{"id":23205,"date":"2019-01-03T10:18:19","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T18:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=23205"},"modified":"2019-09-29T15:54:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-29T23:54:26","slug":"lady-gaga-vanquishes-the-strip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/lady-gaga-vanquishes-the-strip\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady Gaga vanquishes the Strip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aM4NiaoUWCY\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Energy and heart.&#8221; That&#8217;s what <strong>Lady Gaga<\/strong> has brought to the <strong>Las Vegas Strip<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/life\/entertainthis\/2018\/12\/29\/lady-gaga-las-vegas-debut-what-critics-saying-enigma\/2440434002\/\" class=\"broken_link\">according to early notices<\/a>\u00a0of <a href=\"https:\/\/consequenceofsound.net\/2018\/12\/lady-gaga-enigma-las-vegas-setlist-video-watch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Enigma<\/em><\/a>. If you&#8217;ve seen <em>A Star Is Born<\/em>, you know that the sky&#8217;s the limit for Her Ladyship&#8217;s talent (even though the film itself is heavily flawed). While I&#8217;m even more intrigued by the forthcoming <em>Jazz &amp; Piano<\/em>\u00a0at <strong>Park MGM<\/strong> where she plays the piano with a small combo, exploring the riches of the great American songbook, <em>Enigma<\/em> is the flashier production that will get all the attention (and pay the bills). Gaga came in facing high expectations and would appear to have met or even surpassed them.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KJQ1BrROjnw\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the question of who Lady Gaga is isn\u2019t exactly <em>resolved <\/em>here, it\u2019s certainly deconstructed, dispelled, and chased down a futuristic dystopian wormhole,&#8221; wrote <em>Entertainment Weekly<\/em>&#8216;s <strong>Mark Snetiker<\/strong>. It &#8220;sent audiences out on a moving note, elevated to a place almost as high as <!--more-->the very one from which Gaga descended at the beginning of her weird, wonderful show.&#8221; The narrative has Her Ladyship trying to solve the riddle posed by CGI creation Enigma, sending Lady Gaga off on <a href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/concerts\/2018\/12\/29\/lady-gaga-vegas-enigma-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">a voyage of self-discovery<\/a> which &#8212; naturally &#8212; requires the performance of <a href=\"https:\/\/consequenceofsound.net\/2018\/12\/lady-gaga-enigma-las-vegas-setlist-video-watch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">all her greatest hits<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eonline.com\/news\/1000104\/lady-gaga-and-her-alien-alter-ego-draw-make-spectacular-las-vegas-residency-debut\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">and one or two not so great<\/a>), and there are quite a few of them. The premise sounds dangerously like <em>We Will Rock You<\/em> but the high-tech staging and Gaga&#8217;s daredevil panache seem to make it work.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nLCcgHXsDa8\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Critic <strong>Lyndsey Parker<\/strong> went so far as to say, Gaga &#8220;just may have outdone herself at the opening night of her &#8216;Enigma&#8217; residency at the <strong>Park MGM<\/strong> in Las Vegas Friday. As she hovered in a wire-strung harness, <strong>KISS<\/strong>\/<strong>P!nk<\/strong>-style, above the 5,200-capacity crowd \u2014 which included superstar fans <strong>Katy Perry<\/strong>, <strong>Dave Grohl<\/strong>, <strong>Adam Lambert<\/strong> and <strong>Jeremy Renner<\/strong> \u2014 wearing a mirrorball-reflective unitard and geometric baby-blue wig, she fingered a keytar and sang her breakthrough 2008 hit, &#8216;Just Dance.&#8217; &#8230;\u00a0perhaps no other artist in modern pop history is so clearly made for Sin City: Gaga has never shied away from spectacle, yet she can also clean up nice and croon the classics with her old-school pal <strong>Tony Bennett<\/strong>.&#8221; Parker admitted that Gaga traded &#8220;scripted, somewhat stilted lines with a widescreen, two-dimensional image of her chrome-domed fembot ruler.&#8221; But the crowd devoured it. &#8220;It was all totally ridiculous, and it all totally worked.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ffsxS_nRE5k\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Even <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> was compelled to call the evening &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-live-reviews\/review-lady-gaga-las-vegas-residency-opening-night-773628\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stellar<\/a>.&#8221; The magazine explains that &#8220;it seemed like a part of Gaga\u2019s vampy, big voiced theatrics were made for this bright, busy, sleepless city.\u00a0Over her two-hour <em>Enigma<\/em> show, however, she proves something different: a place like Vegas was made just for Gaga.&#8221; <em>Billboard<\/em> seconded that emotion, declaring, &#8220;From the moment that <strong>Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta<\/strong> burst into our consciousness a decade ago, it was obvious that [she]\u00a0was built for a <strong>Las Vegas<\/strong> residency.&#8221; The magazine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/articles\/news\/8491731\/lady-gaga-enigma-opening-night-review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">described the show<\/a> as part-<em>Wizard of Oz<\/em> part-<em>Ghost in the Shell<\/em>. &#8220;It\u2019s ridiculous in an affectionate way but also on par with Gaga\u2019s performance art style.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8nsyBApbKqY\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The fashion-oriented will be relieved to read that &#8220;the outfits (oh, the outfits!)\u00a0were outrageously unique. With her longtime fashion collaborator <strong>Nicola Formichett<\/strong>i and her sister <strong>Natali Germanotta<\/strong> joining forces, the duo spawned a number of creative looks &#8211;ranging from florescent and leather to a body suit with flashing LED lights and a nude-colored unitard&#8211; for Gaga, the dancers and her band that would have made <strong>David Bowie<\/strong> proud.&#8221; We&#8217;ll go out on a limb a predict that Her Ladyship&#8217;s 26 dates will be extended. During her premiere, Lady Gaga told the crowd &#8220;I\u2019m stickin\u2019 around for two whole years. Three if I\u2019m lucky!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Luck has nothing to do with it.<\/p>\n<p>* On January 30, <strong>Stratosphere<\/strong> is adding its own entrant among the spectacle-based Las Vegas shows. Entitled <em>Celestia<\/em>, it is described as &#8220;an otherworldly story of love and sacrifice through elite acrobatics and dance, aerial feats, live music, state-of-the-art <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-7096\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Strat-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Strat-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Strat-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Strat.jpeg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>technology and sophisticated illusion, <em>Celestia<\/em> brings together a talented troupe of 32 multicultural performers to create an eye-popping, immersive experience. From mind-blowing contortion and the Wheel of Death act, to real-time motion capture and projection mapping, <em>Celestia<\/em>\u2019s world-class performers create a dazzling spectacle unlike any other.&#8221; Hmmmm &#8230; sounds familiar. Indeed, director <strong>Sasha Ivanov<\/strong> is late of <strong>Cirque du Soleil<\/strong> and names Lady Gaga and Pink among his previous collaborators. Since the Stratosphere showroom is relatively modest in size, <em>Celestia<\/em> will be performed in &#8220;a never-before-seen proprietary tent,&#8221; using technology that Ivanov claims is new to Sin City (I&#8217;d have to think that there aren&#8217;t many tricks that Cirque hasn&#8217;t already mastered). One thing that&#8217;s definitely a novelty is the low end of ticket prices: $29 (topping out at $89). We&#8217;re for anything that strikes a blow on behalf of affordability in Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>* One of the vexations afflicting the private-sector casino industry is that it can&#8217;t incentivize players at tribal casinos to visit, say, Las Vegas. That may be changing. The <strong>Oneida Nation<\/strong> has contracted with <strong>Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> to be its sports-betting provider to <strong>Turning Stone<\/strong>, <strong>Point Place Casino<\/strong> and <strong>Yellow Brick Road Casino<\/strong>. <strong>TS Rewards<\/strong> members will be able to have their points converted to <strong>Total Rewards<\/strong> ones and vice versa. Tier levels will also be matched. As part of the new arrangement, which ought to be pleasing to players, each of the new casinos will open a &#8220;<strong>Lounge at Caesars Sports<\/strong>.&#8221; The deal still has to jump through regulatory hoops at the state and federal levels but ought to be approved, in the sense of &#8220;should be,&#8221; not &#8220;will be.&#8221; Nothing is for certain tribally under the current federal administration.<\/p>\n<p>* A new use has been found for <strong>Alexa<\/strong>: directing do-it-yourself, multi-camera videos of your session at <strong>Sheri&#8217;s Ranch<\/strong>. The brothel has put out a new menu of sexual experiences for sale, so long it runs to multiple pages. \u201cSheri\u2019s Ranch has seen a steady rise in the number of women and couples visiting us each year. In 2014, about 15% of total<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_23206\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23206\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-23206\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/lo-Sex-Tape-Room-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/lo-Sex-Tape-Room-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/lo-Sex-Tape-Room-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/lo-Sex-Tape-Room-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/lo-Sex-Tape-Room-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-23206\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sheri&#8217;s Ranch<\/p><\/div>\n<p>customers were individual females and male\/female or female\/female couples. In 2017, that total was 22%, indicating that women and couples are becoming increasingly comfortable visiting sex workers,\u201d said resident madam &#8216;<strong>Dena<\/strong>.&#8217; (We somehow suspect that&#8217;s not her real name.) Since this is a family publication, we&#8217;ll skip most of the menu but provide a flavor of same: the <strong>Naru Massage<\/strong>, &#8220;Popular in Japanese bathhouses for several decades &#8230; a wet massage in which both you and your courtesan are fully nude. A slippery, all-natural gel is heated to a comfortable temperature and generously applied to both participants. Your masseuse then glides her slippery naked body over yours, causing a unique tactile sensation that is startlingly arousing &#8230;&#8221; You get the idea. I think I saw something of this sort in <em>Emmanuelle II<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Energy and heart.&#8221; That&#8217;s what Lady Gaga has brought to the Las Vegas Strip, according to early notices\u00a0of Enigma. If you&#8217;ve seen A Star Is Born, you know that the sky&#8217;s the limit for Her Ladyship&#8217;s talent (even though the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/lady-gaga-vanquishes-the-strip\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[244,80,4,97,53,245,101,9,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25001,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23205\/revisions\/25001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}