RockStarMommies: Ashley Massi

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When you grow up in a small, yet big, town like Vegas, you start to realize that you know a lot of people.  It starts to become something like playing the Kevin Bacon Six-Degrees of Separation game.  Which is kind of how I met Ashley (Flatt) Massi.  She went to school with my cousin and dated another Vegas native I knew since he was a baby.  We only met though right before she married him, and we hit it off ever since.  Lucky for me, she introduced me to some pretty amazing community peeps, and I’m grateful for the connections.  Though I’ve enjoyed meeting all of them (Meg Lowery), I’ve especially enjoyed meeting her mother, Leigh.  Leigh has been working with The Smith Center since they began their fundraising campaign a little over a year ago.  Over the summer, Ashley graciously offered (OK, I twisted her arm and bribed her a little) to write a series of posts highlighting all the amazing things happening at The Smith Center.  Leigh took us on a tour of their offices showing us the bell, the wall of donors, the buildings recreated to scale (the building itself is still under construction) and introduced us to even more amazing people over at The Smith Center, and I cannot wait to share what we learned with all my RockStar Readers!

Ashley’s guest posts on RockStarMomLV is just the beginning of a series I will be introducing the Las Vegas community to.  Look for posts on Candy Schneider’s Children’s Book List, The Discovery Children’s Museum and The Nevada Ballet Theatre to follow.  Without further ado, I introduce you to, RockStarMommies: Ashley Massi.

Ashley Massi is a kinda sorta stay at home mom of two amazing kids, Addison (3) and Dominic (5).  She works part time (from home) as a freelance publicist.  She worked for 5 years on the Nevada Silverman Triathlon and is handling the public relations and media outreach for the upcoming ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships, in Henderson, Nevada.  She claims once this race is over she is going to retire, but we all know better than that! Ashley is a native Las Vegan’ and lives in Henderson with her awesome little family.  

 

The Smith Center Design Your Own Series

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Speaking of series…I have a whole series of posts I am getting ready to launch about The Smith Center, Lied Discovery Children’s Museum, and Nevada Ballet Theatre, but before I get started,  I couldn’t resist sharing this with my readers.

Huge fan of The Smith Center, if you don’t know that by now.  What they are about to do to the cultural, educational and social aspects of our community in Las Vegas is going to blow us away.  I am so excited!  If you have not purchased your season tickets yet, or are still on the fence about it, here is yet, another opportunity they are providing the community with to share and enjoy in the Arts and Entertainment…Broadway caliber… coming in 2012.

“The Smith Center for the Performing Arts will launch its Design Your Ownseries on Sunday, September 25. The series will include more than 20 titles showcasing a mix of dance, music, and special attractions. The series gives patrons the opportunity to customize their theater experience and save up to 15% when purchasing multiple shows.”

Seriously…how can you go wrong with that?  Here is a list of the amazing shows that will be available to include in your Design Your Own Series package.  Love that it is a great mix of Family Night, Date Night and Girl’s Night Out.  Explore the list because I’m confident you will find some options…there are some great ones standing out to me like, An Evening with David Sedaris, Imagination Movers, Buddy Guy and PSY by Les 7 Doigts de la Main.

Be on the look out for my posts next week…I have some amazing features and a great recommendations for children’s cooks from Candy Schneider, VP of Education and Outreach for The Smith Center.  Great stuff coming your way!

 

 

About The Smith Center for the Performing Arts
(Courtsey of KirvinDoak PR Agency)

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is a public/private partnership that will become the centerpiece of cultural life in Las Vegas, offering a blend of performances by resident companies, as well as first-run touring attractions.  The 5-acre cultural campus will feature three performance spaces, the 2,050-seat main performance area in Reynolds Hall and Boman Pavilion’s 258-seat cabaret-jazz venue and 250-seat studio theater. The campus will also be home to the Discovery Children’s Museum.  The Smith Center will be the cultural center for Las Vegas – a place that will educate, entertain and excite the citizens of our great community.  Located in downtown’s 61-acre urban development, Symphony Park, The Smith Center broke ground in May of 2009 with a ceremonial carillon bell casting and ringing.  In February 2010, it celebrated its “Topping Out” with the raising of 50 tons of steel. The Smith Center will open in March 2012. For more information about The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, please visitwww.thesmithcenter.com.  Keep up with news and events on Facebook.

 

The Smith Center DYS Options

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

Reynolds Hall – MUSIC

March 12, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

This Grammy Award-winning quartet doesn’t care much for genres.  After all, why do one when you can play five or six genres at once? Fronted by master-banjoist Béla Fleck, the band covers it all from classical and jazz to bluegrass and electric blues, with a touch of Eastern European folk thrown in for good measure.  It really is impossible to describe their sound, so just call it amazing.

 

Imagination Movers

Reynolds Hall  – SPECIAL ATTRACTION

March 16, 2012, 7:00 p.m.

The good mood is infectious wherever the Movers appear, whether on stage or on the set of their hit Playhouse Disney series.  In 2003, four friends began assembling in a back room after their kids’ bedtimes to write songs and develop ideas for a television series.  Now, years later, the Movers are in the middle of filming 25 new shows and are on tour with the songs kids across the country have grown to love.

 

Canadian Tenors

Reynolds Hall – MUSIC

March 17, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Breathtaking, talented and imported straight from Canada, these four gifted vocalists blend stunning classical sensibilities with toe-tapping contemporary pop to create an evening of magical voices, charming humor and memorable music.  They’re so good they’ve already shared the stage with some of the greatest performers of our day, including Andrea Bocelli, Paul McCartney, Neil Young and Sting.  Come catch a case of tenor fever.

 

Alvin Ailey American Dane Theater

Reynolds Hall – DANCE

March 20 and 21, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has been heralded as America’s Cultural Ambassador to the World and described by The New York Times as “possibly the most successful modern dance company on the planet.”  The Theater is proud to showcase the vision of a new Artistic Director, Robert Battle, with programming that embraces the Ailey tradition of such beloved classics as Revelations and extends the legacy in dynamic new directions.

 

Straight No Chaser

Reynolds Hall – MUSIC

March 25, 2012, 7:00 p.m.

If the phrase “male a cappella group” conjures up an image of students in blue blazers, ties, and khakis singing traditional college songs on ivied campuses… think again.  Straight No Chaser (SNC) is neither strait-laced nor straight-faced.  They have become a phenomenon!  Straight No Chaser is the real deal – the captivating sound of ten unadulterated human voices coming together to make extraordinary music that is moving people in a fundamental sense… and with a sense of humor.

 

Savion Glover “Bare Soundz

Reynolds Hall – DANCE

March 27, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

“A revelation for eye and ear alike.” – The New York Times.  Newark’s own Tony Award-winning tap master Savion Glover (“Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk”) has single-handedly redefined the art of tap by combining it with the contemporary idiom of hip-hop.  Accompanied by a 10-piece classical ensemble, Glover will lend his distinct, high-energy dance style to works by Stravinsky, Bach, Vivaldi, Bartok, Mendelssohn, Astor Piazzola and others.

 

The Pink Floyd Experience

Reynolds Hall – SPECIAL ATTRACTION

March 30, 2012, 8:00 p.m.

Without question, Pink Floyd remains one of the most influential and legendary rock bands of all time. Now, get ready for THE PINK FLOYD EXPERIENCE!  Complete with a dazzling new light show and full quadraphonic sound, six brilliant musicians reproduce all of Pink Floyd’sgreatest hits, including “Wish You Were Here,” “Time,” “Another Brick in the Wall” and much more…live!  Audiences are raving about this epic concert.

 

Women Fully Clothed

Studio Theater – SPECIAL ATTRACTION

April 13 and 14, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Martin Short calls them “totally hysterical…funny and smart…”  This four-woman show takes the best of these women’s distinctive improv careers and makes one laugh-until-you-cry evening.  In a world of Hollywood personas and artificial looks, comediennes Robin Duke (“Saturday Night Live”), Jayne Eastwood (Second City Toronto), Kathryn Greenwood (“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”) and Teresa Pavlinek (“The Jane Show”) take audiences on a hilarious journey through the lives of natural women, fully clothed.

 

MOMIX presents “Botanica”

Reynolds Hall – DANCE

April 20, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Revolutionary dance company MOMIX seemingly defies categorization as easily as its dancers defy gravity. Mesmerizing, magical and imaginative, MOMIX’s newest creation “Botanica” has played to packed houses and rave reviews around the world. Using light, shadow, larger-than-life props, humor and the human body, their spellbinding show transports you to a world of true fantasy and unrivaled beauty.

 

The Cleveland Orchestra

Reynolds Hall – MUSIC

April 21, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Under the leadership of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra has become one of the most sought-after performing ensembles in the world. Founded in 1918, the Orchestra continues a nearly century-long legacy of unparalleled excellence and heartfelt commitment to community. With performances across the world and an acclaimed residency in Miami, the Orchestra will be making a special stop in Las Vegas for The Smith Center’s inaugural season.

 

Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott with the Assad Brothers

Reynolds Hall – MUSIC

April 24, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Four of the greatest musicians in the world are coming together for one reason only… to amaze you. Yo-Yo Ma, the 15-time Grammy Award-winning master of cello, is proud to present an evening of awe-inspiring Latin American music featuring sensational Brazilian guitarists The Assad Brothers. They will also be joined by acclaimed British pianist and longtime friend Kathryn Stott for a truly unforgettable event.

 

Paco de Lucía

Reynolds Hall – MUSIC

April 25, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

The Flamenco phenomenon has returned just in time for The Smith Center’s inaugural season. Following five years of creative silence, Paco de Lucía is back to change the face of music again.  Known as one of the greatest guitarists in the world, Paco de Lucía’s music delicately plays between traditional Brazilian rhythms, jazz and classical music to create a unique sound all his own.

 

An Evening with David Sedaris

Reynolds Hall – SPECIAL ATTRACTION

April 26, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today. Sedaris is the author of several collections of personal essays, NakedMe Talk Pretty One DayDress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and When You Are Engulfed in Flames, each of which became a bestseller, as well as a collection of fables entitled Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary.

 

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Joshua Bell

Reynolds Hall – MUSIC

April 28, 2012. 7:30 p.m.

The Washington Post calls it, “exemplary.” The LA Times says it’s “stunning.” Even after 50 years, The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields continues to astound fans and critics alike. Now with the addition of acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell, the ensemble plans to perform an exquisite all-Beethoven program that, according to The Times (London), “can pierce the soul.”

 

SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK

Reynolds Hall – MUSIC

May 9, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

In the best and in the hardest of times, SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK® has come to communities across the U.S. and around the world, raising her voice in hope, love, justice, peace, and resistance.  SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK® invites her audiences to open their minds and hearts as, out of the rich textures of African American legacy and traditions, she creates a unique and unmatched experience in music and song.

 

Alan Safier as George Burns in

“Say Goodnight Gracie”

Studio Theater – SPECIAL ATTRACTION

May 11, 2012, 7:00 p.m. and May 12, 2012, 3:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.

This hit Broadway play, starring Alan Safier, invites audiences to spend a hilarious, heart-warming evening in the uplifting company of the world’s favorite and funniest centenarian, George Burns, a man who laughingly lived and loved each day for all it had to offer, until he finally went “gently into that good night” to forever reunite with his beloved Gracie.  “Say Goodnight Gracie” was Broadway’s third longest-running solo performance show and was nominated for a 2003 Tony Award for Best play and won the 2003-2004 National Broadway Theatre Award for Best Play.

 

Lily Tomlin

Reynolds Hall – SPECIAL ATTRACTION

May 13, 2012, 2:00 p.m.

Lily Tomlin needs no introduction. Her list of iconic comedic characters is a mile long.  From her New York comedy club beginnings to her unforgettable Edith Ann and Ernestine characters on “Laugh-In,” to successful film and Broadway careers, Lily Tomlin has cemented herself in history as one of the premier comediennes in America.  She now comes to the stage with this must-see, one-woman show, guaranteed to make you laugh until your sides hurt.

 

“PSY” by Les 7 Doigts de la Main (7 Fingers)

Reynolds Hall – SPECIAL ATTRACTION

May 15 and 16, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

“A transfixing circus spectacle that boggles both mind and eye while also relocating your heart to your throat once in a while.” – The Boston Globe.  PSY travels through shifting landscapes of wildly entertaining distorted visions, fading dreams and fractured memories. It carefully delves into the surreal underworld of the human psyche to explore and celebrate the darker side of our unconscious, as well as the beauty. Created and performed by the masters of circus nouveau, the Canadian troupe 7 Fingers.

 

Buddy Guy with Quinn Sullivan

Reynolds Hall – MUSIC

May 19, 2012, 8:00 p.m.

Buddy Guy is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound, and a living link to that city’s halcyon days of electric blues.  And on his “Living Proof” tour he brings this talent to life by looking back over his remarkable experiences.  Joined by 12-year-old guitar phenom Quinn Sullivan, he crafts a blues experience for the ages.