ideas for the special someone(s) in your life. No matter whom you’re married to, in love with, or feel obliged to pity post-breakup with a token of merriment, this guide will make you seem human, at worst, and, at best, get you laid.
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Soundscraper
Nabokov pop, goth gifts, trucker hats
November 15th, 2012
I feel sorry for my New York City pals. While they suffer through Hurricane Sandy cleanup, I’m basking in the Vegas sun and taking in great live music. I’m no meteorologist, so I’ll stick to shows. Once again, the week’s forecast is beautiful.
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Danny Zelisko
The rock-promoting royal on getting an early jump on The Beatles, his new gig at the Pearl and Axl Rose’s chronic tardiness
November 15th, 2012
Danny Zelisko is gearing into overdrive, especially in Vegas, where he’s now the main booking force at the Pearl in the Palms, securing such upcoming acts as Styx (Nov. 15-16), Cooper (Nov. 30) and the Moody Blues (Dec. 15). But long before he became a force locally, the protégé of legendary rock promoter Bill Graham had a hand in nurturing live music on a national scale starting in the ’70s.
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Barbra Streisand
MGM Grand Garden Arena, Nov. 2
November 8th, 2012
A true music fan’s bucket list only needs two items: See Babs perform in the flesh and get your tits autographed by Lemmy from Motörhead. I checked off the former over the weekend, surrounded by aging, Broadway-loving, mostly liberal Las Vegans.
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The Art of Compromise
Soul singer Musiq Soulchild balances integrity and commerce
November 8th, 2012
Philly-born R&B artist Taalib Johnson, a.k.a. Musiq Soulchild, has a baby-making voice that causes ladies to swoon and record labels to see dollar signs. But it’s his ability to strike an emotional and commercial chord that sets Soulchild apart from the neo-soul pack. Well, that and his insistence on mixing things up arrangement-wise.
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Soundscraper
Whiskey snorts, snuff films, phallus mods
November 8th, 2012
Mark my words. There will be a time soon when late-’70s-style, guitar-slinging, shaggy-haired hard-rock nostalgia will sweep across the land and inspire young musicians to play good old-fashioned, hard-and-heavy boogie-rock. Hopefully this time without a creepy, chest-baring polyester vest.
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Soundscraper
Canadian rock invasion
November 1st, 2012
All-girl Ontario alt-rockers Hunter Valentine stalks the Bunkhouse at 9:30 p.m. Nov. 1 with female-fronted L.A. anthemic-pop outfit Queen Caveat. Hunter Valentine is the darker, gothier, sexier side of the bill. Gorgeous, charismatic singer/guitarist Kiyomi McCloskey delivers songs with charged, lustful titles such as “Closet Case” and “She Only Loves Me When She’s Wasted.”
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CD Reviews
Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, Lonesome Dreams, The Light the Dead See
November 1st, 2012
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (Constellation); Lord Huron, Lonesome DreamsThe Light the Dead See (Mute)
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Glenda Glen Ross
A local company meets the challenges of gender-reversing a famously male-driven drama
October 25th, 2012
Inside Theatre7, a new production of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross is being rehearsed. Actors and crew are mired in the messy yet essential business of blocking their movements and positions. It’s tricky, since the venue is, to put it politely, intimate.
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Dark rainbows, Indian lakes, metal sheep
October 25th, 2012
Once again, the best shows are crammed into a single Friday night. Let me sum each one up so you can choose your own sonic adventure.
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