The acclaimed literary journal Witness is, well, much more than a literary journal. With its trademark international focus, the journal publishes fiction and nonfiction that sees writers of high caliber engaging this dirty, troubled world of ours. You’ll find little preciousness and, instead, a willingness on the part of the literary arts to take issues — poverty, racism, aging — by the scruff and wring the truth from them.

Last year, UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute took over publication of the journal after founding Editor Peter Stine at Oakland Community College in Detroit retired. Its most recent issue is the first published from its new home at UNLV.

The highlight so far from my reading: Robert Wexelblatt’s “Steppe Story.” In this potent short story, an executive for an American corporation visits a city in post-Soviet Eastern Europe to “gain a foothold” for his company. But he finds that beneath the glass and steel of this new bastion of global capitalism lies an embarrassing tradition hinting at a fragility no amount of investment capital can cover up.

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Two weeks after we revealed all three of the state’s Republican officials in Washington earned failing grades on the NAACP’s annual Legislative Report Card, a new study is out, blasting those same pols for adopting a decidedly Earth-unfriendly voting record.

Turns out, the usual suspects, U.S. Sen. John Ensign along with Reps. Dean Heller and Jon Porter, each earned failing grades in this latest evaluation, too. While Ensign scored lowest on the civil rights report card, this time Heller took bottom honors for voting down everything from mining reforms to grasslands protection, scoring a mere 15 points out of a possible 100. Porter earned the second-lowest grade, a 30 out of 100. Among is fellow rainbow warriors, Ensign actually garnered Nevada’s highest GOP grade, a 33 out of 100. In a state where voters ostensibly value diversity and cherish the environment, how is it that these guys got elected in the first place?

New state Democratic Party Chair Sam Lieberman tells CityLife he plans a statewide tour to meet with Democrats in each of Nevada’s 17 counties and fire up the party faithful for Election Day Nov. 4.

Since assuming the party’s mantle on Wednesday — after former Chair Jill Derby resigned to launch her campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Dean Heller — Lieberman says he’ll give a series of speeches this weekend across the state to focus as much attention as possible on his party, which has electrified millions of voters across the country with its drama-laden nomination fight between U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. On Saturday morning, he told CityLife, he plans to invigorate delegates and assorted apparatchiks at the Clark County Democratic Party’s convention. A few hours later, he’ll zip north to Reno, where he’ll try to rouse attendees at the Democratic Party of Washoe County convention.

Lieberman says Dems will need to work like hell “to engage multiple generations and multiple populations of Democrats to rally around our candidates to make sure horrendous ‘Bush Experience’ comes to an end.”

Democratic victories should pop up rapid-fire come Election Day if Obama is the party’s nominee, at least according to averages of the latest presidential polling. RealClear Politics shows Obama stuffing McCain by more than 5 points.

This weekend presents a case of too many good things and not enough time, so take your pick.

Friday

We dig the shoegazing psychedelia of San Diego duo Black Patterns From Saturn (read their 7 Days pick).
Catch ‘em with Caused By The Sun, Black Acid Laser and DJs Amy and Angee.
10p. 21+. $5. Beauty Bar

The high-flying, lo-fi experimental group extraordinaire Black Camaro kicks off a weekend of festivities with Mike Weller’s project-to-watch Hungry Cloud, and the stealthily established Ataqi.
10p. 21+. $5. Bunkhouse Saloon

Celebrate the beginning of the end of another Vegas venue (reports say it’ll be a restaurant again soon — but will it be as awesome as the original Venetian Restaurant?)
Holding on to Sound, Six Shooters to the Sky, Give ‘em Hell, Funky Jah Punkys, The Day After, Swing Shift Side Show perform at the Slanted Clam.
10p. 21+. $5. Slanted Clam

“Freakus Maximus” serves up snakes, fortune telling, magic, midgets, the Bargain DJ Collective and the Swing Shift Side Show
10p. 21+. Free. Red Room, 3101 W. Sahara Ave.

More alternatives …

Secrets Kept in Suicide, The Trademark, Thrash Unreal, With My Dying Breath, Murder Ballad
6p. All ages. $10. Jillian’s

Neverland Ranch Hands, Holograms, Barbara Burnette & The Slick Nickels, Betting On Tomorrow, The Gizzards
10p. 21+. Free. Double Down Saloon

L.A. Storytellers Tour: Charlie Overbey (Custom Made Scare), Timbo (Speedbuggy), John Neilson, Red 5, Elvis Wesley, Dead Birds and Blind Kids
10p. 21+. Divebar

Killer 45s, Gunsmiths, The Pandas
10p. 21+. Free. New York Cafe

Saturday

The “Black Camaro Variety Show” includes game show host Jewish Dave, Black Camaraoke performed by esteemed Camaro colleagues such as Skorchamenza’s Timothy Styles, special appearances by God and Satan (or at least people dressed as them) and a screening of Miniature Panthers: The Motion Picture. Ambitious? Yes. If Brian Garth and crew can pull it off, sheer genius.
10p. 21+. $5. Bunkhouse Saloon

The Las Vegas Blues Society is hosting a benefit 5 p.m. Feb. 23 for The Moanin’ Blacksnakes‘ “The Reverend” Art Groom, who was injured in a traffic accident.
The Chris Tolfield Band
5p-9:15p. King Tut’s

The days appear numbered for live music at the Slanted Clam, but the spot right next door started hosting bands three weeks ago, so maybe all is not lost for the westside.
Lydia Vance, The Black Jetts
10p. 21+. Squiggy’s Bar, 3805 W. Sahara Ave.

Pearl performs Feb. 23 at Divebar with Mother Superior. Participating are guitarist Jim Wilson, drummer Matt Tecu and bassist Marcus Blake, best known for performing with The Rollins Band. Stepdaughter of iconic ’70s rocker Meat Loaf, the namesake Pearl Aday will also be joined by her fiance Scott Ian of Anthrax for this free show.
10p. 21+. Divebar

Other options…

All That Remains, Chimaira, Five Finger Death Punch, Light This City, 7th Son
6p. All ages. $15-$17. Jillian’s

All Dead, Bare Knuckle, The Lowclass
9p. 21+. Rox

Firecracker 500, Schitz, The Hellers, The Claggs, The Fakes
10p. 21+. Free. Double Down Saloon

Sunday

Uberschall, featuring members of the Blue Man Group, is well-known for jamming the night away at midnight. Instrumental act The Bitters opens.
10p. 21+. Free. Double Down Saloon

A couple of weeks ago, CityLife reported Barack Obama was raising campaign cash at record rates. What a difference two weeks make. The Atlantic reports those numbers were way off.

It now seems that Obama could raise as much as $50 million in February. Conservatives predict he’ll hit the $60-million mark.

Taken with today’s report that Clinton’s campaign spending is worrying her donors — and with just one percentage point separating her from Obama in the latest Texas poll — March might come in like a lion that devours what’s left of Clinton’s machine. March 4 is her D-Day.

Necrogasm (n.) [NECRO- + (OR)GASM]

Ex.: “Clutching the latest Iraq war casualty reports, John McCain shuddered as the sweet thrill of a necrogasm rolled through his frail body.”

Northeast Nevada got its shaky wake-up call at 6:16 yesterday morning, to the tune of 6.0 on the Richter Scale. No serious injuries have been reported, but some significant damage in Elko County reminds us there’s a reason this state is ranked third in the nation for “risk of large magnitude seismic activity” — right behind krazy-krusted California and Alaska.

Doesn’t this imply we’re ranked 48th on the list of “remotely sane places to build a high-level nuclear waste storage facility?”