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SPECIAL WEEK OF SPECIALS:
Aug.
27: Steve's Valedictory Speech To Lambda
Aug.
26: Steve on LVW Radio Mag Regarding Jockey Club
Aug
25: Steve's final appearance on Nevada Week in Review
Aug. 24: Steve
on KNPR on the future of Vegas newspapers
Aug.23:
Steve's KNPR Exit Interview
Aug.
22: Steve on KNPR on Eureka, NV
Aug.
20: BLOOPERPALOOZA!
Extra:
More bloopers that didn't make it in the main show
As faithful listeners know, this podcast is edited. We appreciate
being independent, but we don't believe that independent means we
should be careless and sloppy. So Steve goes through every week
and cleans it all up so you don’t have to waste your time hearing
long pauses and unnecessary or irrelevant banter. Also, there's
a whole culture that’s built up around the chat room and we interact
with those out there in ways that the podcast listener wouldn’t
follow. So, anyhow, each year we have created a Bloopers Episode.
Hear us curse, bicker and ponder deep but Vegas-irrelevant thoughts.
It's fun. You'll laugh. Mostly.
In Banter, we mulled our encounter with Mrs. Wynn in Sun Valley,
talked about the de-Elvising at Aria and the likely implosion of
The Harmon, we explained our strategy for packing and moving and
much more. Near the end, we also discuss Steve's bingo adventure.
Episode Guide:
Open & Banter: Start
to 36ish
Intro/End-Show Bloopers : 36:45-44ish
Wordplay Bloopers: 44:30ish-50ish
Banter/Midshow Bloopers: 50:50-1:07ish
Trivia/Poll/Feedback: 1:07ish-1:20ish
Interview-related Bloopers:
1:20:35-1:31ish
Cursing Bloopers: 1:31:20-1:35ish
Miles' Voices Bloopers: 1:35:30-1:40ish
TSTToTW: 1:40ish-end
Something More: 1:53-end
Links
to stuff discussed:
What our ReLo Cubes look
like, from Upack.Com
Aria is De-Elvising
and removed the ugly wrap
Links (when available) to the Eureka Flickr Slideshow, The Daily
article, the KNPR
segment and the LV
Weekly column
The site for Tanked
Steve's Las
Vegas Weekly cover story on
the Jockey Club
MGM Resorts wants to implode The Harmon, according
to the WSJ
360Vegas
Podcast is worth a try
Pix one,
two
and three
of Steve’s Bingo adventure at Sunset Station
Aug.
7: The Real
George Wallace?
George Wallace threw us for a loop back in the fall of 2005
when he claimed to be two different places and then unceremoniously
dumped us. And he’s paid for it, at least in these parts, with
us mocking him as the symbol of a bad guest and many listeners
saying they’d avoid his show because of the shoddy treatment.
But Steve can’t really leave well enough alone. As we conclude
our run as Vegas podcasters, he wanted another whack at Wallace,
and so he was over at the Flamingo today for a face-to-face
conversation. It turned out to be very fun discussion in which
Wallace spoke possibly vacating his berth at the resort when
his contract ends this year and much more. In Banter: Oscar
Goodman Steak, Steve Wyrick woes, outdoor (?) summer theater
in Vegas, obsessing over fake Spongebobs and more.
Episode
Guide:
Open & Banter: Start to 18ish
George Wallace Part
I: 24ish--51ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters:
51ish-59ish
George Wallace Part
II: 1:00-1:26ish
TSTToTW: 1:26-end
Links to Stuff Discussed:
George Wallace’s website
Our original George
Wallace interview episode
from 2005
VegasHappensHere.Com
on Wolfgang
Puck leaving the Springs
Preserve
A report on
developments related to
Oscar Goodman Steak
This blog asks whether
Steve
Wyrick will ever open
The Strip Sense column
in 2010 on the Plaza’s
gaybashing theater operator,
John Beane
The cutting-edge
Riv brings bingo back
The County Commission
obsesses
over fake Spongebobs
Spring Mountain Ranch
State Park’s Super
Summer Theatre
Railroad
Pass casino is 80
The Sahara’s NASCAR
auction
is on
Cee-Lo may have a Vegas
residency gig
Lance Rich’s proof
there was no water in My Heart Will Go On in …A New Day
July
31: Charlie Palmer, Hall of Famer
EXTRA:
Hal Sparks on Vince Neil, QaF and Comedy
The
last time we spoke to celebrity chef Charlie Palmer, he used this
program to break a WORLD EXCLUSIVE about his plans to build a
hotel in Las Vegas. This time around, he joins us as one of the
three newest inductees into the American Gaming Association's
Hall of Fame. Palmer talks about that, about the aforementioned
hotel he still intends to build some day and about a particularly
wild birthday meal he had on an island in Fiji. Also, we excerpt our interview with comic Hal Sparks, the
former Talk Soup host and Queer As Folk star who appears this
weekend at the Las Vegas Hilton. It was Sparks' show, you might
recall, that Vince Neil interrupted in order to confront a former
girlfriend, Alicia Jacobs.
In Banter: Drrrty pools, Wyrick delays, Vegas Top Cheffers, Bucket
Lists and more.
Open &
Banter: Start to 18ish
Charlie Palmer: 18-50ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 51ish-1:04ish
Hal Sparks Excerpt: 1:04-1:07ish
TSTToTW: 1:08-end
Links
To Stuff Discussed:
The
sites of Hal
Sparks
and Charlie
Palmer
The
Daily’s
piece on pee in the pools
Bellagio’s
rooms pictorial and report by
VegasHappensHere.Com
WSOP
betting at sports books
are open and popular, says the Sun's Case Keefer
Top Chef
Just
Desserts
contestants from Vegas
Charlie
Palmer’s Fiji
birthday extravaganza
July
20: Roger Thomas
SPECIAL:
VIDEO TOUR OF WYNN DESIGN HQ
The design genius behind Mirage, Bellagio and
Wynn was supposed to have stepped down from the Wynn Resorts and
pursue other long-deferred opportunities. But Roger Thomas ran into
some financial troubles brought on by the economy and decided instead
to stay put, so instead he’s right back where we left him: In the
throes of conjuring up the look and feel of the world’s next most
anticipated resort, this time in Macau. Thomas talks to our Steve
in this episode about the artistic and hospitality theories behind
the resort not due to open until 2015, but he also offers a surprisingly
frank assessment of the Bellagio’s new room renovations. Also, what
does he use his iPad for? What are they designing at Wynn now? How
was Steve and Andrea’s wedding?
In Banter: Feuding over Lanni coverage, Sheldon hearts dollars more
than elephants, the WSOP summer finale, some meal deals, Miles'
new toy and much more.
July
15: Fluff LaCoque's Jubilee!
EXTRA:
Jubilee's most successful alum, Tina Walsh
Thirty years is a blink
of the eye in most places, but it’s an |eternity
for the every-changing Las Vegas. This summer, the venerable,
historic Jubilee! celebrates the start of its fourth
decade at Bally’s, so we chatted with the 88-year-old
firecracker who has ruled the land of massive headdresses
and sequined skivvies with an iron fist for all this
time. Fluff LaCoque talks to Steve about bruised thighs,
chubby guys, fake boobs and so much more this hour.
Also, we’ll hear an excerpt from our conversation
with Jubilee’s most successful alumna, Tina Walsh,
who was a principle singer for the show in the 1980s
and is presently appearing as Madame Giry in Phantom:
The Las Vegas Spectacular. The entire conversation with
Walsh will be posted as an extra edition into the feed
and on the website.
In Banter: Miles makes
HIS big announcement, Steve has a WSOP adventure, several
Vegas closures afoot, the Plaza has some odd new things
coming, more MGM misfortune and a Titanically bad restaurant
idea.
Open & Banter:
Start to 41ish
Fluff LaCoque Part I: 41-103ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 104ish-1:13
Fluff LaCoque Part II: 1:14-1:33ish
TSTToTW: 1:34ish-end
Links to stuff discussed
Get tickets for Jubilee!
and the backstage
tour
Tina Walsh’s Phantom
bio
Steve’s essay for
The Daily about his WSOP adventure
A piece on the “bubble”
bursting at the 2011 WSOP
A feature
about Michael Stevens, the quadriplegic who lasted
to Day 3 of the WSOP
Steve’s piece on The Daily about Paul
Pierce’s WSOP playing
A piece on Phil
Hellmuth’s Day 2 drama
News on Rosemary’s
and Carluccio’s
closing
That weird
Titanic dinner at Bernard’s
The questionable news outlet known as Las
Vegas Entertainment News
Howard Stutz’s latest on the Perini-MGM
scrum over The Harmon
The Plaza’s plan for a sexy
salon and the Swingers
Club
Legionnaire’s
Disease drama at Aria
Project Linq is coming, supposedly
Steve and Jamie’s piece for
the L.A. Times on the topless shows in Vegas
SPECIAL
RE-ISSUE: Terry
Lanni in 2008
In
honor of the passing of former Caesars World and MGM
Mirage chief Terry Lanni, we've reissued our April 2008
conversation with Lanni.
July
9: Annie Duke’s New Deal
Open & Banter: Start to 25ish
Annie Duke: 26-58ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 58ish-1:06
Shelley Berkley: 1:07-1:48ish
TSTToTW: 1:48-end
The only poker pro who
has any kind of serious name recognition in mainstream
popular culture is Annie Duke, and she’d like
to change that. Duke, who is history’s most successful
female player with more than $4.2 million in live tournament
winnings, is the founding commissioner of a new league
that aims to use objective criteria to determine who
the world’s best players really are. On the eve
of the start of the 42nd World Series of Poker Main
Event, we hear from Annie about how the league works
and why it matters as well as chat her up about her
appearances on Celebrity Apprentice and the game show
1 v 100. Later, we check in with U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley,
the Democrat who represents Las Vegas and has sponsored
a bill that would once again legalize online poker wagering
in the United States.
In Banter: It’s not Le Cock, Niles Crane on Vegas,
Mandalay’s electric therapy, Amber Unicorn books
at Cosmo, murder on the Strip and more.
Links to stuff discussed:
Annie
Duke’s website
Steve’s
column about the Epic
Poker and its potential
The Review-Journal on the Berkley-Barton
bill to legalize web poker
Bagelmania
on Yelp
VegasHappensHere.Com on Bellagio
wallpaper problem
The Niles
Crane Vegas moment on YouTube
Clark
County Museum website
VegasTripping speculation that the Venetian-Palazzo
folks are
detheming Palazzo
VegasInc on Hash
House A Go Go Coming to Plaza
Mandalay Place charging electric
cars
La
Cage Returns… to the Four Queens
Stingrays at Secret
Garden and Dolphin Habitat
Murder
and mayhem on the Strip lately
YouTube clip of Annie Duke being
attacked by Joan Rivers on Celebrity Apprentice
SPECIAL:
INSIDE THE PLAZA RENOVATION
(NORMAL
or AAC
VERSION)
This is audio from that
walk-around, which also includes conversations with
CEO Tony Santo about the process of buying all the furnishings
from the never-to-open Fontainbleau and about why they
opted not to call the property the Union Plaza again.
Plus, he defines what a high-roller is at a place like
the Plaza and explains why they won’t be opening
the room balconies for guest use. The renovations will
end up costing about $35 million, up from the original
$20 million budget. Santo explains why. Finally, you
may notice the main voice on this episode belongs to
Santo, but the Plaza’s chief marketing officer,
Steve Rosen, also chimes in from time to time.
WATCH
THE FLICKR SLIDESHOW, TOO!
June
29: Phil Satre
Is Not Harrahfied
This fall will be the 100th anniversary
of the birth of William Harrah, the man whose name is
on more casinos in the world than any other. His former
company, which recently changed its name to Caesars
Entertainment, has very little planned outside of some
promotions at the original Harrah’s resort in
Reno, but we decided he deserved a little more attention
than that. Harrah died 33 years ago tomorrow at the
age of 66, so Steve spoke with his successor, Phil Satre,
who helmed Harrah’s for 21 years and is responsible
for spreading that name around the world. Satre, who
left Harrah’s in 2005 and is now the chairman
of the board of IGT, talks about the quirks and visions
that made the man what he was and then explains several
decisions made in the 1980s and 1990s including the
choice for the company to never build any new hotel-casinos
in Las Vegas. Also, Steve introduces Satre to the term
“Harrah-fy” and asks Satre whether he feels
he degraded the quality of the resorts he acquired.
In Banter: Octavius,
Plaza, Bellagio, Maloof, Hilton and an aquarium-related
Vegas-set reality show.
Open & Banter:
Start to 25ish
Phil Satre Part I: 26-58ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 58ish-1:06
Phil Satre Part II: 1:07-1:48ish
TSTToTW: 1:48-end
Links to stuff discussed:
A news
report on the Plaza and the stuff they bought F-Blew
See pix
of apparent Bellagio room redesign and hear Chuck
and others pan it on the latest
Vegas Gang show
VegasHappensHere with Flickr
slideshow of Octavius Tower VIP suite and bathroom
Oprah on the toilets
at the fancy Caesars Palace suites
Peter
Greenberg Radio Show, which Steve is on on July
2
Hilton and Hilton Worldwide in
conflict over franchise
Electric
Daisy succeeded, says Las Vegas Weekly
Steve’s column on why Las
Vegas missed the financial boat on gay marriage
Brian
Greenspun’s column on the honorable, now-2%
Palms owner George Maloof
The brief
on TANKED on Animal Planet
The Sunbelt Car Collection can be seen, according to
our TSTTotW
from Sept. 25, 2009
June
22: He's Got Celine's Back
EXTRA:
Celine's Back-Up (Violinist Philippe
Dunnigan)
It was by far the most
hyped – and to our minds the best – new
show to hit the Vegas Strip this year. Celine Dion has
returned to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in a self-titled
production that is radically different and vastly better
than “…A New Day,” her groundbreaking
first run in the vaunted showroom. Legendary TV producer
Ken Ehrlich directed “Celine,” so we spoke
to him at length about the intriguing decisions he,
the singer and her husband made. Why didn’t they
include the closing-number special effects when they
opened in March? Was it weird to rehearse Celine’s
duet with herself? What’s the story behind that
French song that makes her cry every night? Why wasn’t
the songstress at the United Center when Ehrlich produced
two star-studded final-week shows for Oprah Winfrey
last month?
In Banter: Anniversaries! Wynn Politics! TV Show Tapings!
Maloofs! Monorail Bashing! and more.
Open & Banter:
Start to 24ish
Ken Ehrlich Part I: 24-58ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 59-59ish
Ken Ehrlich Part II: 1:00-1:25ish
TSTToTW: 1:25-end
Links to Stuff Discussed:
Ken Ehrlich on
IMDB
Philippe Dunnigan's website
Tickets
for Celine Dion’s show at the Colosseum
VegasHappensHere.Com
on the Electric Daisy Carnival drama
The Electric
Daisy Carnival’s Vegas website
The audio of Steve
Wynn’s I-Voted-Obama remark on Fox
The Street on Wynn
in Singapore and Howard Stutz on Wynn
and Adelson as BFFs
Wall Street Journal on Shania
Twain coming to the Colosseum
It’s anniversary fever on the Strip: Jersey
Boys, Phantom,
Love,
Jubilee!
Steve’s column about the Starkey
Hearing Foundation event at the Hilton
Robin
Leach’s EXCLUSIVE!!!!!! coverage of the Hell’s
Kitchen taping and announcement of Gordon Ramsay restaurant
at Paris
Garth Brooks is
no longer sold out, according to Las Vegas Advisor
Business Week on the Maloof family now
only owning 2% of the Palms
VegasInc on The
Plaza’s new look is out as they plan to open
by Sept. 1
Steve’s column about the Firefly
not returning to Plaza
Adrienne Packer’s fun column about the 81-year-old
codger who timed the
monorail v walking
A picture
from VegasTripping.Com about the wrap of St. Regis
at the Venetian
Boyd
bought stuff in the Gulf Coast
CityCenter Sales office is going to be a new Star
Wars museum attraction thing
May
25: Fator vs
Fator
Terry Fator makes a lot of money
as the master behind a string of colorful, entertaining
puppets who croon standards nightly at the Mirage. But
was the singing ventriloquist himself nothing more than
a dummy, controlled by his ex-wife and so-called “handlers”
who hijacked his career following his triumph on “America’s
Got Talent”? That’s pretty much what he
tells us this week in a stunningly candid interview
that paints his former wife of 18 years as a self-aggrandizing,
hen-pecking shrew who alienated him from his family
and refused to bear him children. Melinda Fator, not
surprisingly, has a different version of the story,
and she gets her say, too. Also, the performer outs
Barry Manilow.
In Banter: Caesars wants
to soak tourists for an arena, NV may nix its smoking
ban, the FAA is silent about the Ferris Wheel, the hosts
baffle over who the &*#@ attends pro soccer and
more.
Open & Banter:
Start to 18ish
Terry Fator interview: 19-58ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 59-1:06ish
Melinda Fator interview: 1:07-1:24ish
TSTToTW: 1:24-end
Links to stuff discussed
Terry
Fator’s website
Steve’s LVW
column on Fator’s Barry Fabulous character
VegasHappensHere.Com
on Fator’s lousy break-up style
Steve’s column in the Weekly based on these
interviews
VegasMavens.Com
profile of Steve and the podcast
Smoking ban in
danger in Nevada
The R-J on the
non-groundbreaking for the Ferris Wheel
Elvis
is leaving the bathroom
Caesars’ Jan Jones writes an op-ed supporting
soaking tourists
The latest from
Howard Stutz on Christopher Milam’s arena
plans
See pictures of the
new Plaza rooms via their Facebook page
Internet Mafia Family Picnic Planned by VegasTripping.Com
Yelp on The
Henry at the Cosmopolitan
Wait
Wait Don’t Tell Me from NPR
The YouTube
video of Terry Fator at the Michael Jackson tribute
benefit
Robin Leach on
Terry Fator dumping his manager, John McEntee
J. Patrick Coolican’s turn-the-Sahara-into-the-state-capital
column
Gladys Knight raises her ticket
price
May
22: The Spawn
of Holly
Oscar Goodman may be
working overtime to ensure his wife replaces him as
the official face of Vegas, but it's been a heckuva
lot easier for the city's unofficial mascot, Holly Madison,
to spread her fame among her minions. Her longtime personal
assistant, Angel Porrino, is now a star in the new Caesars
Palace hit "Absinthe" and her best gay boyfriend,
"Peepshow" singing star Josh Strickland, recently
landed atop iTunes with his first single. And, to hear
them tell it, they owe a huge debt to one particular
former Hugh Hefner girlfriend. Porrino met Holly while
testing to be a Playboy Playmate and Strickland, who
created the role of Tarzan on Broadway and was a contestant
on the second season of American Idol, became fast friends
with the blonde bombshell when she joined the Planet
Hollywood topless production.
In Banter: Bye to Sahara
and Jerry Lewis, hi to Rod Stewart, hi and bye to Lotto
Express, a maybe-hi to Google’s driverless cars,
yay to Absinthe and more.
Open & Banter:
Start to 24ish
Angel Porrino interview: 25-53
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 54-1:04ish
Josh Strickland interview: 1:05-1:49ish
TSTToTW: 1:49-end
Links to stuff discussed
Josh Strickland’s
website,
Twitter
and hit
single
Peepshow’s website
Absinthe
site
Angel Porrino’s Wikipedia
page and Twitter
Sahara owner Sam
Nazarian’s load of bs to Johnny Kats
VegasHappensHere.Com on the Sahara
progressive drawing and the media
coverage of the closure
Pollstar.Com
on Rod Stewart coming to the Colosseum
The Washington Post on Jerry
Lewis’ MDA Telethon retirement
Hear our Jerry Lewis interviews form 2007
and 2010
The
site
for Total Rewards Marketplace
The R-J on the brief life of Lotto
ExpressThe L.A.
Times has video of the Google driverless cars idea
and Consumerist
has the Nevada angle
Yelp’s assessment of Serendipity3
VegasInc on Venetian-Palazzo
profit drop caused, perhaps, by LVS pulling most
of its comps
Also, Wynn defends
Adelson
Steve’s column for the Weekly about how the
recession could help the city
NPR’s The State
of the ReUnion episode on Vegas
The
NYT Times Talk podcast that Strickland was on with
Tim Rice
May
14 SPECIAL:
Barry Manilow
This interview was conducted
Manilow’s dressing room at the Paris Hotel-Casino.
During the interview, we delve into Manilow’s
fears about being perceived to be “over”
when he decided to headline at the Hilton, memories
he has of opening for many major acts in the 1970s and
what his digs are like when he does stay overnight here.
Manilow also answered questions about lip-synching allegations,
why he won’t do a Garth Brooks-like show and much
more.
May
11 SPECIAL: LV Mayoral Forum
This episode was recorded on May 11 at the mayoral forum
that took place before a luncheon of Las Vegas’
GLBT chamber of commerce and was moderated by me. First
you will hear Carolyn Goodman, wife of current mayor
Oscar Goodman, give opening remarks, followed by about
a 25 minute discussion with me that included some questions
of my own as well as those submitted from the audience.
After Carolyn’s turn, her opponent, County Commissioner,
Chris Giunchigliani gave her opening remarks and sat
for a 25-minute q-and-a with me as well. This audio
was edited only to remove either dead air or several
instances when the microphones squealed.
May
5: A Sweet
Show With A Bittersweet Ending
As any dessert lover
knows, there’s actually two Bellagio fountains,
the one outside that gets all the attention and the
one that flows of chocolate at the Jean Phillippe Patisserie
around the corner from the hotel’s famed Conservatory.
The second one, which owns the Guinness record for the
largest chocolate fountain, is the brainchild of our
guest this episode, Jean Philippe Maury, the French
pastry chef who now has shops in both Bellagio and Aria
and is responsible for overseeing the pastry kitchen
for all of Aria. We’ve got a delicious dish of
a discussion up ahead in which Maury explains why he
refuses to make low-calorie desserts, why most chefs
are incapable of making a simple pie and why Steve and
my wedding cake was so disgusting. Also, has Chef Maury
ever used a Betty Crocker cake mix? And, in lieu of
the Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week, we have a major
announcement regarding our future.
In Banter: Wedding mania
in Vegas and elsewhere, transmania at the Cosmo, the
Sahara shutdown begins and more.
Links to stuff
discussed
Steve Wynn’s
bizarre wedding
video and wedding portrait
Steve’s
AOL News piece on the pop-up casino
Doug Elfman’s piece from the Wynn pre-nuptial
media event
Vegas
UnCork’d website
Jean Phillippe Maury’s website
Scott Conant’s website
Steve’s blog post about his Knight-Wallace
Fellowship in Michigan
Marie Osmond got re-married to
her first husband
Marie’s
doll collection site
Trump’s appearance at the Treasure Island resort
by
AFP
Steve’s blog post on the debunked
Cosmo transgender “incident”
VegasTripping.Com on Sahara ending
the roller coaster and the big
Sahara jackpot drawing
Piero’s website
May
1: 1970s Pinups'
Vegas Invasion...
...with David Cassidy & Erik Estrada
EXCERPT:
Mayor Monster's Plan To Save Vegas!
Las Vegas used to be
a place where past-their-prime entertainers went to
die. Now, in the age of Cirque, Celine and Garth, there’s
not that much room for them to do even that. So, instead,
they just pass through. Two of the biggest heartthrobs
of the 1970s, David Cassidy and Erik Estrada, will do
just that this coming week, Estrada appearing at the
Luxor for a Cinqo de Mayo celebration and Cassidy at
the Orleans for two concerts. Both reflected on their
heyday in conversations with Steve, and Cassidy –
who starred in the MGM Grand spectacle EFX for two years
in the 1990s – talks about getting fired by would-be
presidential candidate Donald Trump in the first episode
of this season’s Celebrity Apprentice. Cassidy
also talks in detail about the EFX debacle he encountered,
and Estrada discloses what he made from that soap in
surprising detail.
In banter: Elton's coming
back, Harrah's Reno's coming back, Sahara ain't coming
back and more.
Links to stuff discussed:
Erik Estrada's Cinco
de Mayo event at T&T at Luxor
Harrah’s
Reno website
Yelp!
on the Harrah’s Steakhouse in Reno
Firkin
& Fox in Carson City
Poker’s Black Friday discussion on The
Vegas Gang
Sam
Nazarian’s LA Times claims and VegasTripping.Com’s
reaction
The Las Vegas Sun on Cirque’s
Michael Jackson plans
Chris Scott’s fundraiser pix one
and two
Erik Estrada’s website
Get
tickets to see David Cassidy at the Orleans
David
Cassidy’s website
The history of EFX
Alzheimers research charity that Cassidy
supports
April
14: Money On The Dance Floor
This week, on the Strip:
The nightclub industry in Las Vegas is a mystery to
many, including us. It’s clearly not one to Rich
Wolf who, along with Jason Strauss and some other partners
opened Tao in 200x at Venetian. They’ve been making
unthinkable piles of money ever since, even though the
idea of a hip nightclub at a Sheldon Adelson business
and convention resort seemed nuts when they spent $20
million to build it. Now they own Lavo at Palazzo and
the newest hotspot, Marquee and the Cosmopolitan. In
this chat, we hear the mind-boggling numbers behind
the business, try to get to the bottom of where –
especially in this economy – all this money is
coming from and what the appeal is of being in a club
with a celebrity. Also, did stars really get those rumored
six-figure paychecks at the height of the boom and how
much are they getting now?
In Banter: Absinthe is
a critical hit, Frank Marino’s spending habits
exposed, Cosmo could be cooling off, show tickets rise,
Marriott dreams big and how seriously do Vegas resorts
intend their online responsible gaming efforts to be?
Links:
Tao Group’s
homepage
The R-J’s Mike Weatherford gives Absinthe
an A-
Angel
Porrino and Josh
Strickland, Holly Madison’s progeny
Tillerman closed, per Steve's
LVW column
VegasHappensHere.Com
on responsible gaming sites
Cosmopolitan room rates may
be cooling off
Marriott
talking about building a 3,000-room place near the
LVCC
Show ticket survey from Las Vegas Advisor, via
Weatherford
April
5: View From
The Top Of The Stratosphere
The announcement of the
closure of the Sahara means a lot for Vegas historians
and enthusiasts, but it also will have some consequences
for one of the city’s most notable landmarks,
The Stratosphere. As that resort turns 15 years old
this month, it finds itself increasingly isolated north
of the Strip right when new management has been spending
millions to clean it up and modernize it. We’ll
hear in this episode from Frank Riolo, the CEO of the
Stratosphere’s parent company, American Casino
and Entertainment Properties, about what’s in
store for the fifth tallest structure in America. Will
there ever a casino at the top of the tower? Why did
Steve Wynn scream Riolo? And what does Riolo wish he
could ask the ghost of Bob Stupak?
In Banter: Getting to the bottom of Oscar Goodman’s
drinking, looking at legalizing sports and mobile gambling,
Expedia’s new loyalty program and Steve &
Amy’s Liberace adventure.
Links for stuff discussed:
Steve's Tablet
Mag piece on the Jewishness
of the Goodmans
Norm
Clarke on Britney’s potential Vegas headlining
gig
Reviews of Charlie Sheen in Chicago
and Detroit
Steve’s AOL News piece on the efforts to legalize
web poker in Nevada and several other states
Liz
Benston’s cool first-person piece on the Leroy’s
online sports betting thing in the Las Vegas Sun
Budget Travel has details on Expedia's
new rewards program
A Twitpic
re: Bellagio
Furniture in L.A.
The Stratosphere
and ACEP's
home pages
A Sun piece on the Stratosphere
renovations
Steve’s
LVW column about Gladys Knight
ELECTION
SPECIAL: The Good(man) Wife
The race for Las Vegas
mayor is heating up with the April 5 primary, and the
frontrunner by all accounts is none other than Carolyn
Goodman, the wife of Mayor Oscar Goodman. Steve is working
on several stories related to the race, so he sat down
for this lengthy, thorough conversation with Mrs. Goodman
on March 31. This interview has already become controversial
because of how the candidate responded to questions
about gay marriage and immigration reform, but here’s
your chance to hear for yourself who she is and where
she comes from. Carolyn Goodman opens up about her husband’s
famed history as a defense attorney for several infamous
mob figures, describes her upbringing and family life,
responds tartly to attacks from her two main rivals
and much more. The interview took place at The Beat
Coffeehouse in downtown Las Vegas, which explains the
background noise.
Relevant Links:
Steve's AOL News
pieces before
and after
the April 5 election
The Goodmans profile from TabletMag.Com
Columns by Jon
Ralston and Steve
Sebelius regarding this interview
VegasHappensHere.Com excerpts from this interview and
other discussion
March
29: The Donny
& Marie Show
As we record this episode
of our show, the folks at the Flamingo Las Vegas are
busy applying a spankin’ new wrap to the hotel’s
Strip side. And while the faces will be the same –
Donny and Marie, of course – they’ll look
a little less cheesy, a little more rock n roll. As
Donny Osmond explains this hour, the original wrap was
thrown up in a hurry when the sibling duo opened there
in 2008. But now they’ve weathered a withering
recession and passed their 500th performance, so it’s
time for something more current and durable. How much
longer can they dominate Vegas? Donny’s answer:
Forever. Sort of. Stick around to hear what the big
brother has to say about their future and hear him play
some bits of their first album of new music in decades.
Also, Marie chimes in a bit as well.In Banter: Celine's
return, Terry Fator's gay puppet, Loews LV's William
and Kate deal, the ex-Rao chef's new gigs, and much
more.
Links to stuff discussed:
Steve’s bathroom-related
Tweet
Blog wrap-up,
review,
Flickr
and special
edition of The Strip, re: Celine
Steve’s Las
Vegas Weekly column about rude Vegas tweeting
Steve’s Pine Mouth affliction, per
ABC News
Terry Fator’s Berry
Fabulous
Loews Las Vegas' $249 Royal
Wedding Deal
The Alaska
Daily News on Alaska’s new Vegas effort to
lure tourists to Palin Country
Doug Elfman’s take on MGM Grand’s Scott
Sibella on "Undercover Boss"
Former
Rao’s chef Carla Pellegrino’s new restaurant
and taking over the Trop place
Donny & Marie tickets at the
Flamingo
The sites of Donny
and Marie
Apple
suing others for use of the term App Store
SPECIAL
VIDEO EDITION:
CELINE'S BACK
Exclusive video reporting
from Celine Dion's return to Caesars Palace on opening
night, March 15, 2011. Includes photos, a singing interview
with fans and an impromptu review from Robin Leach of
VegasDeluxe.Com. In addition, there's some footage from
Celine Dion's press conference after the show. Also,
check out Steve's
A+ review, Flickr
slideshow and general
thoughts on the opening.
March
15:The Caveman
and the Chip Monk
A Caveman and a Chipmonk
walk into a bar. Actually, they’ve never even
met, but they have one thing in common: They both were
interviewed by Steve last month. The Caveman is comedian
and actor Kevin Burke, who has clocked more than 1,500
performances in “Defending The Caveman”
first at the Golden Nugget, then the Excalibur and now
Harrah’s Las Vegas. And the chip monk is the nickname
earned by Arthur Nelson, the organist who has cashed
in casino chips for Guardian Angel Cathedral on the
Strip for decades.
In Banter: Sahara closing,
Celine opening, re-reviewing Criss Angel, geocaching
shut down, earth-moving extravagance ramps up, Rumor
for rent and Gladys on the cheap.
Links To Stuff Discussed:
Get tickets for Defending
The Caveman
See the column
and pictorial
about the Guardian Angel Cathedral and the Chip Monk
The Strip episode with Richard
Marx
Jean Bartel podcast
and Strip
Sense column
VegasHappensHere.Com
on Sahara closure
Dr. Dave Schwartz’s comment on the Sahara closure
via David
McKee’s blog
Gladys
Knight is the Trop’s Celine Dion
A photo of the Alabama lady’s betting
slip
Sinatra
Dance With Me Extended to April
The R-J TV columnist Christopher Lawrence in the Sister
Wives moving to Vegas
Spirit Air helps LA-LV
flights plummeting
Rent
Rumor for $13,000 the whole thing, 180 rooms
Go move earth for $400
for three hours in Vegas
Adrienne
Packer’s column on the geocaching shut down
along the Extraterrestrial Highway
A bill pending in the Nevada Legislature as an end-run
around the federal restrictions on Web
poker and gambling
SPECIAL:
A Conversation With Richard Marx
Listeners of this show will NOT be surprised to learn
that Steve is a big fan of none other than 1980s and
1990s pop balladeer Richard Marx. So when the opportunity
presented itself to interview Marx on Thursday, he made
it work. Since Marx plays the Orleans Hotel-Casino in
Las Vegas this Saturday and Sunday, March 12 and 13,
we didn’t want to wait until next week’s
show to release it. Marx, of course, is well known for
some of the biggest pop ballads of the 1990s including
“Hold On To The Nights,” “Now and
Forever” and “Right Here Waiting.”
Over the past decade, he became a music producer and
songwriter for the likes of N Sync, Barbra Steisand
and Luther Vandross. He lives with his wife, “Flashdance”
and “Dirty Dancing” star Cynthia Rhodes,
and their three sons in the Chicago suburbs. In his
hey day, Marx sold more than 30 million records and
was the first solo artist to see his first seven songs
make the top 5 on the Hot 100 singles charts.
In this conversation, Marx explains why he stopped cutting
albums of his own, expresses pity and annoyance at Phil
Collins of Collins’ recent public diatribe against
the music business and sings some of the very well-known
advertising jingles his father wrote.
Relevant links:
Richard Marx's
website
Get
tickets to Marx's Orleans shows
Phil Collins' recent
rant as he retires
More on Marx's dad, Dick Marx, aka the Jingle
King
March
7: There She Was, Miss America
Less than two months ago, Miss America 1943 Jean Bartel
was in Las Vegas for the pageant’s 90th anniversary
celebration. She was the oldest living winner of the
pageant and she had played the Strip as a singer at
Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo back in the day. Steve
interviewed her for his Jan. 19 column for the Las Vegas
Weekly, and she sounded hale and hearty then. But on
March 6, she died at the age of 87, so we remember her
by playing Bartel’s final interview. In it, she
offers her recollections as a groundbreaking Miss America
who led the charge to create the scholarship program
that is now its hallmark. Bartel also was the first
Miss America to go to college, sold the most bonds in
1943 to support the World War II and even helped the
US with some espionage work during the Cold War. During
this conversation, she tells of hanging out with Danny
Thomas at the Flamingo, reveals that her crown is on
display at the Smithsonian and recalls Beth Myerson,
Vanessa Williams and many other former beauty queens.
In Banter: A Provo adventure, a word about cousin Paul
Stanley, Ruffin doubts on the Cosmo, Caesars takes Fontainbleau’s
castoff show and more.
Links to Stuff Discussed:
Steve’s Jean
Bartel column and her LA
Times obituary
Follow Rod
Schiffman on Twitter
Watch Phil Ruffin's 3/7 appearance on Sam Shad's Nevada
Newsmakers program.
Caesars Palace is turning a tower over to
Nobu
The latest on Charlie
Palmer’s hotel in downtown Vegas
Terry
Fator’s gay puppet debuts on George Lopez
show
VegasHappensHere.Com on the similarities between Fator’s
cougar puppet and Lucy the Slut from Avenue Q
Steve’s Vegas
pool reviewfor the LA Times
Report from Reuters on suicide
at Cosmopolitan
Chuck Monster’s Vegas
Tripping rant about his latest Cosmo misery
VegasHappensHere.Com,
AOL
News and the
Las Vegas Weekly about the Las Vegas Mob Experience
at the Trop
MGM Resorts’ press release extending health benefits
for transgender
care
VegasHappensHere.Com
on the Vdara Kwik-E-Mart
Absinthe show opening March 21 outside
Caesars
Steve’s AFP
piece on Teresa Scanlan’s Miss America 2011
triumph
Special:
Gennifer Flowers' Vegas Residency
To go along with our
1990s Tabloid Stars of Vegas theme from this week's
proper episode of The Strip, we're also posting Steve's
chat with Gennifer Flowers, Bill Clinton's original
other woman. Flowers now splits her time between Vegas
and New Orleans, two cities that she says are particularly
welcoming to those, like herself, trying to live decent
lives despite their controversial notoriety. Flowers
rates the Clinton presidency, opines on Hillary's competence
as SoS and as a fashion figure and explains why anyone
would want to own jewelry or clothes from the Gennifer
Flowers Collection. Flowers also explains how she can
claim to have been the "Most Googled Name"
of 2008, as her website suggests.
Links:
Site for Gennifer
Flowers Collection
Gennifer Flowers' website
Norm
Clarke’s piece on the Breck Wall memorial
Feb.
21: The 1990s
Tabloid Stars of Las Vegas
SPECIAL:
Gennifer Flowers
We all know that Las Vegas has long been a haven for
washed up show business stars, but in the past decade
or so we’ve also become a mecca of sorts for 1990s
tabloid fixtures, too. The list of Las Vegans who earned
household-name infamy at the end of the previous century
includes Heidi Fleiss, Mike Tyson, John Wayne Bobbitt,
Gennifer Flowers and, most recently, Mary Jo Buttafuoco.
Steve had lengthy, fascinating conversations with Flowers
and Buttafuoco for a recent Las Vegas Weekly column,
but they’re just too long, even for us, to put
both in the same episode. So here’s what we’re
going to do: In this episode we’ll hear the conversation
with Buttafuoco, whose husband’s teenage girlfriend
shot her in the head in 1992, and we’ll put out
the interview with Flowers, Bill Clinton’s original
other woman, as a special edition of the show.
In Banter: BMG moving, non-sports betting is coming,
Wynn loves Chinese government meddling, Celine fans
love Steve’s tweets, and more.
Links to Stuff Discussed:
Mary Jo Buttafuoco’s book
and website
VegasHappensHere.Com
and Mike
Weatherford on Blue Man Group moving
Cirque du Soleil’s homepage for local
Nevadan deals
The press release about the Jabbawockeez
teaching dance at UNLV
VegasHappensHere.Com
on the Wynn changes
The weird sh*t Wynn said during the
earnings call
The Review-Journal
on Macau’s $185 million day
The Las Vegas Sun on the prospect of taking wagers on
non-sporting
events
The
AP report on the drop in weddings in Las Vegas
VegasTripping.Com’s YouTube
clip of Watson answering a Wynn question
Some of Steve’s funny Celine-related Tweets are
here,
here,
here
and here
VegasHappensHere.Com on the MGM
Auction and what
Steve bought
Steve’a AOL News piece when they unveiled the
Gold ATM at Golden Nugget
The Las
Vegas Sun on the plan for a fucking Ferris Wheel
on the south Strip
Sheldon Adelson wants to build a Strip
in Spain, the R-J reports
KTNV
on air traffic to Vegas going up 5% in January
B.B. King’s at Mirage is in
bankruptcy
Steve’s
AOL News piece on Mary Jo Buttafuoco’s thoughts
on Gabby Giffords
Steve’s column on Vegas tabloid
star residents
Feb.
10: Hi, Sierra
REISSUE:
Sierra Boggess on The Strip in 2006
If you rack your brain
hard enough, you’ll still fail to come up with
any star of the Vegas stage quite like Sierra Boggess.
We’ve had plenty of hugely famous people perform
and countless formerly famous people attempt to revive
careers here. But Boggess is singular as an actress
whose first big break was in a Vegas production, “Phantom:
The Las Vegas Spectacular”, and who has then moved
on to star in a major Broadway production followed,
now, by opening the Phantom sequel “Love Never
Dies” in London’s West End. Now the 28-year-old
is about to return to Broadway as one of the most in-demand
ingénues of her age. We visited our little Sierra
in her dressing room in London last week, and we’ll
play that conversation for you today.
In Banter: Our London sojourn, the Twitter Twerps drama,
Super Bowl TV ad drama, Cher's odd goodbye.
Links to stuff discussed:
Steve’s Flickr page of London
pix
Alex Hull’s Buzz
Lightyear drawing
The British
Airways menu image
London Club’s Empire
Casino in Leicester Square, London
The Twitter Twerps Column
Our first
interview with Sierra Boggess from 2007
Broadway.Com
on Sierra's Rebecca reading
Sierra Boggess nominated for
Olivier Award
Jan.
22: The Top 10 Moments of
2010
We know we’ve been gone too long and we’re
sorry. But we’re back to count down the 10 best
moments of 2010 as voted on by you. And here’s
a hint: there’s a dash of Oscar, a dollop of the
Wynns and a whole bowl of me beating up on Steve for
being an ill-spoken weirdo.
In Banter: Our staycation with PETS at Cosmo, Alex's
closure, our newest dog, Aces, our recording troubles,
Aria's wrap woes, losing the Trippies, MGM Resorts'
M Life and more.
Links to stuff discussed:
The blog post about our show
woes
VegasHappensHere.Com
on adopting Aces
The show with Sierra
Boggess and Sierra’s
bio
Our staycation
at Cosmo – and what it was like to bring
the pets
Yelp on Scarpetta,
Holstein’s,
and Jaleo
Eric
Gladstone and John
Curtas think Wynn is downgrading the culinary scene
there
Sinatra Dance With Me extended into
April
The R-J on the possible
40,000-seat arena from the Silverton owner and UNLV
The Sun on the $20 million Stratosphere
renovation and our Jan.3
Tweet on that
Stories about M Life from MGM Resorts from VegasTripping.Com
and the Las
Vegas Sun
Possible
mayoral candidates in Vegas get ready
SPECIAL
VIDEO: Steve on KSNV on New Year's Eve
Dec.
19: Twyla
Dances With Vegas
SPECIAL:
STEVE ON VEGAS GANG EVALUATING COSMO
Twyla Tharp has been
that unusual New York dance figure who has long dabbled
in popular culture, largely a result of being exposed
as a kid to lots of movie musicals while working at
her parents’ drive-in theater in California. She
studied dance with such legends as Martha Graham, then
formed her own dance company in the mid-1960s and by
1973 was having the Joffrey Ballet do numbers to Beach
Boys music. She choreographed several Hollywood films
including the dancing horse scene from “Hair,”
and in 2001 her Billy Joel-scored production “Movin’
Out” became a Broadway smash. As you’re
about to hear, Tharp, a Tony winner and Kennedy Center
Honoree, has long been friends with Steve Wynn and has
long been enthralled by Frank Sinatra music, so she’s
excited to bring “Sinatra Dance With Me”
to the Wynn Las Vegas was easy. It opened last weekend
to an A-minus grade from Mike Weatherford and with blogger
David McKee both liking it and wondering if it’s
too artsy for Vegas audiences.Tharp, however, believes
Strip tourists will understand the show better than
show-goers in New York.
In Banter: A NYC adventure,
a Cosmo adventure, a KNPR adventure, a Vdara adventure
and more.
Links to stuff discussed:
Get tickets to Sinatra
Dance With Me at Wynn
Read Mike
Weatherford’s A-minus review of Sinatra Dance
With Me
Steve’s column
and BroadwayWorld.com
pieces on Twyla Tharp and Vegas
Strange Radio’s website
Yelp on China
MaMa, RM
Seafood (Mandalay Bay) and Jean
Phillippe (Aria)
VegasHappensHere.Com
on Vdara trying to extort Miles’ sister
Amy & Bay’s latest (finally!) episode of their
Grits
to Glitz podcast
The Marriott
East Side where we stayed in Manhattan
Katz’s
Deli
Yelp on NYC’s Milos
and Blue
Ribbon Sushi in New York City
VegasHappensHere.Com
on McCarran returning his driver’s license
Hear Steve’s assessment of Cosmopolitan on The
Vegas Gang
Hear Steve discuss the Cosmo and the year in Vegas entertainment
on KNPR’s
State of Nevada
The R-J’s report on the plan for New
Year’s Eve Fireworks
VegasHappensHere.Com
on lousy post-Cosmo-opening stories ignoring problems
The Newsweek Mapicle that Miles saved us quite a lot
of ridicule on
The Strip Sense on Elaine Wynn’s $5
million gift
The latest on the Bellagio
robbery of $1.5 million in chips
The Kinsey
Confidential Podcast
SPECIAL:
Cosmo CEO John Unwin Speaks!
In this conversation,
Steve and John discuss everything from whether the city
needs another megaresort to Steve Wynn’s criticism
that the resort is quote “an extraordinary example
of ill-conceived plans.” Also, what’s it
like to now be one of Wynn’s peers?
One important note: About halfway into this conversation,
Unwin begins laying out his theory as to why the Cosmopolitan
is a different resort gunning for a different audience
than the rest of the high-end Vegas market. To do so,
he draws Steve a grid. You can find that grid either
on your iPod or here.
Dec.
5: Foodie Fight
Three Ways...
...with Franck Savoy, Al Mancini
& Ric Guerrero
By now everybody who listens to this program, reads
Steve’s blog or enjoys eating out on the Strip
must know about all the controversy kicked up over this
little book that recently came out that names the 50
quote-unquote essential restaurants in Las Vegas. Steve
had some issues, so on this show he’s invited
co-author and food critic Al Mancini into the LVRocks.Com
studio to hash it out on the air, live. Before we get
to that, though, Steve interviewed Franck Savoy, the
31-year-old son of Guy Savoy who was just named director
of restaurants at Caesars Palace. Savoy dishes about
growing up in Paris as the son of the famed chef, what’s
really happening at rumor-riddled Bradley Ogden and,
of course, what his fast-food guilty pleasures are.
And, in a special INTERVIEW edition of the Top Secret
Tourist Tip of the Week, Ric Guerrero of Slidin Thru
breaks some news.
In Banter: The mayor's
Ferris wheel, Ruffin's Starbucks, Wynn's expo center,
Rhumbar's kangaroos, Frank Marino's blood drive and
other absurdities.
Links to Stuff Discussed:
Franck
Savoy’s ascendancy at Caesars Palace
Steve’s Las
Vegas Weekly column on the book “Eating Las
Vegas”
The Slidin Thru website
VegasHappensHere.Com on Slidin’
Thru’s new brick-and-mortar store
VegasHappensHere.Com
on the Bradley Ogden drama
Steve Wynn is engaged, per Robin
Leach and Norm
Clarke
Steve’s LA
Times piece on the topless shows in Vegas
Vote for us for the
Trippies
The Eating
Las Vegas book site
Al Mancini’s blog, The
Second Deadly Sin
The Rhumbar,
Sea World and the kangaroo
News about Susan
Anton in Menopause, Bobby
Slayton at Hooters and Boys
II Men at Flamingo
Singer Tommy
Held’s website
Frank
Marino’s blood drive and why Frank can’t
give blood
* * *
Nov.
29: An Andy
Williams Holiday Special – With Dog Food
You think of Andy Williams,
you think Christmas specials, Moon River and Branson,
Missouri. You do NOT think of LSD, eating dog food or
strident political commentary. Williams, the legendary
crooner who’s now 83, appears in December at the
Las Vegas Hilton, so Steve chatted with him about some
of the revelations in the book, including the time he
saw Frank Sinatra flash his brutal side and what it
was like to be on the funeral train with Bobby Kennedy’s
coffin.
In Banter: A Cosmo preview,
a debate over food critic anonymity, gambling as a cure
for "homosexual problems," an El Cortez room
design contest and a Thanksgiving Day fire.
Links to stuff discussed:
Andy Williams’
site
Get tickets to see Andy Williams at the Las
Vegas Hilton on Dec 23-24
We’re nominated
for Trippies for blog, Twitterer and podcast
The weird
rules of the Nov. 20 Northwestern v Illinois game
at Wrigley Field
The Cosmopolitan’s innovative Identity
Club, from the Las Vegas Sun
The blog
and LVW
column regarding the Eating Las Vegas book and controversy
Las Vegas Sun’s interactive package about El
Cortez’s room-design contest
The R-J’s piece on the
prison jail's casino and “homosexual problems”
Harrah’s becomes Caesars
Entertainment
Heidi
Fleiss’ fire in Pahrump and the birds
* * *
SPECIAL
AUDIO:
TSA DIRECTOR TALKS ABOUT ENHANCED AIRPORT SCREENINGS
John Pistole, TSA director,
answers questions from journalists about enhanced searches
at airports, which have become controversial. Among
revelations: Some religious people can do their own
headgear patdowns, children under 12 don't get the full
patdown, there is intelligence that terrorists have
used teens to try to smuggle explosives on board, and
the actual complaint rate is fairly low.
*
* *
Nov.
22: Wait Wait, Don't Tell Louie
Louie Anderson may spend
a lot of time joking about his weight, but he’s
also getting serious about doing something about it.
The legendary stand-up comedian, whose act is suddenly
fresher and funnier now that he’s left the Excalibur
for a eponymous showroom at the Palace Station, is focusing
on new material, new endeavors and a new emphasis on
living healthier. He explains to Steve this hour what
incidents and family tragedies have prompted this as
well as why he plans to chronicle his battle of the
bulge in daily video blogs. Plus, which line of Steve’s
questioning really annoyed him and why are the Louie-hosted
years of the Family Feud not available for reruns? That’s
coming up. Also, the NPR show “Wait Wait Don’t
Tell Me” came to the Paris Las Vegas this week
and Steve, fan boy that he is, sat down with host Peter
Sagal in, of all places, Barry Manilow’s dressing
room to find out what questions he decided NOT to ask
Wayne Newton.
In Banter: Wait Wait in Vegas, a new dining "guide,"
the slot business ponders you, Cosmo images leaking,
Harrah's cancels its IPO and the Wayner gets approved
for his museum and tour plans.
Links to stuff discussed
Get tickets to Louie
Anderson’s show at Palace Station
Louie’s site,
Twitter
and the correct Facebook
page
Hear the Vegas edition of Wait
Wait
Faith
Salie’s site
VegasHappensHere.Com sneak-peak
pictures of Cosmopolitan
Wayne
Newton wins approval for his planned tours and museum
The Strip episode of audio of Steve’s G2E panel
from 2009
on Encore design
Our 2006
interview with Louie Anderson
The Amazon.Com listing for the book “Eating
Las Vegas”
Harrah’s
is delaying its big plans and canceling its IPO
Yelp! On Hash
House A Go Go, Rosemary,
Bouchon
and China
MaMa
* * *
Nov.
14: Mysterawockeez!
...with Brian Dewhurst and Phil Tayag
Just as the seminal Cirque
du Soleil production Mystere was celebrating an astounding
8,000 performances at Treasure Island last month, the
hiphop dance crew Jabbawockeez began a residency a t
the Monte Carlo. The two have more in common than you
might suspect, both being starless, wholly original
visual spectacles that seemed unlikely to make much
of a splash in Las Vegas. Mystere, obviously, has. We’ll
have to see how Jabbawockeez does, but we’ll hear
from stars of both in this episode. First, Steve talks
to Brian Dewhurst, who was artistic coordinator for
Mystere when it opened in 1993 and in 2000 began performing
as a clown in the show. Then, later, we’ll have
Steve’s interview with Phil Tayag, the youngest
original member of Jabbawockeez.
In Banter: Chip Lightman moves on from Donny & Marie,
Rita moves on from Harrah’s, MGM Resorts wants
to move on from the Harmon, Steve Wynn has moved on
from meat and more.
Links to stuff discussed:
Tickets for Mystere
and Jabbawockeez
The Jabbawockeez website
A profile from Via
Magazine of Brian Dewhurst from Mystere
VegasHappensHere.Com
on Chip Lightman’s settlement with Donny &
Marie
Rita Rudner’s news that she’s moving
to Venetian in January
Howard
Stutz’s scoop confirming MGM Resorts may implode
the Harmon
Steve’s Las Vegas Weekly column urging MGM Resorts
not
to put a wrap on Aria
The Las
Vegas Sun’s piece on renting out the condos
at Mandarin, Vdara or Veer
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me’s site
Tickets
to see Wait Wait live on 11/18 at Paris Las Vegas
The gambling win, room rates and visitation numbers
were
all up this month
British Airways is adding bigger planes with first class
from London
to Vegas
Steve’s AOL
News piece on the World Series of Poker’s
grand finale
VegasHappensHere.Com on Wynn Las Vegas jacking up Garth
Brooks tickets by
$110 a seat
John Katsilometes’ Steve Wynn piece on
his veganism in the Las Vegas Weekly
Robin Leach reports about Steve Wynn’s reworked
will
VegasHappensHere.Com
on all the other various Wynn news, including the Pascal
departure and the earnings call
The Indian
TV interview in which Wynn discusses the Kevyn Wynn
kidnapping in detail at the 24ish minute mark
* * *
Nov.
8:
The Agony of Frank Sinatra Jr.
Frank Sinatra Jr. has
the voice, the stage presence and the look. So why is
he not successful? Or, rather, why does HE say he’s
not successful? In this conversation with Steve, the
son of the legendary Chairman of the Board is stunningly
candid about the disappointments in his life, including
the fact that he never really felt close to his father
and doesn’t know whether his dad was proud of
him. Plus, find out what famous actor’s home he
and his friends never visited on Halloween, learn how
he felt about playing such off-Strip sites as Boulder
Station and the Suncoast, and hear some intimate details
about his 1963 kidnapping. Also, how did that unusual
appearance on the pilot of the Vegas-set CBS show “The
Defenders” come about?
Links to stuff discussed:
See Frank Sinatra
Jr. at The Orleans from
Nov. 19-21
Frank Sinatra Jr.'s The
Defenders cameo
A good
piece on the kidnapping of Frank Jr.
* * *
Nov.
2: Dancing
With Rita At The ‘Palooza
She’s danced on
Broadway, told jokes in Carnegie Hall and, of course,
headlined in Vegas for nearly a decade. And now, Rita
Rudner is about to reach her career apex, appearing
with us at the Go Pool at the Flamingo Las Vegas. That’s
right, we’re LIVE at the third annual Vegas Podcast-a-Palooza
to chat up the Harrah’s Las Vegas comedienne and
her husband about their careers, their politics and
much more. Also, when will Rita be at Harrah’s?
Answer: Probably sooner than later.
In Banter: Lion King is leaving, Lotus of Siam is exported,
Las Vegans are out of their minds, Venetian-Palazzo
checks into a new alliance and more.
Links to stuff discussed:
Rita Rudner’s website
Get
tickets for Rita Rudner at Harrah’s Las Vegas
See Rita’s funny Harry Reid ad, “Crazy
Juice”
Video of Rita’s
routine for Obama at Caesars Palace
VegasHappensHere.Com interpretation of The
Lion King closure
Cirque’s
announcement of its Michael Jackson arena show,
Immortal
Mike Weatherford’s Criss
Angel piece
Lotus
of Siam heads to New York City
The Venetian-Palazzo joins the InterContinental
Alliance
VegasTripping.Com
on “Harmonizing” the St. Regis
The website for the Jabbawockeez
at Monte Carlo
The
Daily Beast says Vegas is the dumbest city in America
Steve’s pieces on Shelley Berkley for Tablet
and the Weekly
* * *
Oct.
25: SUPERSIZED! Wayne's World
Wayne Newton is not broke. Really. Just
ask him, and he’ll tell you all about it. We did
so, as you’re about to hear, and Mr. Las Vegas
is surprisingly forthcoming about all those recent lawsuits
and much more. Steve visited Newton this week at his
ranch, Casa de Shenandoah, to hear all about the plans
to open his home and property to tours along with a
nearby museum for Las Vegas entertainer history. Also,
how does the Wayner keep his hair so darned black? Why
does his left eye shimmer? Has he ever influenced a
president? And how will he know when his voice has given
out to the point he can't perform anymore?
In Banter: Sinatra dances with Wynn, Harrah's dances
with an IPO, the Cosmo dances with pets and TV ads and
the Gift of Lights banishes itself to the Speedway.
Links to Stuff Discussed:
Wayne Newton’s home pix on Flickr
and on VegasHappensHere.Com
Wayne’s official
site
News about Wayne’s tumultuous meeting
with neighbors and the “abandoned”
plane
Twyla Tharp’s Sinatra
Dance With Me coming to the Wynn
Robin Leach’s Cirque
scoop
Howard Stutz of the R-J on Harrah’s plans to go
public
BMX Superstar TJ
Lavin’s latest condition
Gift
of Lights moving to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway?!?
Comparing The Cosmopolitan’s first
TV ad to Aria's
VegasTripping.Com
on the Cosmo announcing they will be pet friendly
* * *
Oct.
18: A Very Rickles Friessmas
Rickles. His name is
synonymous with the so-called insult comic, a label
he alternately embraces and cringes over. He is, he
insists, a whole lot more than that. For one thing,
his voice is in this year’s top-grossing movie
of the year, Toy Story III. Don Rickles is our guest
this hour, discussing the late Tony Curtis, the pranks
Sinatra and the boys played on him, how he first got
to Vegas and how other so-called insult comics like
Brad Garrett learned the craft from him. Also, find
out where his toughest Vegas gig took place.
In banter: Zipline mania, Hoover Dam bridge mania, Harrah’s
mania and more.
Links to Stuff Discussed:
Don Rickles’ website,
we think
Zipline
on Fremont Street
Steve’s story breaking the zipline at
Gadling.Com
Yelp on the Triple
George in downtown Vegas
Steve’s AOL
News piece on the hula hoop controversy at Fremont
Street Experience
VegasHappensHere.Com on the original Excalibur-zipline
rumor
A photo of the Slots-a-Fun
carpeting in our neighbors’ garage floor
Steve’s
coverage of the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge and blog
pictorial
A photo of the mammoth line outside the Pawn
Stars shop
VegasHappensHere.Com on Harrah’s trifecta: the
Petstay
program, Wait
Wait coming to Vegas and the
All-Access Pass
Steve’s Las
Vegas Weekly column on the Chip Lightman lawsuit
regarding Donny & Marie
Tom Breitling left
the Wynn month ago
Vegas native TJ Lavin’s big
BMX accident in Vegas
Go here to sign
up for a chance to meet Barack Obama
A link to what “eminence
grise” means
Howard Schwartz’s podcast, The
Gamblers Book Shop show
Get “Foul
Play” on DVD on Amazon.Com
* * *
Oct.
9: TOTALLY 80s...with Corey
Feldman & Expose
It’s TOTALLY ‘80s
Week! Former child star Corey Feldman is coming to Vegas
this month to promote another sequel to “Lost
Boys” with a screening of the original at House
of Blues and an appearance by Feldman’s band.
So Steve gets his thoughts on being a Strip headliner
for the first time and his memories of his underage
clubhopping in Vegas back in the day. Plus, the wildly
successful girl and now reunited pop band Expose plays
in Henderson this weekend, which seemed like as good
a time as any to chat up lead singer Jeanette Jurado,
a Las Vegas resident who also opened the short-lived
but critically beloved New York-New York show, Madhattan.
In Banter: Our Signature
staycation, gaming numbers are up, Toni Braxton's chips
are way down, the Plaza buys its furnishings, the Trop
has a massive billboard planned and Jersey Boys is going
Hollywood.
Links to stuff discussed:
Expose’s website
Corey Feldman’s Lost Boys Ball at House
of Blues at Mandalay Bay
Feldman’s site and the site of the Truth Movement
Buy the
Lost Boys films on DVD and Blue-Ray
A link to the MGM
Signature
Yelp on Craftsteak
The LVCVA’s
latest gaming and hotel data and Howard
Stutz’s report of same
Resorts in Atlantic City will
retheme in a Boardwalk Empire motif
Norm Clarke on Toni
Braxton’s economic disaster and its Vegas
relevance
VegasHappensHere.Com on the FBI saying we’re
No. 3
The New York Times does a
front page piece on Vegas’ economic woes
Geoff
Schumacher and Doug
Elfman cry a river over the NYT’s front page
piece on Vegas’ economic woes
The Las Vegas Sun on the Plaza buying all the F-blew
castoff inventory
VegasHappensHere.Com
on the Tropicana’s ginormous billboard
Bali
Hai might close
Corey Feldman’s site
and the site of the
Truth Movement
New
York Comic-Con
Norm Clarke discusses the quandary of Tweeting at Tony
Curtis’ funeral
* *
*
Oct.
3: A Sweeter, Thorn-Free Rose
SPECIAL
REISSUE: Pete Rose's bitter 2007 appearance
Three years ago, Pete
Rose was still pretty bitter when he spoke to Steve
about his banishment from baseball and the inequity
that he’s still not eligible for the Hall of Fame
while the villains of baseball’s steroid era are.
But these days Rose has mellowed and, as you hear, is
humble and contrite about his past misdeeds as well
as patient for the day when he might be reinstated.
This interview was recorded in early September before
Rose was honored for the 25th anniversary of breaking
the all-time hit record, and he is clearly excited about
that moment. He continues to sign autographs for pay
15 days a month at the Field of Dreams at the Forum
Shops.
In Banter: Vdara death
ray mania, F-bleau's fire sale, Rod Stewart, Wicked
and EXPOSE!!! are coming, Miles hearts CityCenter, RIP
the spunky Tony Curtis and more.
Links to stuff discussed:
Pete Rose’s
site
and schedule
at Field of Dreams
The initial RJ,
AOL,
Today
and ABC stories on the Vdara Death Ray story
The R-J
and Sun’s
follow-ups on Vdara Death Ray
The Vdara Death Ray in Bluff The Listener on “Wait
Wait Don’t Tell Me”
A picture of the Bellagio’s boring
Conservatory for the fall
Stiffs & Georges on whether the death ray will
sink Bobby Baldwin at MGM
Steve’s Las
Vegas Weekly column on how much Miles’ family
liked CityCenter
Tony
Curtis Central, including links to our old shows
and Steve's 2008 LVW column
Steve's AOL
News obit about Tony Curtis
Hear the spunky part from Tony Curtis once again [NSFW]
Yelp! On Julian
Serrano
and Todd
English PUB
Rod Stewart is at the Colosseum, years after his
Harrah’s
lawsuit
Expose is playing the
Henderson Pavilion for $10 a person
The R-J’s
report on the Wicked preview event, plus a
Twitpic that Steve took
The Smith
Center For the Performing Arts’ site
VegasTripping.Com
on the F’bleau fire sale
Angel Management Group takes
over Pure
Soon-to-open Cosmopolitan names
its nightclub and is hiring
5,000 people
The VegasQuiz
app from the fine folks at RateVegas
* * *
SPECIAL EPISODE REISSUES:
Tony Curtis Revealed PARTS ONE
& TWO
In honor of Tony Curtis'
death on Sept. 29, we've reissued our stunning interview
with Tony Curtis from October 2008. Read Steve's obituary
from AOL News, too.
* * *
SPECIAL:
VEGAS TOP CHEFTESTANT SPEAKS OUT
Stephen Hopcraft, executive
chef at Seablue at MGM Grand, gives us a rare inside
look at what goes on behind the scenes of the hit show
and gossips about the Loser House, Eric Ripert, Tom
Colicchio, pea puree and much more. You can see a partial
transcript on VegasHappensHere.Com
and Steve's Las
Vegas Weekly column from this interview.
* * *
Sept.
26: Gunning For Vegas
The nattiest man on TV
is coming to the naughtiest city in America for the
very first time. Tim Gunn, the mentor of TV’s
Project Runway, will be here next weekend for an event
as part of his role as chief creative director of Liz
Claiborne, so Steve spoke to him about the hit fashion
show, Vegas style and which celebrities Gunn would like
to make over.
In Banter: Oscar's lame
Colbert appearance, CBS' lame Defenders show, Palm Springs'
lame anti-Vegas campaign, Skoosh.Com's lame biz practces,
Hard Rock's lame lawsuit and more.
Links to stuff
discussed:
Sites for Project
Runway and Tim
Gunn
Info about the
Oct. 2 event with Tim Gunn at Caesars Palace
Buy Cloris Leachman’s “The
North Avenue Irregulars” on Amazon.Com
The Simpsons slot machine images, per
Google [NSFW!!!]
Steve’s piece on Cloris Leachman for The
Daily Beast
The Review-Journal’s piece on the Vdara
death ray
VegasHappensHere.Com on Jason
Alexander and Elaine
Wynn’s billionaire status
Steve’s AOL
News piece on Wayne Newton’s new tourist attraction
plan
Skoosh.Com – scam
or not?
Hard Rock Café International is
suing Hard Rock Casino
Norm Clarke covers Wynn’s vegan proselytizing
video
Ritz-Carlton is rebranding, according to Howard
Stutz of the R-J
The sucky Defenders
lawyer drama based in Vegas on CBS
Palm Springs’ big new effort to
steal tourists from Vegas
Cher is almost
over and Cosmo’s got big New
Year’s Eve entertainment plans
Oscar Goodman, so great on
HardTalk, was a dud on
Stephen Colbert
* * *
Sept.
12: True Cloris, Shining Through
Betty White may be getting
all the headlines these days as America’s elder
stateswoman of comedy, but has she ever played Vegas?
Another randy grandma, Cloris Leachman, hasn’t
either, but at 84 she makes her debut on Sept. 18 and
19 at the Suncoast. The Academy Award winner, who has
also won more Emmys than any actor ever, spoke to Steve
at length in advance of that one-woman show and brace
yourself because some of this is almost as sexually
explicit as that Tony Curtis chat we gave you a while
back. There are many highlights, including Cloris sharing
her experiences with Marlon Brando, Jackie Kennedy,
Judy Garland, the Reagans and Kathryn Hepburn, although
an instant classic is Cloris’ hilarious re-enactment
of a call from Joan Collins, who was having an affair
with Cloris’ husband George Englund in the 1970s.
Leachman also discusses her new Fox sitcom, "Raising
Hope."
In Banter: Liberace’s
closure raises tough questions, Oscar Goodman faces
wacky questions, the NY-NY’s 9/11 Memorial is
in questionable shape and more. Also, a special, live
Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week furnished by blogger
Mike Dobranski.
Links to stuff discussed:
Get tickets to see Cloris Leachman on Sept 18-19 at
the Suncoast
Cloris Leachman’s website
and book
Cloris’ new TV show on Fox, “Raising
Hope”
Get the DVD of “Young
Frankenstein”
Sheryl
Crow’s cancellation at the Joint
Steve’s column about Ted
V. Mikels
The AOLNews.Com
piece on the Liberace Museum closure
VegasHappensHere.Com exposes the New
York-New York 9/11 Memorial decay
MGM Resorts still spins animal
attacks, but this time there’s YouTube
of it
Oscar’s brilliant interview on the BBC's
HARDTalk
The Las
Vegas Sun on the possible Wayne Newton home becoming
an attraction
The website for Jabbawockeez
and the R-J on how they
got the Monte Carlo deal
VegasHappensHere.Com
on the July gaming and visitation data
The YouTube clips of Cloris Leachman’s Oscar
speech and a classic Young
Frankenstein scene
The site for the Kimchi
Museum in Seoul
* * *
Sept.
6: The Nutty Prognosticator
Three years ago, at the
height of the Vegas boom, Jerry Lewis predicted that
the resorts were overbuilding and would eventually smother
one another. He just didn’t expect it to happen
so fast. Now, with the city in a world of hurt, the
tough-talking, foul-mouthed comedy legend both commiserated
with the current state of affairs and suggests some
solutions. Steve spoke to the 84-year-old in advance
of that much-cherished Labor Day tradition, the annual
Jerry Lewis Telethon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy
Association, and the two talked about the mob, Steve
Wynn and the current state of his career. Yes, he still
has a career, and we’re likely to hear a lot more
from him in coming months.
In banter: The R-J lawsuit
campaign could hit the Strip, the Great Petcast Roadtrip,
the screwy monorail directional signs and more.
Links to stuff discussed:
How to donate to
the Jerry
Lewis MDA Telethon
Send
a Salami video from YouTube
The Jerry Lewis CD of standards from 1956 on Amazon.Com
Yelp! on Bagelmania,
Firefly
and Emeril’s
Steve’s blog
and Flickr
on the Great Petcast Road Trip
Roadfood.Com,
Urbanspoon
and Dogfriendly.Com
The Sun
and Review-Journal
on the R-J lawsuit against Sharron Angle
Steve's
coverage of the lawsuits, including the Angle suit
VegasHappensHere.com on Paris Hilton and the monorail
signs
Vinnie
Favorito’s “new” contract at the
Flamingo, as covered by us in June
Mike Weatherford’s perfect
column about how silly the Madonna-Vegas rumor
The Bon Jovi rumor from the Examiner.Com
Zowie
Bowie’s website
The VegasHappensHere.Com link regarding NPR’s
“Wait Wait” using Steve’s story
as a joke
* * *
Aug.
22: Our FIFTH Anniversary Blooperpalooza!
SPECIAL
REISSUE: The 2008 Blooper Show
Fights! Celeb Outtakes!
Singing! It’s been FIVE years! Five years of brilliant,
revealing interviews, witty banter and… oh, who
are we kidding? It’s been five years of fuckups,
stumbles, confusion, arguments and a whole lot of fucking
cursewords. But most of that is behind the scenes except
for once a year when Steve edits together the best outtakes
and we revel in how badly we do this job. If you’re
in the chat room weekly, you’ve heard most of
this, but if not, this is your shot. Some of this is
new, though, including outtakes with Jon Voight, Steve
Wynn, Englebert Humperdinck, Daniel Negreanu and others.
We’re blowing out the show this week – no
tourist tip, no interviews – so sit back, relax
and enjoy the circus.
In banter: Madonna for
$1 billion, veganism at Wynn and hula hoops on "Wait
Wait Don't Tell Me."
Links:
Robin
Leach writes of Madonna’s possible $1 billion
Caesars deal, and Norm
Clarke explains why it doesn't add up
Veganism, it’s what’s
for dinner at Wynn Resorts
Al
Mancini of CityLife provided a full list of Wynn
eatery vegan dishes
Steve’s AOL
News piece on the Hula Hoop ban
The full, very funny 6-minute
Vegas segment from “Wait Wait, Don’t
Tell Me”
Our last blooper show, in 2008
* * *
Aug.
9: Mafia Wars, Vegas Style
...with Meyer Lansky II & Dennis Barrie
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Immediately
after Mayor Oscar Goodman was elected, he got into political
hot water for suggesting the city open a mob museum.
And yet in the next 18 months, Vegas will be getting
not one but two of them. The Las Vegas Mob Experience
is set to open at the Tropicana in December and the
Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas is due sometime in
2011. In this supersized episode of The Strip, we’ll
hear from prominent proponents of both. First, Steve
speaks to Meyer Lansky II, the grandson and namesake
of the legendary mob boss who first sent Bugsy Siegel
to Las Vegas. Then, later, we have a conversation with
Dennis Barrie, the curator for the downtown entry into
the mob-artifacts sweepstakes. Barrie created the Rock
N Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the International
Spy Museum in Washington D.C. and was at the center
of a major controversy in the late 1980s over the display
in a n museum of sexually explicit Robert Mappelthorpe
photos.
In Banter: Banning hula hoops, some gay-straight observations
about topless shows, the Cosmopolitan gains steam, news
on the Garth Brooks scalping front and more.
Links to stuff discussed:
The
Las Vegas
Mob Experience at the Tropicana, opening this year
The Mob
Museum that opens downtown in 2011
The R-J on the hottest
July ever
VegasHappensHere.Com
on Steve’s new car
VegasTripping.Com on Cosmopolitan’s
new marquee
Cosmo’s
CEO John Unwin is the first chief exec in Vegas
to Tweet
VegasHappensHere.Com on the city’s effort to bar
hula hoops
Yelp’s entry on Shibuya,
a letter-writer’s favorite place
Steve’s New
York Times piece on the Mob Museum and possible
stimulus money
The Cincinnati Enquirer outlined Dennis
Barrie’s court drama with the Robert Mapplethorpe
photo show
The Mapplethorpe bullwhip-up-the-butt
image referenced in the interview [NSFW]
Barrie’s other museums, the Rock
N Roll Hall of Fame, the International
Spy Museum and the Woodstock
Museum
Michael Cornthwaite’s Downtown
Cocktail Room and The
Beat Café as well
* * *
Aug.
2: Rick Thomas Roars On
Seven
years after an on-stage tiger attack ended careers of
Siegfried & Roy, there’s still one magician
on the Strip using the huge wild cats to stun and fascinate
audiences. That’s Rick Thomas, who has bounced
in his Vegas career from one resort to another and presently
appears at the Sahara. Steve speaks to Thomas this hour
about returning to the stage with his tigers after Roy’s
injury, about what went wrong for Criss Angel, Hans
Klok and Steve Wyrick and about why he hesitated before
agreeing to take over the showroom at the Sahara.
In Banter: Gays stop traffic, Nora Ephron hearts SW
Steakhouse, Louie Anderson gets a gig, Tony Curtis loses
a gig, PA beats NV, Wynn unveils an app and Steve hunts
for a car.
Links to Stuff Discussed:
Rick
Thomas’s website
Steve’s
AOL News piece on the gays stopping Strip traffic
MGM Resorts’ Fabulous
Gay Weekend thingie
Norm Clarke on Louie
Anderson’s new gig
VegasHappensHere.Com
on Tony Curtis’ recovery and lost film role
The AP on PA’s outgrossing NV in
gaming taxes
The Las
Vegas Sun on Congress’ efforts to undo the
online poker ban
VegasTripping has a peek-a-boo
at Cosmo and a review of the Wynn
iPhone app
VegasHappensHere.Com
on Steve’s car-buying drama
Holly Madison’s big no-resort-fee
splash at P-Ho
LasVegasDirect.Com
offers a list of Vegas hotels with resort fees
