Neon Venus

NEON VENUS (THE BAND)

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Neon Venus comprises Puerto Rican born-and-raised lead singer Lissette Salazar Napoleon and lead guitarist/singer Peter Valentino, together creating a mix of bilingual dance/rock music with Anglo and Latin sounds. Neon Venus was born out of the NYC club circuit and the world wide web in 1997 and is currently based in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. They perform live shows at clubs, city events and colleges.

In October 2004, Neon Venus toured in Europe including cities in Spain, Italy, Turkey, Egypt and Sinai. Their tour was the subject of their self-directed one-hour rockumentary, which aired nationally in the spring of 2005 on MTV en Español (USA). In 2006 they aired their latest video shot underwater for their song “Irresistible”. Four of Neon Venus music videos (Beso a Beso, Step Into My Island, Volveremos and Irresistible), have aired on MTV Español, VH1 Uno (Latin VH1 USA) and/or MTV Puerto Rico. Beso a Beso first aired on MTV Español in 2003 and the network has aired their videos every year since.

The band has two CDs, “The Birth of Neon Venus” (1999) and “Slip Into Rhythm/Cae En El Ritmo” (2002) and is currently working on their third CD entitled “Irresistible”, to be released in June 2006.

Neon Venus songs can be found in 7 compilations including 3 for top national Latin rock magazine Boom! with accompanying articles such as "The Best of 2004” and The Best alternative Latin Rock coming out of Puerto Rico (2003). Others compilations include: Atta Girl Records CD benefiting tsunami victims, Gilda’s Club (Gilda Radner) CD benefiting cancer victims, Latin high tech magazine 'Users' CD distributed to Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela and the US., and one for ‘Female Musician’, an organization educating female musicians.

Neon Venus are currently preparing to shoot their second documentary.

NEON VENUS ART THEATRE (THE BAND'S THEATRE IN LAS VEGAS) EXCERPT FROM LAS VEGAS WEEKLY -- by Jacob Coakley - June 18 Issue, 2009 It started as a band’s rehearsal space. Well, technically it started as a laundromat, but when Peter Valentino and Lissette Napoleoni, the duo behind the alternative Latin-rock band Neon Venus, signed a lease at 1404 S. Third St., at the south end of the arts district, the idea was to change the space into a venue for multiple artists to use and grow from. Drawing on Valentino’s work as a vocal coach and acting teacher, the two decided to combine the band space with a theater.

“Then we were like, ‘Oh, if we’re gonna combine it with theater, let’s open it up to other visual arts,’” says Napoleoni, who has worked as a photographer and documentary filmmaker. “‘So let’s do some photography, and we’re in the arts district, so let’s bring art to the walls.’ And we were looking for a name, [so] we figured we’ll put the name of our band and theater and art, because it’s a combination of different arts.”

They cleaned the space and built the stage, and the Neon Venus Art Theatre was born.

Valentino immediately began offering acting classes and reaching out to the local artistic community. But because both Valentino and Napoleoni share a very DIY, punk aesthetic, the emphasis has always been on actualizing your own art—going out and doing, not waiting to be discovered. The classes quickly turned into full-length productions for students to direct and act in. Neon Venus recently presented a production of Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things, directed by Valentino and starring students from the classes. “We want to have our students do productions, and then also we’re pulling from the general public for certain auditions, too,” Valentino explains.

Neon Venus Art Theatre“Nothing compares to the realistic practice of actually doing something live,” Napoleoni adds. “Otherwise ... you’re studying, you’re studying, you’re studying, but you never get anywhere.”

Kids’ classes and productions were another natural outgrowth. Neon Venus Art Theatre started offering classes in several arts disciplines for kids—part of the nonprofit arm—and two teachers, Emily Donn and Dany Meyer, began heading up kids’ productions. The Theatre offers a full schedule of kids’ camps and classes throughout the summer—all free of charge. “We had 18 kids in our production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” says Valentino, a little proudly.

Valentino and Napoleoni are trying to leverage the synergy—they’d never use the word—among Downtown arts groups to create a scene that reaches across disciplines and empowers artists to get their work done by doing it themselves. Atlas Theatre’s Feed the Monkey, a performer-written show, takes place at Neon Venus the last Saturday of every month, and Valentino is exploring a possible partnership with Asylum Theatre to help that company relaunch as a haven for writers of new work.

“We’re engendering writers,” says Valentino, but it’s more than that. Neon Venus pushes local artists to take the reins of their creativity and produce their work. Through their space, classes and partnerships with established artists, Valentino and Napoleoni are trying to create a fertile performance- and art-based scene.

“Our ultimate vision is to aggrandize the arts district and the arts so that it gets on the map,” Valentino says, leaning in to be heard over auditions that have just begun onstage, “So that all the tourists coming here will say, ‘Oh there’s also this arts thing happening here that Las Vegas is known for.’”

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