Dr. Lonnie Hammargrens 21^st Annual Nevada Day Celebration

Nikki Artale & Dr. Lonnie Hammargren

 

Written & Photos by Nikki Artale

For over 20 years Dr. Lonnie Hammargren has opened his house to celebrate Nevada Day at Castillo Del Sol which he purchased in 1969. The 12,000 sq. ft. house has a collection of strange and unusual collectables and artifacts which Lonnie has been collecting for many years. The property includes 3 houses which Lonnie purchased to hold his collections. He started collecting butterflies at the age of five years old and at 69 he is still going strong in purchasing items for his museum house.

 

The maze of collectables include museum pieces, casino signs, movie props and thousands of treasure troves, some of which are curious and strange. In the Beverly Hillbillies car you will see mannequins of Beverly Hillary-Billie’s featuring Hillary and Bill Clinton and nearby is a pot with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s heads. It is a sight to see. www.nevadaday.org  

 

 

 

A book release party for his new book “Neurosurgeon for the Gladiators was featured, written by Dr. Lonnie Hammargren and he took the time to personally autograph each book. Lonnie is a retired brilliant neurosurgeon and a former Lt. Governor of Nevada and loves being with all his friends and admirers and enjoys sharing his carnival or should I say amusement park once a year on Nevada Day. His cousin from Minnesota brought him gifts, more to add to his collection.

The event took place on October 29-30, 2016 and Johnny Stuart provided two days of wonderful entertainment. Johnny Potash, Mark Maynard, Mama’s Wranglers and Dana Day, to name a few, took the stage.

 

Johnny Potash

 

It was a wonderful day and we all thank Dr. Hammargren and Sandy for opening up their home for all of us to enjoy once again. See you next year.

 

Mark Maynard

 

 

 

 

 

IBIE 2016 Sold Out Show in Las Vegas NV

Written & Photos by Nikki Artale

The International Baking Industry Exposition held on October 8-11, 2016 is also known as the Baking Expo and is one of the largest baking trade show in North America. It features over 900 companies and 20,000 baking professionals that takes place in the 3,000 sq. ft. Las Vegas Convention Center.

 

 

It takes place every three years and features new trends and equipment and amazing educational seminars. The attendees come from over 100 countries, as far away as China, Mexico, Brazil, India, South America, Middle East, Asia and Japan.

 

 

A highlight of the Expo is the American Cake Decorating Demo Theater and the One Demonstrating Theater by Revent that features daily demos by Celebrity Chefs. The Great American Pie Festival is a popular booth to visit and eat to your hearts content all of their delicious pies.

 

Baking professionals from around the globe are expected to attend and the chefs will be sharing their secrets and tips and bring their recipes to life, showing new techniques and samplings of their goodies. Once again there will be a cake baking contest that will be created and judged for the best in show.

 

Buddy Valastro celebrity chef and TV reality star of Cake Boss was the guest chef at the Topos Mondail booth and showed the new machine he will have in his Carlos Bake Shop in Jersey City New Jersey. Buddy also has Buddy V’s in the Grand Canal Shop at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Buddy started working in his father’s bakery at the age of 11 and by age 15 he became a cake decorator. Buddy is loved by all his fans and it was a delight to meet Buddy again.

 

 

Nikki Artale & Buddy Valastro

 

            Video 0159   https://youtu.be/ARn0v5ZeUJs

Pole Expo Competition Is an Exploding Unique Sport of Fitness

Fawnia Mondey

 

Written & Photos by Nikki Artale

The Pole Classic competition took place September 7-11, 2016 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas and it drew pole fitness enthusiasts from all over the world. Fawnia Mondey created the pole competition five years ago and she has once again put together an outstanding five day seminar which included competitions, seminars and workshops. Emcee for the opening night event was Leigh Ann Reilly of Pole Show along with Fawnia Mondey.

Leigh Ann Reilly

 

The competition consisted of eight women and nine men who were selected from the many video tapes that were submitted for the final competition. Attendees from all over the world were there and they attended the workshops that were taught by the industries best instructors. Just to name a few countries represented, they were from England, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, South Africa and Australia.

 

Fawnia Mondey produced the first instructional video on how to pole dance and has a total of seven instructional DVDs. Fawnia has judged pole competitions around the world including
World Pole Dance Championships, the World Pole Sports Championships and the International Pole Championships.  She organizes and produces the annual Pole Expo and has once again produced a fabulous event. www.PoleFitnessStudio.com  

Judges for the Pole Expo were Cindy Cooijmans, Daniela Baumann, Jamilla Deville, Mary Ellyn Weissman, Suwasit, Zoraya Judd and Score Tabulator Jim Weissman.

The evening kicked off with a welcome reception, Champagne and hors d’doeuvres, followed by the opening act of MJ the Legend which featured Jalles Franca and Jennifer Romas, star of Sexy the Show. The show was fabulous and it was a great and exciting way to start the Pole Expo event.

 

      https://youtu.be/lCWQR8sfYTE

Ruel James a world renowned sculptor and artist was commissioned to create a one of a kind trophy to present to the first place winners. In honor of Fawnia the founder, Ruel sculpted the face of Fawnia on the female statue. Ruel’s work is beautiful and breathtaking. www.rueljames.com RuelJames49@gmail.com 

Ruel James

Nikki Artale and Ruel James

The athletes were judged on technical presentation, artistic presentation, stage p0resentation, confidence, interpretation, choreography and performance. The winners of the Pole Classic Championship each received $1,000 and an original trophy designed by artist Ruel James. In the women’s division the first place winner was Kira Noire, second place Ashley Fox and third place Paulina Zamora.

Kira Noire

Ashley Fox

Paulina Zamora

Winners in the mens division were Alberto Del Campo first place, Christopher Saez second place, Markus Schloegl third place. Alberto Del Campo also won the overall championship of the Pole Expo.

Alberto Del Campo

Christopher Saez

Markus Schloegl

 

Also appearing at the Expo was Tomoko, a 70 year old woman who was on Italy’s Got Talent and who inspired everyone in the audience. The entire Pole Expo was inspirational and a joy to experience how pole dancing is changing the world.  Video     https://youtu.be/XZKxbN0j2Fc

Las Vegas Welcomes Filmmakers at the 9^th Annual Las Vegas Film Fest

 

 

Written & Photos by Nikki Artale

Filmmakers, screen writers, actors and actresses and fans from all over the world came to Las Vegas for the 9^th Annual Film Fest.  Over 80 films were shown at Inspire Theatre, Freemont Country Club and Brenden Theaters at the Palms from June 7-12, 2016. The six day event showcased original feature films, documentaries and short stories along with foreign films, shorts, music videos and screen plays from around the world.  www.lvff.com

 The films were outstanding and one feature that stood out was Dealer, an anthology starring Lundon Boyd as Kelly and had four directors, Jeremy Cloe, Jerry & Mike Thompson, Cody & Ryan LeBoeur and Adam Zielinski. Kelly finds out that he must become a drug dealer and deliver four illegal packages within 24 hours. It is a wild adventure portraying a dark humorous story with Kelly in an outstanding role. The film was directed by Lundon Boyd produced by Chuck Akin.

 

www.vimeo.com/16825644    
Video   https://youtu.be/dNJc1dcdXo8

Filmed in Las Vegas was “The Track” produced by Domenica Castro and directed by Brett Levner. It is a powerful film about a suburban mother who meets a teenage prostitute and they form a mother daughter bond. The film won for Best Local Feature and Best First time Director  

www.thetrackfilm.com 

Ryan LeBoeuf and Cody LeBoeuf directed “Rabbit Days” starring Professor Clarence Gilyard, who was outstanding in his role of an eccentric theater director who invites a few people up to his cabin for a dinner party.

 

The Las Vegas Film Festival gives the independent filmmakers an opportunity to meet and network and screen their movies and hopefully win awards and distribution deals. As always a director’s lounge is set up providing food and drinks for everyone. This was an exciting film festival with excellent films. A special thank you goes out to the festival team and we look forward to the next LVFF.  

 

 

Mickey Silver