My big fat gay wedding essay

Actually, I have a lot more to write and hope to find a place to write it after it's all over and done with, but here's the piece I wrote about our troubles finding a rabbi here in Las Vegas to officiate in our wedding this Sunday.

Out of curiosity, which of these two poses is better?

New Podcast Posted: Nicholas Pileggi

My New York Times interview with Nicholas Pileggi, from which I used just two sentences in my Tuesday story on the Stardust implosion, was aired in full tonight on the show, with a few interesting revelations including that he plans to write a book about former Clark County Sheriff Floyd Lamb.

Hear the new show here!

Also, vote in the new poll or answer the trivia question to win fabulous prizes! Or learn how German listener Thomas W suggests doing Vegas on $100 a day. It's all here.

Hey, Sweetheart, Git Me Some Wings!

KVBC's terrific Denise Rosch did this hilarious piece this week about the El Cortez offering a fancy tableside or slotside food service so gamblers don't have to get up off their asses to eat OR play.

The guy into the wings is just a scream. Find it here.

Gay immorality

Obviously, I do not believe that homosexuality is immoral like, say, certain generals you might've read about.

However, I do think any gay man who spends $60,000 to create a baby just so it has his nose is.

Appalling. See it here.

The Stardust and 9/11 - a connection???

Oh, dear. I have been proved wrong. In my interview with Stardust imploder Mark Loizeaux aired on a special edition of "The Strip" earlier this week, he made reference to being constantly accused of being part of a gov't conspiracy, that he frequently gets attacked as the agent of the gov't who brought down the World Trade Center and Murrah federal building in OK City.

I didn't quite believe him. Seemed far-fetched. And then some nutjob left this comment as a response to my Stardust piece and photo-video package that was posted on Wired News late yesterday:

Now this was an obvious controlled demolition. I've seen this on the news at a different angle where the lighting was better but still in this video you can see at the bottom left side of the building blowouts or "Squibs" from taking out the building's colums from inside. This is what needs to happen so that structure can collapse. Does this remind anyone of anything? Perhaps ummm The WTC twin towers 1 and 2? If you don't believe me there is plenty of video footage of these blowouts or the technical term, "squibs" from both Towers when they were collapsing as well. Don't think I'm just making this up, see for yourself. Go find the Network footage on the internet with these things in there. -- Ed

I'm not even sure how to respond. I invite you to do so.

Catching up...

The Stardust thing took a massive bite out of me, but I've rested up and finished a pretty cool piece for a lawyer magazine on Bob Faiss, the father of Nevada gaming law. He's really an interesting and super-nice guy -- and the inspiration for this week's trivia question at TheStripPodcast.Com -- and what I love most is that he lives in Boulder City. You know, the only city in Nevada where gambling is illegal.

Anyhow, those who listen to "The Strip" know I have a love-hate relationship with the Review-Journal. I worked there for three years in the 1990s, which was the happiest time in my career as a full-time employee. And many of the reporters there are friends and they do the best they can with the limited vision and resources they are provided.

BUT... the features section is a disgrace. They seem to try their level best to bore the crap out of everyone, with some minor exceptions, which must be a challenge in a city like, uh, VEGAS. Entertainment scribe Mike Weatherford is excellent and unmissable and Corey Levitan's schtick as a stooge working odd jobs is wearing thin but I admire his pluck and I'm delighted the R-J is doing ANYTHING multimedia since I'm told the editors nixed the idea of political reporters doing blogs.

Still, I was reminded AGAIN how silly the section is by this bizarre piece by John Pryzbys (who shares my birthday, so he can't be all bad) from Monday's paper about SHARING A FRIDGE AT WORK. Can you imagine the incident at the R-J that spawned this brilliant idea?

The other baffling thing is a recent Sunday addition called "Strip Tips" in which they give away such important Vegas tourist secrets as, uh, that there's some little water show in front of the Bellagio. No, really. I can't find the link right now, but, wow.

RPS pix 4 Times

Photo credit: Steve Friess
Shot May 12, 2007

Our Stardust Video

Here's the first version of our Stardust footage. We'll have a full-fledged version with an interview with the Echelon CEO later today in the podcast feed. Thanks to the brilliant Mark Vavrick for capturing this for us!

Bye, Cough, Bye

Wow. So the thing comes down faster than I can even watch it and the next thing you know, we're in post-9/11 NYC without all the death and destruction. Everyone is getting caked with debris, the fireworks show is canceled due to everyone trying to get the hell out of the way. Somehow, through all that, the Wynn sign still glowed.

Here's my New York Times piece on the event and, below, my favorite pic:



Among the oddest parts of the thing was the Boyd grandsons pushing the lever. Aside from the fact that none of these kids look alike (see below), there was a granddaughter in the crowd. She was only acknowledged because Bill Boyd's remarks turned out to be about five minutes too short. Odd, no?

More to come, including video. The full photo gallery is up so go check it out.

Is the Sahara next?

I just posted a new, special edition of The Strip, a brief interview with Controlled Demolition Inc owner Mark Loizeaux, who also knocked down everything from the Dunes in 1993 to the Wynn parking garage last week.

He has some interesting comments about what's next and what he's been asked to assess.

Listen to it HERE.

Funny, because the voting on TheStripPodcast.Com poll this week so far indicates most folks think the Frontier's next to go. He doesn't even mention it, I don 't think.

Stay tuned for Stardust implosion video.

Exclusive: See the fireworks plans for Stardust Implosion

Check it out -- the actual PDF document of the plans for the fireworks and light show at the Stardust-turned-Echelon Place site!

It's here.

What do you think of what you see?

Adelson's grandmother's testicles

So I'm reading this longish AP piece about Macau which basically says -- shocking! -- that it's a hot new gaming market. Fine. The Review-Journal published it because, even though it's the most important story for Las Vegas interests going on in the world, they're too cheap to send someone down there to check it out.

The writer, William Foreman, does a fine job, although it's kind of obvious he's new to the Adelson-Wynn world because he doesn't even bother to note how much these two hate each other. (Hear my Wynn and Adelson interviews from the podcast or see what Norm wrote about it.)

Anyhow... this is the part that made me want to barf in my Cheerios:

Adelson brushed off speculation that Macau could be threatened by the possibility the Chinese government will legalize casinos in other parts of the country.

"It's like the threat to my grandfather that my grandmother will develop testicles and then she would be my grandfather," he told the AP.

Umm...gross.

Exclusive pre-implosion Stardust pix

OK... let's get this blog started off right - with an EXCLUSIVE.

Yesterday I got to tour the carcass of the Stardust in advance of the impending implosion slated for sometime in the next few days. I've posted loads of pictures here for all to see. And yes, I got a souvenir - two pieces of glass shards, one orange and one blue. Plus, I learned that the foundations of Strip hotels are sprinkled with poker chips when they're wet during construction -- for luck. When they buildings come down, the demolition team always finds that.

Also...if you really really want to know when it'll be, there's a clue in some of the pictures.

This is my favorite one...