It’s amazing to think Las Vegas nightlife has so far largely avoided the radar of the Internal Revenue Service, given how raid-happy agents have been in bigger cities such as New York. But today, that distinction was obliterated when federal agents swooped down on the offices at 2121 Industrial Road, Suite #107 - the address listed for Pure Management Group, which owns 13 casino entertainment entities including Pure and LAX nightclubs.

Dianna Nielsen, local public information officer for the IRS criminal investigation division, was on site to talk to media, though not much could be revealed about the apparent operation at press time, other than the fact agents were currently present - for “official business” - and PMG employees were not, and that an investigation could be neither confirmed nor denied. She also could not confirm whether agents had also visited any of the PMG properties, though reports elsewhere alleged their presence at Pure, the company’s flagship venue at Caesars Palace.

Pure Management Group ascended the Vegas nightlife ranks after the immediate success of megaclub Pure, which opened in January 2005 and followed the openings of Coyote Ugly bar at New York-New York and Tangerine nightclub at Treasure Island. Since then, it has become arguably the fastest-growing nightlife/dining company in the city. A Vegas outpost for Lucky Strike Lanes in the Rio hotel-casino, as well as a handful of see-or-be-seen spots including LAX, opened within the past year.

PMG officials declined comment, but did send a statement that said the nightclub management company “is fully cooperating with this IRS investigation and looks forward to a quick and satisfactory resolution. Until that time, we will have no further comment on this matter.”

Get your gothabilly on with, well, the only decent rock act playing Vegas tonight, The Horrorpops. Be sure to grab a copy of the band’s new album, Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill, which hit the streets Feb. 5. Rounding out the bill are Nashville’s Pink Spiders, and Steve E. Nix & the Cute Lepers

The Horropops, Pink Spider and Steve E. Nix & the Cute Lepers
Canyon Club (in the Four Queens hotel-casino)
8 p.m., 18+
$15

Let’s talk about gridlock. Oh, not the molar-grinding gridlock of Rainbow Curve on a sunless Monday morning while you’re on a spiritual collision course with a dead-end cubicle. I mean the tidily metaphorical meta-gridlock we’re all facing when it comes to actually driving somewhere in the Las Vegas Valley and the grim, inert, monolithic reality of Gov. Jim Gibbons, whose staunch refusal to even entertain the idea of raising taxes has taken on the quality of a kid plugging his earholes and screaming “I CAN’T HEAR YOU I CAN’T HEAR YOU I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” [*Whap!*]

A number of transpo stories hitting the dailies cluster around an ugly and increasingly recurring theme: Nevada keeps attracting more people with more cars, but, in comparison, money to pay for roads is but a dreary trickle.

State transportation wonks told a legislative subcommittee yesterday we need about $6 billion for the next decade’s worth of road projects in Nevada, but the piggy bank is farting dust. And Gibbons’ ribcage isn’t quite expected to explode as his heart suddenly swells with bold vision as he finally breaks down and tearfully agrees to raise taxes during next year’s Legislature. Meanwhile, closer to home, the Regional Transportation Commission and Clark County are doing the equivalent of scuffling over milk money, arguing yesterday over - clutch that head of yours lest it spin right off! - whether the RTC should be able to get 40 percent of a 5-cent property tax or 40 percent of a leftover 2-cent property tax. This is while the Las Vegas Beltway itself is facing a $1.4 billion funding gap.

Gee, those are some big numbers - and some big gaps. Almost makes you pine for the halcyon days when there was talk of building a light rail system that would take the pressure off our overloaded roads. You might recall that transportation troglodytes danced a grotesque jig upon learning of the death of the light rail plan in early 2006, a promising plan that has now been replaced by this proposal:

In other words, a bus system on steroids.

Make sure you read Knappster’s column in tomorrow’s CityLife. Knapp details two key letters that may just cinch the Medical Mafia case, in which personal injury attorney Noel Gage and medical consultant Howard Awand are charged with engaging in a labyrinthine hustle in which they conspired with numerous doctors to enrich themselves by using expert testimony to inflate personal injury judgments and bilk insurance compan- well, here, you can read the full indictment yourself.

Captured on videotape, this suggestively dressed woman loitering in front of a prominent but troubled Strip hotel-casino appears to be asking the man in the car for directions.

Is she asking him for directions to:

a) The nearest sewing supplies store
b) The nearest Jamba Juice
c) The nearest penis*

See David McKee’s story in Thursday’s CityLife for the answer!

*Ideally one with a lot of money