David Mckee's Stiffs & Georges - Movies

In other news ...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:19:00 -0700

I am happy to report that Stella Stevens' Las Vegas Lady did not make it into our "worst Las Vegas-based movie of all time" poll. (As they say in Chicago, vote early and often.) Crazy Girls Undercover, however, was not so lucky.

Vegas snubbed again

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:03:00 -0700

So the Death Star decides to drop by Planet Earth and where does the Imperial Fleet choose to spend its shore leave? San Francisco?!? Doesn't the Empire know Las Vegas is America's leading vacation destination, is renowned for its shows, nightclubs and high levels of inebriation, has legal prostitution just across the county line in Pahrump, and is generally a real bargain right now? Boy, is Oscar Goodman going to be demanding an apology from Emperor Palpatine or what? Harry Reid may even make an almost sort-of forceful speech on the Senate floor or, scarier still, read extensive passages from Searchlight: The Camp That Didn't Fail. That'll show those Vegas-scorning Sith!

From the mailbag #3

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:04:00 -0700

Reader Kerr_Mudgeon writes, re the case of a Columbia Sussex executive who was the victim of age discrimination:

She was 67 years old, for gosh sake! She should have taken her token (socialist) Social Security checks and gone on (fascist) Medicare, then waited for the inevitable pounding on her door by a (union) thug from (communist) ACORN who insisted on reading her (nonexistent) rights from the Death Book prior to making an appointment for her to stand before the (mandatory) Death Panel which would have assigned her to the most efficient (statist) queue for her to Take The Pill in order to eliminate Obama's $multi-trillion budget deficit - even though he's intentionally destroying the US economy in order to make himself Dictator of the World because he hates everybody and everything that is good = American (of which he is not one). As a matter of fact, if Jesus's will were in effect in this wicked world, she would not have been able to file her vicious law suit, because Tort Reform would have stopped any shady Trial Lawyers from taking her frivolous case!!!

Reader Jinx asks if I really thought X Burlesque was "awful." No, "awful" would be Anthony Cools' Ooh-la-la, thankfully deceased, although Cools threatens periodically to bring it back somewhere else (read: Tropicana). However, the only specifics I can remember of X were that it was hosted by the late Pudgy on the night I saw it and that the dancers were some of the most "augmented" I've seen on the Strip. At least Crazy Girls has two or three memorable numbers and a comfier showroom.

"Tired and boring," though, is the perfect description of Crazy Horse Paris. It's a depersonalization of the female form, like getting trapped in a Helmut Newton photo album. I don't think the astrology segment is in there anymore or, if it is, it's become thoroughly forgettable.

Thanks to reader Jeff in OKC for his shout-out to one of the truly great ladies of the silver screen, Stella Stevens. They don't make dames like her anymore (Christina Hendricks of Mad Men excepted) and, for your pleasure, here's the opening of Las Vegas Lady -- a festival of vintage Glitter Gulch neon.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:03:00 -0700

"The film is informed by the [Joe] Conforte story, as anyone familiar with the area's history would know, but it's not a blow-by-blow account of the Mustang Ranch." -- Nevada Film Office spokesperson Robin Holabird on Taylor Hackford's long-in-production brothel saga, Love Ranch. The film, shot in late 2007, stars Dame Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci.

Fun with math, "Jubilee!" style

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:55:00 -0700

Does anybody know the maximum number of bared female bosoms that can be seen at any one point in Donn Arden's Jubilee!? I'm reviewing the show for a new Web site and have most of the mind-boggling statistics at hand. The mammary-count, however, is not among them. I lost track at 50, myself, though I know it's more. Anybody care to take a shot at this?

Bueller? ... Bueller?

Jackson for kids. No jokes, please. A concert tribute to the music of sometime Vegas resident Michael Jackson will raise money for the cash-strapped music programs of the Clark County School District. Besides, who can resist the prospect of what Terry Fator will do with "Ben"? It could be twisted, in a very good way.

Soulless impotence. A belated afterbirth of When We Were Kings arrives in the form of Soul Power, a title as yesterday as polyester jackets with wide lapels. The move is as underwhelming as its moniker. Or, to quote Cleveland from Family Guy, "The noise was good but I thought they phoned in a lot of the funk."

A reader responds: "David, re your blog on the R/J economics and Mr. [Sherman] Frederick's not-so-full flight from Austin [Tex.]: I live in Austin and continue to fly to Vegas three or four times a year. Although I usually fly on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, I've never seen any flight that had more than a handful or middle seats not occupied. Further, the only airline I know of that flies directly (i.e. not stop or one stop w/o change of planes) is Southwest. They have about 8 flights a day that connect to Vegas from Austin. So, yes, I can see how one flight on a Tuesday might not be full. But Austin is a great market for Vegas. Every year Harrah's gives me a handful of coupons for two free nights that I can hand out to friends and people at work. These coupons disappear by 7:00 a.m. when I send out my email to the folks at 6:30. And this is only one office."

Vegas (isn't the only place that) needs Carmen Electra

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:51:00 -0700

Occasionally, S&G readers allow me to share their off-list bon mots with the general public. Such is the case with one Pacific Rim-based gentlewoman who's familiar with the sights and sounds of Macao. Evidently, it's a place where voluptuousness is craved all the more for being in short supply. Hence, the gyrations of a certain Carmen Electra at Crazy Horse Paris prompted this sage observation:

"Macau sure could do with some of this type of sizzle"

No doubt ... but we need Ms. Electra here. (And aren't you gents glad S&G was given a non-gratutious rationale to post yet another photo of Carmen?)

On a serious note, the Electra guest gig stirred up local media "buzz" far out of proportion to its duration. In terms of oomph for the buck, it's given the Holly Madison push at Planet Hollywood a serious run for its money: more evidence that stars are born, not fabricated. Whatever one thinks of Ms. Electra's troubled personal life, she's a "stage creature" and Vegas could use a few more right now.

Supporting the troops. Big ups to the El Cortez for giving $15 dining credits to active-duty servicemen (and women) at its Café Cortez and Flame steakhouse. Our military is grossly underpaid for guarding our liberties (such as appreciating Carmen Electra), so anything the casino industry does by way of a "thank you" deserves S&G's salute.

If you're in the Reno area and are an aficianado of the stellar cable TV service known as Cinemax, I consider it my civic duty to alert you to the following fact: Monique Parent (aka "The Thinking Man's Sex Symbol") will be spokesmodeling -- or something of that ilk -- at a Reno-area Costco next week.

Among the prolific Parent's many titles is the Citizen Kane of erotic films, Play Time ... or so they tell me. <cough> So if you've admired Ms. Parent's fine, wry thesping in Dark Secrets or The Key to Sex, stop by and show your gratitude.

Just a suggestion.

Case Bets: F'bleau, Adelson, Oscar

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:03:00 -0700

Whether it's the banks or the subcontractors, somebody's going to take a big screwing at Fontainebleau. That's the nub of a new lawsuit, whereby developer Jeffrey Soffer asserts that Turnberry West Construction (which he also owns) has superior repayment rights to those of the project's backers.

I believe this is called, "One hand washes the other." However, the legal issues involved make fascinating reading. Some new-to-Vegas casino developers have screwed the pooch and eventually come out smelling like roses (Sheldon Adelson, for one). I don't Soffer's going to make into that elite club. And you can forget about Big Bleau opening before July 1, 2010, at the very least.

Speaking of Sheldon ... results at his new Sands Bethlehem continue to disappoint. Adelson's tradition of half-assing his casino openings, dribbling the product onto the market, may finally be catching up with him. Marina Bay Sands should be the acid test of this managerial style. (Personally, I believe it's going to be Adelson's Waterloo, at least to the extent that the casino is expected to drive everything else.)

Sands Macao: Sheldon's best bet

Ironically, it was the comparatively "quick and dirty" Sands Macao, built for considerably less than any other Adelson casino, that has been his biggest hit. The cost-to-date of Sands Bethlehem, by the way, has been revised downward to $675 million (from $743 million), which ought to help the ROI numbers. However, early predictions that Sands Bethelehem was going to siphon business from the Philadelphia area were clearly unrealistic and should have been reported with greater skepticism.

Berzon: caped crusader

Truth, justice and the American way have one less champion in the Las Vegas area now that Pulitzer Prize-winning Alexandra Berzon has been hired by the Wall Street Journal. Good for Berzon, better still for the WSJ. But who will keep a gimlet eye on OSHA enforcement and the CityCenter clusterfuck now? (And she was moving into gaming coverage, too ... the prospect of a Berzon/Liz Benston/Rick Velotta trifecta would have dwarfed all other casino reportage in this burg.) With the loss of Berzon and editor Drex Heikes, the Las Vegas Sun is suddenly in a world of hurt.

Oscar gets whacked. Somebody's fantasy, anyway. (Were there any thumbless graffiti taggers in the house? Homeless advocates? Civil libertarians?) Hizzoner was the celeb-victim at the reopening of Marriage Can Be Murder in its new digs at Fitzgeralds. MCBM recently left the Four Queens and a good move it was, seeing as the 4Q is at risk of being evicted. Movie veteran Goodman (Casino) evidently forgot whatever he learned from The Master (aka Martin Scorcese) and didn't hit his "mark."

As for MCBM, a dinner-theatre show, I can't say it compared favorably with the ones we did at Grinnell Community Theater. I was the "juvenile lead" in several shows there and humbly submit that our gung-ho amateur troupe could have done better. Hey, we "killed" with Ten Nights in a Barroom. That thing could have run for six months, easily.

Back from Michigan

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:25:00 -0700

With the cats fed and their indiscretions cleaned up, I can report that I have just returned from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, land of indescribable scenic beauty and intermittent Internet access. I spent the better part of five days in the bosom of a truly wonderful -- and big -- family, and only one did I hear the dreaded words, "Michael Jackson." And, lemme tell ya, the annual Pioneer Days fireworks display in Negaunee, Mich., put Las Vegas' most recent Fourth of July shoot 'em up to shame.

Along with souvenirs, I also brought home a nasty cold, so I beg your indulgence as a I get back up to speed. While on the subject of bacteria, I see that "Johnny Casino" has dragged his dad, ex-Circus Circus coporate ringmaster Mike Ensign, into his increasingly sordid sex-fund scandal. Oh, and S&G was way ahead of Huffington Post on this angle. As my U.P. pal Sydney Dorow would say, "Score!"

Wynn vs. Dealers: The final (?) round of the tip-confiscation controversy played out last week. The Transport Workers Union is right about one thing for sure: If Wynn Resorts prevails, its policy will spread like wildfire throughout the state.

Peepshow 2.0: The second time's the charm. As for nearby After the Show, how much you like it will probably be in direct proportion to how many drinks you've had.

Blood: The Last Vampire: Internet responsive to this Chinese-Argentinian-French sanguinary spectacle has been universally derisive. So, wouldn't you know, I liked it.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:25:00 -0700

"Nick Cage wasn't a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in Armageddon." -- douchebag/director Michael Bay, getting high on his own ego. For the record, Cage had been playing lead roles (remember a little number called Moonstruck?) for a dozen years and had just won an Academy Award for Leaving Las Vegas. Affleck also had an Oscar on his mantle pre-Bay, albeit for screenwriting.

Seven essential Web sites ... and other news

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:23:00 -0700

Yes, you too can can be a gaming-industry blogger, with the help of but a few absolutely indispensable Web sites. The ones that I check Monday-Friday without fail (and, as they say on Dancing with the Stars, "in no particular order") are:

GamingFloor.com: The best aggregator of casino news from around the globe, especially since Editor Ian Sutton has an eye for the bizarre. Tons of eye-catching video, too, plus Ian's own on-the-spot reporting from far-flung venues like G2E Asia.

DieIsCast.com: Very eclectic but Dr. David G. Schwartz pounces on fascinating (and not very obvious) stories, often making droll pop-culture connections ... which frequently involve Star Trek.

TwoWayHardThree: Terrific discussions of casino architecture, intermingled with scoops that eagle-eyed moderator Hunter Hillegas snaps up -- not infrequently beating the local papers to the punch. His readers/forum contributors are some of the best-informed you'll encounter.

Las Vegas Sun: You're not going to find better gaming coverage this side of the Wall Street Journal and labor reporter Michael Mishak is one of the finest in the business. (The R-J's pathologically anti-union stance is probably to blame for its feeble coverage of workplace issues, as that paper's editorial-page psychoses leach into its news priorities.) Unlike its cross-town rival, the Sun doesn't take its marching orders from the Chamber of Commerce, either.

Press of Atlantic City: In the land of the blind, the one-eyed paper is king. Oh, and Press: Your new "reader-friendly" redesign blows donkeys. But if there's news a-brewin' on the Boardwalk, this is the first place to look. For more selective -- but in-depth-- coverage, Suzette Parmley in the Philadelphia Inquirer is tops in the region.

Vegas Happens Here: No morning is complete without a jolt of news from the indefatigable Steve Friess. His blog isn't casino-centric but he's quick to spot a breaking story or one that might fly under the radar ... and his Min-and-Bill relationship to Steve Wynn makes for tremendous ongoing fun. Lots of pictures, too.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Only because it exists (which, existentially, is open to debate). Like the elephant in your parlor, it must be acknowledged and sometimes its slave-driven reporters turn in exceptional work, despite their editors' best [sic] efforts to beat them down. (Inexcusably, last week the entire gaming staff was detailed to chronicle seemingly every hand played at the World Series of Poker.) The paper's shining achievement was Joan Whitely's exposé of dangerous corner-cutting at Harrah's Entertainment. Relative newcomer Arnold Knightly has ferreted out some laudable scoops, too. Howard Stutz, look to thy laurels!

Honorable mentions go to three sites that I can't always check on a daily basis, but which should not pass without notice ...

Pechanga.net: An exhaustive (and sometimes exhausting) aggregration -- but it's a sieve which captures many tribal and regional gaming stories that would otherwise escape notice.

VegasTodayandTomorrow.com: Anybody -- and I mean anybody -- interested in the history and future of Sin City should have this site bookmarked. Mark Adams pores over the Web and any other source at his reach, presenting what bids fair to be the definitive online museum of Las Vegas' evolution. Our "Question of the Day" about the never-built Conrad was greatly aided by Adams' preexisting work. And the Coke-vs.-Pepsi map is must-see Internet.

The Movable Buffet: More showbiz- than bidness-focused. However, in a Vegas blogosphere infested with sycophants, Richard Abowitz provides a needed corrective to the local fawning over the celebutard of the moment. If you wish to following the continuing meltdown of Criss F. Angel step by step, Abowitz is your man. He even makes a colloquy with Holly Madison interesting. The chap's a miracle worker!

Farrah Fawcett, R.I.P.: One of the greatest of Seventies icons has died, at age 62. I was always more of a Cheryl Ladd fan myself, but Fawcett showed herself to be seriously "misunderestimated," especially in her Oscar-worthy turn as Robert Duvall's adulterous wife in The Apostle. Haven't seen it? Rent it! Ditto the severely underrated See You in the Morning, a still from which graces the Los Angeles Times obituary. Speaking of movies ...

Scott Walker 30 Century Man: A rock-and-roller who draws frequent comparisons to Samuel Beckett? Meet reclusive American expat Scott Walker and discover that the analogy has surprising validity. His handsome baritone is also one of the most compelling singing voices to emerge from the U.S. And speaking of singing ...

Patti LuPone's Orleans gig last weekend may just be the downpayment on a long-term deal. If so, it'd be one of the best shows in town and it fits the Orleans Showroom hand in glove. If only LuPone would drop from her set list that anthem to codependency, Oliver!'s "As Long As He Needs Me." She unloads so many mannerisms upon it that it's like Bill Sikes pummeling Nancy. Still and all, I'd take it over a second visit to American Superstars (also reviewed). Aaaaaaaaaaannndddd speaking of shows ...

I've received a critique of the Harmon Theater's new Monday-night, witching-hour potpourri, After the Show. While I'm not at liberty to quote any of it, suffice it to say that After the Show is described in such hallucinatory and pejorative terms that the bottom line is, even if you're a local resident and thus get in free, you've still paid too much. Better we should stay home and watch Jon Stewart, with a Conan O'Brien chaser.

Danny Gans: Still dead -- but not yet resting in peace. For the truly morbid, the R-J has published the 911 call made by his widow (as did the Sun). Listen if you care to; I didn't.

Case Bets: Colony Capital, Siegfried & Roy, Obama smacks poker players

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:24:00 -0700

"Bats hang over the doorway to the building that housed Mr. Jackson's private arcade; guano stains the threshold." That's how the Wall Street Journal describes Michael Jackson's decaying Neverland Ranch. It gets even freakier from there, with the WSJ receiving a tour of the compound that might be described as Charles Foster Kane meets Pennywise.

Neverland is the latest can't-miss investment play by Colony Capital, whose crackerjack CEO, Tom Barrack, says: "We think we made a very smart real-estate deal ..." Then again, that's probably how Barrack felt about his acquisition of Station Casinos, which just took a bath on some of its land holdings.

Even by Vegas standards, Neverland is way up there on the Bizarre-o-Meter. Too bad Colony can't find a Native American tribe that can claim it as their ancestral land and have it taken into trust. It'd make a casino-based destination resort so demented and perversely infantile, Sin City would be green with envy.

The most blackly funny line in the video comes when the narrator says Colony is taking steps "to remove the taint of scandal." Man, there's no bleach on Earth powerful enough to eradicate that stain. Infamy, like nuclear waste, has a half life of forever.

A Tiger's Tale: Those cats of Siegfried & Roy's were endangering life and limb almost 30 years ago. And gosh, whatever became of the Siegfried & Roy IMAX movie that never screened locally? CineVegas, how can you let this introuvable escape your programming grasp? Maybe Johnny Brenden will let you rent his IMAX screen ... provided you show the movie at 7 a.m. or thereabouts.

So much for the conventional wisdom that Internet poker, at the very least, might find a sympathetic hearing from our poker-loving POTUS. The Justice Department's jihad against online casinos has taken a particularly nasty turn. The DoJ is striking at the soft underbelly of the business, going after players. So if you won $$ fair and square on the 'Net, too bad: Uncle Sam is going to relieve you of your money and if you don't like it, it's not like you can call the cops.

As I. Nelson Rose points out, we're getting into a legal gray area here -- not least because the federal injunction was brought in New York State, where online wagering isn't illegal. Let's give the banks the benefit of the doubt: They probably had little choice to go along with this draconian and unconscionable action, yet another intrusion by Big Brother. Rep. Barney Frank's proposed UIGEA rollback can't happen soon enough.

Adding insult to injury, the Obama administration is going to the mat on behalf of one of Bill Clinton's worst mealy-mouthed compromises -- the Defense of Marriage Act. In doing so, it's resorting to some of the most troglodytic arguments imaginable. Like: Equal rights are bad 'cause they cost the guvmint money 'n stuff.

Heavens, yes, just imagine how expensive it would be if we'd given women and African Americans the vote. What ... we did? I need to read my memos more closely.

So culturally benighted am I that I had to have someone explain to me who this Jon & Kate are and why they are the object of so much fascination. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. At least they haven't "hosted" at a Vegas nightclub yet ... have they?

QoD'd out

Tue, 12 May 2009 18:03:00 -0700

My apologies if the blogorrhea has been insubstantial of late. Not only do I have a five-day GamingFloor.com mountain of headlines to surmount but I've been deeply enmeshed in other projects, mostly for our Question of the Day feature. For the latter, I've been writing about the Frontier strike, the late Danny Gans, the underwriting of jackpots, more Danny Gans, and that pre-Brokeback Mountain couple, Vegas Vic and Wendover Will, not to mention their love child, River Rick. (Yes, there really is such a neon personage.)

In the meantime, you may have heard that J.J. Abrams' Star Trek film hit warp speed on opening weekend, raking in approximately $76 million. In honor of this accomplishment, here's vintage Trek ...

... in the style of Gerry & Sylvia Anderson. Since my 48-episode trip down the memory lane that is Space: 1999 ended last night, I'll be in withdrawal for a while yet. Damn you, Fred F. Freiberger!

Why are you reading this ...

Fri, 08 May 2009 18:54:00 -0700

... and not out seeing the new Star Trek movie? Unless you already have. (Lucky dog.) Of course, getting a ticket this weekend might be as difficult as finding an empty seat at a Star Trek slot machine. I've seen some themes either get bungled or just plain underused, but WMS was right on target with that puppy.

Saint Jack

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:59:00 -0700

Who says nobody finds redemption in the slammer? Washington, D.C. über-sleazeball Jack Abramoff, presently spending some quality time as a guest of the federal penal system, is seeking redemption via a pair of Hollywood liberals. (Irony abounds.) Kevin Spacey and Factory Girl director George Hickenlooper are developing Casino Jack, a biopic that aims to present a kinder, gentler Abramoff.

Considering that Abramoff bilked and deceived Native American clients, fraudently gained control of the Sun Cruz casino line (part of a beyond-seamy saga that included eventual bloodshed) and was an out-and-out racist, Spacey and Hickenlooper are going to have employ a bathysphere to dredge up empathy for this sack of sludge and like-minded sidekick Michael Scanlon (to be played by Young Darth Vader himself, Hayden Christensen).

But, an Abramoff sympathizer insists, it was "Casino Jack" who was the victim and what he did "wasn't ... anything that wasn't happening on K-Street already." Even if you swallow that bullshit sandwich, the supposition that Abramoff's actions were just bidness as usual doesn't even begin to excuse them.

Let's hope this project gets put in perpetual turnaround. Besides, Abramoff doesn't deserve to be portrayed by an actor as good as Spacey. I'm thinking they should cast the part with Ted McGinley instead.

"Too big to fail"

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:35:00 -0700

This week's Steve Friess column puts CityCenter's near-death experience last week superbly in perspective ... including MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren's ingracious attempt to push the news media under the bus for simply reporting what was happening. Friess observes, re CityCenter's inception, "We were all touched with such boomtown fever that few in the press or the gaming industry publicly wondered whether such an endeavor made any financial sense."

To that charge, I plead guilty on all counts. And I've been kicking myself a lot lately for hitting the "snooze" button on my customary skepticism when CityCenter was initially unveiled.

There is good news in Las Vegas. But you have to look well off the Strip.

The Robe. Just in time for Holy Week, the first widescreen Biblical epic returns to video. Which may not be A Good Thing.

Hard Rock scores, Trop flops

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:43:00 -0700

When the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino floated the prospect of as many as three resident headliners at its new The Joint, speculation centered on locally based names that were either predictable (The Killers) or uninspiring (Vince Neil). Instead, the HRH took pretty much everyone by surprise, landing an artist who's both a classic and a legend in his own time -- Carlos Santana.

He'll only be playing the equivalent of five weeks a year but the HRH will be Santana Central in the western U.S. until Jan. 1, 2011, so it's quite a coup. Richard Abowitz rehearses some of the pros and cons of the Santana-to-LV announcement. Additional headliners are expected to be signed but, for the nonce, Santana has given them a hard act to follow.

Santana HQ.

It couldn't be more of contrast to the "lively new [sic] entertainment" arriving sometime this month at the Tropicana Las Vegas. What have the forward-looking execs at Tropicana Entertainment conjured up? Two acts that have been bouncing up and down the Vegas food chain for years. Neither is a replacement for Folies Bergere. Instead, they'll do, er, share time in a refurbished venue inauspiciously known as "The Cellar," next door to the woebegone Player's Deli.

The early show, The Soprano's Last Supper, has been cooling its heels over at the Greek Isles, having decamped from the increasingly forlorn Riviera. Its late-night co-tenant, Hypnosis Unleashed, has been among the revolving door of shows spinning through the Harmon Theater. A previous incarnation, Dirty Hypnosis, played the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. The $55 ticket price for Last Supper is a tiny increase on its Greek Isles tab, whereas $40 for Hypnosis Unleashed knocks 40% off its top price at the Harmon.

Obligated to put the best face on this roster of retreads, Trop President Ron Thacker said, "I believe we have created a star-studded entertainment line-up that will offer something enjoyable for everyone." And no, it wasn't an April Fool's joke ... we think.

What the Deuce! Word through the grapevine (I accidentally typed "gravevine" -- Freudian slip!) is that the sudden demise of Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce wasn't for lack of business -- quite the contrary. It's hinted that M'Bay is going in a more family friendly direction with the space, to coincide with the opening of The Lion King.

Economic recovery is just around the corner ... provided that you define "the corner" as three years from now.

Mr. Unwatchable. You'd think a documentary about a Harlem drug dealer who operated in brazen defiance of the law during period of 1976-86 would be inherently fascinating. The music! The (eyeball-searing) fashions! The bloodshed!

You'd think wrong. Former CineVegas entrant Mr. Untouchable is a snoozer, plodding along in the worst talking-head tradition. It will make you long for the breakneck pace and flashy style of, oh, Ken Burns. The Significant Other and I withstood a half-hour of Mr. Untouchable last night before bagging it. If this jive-less turkey is in your Netflix queue, expunge it forthwith!

Nevada: Building a bridge to the 19th century

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:50:00 -0700

Our antiquated regulatory infrastructure is making headlines again. You'd think fiscal watchdogs would raise a hue and cry about casino regulators having to fly up and down the state every time there's a meeting. Why all the travel? Because previous and current administrations are too damn cheap to invest in more and better teleconferencing equipment. It's a classic example of spending a dollar in order to save a penny.

Nevada is hemmorhaging casino and resort revenue to competing states, so what does Gov. Jim Gibbons propose to do but disembowel the Commission on Tourism. 'Cause if there's one thing Nevada doesn't need it's more of those pesky tourists, right? Good riddance to the varmints!

This shortsighted thriftiness is playing to predictably bad reviews in the Legislature. Even Midnight Jim's own lieutenant governor disses the notion, but the best sound bite comes from Assemblyman Marcus Conklin (D-Las Vegas). He took the commission's fill-in director to task, saying, "Your budget -- and I realize it's not your fault -- lacks vision and general business understanding. Those customers that would traditionally come to Vegas are going to be marketed to aggressively by everyone else, while we're sitting here playing tiddlywinks because we don't understand what's going on in the market."

Call that a proxy smackdown. "Lacks vision and general business understanding ... playing tiddlywinks" -- he's talking about you, Jim.

In defense of Gibbons on another matter, his accidental (?) defunding of the Nevada Film Office doesn't seem like such a big deal. State government isn't -- and hasn't -- done squat to incentivize film production here, content to see it snapped up by neighboring states (and Canada). Until the Silver State is going to do more than pay lip service to the silver screen, why bother pretending otherwise?

Quote of the Day

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:12:00 -0700

"She was one of the few modern actresses who was as smart as she was pretty, and as gentle as she was fierce. I loved her unashamedly, and wish her remarkable and wonderful mother [Vanessa Redgrave], who must be suffering greatly at the moment, all courage and strength." -- director Ken Russell, paying tribute to actress Natasha Richardson, who died yesterday at age 45. Russell directed Richardson in 1986's Gothic, one of the first of her 35 films.

Gibbons retreats, sorta

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:33:00 -0700

Gov. Jim Gibbons has scuttled away from one of his several proposals to jack up taxes on the only segment of Nevada that's carrying its own weight -- the casino bidness. He's retreating from a demand that casinos pay taxes on uncollected markers (which, in turn, would be certain to cause a tightening of casino credit). Midnight Jim continues, though, to support raising hotel-room taxes in Clark and Washoe counties, and taxing comped meals. The casino industry's love affair with Gibbons -- which helped get him into office -- has so far proven a one-way romance.

Worries about Boyd. Here's why I resist the occasional invitation to give stock picks: No sooner have I sung the praises of Boyd Gaming's sound fundamentals, its diversified casino portfolio and its (Echelon excepted) aversion to risk, comes news that analysts have the heebie-jeebies in re Boyd. A slow-ramp-up at Water Club in Atlantic City and weakness in the Las Vegas locals market are the primary worries.

Advertising during the Oscars: Casinos that ran ads during last night's interminable Academy Awards snoozer included M Resort (twice), Encore, the CasaBlanca in Mesquite and Green Valley Ranch, which has suddenly discovered a great lurve for the local clientele. The latter is quite a turnaround for a property that used to tout its high-end cachet. Oh, and Mickey Rourke got totally, utterly and criminally screwed. Which ruined the evening right then and there.

Atlantic City Death Watch, cont. After taking a long gander at the market, Macquarie Securities analyst Joel Simkins had this to say: “In our view, there is a distinct possibility that one to three casinos could be permanently closed in the next few years, particularly when many older locations are barely breaking even and, we believe, cannot be rehabbed to be economically viable.” [emphasis added]

Anybody care to speculate which casinos Simkins has on the "do not resuscitate" list? Resorts Atlantic City is a no-brainer for the "one." As for the "to three," we could toss in the Atlantic City Hilton and Trump Marina, where the news comes in two flavors -- Bad and Worse.

The Tropicana might also be on the bubble, partly because it's not performing up to its preponderant size and also on account of interim management's inability to restore the business that was lost during the Columbia Sussex reign of error. A veteran Trump-watcher has another suggestion, writing that"his decision to abandon and bad-mouth the company suggests that this may not be the routine Chapter 11 bankruptcy from which the company eventually emerges. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last gasp for Trump's three Atlantic City casinos."

Shipwreck for Sheldon Adelson

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:22:00 -0700

Another dagger blow was dealt this week to the staggering Pacific Rim fortunes of Las Vegas Sands. Its Cotai Waterjets ferry service in Macao has had its contract voided, although the Macanese courts will allow the hydrofoils to remain in operation until the appeals process has run its course.

If Sheldon Adelson's ferry fleet is beached, that leaves water-borne transportation to Macao in the hands of archnemesis Stanley Ho. That ancient casino vizier doubtless supped upon a cold dish of revenge upon hearing the news of Adelson's latest reversal of fortune. As for Adelson, about the only comfort he can salvage is that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is singing psalmody from his "let's appease the nice ChiComms" hymnal now.

Speaking of carrying water, Ho's Astroturf "grass roots" ally, Concerned Macau Residents Group, continues to push the line that Adelson's asset sales in Macao must be stopped lest they destabilize the local real estate market. (Which sounds like an odd bugaboo for an allegedly ad hoc group of citizens to have at the forefront of its agenda ... but it sure would be a logical concern for a rival magnate like one S. Ho.)

In making its case, CMRG read right off the Stanley Ho script. So word-for-word was its delivery, in fact, that group leaders had to concede they "shared the same view with Stanley Ho who also made comments recently in response to the sale of the Four Seasons apartment hotel." Boy, I haven't seen such poor ventriloquism since those old Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy movies.

Adelson is also encountering headwinds in the construction of Marina Bay Sands, which has shot $2.2 billion over budget. (Yes, that's "billion" with a "B.") You could build a pretty awesome Vegas megaresort from the cost overrun alone. Either Sands seriously "misunderestimated" this project or let it get completely away from them. Either way, with a $5.4 billion tab it simply beggars credulity that is going to be the world's most profitable casino, as has been claimed.

Yes, Singapore's population base far outnumbers of that of Macao. Big deal. When the guvmint is planning to charge citizens and permanent residents $65 a day to get into a casino -- and isn't backing down -- that's a near-insuperable obstacle to overcome. I heard quite a bit of skepticism when Singapore's "integrated resort" concept was rolled out and there seems to be little reason to change that outlook as runaway costs for both Marina Bay Sands and the rival Genting megaresort begin to suggest this could be the Heaven's Gate of gaming markets.

On the subject of movies, with illegal immigration being a hotter-button issue than ever, you'd think Gregory Nava's 1983 El Norte would own ever greater relevance today. Think again.

MGM kisses $1.2 billion goodbye

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:44:00 -0700

Sneaking the news out late on Friday (after the markets close, heh heh), MGM Mirage is writing off $1.2 billion in 4Q08. So the the fourth quarter is down the toilet ~~and perhaps the whole fiscal year along with it~~. MGM is attributing $1.2 billion of the writeoff to "goodwill" from its Mandalay Resort Group purchase. ~~plus $47 million toward Mirage Resorts. (I'd say if you "only" overpaid $47 million for six-pack of Steve Wynn properties, plus beaucoup land in Atlantic City, you got a good deal.)~~

MGM Mirage shareholders watch their money go up in flames.

"Goodwill is the amount exceeding fair market value that is paid for an acquisition," reports The Associated Press. Which is MGM's fancy way of saying, "We overspent" (big-time, in the case of Mandalay) and that it's having buyers remorse about Mandalay Bay, Excalibur, Luxor and Tunica's Gold Strike. One of the most famous "goodwill" writeoffs -- perhaps the most famous -- was the bath taken by stakeholders in the AOL/Time-Warner conglomeration, after AOL's value proved to be nowhere near as high as it had been talked up.

At least the Herbst Gaming fraternity can take some cold comfort from today's news. After all, they just had to jettison all the "imaginary value" ... er, "goodwill" associated with their acquisition of three Primm Valley casinos from MGM, a deal in which Herbst got taken to the cleaners and then put through the trouser press for good measure.

Could this revaluation of six of its 10 Strip properties (including Bellagio, The Mirage and the soon-to-be-Ruffinized Treasure Island), plus one in Mississippi, be CEO Jim Murren's way of hanging out the "For Sale" sign? I'll leave that debate to wiser heads than mine.

Is Blu-Ray worth it? I dunno but maybe this guy does. Have a great weekend.

The Triads are back

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:30:00 -0700

Or rather, they never left, according to a lurid Daily Mail article, which casts Stanley Ho in the unlikely role of statesmanlike peacemaker. The story begins with the description of a suicide at Sands Macao and makes this prediction: "Next year we can expect the trials, executions and killings that will decide Macau’s future."

Other contentions include the prospect of a Triad war for control of the VIP rooms if and when Stanley Ho dies, as well as the allegation that his STDM corporation is under Peking's scrutiny for possible involvement in money-laundering. Also, Edmund Ho's provincial government is described as sitting atop a $6 billion budget surplus, thanks to casino taxes. If so, small wonder that the Chinese government feels no particular urgency to ramp up Macanese visitation and casino development at the speed Occidental moguls would prefer. (Melco Crown CFO Simon Dewhurst provided even better clarity in remarks given at G2E and reported by the Motley Fool.)

At best, the Daily Mail exposé provides insight into how Macao's Communist overlords look upon the situation there -- and why they're inclined to micromanage its economy. At worst, it raises the spectre of a Triad-related scandal having seriously regulatory blowback for U.S.-based casino companies. Several current Macao concession holders have also been kicking the tires of possible expansion into the Philippines, compared to which Macao is as squeaky clean as Singapore.

On the lighter side, if you're interested in decadent monarchs -- and have a generous amount of spare time -- at hand, Luchino Visconti's Ludwig is like a History Channel marathon with nudity. Or, if you're experiencing Jersey Boys withdrawal, Robert Davi's The Dukes might provide some succor ... provided you're feeling indulgent.

New blogs on the block

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:43:00 -0700

A couple of new bloggers just rode into town, meaning I'm going to have raise my game a bit. Actually, they've been in town for quite a long time and know where many of the bodies are buried, but are relatively new to the blogosphere. One is Jeff Burbank, whose contrarian Las Vegas Downtown News doesn't pull any punches. (Though I wish he'd turn his sights on those do-nothings at Tamares Group.) Burbank is also noteworthy as the author of License to Steal, the standard reference work on gambling regulation in Nevada. I always keep a copy within reach.

Over at the R-J corral, Howard Stutz is doing an online version of Inside Gaming. He's only been at it for a few days and, for the moment, it's a sort of parking lot for items that don't quite merit a full news story but are too worthwhile to be tossed aside. Besides, it's not like the guy isn't criminally overworked already. His R-J masters expect multiple bylines per day (and sometimes multiple updates of the same story, too), plus his Sunday column plus contributions to the Las Vegas Business Press. So I wouldn't blame him if he looks on this "opportunity" more as an additional burden.

Dig these dancing queens while yet you may.

As we're now one month and counting from the closing night of Mamma Mia! at Mandalay Bay, let's pause for a bit of good news. Not only has the celluloid version become Britain's highest-grossing film of all time (unadjusted for inflation), but first-day sales of the DVD outshot previous record-holder Titanic by 34%. It'll be a shame to lose the best show on the Strip but The Lion King isn't exactly chopped liver and -- best of all -- it's not giving ground to another Cirque du Soleil show. If Cirque ever gets its Silly Putty-covered mitts on ABBA, I'm going to enter a Trappist monastery.

Jack Black as Jesus

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:53:00 -0700

I'm still playing catch-up from G2E (not to mention an apartment situation that's straight out of a Dario Argento film*), but this is too cool not to share.** The all-star cast includes such actor's actors as John C. Reilly, Allison Janney and Andy Richter.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Maybe MGM Mirage should commission a stage version of this to fill that black pit of despair and failure otherwise known as Cirque du Soleil's Believe. After all, MGM did say it was repositioning Luxor as its "gay-targeted" property.

* -- Is someone really remaking Suspiria? Don't do it man!

** -- If it weren't for Steve Friess, I wouldn't have known about this.

Planet Straight-to-Video; Midnight Jim strikes again

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:00:00 -0700

Robert Earl's big-deal movie premieres at Planet Hollywood Resort Casino continue to slide into Z-List territory. Last night's big whoop-de-doo was Repo! The Genetic Opera. The heavy hitters on the red carpet were as follows: Criss Angel, who'd show up for the opening of a soda can (plus his Hefbot); Benji Madden; Alexa Vega; Crystle Stewart (Miss USA -- product placement!), "ohGr" from Skinny Puppy -- which I presume is a band of some ilk -- and the all-too-inevitable Paris F. Hilton. At least she and some of the others could plead the extenuating circumstance of actually having appeared in the film.

"Repo!" star Alexa Vega at Thursday night's Planet Hollywood premiere. Photo: © Erik Kabik/RETNA.

This Planet Ho "tradition" began, if memory serves, with Rocky Balboa and has been on a downhill slide ever since. Heck, Earl couldn't even get Old Reliable (aka Sylvester Stallone) to show up for this one. He needs to either book a better class of movies for these shindigs or put the "star-studded galas" out to pasture.

Clayton retires. Or was he nudged? Nevada Gaming Control Board member Mark Clayton won't seek a second term, saying, "I felt it was best to let this governor select his own board member." Since Gov. Jim Gibbons has been pretty territorial about NGCB appointments, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Gibber took time out from his heavy text-messaging schedule to let Clayton know that he shouldn't get his hopes of a second term up. (Midnight Jim doesn't have much chance of a second term of his own right now, but that's a whole 'nother stew.)

Actually, Clayton may be the only NGCB member currently holding a valid appointment. Gibbons had himself sworn in at midnight on Jan. 1, 2007 (hence his sobriquet), even though his Congressional term didn't end until Jan. 3, when Rep. Dean Heller was sworn in as his successor. Here's the relevant lingo from the Nevada constitution (dug up for us by CityLife Editor and constitutional scholar Steve Sebelius):

Sec: 12. Person holding federal office ineligible for office of governor. No person shall, while holding any office under the United States Government hold the office of Governor, except as herein expressly provided.

Which means that unless Gibbons formally resigned his congressional seat prior to taking the oath of office (for the first of three times), any actions he performed between 1/1-1/3/07, including the appointment of NGCB member Randall Sayre and the reappointment of NGCB Chairman Dennis Neilander are invalid. Null. Void. Ixnay. Game over. And if that's the case, every action the Control Board has subsequently taken could be challenged in court and most likely thrown out.

That's one big-ass can of worms. Anybody wanna open it?

Free stuff!

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:50:00 -0700

If you're a fan of classical music, Netherlands Radio is offering a package of 10 downloads of symphonies performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, under a star-studded roster of conductors that includes Leonard Bernstein, to name but one. It's absolutely free (and done at the highest MP3 bitrate, if that's important to you).

Back around 2000, a friend tried to line me up with a job at Netherlands Radio, doing an archival project. It didn't go anywhere and neither did I ... which means I wouldn't be sitting here, having the privilege of talking to you (or "at you," perhaps). And I would have had to learn Dutch, which is considerably more daunting than having profanities yelled at you by Tilman Fertitta.

If you prefer jazz, see the new documentary (maybe they'd do more business if we called them "reality movies"), Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer. It's inspiring stuff. (OK, so it's not free, but you'll get good value for your money.)

From the inbox

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:18:00 -0700

A certain Goth-clothing peddler and man-about-Vegas strikes again ...

Christian Audigier The Store offers rock ‘n’ roll, glam-inspired clothing and accessories by the famed fashion designer. The chic retail outlet, adorned in a luxe red and black décor, provides stylish attire from Audigier’s popular lines, including Ed Hardy. Patrons may choose from a wide selection of fashionable merchandise ranging from footwear, handbags and belts to shirts, hoodies and denim.

Christian Audigier The Store is located next to the Sirens’ Cove entrance and is open Thursday through Sunday from noon to midnight; Monday through Wednesday from noon to 10 p.m. To contact the store directly, call (702) 894-7757.

Why don't they just combine the store, Christian Audigier The Nightclub and Sirens of T&A into one big, themed experience and call it "Christian Audigier The Suck"? Just a thought.

The world's most famous gambler (or rather, the man who plays him -- better than anyone since Sean Connery, IMO) says the world is ready for a black 007. If that's the case, I submit that there's one and only one nominee. If you're skeptical, rent Red Dust or Serenity and see if you're not convinced.

Winners! We've got winners!

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:06:00 -0700

Yesterday's Columbia Sussex contest produced an unprecedented flurry of responses -- and I learned a lot about the bond market, too. Our S&G readership is a veritable V-8 engine of knowledge. As you'll recall, the question concerned the "defeasance" of a $967 million Columbia Sussex bond.

The first reader across the finish line with an answer to this abstruse question is Tom De Martini of Phillipsburg, N.J., who wins hard-copy and e-book versions of Bill Zender's Casino-ology, our newest Huntington Press title. But four other readers submitted correct answers.

What to do? A solomonic solution has been devised by our own Bethany Coffey. To wit: Runners-up will receive e-book copies of Casino-ology, thereby allowing you to enjoy the latest in cutting-edge LVA technology. (I'm reminded of the line in the 1987 Dragnet movie, in which Dan Aykroyd's Sgt. Joe Friday relates, in a hilariously uninflected voice-over, "After losing the two previous vehicles we had been issued, the only car the department was willing to release to us at this point was an unmarked 1987 Yugo, a Yugoslavian import donated to the department as a test vehicle by the government of that country and reflecting the cutting edge of Serbo-Croatian technology."

Whatever happened to the Yugo? (No, you don't get a prize for answering that.)

And now the winner(s):

8:52 P.M. EST, 11/5/08

Defeasance allows an issuer (the company) to collateralize outstanding debt with a portfolio of risk-free government securities (usually U.S. Treasuries) which ostenibly removes the debt from the balance sheet. It can also be accomplished with cash.

So, in this case, the Columbia Sussex bond has already gone through this process, reducing the outstanding value by 90%.

I covered the bond market for eight years ... I knew it would evenutally come in handy.

1:42 A.M. EST, 11/6/08

A defeased bond is a bond that is rendered void by a party by pledging a security or cash in order to pay the tems of the bond. In addition, all covenants and contract provisions are removed from the bond. Simply put, Columbia Sussex pledged cash or some other asset in order to defease (make payments) on the roughly $890 million principal balance and was released from the covenants and provisions which may have triggered a default on Columbia's part.

4:37 A.M. EST, 11/6/08

In simple terms, Fitch, the bond rating agency, is lowering the ratings on certain parts of ColSux debt. The lowering is due to potential litigation costs, which could affect ColSux ability to pay the debt off. The effect of lower ratings is a higher cost for capital for the company in the future.

As for the debt being defeased by 92%, this link will provide a full explanation, but it means the amount defeased is not a liability on the balance sheet when the company places cash or other assets with an escrow agent to cover the amount of defeased debt.

12:53 P.M. EST, 11/6/08

Securities that have been secured by another asset, such as cash or a cash equivalent, by the debt-issuing firm. Firms that have created defeased securities, which are typically bonds, will have sufficient cash set aside for retirement of the debt upon maturity. For example, the U.S. government could place the funds necessary to pay off a series of Treasury bonds in a trust account specifically created to pay the outstanding bonds upon maturity. The government sets aside these funds to ensure that it has enough cash to pay its bonds when they are due. Commonly, defeased securities are retractable.

Securities than can be defeased will often carry a lower yield than comparable securities, as the option to retire the debt early favors the issuer and caps the potential investment return for the bondholder. However, for a risk averse investor, this feature proves beneficial because it lowers the default risk of the security. The document you referenced really has little bearing on Columbia Sussex itself. It's actually pertaining to Asset Securitization Corp. and the bonds they issued to cover mortgages. It seems that on this particular loan, they've paid off 92% of the mortgage. It would sound like a positive sign to me, anyway.

12:54 P.M. EST, 11/6/08

The company "Asset Securitization Corp" has pooled together multiple commerical mortgages. The mortgage payments "pass through" this company. In other words, they collect the payments and send them onto investors. This pool of assets is what is being downgraded. "[O]ne loan remains in the pool" means that all other mortgages have been paid off with the exception of ColSux.

Here's another link with an excellent definition of defeasence. Downgrading the pool of mortgages of which ColSux is the only remaining mortgage doesn't have any direct effect on ColSux.

President-elect Obama is on Line Two, guys. He says he needs you to help him sort out the mess at Treasury. But seriously folks ...

Congratulations to everyone who participated. I think we've started something. And I've learned a lot of somethings. A day without new knowledge is a day wasted, IMO.

Wisdom from Wall Street

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:17:00 -0700

"Any gaming operator that postpones spending and preserves capital in this environment should be rewarded, in our view." -- Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Steven Wieczynski, reacting to news that MGM Mirage had put its Atlantic City and north-Strip projects onto the back burner. Boyd Gaming has extended the hiatus of Echelon and Las Vegas Sands is curtailing its Sands Bethlehem project.

I.O.U.S.A. Making a movie on the subject of the national debt seems like exercise in masochism. Making an absorbing and readily comprehensible film on that abstruse subject is a signal achievement. For those of you who object to my pro-Obama leanings, I should point out that -- based on the facts and figures put forward by filmmaker Patrick Creadon (he did Wordplay, for you Will Shortz fans), the Democratic economic plan wouldn't do much more than nibble around the edges of the national debt burden.

Case Bets: Bugsy, Terry & Meryl

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:18:00 -0700

If you still harbor a belief in the urban myth that Bugsy Siegel "founded" Las Vegas or "created" the Flamingo (or was anything like the cartoonish version propounded by Warren Beatty on film), UNLV has the thing for you. It's a presentation entitled, “There Were Few Solid Facts to Get in the Way: Popular Perceptions of Bugsy Siegel as Founding Father of Las Vegas.”

Dr. Larry Gragg of the Missouri University of Science & Technology will separate myth from fact in re Bugsy. Says David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV, "this guy has done way more serious research into Bugsy Siegel than anyone else I've heard of." It's at 7:30 p.m., Thursday night at Lied Library's Extended Study Lounge. Better still, it's free. Check it out. This may be the best "comp" of the year.

Terry Fator, ventriloquist and puppet proctologist.

Terry Fator gets props from one of our spies, who caught him at the Las Vegas Hilton and thinks "Mirage might have a winner, especially since he still has that thrill of performing going for him." Besides, the casino will be able to boast a headliner whose name recognition actually extends past the borders of Clark County. (LVA readers give Fator five stars out of five.)

Only 11 more weeks to dig these dancing queens.

It's illogical compensation for the imminent demise of Mamma Mia! at Mandalay Bay (the only event that could depress me remotely as much as Sarah Palin in the White House). But ... the Belfast Telegraph reports that the Meryl Streep-starring movie version is setting pre-release DVD sales records in the U.K. It's already outstripped sundry Harry Potter titles, is about to deliver a Bourne Ultimatum and may even topple Star Wars IV-VI (i.e., the ones with Jar-Jar Binks).

Speaking as someone who was born in Lexington, Virginia (y'know, Nancy Pfotenhauer's "real Virginia") and grew up in lovely Midwestern towns that probably qualify as Gov. Palin's "pro-America" parts of the U.S., I have but one thing to say about this current epidemic of more-American-than-thou rhetoric and I shamelessly stole it from Jon Stewart: "Pfuck you!"

Sorry, but I just had to get that off my chest. All better now.

Lights! Camera! Straight to video!

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:46:00 -0700

Saw 5 and a Paris Hilton vehicle will be the next two movies premiered at Planet Hollywood. Owner Robert Earl must be so proud. The red-carpet pickings over there become less and less impressive. If Kathy Griffin were invited to either of these premieres, it'd mean she'd moved down to the E-list.

More compromise in Philly?

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:44:00 -0700

When Foxwoods proved willing to relocate its Philadelphia slot parlor to a new locale, the public posture of SugarHouse remained one of intransigence. However, there's been some backing and filling going on behind the scenes, culminating in design revisions. These would include a parking garage that's not so obtrusive. A Penn Praxis study commissioned by the city -- but boycotted by Foxwoods and SugarHouse alike -- faulted both projects' design for being too much like suburban shopping malls.

The SugarHouse compromise was brokered in a Denver hotel room during the Democratic convention, when Mayor Michael Nutter, Gov. Ed Rendell and Pittsburgh casino savior (and heavyweight Democratic donor) Neil Bluhm all oh so coincidentally happened to be the Mile-High City. Isn't it remarkably serendipitous how casino policy is made in Pennsylvania?

Grapes of Wrath, The Sequel. I'm thinking Gov. Sarah Palin got a bum rap for saying we're headed toward a reprise of the Great Depression. After all, I grew up hearing about Okie migrants and the Dust Bowl, watching The Plow That Broke the Plains, and yet thinking it would never, could never happen again.

Then I stumbled across this heartbreaking story about a tent city in Reno. (Actually, Ian Sutton found it.) And not just any tent city, but one run by the city itself. A job as a casino night porter gets one unfortunate couple out of the shantytown, but there doubtless are others coming to take their place. If we're not having a communal John Steinbeck flashback, maybe we should.

Slacker Uprising. Finally, something upon which both admirers and detractors of filmmaker Michael Moore can agree: His latest movie is surprisingly mundane.

The bailout. It's a done deal. Its passage was eased by the promise of additional market reforms somewhere down the road. Given the ferment for (to borrow an overused word) change, across the political spectrum, it would be better for the country if Congress struck now, while the iron is hot. Four months is a political eternity and congressional leaders will probably have lapsed back into their customary torpor by January. Congressional willpower, after all, is oxymoronic.

Case Bets: Aria, 'Stargate', Spain, Sir Charles

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:34:00 -0700

A few quick odds and ends, just for fun ...

At last somebody had the nerve to say what I was merely thinking about the hotel rooms at Aria. That somebody is Chuck Monster, who calls them "supremely underwhelming, even with all the gadgets and gizmos." Thanks for putting into words so well and succinctly, M. Monster.

Another installment in The Greatest Achievement of Western Civilization (aka Stargate SG-1) has come forth upon video. I'm not in the DVD extras this time around, which means I can review it -- and did. I sprang for a supplemental Blu-Ray copy, too, which shows you how pathe ... deeply devoted I am. (If you think that's bad, you should have seen me jumping for joy at Comic Con when I realized I was going to be meeting Amanda Tapping face to face.)

Aw heck, even I know who José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is and what country he runs. Say, whatever happened to that Harrah's Entertainment megaresort that was slated for Spain? Que pasa, Señor Loveman?

"The Charles Barkley Show" live from Wynn Las Vegas. I'm sure this sounded a lot better in the writers' room. Or else they should have engaged the real Sir Charles to do the sketch. I don't think I'm spilling any trade secrets by saying that Mandalay Bay exec Rick Fields singled out Barkley the other night as an exceptionally amiable and low-maintenance high roller. Many other (unnamed) celebs -- not so much.

Casino woes hit tribal turf

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:18:00 -0700

Construction at two Seneca Gaming Corp. projects in New York State has ground to a halt. The stoppage is blamed on "challenging economic and capital market conditions, greater demands on the company's available cash and increased competition and construction costs.''

Sound familiar? What happens at Echelon not only doesn't stay there, it may be coming to a casino market near you sometime soon. In the Senecas' case, the National Indian Gaming Commission is threatening to cut off their part of the flow of casino cash altogether. But it still adds another casualty to the list of scrapped, frozen, delayed, bankrupt or scaled-back casino projects around the country.

Newest casualty: Seneca Allegany Casino

It's been a longstanding fundamental of casino development that it was self-sustaining: the more supply, the greater the demand. Wall Street analysts never thought there was anything wrong with Las Vegas that wouldn't cured by "the next round of megaresort openings." (If they had their druthers, we'd be opening a new one every week.) Hence the long queue of states wagering greater and greater amounts of their fiscal health on casino taxes.

As the state of Nevada is learning the hard way, the elasticity of casino-revenue growth is finite -- and tightening. Since that's the lone arrow in the Silver State's financial quiver, we're going to feel the pain worse than other states, but other legislatures and governors are going to wake up the fact -- if they haven't done so already -- that the casino industry isn't just some magical pump from which an infinite and ever-larger gusher of money doth spout.

Speaking of matters tribal, it'll be a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to Native Americans if Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is the GOP veep pick. During his tenure -- I was going to follow that with "in the governor's mansion," but Pawlenty refuses to live there, actually -- he's been a divisive figure on the tribal scene, pitting Indians against other Minnesotans and against each other. It would be difficult to find a White House more inimical to tribal interests than the current one, but Pawlenty's ascendancy hardly augurs well for the future.

Media event done right. With much grumbling and many misgivings, I tagged along to media night at BLT Burger (and thus finally got to meet lovely MGM Mirage PR stalwart Sandy Zanella, after many years of e-communication). Surprise, surprise: The event wasn't overbooked, the music wasn't too loud, there was plenty of space to sit down, and the food offerings were actually representative of the restaurant's menu. (I'm looking at you, Brand.)

Admittely, the fried pickles didn't come around nearly often enough ... well, only once, actually. But there were generous portions of everything else, and the service was both frequent and solicitous (something that evidently has not always been the case). I'm still unsure what to make of BLT's upscaled versions of diner favorites -- falafel burgers, anyone? -- but it put its best Buffalo wing forward.

"Self righteousness is its own reward." That's what my Dad always told me and it's certainly true of this wretched documentary. By the way, the unidentified woman in the photo is Darlene Jesperson, the bartender that Harrah's Entertainment fired because she wouldn't wear makeup (a requirement, it goes without saying, that was imposed only on female employees). Harrah's beat the rap, freeing it and the rest of the industry to carry on with a plantation mentality that should have been swept out decades ago.

Kansas, Round 1: It's Harrah's, Penn

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:54:00 -0700

Score one victory each for Harrah's Entertainment and Penn National Gaming in the first round of casino concessions awarded in Kansas today (with Round 2 to follow in a month). But there's really only one winner ...

.... and it's Harrah's, which got the Sumner County contract and, with it, the Wichita market. Penn National must settle for the concession prize of Cherokee County.

Big deal. Penn had no competitors for that market and -- keeping that in mind -- two of the seven state arbiters voted against Penn. Perhaps that's because Penn had previously sulked that it might pull out of Cherokee County if it didn't get the Sumner concession as well. Announcing that it was going to scale back its Cherokee County investment and dribble it onto the market in piecemeal fashion (fearful of a nearby tribal casino) probably didn't endear Penn to the Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board, either.

Even today, Penn's spokesman was still threatening that the company might not go through with the casino Kansas just handed it. That's unbecoming conduct from one of the few cash-rich casino companies at the moment.

Small wonder Penn's Sumner proposal garnered only one vote of support. Which isn't to imply Harrah's gets the Wichita market out of spite or default. (There was, after all, a third contender.) Board members were impressed by the proposed amenities in Harrah's $535 million-560 million proposal and by the site's proximity to Wichita.

Probably the most attractive criterion was that the state's first-year revenue projections for Harrah's, while lower than the company's own, were the highest for any of the three proposals -- 48% more than those for Penn and 44% higher than for Marvel Gaming.

Marvel, which has local ties, particularly to the Binion family, says it's keeping its powder dry. No wonder: If Penn decides to take its ball and go home, Marvel (which got two votes to Harrah's four) appears to have made a good enough impression on the review board that it could make a strong run at Cherokee County, if the opportunity arose -- and the cost of entry would be a great deal lower there.

View the complete set of proposals here.

Recommendation for the weekend: The new suspense drama from Claude Lelouch, Roman de Gare.

Karaoke fans, rejoice! As reported here, earlier (and now official), a singalong version of Mamma Mia! opens on Aug. 29. Presumably smarting from hearing Dark Knight this and Dark Knight that, Universal Studios' press release gets in some passive-aggressive jabs on behalf of its $330 million-grossing musical, noting "is now the highest grossing film of 2008 in the U.K., Austria, Greece, Hungary, Norway and Sweden." And, just to get one more dig in: "The film still has more than 35 territories in which to open." Meow!!!

False alarm: If you got an e-mail alert about a Philadelphia-related S&G posting, but couldn't find it, it's temporarily on hold, pending some new wrinkles in the story. Then there are latest Illinois/Iowa/Missouri/Indiana revenue comparisons and ... and ... and ...

End of 'The Experience'

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:48:00 -0700

Because, gosh knows, if there's anything Las Vegas desperately needs, it's one more nightclub, Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton has been marked for death. This has already been noted in an LVA "Question of the Day" and elsewhere. Chuck Monster has also weighed in, including a moving video depiction of the "Wall of Memories": protest after protest, all in vain.

As a birthday present, the Significant Other treated me to ST:TE last weekend. I'm hardly Trek-literate and wish I'd been feeling up to making the round of the museum exhibits and timeline: This is a marvelous resource and worth keeping in town (which CBS/Paramount says it's trying to do). Here and there, one could see evidence that new owner Cedar Fair had been letting things go to seed. But while the costumed "crew" had every reason to feel down in the mouth, all but one or two were in fighting trim, performing their roles with great spirit.

As motion-simulator rides go, "Klingon Encounter" is the best of my experience, a real bronco-buster, even if the concluding footage of the "present-day" Strip circa 1997 is unintentionally amusing. That should have been re-shot years ago. "Borg Invasion" wasn't quite so impressive, despite being far more recent: Sit at the rear of the theater and light spills from the sides diminish the experience; sit up front and the 3-D doesn't align properly.

Still and all, we had a good time and couldn't help noticing the huge turnout. (Hint: Get there a half-hour before the doors open at 11:30 a.m.) The sets, with their winding corridors and plethora of detail, are quite something and I can well understand why it will take three months to load the whole thing out. But it shouldn't have come to this and, starting Sept. 1, there will be one less only-in-Vegas attraction.

Can Colony Capital come up with something equally unique as its replacement? The company's track record gives me scant cause for optimism. I suppose the rumored Michael Jackson venue would be "unique" ... but probably not in a good way.

Bad timing

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:20:00 -0700

If MGM Mirage isn't begging and pleading the producers of Mamma Mia!'s Mandalay Bay company to extend its run past Jan. 4, well, maybe it should. Because, as of now, it's winding the show down at a time when ABBA has once more blazed its way to the top of the charts. The film soundtrack has marched to #1 on the Billboard album chart* (and in ABBA-mad Australia), while 16-year-old "ABBA Gold" remains #1 in Britain (#4 down in Oz).

On top of that, Universal Studios will release a sing-along version of the movie in the U.K. on Aug. 22, with various studio sources saying (albeit not for attribution) that a U.S. version is planned for Labor Day weekend ... which might partially explain why the co-promotion between Rave Motion Pictures and M'Bay has been extended through the end of September.

Whatever the case, it hardly makes sense to fold the tent of the Strip's longest-running Broadway musical when ABBA-mania is reasserting itself yet again. If sales-and-marketing manna like that can't sate the decision makers, I guess nothing will.

* -- I had a hand in that ... well, me and 129,999 other people.

MGM's quarter: Not as bad as it sounds

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:22:00 -0700

Although MGM Mirage's latest earnings report inspired some apocalyptic headlines, William Spain of Marketwatch has ferreted out numbers that put MGM's earnings announcement into a less-sensationalized context. True, any profit falloff in 2Q08 was cushioned by the insurance payout from the Monte Carlo fire.

But ... we're also measuring last quarter against an aberrant 2Q07 because, as Spain points out, it was a year ago that MGM booked $264 million from the sale of its Primm, Nev., properties to Herbst Gaming. (Which proved to be Herbst's near-undoing, but that's a story for another day.) Besides, if your occupany fell to "only" 97%, you're clearly doing something right. I can vividly remember a period, during the pre-9/11 boom, when 89-92% occupancy was a sign of vitality.

Headline to the contrary, the Sun story paints a fairly reassuring picture of MGM's health, except for the fact that -- as company execs freely admit -- the company is having its ass kicked in Macao. MGM's business model over there is clearly a dud if Steve Wynn is pulling down 6.7X as much operating profit. Even Las Vegas Sands, which went into a panic shortly after Venetian Macao opened, is doing six times as well as the MGM/Pansy Ho operation. (The Wynn metric is more impressive because it's being achieved with only one casino vs. Sheldon Adelson's two.) Geez, if the numbers get any worse, Stanley Ho will be too embarrassed to keep referring to MGM Grand Macau as "my casino." Maybe MGM's plan to add more VIP-play capacity will start to turn things around.

The shoe's on the other foot in Vegas, where Bellagio is walloping "Megacenter," posting $7 more operating profit than the undynamic duo of Venetian and Palazzo combined. MGM may be reaping the fruits of Steve Wynn's labor (or Glenn Schaeffer's, in the case of Mandalay Bay) but it's also displaying the power of something Sands evidently lacks: brand equity.

Other interesting footnotes, courtesy of Liz Benston: While MGM CEO J. Terrence Lanni acknowledged getting clocked by Wynn in Macao, Adelson seems to have gone unmentioned. Is this Lanni's payback for Adelson trash-talking MGM not so long ago?

And while you'd expect big-ticket entertainment to be an expendable expense right now, Cirque du Soleil's box office is actually up. Which means two things: A) The producers of Believe can heave a sigh of relief, and B) a recession makes people seek the comfort of French-Canadian clowns. Which is the really scary part, if you ask me.

ABBA > Coldplay. So say British pop fans, judging by the fact that a long-available compilation CD has evicted Coldplay from the #1 spot on the best-selling album chart. Couple this with a $200 million-plus worldwide gross for the Mamma Mia! film, and Benny & Bjorn are enjoying sweet revenge on all those people -- like me -- who made fun of them 30 years ago. Now we're doing penance by learning that while "Waterloo" phonates beautifully in French, it sounds bloody awful in German.

"Boys" in the Palazzo 'hood

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:33:00 -0700

Last night, we took in Jersey Boys, now playing at The Palazzo. It (rather too literally) tells the story of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, making whistle stops for more songs than you can shake a pasta fork at. (Stupidly, I left my program at home this morning, leaving me short a few specifics.)

Maybe the narration-driven format would work as a Martin Scorcese movie, in the vein of Goodfellas or Casino. But, in the theater, the constant breaking of the "fourth wall" doesn't work for me. There's not quite enough book to make it a play and too many of the songs are foreshortened to call it a musical, leaving Jersey Boys neither fish nor fowl.

It makes one appreciate how well-crafted the script for the original "jukebox musical," Mamma Mia! was. Catherine Johnson's book for that seems like Uncle Vanya next to Jersey Boys, where the songs do not arise from the drama except in a chronological sense. Here, the dramaturgy is so skeletal that it forces the cast (playing a plethora of roles) into compensatory, sub-Saturday Night Live overacting. Jersey Boys co-author Marshall Brickman was Woody Allen's writing partner on two of Allen's best films (Annie Hall and Manhattan), meaning that some of the dialogue has a welcome zing. But it's insufficient recompense for a storyline that's thin and thuddingly predictable.

Des McAnuff's direction is, at best, efficient -- certainly nothing special until the grand finale. But the cast performs with verve, especially Jeremy Kushnier as Tommy DeVito and Rick Faugno, busting some nifty moves, as Valli himself. (The part of Valli is double-cast, undoubtedly because of the cruelly demanding vocal lines.) But I'm unsure what to take away from it, save that old-neighborhood loyalty can be carried to insane lengths.

The lobby for the Palazzo theater is beautiful, very nearly the equal of Mandalay Bay's, and considerably more moderne in style. Unfortunately, the largesse stops at the theater doors themselves, as the showroom is a utilitarian, charmless, black box. If any corners were cut in Palazzo's construction, this was probably one of them.

At least, Sheldon Adelson deserves kudos for deciding to present Jersey Boys at something close to full length (and he could have probably gotten away with a completely unabridged version). There are enough corpses of truncated Broadway shows littering the Strip that the notion audiences will only sit still for a 90-minute condensation can be said to be definitively disproven. Besides, it's like you're apologizing for the show you're presenting, offering 'Broadway for people who hate Broadway.'

The large, Monday-night audience at The Palazzo betrayed nary a sign of fidgetiness over the course of 130 minutes. It was a mighty appreciative crowd (I've never seen so many heads swaying in time to the music), downright vociferous at the end. Jersey Boys isn't the best show on the Strip, but it gives enough entertainment for the money to qualify for a spot in the top echelon.

Mamma Mia! update. The movie version is now just a whisker shy of $175 million globally, meaning that it's probably already in profit on a negative cost of $52 million. Nikki Finke reports: "With $17.8M [last weekend], down just 36% from its opener, it had one of the best second week (non-expansion) holds for the summer after Memorial Day weekend. Its new [U.S.] cume is now $62.7M."

The box office isn't out there. How to explain the el stinko opening weekend for The X-Files? Too many years (10) since the last movie? Too much erosion of the fan base because the series ran at least two seasons too many? Excessive secrecy concerning the plot? Was it a mistake to make a stand-alone story rather than a continuation of one the series' several mythologies? No chupacabras?

Theories, anyone? I got nothin'.

(I'm tempted to weigh in on the extremely thought-provoking and disturbing Dark Knight. But I'm so disgusted by the mob mentality currently abroad on the Internet that I'm withholding any further praise as a probably meaningless -- and undoubtedly futile -- form of protest.)

I knew it!; Art imitates Harrah's

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:31:00 -0700

I've long suspected that the former palaces of roasting-in-Hell despot Saddam Hussein were predestined to become casinos. And, it would appear, it has come to pass.

Boy, is Sheldon Adelson gonna be ticked off if he misses out on this gig.

Harrah's new megaresort: Axiom? One of the movies on our docket last weekend was Pixar Animaton Studios' Wall"E. It's a masterpiece of the art of animation, not to mention being a satire that is paradoxically dystopian and cheerful all at once. It's also probably the sweetest love story since those newfangled talking pictures were invented; a film of deep humanity ... despite the fact that its three protagonists are two robots and a cockroach.

If you haven't seen Wall"E, one of its central conceits is that humanity has relocated to an outer-space megaresort, the spaceship Axiom. There, we have devolved into endomorphic invertebrates, transported everywhere by levitating lounge chairs, video screens practically glued to our faces.

What I couldn't get out of my head was that Harrah's Entertainment once -- quite seriously -- contemplated something creepily similar. In her book, the much-maligned Winner Takes All, Christina Binkley reveals that two-dozen Larry Lightbulbs employed by Harrah's as consultants (including retail and theme park execs), "sketched out mass transportation systems, and fantasized about 'omnimovers' -- moving dinettes where people would drink, party, eat, and maybe even loll about in beds while being transported around Harrah's [350] acres."

God forbid we should ever have to push back from the dinner table! The fact as outwardly unsentimental and sobersided a company as Harrah's would entertain this notion only sharpens the teeth of Wall"E's satiric bite.

Gold Coast buffet update, etc.

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:24:00 -0700

I just heard from Boyd Gaming and they say that the corned beef/chicken choice at the Gold Coast buffet's carving station was the luck of the draw and not indicative of a cutback. Roast beef, turkey and brisket are still in the rotation, I'm told -- just not on the night we were there. It's not the greatest buffet in Vegas but it's skies above the comparably priced one at the Tropicana, where they actually had the gall to jack up the tab recently, even though the food choices are few and service borders on nonexistent.

Win-win situation? A spy in the ladies' room after a Saturday-night showing of the Mamma Mia! film says that the buzz was very positive, with several ladyfolk saying it made them want to see its Mandalay Bay incarnation* (or see it again). So the notion that the movie might actually put new legs under the stage version, instead of kneecapping it, maybe isn't such a pie-in-the-sky idea, after all.

For those of you who are interested in such things, the movie pulled in $27.6 million its opening weekend, putting it in line with The Devil Wears Prada's opening and $2.5 million-$4.5 million ahead of projected grosses.**

*--Warning!: The video clip also features the horrific noise that is Jerry Lewis.

**--Anyone care to theorize why IMAX showings of a little number called The Dark Knight ($158.3 million in three days) are selling out at Red Rock Resort but not at The Palms? Have customers been burnt once too often by Johnny Brenden's habit of charging $14 for IMAX prints that look like 90 miles of bad road but which his cinemas are evidently too damn chintzy to replace?

Columbia Sussex follies. Even though Tropicana Entertainment is going to be shooed out of the Horizon, in Lake Tahoe, in 2012, owner Columbia Sussex is parting with a few pennies to try and make the place viable in the meantime. Well, at least to the extent of rolling out an Elvis Presley Suite.

That, and there are myriad deferred-maintenance issues to be addressed now that ColSux/Trop has capitulated to landlord Park Cattle Co. This might include the plumbling that got blogger Chuck Monster drenched one memorable night when "a water pipe burst in the ceiling of the casino... raining buckets of water on slot plunkers in the middle of the casino floor and a torrential river of water out the side door of the casino."

Ah yes, the Bill Yung philosophy of "Excellence in Hospitality" in action.

McCain's trump card?

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:13:00 -0700

Americans haven't had such a good choice between presidential nominees since the Jimmy Carter/Gerald Ford face-off in '76 (which some erstwhile Carter supporters like myself retrospectively wish had gone the other way). But now John McCain has unveiled the secret weapon that may put him over the top. I mean, once you've got the ABBA constituency locked up, you're in the catbird seat.

Ameristar spurned, Wynn rewarded

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:17:00 -0700

What's worse than being jilted? Being told you're too ugly to to even date. That's about what happened to Ameristar Casinos, which just got blown off by Crown Ltd. Then again, look at James Packer's American holdings and pending acquisitions (and don't forget the Vegas Tower, aka Crown Las Vegas), and if's got an overarching strategy -- as opposed to speculative stabs here and there -- it's not easy to discern.

Packer's about to tap into a nice revenue stream with that Pennsylvania racino. But not only do the two Cannerys look a bit down-market in his portfolio, it's the worst possible moment to be entering the Las Vegas locals market, what with Boulder Strip and North Las Vegas down 30% in May. Ameristar is a steady performer with solid fundamentals and no Vegas exposure (an asset in this topsy-turvy market). Packer could do a lot worse and, in the case of the Vegas Tower, already has.

A nearly 100% increase in Macao operating income sent Wynn Resorts stock through the roof in after-hours trading, up 15%. That stock buyback program isn't going to get Wynn as much bang for its 1.7 billion bucks, but if the price keeps ascending like this, management won't mind, I'm sure. Analysts Larry Klatzkin and David Katz take opposing stances on just how much upside Wynn has at the moment. Whatever the case, the Street has punished Steve Wynn in the past for not sugarcoating the truth. Yesterday he told it what it didn't what to hear -- and was rewarded for doing so. That's more like it.

Gaming stocks got you down? (Robin Farley confirms what I feared -- that we're in the worst market in over a decade.) And while those of on the "Vegas Gang" were thinking that the diversification of the Strip's income stream was its bulwark, analyst Nick Danna says otherwise: "Their reliance on nongaming revenue is really hurting them," as consumer purse strings tighten. He also adds his voice to the chorus of analysts who warn buyers off Vegas-centric stocks.

Take comfort in the fact that "the feel-good movie of the credit crunch" (adapted from the best show in Vegas) in less than a week away.

"Mamma Mia!": the confusion thickens

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:54:00 -0700

For those keeping score at home, the marketers of the new Mamma Mia! movie are doing their damnest to blot our copy books. Songs cut from the film turn up on the soundtrack CD but ones that are in the movie are missing in action. (Supposedly we'll get sucker-punched with a really comprehensive movie soundtrack, on two CDs, somewhere down the road.)

As best can be determined -- for those of you who care about such things (Shouldn't everyone?) -- "Chiquitita" is still in, as is "Waterloo," but "The Name of the Game" (cut after test screenings) "Under Attack," "One of Us" and "Knowing Me, Knowing You" are out, the latter supplanted by 1981's "When All is Said and Done." No definitive word on "I Do, I Do ... " (though I've read that it's sort of half-in, half-out.) A few other songs have been moved around and -- in some cases -- heavily reworked. And Amanda Seyfried is a colossal improvement on the adenoidal Sophie on the original cast album.

All of which means that, at a net loss of three songs, the stage version at Mandalay Bay remains the "value added" proposition, especially with the $30/ticket discount that ran in Las Vegas City Life last week. I've discovered that my appetite for Spamalot maxed out at two performances (and John O'Hurley, sadly, is no Randal Keith, the best King Arthur since Graham Chapman) and after four go-rounds with Phantom: The Vegas Spectacular, I've had enough to last me awhile. But, just as Wayne Brady's reinvention of the classic Vegas lounge show dwarfs his competition, Mamma Mia! is lightning in a Mandalay Bay bottle and should be enjoyed every chance you get.

Early reviews for the movie in the U.K. and Australia are raves almost across the board. This is my favorite, not least for its description of Pierce Brosnan's singing voice. (Beware: Thar be spoilers.)

Now if only Universal would stop marketing it as though scared stiff that people might guess that A) it's a musical and B) it features the music of ABBA. Thirty million people having seen the stage version, the word's probably gotten around already, y'know? If the movie version succeeds in the U.S. it will be a triumph of product over (pretty craptacular) marketing.

Hole-in-the-wall casinos reviewed

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:00:00 -0700

In the current City Life, Lissa Townsend Rodgers visits a few of Las Vegas' less publicized casinos, in search of $1 booze. The Gold Spike is lauded, provided your "goal is simply to get as drunk as possible as quickly as possible as cheaply as possible," and don't mind the smelly/scary vibe that is uniquely the Spike's.

While the in-house brew at Ellis Island is pronounced "fairly meh," Rodgers follows with an impassioned ode to the casino's weekend karaoke nights. On such occasions, Ellis Island "becomes a hotbed of guys in fedoras and girls in their Friday night miniskirts, cramming the tiny, low-ceilinged lounge for karaoke, cheering each other through parodically impassioned versions of 'The Star Spangled Banner' and meandering-pitch renditions of 'Landslide.'" Still, I worry about the sense of fun of people whose idea of cutting loose is to sing the National Anthem.

Purty, yes. But good?

But Ellis Island comes off as a veritable Bellagio when contrasted with the Elardi family's Casino Royale. Or "a casino that's housed in a neon-trimmed faux-Victorian hideosity with a Denny's sticking out the side," as Rodgers describes it. Worse still are the margaritas, which she likens to a lime-flavored snow cone.

As long as we're plugging our favorite local alt-weekly, I'd be remiss in not *cough* plugging *cough* my reviews of And When Did You Last See Your Father? (a must for Jim Broadbent fans) and two Criterion reissues of films by Louis Malle. If that's your bag, as we used to say in the Seventies.

Don S. Davis, 1942-2008

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:50:00 -0700

Today, a brief break from our regularly scheduled blogging to commemorate an actor, an officer and a true gentleman of the old school, Don S. Davis, who died of a heart attack in his adopted British Columbia on Sunday. For seven seasons, Davis (along with co-star and close friend Teryl Rothery) brought heart and soul to Stargate SG-1, as Major General George Hammond. Much of the series' "family" feeling onscreen stemmed from Davis' paternal mix of sternness, compassion, experience and warmth -- not to mention a periodic exasperation that seemed to say, "I can't let you kids take that Stargate anywhere, can I?"

A true renaissance man, Davis had been a captain in the U.S. Army, had taught at SIU Carbondale (from which he held a doctorate in theatrical design) and was a painter. His distinguished acting career was a mid-life change of course. After doubling for Dana Elcar on MacGyver ("We shared the same beautiful hairline," he noted with characteristic self-deprecating humor), he came to embody the archetypal military man, whether as Major Briggs on Twin Peaks, as Capt. Scully in The X-Files or as General Hammond.

During Stargate's last two seasons, Davis' chair was filled by Beau Bridges, but the courtly man from the Ozarks could never truly be replaced. And whenever he popped up in the occasional episode here and there -- usually as a last-minute fill-in for someone else -- it brought a lump to viewers' throats. Oddly, the producers of the show never seemed quite to grasp the immense affection for Davis/Hammond that permeated the fandom.

I had the great privilege of seeing Davis give a reading of prose and poetry in Burbank, in 2005, and his fine-grained voice and unhurried delivery were things of beauty. What he could do with just the words "Doberman" or "GMC"! And his stage presence seemed to say, "I'm 63, I've got a paunch and I'm bald -- and you know what? I'm OK with that." Would that we could all age so gracefully.

Davis makes a valedictory appearance as Hammond, in this summer's forthcoming Stargate: Continuum. And embedded in the collective memory of millions of us will be the inflection with which, week upon week, he said, "SG-1, you have a 'go.'"

Now Don S. Davis knows what lies on the other side of that portal to the stars.

Something's brewing on Koval; Echelon goes underground

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:06:00 -0700

Harrah's Entertainment continues to demolish the low-rise apartment dwellings it accumulated behind its Barbary Coast/Flamingo/Imperial Palace/Harrah's Las Vegas cluster of properties. Also, a shiny new fleet of construction trailers now sits where Bourbon Street's hotel tower once did. Could we be seeing the first stirrings of "Epicentre"?

Regardless, apartment owner Oscar Nuñez, whose sad, little buildings are surrounded by more and more piles of rubble, looks the Big Loser of 2007. He squandered his opportunity to sell out to Gary Loveman when the market was at its height and Loveman was on a buying spree. Now he's missed his moment and will probably either have to settle for a depressed price or watch Harrah's build up all around him just out of spite.

Incidentally, we passed the now-infamous corner of Koval and Winnick the other night, on our way back from The Palazzo, and couldn't help but think: If there's anything left in the state budget other than a few pennies, nickels and some lint when Gov. Jim Gibbons finishes demolishing it, perhaps the Nevada Historial Society could erect an historical marker at the Koval/Winnick nexus, commemorating the sad story of Javon Walker -- if he ever gets it straight, that is.

Direct Strip access is the holy grail of megaresort design -- and those, like the Aladdin/Planet Ho, who ignore it do so at their own peril. Unfortunately, this means gnarly tangles of pedestrians, cars, buses ... everything except rickshaws, when a crosswalk (er, "pedestrian realm") must vie with the grand entrance of a Paris Las Vegas, say.

Kudos to Boyd Gaming, then, for circumventing this problem by planning a pedestrian tunnel "underneath the main project driveway" at Echelon, 151 feet long by 20 feet wide (the Strip is to the lower R-hand side of the rendering, above.) To provide some visual compensation, Boyd plans to line the tunnel with glass display cases (contents unspecified).

If there's anything to regret, it's the renaming of Stardust Road as "Echelon Resort Drive" (Boo!). The Stardust was a proud and important part of Boyd history and it would be touching if some vestige of it (however vestigial) lived on as part of Echelon. Instead, it looks like one more trace of our already ephemeral history will be effaced.

Those clever Germans, what new technical marvels will they, uh, conceive next? As long as my enjoyment of baseball games and Battlestar Galactica is to be disrupted by infestations of commercials featuring randy AARP members singing -- sometimes literally -- the praises of Viagra and Cialis, then the FDA had better get this spray-on prophylactic to market, stat. Just imagine the sales in Las Vegas (and Nye County) alone!

More is Less Dept.: Even if Mamma Mia! is coming to the big screen on July 18 -- in cinematic treatment that makes the stage production look monastic -- you'll still get more music for your money at the live version, hanging tough at Mandalay Bay.

The Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia are -- surprise, surprise -- at odds as to which songs made the cut and which didn't, while the movie's official site is no help whatsovever. "Knowing Me, Knowing You" is definitely Out (and, from what I've been able to deduce, Pierce Brosnan's vocal limitations may have been a consideration -- imagine Van Morrison covering ABBA). So are the Act II curtain-raiser, "Under Attack", "One of Us" and the fatuous "Thank You for the Music" -- which has supposedly been reinstated as end-credits music. And a 1981 song, "When All Is Said and Done" has somehow found its way into the show. WTF?

If Wikipedia is to be believed, the songs have also been re-sequenced, with "I Do, I Do ... " moved to the 3/4 mark. But if IMDB has its facts right, the encores of "Dancing Queen" and "Waterloo" are supplanted with other songs -- which would be grounds for criminal prosecution, if not rioting in the streets.

However this shakes out, it appears highly unlikely that the movie is going to make the stage version in any way redundant. (Which is another way of saying MGM Mirage should let Mamma Mia! run at Mandalay Bay until its producers decide otherwise.)

And if all this makes your head spin, have a quiet lie-down and enjoy the sublime Meryl Streep letting 'er rip in the title song and three others (with assists from Christine Baranski and Julie Walters), including a by turns rueful and torchy "The Winner Takes it All." She should dust off the air piano and take this act on the road.

Casinos Austria says 'Buy American!'

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:56:00 -0700

"You don't sell the dream of a lifetime," quoth the Man with the Harmonica (Charles Bronson) in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. Maybe not, but there's nothing that says you can't sublease it.

In effect, that's what Diamondhead Casino Corp. has elected to do. It was in the predicament of being land-rich and cash-poor, sitting on 404 acres betwixt I-10 and the Gulf of Mexico, along the Mississippi coast. Diamondhead had bought the land 16 years ago, with money borrowed from Casinos Austria (subsequently repaid). Even when offered $100 million to sell the land outright, Diamondhead stood its ground.

Despite a slick sales pitch, joint venture partners weren't to be had. Re-enter old friend Casinos Austria, which will get development rights on an eighth of the acreage, while Diamondhead collects a cut of the casino revenue.

"While other casino projects are struggling to get financing, Peter Lux with Smith Barney pointed out that Casinos Austria is dealing in the stronger Euros. The hotel and other amenities could qualify for Go-Zone tax incentives, he said," according to the Biloxi Sun Herald. And with 77 casinos scattered around the globe, Casinos Austria is not be sneezed at.

However, Casino Austria's idea of a casino and the American market's concept of one are two vastly disparate things. Attempting to crack the U.S. market was disastrous for Swiss Casinos and the complete undoing of London Clubs International. Let's see if the third time is the charm.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 30 May 2008 12:53:00 -0700

"When you say 'indie,' you usually think of a low-budget affair that doesn't look very good. That's obviously not this movie."

--Director Tarsem Singh on his self-financed The Fall. I concur.

From A(BBA) to Z

Tue, 06 May 2008 22:14:00 -0700

Too much blogohrrea and too little hydration have left me spent, drained, kaput-ski. (Mind you, some would say I've been running on empty for a long time.) And when our cranky blogging software devoured another hour's worth of work -- this one about Las Vegas Sands' emergency "stop-loss" mission to Macao, it was time to stick a fork in me.

So I may take it easy for a couple of days -- relatively speaking. (Which is okay, because Ian Sutton has all the news that's fit to link over at GamingFloor.com.) 'Cause when I'm not blogging or writing squibs for "What's News," I'm whaling away on our big "Question of the Day" archive, categorizing and cross-categorizing. And out of all that mulching, we intend to produce a super-FAQ, a gambling/Vegas lexicon and guide that will hopefully merge some of the best features of QoD and Wikipedia.

In the meantime, let's end with even more good news: Mamma Mia! just marked its 2,000th Las Vegas performance last Sunday night. I've had the great good fortune to see it three times in three years, belatedly getting in touch with my inner ABBA fan.

That's meant seeing three Sophies, nine prospective fathers, two or three Skys (Skies?), but always the indomitable Carole Linnea Johnson and her two kick-ass sidekicks, Vicki Van Tassel and Robin Baxter. I have no idea what impact the forthcoming movie version, starring Meryl Streep, will have on the Las Vegas box office or whether MGM Mirage will give Mamma Mia! another reprieve. (It's already had one stay of execution.) But long may these Dancing Queens reign.

Plaza still a "go", Tropicana gets new boss, Gibbons still irrelevant

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:10:00 -0700

It's Day Five of the "Hell No, We Won't Go" crisis and Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners members Drs. Daniel McBride and Javaid Anwar continue to thumb their noses at Gov. Jim Gibbons. As does board Executive Director Tony Clark. There's little I would I like to see much more than watching a pack of dobermans chase McBride, Anwar and Clark from their offices.

Then again, it's quite a spectacle to see Nevada public officials not only recognizing that The Gibber is a paper tiger but openly daring him to do something about it. For now, we've got a Nevada governor who looks increasingly ineffectual -- with 2 3/4 years to go on his term.

"Forging ahead as planned." That's the word on Elad Group's Plaza project, budgeted at $6 billion -- with 6,700 units and a casino floor larger even than the MGM Grand's -- slated to open in 2011. The Clark County Commission gave Elad the green light yesterday. So, anybody got $6 billion these chaps can borrow?

(For the absolute latest in Plaza designs, see VegasTodayandTomorrow.com)

Columbia Sussex Watch: The first day of Spring also means that William J. Yung III has 12 days to find a buyer and consummate the sale of Casino Aztar, in Evansville, Ind., or risk having it taken away from him when Indiana's gaming commission meets to reconsider Columbia Sussex's license, on March 31.

Meanwhile, Yung has enlisted some adult supervision (and relinquished one of his 21 corporate titles) by installing Scott Butera as president of Tropicana Entertainment. Butera has bounced around these last five years, from UBS to Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts to working for local developer Brett Torino and thence to 15 months with the runaway Cosmopolitan Resort Casino.

To say that Butera's got his work cut out for him at the remaining Trops is a considerable understatement. But he does know the casino business, which appears to be more than can be said of the crew currently calling the shots from Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.

Chips ahoy! Following a well-publicized rollout in Las Vegas, Harrah's Entertainment is taking its $25K gold chip gimmick to Caesars Atlantic City. Hey, if it's working, more power to 'em.

Man bans himself from Atlantic City casinos for life, but wants to play elsewhere, then finds he can't. What part of "self exclusion" do bozos like this fail to comprehend?

Shameless Self-Promotion Dept.: Like real estate ads, I'm inescapable in the Las Vegas media this weekend. So if you're not glutted already, you can read my takes on the new movies Look and Under the Same Moon, not to mention UNLV Opera Theatre's recent staging of Mozart's Cosi fan tutté. Oh, and did I mention last week's DVD review? I didn't? How remiss of me.

Reading Room: A reader responds

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:18:00 -0700

Per yesterday's item on the reprieve granted to The Reading Room at Mandalay Bay, a Los Angeles-based reader writes:

Just got back from Mandalay Bay ... it appeared to me that the whole Mandalay Place is not doing so well. The wine store is closed, there was another storefront closed right around there, and there's very little foot traffic, even on a weekend. I was getting a whiff of that "failing mall" desperation smell. There isn't much [cachet] to any of the places there. Only busy places are the Burger Bar and the Starbucks.

The other observation I had from my week there was the complete invisibility of Palazzo. Can't tell you how many times people asked "what's Palazzo? "when I mentioned it (either that or "did you say Bellagio?"). I like the place, but they better do something about it. Their marketing here in LA is terrible.

Thanks for reading ... and responding.

Who'da thought it? Having belatedly acknowledged the existence of television, rock music, fashion and even that newfangled club scene, the Las Vegas Review-Journal welcomes back trenchant entertainment writer Doug Elfman, who'll be spelling an overworked-sounding Norm(!) Clarke. Not only that, Elfman's new blog is the first Web page in R-J history that could be described as "elegant."

Speaking of writers named Clarke, it is my sad duty to announce the passing of Arthur C. Clarke, a man who was ahead of his time in many ways. He leaves behind a daunting corpus of work that includes co-scripting the greatest, most believeable science fiction film ever. Full stop.

Scant interest in A.C. Trop

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:01:00 -0700

So the deadline for bids on the Atlantic City Tropicana has come and gone, and there are only three bids on the table. Or maybe two.

Though I may have a dollar figure on the Cordish Cos. offer later today, even if it doesn't match the shrouded-in-mystery Joseph Palladino bid ($1.1 billion, including capital improvements), Cordish can be safely described as the company to beat. It built Atlantic City's The Walk retail mall and former Trop exec Dennis Gomes -- on whose watch the Trop's generally admired The Quarter was built -- is Cordish's point man. Gomes enjoys long familiarity with both the Trop and the overall Atlantic City market, dating back to his Trump Taj Mahal years, and he's a former regulator, to boot. (He helped bust the Vegas skimming operation that became the subject of Nicholas Pileggi's Casino.)

Even if the Palladino offer doesn't turn out to be smoke and mirrors, his arrogance may be his undoing. Saying you won't disclose your investors unless your bid is accepted wouldn't fly in Nevada, so what is Palladino smoking to think that New Jersey's even-stricter regulators will swoon at his feet?

As for the third offer, Colony Capital's $850 million, it may turn out to have been pure rhetoric. It's 50/50 that Colony didn't follow up with a formal bid (just as occurred the last time the Trop was on the market). I'm guessing Colony didn't follow up and -- if so -- it's looking like a company that talks big but doesn't put its money where its mouth is.

In Colony's defense, the double-whammy of sleepy Aztar Corp. and cheapskate Columbia Sussex is said to have left a plethora of deferred-maintenance issues at the Trop. (Based on my experience of its Vegas counterpart, I can believe it.) Also, did Colony expect the bottom of the credit markets to fall out when it first threw that $850 million figure out there?

Unless Palladino is just fronting for those blushing violets (not!) Steve Wynn or Sheldon Adelson, I'm saying this is a slam dunk for Cordish, regardless of the dollar amount. Besides, you've got to love the guy who gave Atlantic City the tic-tac-toe-playing chicken.

'Gaters rule! You can't beat a tic-tac-toe playing chicken, but it pleases me no end to report that Stargate: The Ark of Truth is still #1 on Amazon's DVD list, a week after hitting stores. Unfortunately, this also means that thousands of Americans will be seeing my cameo appearance in the DVD 'extras' and wondering, "Who the f@#& is that dweeb?"

Star(gate) Struck

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:43:00 -0700

We're starting a big update/revamp/reorganization of our "Question of the Day" and I'm deep in the midst of reorganizing this vast digital file cabinet (or set of library shelves, if you prefer). Which means a bit less quality blogging time -- hence no comment so far on James Packer's recent misfortunes or the massive "juice job" exposed in Clark County ... thanks in no small part to the persistence of whistleblower Fred Frazzetta (who should be named Nevadan of 2008 hor concours) and Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Joan Whitely.

But, in the interest of taking a brief break from sort and filing and categorizing, I'd like to plug a movie. Not any old movie but the one that's been sitting atop the Amazon best-seller list for the entire week (outpacing 101 Dalmations, No Country for Old Men and American Gangster). Yes, it's the latest installment in the greatest achievement of Western civilization, the filmic sequel, Stargate: The Ark of Truth (which producers Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper wanted to call The Ark of Truthiness, in homage to Stephen Colbert).

Admittedly, what dyed-in-the-wool 'Gaters are really waiting for is this summer's Stargate: Continuum, which promises the return of Richard Dean Anderson, a time-travel plot and the Fab Four being rescued at the North Pole by a nuclear submarine (all orchestrated by the best director in TV, Martin Wood). Incidentally, all the temporary structures at the APLIS camp, where Continuum filmed on the ice pack, are all named after Vegas casinos, including a 'Luxor' and 'Bellagio.'

Ark of Truth(iness) merely serves to rid us ... I mean, to wrap up the two-year storyline of the Ori (known to many fans as "the B'Ori" because of their propensity to talk people to death), a misguided attempt at topicality -- religious fanaticism in Outer Space. But, hey, it's Original Flavor Stargate, more or less, and with Stargate: Atlantis continuing to slip in quality, it's like a breeze in a Vegas summer.

All of which is a long, roundabout way of disclosing that yours truly plays an unwitting cameo role in the "bonus" features on Ark of Truth. Last summer, the Significant Other and I went to Comic Con, and attended a pair of Stargate panels (and met Stargate goddesses Amanda Tapping and Teryl Rothery).

Well, seems an MGM video crew was taping the aforesaid panels for bonus-feature material and a certain Las Vegas-based Stargate obsessive wound up with a brief speaking "role," much to my -- I mean, his thrill/horror. (And, no, I'm not the guy who tries to sing to the Stargate cast.)

So there it is: My 15 seconds of fame and my only -- and unintentional -- contribution to posterity. But I've bumbled my way into becoming part of the DVD corpus of My Favorite TV Show of All Time and that's a rush ... even more than skydiving, if you can believe it.

OK. Geek-out moment over. Re-engaging dignity mode ...

Columbia Sussex roundup

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:40:00 -0700

It's difficult to figure out CEO William Yung III's endgame in his high-profile pursuit of a casino in Kentucky, as it could potentially further complicate the attempted sale of Casino Aztar in Evansville, Ind. So far, suitors have proven to be thin on the ground.

It actually might be in Yung's best interest if the Kentucky state senate ashcans Gov. Steve Beshear's proposed casino legalization. After all, the closer Kentucky gets to casino gambling, the more it inherently depresses the value of Casino Aztar in an, um, watered-down market. There's a reason Columbia Sussex was able to buy its Vicksburg casino for $28 million and re-sell it for $35 million: Ain't no casinos coming to Arkansas now or in the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, the Tahoe Daily Tribune has an eyewitness report of the opening salvos in a lawsuit whereby Columbia Sussex seeks to hang onto its lease on Horizon Casino Resort. As in Atlantic City, the perceived failure to maintain a "first-class facility" is a central point of contention. To that end, landlord Park Cattle Co.'s lawyers produced photos of Horizon that may be worth several thousand words (or dollars). Also, a former casino operations manager averred that Yung "was past trimming off the fat and had resorted to whacking at the bone." (Sound familiar?)

There's a possibility that the payroll hiccups at the Las Vegas Tropicana may have been caused by miscommunication between Columbia Sussex HQ, back in Kentucky, and local management. Hypothetically speaking, Friday's payroll may have been handed on Wednesday, which might explain the "Don't cash for 48 hours" scenario. If this is the case, an innocuous explanation from Columbia Sussex could have doused the fire. Instead, the company chose to get all shirty about the matter. God knows why.

If you need a laugh (or several), check out new Planet Hollywood headliner David Spade doing Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Oscars." It's a riot. He drinks your milkshake!

Political quickie; Stallone stumbles

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:54:00 -0700

State of the Union tonight, kiddies. It's must-not-see TV ... unless you enjoy the Kabuki theatre of a lame-duck president, playing to a hostile Congress, proposing policy nostrums sure to go absolutely nowhere. (Recalling earlier SOUs from this president, it seems like his administration's worst enemy, in terms of getting things done, is its own ADD syndrome -- Iraq and terrorism excepted. Remember the year that steroids were denounced in the SOU as the scourge of the nation? That was the first and *last* we heard from the White House on said topic.)

Well, it'll be nice to have a reminder of why I'm a Democrat, after a week in which the Clintons made me wish I wasn't.

Oh, the horror! They hath spake the word that dare not be spoken! Will either man be turned to stone? We await the outcome with breathless anticipation!

(If you persevere to the end of the story, note the moment where Mitt Romney finally plays the race card against Barack Obama. Now that Sen. Clinton and her obstreperous hubby have gleefully wallowed in the mud, it looks like Pretty Boy Mitt has decided to dip a dainty toe there, as well.)

Spartans 1, Rambo 0: The fourth and hopefully final chapter in the Rambo saga got edged out this weekend by surprise box office topper Meet the Spartans. Meanwhile, Shake-O-Vision epic Cloverfield tumbled from first to fourth (maybe people don't like movies that give them motion sickness).

Like I said: great marketing campaign, crappy product. But I still want that Hasbro action figure of Mr. Grumpypants for my birthday.

Back to Rambo: Judging from his recent red-carpet appearances at the Planet Hollywood megaresort, ol' Sly isn't aging; he's ossifying. Look on the bright side: He may have a promising second career as a golem.

Starstruck; MEGACENTER attacks; Viral marketing

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:19:00 -0700

So there I was, at a rally for John Edwards (where I got interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor, as luck would have it). He's intro'd by James Denton (good news for the predominantly female crowd).

Meanwhile, I look around, and who's standing toward the back of the throng than that actor's actor, Jean Smart, as well as Kim Zimmer -- whose portrayal of Reva Shayne Lewis Cooper Spaulding Lewis Lewis (I'm not making that up) on The Guiding Light draws acclaim from our own Anthony Curtis. Both women couldn't have been more personable -- or tall! So there I was talking local media ownership with Reva Lewis and Aileen Wuornos. Surreal. Smart, in particular, has a very powerful presence, even when just listening. If you get a kick out of strong women, it was an inspiring experience, although meeting AmandaTapping still takes the cake.

"I am MEGACENTER; prepare to be destroyed!": If you scroll down to "Best Name Ever?" on David Schwartz's blog, you'll find a very funny and thoughtful item about the thunderously unimaginative name Las Vegas Sands dreamed up for its agglomerated Sands Expo/Palazzo/Venetian super-megaresort. What they came up with sounds like something out of Transformers or Toho Studios. "Eek! It's MEGACENTER! Run for your life!" Where's the Cloverfield monster (aka "Mr. Grumpypants") when you really need him?

Speaking of Cloverfield, a dreadful movie whose marketing campaign (here's its original spore) is the best I've ever seen, to what extent is the casino industry exploring viral marketing?

Given the high level of interest that surrounds every new casino or redevelopment of an existing one, not to mention the fever pitch that usually accompanies a grand opening (when properly done), wouldn't it benefit Company X's coffers to tease the consumer with hints and tidbits throughout the long runup to that moment when the doors swing open and the players stream into the newest pleasure palace?

In view of the popularity of sites like Two Way Hard Three and VegasTodayandTomorrow.com, it would seem that giving these folks a well-timed glimpse here and there would only help ramp up (and shape) expectations for new and remodeled properties. Instead, casino companies get all defensive and demand, for instance, that all CityCenter images be removed (as briefly happened to VegasTodayandTomorrow).

These people are your allies! Work with them! It's a win-win scenario if ever I saw one.