vegasguy25

My friends and I got one of the cabanas on the terrace on Friday night, and it was a great experience. I will recommend it to anyone who inquires about a table at Pure. We had a blast, and it was problem-free.

How did you arrive at the decision to invite Terrell Owens to host your party? I realize he's available these days due to basically not having a job, but there are many fine players in the NFL whom I am sure would have been happy to host a party at Pure.

Exactly.

The night Sasha played there in November of '99 was a great, great night. The first time I went there, in 1997, I was hooked immediately. Man, that was a long time ago. I remember Rabbit in the Moon's gig there in the summer of '98. That was something else. Hmmm, other nights. I seem to remember seeing Carl Cox there one night. Robert Oleysyck's 8+ hour sets were awesome. I don't really recall ever having a bad time at that club. I was always surrounded by good friends, good vibes and good music. On that end of things, the "home" atmosphere, no club in this town that has come along since has come anywhere close to touching Utopia.

4-9? Damn, I understand he has a gig that night in NY, but I sure hope he plays more than 5 hours.

Empire Ballroom is a club. Drai's is a restaurant that happens to stay open late for afterhours. There really is no comparison, so it comes down to what you are looking for. You won't find better music this night than at Empire, I assure you. If you want to go to the best party that will happen that weekend, go to Empire Ballroom. Erick Morillo is one of the best in the business.

I'll make an effort to stop by sometime on a Saturday to check you guys out. Sounds like a good time, and Teatro is a good little spot.

Considering the other options at that hour are sleeping, strip clubs or gambling, it probably won't be too tough of a sell. I was at Late Night Empire this past Saturday night, and it rocks. And there was no hip hop to be heard, which was such a relief in this town.

I've seen him twice. He is pretty much awesome. Also, he plays for as long as the crowd can hang.

The man returns to Vegas to rock the house at Empire Ballroom. http://www.latenightempire.com/

Drai's is at the "Barbary" Coast dude.

What time do you guys usually get going? Best of luck with your night. I see more and more electronic music nights popping up at the clubs. It appears people have finally woken up to the reality that there is life beyond hip hop, and that there are other markets to be served.

Utopia was my home away from home for about three years. It was the right club at the right time. Good music, good vibes, good people. Nothing beat watching the sun come up on the patio with great friends.

Apparently you have to be a Chris to spin there...lol.

The Funktion One at Ice is good, but not as good as their install at Vanguard in LA, which is probably their flagship install. It's awesome. I heard Rain installed a Dynacord, which is the best system I have ever heard. Dynacord has their Alpha One installed at Space, and it is phenomenal, better than Phazon IMO. Jet has an EAW/Avalon system installed, called the Jet Series. It's excellent, especially in their house room. Empire Ballroom claims to have the best system in America, but it's themselves saying that, so that's not exactly an objective opinion. I don't even know what hardware they have installed over there.

Which means it has about as much credibility as the DJ Mag poll.

Also, what the hell do tanning salons have to do with nightclubs? Seriously. Instead of having a category such as best sound system, there is best tanning? Come on now.

IMO, there is no good reason for his exclusion. That is a tremendous oversight by the person who put the list together.

Whoever put together the choices for "best resident DJ" royally fucked up by not including Faarsheed on that list. The guy holds down two of the biggest residencies in town, and is unquestionably one of Las Vegas' best DJs.

Nice booking with the Low End Specialists.

I was being facetious, but what I am saying is that the main room DJs at the clubs on the Strip all play the same shit.

It sure seems like it when you walk through the main rooms of clubs on the Strip.

Joe was telling me about Chris Garcia the other day when we spoke. I am anxious to hear Chris, as Joe had a lot of good things to say about him. For those who don't know, Chris has picked up the house room residency at Jet.

You put Drai's up as your primary example of why you think Las Vegas' house scene is better than SF's or LA's? Miguel Migs, Mark Farina and Doc Martin are some of the very best in the business when it comes to house, and they play the bay regularly, at least once a month. Parties such as Qool, which features SF standouts Jondi and Spesh, Satellite features Scott Carelli as well as regular special guests from the world of house music, Miguel Migs hosts Salted, Doc Martin regularly plays Remedy, Second Sunday, hosted by Release and held at 1015, also regularly hosts house DJs. Also, there are tons of up-and-comers such as Jeffrey Allen and others. Danny Tenaglia, who just played SF this past Saturday, doesn't play cities where the house scene is dead. He plays for the people who "get it". As far as LA goes, you avoided mentioning that Vanguard has hosted nights including Doc Martin and Mark Farina together, as well as Kaskade. I was at both of these nights, and they had great turnouts from LA's legions of househeads. Were you at either one of these? They also have many great house nights coming up. LA is loaded with house talent. Doc Martin holds underground parties on a regular basis, and does a lot for the LA house scene. John Do and Justin Gourley have been throwing their ode to house music, Basic, for a little better than four years now. There are also tons of other great house DJs in LA including Sugar Ant Invasion (Steve Chipman and Marc Gottlieb), Architects of Sound (John Day and Eddie Clay), Jimmy Maheras, Justin Sloe, Jonathan Neil, Hoang Luu and so many others. I will give you credit for mentioning Deep, which is one of the best house music parties on the west coast. Just like San Francisco, if you would say LA's house scene is dead, then you simply aren't looking. I am baffled as to how you can say that, seeing as how you live there. The house scene extends far beyond Avalon. Avalon is just the tip of the iceberg. I've never heard Chris Garcia, but since he just got the residency slot in the house room at Jet, I will be hearing him soon.

Clubs in Miami actually give a rat's ass about the music. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about most of our venues here in Vegas. There is so much more that goes into having a "scene" than great venues. Venues alone do not make a scene. A scene is people collaborating to push the music forward. LA has that. SF has that. NY has that, Chicago, Miami, Detroit. Las Vegas, largely, does not. What we have are club owners who are more than happy to cater to the lowest common denominator because they make truckloads of money doing it. They pay local DJs to spin the same stuff that the tourists hear all week on the radio. At the same time that Tao, Pure, Body English, etc. are playing top 40 hip-hop, Space, Nocturnal and Crobar are flying in some of the world's elite DJs to spin the latest and greatest in electronic music. The only club here that does that is Ice, and sometimes the support for the DJs they bring in is appalling. For example, when Oscar G, one of Miami's finest, was at Ice, the club wasn't anywhere near full. This is one of America's best house DJs folks, and we couldn't even fill Ice, which isn't even big, to support him. We have some people here who try their best, like the Godspeed crew, Faarsheed, my friend Zee over at Jet, and many more, but to say that our scene overall is on the level of other cities in the US is missing the point of what a scene really is. I guess it comes down to what is more important: the venues, or the music that is played in them. I would love to be able to say that Las Vegas' club scene is on the level of Miami's, believe me. Maybe someday I will. That day is not right now though.