{"id":6013,"date":"2011-03-16T10:24:05","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T18:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=6013"},"modified":"2011-03-16T10:36:43","modified_gmt":"2011-03-16T18:36:43","slug":"the-second-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/the-second-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"The second coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

To follow the local media, you’d think Jesus Christ<\/strong> was returning to Earth at Caesars Palace<\/strong>. Instead, it’s C\u00e9line Marie Claudette Dion<\/strong>, who owns a just slightly smaller fanbase. Back when her first Caesars residency was announced, at a time when Sin City was experiencing a 2002 mini-slump, I wrote a piece for Nevada Business Journal<\/em> entitled, “Celine Saves Vegas.” (The deal was so generous to Dion that it prematurely cost Park Place Entertainment<\/strong> CEO Tom Gallagher<\/strong> his job and set off a 2003 bloodbath in the executive suite.) That’s nothing compared to the hopes pinned on her now<\/a>: According to the Today<\/em> show, Dion’s presence<\/a> is expected to boost Strip visitation 3% — i.e., more than CityCenter<\/strong> did.
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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news<\/a>, world news<\/a>, and news about the economy<\/a><\/p>\n

Somebody needs to tell “journalist” Jenna Bush Hager<\/strong> that It’s Not About You. It looks like Dion’s got what Ed Sullivan<\/strong> used to call “a rrreally big shew<\/em>” and won’t disappoint. Better still, there’s no trace of the inscrutable Dragonerie<\/em> that made A New Day<\/em> so aggravating … not least the mysterious mock-albino that my wife dubbed “Powder” (for all you Sean Patrick Flanery<\/strong> fans). Also, with Jabbawockeez<\/strong> and now Dion doing …
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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news<\/a>, world news<\/a>, and news about the economy<\/a><\/p>\n

… Michael Jackson<\/strong>-inspired shows, will the Jacko-in-Vegas jones be sated by the time Cirque du Soleil\u00ae<\/strong>‘s much-ballyhooed MJ show drops anchor in Mandalay Bay<\/strong> roughly two years hence? After the financial disappointment of Viva Elvis<\/em>\u2122<\/a>, one hesitates to say that Jackson is money in the bank. (Ain’t nobody<\/em> talking about why the big Aria<\/strong> wrap for the Presley show mentions neither Viva Elvis\u2122<\/em> nor Cirque du Soleil\u00ae, by the way.)<\/p>\n

\"\"It’s remarkably ungallant<\/strong> of Newsweek<\/em> to slug fortysomethings Dion and fellow Canadian Shania Twain<\/strong> (left<\/em>) “big-name talent of a certain age.” Dion isn’t Cher<\/strong> or Bette Midler<\/strong> emerging from semi-retirement and (in Cher’s case) doing the bare minimum necessary to collect a hefty paycheck. The article also dwells on the symptoms of Las Vegas<\/strong>‘ economic downfall but lets the villains of the scenario (over-optimistic homebuilders, spendthrift condo and casino developers, LBO-crazed gaming moguls, criminally irresponsible bank executives and other Wall Street<\/strong> enablers) completely off the hook. It’s not like all this desperation and privation came out of nowhere.<\/p>\n

She’s baaaaack<\/strong>. Not C\u00e9line but the gift that keeps on giving<\/a>. For local media, Christmas<\/strong> just came nine months early.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To follow the local media, you’d think Jesus Christ was returning to Earth at Caesars Palace. Instead, it’s C\u00e9line Marie Claudette Dion, who owns a just slightly smaller fanbase. Back when her first Caesars residency was announced, at a time … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,56,28,14,105,7,140,9,19,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6013"}],"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=6013"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6018,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6013\/revisions\/6018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}