Uncategorized Archives | Jeff Howard's Las Vegas Area Real Estate blog

Patio Heaters Are Great to Warm Up the Winter

I think we can all agree that having a patio gives you a great place to hang out and enjoy the outdoors while you’re at home. Then the winter months come ( luckily in Las Vegas not for long), dropping temperatures that often makes your patio all but uninhabitable. Cooler weather doesn’t have to be the end of your time enjoying your patio, there are many options available that can extend your time, including patio heaters.

Patio heaters are different from other outdoor heating options like fire pits. Since they are designed to spread heat out over a larger area, a patio heater could be the ideal solution to keep your patio area usable for the winter months in Southern Nevada. If you think that one of these heaters might be the perfect addition to your outdoor space, here are a few things to consider to help make sure that you pick the perfect one.

How Patio Heaters Work

Patio heaters are designed to radiate heat outward, spreading heat over a larger area than you’d cover with a fire pit or other heat source that doesn’t have a cap or other barrier preventing heat from escaping upward. The amount of heat coverage provided by these heaters are different depending on the type of heater, its size, and where it’s located on your patio. Some patio heaters include chimneys or other exhaust pipes to vent potentially harmful gases generated as their fuel burns, preventing those gases from being diverted outward by the same caps that redirect the heat.

The type of heater really depends on your needs. You can find small patio heaters that can sit on top of a table or other surface, as well as larger free-standing units that sit on the patio floor itself. Most heaters include controls similar to what you see on indoor heaters, allowing you to change the amount of heat produced. This lets you adjust your heater for use when you just need to knock off a little chill or when you need to produce more heat on colder nights.

Patio Heater Types

There are a variety of types of patio heaters; the most common varieties are electric, propane, natural gas, and wood-burning heaters. Here is a little information on each type:

Electric heaters are similar to some of the space heaters you might have used indoors, offering benefits such as portability and heat production without creating fuel exhaust. Unfortunately, these heaters are not as energy efficient as other types, and often do not produce as much heat.

Propane heaters connect to the same kind of tank like you would use with a propane grill. They produce more heat than many electric heaters and are still relatively portable, though they should not be used in covered or enclosed areas.

Natural gas heaters are the most energy-efficient and convenient patio heaters, connecting to your home’s existing natural gas line so that you don’t have to swap out tanks or perform other maintenance. These heaters are not portable at all, and need to be professionally installed to ensure that there are no gas leaks.

Wood-burning heaters are the cheapest patio heaters to operate, but they also require more cleaning and maintenance. They also require more work to light and put out and can be fire hazards if left unattended.

Choosing a Patio Heater

Picking the right heater for your patio area depends a lot on how your patio is laid out and whether portability and maintenance are major concerns for you. Electric and propane heaters are best for those who want to be able to move their heater around easily, and wood-burning heaters are a good option for those who want a heater that operates cheaply and don’t mind emptying out ash and coals to keep the heater clean.

Natural gas heaters are the best options for homes where there’s already a gas line installed, and you don’t mind having a permanent heating option in place. They do require professional installation. If you need to find a professional installer, please contact me, Your Realtor for Life, and I will recommend a reputable firm.

Do you have a need for commercial / industrial / retail buildings or land? Are you ready to buy or sell a home? Do you want 3 cash offers? We can help you with all of that… just call us at 702 SELL NOW or click on this link to my website http://www.702SellNow.com

Choose to have an amazing day….Jeff

Halloween Is Celebrated the Whole Month Of October

I love Halloween and kids seem to love it too, so Downtown Summerlin kicks of October with the Parade of Mischief presented by SelectHealth® starting October 1, 2021, through October 30, 2021, Every Friday and Saturday| at 7:00 PM on Park Centre Drive. The parade fills the streets of Downtown Summerlin with mischievous mayhem featuring dancing zombies, ghosts, witches, wizards, and more!

Pumpkin patches are also one of the highlights of October and Halloween. Bring the kids to pick the perfect pumpkin for a jack-o-lantern and have fun climbing the hay bales. Good luck finding your way through a corn maze. (But don’t worry, there are maps if you need.) You will be able to get some cute family pictures that the kids will look at and smile. So enjoy the festivities and attraction of the fall festivals that usually are at the pumpkin patches. Here are some favorites:

Halloween Tow n is one of the most popular Halloween events in Las Vegas and has been celebrated for over 20 years. Halloween Town is hosted in three different locations. The original is located at Boca Park, but you can also visit Rainbow & W. Warm Springs, Silverado Ranch and Las Vega Blvd. There are over 30 vintage-themed rides that will pull you back to the 50s. Glides down the giant inflatable slide or explore Las Vegas’s largest pumpkin patch.

Admission here is free, but you will need to purchase tickets or a wristband for your children to go on the rides. (you might as well get the wristband as kids always want to go on rides more than once.)

Gilcrease Orchard is a U-Pick orchard. This fruitful farm in the middle of the desert is thanks to the great care and long family history. This means you can pick the best-looking pumpkin right off the vine for an unbeatable price.

Be sure to download the orchard’s app to help navigate through the farm and pumpkin patches. Once you’ve chosen your perfect Halloween carving pumpkin, you can grab their famous apple cider and donuts for the road.

Moapa Valley Maze and Pumpkin Patch. This patch is an hour out from the iconic strip of Las Vegas; however, it is definitely worth the drive. When you visit Moapa Valley you can expect to have more than your share of fall fun with the family. From a corn maze and petting zoo to pig races, giant Jenga, peddle carts, a zip line and, of course, a pumpkin patch. Entry to the corn maze is $12 and at night it becomes haunted for adults to enjoy.

The Las Vegas Farms hold the annual Farm Fall Harvest Festival that is a blast for all ages. The fun festival consists of a cow train, pony rides, corn mazes and more. At the farm’s pumpkin patch, you can find a selection of squashes and pumpkins. You will be greeted by egg-laying hens and can also purchase a range of homemade, artisan breads, jams and jellies. You can expect to pay $8 per adult and $4 per child for entrance to this farm.

Staheli Family Farm has a stunning pumpkin patch as well as a corn maze, giant chair, zip line and pig races. You can spend the whole day exploring and making memories at all the attractions. In the evening, adults can come back for the Field of Screams and Zombie Rampage for a bit of a scare and start their Halloween night. This farm has been in the family for six generations and has just celebrated 20 years of festival fun.

Horses 4 Heroes Ranch – This lovely ranch has a pumpkin patch of already gathered pumpkins for you to seek through and pick your favorite. Here, they host a fall festival to raise money for the Horses 4 Heroes’ fund. There are child-sized hay bale mazes, horse-drawn rides, tractor rides and a trick-or-treat event for kids to take part in. The Horses 4 Heroes Ranch is open from the 3rd to the end of October, giving you plenty of time to join the fun fall madness.

This should give you plenty to choose from.

Choose to have an amazing day….Jeff

Experts Offer Tips to Make Your Home More Secure

In Southern Nevada, as well as most cities across the country, the news headlines covering rising crime rates are increasing. With that said homeowners and renters alike, may wonder how to effectively improve the security of their home. If you have been lucky enough to never have been burglarized, then I truly hope you never feel the sheer violation I felt years ago.

The good news is that there are a number of things you can do to keep your home safe and make it less desirable for any would-be intruder without breaking the bank. As sad as it is to say, we are never going to stop burglaries, so your job is to make your house look like more work than your neighbor’s… it sounds kind of crummy to put it that way, but if they look at your house and look at the one next door, well, which would you rather they chose? Here, experts share some simple, inexpensive home security tips that don’t take a lot of effort or money to implement.

Start With Doors And Windows

Advancing the security of your home starts with fortifying your front door. We all have heard about the importance of having a quality deadbolt lock. However there’s a little more to understand when it comes to the quality of the entire door lock components.

The point of failure for a lock is usually the strike plate or the small piece of metal screwed into the door frame where the actual bolt of your deadbolt lodges into. You want to invest in a stronger strike plate that requires four or six screws to anchor it. Then, buy 3-inch screws to anchor the plate. This advice comes from Chris McGoey, a Southern California crime expert witness who has analyzed thousands of crime scenes for homeowners and businesses.

“Those 3-inch wood screws can make all the difference in the world,” he said.

An even stronger solution, which costs more money is to have a security door installed. That is one of the things I have done, (with my HOA’s blessing of course).

Mike Johnston, chief security adviser for Boss Security Screens, a Las Vegas Valley-based window covering manufacturer, stated “Fortifying windows is important, too. Johnston is also a former Henderson Police Department captain.

Johnston encourages homeowners to also place a wood or metal bar in all sliding glass doors and windows. If you have a bigger budget, security window coverings are a deterrent as well. “The No. 1 thing is that you don’t want to make it easy for anyone to enter the home,” Johnston emphasized.

Adjust Your Landscaping

Johnston is certified in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design by the National Institute of Crime Prevention. CPTED was created to make crime prevention part of the landscape design process. One of the key elements of CPTED is what Johnston calls the “2-foot, 6-foot rule,” meaning shrubs should be no taller than 2 feet off the ground and tree canopies should not hang lower than 6 feet.

Dan Kopec, an associate professor in UNLV’s School of Architecture, added Thorny bushes like roses near pathways can also be a deterrent. Larger rocks in desert landscaping, while they add thermal gain, are difficult to run across and are a good security choice.

Assess What Passersby See

McGoey says it’s important not to leave visual enticements for anyone casing the area. This can be as simple as leaving your garage door open for long periods of time during the day. In these cases, the door from the garage into the home is usually unlocked as well, and if not, they may just walk up brazenly and take items from the garage. I know we all like a nice breeze during those 2-3 weeks of spring and fall that we get every year in the Las Vegas valley, however, even open windows on the front of the home can be an enticement.

Giving the appearance of activity at your home can deter an intruder. When you’re home, having blinds open so that people can see you moving around inside during the day is good practice, Kopec noted.

Security Plans & Technology

Once you’ve secured access points, some homeowners create an overall security plan for the home. That can include making sure the home is well-lit, alternating lighting schedules, installing security doorbells that let you see and talk to your guest from your phone, and even adding a whole home camera system and/or a home alarm service.

It’s important to view these strategies as “layers” that complement one another, said Johnston, and even the best technology only serves you well if you use it properly and maintain it. A maintenance plan can include:

Regularly trimming trees and shrubs to make sure your home is visible from the street.

Regularly testing alarm systems and technology components.

Having a system of checks in place when you leave the home for windows, doors and systems.

And if all of that unfortunately fails, McGoey also notes that in the event of a burglary you can more easily and accurately identify stolen items, if you have taken photos/videos of items and kept them, along with receipts, in one place (ideally, electronically, such as on a smart phone, hard drive or cloud storage).

Choose to have an amazing day….Jeff

My Thoughts on The Current Housing Market (or “is the Bubble About to Burst?”)

If you aren’t aware, most of the U.S. is seeing a sharp rise in the cost to buy a home, and in many cities, buyer’s find themselves in one bidding war after another until they finally win (or give up). Some have commented to me that it is reminiscent of 2006… so is a housing crash around the corner? Now I don’t have a crystal ball, but…

I say unlikely.

Now let me explain my answer.

I’ll speak specifically about the Las Vegas housing market, because I know it intimately, however from what I have gleaned from professionals I know around the country, what is happening in Las Vegas seems to be true in most cities in the U.S.

In 2006, home builders were building as fast as they could in Las Vegas, with a sort of “Field of Dreams” mentality that “if you build it, they will come”, and the buyers bought… (until they didn’t anymore). When the Las Vegas market screeched to a halt, there were roughly 50,000 completed vacant residential units (single family homes and condos) with no buyer, and thousands more in some state of incomplete. To put that in perspective for you, (not counting 2005, when the most units were sold in Las Vegas) approximately 3,000-5,000 units sell in our valley each month on average – literally 3,708 in the past 30 days. In economics we learn that when the supply goes way up – even if the demand does not change, then more sellers are competing for the same number of buyers, so most of them begin to lower their prices… and they lowered them and lowered them.

Additionally, in 2006, you also had money that was super easy to borrow, so very few buyers had any “skin in the game” when they bought a property. In 2006, you could buy a $300,000 house with zero down payment and zero proof of income… in fact, just before the crash, there were loans that let you buy a house and actually walk away with cash in your pocket!

So, when the number for sale properties went up sharply, and sellers were dropping their prices to attract the buyers, the owners that had recently purchased with no down payment, saw the prices of their properties begin to go down. Those people had no down payment to lose… so they just walked away from their new homes, leaving them to be foreclosed on, and add more units for sale to an already over-supplied market. Then prices dropped more and more units went up for sale and priced dropped more and (well, you get the idea).

Builders stopped building almost completely (a few were built here and there) until around 2012, when the inventory finally dried up and houses started to go up in value again. Between 2006 and 2012 a lot of people also consolidated households out of need. The economy was bad so people shared homes with parents, friends or whoever they could to keep expenses down… causing there to be very little need for new homes anyway.

Around 2011, a ton of cash began flowing into the Las Vegas real estate market and in 2012, close to half of the houses purchased in our valley were paid for all in cash by investors scooping up bargains. Many of them had seen the writing on the wall in 2005 and sold their assets and putting their cash “on the sidelines” to wait for this. Wall Street got involved too and hedge funds like Blackstone started buying properties to rent out. Since 2012, close to 1/3 of the houses in the valley have been purchased with all cash, and now, (unless you are a veteran of the armed forces), you pretty much have to have at least a small down payment to buy a house… plus, builders, who learned their lessons, are only building if you give them a down payment, and even if they wanted to build them faster than they could sell them, according to a Wall Street Journal article this past April, we also have too few home builders in the US.

So, with the economy recovered (pre-Covid), combined households, began to realize they wanted their own space, so builders began to build again. But remember, for 6 years, our population grew at a normal rate, but the number of new houses built, stagnated significantly. So now we have a lot of people wanting to own a home, but not enough homes to own.

Then came Covid… along with a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures. Sure there were plenty of people out of work, but believe it or not, there were a fair number of essential workers who had good income and wanted to own their own place, but there were very few for sale because many people who may have thought about selling, just didn’t want a stranger in their house, so they waited… and you did not have people “forced out”, so those did not come on the market.

[January, 2020, just before Covid hit in the Las Vegas valley, saw 23% more homes sold than January 2019 with 23% less homes on the market, and this has actually got worse since then. January 2021 saw 28% more homes sold than the year before and 40% less homes on the market.]

According to a Wall Street Journal article this past June, the U.S has 5.5 million too few homes, currently, and I read another that says if we double the number of homes built from last year, and kept that pace, it would take until 2050 to catch up based on current demand and estimated population growth.

Wow that’s a lot of information and if you didn’t follow it too well, I’m not surprised, so I will sum it up. We need a lot more houses in this country than we currently have (make that a lot more than a lot… actually a lot more than that), so it is highly unlikely based on the laws of supply and demand that the Las Vegas or U.S. housing market is going to crash anytime soon. Individual small markets could certainly be an exception here and there, however that is the overall outlook.

Choose to have an amazing day… Jeff

Barn Doors have moved to Cities and Suburbs

Barn doors in an apartment or a modern home – outrageously wonderful! They are so versatile and can be used in every room in different ways.

They are one of the most sought-after features for homes of all styles. Whether you want an attention-grabbing entry, a space-saving solution, or an attractive way to divide rooms, there’s a sliding barn door appropriate for your home.

Here is a great idea for small apartments. A very savvy apartment dweller used a set of sliding barn doors to separate the bedroom from the living space in her New York City apartment. When opened they cover two hidden closets.

In an open-concept home, large sliding barn doors can be used to create a little privacy as needed, without permanently closing off the rooms. High windows on the door design allow for light to pass between the rooms. What you need to find is an interior rolling barn-door hardware kit – the kits are sold in most hardware stores and Home Depot and Lowes.

Inside the kitchen of an older home the owners replaced old swinging doors to the pantry with a set of sliding barn doors. They included the hardware to add even more character. If you have a narrow kitchen, with a fully loaded grid of open shelves and cabinets, they can disappear behind a sliding barn door.

In a small space where every single inch counts, sliding barn doors come in handy. A well installed sliding barn door offers great space economy for whatever room you use it in. Of course, you need to have enough adjacent wall space for the barn door to slide over when it is opened. But this is often preferable to similarly space-saving pocket doors that require much more work to install or remove.

A friend of mine installed a one in front of her stairs, to reduce the noise coming from downstairs (her stairs were enclosed on both sides).

Another advantage of sliding barn doors is their support system. Sliding barn doors use a track for movement. The entire weight of the door is therefore distributed along the length of the track. This allows for the installation of heavier-than-usual doors without affecting stability of ease of movement. For places that need more security but are limited in space, a heavy sliding barn door would work just fine.

One small disadvantage of sliding barn doors is that they may not close as quietly as traditional doors. But a good contractor should be able to install it in such a way that noise is reduced to a minimum.

There is also, of course, the aesthetics side of the sliding barn door craze. Some sliding barn doors have this rustic outdoorsy feel that creates a stunning contrast when indoors. This contrast is especially noticeable when styled in a worn, rustic design that makes it seem like it was taken right from the barn outside and installed inside.

Do you have a need for commercial / industrial / retail buildings or land? Are you ready to buy or sell a home? We can help you with that, safely… just call us at 702 SELL NOW or click on this link to my website http://www.702SellNow.com

Choose to have an amazing day…. Jeff

Dr. Seuss Taught Us a Great Deal Though His Books and We Didn’t Even Know It

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, was a writer and cartoonist who published over 60 books. He published his first children’s book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, under the name of Dr. Seuss in 1937.

Next came a string of bestsellers, including The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. His rhymes and characters are beloved by generations of fans.

At age 18, Geisel left home to attend Dartmouth College, where he became the editor in chief of its humor magazine, Jack-O-Lantern. When Geisel and his friends were caught drinking in his dorm room one night, in violation of prohibition law, he was kicked off the magazine staff, but continued to contribute to it using the pseudonym “Seuss.”

After graduating from Dartmouth, Geisel attended the University of Oxford in England, with plans to eventually become a professor. In 1927, he dropped out of Oxford.

Following World War II, Geisel and his wife Helen purchased an old observation tower in La Jolla, California, where he would write for at least eight hours a day, taking breaks to tend his garden.

Over the following five decades, Geisel would write many books, both in a new, simplified vocabulary style and using his older, more elaborate technique.

In the course of his career, Geisel published more than 60 books

Dr. Seuss has many word of wisdom in his books – here are many of them

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.

Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!

A person’s a person, no matter how small.

I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.

You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So… get on your way!

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.

I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.

Oh the things you can find, if you don’t stay behind!

I meant what I said and I said what I meant.

In my world, everyone’s a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!

I’m telling you this ‘cause you’re one of my friends. My alphabet starts where your alphabet ends!

It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.” – a memory.

You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good

When he worked, he really worked. But when he played, he really PLAYED.

You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.

To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.

We looked! Then we saw him. Step in on the mat! We looked! And we saw him! The Cat in the Hat!

I don’t know about you, however some of Dr. Suess’ words have stayed with me through my life’s adventures and gave me the push I needed to go on. So Happy Birthday Dr. Suess, no one can ever take your place.

Choose to have an amazing day…. Jeff

Spring Cleaning Made Easier with Built-In Storage

It will be March next week and that means spring cleaning time here in Las Vegas. It’s a great way to refresh spaces and toss out that stuff that’s just been collecting with no real purpose. But what do you do with the stuff you DO want to keep? Maybe now is the right time to think about adding some extra storage space in your home!

Luckily there are tons of prefabricated kits that can help you turn your home into an organizational center. If you start building your future storage now, you’ll be totally ready for sorting and putting away when the bushes and trees start blooming again.

Built-In Storage Kits

You don’t have to be Bob Villa to install any of the many basic storage systems that are available at big box stores and home improvement centers across the valley. Some are designed with specific kinds of storage in mind, like closet systems that help you make more room out of nothing at all. Other systems are designed to be extra sturdy for more challenging spaces, like garages or utility rooms.

These out of the box systems are a great way to add built-in storage, even if you’re not particularly handy. They often feature pre-cut pieces with just a few fasteners you’ll need to insert into the wall, along with step-by-step instructions to help you succeed. I put up a few of those garage ceiling kits a few years back and I just love them!

And (if you’re feeling up to it) pick up add-on parts for those systems, or use them in unexpected places, like under stairs and in other odd spaces in your house. Every nook can become mega storage if you have the right kind of system to install there.

Building From Scratch

If you have experience with home repairs and building things, you may want to take a serious look at spaces like ceilings, wall voids, rafters, and attic knee walls for room you can reclaim. Ensure there’s no electrical wire or plumbing running in the space you have your eye on for extra storage, though. Skipping this step can lead to some serious repercussions, including, but not limited to, electrocution and pipe ruptures.

However, with a careful hand, you can take those formerly useless stretches of wall or ceiling and add things like built-in bookcases, cabinets, and drawers. Don’t forget that your built-in can only be as deep as the void, minus the thickness of the back materials, so choose your spaces accordingly. Attic knee walls are especially fun options, since there are usually deep voids behind them that you can transform into your storage fantasies.

Some Special Options for Kitchens

Kitchens are notorious for lacking storage or working space, but they also offer a lot of small spaces that most people tend to overlook. For example, if you have a lot of mugs or teacups, the simple act of installing mug hooks under your upper cabinets can permanently free up shelf space – this works for wine glasses as well and can add a bit of style. The inside of your cabinets can host shallow storage racks, which are great for holding cleaning supplies, spices, and other small items. I’ve noticed that plenty of pantries are just poorly designed… they have a lot of room, but no organization. You can use kits, baskets, or even plastic bins to organize yours.

Need help with your storage projects?

Sometimes, you can be long on ideas for new storage, but short on the skill or time to execute them. That is when you call me Jeff Howard, your Realtor for Life. I have lists of handy people that can help you get anything designed and/or built so you’re ready for spring.

Choose to have an amazing day…. Jeff

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation Announces Nominees For 2021 Induction

The list of 16 nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2021 Induction has been announced and the Fan Vote is now officially open. Today through April 30, fans can vote for up to 5 nominees daily.

VOTE FOR YOUR 5 FAVORITES NOW

The following are the 16 nominees and entry to the Hall of Fame. To be eligible, they must be performing for at least 25 years. Who are your favorites? Who do you think belongs in the class of 2021?

And the nominees are…

Tina Turner

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

LL Cool J

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Foo Fighters

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

The Go-Go’s

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Iron Maiden

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Kate Bush

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

JAY-Z

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Fela Kuti

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Mary J. Blige

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Todd Rundgren

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Carole King

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Chaka Khan

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Dionne Warwick

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Rage Against the Machine

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

New York Dolls

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

Devo

<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^>

VOTE FOR YOUR 5 FAVORITES NOW

THE ROCK HALL IS NOW OPEN

Moving In the direction of a return to normalcy, the Rock n Roll hall of fame reopened their museum doors to the public last week. The museum, located in Cleveland, Ohio will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with advance tickets required to ensure timed entry and safely limit capacity.

IN MEMORIAM

As a founding member of the Supremes, Mary Wilson personified Motown’s style and grace, both on and off the stage. As the most successful female group in history, the Supremes delivered the “Sound of Young America” to the world and brought together audiences of all backgrounds with indelible classics including “Stop! In The Name of Love” and “You Can’t Hurry Love.” Mary Wilson’s rich and sweet voice was an iconic sound for generations of fans. The world lost Mary Wilson just a few days ago. She will live on in this music — forever Supreme.

Rock n’ Roll has been a part of the fabric of our lives. You hear an old rock song, and it takes you back to another time. You hear a new one and your feet just can’t stop moving your feet. Rock and Roll truly is here to stay.

Choose to have an amazing day…. Jeff

Win a trip to go to Space on SpaceX (and give St. Jude hospital a cosmic funding boost)

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California and was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk.

SpaceX’s first all-civilian space flight is set for late this year, and will provide an out-of-this-world fundraising opportunity for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The hospital says it expects to generate $200 million for cancer research and other causes from this amazing flight.

It’s off to a fast start: there already have been $1 million in donations in the first day since the flight’s announcement.

Jared Isaacman, the billionaire businessman who will finance and pilot the multi-day mission for himself and three others, will also be driving the publicity push, with the help of a Super Bowl commercial next weekend. Of the $200 million that St. Jude hopes to raise this year, $100 million is to come from Isaacman, with the rest from donations generated by raffling off one seat on the flight.

Richard C. Shadyac Jr., CEO of ALSAC (American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities) founded by Danny Thomas, the fundraising organization for St. Jude, said the money raised will go toward the Memphis hospital’s $1 billion annual operating cost, as well as its global partnership with the World Health Organization. The overarching idea is to raise childhood cancer survival rates around the world from 20% to 60% by 2030.

St. Jude’s is an incredible place for children with childhood cancer and their families. They are all taken without having to worry about the cost or the families cost of housing while their child is being treated. You do not have to donate to enter, but I hope you will. Just go to http://bit.ly/3pXf1Dq before March 1

Choose to have an amazing day…. Jeff

Live Theatre (not streamed) – Love Letters by A. R. Gurney

The Las Vegas Little Theatre is reopening making theatre goers very happy. The first performance of this season is Love Letters by A.R. Gurney. Love Letters was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The first performance was in 1988 at the New York Public Library.

The play centers on two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd II who exchange letters, but not marriage vows, in a warm and complicated friendship lasting 50 years. Because they choose others as mates, and live to regret it.

Love Letters has a wistful tone: beneath the sparkle there is sadness and remorse. “This is a play about missed opportunity,” said John Tillinger, who staged it. “They keep missing each other but they’re bound to each other. He doesn’t really realize how much she means to him until she dies.” “She was at the heart of my life,” he laments to her mother.

This play is a unique and imaginative theatre piece which, in the words of the author, “needs no theatre, no lengthy rehearsal, no special set, no memorization of lines, and no commitment from its two actors beyond the night of performance.” The piece is comprised of letters exchanged over a lifetime between two people who grew up together, went their separate ways, but continued to share confidences. As the actors read the letters aloud, what is created is an evocative, touching, frequently funny but always telling pair of character studies in which what is implied is as revealing and meaningful as what is actually written down.

This show will feature a different pair of actors performing each weekend of the run!

Limited seating live performances :

Fridays, Jan 15, 22, 29 @ 8pm

Saturdays, Jan 16, 23, 30 @ 8pm and
Sundays, Jan 17, 24, 31 @ 2pm

Starring (First Weekend) – April Sauline & Michael Kaczurak

Starring (Second Weekend) – Monica Johns & Glenn Heath

Starting (Third Weekend) – Teresa Fullerton & Blake Boles

Directed by Walter Niejadlik

Tickets are $30.

The Las Vegas Little Theatre is following strict safety guidelines including reduced capacity, 6-foot distance with seating and mandatory masks. The theatre is located at 3920 Schiff Drive. For more information, please click here for LVLT’s reopening plan.

Choose to have an amazing day…. Jeff