Las Vegas Mixtape v30: Darkwave Bliss, Havana Rises Again, and Nightlife Tastemakers Bash

Track #4: Thus Love at The Wall inside @AREA15

Thus Love is a new band to love and covet. At The Wall, an intimate venue adjacent to The Portal inside AREA15, the Vermont co-ed foursome cast a spell with their crisp post-punk sound and deep rhythmic groove that are cut from similar cloth as Joy Division, Gang of Four, and The Rapture.

Songs from their new and second album “All Pleasure” are sonically angular and lyrically heady. Lead singer and guitarist Echo Mars unfurled self-questioning observations like “Take time to figure out/All these things to unlearn about” (“On The Floor”) and “It′s not what I’m afraid of/‘Cause I can′t feel a thing” (“Get Stable”), bringing to mind a young David Byrne of Talking Heads.

If you want to know what the younger generation is thinking, you can start right here.

Thus Love keep building their buzz in the UK and America (including earning a full-on Rolling Stone feature—rare for a new rock band these days).  At The Wall, they played their set with both skill and abandon.

Make no mistake, the future of rock & roll is alive and well in the hands of this compelling young band.

Track #5: Around Town Medley

One of the best museums in Las Vegas is the eye-popping Las Vegas Showgirl Museum, housed in a private two-story mansion on the east side of town.  A perfect film to see before or after a private tour of this priceless palace stuffed with sequins, rhinestones, and feathers is “The Last Showgirl,” which I recently saw at The Beverly Theater.

While the museum celebrates showgirl history, the shot-in-Vegas movie unflinchingly examines the life of an aging showgirl—movingly portrayed by Pamela Anderson—who must confront the reality of her faded glory. She’s starring in a long-running classic Vegas show (like the old “Jubilee” or “Lido de Paris) that’s closing as it loses ground to modern shows that favor bump-and-grind choreography over burlesque pageantry.

In the film’s classic audition scene, Anderson’s character rails against the director of a new show in town, who coldly shuts her down because of her age. She’s angry and bitter but defiantly proud, too. You can’t help but cheer her on.

Meanwhile, you may have heard it’s the Year of the Snake (Chinese Lunar Year). The creative minds at Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Garden have reliably gone all out by constructing a dazzling exhibit with intricate floral design and elaborate sculptures. This feast for the eyes can be viewed through March 1.

If you go, be sure to have brunch at the adjacent restaurant Sadelle’s. This opulent, old-school-leaning establishment is known for its “Sadelle’s Tower.”

Imagine the standard lox and bagel sandwich deconstructed and presented in a grand three-tiered stand along with cucumber, tomato, and capers. Order this to instantly feel like royalty, especially if you score a window view of Bellagio’s grand pool.