Avantpop Bookstore Presents...

Polly’s work is a celebration of human sexuality, pleasure, empowerment, and experimentation. Her expansive approach includes writing, sculpture, immersive spaces, events, and performance. Purchase "Polly: Sex Culture Revolutionary" at Avantpop Bookstore Join us for the Book Signing and conversation on Thu, June 27th, 2024 at Avantpop Bookstore from 7pm-9pm. Polly "Superstar" Whittaker Website htt...

John Wayne Comunale writes weird horror books. He travels to Horror conventions across the country slinging books, meeting people, and making lasting connections with those who read my work and calls Sin City Las Vegas his home. And check out his band, johnwayneisdead John Wayne's Website Instagram John Wayne Lied To You Podcast Watch this episode with video at YOUTUBE.COM/@AVANTPOP Host: Shwa Lay...

Joe Reed was born to build businesses. The entrepreneurial spirit in him burns bright and his track record is better than many entrepreneurs can admit with confidence. Even though business comes easy for Joe, life itself has been more of an act of survival. He now owns WLVS Den Kava Lounge in Las Vegas, Nevada. Read the cover story on Joe Reed written by Shwa Laytart at vegascannabismag.com Follow...

Katherine Yeske Taylor is a longtime New Yorker, but she began her rock critic career in Atlanta in the 1990s, interviewing Georgia musical royalty such as the Indigo Girls, R.E.M. and the Black Crowes while she was still a teenager. Since then, she has conducted thousands of interviews with a wide range of artists for dozens of national, regional, and local magazines and newspapers, including Bil...

With a commitment to creating and curating surprising forms of visual art, Attaboy has forged a varied career, often fusing subversion with disconcerting whimsy. On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Attaboy , artist and Co-Founder Hi-Fructose Magazine. Watch this episode with photo/art slideshow at YOUTUBE.COM/@AVANTPOP Host: Shwa Laytart Guest: Attaboy Venue: Avantpop Bookstore, Las Vegas, NV...

Kelly Garni’s journey has taken some very unusual turns along the way. His roots are based in the music business starting at a very young age. At fifteen years old, he and his best friend, Randy Rhoads, formed legendary heavy metal group, Quiet Riot. On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Kelly Garni , Musician, Photographer and Artist. It was the early nineties when Kelly moved to Las Vegas, Ne...

On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Abel Horwitz , Producer and Co-Writer of "Abandon" , an immersive horror show exploring the depraved mind of the Marquis De Sade, playing at Vegas Theatre Company. Writer, producer and performer, Abel Horwitz has found a career in the subversive. In 2013 he helped create Urban Death: Tour of Terror at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre, which quickly became o...

On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Jarret Keene, author of "Hammer of the Dogs" Jarret Keene earned his Ph. D. in creative writing at Florida State University. A beloved and highly sought after professor, Dr. Keene is an assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he teaches American literature and the graphic novel. He has written a travel g...

On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Joel Riojas, author of "The Green Wizard". Joel Riojas is an army veteran living in Las Vegas, Nevada, who was originally born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Joel grew up on the south side, in a community called the Back of the Yards, on Forty Seventh and Wolcott. Joel Riojas has written other books such as Twenty-Three that many have viewed as a creative...

On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Elise Krentzel , author of "Under My Skin". Elise was a teenage music journalist who toured on a press junket with Kiss to Japan. Elise Krentzel's fast paced memoir, Under My Skin has earned #1 new release in these categories: Biographies of Rock Bands, Music Business, Rock, Composers & Musicians, and Jewish life. See and Hear the Writer Rebel Elise Kre...

On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Staci Layne Wilson, writer and filmmaker based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She recently had a book signing at Avantpop Bookstore with her latest book, Rocktails. Staci Layne Wilson's books and films pretty much always have elements of rock music and Hollywood history infused with touches of dark humor. She is a rock music historian and true crime writer. Check ou...

On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Jean Munson . Jean Munson is a feminist Filipina activist and cartoonist from Guam. She loves using comics as a means to educate and empower those that are underrepresented and misrepresented in comics. Jean co-founded Plot Twist Publishing, a local comics company, and co-founded Comics and Zines Las Vegas (Co-Zi LV). With both local entities, she teaches c...

On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Jay Wexler and his latest book release, " Weed Rules : Blazing the Way to a Just and Joyful Marijuana Policy". Jay Wexler is a professor at the Boston University School of Law, where he has taught since 2001. Prior to teaching, Wexler studied religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School and law at Stanford Law School. After law school, he worked as...

On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Michael Maysonet, aka STONERDUDE . https://www.stonerdudeart.com/ It’s this ritual trifecta of cannabis, music, and counter-culture that becomes the muse that guides Michael’s AKA StonerDude’s fun, fantastical b-movie style of cartoonish artwork. The art of Michael Maysonet, AKA StonerDude, pulls you in like a tractorbeam and keeps you hovering above each p...

On this episode, Shwa Laytart interviews Dakota Noot , Artist and Curator. Recipient of the Emily Hall Tremaine Journalism Fellowship for Curators View the curatorial project at Hyperallergic Dakota Noot is a Los Angeles-based artist and curator. He uses drawings, paintings, and installations to create animal-human hybrids that explore rural yet fantastical, queer identities. Originally from Bisma...

On this episode, guest host Sugar Laytart, interviews Troy Heard, Founding Artistic Director of Majestic Rep Theatre, located in Downtown Las Vegas Arts District, featuring the current production of Hedwig And The Angry Inch Watch this episode with video at YOUTUBE.COM/@AVANTPOP Majestic Repertory Theatre was established in the fall of 2016 at ALIOS, an arts space in the Downtown Las Vegas Arts Di...

In Ep. 3, Shwa Laytart interviews Grassroots Organizer and Co-Founder of Fifth Sun Project , Eztli Amaya WATCH THIS EPISODE WITH VIDEO AT YOUTUBE.COM/@AVANTPOP Eztli Amaya is a mother, Co-Founder of Fifth Sun Project, grassroots organizer & facilitator, and arts/activism advocate. Originally from El Paso, Texas, Chicana by heart, Indigenous Purepecha / other roots in Michoacan & Northern M...

In Ep. 2, Shwa Laytart interviews Las Vegas based Hip-Hop Recording Artist, Young Keefa . Young Keefa Recording Artist / CEO Potency Music Entertainment Youtube Spotify Instagram Born in Bedford, OH & moved around from coast to coast, Young Keefa brings his life experiences together and puts them into these projects. The up & coming hip-hop recording artist is working with “Billboard” char...

For our first podcast, we have music journalist, Eric Gladstone, joining us. Eric was a prominent writer in the 90s covering bands such as Ween, Sonic Youth, Michael Franti/Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Smashing Pumpkins, Jesus Lizard, the Rollins Band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Monster Magnet, Mudhoney, Dust Brothers, The Beastie Boys, Beck, Dr. Octagon, Ozomatli, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Pigface,...