Fear & Lounging

America's Party poopers

Did you know that because of the crowd's failure to follow instructions, Fox's "America's Party" celebration at the Venetian was almost canceled?

No, you don't know that. Anybody with more than two functioning brain cells knows that a TV network wouldn't cancel its televised New Year's Eve celebration - not even if the Ebola virus struck the crowd and most of the performers.

But that was what officials with Fox were threatening to do on Dec. 31 when their repeated pleas were ignored by the crowd that had assembled on Venetian grounds between the hotel and Las Vegas Boulevard.

Here's what happened: When members of the audience (each of whom had to have a special wristband to enter the area in front of the stage) were let into the enclosed area, organizers failed to block off the area immediately in front of the stage. Therefore, as more and more people entered the area in the hour before the show was to start at 8 p.m. local time, organizers asked the crowd to move backwards.

It would have been easier to herd cats.

These pleas went on for more than a half-hour, with security officials getting increasingly cranky when the hundreds of people couldn't move backwards en masse.

Finally, they started threatening to cancel the show, as Trejo and Athena of KFMS 101.9-FM (aka KISS-FM) feebly tried to entertain the crowd by making crap up. At one point, they claimed that 500,000 people would be on the Strip for New Year's; the actual number was closer to half of that. Another not-so-highlight was Athena doing her infamous "worm," in which she gets on the ground and flops around like she's having a seizure. This is all fine and dandy, except that only the people in the very front of the standing crowd could see her.

But at 8 p.m., when Sugar Ray kicked off the Ryan Seacrest-hosted event, all was well and good, and despite some minor hitches (the most notable being the fact that onlookers outside of the enclosed crowd were encouraged to stand and watch while the show was going on - but told to move during commercials, something that didn't work at all), a good time was had by most everyone.

In the end, the only thing to get canceled was the duo of Trejo and Athena. They were canned from their KFMS gig just days later when the station decided to make a sudden format change (after torturing the valley for days with a non-stop broadcast of Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle") to become a hip-hop and R&B station.

-Jimmy Boegle

Don't mess with the Bird

Remember the New Year's Eve party at the Thunderbird? The one put on by Ryan Pardey and featuring the Killers, the Hearts of Saturday Night, Romance Fantasy, Attaboy Skip, DJs John Doe, Bazooka Joe and the Donald and the Bargain DJ Collective? Well, it didn't happen at the Thunderbird. At the last minute, the event was shuttled to Cafe Espresso Roma, where everything went better than expected.

According to Pardey, the closer it got to New Year's, the fewer assurances Thunderbird management gave him that the event was going to happen. So he cut his losses and pulled out.

Which, according to Thunderbird owner Terry Dzvonick, was news to him. He says he was given no warning about the event's cancelation and that he lost $1,000 because "things were bought, and no one showed." Adding to the bizarre, ongoing saga of the Thunderbird, Dzvonick says the lounge is closed now and has been for some time. So how was he planning to throw an event in a closed lounge on New Year's Eve?

He claims he had a temporary license for a temporary opening. Maybe closed doesn't mean closed after all.

-Jarret Keene

No porn in Vegas

For those who pay attention to such things, an ad ran in more than one weekly paper announcing that the band Porn Rock was to play at Rock X-posed behind the Rio on New Year's Eve and Day. Those shows never happened. According to sources who wish to remain anonymous, the hotel-casino's sensibilities were offended by the ad and the band's name. Porn Rock was summarily un-booked, and a new promoter was brought in at the last minute to put together a show with some (yawn!) DJs.

At press time, the band members of Porn Rock refused to comment and Rio publicists had not returned CityLife's phone calls.

-J.K.

Red rockers

The battle to save Red Rock from corporate developers rages on. On Saturday, Jan. 11, a benefit jamboree will be held at the Blue Diamond Recreation Hall, featuring Pilot To Orion, Tarah and Maroon Swoon and Hick Weed. The show starts at 7 p.m., and the cover/donation fee is $5. For more info on the ongoing battle for Red Rock, visit www.redrock.org.

-Pj Perez

Poizen's field report

Howdy, folks. Poizen Ivy is back.

I welcomed in 2003 with friends, and then with glittery confetti in our underwear and champagne bubbling through our bloodstreams, we got down with the Dick at Sunset Station's Club Madrid. Even though the show started at 1 a.m., Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine drew an almost-capacity crowd and put on yet another tremendous show. Look for Cheese to be back again in February.

After a day to recuperate, I went to the Green Room at Santa Fe Station for the Thursday night debut of the Nines. The space (formerly the Lizard Lounge) was remodeled in September, and it's a cozy room with great sound, perfect for the band's cool blend of jazz-surf-rock. They'll be there every Thursday from 9 p.m. until midnight; it's free and definitely worth the drive.

On Friday, I introduced friends to the Elvis tribute artist, Jim LeBoeuf. If you haven't discovered this performer you can catch him and his band the Naturals Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Riviera's Le Bistro Lounge. It seemed a fitting way to start the afternoon, since the Elvis Extravaganza National Finals and Fan Convention was getting underway across the street at the Westward Ho, and oddly enough LeBoeuf knew nothing about it.

Acting like we knew what we were doing, we barged our way into the convention hall, running into Amy Carrelli of the Pull-Outs) who was working as a production assistant for the MTV show "Party Crashers," only to get booted out, since nothing had actually started yet. Later in the evening, the Fremonts hit the stage at Dino's Lounge for the First Friday after-party, and the small bar was packed with almost every hipster in town. LeBoeuf, who recently became engaged to the lovely bar owner Kristin Bartolo, joined the Fremonts for a rendition of Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes." Cindy Funkhouser, owner of the Funk House, confirmed that this First Friday event drew the biggest crowd yet.

-Poizen Ivy

Got questions or feedback? Contact Jarret Keene at 702-871-6780 ext. 347 or keene@lvpress.com.