7th of December 2007: First Friday
Tonight is First Friday, an art-focussed event held in Las Vegas' older downtown area on the first Friday of every month. It was started by and continues to be heavily supported by the Burner community, and incorporates musical performances, art shows and other events. Deidre and I head for the Aruba Hotel, which is playing host to N.O.I.S.E (Network of Immersive Sensory Entertainment), a multimedia evening and one of First Friday's major nexi (nexuses?).
We meet Shay and Kim at the hotel itself around 10. The back room of the Aruba is already a buzz of activity when we arrive, with a stage and instruments being set up in the center, easels all round the walls and a good crowd already present. Many of the attendees are familiar, welcome neo-hippie types, with beards, dreadlocks, handweave and tie-dye being well represented. We meet several fellow burners and hear about some of the events coming up in the community, including (joy!) the Las Vegas Santa Rampage, the local Santarchy event!
The theme of the evening is the mandala, and variations on the theme are visible everywhere as artists settle in to work on paintings, drumskins and decorations, and upstairs on the balcony a walkable foam maze based on the Labyrinth of Crete has been laid out on the floor, along with other decorative maze designs exhibiting mandala principles.
The band, when they come on, are an excellent local psychedelic blues/rock outfit called Psychic Pussy, who hammer out some serious noise with virtuoso lead guitar and very catchy rhythms, and get much of the crowd moving. After their first set a drum circle of over 30 members forms by the stage and builds up a wonderful wall of percussive sound. They are joined by several talented female dancers who weave up and down within the circle, creating a beautiful visual counterpoint to the interweaving beats.
The drum circle is followed by a second half from Psychic Pussy, and a DJ picks up the slack when they finally move off. Deidre, Shay and Kim are finally exhausted and head off to catch some kip, but I'm still wide awake and in the mood for dancing, and decide to stay till the end. The event finally winds down at around 2am, but a residual drum group forms on the back porch as I drift out and I stay to watch and dance a little until it finally breaks up. I wander on round the corner to the Art Bar, to outward appearances a commonplace biker bar but with an amazing lighted star of metal rods on the roof simulating an explosion or wave transmission, inventive commissioned graffiti and art on the outer walls and more displayed inside.
Normally the bar would have live bands playing all night on First Friday, but today apparently they've all called off for various reasons and the bar's dead. I stay for one drink, get a burger from the Jack In the Box next door (they've closed the dining area, but agree to serve me at the drive-through window after I offer to hold an imaginary steering wheel and make car noises while I wait), then wander up to take a proper look at the Fremont Street Experience, the incredible covered street (the canopy is 90 feet high at its peak and covers four blocks) which incorporates many of downtown's biggest casinos.
Finally I catch the Deuce back down the Strip and a local bus which takes me close to the house, and fall into bed at around 6am, feeling I've made the most of the night.
We meet Shay and Kim at the hotel itself around 10. The back room of the Aruba is already a buzz of activity when we arrive, with a stage and instruments being set up in the center, easels all round the walls and a good crowd already present. Many of the attendees are familiar, welcome neo-hippie types, with beards, dreadlocks, handweave and tie-dye being well represented. We meet several fellow burners and hear about some of the events coming up in the community, including (joy!) the Las Vegas Santa Rampage, the local Santarchy event!
The theme of the evening is the mandala, and variations on the theme are visible everywhere as artists settle in to work on paintings, drumskins and decorations, and upstairs on the balcony a walkable foam maze based on the Labyrinth of Crete has been laid out on the floor, along with other decorative maze designs exhibiting mandala principles.
The band, when they come on, are an excellent local psychedelic blues/rock outfit called Psychic Pussy, who hammer out some serious noise with virtuoso lead guitar and very catchy rhythms, and get much of the crowd moving. After their first set a drum circle of over 30 members forms by the stage and builds up a wonderful wall of percussive sound. They are joined by several talented female dancers who weave up and down within the circle, creating a beautiful visual counterpoint to the interweaving beats.
The drum circle is followed by a second half from Psychic Pussy, and a DJ picks up the slack when they finally move off. Deidre, Shay and Kim are finally exhausted and head off to catch some kip, but I'm still wide awake and in the mood for dancing, and decide to stay till the end. The event finally winds down at around 2am, but a residual drum group forms on the back porch as I drift out and I stay to watch and dance a little until it finally breaks up. I wander on round the corner to the Art Bar, to outward appearances a commonplace biker bar but with an amazing lighted star of metal rods on the roof simulating an explosion or wave transmission, inventive commissioned graffiti and art on the outer walls and more displayed inside.
Normally the bar would have live bands playing all night on First Friday, but today apparently they've all called off for various reasons and the bar's dead. I stay for one drink, get a burger from the Jack In the Box next door (they've closed the dining area, but agree to serve me at the drive-through window after I offer to hold an imaginary steering wheel and make car noises while I wait), then wander up to take a proper look at the Fremont Street Experience, the incredible covered street (the canopy is 90 feet high at its peak and covers four blocks) which incorporates many of downtown's biggest casinos.
Finally I catch the Deuce back down the Strip and a local bus which takes me close to the house, and fall into bed at around 6am, feeling I've made the most of the night.
Labels: arbuba hotel, Burning Man, first friday, las vegas, santa rampage
posted by Mark at
20:00
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home