Getting Scooped Right And Left

Kudos to Mike Weatherford for breaking the big story about Roseanne Barr setting up as a headliner at the Sahara in today's Review-Journal. It woulda been nice if that lovely Sahara PR contact who was so helpful about the really expensive, unlisted suites at the property had clued me in, but -- as I text-messaged back to a friend today -- you can't win 'em all.

Which, of course, brings us to Cher. Yes, I've known for at least two weeks now that the big Cher reveal was coming today. But I've got something really cool going on with the Bette show that I can't talk about yet, so I didn't see the point of jumping the gun and pissing someone off (as I did by beating everyone to the Bette punch way back when) on a story (Cher) that everyone knew was coming forEVER. Heck, even the press release today acknowledged that it was hardly news with this opening line:

The legendary Cher today confirmed a long-lived rumor that she will headline in Las Vegas at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace beginning May 6.

Robin Leach has some terrific coverage of the Cher announcement on his blog, but I am baffled by his exuberant claim that: "Ticket sales immediately caused a buying frenzy when they went on sale this morning at 7 a.m. (THURS)—some 100-minutes before her West Coast breakfast-time announcement on ABC-TV’s Good Morning America program. Some buyers were backed up waiting on the Internet as long as 30-minutes. As an unabashed fan, I snagged my four ducats by 7:05 a.m. for the front-level orchestra on her premiere night!"

To me, that all defies logic for Vegas, where there really is no such thing as a genuine blitz on tickets for a show that will be on about 100 times a year for three years, especially when people have to consult not only Ticketmaster but their travel agents before buying. To confirm my suspicion, I just went to the Caesars website for the show and was able to buy (though I did not) sixth-row-center seats for opening night. So maybe GMA produced a bunch of traffic that slowed the site, but so far as I can tell there are no sellouts to speak of.

All that said, I've no doubt Cher will do great business. Look at those costumes! They're ALL Vegas. And, more importantly, is there any question with a lineup of Cher, Bette and Elton John that the Colosseum is officially the gay Radio City Musical Hall?