David Mckee's Stiffs & Georges - Tilman Fertitta

Eight Vegas shows reviewed

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:10:00 -0700

As promised, Mike Shackleford's WizardOfVegas.com site has launched. It took a while to get the bugs worked out, hence my review of Scarlett & her Seductive Ladies of Magic didn't appear until after the show had closed. However, to the best of my knowledge, you can not only read about but still see all of the following ...

• Amazed

• Anthony Cools

• Gordie Brown

• Marriage Can Be Murder

• Matsuri

• Sin City Bad Girls

• V - The Ultimate Variety Show

Sample line: "Yes, Marriage can be murder ... and so is the food." Enjoy!

From the mailbag #5: Vegas Club, football, Atlantic CIty

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:07:00 -0700

Reader herbop reports on the latest thrift move by Tamares Group: "While other Downtown hotels are installing in-room safes, and removing complaint-causing daily fees for same, the Vegas Club Hotel has pulled out the installed safes from its rooms. When I inquired, they said it's 'policy.' Guests can still use the casino's safe deposit boxes.

"They left the four bolt-holes in the wall, unpatched. Classy, right?"

Geez, I hope those German G2E attendees opted for the Plaza over the Vegas Club. Nice work, Tamares. Why don't you strip the copper out of the place and sell it on the black market while you're at it? (Whoops, we probably shouldn't give Pojo Z. and his flunkies any ideas.)

Kickoff time. Since NFL season finally draws nigh (after what seems like five months of preseason games), it's probably worth mentioning LVA Sports. It includes a directory of football contests, pigskin parties and team bars in the Vegas area. There are no fewer than 12 watering holes allied to Da Bears but only half that number for Packer Backers.

Tennessee Titans fans will just have to drink their beer at home, because our staff couldn't locate any Titan-affiliated bars. Ditto Tilman Fertitta's Houston Texans. Even the ever-putrid Oakland Raiders have three bars to their credit -- but getting to last year's Super Bowl still only netted one Vegas hangout for Arizona Cardinals fans. Go figure.

Don't pop the champagne for stalled Boardwalk resort Revel just yet. The latter has issued a clarification stating that China Construction Engineering Corp. only has a potential agreement in place to finish Revel, for which the resort must drum up funding later this year. Also, yesterday I misstated the opening date as "July 11" when I meant to type "July 2011." I regret the error.

Double-whammy for Planet Ho

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:36:00 -0700

True, Planet Hollywood is feeling some pain in the wallet after the Nevada Gaming Commission approved a $500,000 fine. But it's Clark County Department of Business License which fired the shot across the bow that will really get the casino industry's attention. By scotching the liquor licenses of both Planet Ho's Privé and Living Room clubs, it signed their death warrant. That, more than anything, ought to get scofflaw club owners and laissez-faire casino owners to clean up their act.

It's hardly an excessive move when you consider that the bill of particulars against Planet Ho's clubs included "drug use, prostitution, underage drinking and assault." Besides, if you want those things, perhaps you should patronize one of Las Vegas' many "gentlemen's clubs." Nevada regulators' concern about on-Strip prostitution is laudable, if tardy. When it was rampant at the Tropicana, gaming's policemen snoozed at their posts, otherwise known as "monitoring the situation."

If the message still hasn't sunk in, the Nevada Gaming Control Board's Randall Sayre sent out an "invitation" for casino executives and middle management to discuss a wide range of potential concerns. Gov. Jim Gibbons appointed Sayre to the NGCB with a mandate to beef up its law-enforcement role and Sayre's made good on it. (Even Midnight Jim has his moments of perspicacity.) It's good to see the spirit of Bobby Siller living on in Carson City.

"Damn those customers!" What do you do when business takes a not-unpredictable nosedive during a recession? Blame the customers, of course. At least, if you're Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta, that's what you do. When times were good, Fertitta was bullish on gaming (which was essentially propping up his Landry's Restaurants empire).

Oh, what transformation a few bad quarters brings! Moans the Texas tycoon, “I feel very good about restaurant hospitality, I do not feel very good about gaming.” Hmmm, maybe you should have pondered that change of heart when you were proceeding with a new $150 million hotel tower (opening ~~Aug. 1~~ Nov. 20) in the teeth of an economic tailspin?

As for the patrons, "discounted room rates appear to have attracted a clientele who are spending less on gaming and other amenities," harrumphs a company document. Yes, because in case you haven't noticed, we're on the verge of a depression. People have less money to spend. Period. Like many others like him, Fertitta needs to get hip to the fact that we're entering a period of diminished expectations. Shaking your fist at the rain isn't going to accomplish anything.

Other Fertitta scapegoats include MGM Mirage, for having the audacity to discount its rooms during the downturn. Sounding rather whiny, Fertitta utters, “You ought to go online and look at some of these rates and packages you can get. That is where we are just being murdered, trying to be competitive with the MGM and the Bellagio.”

Welcome to the NFL, man. And if you think -- with all due respect to the downtown Nugget -- that you're in the running against Bellagio or even the Green Monster, well, you're in a world of denial. I've not had time to read the last Landry's quarterly filing but, for once, it sounds like a real page-turner.

Station wins one, albeit on a technicality. All parties involved will be back for a grudge match in local court.

Signs of the Times

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:27:00 -0700

Caesars Palace's jumbotron was hawking a poker "tournement [sic]" as of last night. Having an ex-Harvard boffin at the helm evidently doesn't raise a company's I.Q. level. You half-expect that sort of spelling gaffe on the marquee at Terrible's; at Caesars, not so much.

It was wall-to-wall people at the Golden Nugget last night. Which goes to show that a scarifyingly depopulated Riviera on Monday night was not indicative of some citywide malaise. (What it bodes for the Riv is less than reassuring, however.) Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta is really packing them in -- at least in terms of bodies, if not dollars -- particularly the retirees. If Anthony Newley shout-outs are your thing, you'll love headliner Gordie Brown.

Thumbs down, however, to some price-gouging we encountered at The Grille, the Nugget's fast-food joint. Two bucks gets you a soda -- in a thimble. And don't be goin' askin' fer no refills, buckaroo, 'cause they're ain't none. Just skedaddle now afore somebody takes a brandin' iron to yer hide, tenderfoot.

Loveman in denial

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:36:00 -0700

Harrah's Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman continues his media-availability tour. In today's installment, he grants an audience to the Las Vegas Business Press and insists that not only is everything as right as rain at Harrah's but that the LBO he steered the company into is really "an ability to focus on long-term viability and the health of the business." (Bond analysts remain skeptical.)

Despite bragging on the vast "resources and ... expertise" (like these?) of Apollo Management and TPG Capital, Loveman doesn't have any new strategems or projects to offer. The overwhelming consensus of stock analysts and customers nowadays is that Less = Less at a Harrah's-owned property. Meanwhile, the debtholders who bankrolled the buyout are asked to take haircut after haircut, and could be forgiven for thinking they've been played for suckers. Is anybody benefiting from this deal? Oh, I forgot.

One could go on but the story's mostly a rehash of old Loveman platitudes, plus another refrain of "We Love Macao." Harrah's management has been warbling that tune incessantly of late -- so much so that it sounds like an overt courtship of Pansy Ho, should she and MGM Mirage get a divorce.

The most newsworthy aspect of the story is the accompanying photo, in which the former Harvard prof appears to gotten a deep chestnut-brown dye job. If indeed that's the case, Loveman should ask for his money back: It's not only undignified, it's inept.

Gordie Brown goes down: If you think Loveman gets a bad review, you should read about the Golden Nugget's star attraction, who inhabits "a place where pop culture pressed 'pause' at about the time of 'Achy Breaky Heart,' Hootie & the Blowfish and Forrest Gump."

Then again, there must be people who groove to Hervé Villechaize jokes. Trouble is, they're all going to be down at the Riviera, watching Charo. And when you're described as a poor man's Danny Gans ... well, do the blows land any lower than that?

Great news for slot players: Seven more years of Clue and Battleship. Give Hasbro credit for knowing a good thing (in this case, its alliance with WMS Gaming) when it saw it. And, just because we can't say it enough, WMS' Star Trek machines are the cat's pajamas. Just for the record, you know.

Slots A Fun defeats Donald Trump

Fri, 22 May 2009 14:08:00 -0700

I'm not sure if you can see the "unique page views" counter on this blog or not but, as of Friday afternoon, people prefer to read about Slots A Fun than about the bizarre reasoning patterns of one Donald J. Trump, 208 to 148. If that were an election, Trump would be losing by a double-digit margin. It's Slots A Fun in a landslide!

It's worse still if you're CityCenter's Aria and Vdara hotels because you're getting crushed -- crushed! -- by the Cabana Suites at the El Cortez. By an over two-to-one margin (1,537 vs. 755) people would rather look at hotel-room photos of "the El."

It gets better. In his Los Angeles Times blog, Richard Abowitz pronounces the Cabana Suites, "the nicest rooms in downtown Vegas, even nicer than the ones I've seen at the Golden Nugget ... a new alternative that allows you to see the the dirty urban origins of Vegas without having to take a cut in the contemporary Vegas luxury experience."

Somebody better hide that copy from tempestuous Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta. He's not going to "friend" Abowitz after he reads it.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:43:00 -0700

“Las Vegas has already been creamed by a biblical real-estate bust and now it may face the loss of its homegrown gambling joints, too. Station [Casinos] ... recently failed to make a key interest payment, which is often one of the last steps before a Chapter 11 filing. For once, the house seems likely to lose.” -- from a Feb. 6 U.S. News & World Report story that listed Station as one of 15 major U.S. companies least likely to survive 2009. Cousin Tilman Fertitta's Landry's Restaurants (owner of the Las Vegas and Laughlin Golden Nuggets) also made the list.

Looking for good news in Vegas

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:08:00 -0700

If I wanted to drive myself to strong drink, I could write about depressing, atrocious numbers coming out of Nevada casinos in December. But as that great philosopher, Linus in Peanuts, would remind me, it's better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness. (Next panel: Lucy hollering, "You stupid darkness!") Let's just say that December revenues hew to my saw that when Wendover sneezes, Nevada catches pneumonia and move on.

Two Sundays ago, the Review-Journal ran a pair of stories that warranted mention here at the time but got lost in the shuffle. Time to give credit where it's due, especially as these articles highlight some of silver linings inside the present-day storm front.

Boyd Gaming's is the least-sexy brand among the major casino operators ... but sexiness can be overrated. (See: Station Casinos) Unlike a certain crosstown rival which put all its eggs in the Vegas basket, Boyd has always rejoiced in a diversified portfolio. With Wall Street falling in love with the regional casino market, Boyd is likely to experience newfound appreciation on the Street.

Echelon: Stopped in the nick of time.

No wonder CFO Josh Hirsberg strikes such a sanguine tone. He also fesses up to a number of uncertainties, which is a refreshing change of pace. True, the company has halved its 401(k) matches but it hasn't deep-sixed them altogether, unlike several competitors. Also, it stopped Echelon while it still had the ability to alter the scale of the project, whereas Caesar Palace's Octavius Tower had crossed that Rubicon. It certainly doesn't rank anywhere near as high on the Mortification Meter as MGM Mirage's forced truncation of The Harmon (now to be an ungainly stump) or Las Vegas Sands' abrupt cessation of its St. Regis tower. Boyd's ongoing infatuation with fickle Morgans Hotel Group remains a major puzzlement but let's not belabor that now.

Boyd's chances of coming out the economic tsunami intact look good. Besides, the company has surprised people before. Who would have picked it to be the one that would shake up the Atlantic City market and force everyone else to keep pace?

A project that has the makings of a comparable success story in Las Vegas is M Resort, brainchild of the Marnell family. (You know, the folks who gave The Rio its cachet -- before Harrah's Entertainment took over and "geriatrified" the place.) Admittedly, $1 billion for a 390-room hotel/casino doesn't sound anything like optimal bang for the buck, but M Resort has three things going for it that Station's Red Rock Resort and Aliante Station don't: location, location, location.

Strategically, M's site is killer. It sits just north of the pass through which I-15 flows into the Vegas Valley, as you head in from California. In fact, you see the M tower even before you reach the pass, stunningly framed between the canyon walls. The vista from the north side of M ought to give it must-visit cachet when it opens in two weeks (March 1). The relative paucity of hotel rooms may bespeak caution over whether the stay-off-Strip/commute-to-Strip business model has worked yet. As they say on Wall Street, "visibility is limited" because like-minded Green Valley Ranch and South Point have gone private.

Also, by limiting their exposure on the hotel side -- where so much of the rest of the market is overexposed -- the Marnells should have supply/demand dynamics in their favor. A place like Morgans' Hard Rock Hotel, which only drew a third of its cash flow from gambling before Morgans went on a frenzied expansion binge, is super-exposed in the area that's most sensitive to price fluctuations -- hotel rooms -- and soon to become even more so. (The HRH puts a brave spin on it but it's no secret why the project is fully funded: It's 85% owned by the bank which, like the pig in the ham-and-egg-breakfast analogy, is committed while Morgans [i.e., the chicken] has but an interest.)

One also has to laud CEO Anthony Marnell III's incremental preparation for the Vegas market: a stint managing a tribal casino (giving him experience in the drive-in market), followed by acquisition of the Saddle West in Pahrump (ditto the locals market), then Laughlin. So his $1 billion dice-throw was approached via a circumspect route. George Maloof has already shown that a steady locals/hipsters mix can work as a business model. M Resort is the first project since The Palms to wholeheartedly go that route.

With nearby Olympia Gaming and Station (Inspirada) casino developments on indefinite hiatus, Marnell should be firmly entrenched before anyone else in the area gets a shovel in the ground. It's a serendipitous combination of preparation and circumstance. Of course, M could be either a succes d'estime or an outright bust, but the buzz I've been hearing is strong.

Tamares Group giveth (booking a new magic show into the Las Vegas Club) and Tamares taketh away, pulling back on a planned art museum (above). So if this is no time to invest $12 million in an art museum, maybe Tamares might want to invest it in its casinos. Comic relief is supplied by Mayor Oscar Goodman, who's been exceptionally obtuse this week. (See: President Obama, Silly Feud with)

Casinos in Texas are one of the longest of long shots but Galveston's name keeps coming up. The whole thing screams "Tilman Fertitta!", especially since we know he's wanted a casino there and was even rather colorfully accused of surreptitiously installing casino infrastructure in his Galveston convention center. He got a good chuckle out of that one, as I recall.

Black Tuesday: Station Casinos

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:30:00 -0700

Yesterday's Chapter 11 proposal by Station Casinos was paradoxically both inevitable and premature. From the day Station drew on its revolving line of credit to fund operational expenses, the handwriting was on the wall. However, Station chose to precipitate a crisis by opting not to make an interest payment ... even with $350 million in the bank.

Already one is hearing grumbles that Station ownership is trying to bust the balls of its bondholders, who balked at the last refinancing plan, to put it kindly. In return for an accelerated redemption date, senior debtors are being asked to take 50 cents on the dollar (mostly in the form of more paper), while junior debtors will have to settle for 10 cents on the buck -- a considerable premium to the current value, one must in fairness note. Or they could call Station's bluff and send the whole kit 'n kaboodle into bankruptcy court.

Aliante: A Station too many?

The Fertitta clan, Colony Capital (co-owners of Station) and the secured lenders have all signed off on this ... of course. They're the ones with the least to lose, should it go through. Colony and the Fertittae are sweetening their previous offer with a promised $244 million cash infusion. It would be cricket if Frank III and Lorenzo Fertitta ponied up $60 million -- if said contribution is proportional to ownership stake -- considering that they've taken considerably more than that out of the company in recent years. Together with their sister and brother-in-law, the boys toted home nearly $495 million from the buyout alone.

What's not on the table are asset sales, even though Station has more undeveloped real estate in the Vegas Valley -- plus the Reno area -- than you can shake a stickman at. (Not to mention that expansion is currently pointless in a market that has lost its elasticity for the time being and is, in fact, constricting). Evidently call-center employees and 401(k) contributions are expendable but pipe dreams like Viva are sacrosanct.

Investment service Moody's estimates that as many as 17 casino companies are at risk of default right now. (Scary!) Should Harrah's Entertainment fall, the enormity of ensuing "SPLASH!" will drown out the Station fiasco -- but it shouldn't. In effect, if not in intention, private equity buyouts of casino companies have become a sham whereby management gets its company back for pennies while leaving bondholders holding the bag, too. That's disgraceful.

Speaking of Moody's, the Las Vegas Review Journal's "Inside Business" blog has an amusing Wall Street-into-English translation of a Moody's investor note on Landry's (owner of the Golden Nuggets) that's a dense thicket of cover-your-ass verbiage. I was going to say Moody's "waffled all over the place," but I don't care to insult waffles.

As for Landry's CEO Tilman Fertitta, he has more reason than most to delve into today's coverage of the calamity at Station. After all, the Fertitta brothers helped Tim Poster and Tom Breitling "play" him during his bid for the Nuggets. So, no love lost there. In fact, I'm sure that Tilman is sitting down for an extra-large schadenfreude supper tonight.

Fertitta vs. Fertitta

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:06:00 -0700

After years of seeing players flee in droves to Lake Charles, Shreveport and Oklahoma, businessmen in Texas have finally had enough and are stumping for a vote to authorize casinos in the Lone Star State. It's a long shot but in these desperate times, I'd no longer bet heavily against it. Prudently, the proposal would redress a longstanding wrong (and sidestep a lawsuit or three) by restoring gambling rights to Texas' Native American tribes, some of the many victims of l'affaire Abramoff.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal's Howard Stutz adds that the Frank Fertitta Jr. clan (including presumably Frank III and brother Lorenzo) is in on the action. True, Station Casinos itself is tapped out but the Fertittas are sitting upon bushels of money made either through the UFC or the Station buyout.

If the Las Vegas Fertittas really do have their eyes on Texas, it'd not only present a business opportunity but a chance to stick it one more time to cousin -- and rival -- Tilman Fertitta. The latter, a scion of the Galveston Fertittas, has coveted a Texas casino for some time. One can only imagine how the irascible Tilman might take to seeing young Frank III and Lorenzo setting up shop in his backyard, especially after they covertly helped Tim Poster and Tom Breitling run up the price of the Golden Nugget purchase.

Regulation? Who needs it? If, as Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander maintains, his agency is operating at 1991 staffing levels, then Gov. Jim Gibbons proposes to take the NGCB back into the 1980s. Perhaps Midnight Jim is feeling nostalgic for the heyday of Lefty Rosenthal. Who knows?

Whatever the case, Gibbons' proposed cuts would make it more difficult for the Control Board to account for the tax revenue that Midnight Jim claims he is at such great pains to conserve and maximize. Then again, trying to reconcile what Gibbons says with what he actually does has been an impossibility from the get-go.

Weidner kowtows in Macao

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:46:00 -0700

A large serving of humble pie for Las Vegas Sands President William Weidner was on the menu as he handed over the keys to the University of Macau's new Adelson Advanced Education Center. No, he said, he didn't blame his company's financial problems on the Chinese government, as had been reported. Sands would be "less American" in its approach to developing Henquin Island. If people had misinterpreted Sands' confidence as an "over-direct, overpowering American attitude," it had been "humbled" now. (Topic for U of Macau students: "Las Vegas Sands as Metaphor for U.S. Foreign Policy, 2001-09." Discuss.)

Quoth Weidner, "all our earnings in Macao have stayed in Macao and were matched five times over by additional investments in Macao.” Ah, so they were cannibalizing Macanese revenue, rolling it into Cotai Strip™ expansion, after all.

Small wonder that Sands is resented within Macao if, as The Independent reports, it's been sweating employees' tips. Then again, the paper's report of $953 million in Macao casino profit last quarter is clearly out of wack. (The reporter himself seems unsure whether it's revenue or profit, though it's clearly the latter.)

As for the newly available Taiwan market, Weidner demurred. Finishing projects in Singapore (where the projections look inauspicious) and Macao are his priorities, he said. Given Sands' parlous financial state, it's now a moot point ... but did CEO Sheldon Adelson's comrades in Peking warn him away from Taiwanese expansion? Adelson had been sussing out casino prospects there.

Perhaps. After all, Melco Crown Entertainment CEO Lawrence Ho was quick to temper his own Taiwanese ambitions with the caveat, "we wouldn't want to do anything to piss [the Chinese government] off." Unfortunately for Melco Int'l and other Macao-centric gaming stocks, the market isn't buying the younger Ho's contention that visa expansion is just a few months away -- especially in light of recent gambling scandals that have led to, among other things, 15 executions [registration req'd]. Play too much Super Happy Fortune Cat and you might wind up in front of a firing squad, too, or at least doing a couple of dimes in the slammer.

Back home, the latest busted LBO play for the Golden Nuggets, combined with parent Landry's issuance of more debt, has knocked 48% off the stock price in less than a week. Considering that the last two tender offers for LNY shares went out at $21 and $13.50, respectively, that $7/share buyout offer should be coming along any day now.

Fertitta scores own-goal on stock

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:51:00 -0700

Shares of Landry's Restaurants (LNY) ended trading Friday at $12.35/share and opened Monday at $7.16 -- a 42% plunge. Starting the week by telling investors that your latest takeover attempt has gone belly-up will do that. Although the relevant SEC filing was posted on Thursday, amazingly the market didn't react until Monday morning's press release.

This is CEO Tilman Fertitta's second busted effort to take Landry's private (the first was priced at $21/share, the second at $13.50). If he keeps at it, pretty soon he'll be scarfing up stock at a dime per share. Doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result is the standard definition of insanity but in this case Fertitta may be crazy like a fox. Taking a pummeling on his personal worth might be an acceptable tradeoff for him if the result is sole control of Landry's at a steep discount.

Heaven knows, the SEC was right to balk at secret clauses between Fertitta and his bankers. Regardless of how innocuous these top-hush provisos might have been, if something of a material nature can't be disclosed to shareholders, such "unusual circumstances" are sufficient motive to nix the deal.

Given the outcome of the last three gaming-sector LBOs (Harrah's Entertainment, Station Casinos and an aborted one at Penn National), you might question the advisability of attempting yet another, especially now. But, amazingly enough, Fertitta is able to keep lining up the requisite capital, so his bankers must like what they see on his balance sheets ... propped up in no small measure by the two Golden Nugget properties, which represent a considerable plurality of Landry's revenue.

Good thing they don't gamble ... do they?

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

(Well, only with their shareholders' money, perhaps.)

Huffington Post, with the considerable assistance of VegasTripping.com, has sifted through the contributions of casino industry moguls during the last election cycle and all I can say is I'm sure glad these folks' business acumen (usually) exceeds their political prescience. Overwhelmingly, the captains of our industry backed loser after loser, with a preponderance of contributions to going to newly unemployed Jon Porter (R-NV) and to the vaporware presidential candidacy of Rudy Giuliani.

Las Vegas Sands President William Weidner has a truly dreadful political batting average. Boss Sheldon Adelson can gloat that he connected with more pitches than Weidner did. (Since the RNC and RSCC failed their main tasks in '08, I'm counting those as "strikes.")

William Weidner exaggerates the extent of his political acumen.

Former MGM Mirage CEO J. Terrence Lanni more or less "broke even," while Wynn Resorts Director Elaine Wynn's early and frequent support of President-elect Barack Obama gives her the Prescience Award. (Husband Steve didn't do too badly when it came to picking winners, either ... especially if one counts his primary-season support of Sen. Joseph Biden toward the latter's eventual vice president-elect status.)

Harrah's Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman is the closest thing to a liberal -- with donations to Sens. John Kerry and Christopher Dodd in '04 and '06, respectively -- and the only consistently Democratic donor in the bunch. Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung III (three Dem donations to one GOP one) went 0-2 at the federal level and 2-0 at the state one ... though it still hasn't gotten him a Kentucky casino.

Still, given the number of times this roster of CEOs and presidents (including multiple Fertittas [Fertittae?] and a Maloof) rolled snake eyes, you wouldn't want them placing bets on your behalf.

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.)

Sunday at The Palazzo with Sheldon

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:14:00 -0700

OK, so the big fella wasn't actually there, to the best of my knowledge, but let's not allow pedanticism to get in the way of a Stephen Sondheim reference. The Better Half and I partook of a $119/night room special at the Venetian for a quiet weekend getaway.

Maybe not so "quiet." For one thing, the toilet emitted a deafening din every time it was flushed. Other than that, the decade-old hotel rooms are wearing their age lightly. The interface for the TVs is clunky and slow, unless you count the manually operated set in the bathroom. And it would be nice if one could simply draw the blinds by hand. But it was a spacious, comfortably appointed room that would have provided plenty of lebensraum over an extended sojorn. I've wanted to stay in one ever since I saw a prototype back in early '99.

(Hard to believe, but the concept of a minibar in every hotel room was considered a revolutionary-for-Vegas concept back then. Sheldon Adelson, it bears repeating, has to be counted as one of the two or three present-day figures who have done by far the most to move the "casino-based destination resort" concept forward.)

The room offer came with: comps at Lavo that we were able to parlay into five drinks, plus $50 of match play (which went unused; there's only so much you can cram into a day), etc. No "sweating the comps" there. (BTW, I have to take issue with LVA's characterization of the entrées as "Very Expensive," especially when you take into account that they're meant for sharing.)

The Zefferino brunch buffet is, price-wise, only for those in the mood to splurge, but I have no hesitation in saying it's the best I've sampled in Vegas so far. The erstwhile 40/40 Club is now the Sportsbook Bar & Grill. Former owner Jay-Z may be gone but the service there is as shitty as ever. After being pointedly ignored by the (copious) wait staff, we went over to the little coffeehouse off of Dal Toro Ristorante and were much the better off for it.

The al fresco drinking and dining at Lavo were so pleasant (and the service so exceptional) that two hours passed in what seemed like half the time. The Bloody Mary wasn't quite as good as on a previous visit, where you could eat it with a fork, but it rates up there with the ones at Gallagher's and Memphis Championship BBQ. The S.O. opted for a Saggio, which is too fruity for me, but we both enjoyed at least one Uva Bianco -- a lightly sweet martini with white grapes in lieu of olives.

Be warned, though: You'll be directly across from the ridiculous "Sirens of T.I." show that is too bad to be either Camp or even mere cheese. The dialogue would embarrass an X-rated film, although nobody goes to "Sirens" for its dramaturgic values.

Cap it off with late-night dining at Grand Luxe Café (the best value for the dollar to be had on-property) and we enjoyed the makings of a near-perfect day ... and a crowded one. Maybe the aggressive discounting of room rates was driving Venetian/Palazzo attendance, but the joint was definitely jumping. (Unless you wanted to play Wheel of Fortune; a bank of machines had just been removed from Venetian's floor.) Business wasn't shabby in either casino, but players clearly gravitate to the older gaming floor, judging from the greater density of people on games at the Venetian.

Between the sheer body count and the general high spirits on view, you'd be hard-pressed to know that there's a recession in progress. But be prepared to rack up some serious mileage when you stay there. After traversing the length of the Venetian/Palazzo megalith three or four times (I lost count), the unrelenting monumentality of it does get to be a bit much.

Then again, "a bit much" might be the Sheldon Adelson aesthetic in three little words.

Your father's Plaza.

Tamares gets wild. Those crazy party animals at Tamares Group have really cut loose with the budget this time. They've renovated all of four rooms at the downtown Plaza. Woo-hoo!

All right, these are prototypes for made-over rooms that Tamares promises to deliver once it settles on a design it likes. So far, color me unimpressed. The new-fangled room doesn't look like that much of an upgrade on the old-hat one.

Not only is $8 million-$13 million a far cry from the $100 million Tamares bulls ... claimed it was contemplating spending on the Plaza before those El-Ad Properties spoilsports showed up with their Plaza trademark, their big bankroll and their mean old plans to build a Strip megaresort.

It's also well short of what Tamares would need to spend to get to its stated goal of being "just a notch below the Golden Nugget." (Unless it's a massive notch.) Love him or hate him, owner Tilman Fertitta has spared no expense at the Nugget, and it shows. Tamares is clearly not in his league.

Case Bets: PR, Trump

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:49:00 -0700

Press releases are always manna on a slow news day but sometimes you get one (OK, many) that make you want to pull your hair. For instance, I received such a specimen late yesterday from an agency that shall remain nameless -- last name rhymes with "Coke" -- breathlessly informing me of a new restaurant at Luxor. There was all the usual, meaningless verbiage: "fun, high-energy vibe," "rock-n-roll flair," etc.

The kicker was the announcement that aforesaid restaurant would be "Exploding at Luxor in mid-September." And when did I get this super-urgent blast? That's right, September 29, the next-to-last day of the month; this Tail End Charlie goes right back there with the time that Tilman Fertitta didn't announce the grand opening of his Golden Nugget steakhouse until two weeks after the event. (P.S., The food was greasy, Tilman.)

As for all that "high-energy," "rock-n-roll" mierda, if I'm going to this place (called T&T), my intention is to enjoy my dinner at a pace and in an ambience that don't give me indigestion, not to shake my booty 'til I puke. If want to rock out, I'll go home and put on my ABBA at Wembley Arena DVD (if the climactic rendition of "Hole in Your Sole" doesn't get you moving, check your pulse). And when I want to eat ... I probably still won't go to T&T after this lame-ass promo.

One more thing: The press release also mentions that the Titanic exhibit, still anchored at the Tropicana, will be making port at Luxor "in 2009." Which could mean 14 weeks or 14 months. (Translation: Luxor has no idea.) But at least we know we shouldn't expect its trans-boulevard voyage to happen anytime soon.

Pleasant surprise. I was able to tag along for a tasting menu at DJT, in Trump International, which is subdued and even posher than it looks on the Web site (the restaurant, that is). At the moment, it's also the best-kept secret in Las Vegas, judging from the handful of diners on a Friday night. The recently repriced menu is quite affordable, depending on how closely you watch your budget: You could also find yourself dropping $75/person here without even trying.

The hotel lobby, too, is quite restrained by Vegas standards, although the superabundance of gold leaf, gold glass and onxy would scream "TRRRUUUUUUUUUUMMPPP!!!!!" even were his name not already writ large on the building. The main problem it faces boils down to three words: location, location, location. Unless your prime directive is to log considerable quality time at Fashion Show Mall (Trump's porte cochere is directly opposite Nordstrom's), you're a bit of a hike from anything else. And, if and when Elad Properties gets started on redeveloping the vacant land where the New Frontier once stood, you'll be on the backside of a construction site, too.

One doesn't normally equate the words "Trump" and "bargain play" but the hotel's saving grace may be its room rates. Our top-notch research team vetted a series of October-December dates and found Trump to be consistently competitive with -- and sometimes cheaper than -- Paris-Las Vegas. It's also less expensive, whether by $40 or $170, than Wynn Las Vegas. Then again, my hunch is that customers would probably pay the extra $40 for the cachet of staying at a Steve Wynn property and right on the Strip -- not to mention being at the front door of Fashion Show Mall rather than the back one.

Landry's vote set; IGT blues

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:16:00 -0700

Nov. 3 is the appointed day for Landry's shareholders to vote on CEO Tilman Fertitta's $21/share buyout offer. The stock's had a wild ride lately, hitting bottom at $12.42, following a precipitate dive during what might be called Hurricane Ike weekend. No fool he, Fertitta took advantage of depressed prices to scarf up an additional 400,000 shares. The performance of Landry's huge restaurant portfolio hasn't been stellar of late, but the two Golden Nugget casinos are keeping revenues aloft, providing 43% of the company's total intake.

Although daily newspapers rarely have the luxury of indulging in analysis, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has been dipping a few toes in the analytical waters of late. Noting the Ike Effect on Landry's restaurants, the R-J finds Fertitta between a rock and a hard place: If operated revenes fall below certain benchmarks, Fertitta's financing is imperiled. But if the deal doesn't go through, a re-restructuring of debt is nigh and Landry's probably couldn't meet a margin call. Fertita's own equity contribution to the buyout consists of $90 million in cash and $97 million worth of shares.

A similar story chronicles some of the business challenges that are bedeviling International Game Technology. It doesn't get into why IGT is losing market share to Bally Technologies (which just dodged a bullet from the SEC) and WMS Industries, but it suggests that Wall Street impatience is part of the problem.

IGT is trying to pivot and position itself at the leading edge of server-based slots, something that's not going to yield any short-term results. Depending on where the impending cuts of 500-1,000 IGT jobs fall, it would be unfortunate if their effect was to impair the company's ability to innovate, simply to placate stock analysts.