The “Vegas Rocks! Magazine Awards” is the annual awards show that’s not quite held annually. Instead, as event founder Sally Steele says, the show is held, “Whenever I can recover from the last one.”
The next one is 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Orleans Showroom. This is the eighth installment of the rocking, rowdy awards presentation and jam session. Tickets are still available at ticketmaster.com for intel.
This is the type of awards show where a crystal trophy is actually knocked off the presentation table to the stage and busted (that happened two years ago).
The “Vegas Rocks!” show debuted in 2010, went dark after the 2016 event at since-demolished Eastside Cannery, and was revived at Sam’s Town Live in 2024.
Steele then took last year off, and is back with a vengeance. Though her magazine has been online-only for seven years, Steele has shown a zeal for drawing some of the top names in rock.
This year’s show features several superstar performers, along with a variety of presenters and special guests across the music horizon. Honorees are to include the Red Rocker Sammy Hagar (checking in via video), Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big), Michael Anthony (Van Halen), Tracii Guns (LA Guns) Mitch Malloy, DJ Ashba (Sixx: A.M., Guns N’ Roses), Chris Kael (Five Finger Death Punch), Craig Gass (from “The Howard Stern Show”), “Trunk Nation” on SiriusXM host Eddie Trunk, Treasure Island headliner Franky Perez, Gilby Clarke (Guns N’ Roses), Vegas small-cap venue and Fremont Street Experience stalwart Zowie Bowie, Blas Elias (Slaughter), Armored Saint, Heroine Honey and Pure Sport.
Special guests include Bruce Kulick (Kiss), Lizzy Borden, George Pajon Jr. (Black Eyed Peas) Jeff Scott Soto (Yngwie Malmsteen, Journey) Les Warner (The Cult), Frank Dimino (Angel) and Martin Motnik (Accept).
Steele has kept the “Vegas Rocks!” pulse alive, talking of a show in 2025 until tabling the idea until this year. Billy F. Gibbons, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma of Blue Oyster Cult, guitar great Orianthi, Raiders owner Mark Davis and Vegas favorite Frankie Moreno were among those on hand in ‘24. (Yours truly introduced Moreno that night, and will also present Perez with his award Sunday, as we occupy the corner of Frankie and Franky).
At that show, “SNL” alum Chris Kattan introduced Bloom and Dharm by reviving the legendary “more cowbell” skit, starring Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken. Kattan was in that sketch, and in his intro of Bloom and Dharm called out, “More cowbell!” That is a fitting mantra for “Vegas Rocks!”
Black & White & Kaos
Billed as “The Hottest Night of the Year,” the Aid for AIDS of Nevada (AFAN) Black & White Party is set for Saturday at Kaos at the Palms. The shindig runs from 7-11 p.m. Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the event supports AFAN’s services for those living with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS in Southern Nevada.
The tag team of Fredric Alexander (Freddy Godinez and Alexander Stabler) host. Entertainment is furnished by Morgan McMichaels of “RuPaul’s Drag Race, and the casts of “Fantasy,” Piranha Nightclub, Gipsy Nightclub, The Phoenix, “Vegas! The Show” and “Sexxy the Show.”
The dress code seems self-evident, but not quite. From our friends at AFAN: “This year, guests are encouraged to wear as much black-and-white as possible or as little as you can get away with, finished with a touch of ruby accessories.” We need every dress code to be this specific.
‘Crazy Girls’ forever
Ensuring the legacy of “Crazy Girls” lives beyond a bronze statue whose derrieres are rubbed for good luck, Angela Stabile has bracketed the show’s Riviera and Planet Hollywood eras. The co-founder of Stabile Productions has brought Dani Elizabeth in as comic of “X Burlesque” on Tuesdays, when regular stand-up Nancy Ryan is off.
Stabile was in the “Crazy Girls” cast at the Riv beginning in 1988. Elizabeth was dancer and comic when the show closed at Planet Hollywood in 2021. And Stabile is famously featured on that bronze sculpture, fifth dancer from the left or third from the right. Check out the effigy at Circa.
Cool Hang Alert
Katy Monroe is at once a Playboy Playmate and a headlining chanteuse. The singer of standards presents “The Velvet Affair: Song for Lovers” from 7-10 p.m. Monday at Maxan Jazz at 4130 S. Decatur Blvd. Monroe is backed by a fine selection of players, Eric Tewalt on baritone sax, John Wedemeyer on ye olde six-string, Joey Melotti on keys, YL Douglas on drums, and Ruben Van Gundy on bass. Roy Hamilton Jr., whose father was one of Elvis’s idols, is special guest. This one is ticketed at Maxan, $20 per guest (a mere pittance)t; go to eventbrite.com to book.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.