Vegas, Baby. Vegas?

First they made it family-friendly. Then they tried to chesse-glitz it up for the shiny-shirt crowd. Tourists, total tourists. And we don't mean people on vacation who don't actually live in Vegas, we mean tourists. In the pejorative sense. Now they're trying to make America's favorite city for bluehairs, frat boys and porn skanks into a rock n' rollers' dream. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas usually sucks, so we hope that Emo's does not fall victim to said suckage.

Yes, you read right, Emo's. In Vegas. With a little nudge from the Beauty Bar, the hip bastion of rock that has become synonymous with the Austin music scene has decided to franchise itself and set-up shop in Vegas, with the possibility of eventually expanding the brand to every city where a Beauty Bar currently resides (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego).

"Paul and I had talked about it, and I told him that I want to open an Emo's down the street from every Beauty Bar in the country," Emo's owner Frank Hendrix said in last week's Austin Chronicle.

The AC reported that Emo's will be housed in the Sears building at 601 Fremont St. in downtown Las Vegas. The complex in which it resides will also include offices and condominiums. Emo's Austin will have creative control of the new venture and book about 50% of the acts, with Austin's Guilty Dave working as production manager.

"I'm not going to be an everyday, hands-on type guy," Hendrix said. "But I think that with the people I'm sending there, we'll be able to maintain the integrity of the product. That's the key to me. I just don't want to cheese it up."

Le'ts hope Emo's does not get cheesed up. We have confidence in Hendrix & Co. - they've established one of the best rock clubs in town, albeit one with somewhat questionable outdoor sound - and will hold our breath in hopes that the good name does not get sullied with its move to the most gauche, obnoxious and played-out city in the country.

*Image (c) Matt Wright*