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Arts, theater and music, Feb. 7-13

First Friday

MONTHLY EVENT

GOES TO VERSE

It’s poetry in motion as First Friday celebrates local poets during this month’s Arts District festival, adding the spoken word to its celebration of arts and culture from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday.

Performances from Human Experience — on stages and pop-ups throughout the festival — will be featured, along with community art projects centering on poetry. In addition, haikus — written by First Friday Twitter contributors — will be projected on walls and streets during the downtown event.

In addition to the poetry focus, Art Row (on Casino Center Boulevard, between Colorado Avenue and Charleston Boulevard) will showcase works by emerging local artists, while the Bazaar (on the southwest corner of Casino Center and California Avenue) presents arts and crafts from more than 40 vendors.

The Hub stage spotlights live musical performances; live music also turns up north of Charleston, along with a variety of food trucks. At the Kid Zone (open from 5 to 9 p.m.), Paws for Friendship will host a “Hug-a-Ferret” booth, while members of Kravenko Dance Academy will perform and offer free dance lessons.

For more First Friday information, including parking and shuttle information, visit www.firstfridaylasvegas.com or www.facebook.com/firstfridaylasvegas.

Music

HOLMES’ ‘TRAIN’

TRAVELS NY-LV

Amtrak may not stop in Las Vegas anymore, but singer Clint Holmes’ award-winning “Stop This Train” pulls into The Smith Center’s Cabaret Jazz this weekend.

Holmes’ show, which played Manhattan’s swank Cafe Carlyle last year, earned him the “Best Male Celebrity Vocalist” award in BroadwayWorld.com’s New York Cabaret Awards for 2013.

Of course, Holmes’ talents are no surprise to locals, who can catch his act regularly at Cabaret Jazz. In this autobiographical show, he delivers everything from John Mayer’s title tune to Irving Berlin’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” along with some of his compositions, as he ponders the unstoppable train of time.

Holmes will perform “Stop This Train” at 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 361 Symphony Park Ave. For tickets ($35-$45), call 702-749-2000 or visit www.thesmithcenter.com.

Theater

‘SEMINAR’ CONVENES

AT UNLV THEATER

A literary lion and his eager young cubs inspire Nevada Conservatory Theatre’s production of “Seminar,” which continues through Sunday at UNLV’s Judy Bayley Theatre.

Theresa Rebeck’s provocative comedy, which played Broadway in 2011, focuses on four aspiring novelists who sign up for private writing classes with Leonard (Equity actor Jeff Williams), whose recklessly brilliant and unorthodox instruction energizes some — and paralyzes others.

Jasmine Mathews, Jack Lafferty, Madison Kisst and Bernhard C. Verhoeven round out the cast for director Michael Lugering, a master teacher of voice, movement and acting at UNLV.

“Seminar” is performed at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Judy Bayley Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. For tickets ($20-$30), call 702-895-2787 or click on pac.unlv.edu.

Music

DIVAS 3 HEADLINE

‘TO LOVE’ SALUTE

Whether your favorite girl group happens to be the Supremes or the Ronettes, Divas 3 has you covered Sunday when the trio headlines “To Love and Be Loved” at the Winchester Cultural Center.

Presented by the Performing Arts Society of Nevada, the concert features music and dance in the key of romance, showcasing not only girl group hits but those of the Mamas and the Papas, plus solo stars from Diana Ross and Celine Dion to Carole King and Aretha Franklin.

Divas 3 features Alison Ward (a veteran of New York-New York’s “Dancing Queen”), Kirby Long (a regular in Bally’s “Jubilee!”) and “The Voice” finalist Kasi Jones. Also on the program: “Jubilee!” lead singer James Allen, dancers David Lee Brown (“Vegas! The Show”), Stephanie Burke and Ty Johnson (both of “Jubilee!”) and Britney Sourlis.

“To Love and Be Loved” will be presented at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Winchester center, 3130 McLeod Drive. For tickets ($15 in advance, $18 at the door), call 702-658-6741 or email PASNV@aol.com.

Art

BARRICK MUSEUM HOSTS

‘ART FOR ART’S SAKE’

Abstract works by young, mostly American artists exploring the potential of abstraction inspire “Art for Art’s Sake: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation” at UNLV’s Barrick Museum.

Using art’s basic elements — color, line, shape, texture — the feature artists produce bold, exuberant compositions. Brian Porray creates large-scale works that resemble psychedelic landscapes filled with broken but radiant technological assemblages — including one inspired by the Luxor pyramid on the Strip.

Other featured artists include Ali Smith, who likes to “use paint almost sculpturally, as it starts to embody physical objects,” and Iva Gueorguieva, whose canvases are dense with paint and saturated with intense color.

“Art for Art’s Sake” is displayed through April 26 at the Barrick Museum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays (until 8 p.m. Thursdays) and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays; suggested donation is $5 for adults and $2 for children and seniors. For more information, call 702-895-3881.

Music

KIDS’, JAZZ CONCERTS

SET AT COUNTY LIBRARY

Forget about that “keep quiet” thing at the Clark County Library. At least when two free concerts — one classical, one jazz — generate sweet sounds.

First up: the Nevada Chamber Symphony, which takes the stage at 3 p.m. Sunday to present “For the Love of Music: A Children’s Concert,” an interactive afternoon that will introduce young people to the orchestra and its instruments. Brief biographies of famous composers will accompany examples of their music.

Also on the program: a performance by magician Jason Andrews (“America’s Got Talent”), who will show off his sleight-of-hand expertise, accompanied by the orchestra, for the eighth consecutive year.

And at 7 p.m. Wednesday, the library hosts the latest in the monthly UNLV Jazz Concert Series, which showcases standout student musicians from the award-winning Jazz Studies Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Both free concerts will take place in the Main Theater at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road. For more information, call 702-507-3459 or click on www.lvccld.org.

— By CAROL CLING

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