Now that our linking capability is back, here is the Strip Podcast episode in which I pinch-hit for an absent co-host. The father of new sensation Elijah Johnson had trouble finding Steve Friess' studio and the show was already on a tight schedule, so we kind of ran through everything else at bullet-train speed. Still, it was fun and I hope you enjoy it.

As a visual aid, here's some raw (very raw) B-roll of Elijah Johnson in performance at the Las Vegas Celebrates the Music of Michael Jackson benefit on Aug. 29 at The Palms. Here's hoping that Master Johnson is able to fulfill his early promise and doesn't evolve into another Earl Turner.

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There's a nice R-J obituary for the Station Casinos patriarch, although you won't find it in Saturday's online edition, inexplicably. You have to go back and root around in the "Breaking News" box from Friday. (By the time the R-J gets "this Internet thing" figured out, it'll have gone out of business.)

Over at the Sun, investigative reporter Jeff German has penned an even more thorough retrospective, with particular emphasis on the late Frank Fertitta Jr.'s philanthropic activities. Considering how many nastygrams have been appended to the R-J valedictory, one is thankful that the Sun elected to disable "Comments" for its obit.

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Bloomberg News reports the following: Harrah's Entertainment, the world's biggest casino company, may build a resort on the Azov Sea, Vedomosti reported Tuesday.

Harrah's may join U.S. construction company Asati in building a complex in Azov-City, one of four gambling zones planned in the country, Vedomosti said, citing Asati founder Alex Kogan.

The resort, which will include a casino, hotels and conference centers, will cost between $50 million and $100 million, Kogan said.

Wow! Try building a U.S. resort -- or even a Macanese one -- for so little money. I've asked Harrah's for confirmation but have yet to hear back. Although several overseas ventures have gone belly-up, the company continues to persist.

However ... despite the Russian government's decree that all casinos be moved to special zones, scattered around the far reaches of the empire, little headway has been made: "One Russian publication sent a reporter to check out progress on one of the zones, who discovered open fields filled with grazing cows." The Azov-City project, for one, has a long way to go.

And how is Harrah's/Asati going to build a casino for $100 million or less? One word: tents. "Several foreign investors have begun preparatory work, including the Austrian company Asati. The company plans to build on the 20 hectares of inflatable structures, area of 100 thousand square meters," explains one investment site, "... the inflatable structure can be a casino and a water park and the congress hall. In addition to inflatable structures Asati company intends to build a 17-storey hotel and 34 bungalows."

If there's to be gambling under a big top, I'd suggest they call the place Circus Circus, but Jay Sarno got there first. Potential feeder markets for "Harrahs' Azov" would include Kiev and Odessa, but the closest major city appears to be Stalingrad ... er, Volgograd.

Yung & the restless: Closer to home, in Kentucky, the grand vizier of Columbia Sussex, CEO William J. Yung III, is loaning out the corporate locomotive for charitable causes. Company locomotive? No, we're not making this up.

Restiveness marks the labor situation at one of the distant outposts of Yung's hotel empire. Both in the slow pace of negotiations and the demand for employee give-backs, it's very reminiscent of the scrumdown that was the Culinary Union/ColSux stalemate of two years back. At least Scott Butera intervened to make peace before it reached the point of a Tropicana Las Vegas boycott.

Small beer? Just what Resorts International in Atlantic City needs ... more regulatory problems. C'mon, guys. We hook up beer kegs all the time here at LVA. It's not rocket science. Then again, it's difficult to "misunderestimate" Colony Capital.

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A reader from the heartland of this great country wanted to know whether LVA HQ provided a good vantage point for a United Way car wash at The Rio last Friday. Since I have but an obstructed view of The Rio, the answer is "no," I'm afraid, although perhaps Anthony Curtis could see it from his southeast-looking office.

Also, I had business at Scoot City (of which more later), so I wasn't around for the festivities. However, since Harrah's Entertainment sent over some snaps, I'll let you evaluate the event for yourself:

If the United Way raised $1,700-plus at $5 per car wash that means that ...

... these seasonally attired young ladies -- drawn from the terpsichorean talents of Sapphire -- washed a minimum of 340 cars. With results like those, you can't fault the marketing angle.

Harrah's giveth and Harrah's taketh away, especially if you happen to be an 83-year-old porter at Showboat Atlantic City. The 21-year Showboat veteran got eight weeks' pay and no benefits. Way to reward employee loyalty, Harrah's! Murray Freedman, God bless him, is fighting back. That's not how you treat a guy who says he offered to take a pay cut but instead was shown the door, and not nicely.

Here's hoping the court system shows him more compassion than did his former employer. The casino industry would survive quite nicely without Gary Loveman but of Murray Freedmans there can never be enough. Customer service is the industry's bedrock and Freedman's work ethic is an example to us all.

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Last night's grand opening of M Resort wasn't quite your usual Vegas casino debut. The 4,000-7,000 (sources vary) who turned out for the VIP preview were an older, more outwardly affluent and buttoned-down crowd than one expects. Nor is the presence of Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Dina Titus and former Sen. Richard Bryan an everyday occurence at one of these hootenannies.

Also in attendance, though we missed them in the crowd and the resort's disorienting layout, were bloggers extraordinaire Hunter Hillegas, Steve Friess and the Queen of Comps herself, Jean Scott. LVA's David Matthews also turned out, but the Significant Other and I had taken a powder -- missing the Son of Cirque umbrella show -- before he arrived.

Verdicts on M are, suffice it to say, all over the place. Big LVA kahuna Anthony Curtis was remarkably impressed and Jean was arguably even more so. Our resident poker pro was nearly as upbeat but had a few minor qualms. Both Messrs. Hillegas and Friess were pretty 'meh,' although Friess was the less guarded of the two in his summation. As the latter is quick to concede, his photos don't do M justice, whereas Hunter's gallery gives a very accurate impression of the resort. (And, yes, that is a jolly-looking Friess in the third photo.)

I do have to agree with Hunter that the casino floor is more than a bit -- how shall I say? -- generique. Those who worry that server-based gaming (or server-readiness in M's case) will erase much of the idiosyncrasy from the slot floor will have their fears confirmed at M.

The Las Vegas Sun has been all over the M opening like a tight-fitting suit, complete with photo gallery and video. Coverage by the Las Vegas Review-Journal has been somewhat more restrained. The R-J does have an attractive slideshow. Over at the "multimedia" department (where we hear they're still struggling with a newfangled concept the kids are calling "fire"), they couldn't manage any video footage -- just the breathless declaration by Nathan Tannenbaum, "How 'bout the Sunday night fireworks way on the south end of the valley ... ?" over a lame graphic. ("How about it?" I wouldn't know -- because you don't have any f***ing footage.) There is some pre-opening video video, if that's any consolation, though it leaves an unfairly "blah" impression.

With Matthews and Scott "pro," and Hillegas and Friess "con" on M Resort, I was hoping Richard Abowitz or David G. Schwartz would weigh in with tiebreakers ... but nothing yet. And why all the fascination with the last wheeze of Siegfried & Roy? The charity bash they headlined looks like it cost more than it could have garnered.

Or maybe I'm just grumpy because nobody succeeded in taking any snaps of Kristin Davis. Oh well ...

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While I'm not much of one for flagging press releases, here's one that's much too noteworthy not to mention. Bally Technologies is making a dollar-for-dollar match of employee contributions to the Nevada Cancer Institute. In return, Bally staffers get early detection and cancer-prevention assistance from NVCI.

Philanthropy has been taking it on the chin during the recession, which makes Bally's initiative doubly important. On a personal note, having had a loved one go through breast cancer (including multiple surgeries), I cannot stress heavily enough the importance of early vigilance, nor that of having a good support system in place if you're unfortunate enough to be a cancer sufferer.

Bravo, Bally.

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Lichtenstein-based Tamares Group bought a gaggle of downtown Las Vegas casinos from Jackie Gaughan five years ago and hasn't seemed to know what to do with them since. However, one unpublicized kindness by Tamares -- brought to our notice by an LVA reader -- deserves mention and praise:

"I'm writing to bring to your attention a kind deed that the management of the Plaza Hotel (Mr. Freddie Maatook and staff) do for the Veterans living at the VA home in Boulder [City].

"Every Thursday morning they treat the vets to free all-inclusive breakfast. For years, it was at the Las Vegas Club but now it has been moved to the buffet at the Plaza. We happen to be friends with one of the WWII vets (91 years old) and it is the highlight of his week.

"In this time of cutbacks, it is an especially generous contribution that goes unnoticed except to the vets. They go to other casinos BUT this is the only one that 'treats' them."

My thanks -- and those of LVA -- go out to Tamares for taking care of the "Greatest Generation" and its successors. This European company does itself proud -- and makes you wonder if any U.S.-based casino companies are setting a similar example.

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Let me say at the outset, I do not like Ronald McDonald. He gave me creeps as a child and still does. (The thought of him wanting to buddy up to you ... it's just disturbing.) The Ronald McDonald Houses, on the other hand, are a great and good thing.

However, after tasking MGM Mirage -- perhaps excessively -- over its $5K donation to Clark County's Music in the Schools program (a drop in the bucket in a year when Gov. Jim Gibbons is taking a flamethrower to Nevada's education budgets), some perspective is in order. MGM's donation absolutely blows away the meager $1,576.10 donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas at the opening of Viva McDonalds, the only part of the Echelon master plan to open as ... as ... well, as planned. (See the yellow box, halfway down the "Echelon" page.)

The guy in the goofy suit to Ronald McD's right is Mac King, magician and fellow alumnus of Macalester College. (He was two years ahead of me scholastically and remains light years ahead of me career-wise.)

At least RHMC of Greater LV doesn't need to feel quite so bad. It made out like a bandit compared to Mayor Oscar Goodman. He got a shoe.

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Yes, they're drooping again at the mammary-themed hotel -- revenues, that is. The recession continues to hit the bargain-niche properties first and hardest. The interesting info is buried toward the end, as potential buyer Richard Bosworth (who's already put $3 million down, with $222 million to go) is shelling out another non-refundable half-million to keep its option alive for another month.

This is the same stalling pattern Christopher Milam fell into with the Wet 'n Wild property. If Bosworth is having trouble scaring up the purchase price (and does the Hooters-augmented San Remo look like that tempting of a credit risk?), it doesn't bode well for the promised $130 million redevelopment, either.

On a related note ... You can set your watch by it. The annual, obligatory Passion Parties story. It must be some journalistic hazing ritual.

Fix? In? Not here! Another scofflaw gets off lightly.

An implosion! Woo-hoo! All right, so it's only a casino garage and it's in Atlantic City. But it looks like that Pinnacle Entertainment project is still in "on" mode, Dan Lee's caveats notwithstanding. There's video, too.

Double or Nothing UNLV's David Schwartz reviews the apologia pro vita sua of former Golden Nugget co-owner Tom Breitling. Schwartz finds a great deal to like in the book, and is very generous and sympathetic in his appraisal. I'm not scheduled to weight in on Double or Nothing until the May 5 issue of City Life, but I feel safe in saying that your book dollars are far better invested in Christina Binkley's Winner Takes All. Breitling's book is a quick read, though, partly by dint of leaving out whole chunks of the story -- like a not-so-successful filmmaking venture with the Fertitta brothers, which goes completely unmentioned.

How much interest will there be in Double or Nothing? Hard to say. It's been over three years since he and Tim Poster sold the Nuggets, a timespan far longer than that of their brief ownership, and they never became major players in the industry (as opposed to the pages of Norm!). For a businessman as successful as Breitling, I'm surprised he'd get his product so tardily to market.

And now to end on a (rare, some would say) classy note ...

Honoring a legend. Former Silver Slipper owner Claudine Williams receives a "Philanthropist of the Year" award tonight. Congratulations to the grande dame of the gaming industry. Long may she flourish.

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Given the groundswell of interest in the misadventures of Chubby, our would-be office cat, and Mojo, our fearsome 'watch lizard,' I've been asking around about other Huntington Press critters. Bethany Coffey, our marketing guru sans pareil, offers this contribution about her dog Flocki.

"He’s a four-year-old German Wirehaired Pointer mix (mixed with what, I couldn’t guess, he may even be a purebred for all I know). I adopted him last October from the Adopt A Rescue Pet organization. They save dogs from being put down at the other shelters and then pay to have them boarded in private facilities. A very good organization.

"While his breeding says he’s a bird dog, he hasn’t been clued in himself. He’s never even noticed a bird, though they’re all over the place in the park near our house. Additionally, he has webbed feet for swimming but is afraid of the water. He does point  --  at his food dish when he wants it filled. Also at anything that remotely resembles a toy that might be thrown for a fun game of catch (or keep-away if he’s feeling ornery).

"When I adopted him he weighed in at 48 pounds and was told by one of his caretakers that he’d gotten very depressed since he’d been put in the kennels and wasn’t eating much. His mood has picked up, apparently, because he now tips the scales at a very healthy 70 pounds. He’s no purse puppy, but he doesn’t know it. He loves to crawl on my lap while I’m at the dining room table or on the couch.

"And if I weren’t afraid that Flocki would eat Chubby, I’d take her home myself."

In other news, City Life teases my next report.

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