Bentley Reveals Luxe SUV: EXP 9 F
The luxury brand's first SUV boasts all the usual Bentley trappings, but raises some debate.
May 04, 2012
Bentley made a statement the night before the Geneva International Motor Show during VW’s Group Night, where each of the parent company’s brands showcased their latest and most spectacular vehicles. The British luxury maker wowed the crowd with its first SUV concept, EXP 9 F.
Massive 23-inch alloy wheels; the signature bold Bentley grille; a powerful 6-liter W12 engine that can make up to 600 horsepower; an 8-speed transmission; a fold-down champagne cooler; and luxury tailgating fit for the Kentucky Derby, seem to overly exceed expectations of consumers looking to purchase an ultra-elite SUV. Bentley’s sports utility vehicle is in competition with other luxe cars like the Range Rover and Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo. While the design and composition keep all the usual Bentley trappings, it is unknown if this foray into SUVs will be met with negative or positive feedback.
Rolls-Royce Phantom Series II: Technology & Tradition
Rolls-Royce’s new Phantom model embodies the brand’s dedication to quality and customer connection.
April 23, 2012
From connecting with their clients via private tours of their plants to throwing exclusive events for owners, Rolls-Royce is a brand that treats its customers like a close-knit family. These individual discussions with owners on what R-R stands for, what customers expect from the company and the product, and what it needs to be in order to move forward are exactly what inspired the brand’s new Phantom Series II model.
“When considering changes to our iconic Phantom, we first carefully listened to customers,” said Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös. “Around the world they explicitly told us, ‘Do not change Phantom too much but introduce new technology where appropriate.’ And this is precisely what we have done.”
The end result is a blend of traditional and classic with modern technology that allows the Phantom to keep up with customer expectations. “It combined the spirit of its famous pedigree with superbly elegant design work, ground-breaking technology, and visionary engineering techniques,” said Müller-Ötvös.
Of note technologically are the full LED headlamps, and the completely revamped satellite navigation system with 3D landscape topography, guided view tours, and more, all on a much larger monitor. Best of all, its famous V12 direct injection engine has been updated with a new eight-speed automatic gearbox and rear differential, which results in 10-percent improved fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emissions.
The car’s appearance has also gotten a few updates. In addition to the aforementioned LED headlamps are a virtual constellation of stars in the interior, and a slightly tweaked bumper. Just as with its unparalleled customer service, the brand will go above and beyond to create a custom luxury vehicle to your specifications—from humidors to drink cabinets to constellations in the shape of your zodiac sign, virtually anything is possible.
“Since its first appearance in 2003, Phantom has reclaimed the pinnacle of automotive luxury and refinement,” said Müller-Ötvös. “It is a completely unique and unequaled achievement that goes beyond its primary role as a car and becomes to many a work of art, a fine piece of jewelry, or a rare and collectible object of desire.”
Prada Hits the Green
Prada’s embellished golf bags make a statement on Las Vegas greens.
April 04, 2012
Miuccia Prada, no stranger to sending out whimsical designs and accessories in her men’s runway shows, chose for her Spring 2012 show to immerse the audience in all things golf. From the Astroturf runway to the pastel cleatlike oxfords and caricature-printed cotton field jackets, the collection seemed to be simultaneously winking at and updating the classic golfer’s uniform. The knockout pieces, however, were not necessarily the ultra-thin wool golf trousers (although they undoubtedly are must-haves for an 18-hole day at Shadow Creek), but the jewel-encrusted golf bags. In shades of blue and red, as well as an illustrated surfer print, these dazzling accoutrements are sure to cause a stir on any Vegas course—and perhaps, as an added bonus, distract your opponents. Tessuto Borchie golf bag ($2,950). Bellagio, 702-866-6886; prada.com
Alvin Ailey Dancers Glide Through Vegas
The esteemed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, led by a new artistic director, comes to Las Vegas for the first time in 15 years.
March 05, 2012
Alvin Ailey dancers soar in Robert Battle’s “The Hunt.”
Once the Smith Center opens on March 10, Las Vegas will be exposed to a new world of touring companies of Broadway shows, as well as dance, comedy, and music that culture lovers used to have to venture out of town to see. Among the first marquee acts to perform here: the renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, on March 20 and 21, as part of the troupe’s four-month, cross-country tour.
An elite group of dancers with roots in the African-American cultural experience, the prominent New York City–based company has performed all over the world. Although Ailey II, its second company composed of emerging young talent, has performed in Las Vegas in the last 10 years, the main company has not appeared here since 1997. But now, locals and tourists will get to see the modern movements of the celebrated Alvin Ailey dancers firsthand. Each night will feature different works from their repertoire, with the company’s signature piece, the world-famous “Revelations,” as the grand finale.
“‘Revelations’ expresses some of the dark parts of our country’s history—segregation, racism—and how we overcame that through our great faith,” artistic director Robert Battle says. “It’s extremely important to us to not just entertain, but also to educate, and that’s what we do. Dance is a universal language, our passport around the world.”
Since Battle took over last summer, he has shaken things up at the 54-year-old company. He is the company’s third artistic director, succeeding only Ailey himself and the famed Judith Jamison, who presided from 1989–2011. Before he was appointed, Battle choreographed nine works for Alvin Ailey dancers, including “In/Side,” “Takademe,” and “The Hunt.” Those three works will be part of the Vegas performances.
The modern dance for which Alvin Ailey is so recognized and revered is a conceptual style open to interpretation. The works generally do not adhere to a plot, as a story ballet would. And unlike most dance companies, Alvin Ailey does not use a ranking system, so there is no promotion to principal dancer and the plum roles that such a title usually guarantees.
“Modern dance in and of itself was more about activism and social statements,” Battle says, “and about the fact that we are all human beings and are all connected because we have the same issues, hopes and dreams, desperation, sadness. That premise is why we don’t have that kind of ranking system.” As artistic director, Battle strives to stay true to Ailey’s original vision while adding a contemporary flair. “I think the dancers are dancing with a new kind of vigor,” he says. “Everything feels fresh and headed to the future.”
Many of the new works are cutting-edge by groundbreaking choreographers. “Home,” by the award-winning Rennie Harris, showcases stories of people living with HIV/AIDS. Ailey himself died of AIDS in 1989, at the age of 58.“It has really given me the opportunity to think more about Alvin and his death and figure out a way to talk about HIV/AIDS,” says dancer Rachael McLaren, 26, who has been with the company for four years. “Home” incorporates hip-hop and house music and is a soulful interpretation of people’s explanations about how HIV/AIDS has affected their lives, McLaren says.
Referring to three other works the troupe will perform in Vegas, Kirven James Boyd, 27, an Alvin Ailey dancer for eight years, says, “‘Takademe’ and ‘The Hunt’ are always crowd favorites, and ‘Episodes’ is a brilliant piece, choreographed by Ulysses Dove, that is challenging physically, technically, and emotionally.” Another new work, “Arden Court,” was choreographed by the legendary Paul Taylor, a pioneer of modern dance who inspired Battle during the latter’s performing career. “It is a really beautiful work with a bunch of solos and duets, and dynamic music,” McLaren says. “It’s a lovely modern piece and uses a lot of ballet inflections. But my favorite piece is the sexy battle-of-the-sexes piece ‘Episodes.’ Everyone is in black, and there are a lot of shadows and shafts of lighting on the stage. It is kind of dark.”
The company, officially recognized by Congress as a cultural ambassador to the world, has brought its artistic magic to cities large and small. And Battle says the troupe would not have it any other way. “The idea that we can go into smaller, different communities and bring the gift of dance is one that we treasure,” he says. Now, after a 15-year absence, the company is eager to return to the entertainment showplace that is Vegas. “It is going to be interesting to see how we are received there,” Boyd says. “I have a lot of friends who trained in ballet and modern dance who are actually in different shows in Las Vegas. So I know, as far as an art community, there is definitely that. I am hoping that they’ll come out to see us and support us.” Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs at the Smith Center, March 20 and 21 at 7:30 PM. 361 Symphony Park Avenue, 702-982-7805
ABOVE: Alvin Ailey company members Kirven James Boyd and Rachael McLaren
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL KOLNIK (“THE HUNT”); ANDREW ECCLES (INSET)
Best Address: The Primm Compound
The storied “Wonderland” of an estate is up for sale.
December 13, 2011
The 10-bedroom, 21,000-square-foot residence at 7000 Tomiyasu Lane
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| The commercial-grade kitchen |
The famed Primm Compound that was lavish enough to catch the eye of Michael Jackson is on the market. Casino mogul Gary Primm and his ex-wife, Carol, are selling their palatial 10-acre estate in southeast Las Vegas, the same place that grabbed the attention of the late King of Pop, who had planned on calling it “Wonderland.” The 10-bedroom, 21,000- square-foot residence is a wonderland, indeed.
The ranch-style complex consists of five buildings, with a total of 50 rooms and 19 bathrooms. The gated estate has a list of amenities each more luxurious than the next, including a 5,000-bottle temperature-controlled wine cellar and tasting room, a 20-car show garage with wash area and gas station, and a 10-stall equestrian stable with an arena and trainer’s quarters. There is also a screening theater with club chairs and an air-purification system for smoking stogies, plus a golf driving range, personal gym, steam sauna, and casino game room. Naturally, no home would be complete without the mandatory libraryoffice, formal dining room, commercial-grade kitchen, and two-story-tall travertine marble fireplace. The Mediterranean-inspired residence at 7000 Tomiyasu Lane counts Wayne Newton, Phil Ruffin, and the Sultan of Brunei as neighbors.
“The grounds are super private and very elegant,” says mega-agent Kristen Routh-Silberman of Synergy Sotheby’s International Realty, who has the listing (702-467-7100). “You don’t feel like you’re in Vegas. It’s a magical place. While the Primms love the house, their kids have grown up. So it’s really the end of an era.”
Primm, of course, is the gaming magnate behind the Cal-Nev bordertown that carries his family’s name. His Primmadonna Resorts once consisted of a constellation of hotel casinos at Stateline, 45 miles south of Vegas, including Primm Valley, Buffalo Bill’s, and Whiskey Pete’s. Primm additionally built New York–New York with gaming giant Kirk Kerkorian. The Primm properties were sold to MGM Grand (now MGM Resorts International) in 1999 and later resold to the Herbst family. The deal provided a handsome payday for Primm, who used some of the earnings to deck out his family retreat, resort-style.
The desert compound, as a result, is chock-full of frills, including an underground shooting range, bowling alley, recording studio, and tennis court. The residence, designed by Southern California architect F.H. Laudenfrost, was completed in 1991. Hank Morgan of Newport Beach designed the earth-toned interiors, with silks and chintzes, granite, and light oak. “Everything was custom made,” Routh-Silberman says. “It’s exquisite with deep, rich gold and bronze hues, but it’s playful, too, with a cheetah rug in the bedroom.” Primm is part Indiana Jones, part James Bond, with a 3,000-square-foot trophy room stuffed with 100 exotic animals, including water buffaloes, lions, giraffes, and antelopes. The butternut-wood-paneled space has light-activated animal sounds for a private interactive safari experience. The estate, which has its own water rights, is lushly landscaped with rolling lawns and towering palms. And with no water worries, the complex boasts a colossal faux-rock pool area, complete with waterfalls, a two-story water slide, and a Playboy Mansioninspired grotto. A guest villa, maid quarters, glass-encased greenhouse, and an air-conditioned walk-in dog kennel complete the compound.
The price tag: a cool $16.5 million. Only high-rollers need apply.
Guide: Body Scrub Treatments
Fight desert-dry winter skin with the best body scrub treatments.
November 14, 2011
Skin as canvas at The Spa at Green Valley Ranch
Aquae Sulis Spa
This Roman temple-inspired sanctuary’s cascading waterfalls and ritual rooms offer a modernday center for beauty and wellness. Lose yourself in paradise with Wine Down, featuring a grape-seed sugar scrub and wine and honey body masque, followed by a Bacchus body oil massage. 110 minutes, $225. JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa, 702-869-7807; jwlasvegasresort.com
The Bathhouse
The spa’s Yummy Mocha Java Sculpting Treatment has aromatherapy, a scrub, and a wrap. Choose either chocolate or cappuccino for the sugar scrub, followed by a skin-smoothing organic mocha java masque enriched with green tea and aloe vera, and finished with a slimming cappuccino cream. 80 minutes, $205. THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, 877-632-9636; mandalaybay.com
Drift Spa & Hammam
For him, the Ultimate Unwind soothes muscles with a Muscle Soother salt scrub combined with a therapeutic sports oil massage. For her, the Rockin’ Desert Quench washes away worries with agave nectar, followed by a high-desert body buff for gentle exfoliation, and finished off with an organic desert aloe wrap. And together? There’s always the coed hammam. 80 minutes, $200. Palms Place Hotel & Spa, 702-944-3219; palms.com
The Mirage Spa
Let your dry skin be rejuvenated with the Blueberry Bliss full-body scrub followed by a soy-based slimming wrap. Or boost your immune system with the Signature Birch Detoxifying Wrap infused with vitamins, minerals, and protein with a touch of mineral crème. 50 minutes, $160. The Mirage Hotel & Casino, 702-791-7472; mirage.com
Sahra Spa & Hammam
Escape the bright lights of the Strip inside this modern haven. The Red Flower bathing ritual lavishes the body with a reviving scrub of lemon, coffee, blossom, and olive stone that exfoliates from head to toe. A soothing soak in the Moroccan mint tea silt purifier follows. 50 minutes, $150. The Cosmopolitan, 702-698-7171; cosmopolitanlasvegas.com
Spa & Salon Vdara
Enjoy guilt-free indulgence at this eco-friendly spa, which offers a delicious Espresso Mud Body Scrub pick-me-up. This holistic scrub for all skin types has sweet, earthy notes of coffee Arabica, Indian sarsaparilla, and black silt clay to exfoliate and remove impurities. 110 minutes, $300. Vdara Hotel & Spa, 702-590-2474; vdara.com
The Spa at Wynn
Experience the mysteries of the Orient with a treatment inspired by ancient Japanese beauty rituals. The Sake and Rice treatment features rice oil, an açai scrub, and lychee lotion as part of its full-body exfoliation, followed by a soothing massage to help realign energy flow and calm the body. 80 minutes, $280. Wynn Las Vegas, 702-770-3900; wynnlasvegas.com
The Spa at Green Valley Ranch
The Hydra Quench Cocoon begins with a full-body exfoliating scrub to detoxify the body, which is then re-mineralized with a special treatment blanket. The transformation is completed with an application of antiaging body cream. 80 minutes, $200. Green Valley Ranch, 702-617-7570; greenvalleyranchresort.com
The Spa at Lakeside
This Summerlin spa offers 25-minute salt glow and sugar scrubs that refresh the body and scrub away impurities leaving only soft, radiant skin. The scrub comes in several scents, including a mango and tangerine salt glow with vitamin C and antioxidants, and a lavender and rosemary one that is relaxing and anti-inflammatory. 25 minutes, $50. 2620 Regatta Dr., 702-254-8568; spaatlakeside.com
—XICHELLE MONTES
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF GREEN VALLEY RANCH RESORTS
Art Focus: Centerpiece Gallery
At Centerpiece Gallery, Vegas-based artist Erik Beehn uses painstaking layers of mixed media to add depth to mundane objects.
November 09, 2011
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| Kenmore Avenue, LA (2008), by Erik Beehn |
We all know the old conundrum about the tree falling in the forest: If nobody’s around to hear it, does it still make a sound? Artist Erik Beehn believes that it most definitely does, and he explores its visual equivalent in his new exhibition, at CityCenter’s Centerpiece Gallery through November. The mixed-media photographs and drawings depict what Beehn calls “transitory spaces” and are all devoid of any people, as if there’s no audience at all to what he’s depicting. “They are parts of a visual landscape that I passed every day but never looked at,” he says. “I want to identify them as having more of a presence or importance.”
Beehn photographed Kenmore Avenue, LA with a homemade camera, then applied layers of other media with painstaking precision. “It has charcoal, graphite, ink, and acrylic medium,” he says. “I do things in small sections, so it grids itself out. There are probably 150 or 200 sections in this one.” The overall effect is subtle yet arresting, as slight alternations in color and texture draw the eye to details it normally skims over, and the images on display at Centerpiece hum with quiet mystery.
Beehn grew up in Las Vegas and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He later moved to Los Angeles and trained as a master printmaker at Gemini G.E.L., a limited-edition publisher, where he worked with Richard Serra and other renowned artists. “Most of my work incorporates printmaking theory,” he says, “how things are put together and form layers, translucencies, and opacities.” Asked if he believes that the medium is the message, he replies, “There’s a balance between concept and process. The process is probably more important to me than to anyone else. But spending five weeks on a drawing and putting it in a gallery puts a mantle on it that wasn’t there before.” Locals Only, through November 13; Centerpiece Gallery, CityCenter, 702-739-3314
—JENNIFER DEMERITT
Type-Cast
Check out Caesar Garcia's newest show, "Progress/Progression," at Trifecta Gallery.
August 17, 2011
Trifecta Gallery, one of the most consistent venues in the Arts District, presents “Progress/Progression,” the second solo show by heartthrob Caesar Garcia. The artist has recently returned from San Diego with his new series, which includes mixed-media transfers, aerosol mists and fine-line drawings on wood panels. Pop words and their accompanying fonts take center stage in his work, carefully calibrated by nostalgic image transfers. September 1–30. 107 E. Charleston Blvd., 702- 366-7001
Glass Act: Stacey Neff
Neff's fluid glass sculptures arrive at the Charleston Heights Art Center Gallery.
June 06, 2011
Stacey Neff brings her signature large glass and fiberglass sculptures to the Charleston Heights Art Center Gallery. Joining her are painter Sam Scott, mixed-media artist Dana Newmann and photographer and gold artisan Martin Horowitz. Neff, the founder of the nonprofit New Mexico Experimental Glass Workshop, works to expand the use of hot glass as a contemporary medium by making it available to non-glass artists. June 17 to August 18. 800 S. Brush St., 702-229-1012
Luxe Lounging: A Versace Armchair
A rich Rococo masterpiece designed by Gianni Versace causes a stir.
May 27, 2011
Visitors to Versace at The Forum Shops have often been halted in their tracks by Vanitas, the iconic armchair designed by Gianni Versace. Now the Rococo wonder is available for purchase online. Inspired by a Louis XV chair, Vanitas ($6,330) has been reinterpreted numerous times over the years, but this is the original version, in a white-matte finish, 24k gold-leaf trim and velvet upholstery. The Forum Shops at Caesars
