Solving the Pansy Problem

Posted on May 20, 2009 by David McKee

Amidst today's crush of news, I forgot at least one other potential solution to l'affaire Pansy. Perhaps MGM Mirage can have its cake and eat it as well, by taking a page from Sheldon Adelson's playbook. It'd be a transparent move, a change more cosmetic than substantive. But it also might be procedurally deft enough to sidestep a potential head-on collision with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

Were either the company's Macao or Atlantic City assets walled off from everything else stamped "MGM Mirage," it just might do the trick. It's at least worth trying and I'll bet the MGM legal team is burning the midnight oil right this very minute, working on some smooth move of that ilk.

Incidentally, former Atlantic City mayor — and current state senator — James Whelan has proposed removing one step from the Garden State regulatory process. Deeming the Division of Gaming Enforcement and the NJCCC to be redundant, he proposes eliminating the latter. Imagine the alternate reality in which Whelan's proposal had already become policy: Columbia Sussex would still be ensconced at the Tropicana Atlantic City but MGM would be metaphorically packing its bags. That just doesn't sound right.

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, MGM Mirage, Politics, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Stanley Ho | Comments Off on Solving the Pansy Problem

The MGM/Pansy Ho verdict: It's in and it's bad

Posted on May 19, 2009 by David McKee

After nearly four years of investigation, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has released its long-awaited “suitability” findings on MGM Mirage joint-venture partner Pansy Ho. As MGM itself reported to the SEC yesterday, “While the report itself is confidential, at the conclusion of the report, the DGE recommended, among other things, that: (i) the Company’s Macau joint venture partner be found to be unsuitable; (ii) the Company be directed to disengage itself from any business association with its Macau joint venture partner; (iii) the Company’s due diligence/compliance efforts be found to be deficient; and (iv) the New Jersey Commission hold a hearing to address the report.”

The grinning ghost of MGM Grand Macau

While the reason for the DGE’s disapproval isn’t given, it’s also not difficult to guess. When someone with the sleazy reputation of Stanley Ho has an interest in your casino — by dint of loans to two of his daughters — a jurisdiction that takes probity as seriously as New Jersey is unlikely to give its benediction.

Slightly further down in its SEC bulletin, MGM offers one of the most Pollyanna-ish statements of recent memory: “The Company does not believe that the report will have a material adverse effect on it.”

Let’s back up a second. The matter of Ms. Ho now goes to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission for adjudication. The NJCCC is not obligated to act on the DGE’s findings. However, the last time it exercised such discretion, it was to override the DGE’s recommended probation for Columbia Sussex in favor of kicking ColSux out of the Garden State forthwith.

So the likelihood is that MGM will be faced with a choice between liquidating its New Jersey holdings or its Macao ones. The latter include a 50% stake in Borgata (and Boyd Gaming can afford to buy its partner out), plus some undeveloped land, which will be a much tougher sell.

As for MGM Grand Macau, it would revert to the Ho family. MGM could still, in all probability, count on an ongoing stream of revenue by leasing out the brand name or even by negotiating a management contract for itself (although management is rumored to have been the casino’s Achilles heel).

Unless the NJCCC grants clemency (in which case, MGM loses face but nothing more, as one analyst puts it), “material adverse effect” is inevitable. But there may be a silver lining for CEO Jim Murren. He was able to get debt-covenant violations waived in return for an accelerated repayment of the company’s whopping debt load. The diñero from a Borgata or MGM Grand Macau sale would come in mighty handy as the company tries to de-leverage itself.

Walking (out) in Memphis. A 21-year veteran of the Harrah’s Entertainment hierarchy resigned last week, another casualty of the company’s downsizing.

And then there were 135. It used to be the execs jumping from the sinking Cosmopolitan ship reached for a lifeline from Fontainebleau. Now they’ll be looking for another rescue vessel. (Hey, the Tropicana may be hiring soon.) A F’bleau spokesman says negotiations with Deutsche Bank are continuing, in a notable ratcheting-down of the bellicose rhetoric that’s been lobbed to and from F’bleau of late.

Heard last night as part of an act at Sin City Comedy, re the Vegas Trop: “A $20 bill and all my teeth — I’m a whale!” Conclusion: Alex Yemenidjian cannot arrive soon enough.

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Columbia Sussex, Cosmopolitan, Current, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, Macau, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Regulation, Stanley Ho, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off on The MGM/Pansy Ho verdict: It's in and it's bad

"Peepshow" buys a clue

Posted on May 18, 2009 by David McKee

"Peepshow" prime donne Kelly Monaco & Mel. B

By now it's old news that Planet Hollywood's new resident spectacle, Peepshow, has gone topless for real. Though some question the move, to me it always seemed retrogressive and counter-intuitive to present a T&A show in contemporary Las Vegas that had scarcely a nipple in sight. That's so 1956.

What's newsworthy is the co-producer's rationalization for not daring to bare: "All of the other shows in this genre play to a smaller house. What we didn't want to do is alienate what could be 50 percent of our audience. We wanted to do a show both men and women are comfortable seeing."

In this context, "smaller" is anything less than 1,400 seats. By that Double-D measurement, Cirque du Soleil's nudity-friendly Zumanity plays to a "smaller" (i.e., 1,256-seat) house, but we're hardly talking Crazy Girls-cozy there, now are we? Jubilee! over at Bally's, seats 1,040. The sight of literally scores of bare breasts hasn't kept that show from racking up a quarter-century run.

If Jubilee! "alienate[s] … 50 percent of [its] audience" — which is very unlikely — it's done no evident harm at the ticket window. (For that matter, I know some women who wouldn't mind seeing Peepshow's Mel B. in her knickers … )

So you have to ask, "What were the Peepshow peeps thinking?" They evidently came in not knowing the market and seem only now to be getting up to speed. Fig-leaf prudishness and the Las Vegas Strip just don't mix.

Posted in Cirque du Soleil, Entertainment, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Riviera, The Strip | Comments Off on "Peepshow" buys a clue

ColSux makes peace

Posted on May 18, 2009 by David McKee

After sporadically butting heads, Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung III and Kentucky preservationists have reached agreement on the immediate future of the old Bavarian Brewery. Yung had bought it and an assortment of nearby properties on the rash presumption that the Bluegrass State would vote in casino gambling and he’d be one of the lucky licensees. He went 0-for-2.

Today’s compromise preserves the most historically significant buildings while giving Yung the green light to demolish everything else. The accord may make it easier to flip the site. It also removes one very contentious issue from the table, should the CEO make another casino push. So it’s a rare win-win for ColSux.

Posted in Architecture, Columbia Sussex, Kentucky | Comments Off on ColSux makes peace

(Slots A) Fun Fact

Posted on May 15, 2009 by David McKee

I've just read that the 2008 cash flow for Slots A Fun, the crown jewel of what used to be Circus Circus Enterprises, was $2.8 million. Which means that current owner MGM Mirage could justify a sale price of $22.5 million-$28 million. (Penn National CEO Peter Carlino, this is your chance!)

Then again, MGM could sell Slots A Fun four times over and probably still not recoup the cost of its Criss Angel vanity project, Believe.

Atlantic City gets a monorail. And other infrastructural-type stuff. That $3.6 billion would probably be better invested into building two or three new casinos, not to mention getting rid of those Colony C(r)apital grind joints.* New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) thinks Atlantic City's recovery is on the way. But as long as the market breaks down — as its revenues do — into Borgata and Everything Else, "recovery" will just be a euphemism for "much slower rate of decline."

* — If banks won't underwrite new development there, why — laws permitting — shouldn't the state? I'm just askin'. The alternative is pretty bleak.

This just in: Yes, TV ads for impotence drugs (think of "Viva Las Vegas" debased to "Viva Viagra"), with their tacky innuendi, are embarrassing (albeit not as much as those for incontenince drugs). But Congress has slightly better things to do that adopt the proposal of Rep. Jim Moron, er, Moran (D-VA) to force them off the air … least not untl it's amended to outlaw any TV programming featuring the bloated visage, voice and ego of failed casino boss Donald Trump. (Sorry; can't link to the Yahoo News video. I tried.)

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Cirque du Soleil, Colony Capital, Don Barden, Marketing, MGM Mirage, Penn National, Politics, The Strip, Transportation, TV | Comments Off on (Slots A) Fun Fact

Anybody seen my Cirque?

Posted on May 15, 2009 by David McKee

Last night’s media performance of The Lion King, unlike most Vegas media events, drew much of the local “A” list. KNPR-FM’s Dave Berns was there, as was man-of-all-media Steve Friess, along with large contingents from Fox 5 and Stephens Media, in particular, along with archrival Greenspun Media. Lil’ old LVA made the scene, too, and as I entered the Mandalay Bay theater I passed a Quisp-like figure that I swear — swear — was Cirque du Soleil “director of creation” Guy Laliberté.

Eh bien, M. Laliberté? Whatever became of the much-ballyhooed “fixations” to Believe (including as many as five new illusions)? And what’s going on with the Elvis-themed/still deeply-under-wraps/as-yet-untitled show that’s going into Aria in seven months? (My better half thinks it’s a slam-dunk but my firm belief is that trapeze artists, giant babies, and bowler-hatted clowns wearing tutus and spouting fey gibberish, do not mesh with “Satisfy Me.”)

As impressive as it is in terms of physical spectacle, The Lion King is actually modest compared to the high-tech accoutrements of which Cirque is fond. Imagine had Laliberté been given his wish to simultaneously mount new shows at M’Bay and Aria, while ‘fixating’ Believe. It’d be a back-breaking folly akin to City Center itself, spiced with copious utterances of “Merde!”

As for The Lion King, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until next Thursday’s CityLife to learn whether I could feel the love last night.

Posted in Cirque du Soleil, Entertainment, MGM Mirage, The Strip | Comments Off on Anybody seen my Cirque?

"Another one bites the dust"

Posted on May 15, 2009 by David McKee

That’s how a reader informed me of Las Vegas-based Golden Gaming‘s decision to bail on Wyandotte County in Kansas. Considering that you’ve got Harrah’s Entertainment, Ameristar Casinos, etc. firmly entrenched across the state line in Kansas City, Mo., and Isle of Capri making a comeback over there, I don’t blame Golden for its hesitation.

Penn National remains in the Wyandotte running but it found no support for its last bid and previous winner Cordish Co. withdrew amicably from its Kansas Speedway project so that it could be downsized. Casino-enabling legislation in the Sunflower State didn’t allow Cordish to revise its proposal once it had been accepted by the Lottery Board. But Cordish promised it would be back, and it was.

Lottery Executive Director Ed Van Petten told media Golden wanted to conserve its assets, adding, “They are being conservative and playing it smart. I hate to see it, but I fully understand.” Golden executive veep Rod Atamain‘s diplomatically phrased withdrawal alluded to preserving liquidity, among other motives:

“While we believe in the long-term viability and appeal of our site and project, we are not confident in making such a commitment on our own in the current environment.” That’s tantamount to an admission that Golden couldn’t find lenders, especially considering Atamain’s previous reference to “ongoing turmoil in the financial markets.”

It would have been a tough call for Kansas. The Cordish and Golden projects were comparable in budget ($700 million vs. $662 million). As appealing as a Tom Watson golf course might be, Cordish’s promise of a 50% larger slot base than Golden’s would have been sweet music to state officials weathering a deep recession and counting the gambling receipts before even one handle is pulled.

In the meantime, Golden still has that liquidity it wants to preserve — and its cash flow will improve this summer as liberalized casino rules in Colorado (Golden’s primary market) take effect. It could always spend some of that dough close to home: Golden CEO Blake Sartini is the brother-in-law of Frank & Lorenzo Fertitta. What are the odds the Fertitta clan might try to spin off assets to Golden? It would enable Station Casinos to sweeten the offer it’s making to bondholders and keep Boyd Gaming at bay, all in one fell swoop.

Just a thought.

Posted in Ameristar, Boyd Gaming, Cordish Co., Current, Economy, Golden Gaming, Harrah's, Isle of Capri, Kansas, Penn National, Regulation, Station Casinos, Wall Street | Comments Off on "Another one bites the dust"

Perp Show

Posted on May 14, 2009 by David McKee

If you're bald, weight 285 lbs. and have one arm in a cast, you're not exactly inconspicuous. So how was it that that such a hefty man was to infiltrate a VIP area of Planet Hollywood and bust into Peepshow headliner Kelly Monaco's suite? It gets weirder: Merrill Wetter was a long-term denizen of Planet Ho and had been 86'd last month for following a money cart around. And yet his reappearance on the 50th floor didn't raise any alarms, literally or otherwise. This new information suggests a serious lapse of security at Planet Ho, something that the Nevada Gaming Control Board might want to investigate.

April in Atlantic City. The numbers are out and they suck. Again. Unless you're Borgata, which was basically flat with April '08 — a veritable triumph in this context. The Showboat didn't do too badly (-7%), pushing ahead of the larger Tropicana Atlantic City (-21%). However, another Harrah's Entertainment property, Bally's Atlantic City is way off last year's pace (-19% YTD) and risks joining the Dead Man Walking quartet of Trump Marina, Trump Plaza, the Hilton and Resorts.

The partial reinvention of Trump Taj Mahal continues to pay off, with gaming win down less than 1% through the first four months of the year. Don't you wish we had this kind of reporting transparency in Nevada?

Reid's smooth ride: Would-be GOP challengers to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) are not only thin on the ground they're probably hearing casino-industry check books slam shut after the Senate Majority Leader jawboned banks on behalf of CityCenter and Fontainebleau. (It was a futile effort but, at this particular moment, that says more about the lending-averse banking industry than Reid.)

Party leaders say a "highly motivated" "strong GOP challenger" is out there and will emerge … in five months or so. The only person shaking the money tree so far is former state legislator Sharron Angle. She'd rough Reid up, to be sure, but has an Achilles heel or two. To date she's been a single-plank candidate — property taxes; not what you'd call a senatorial issue. Also, state GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden doesn't want a divisive primary … and Angle was very divisive when she ran against Dean Heller (R-NV) three years ago for the congressional seat Heller now holds. She even tried to have the primary results overturned in court. But for now she's the only game in town.

Double duty: For the unforeseen future, I'll be spelling the estimable Dave Surratt as CityLife's theatre critic. First up is a show directed by Zumanity emcee Christopher Kenney. Called The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode it's … it's … well, it's different.

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Cirque du Soleil, Colony Capital, Current, Donald Trump, Economy, Election, Entertainment, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Politics, Regulation, Taxes, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Perp Show

F'blown?

Posted on May 13, 2009 by David McKee

Ownership at Fontainebleau is alleging heinous doings by Deutsche Bank to subvert F'bleau (which gives every indication of being destined to fail without external assistance). Supposedly, Deutsche Bank was confabulating with a consortium of 10 other banks to shove F'bleau under the bus, in order to improve the chances of The Cosmopolitan. Deutsche Bank is the default owner of the Cosmo, developer Ian Bruce Eichner having proven illiquid.

Now, I love a good conspiracy theory as much or more than the next man but, absent hard evidence, I'm finding F'bleau's allegations a tad lurid even for my taste. Besides, Deutsche Bank's share of the $770 million in funding that got yanked out from under F'bleau — a deplorable move, but for other reasons, IMO — is only $80 million. That's chump change compared to the $3.9 billion Cosmo albatross around the bank's neck.

In the immortal words of Dr. Daniel Jackson, "Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?"

Ya think? Here's one for the "No shit, Sherlock" file. Enjoy.

Posted in Cosmopolitan, Economy, Fontainebleau, MGM Mirage, The Strip, Wall Street | Comments Off on F'blown?

Case Bets: B'way in Vegas; Trump bloviates

Posted on May 13, 2009 by David McKee

Opening night for The Lion King is three days away. Which means the New York Times is right on schedule with another hand-wringing piece about whether Broadway-style shows can succeed in Las Vegas. By now it should be obvious that it’s a strictly case-by-case proposition. In the instance of Spamalot, Steve Wynn maintained that the show was profitable; he just wanted more profit. (Enter Danny Gans … briefly.)

Could six — soon to be seven — Cirque du Soleil shows coexist on B’way? Most Vegas shows certainly wouldn’t last there. Comparisons of the Strip and the Great White Way are apples and oranges, and always will be. At least the NYT piece has a colorful slide show. That Mel B. has quite the gams, doesn’t she?

Ticker symbol: BHO. Even if Donald Trump couldn’t keep pace with the casino industry and can’t get anyone to buy his condos anymore, he’ll always have the Miss USA pageant, over which he presides in a manner best described as “papal.” He’s also sufficiently astute to know that when your own brand equity is in the tank, latch onto a stronger brand, specifically President Obama’s. The full video of the press conference is not for the squeamish, mainly because very unfortunate lighting made it seem as though Trump’s hair color had leached into his skin, turning him completely orange.

Since what happened at Planet Hollywood didn’t stay there and simply refuses to go away — has, in fact, turn into the PR equivalent of a Megabucks jackpot — it’s time to roll out the heavy artillery. Ladies and gentlemen, I yield the floor to Mr. Keith Olbermann …*

* — including an extra-special cameo appearances by anti-casino nabob Dr. James Dobson and even Satan, disguised (?) as Perez Hilton.

Posted in Cirque du Soleil, Donald Trump, Entertainment, Planet Hollywood, Steve Wynn, The Strip | Comments Off on Case Bets: B'way in Vegas; Trump bloviates

F'blown?

Posted on May 13, 2009 by David McKee

Ownership at Fontainebleau is alleging heinous doings by Deutsche Bank to subvert F'bleau (which gives every indication of being destined to fail without external assistance). Supposedly, Deutsche Bank was confabulating with a consortium of 10 other banks to shove F'bleau under the bus, in order to improve the chances of The Cosmopolitan. Deutsche Bank is the default owner of the Cosmo, developer Ian Bruce Eichner having proven illiquid.

Now, I love a good conspiracy theory as much or more than the next man but, absent hard evidence, I'm finding F'bleau's allegations a tad lurid even for my taste. Besides, Deutsche Bank's share of the $770 million in funding that got yanked out from under F'bleau — a deplorable move, but for other reasons, IMO — is only $80 million. That's chump change compared to the $3.9 billion Cosmo albatross around the bank's neck.

In the immortal words of Dr. Daniel Jackson, "Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?"

Ya think? Here's one for the "No shit, Sherlock" file. Enjoy.

Posted in Cosmopolitan, Economy, Fontainebleau, MGM Mirage, The Strip, Wall Street | Comments Off on F'blown?

Case Bets: Caesars, Criss Angel, Lance Burton, Earl & Lani and Trent

Posted on May 13, 2009 by David McKee

Seen last night by an S&G source, Pit One at Caesars Palace empty save for one or two baccarat players. It’s just a small indicator of a larger disconnect that I hope to address later.

PR flack Robin Leach has been transcribing more of the gospel according to Criss Angel, the latest being that Cirque du Soleil’s wunderkind “will juggle his schedule” of Believe dates to make room for filming the next season of Mindfreak. Do you think this might be a face-saving way to cut back on performances of a show that’s already having to be deeply and frequently discounted? Naaaaaaaaaaaaah!

And is MGM Mirage really content to let Lance Burton walk, as appears to be the case? With only a month remaining on Burton’s contract, no extension has been signed and MGM punted our query to Burton’s manager.

Two of the Strip’s major showrooms are currently vacant. Burton’s act is probably too downmarket for Wynn Resorts‘ tastes (or pretensions, if you prefer) but Alex Yemenidjian could steal a march on his former employer by bringing Burton back to the Tropicana. Lord knows, the place could use him and Dirk Arthur is working on a short-term contract now — a stopgap arrangement made when interim Trop management screwed up and came within days of having no shows at their property.

Value for the $$. Last week’s adventures included checking out Voices at the Las Vegas Hilton, which gives the LVH a long-needed shot in the arm. Stars Earl Turner and “the beautiful Lani Misalucha” (as she is always introduced) wisely minimized expectations prior to opening. For one thing, their energetic, caution-to-the-winds revue features far more interaction than they led people to expect. Who knew if these two very different singers would “jell” … but they do.

It’s a rouser and — at an $80 top — a considerably better value than Elvolution, starring Trent Carlini. Eighty bucks at Voices gets you two headliners and a six-piece band. A $92 top at Elvolution buys you an Elvis Presley impersonator … singing to backing tracks. That takes some nerve, I tell ya.

Posted in Cirque du Soleil, Colony Capital, Current, Economy, Encore, Entertainment, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Steve Wynn, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Case Bets: Caesars, Criss Angel, Lance Burton, Earl & Lani and Trent

Quote of the Day

Posted on May 13, 2009 by David McKee

"We don't see them getting worse. The problem is we don't see them getting better." — Boyd Gaming CEO Keith Smith on 2009-10 tourism statistics for Las Vegas.

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Downtown, Economy, LVCVA, The Strip | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

Posted on May 12, 2009 by David McKee

‘That’s a little out there, that’s a little fey, maybe I won’t do that, maybe I’ll butch that one up.’ I think I might have done that.” — Roger Thomas, about second-guessing himself on the designing of The Mirage and Treasure Island. Thomas, inarguably the most influential designer in Vegas history, is profiled in the new issue of The Advocate.

Posted in Architecture, Current, Encore, Steve Wynn, The Strip | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

You know it's a bad day …

Posted on May 11, 2009 by David McKee

… when the company riding to your rescue is Columbia Sussex. Had Tropicana Entertainment not farmed out operation of the Horizon in Lake Tahoe to its William J. Yung III‘s company, it might have been closed outright. As matters stand, Horizon owner Edgewood Cos. is mulling tearing the place down and redeveloping the site. The Trop Ent-out/Col Sux-in arrangement appears to have been a compromise brokered to keep the Horizon open for at least another three years in return for an extension of TropEnt’s MontBleu lease (due to expire in 2018).

But make no mistake: The Horizon is now entering the casino version of hospice care. TropEnt’s swift decimation of the Horizon, to render it as noncompetitive with MontBleu as possible, has already cost it one unlikely set of customers — the South Tahoe High School prom, slated for D-Day.

A prom in a casino? If you need a ballroom, it makes a world of sense, even if it does sound like the setup for a creakier-than-usual Facts of Life episode in which everybody learns A Valuable Lesson about the perils of gambling, or something comparably homiletic.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Lake Tahoe, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on You know it's a bad day …

Trouble waiting to happen?

Posted on May 8, 2009 by David McKee

Not to belittle acts of violence that occur in or near casinos, but we don't make a practice of reporting them in LVA. That's partly because people seem to need little excuse to kill one another and would just as soon bust a cap in your ass at Camp Snoopy as in a casino.

However, a deadly early-morning stabbing on the grounds of the Tropicana Las Vegas may warrant closer scrutiny, due to that hotel-casino's recent history. During a contretemps with then-owner Columbia Sussex, the Culinary Union drew attention to an influx of unsavory characters during the pre-dawn hours. (An extensive printed report accompanied and considerably enlarged upon the video evidence.)

At the time, the Nevada Gaming Control Board was probing allegations of security understaffing. With interim owner Tropicana Entertainment still trimming expenses and new manager Onex Corp. not yet in place, has the ball been dropped again? Perhaps the NGCB should take another look, just to be safe.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Current, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Trouble waiting to happen?

Quote of the Day

Posted on May 8, 2009 by David McKee

"The caller instructed me to look out the window and across the street.

"I replied that our building has no external windows …" — metaphorical explanation for the insular worldview of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, provided by Editor Thomas Mitchell in the course of arguing with a firefighter while the Moulin Rouge burned.

Posted in Current, Downtown | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

A (much different) Gans question

Posted on May 8, 2009 by David McKee

Story after story on the tragic decease of Danny Gans has used one or another variant of this phrase, "named 'Las Vegas Entertainer of the Year' 11 years in a row." Most recently, it popped up in a Las Vegas Review-Journal tribute. What I want to know is who kept bestowing this 11-time (or more) accolade? And I've not been the only one asking.

It's simple Journalism 101 to be able to cite the bestower of this honor. For all we know right now, it might as well have come from The Man Upstairs. And was Gans "voted" that honor 11 times? Or was he "named" it "12 years in a row"? )(CNN opted for the 11-year version.) Does anybody even know? It's like some kind of self-perpetuating legend.

The obit in the New York Times, significantly, steers clear of the issue, though it's otherwise quite a trove of Gans-iana. Same with the Los Angeles Times obituary. Both papers clarify that it wasn't Gans who rejected Broadway but the other way around: His 1995 B'way show closed after only six performances … which is probably at least 500% longer than Criss Angel's Believe would last on the Great White Way.

If newspapers and TV stations are going to keep parroting this superlative, it'd be nice if they could provide even an iota of context. (Gans is alleged to have had only two predecessors as "Entertainer of the Year," by the way, one of them a drag queen — and, no, it wasn't Frank Marino.) The blogosphere is often accused of being a "giant echo chamber," but in this case it's the sacrosant MSM which is performing that function.

Posted in Cirque du Soleil, Current, Entertainment, TV | Comments Off on A (much different) Gans question

Moulin Rouge, R.I.P.

Posted on May 7, 2009 by David McKee

For those of you who live outside of Southern Nevada, here's an excellent seven-minute summation of the rise and fall of the Moulin Rouge, beginning with yesterday's fire. The conflagration effectively writes finis to any further attempts to revive the site, which didn't even draw a single bid at Tuesday's bankruptcy auction.

Posted in Architecture, Downtown | Comments Off on Moulin Rouge, R.I.P.

Bleak Horizon

Posted on May 5, 2009 by David McKee

Anybody who thought Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung III was exiting the casino industry, let alone going quietly, got a bracing dose of reality today. The older of Tropicana Entertainment‘s two leases in Lake Tahoe, the Horizon, is in wind-down mode. It has two years to go on its lease (although it could theoretically operate into 2014) but TropEnt CEO Scott Butera is wasting no time rolling up the sidewalks.

Rather than be bothered with the continued management of the Horizon, Butera is fobbing it off on Lake Tahoe Realty I, a creature of Columbia Sussex. The transfer kicks off in true Yungian fashion with the elimination of 75 jobs. As bad or worse from the customer’s standpoint, the table games operation at the Horizon is being axed altogether and the 719-slot inventory will be decimated by two-thirds or more. While all of this is straight from the Bill Yung playbook, there’s no indication so far that it’s anyone’s fault but that of Butera. As he prepares to consolidate Tahoe operations around MontBleu (the former Caesars Tahoe), he’d clearly like to see as little as competition from the Horizon as possible. Hence its demotion to grind-joint status.

How this ledger-demain plays with landlord Park Cattle (aka Edgewood Cos.) will be interesting to see. Yung’s stewardship of the Horizon (which, according to recent litigation, could be characterized as malign neglect) was a source of great vexation to Park Cattle. One can only wonder how Edgewood execs feel about being back in business with Bill Yung. If the Horizon’s recent history — not to mention its savage downsizing to 200 gaming positions — is any guide, Park Cattle’s stated goal of converting it into a non-casino hotel is going to happen sooner rather than later, options notwithstanding.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Lake Tahoe, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Bleak Horizon