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Ruel James

Ruel James & The Mob Experience

Written by Nikki Artale
Photos by Nikki Artale

There is an artistic genius living amongst us in Las Vegas. He is a soft spoken man who exudes his gentleness in his work. His love, respect and admiration of women show through in his paintings and sculptures of the women’s bodies that he creates. The artist is Ruel James, a world known artist and sculptor. http://www.rueljames.com/

James Ruel’s work is breathtaking and so real that you cannot take your eyes off of his sculptures. I first met Ruel last summer in his studio at the Las Vegas Center of the Arts at 1310 Third St. I went to attend a concert and as I walked past his studio I stopped in my tracks when I saw a table full of heads that he was working on. These heads were of the many gangsters that once ruled and ran the casinos. Organized crime has always been a fascinating subject and to see their heads was both stunning and eye opening. These colorful characters were major players in building Las Vegas and eventually their eradication from the Las Vegas casinos.

The Las Vegas Mob Experience will be opening at the Tropicana in January and Ruel has been commissioned to make the mannequins for the new attraction. Jay Bloom, Managing Partner of Murder, Inc. has partnered up with the Tropicana to bring this interactive technology to Las Vegas. Visitors will experience how the world of organized crime worked here in Las Vegas. http://www.lvme.com/
There will be authentic artifacts, memorabilia, videos and pictures of Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegal, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Sam “Momo” Giancana, Meyer “Mickey” Cohen, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and Tony “The Ant” Spilatro. These detailed heads were made for the lifelike mannequins.



                                                             Virginia Hill
Ruel showed me the steps he took in making the heads. He first creates it in clay, makes a mold and then pours in Resin. After the mold has formed and dried. he hand paints every lifelike detail.


With exceptional skill, he also made the heads to go into a shadow box and when completed, their eyes will follow your every movement as you walk past them in the exhibit.
The Las Vegas Mob Experience tells the story of its early years of the rise and fall of organized crime in Las Vegas by the direct result of the Nevada State Gaming and law enforcement officials. Be on the look out for three decommissioned prison buses driving up and down the strip that will take you to the Tropicana to see the Mob Experience. It may be the only opportunity for you to ride in a prison bus. This summer the Big Brother Bash transported some of the houseguest downtown to Hogs & Heifers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6m2FIxjkCA
Ruel James was born in Jamaica and then moved to London and then to Las Vegas where he opened a gallery at the Forum Shops. He is known for his car art paintings, celebrity art, female art, black art and sculpture art. Ruel did a celebrity portrait of Hillary Clinton and it is in their private library.
                                       (Ruel A James, son; Sheryl James, wife; Ruel G James)

Here is some exciting news. Ruel will be holding two hour workshops next summer and I am signing up to learn from the master. For further questions you can email Ruel at www.rueljames@hotmail.com







Kungfu Revelations

 Kungfu Revelations 9 Scrolls


                          
The Kung Fu Star Performing Group made its debut at The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino on December 10, 2010 to a standing ovation on their opening night. Kungfu Revelations: 9 Scrolls tells the story of the nine virtues of man’s spiritual struggle, Purity, Sutra, Diligence, Spirit, Listening, Shape, Devotion, Serenity and Paradise.

Directed by choreographer Liu Zhen, the show is a mixture of dance, music and masterful acrobatics by the young masters who range in age from the age of eight to 22 years old.
Bao Tianyn & Miao Shugi Feng

Kungfu Revelations is a combination of Chinese dance and martial arts. It portrays the soul of the Chinese culture in its love and purity.

The artists give a compelling performance as they guide the audience through the Chinese culture and philosophy that pierces the soul. I found myself in the state of peace and love during the 90 minute show. I didn’t want it to end.

The stage production shows the ancient traditions through the dance and music which is poetic and dramatic. I loved Kungfu Revelations and I went back to see the show again and loved it all over again. I highly recommend seeing this show when they come back to Las Vegas.


On Wednesday I was invited to the wrap party at Emporer’s Garden in Chinatown and I spent some time with the young performers, Yu Yang, President of Poly Agency, Water Xu , Marketing director and Anthony Lu, promoter. Yu Yang put this group together in 2003 and they have been performing in China and other parts of the world.

Water Xu & Yu Yang


Yu Yang, Anthony Lu, Gary Selesner President of Rio & Caesars Hotel
Yu Yang has personally selected the young men after having visited over 100 of the best martial arts schools in China. When I asked him what it is that he looks for he said he looked for faces with the Eastern look and their performances. Bao Tianyu is the youngest at eight years and entered the group when he was five years old. I wondered how the parents could let a young child go at this young age and he said the parents know and have the confidence that they will be taken care of. They have worked in Jackie Chan movies and have gone on to be TV and film stars.
Miao Shugi Feng entered at four years old and is a star in Bejing, China. He showed his agility as he gave me a private showing outside the restaurant.

Miao Shugi Feng

Miao & Yu Yang
The Kungfu stars practice seven days a week, four times a day for two hours to keep up their mastery for the 9 Scrolls. They all live together in a dormitory as brothers. They are gentle, respectful souls.



Eric Tasker, Lighting; Kristie Turley, Audio at the Rio; Water Xu
All must end with a good meal and we certainly did receive a fabulous ten course dinner at the Emporers Garden. The food was outstanding and I will be going back again.












Asian American Christmas Gala

                               Asian American Party                                              

                                          Lord of Harvest Church Group


The Asian American Group once again held a Christmas party for all their supportive friends in the community. The room had a who’s who list of notable people which included many Judges, Attorneys, Police, Military families and the former First Lady Dawn Gibbons. It was a time of celebration and a time to get together with family and friends. The families of our soldiers serving in Afghanistan were very special and it was an honor to meet and acknowledge what our brave soldiers were doing for our country. I was very excited to meet Dawn Gibbons and she shared how she is rebuilding her new life as the Director of Community Relations at KSNV News 3.
                                                       Scott Karosa & Dawn Gibbons

                                          Military Families

Once again Loni Andal, Vice President External of the AAG and John Parris, AAG Legal Council did a fabulous job as emcees of the party. Loni’s humor and wit was the high light of the evening, not to mention how stunning she looked.
                                         Loni Andal & John Parris


Mike Vaswani, President of the AAG spoke to everyone and shared his appreciation of all the friends that came to celebrate and how important they all were to the organization.
http://www.asianamericangrouplv.com/

                                          Mike Vaswani

There were many speakers who took the stage and the most moving speaker was Sheriff Doug Gillesppe as he introduced the family and daughter Jayla Manor, of fallen police offer Manor. Our hearts went out to them as Sheriff Gillesppe promised that he will always be there for Jayla.

Doug Gillesppe & Jayla Manor

Jayla Manor & Loni Andal


                                                       Catherine Cortez Masto, Attorney General of Las Vegas
                                         Dollie Deleo

It was exciting to see Reverend Thabiti at the party. Thabiti is the inventor of the worlds

First personal time map and CEO of the Power.com www.thepower.org His words and wisdom are inspirational and mesmerizing.
                                          Nikki Artale & Reverand Thabiti
                                         Reverand Thabiti & Dr. Elia
Jim Baschnagel & Mark Baraga


                        Party Guests

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeR1wlIyDYQ Video











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It's a Bully Breed World

It’s a Bully Breed World

It was the first annual birthday celebration and runway show for Bo and DeeMo at the Tuscan Grille in Town Square. Bo and DeeMo specialize in American Bully Cuture and cater to Bull Dog Breeds. It was a red carpet event and the dogs walked the runway wearing beautiful clothes and glitzy, sparkly collars from the stunning Crown Jewel Collection.

Alicia Jacobs of Channel 3 News was the Celebrity master of Ceremonies. Alice was accompanied by her dog Sparkle who was dressed in a stylish leopard hat and black and white striped shoes. Sparkle loved all the attention she was getting from everyone. We all knew who Sparkle was because Alicia always talks about her dogs on her show and it was so nice to finally meet Sparkle.
                                         Sparkle & Alicia Jacobs

                                          Sparkle
It was amazing to see the dogs walk past each other on the runway and not pay attention to each other. They were busy looking at the crowd of people and all the photographers taking their pictures. The clothes were made from luxury fabrics and they looked so good. The price range of the clothes was from $50.00 to over $200.00. Nothing but the best for man’s best friend. http://www.boanddeemo.com/

Carole McCabe-Joy, publicist for the event brought her precious dog Lola, who also loved the activities.
Carole McCabe-Joy & Lola Belle
Walking the runway with their dogs were Dee Mounts and Brandi O Estes, Co-Owners of Bo and DeeMo. They cater to Bully Breeds which include English, French, American and Boston Bull Dogs, Boxers and Mastiffs. They have an extensive clothing line and accessories for the Bull Dog breed.

Keeping a close eye on the activities were two adorable Shihtzu, Honey and Hermoni

                                          Honey & Hermoni

Walking the red carpet for the event were Men of X and the Burlesque Girls. They were a great asset to the event. It attracted a lot of attention and the street was filled with passing shoppers watching the Fashion Show and the celebrities. Brio Tuscan Grill at Town Square provided special appetizers, cupcakes, wine and champagne. The pizza was fabulous.

Men of X

                                          Burlesque Girls & Alicia Jacobs

After the runway show the guest dogs celebrated with King Mugsy Malone and Queen Moxie Mia with their own Birthday Cake and treats.
See you at next years Birthday Party and Fashion Show with Bo and DeeMo.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZYWgzOJaI
Video Alicia Jacobs, Master of Ceremonies; Sky Asturi, Marie Antoinette Model; Runway Dog Show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouUFYqUT5cA

Video Runway Fashion Show