Las Vegas Blog: Steve Friess' VEGAS HAPPENS HERE

This Blog Is On Hiatus

2011-09-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

Part of the stipulation of my fellowship is a requirement that I stop working and focus on my academics, my long-term projects and my life among the other fellows. I know others don't understand that, but there really is no way to be truly in this extraordinary experience and keep one hand in my "normal" life. That's why the podcast has ended, and that's why this blog must cease to be updated.

I have no doubt I'll return to blogging, either here or in another form, after this is over. Trust me, you'll know what that time comes. Or check back here around May 2012.

In the meantime, we conclude with this Flickr slideshow below. It shows our new home in Ann Arbor followed by some images of the quaint houses in the handsome neighborhoods behind us as well as images from the first Michigan football game we attended and shots of campus life. This slideshow was created before Aces died, but I've opted not to edit it because she will always be a part of our first weeks here. The only change I've made is to remove the photo of the street where she died. I couldn't handle that, I'm sorry.

See you sometime next year.

R.I.P. Aces Smith-Friess

2011-09-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

Two nights ago, the littlest, newest and spunkiest member of our gang, Aces, slipped out of the backyard through a gap in the fence and was hit by a car. Even as I write this, it doesn't seem quite real that any of this has happened.

The house we are renting in Michigan fronts to a very busy street -- think Desert Inn or Eastern in Las Vegas -- and Aces was the sort of fearless puppy who bolted after whatever got her excited. It was dusk, I was running around the yard playing with the dogs and didn't realize she had run off. We knew there were some gaps in the fence, but it had rained nonstop for days, so we hadn't gotten to filling it.

When I noticed she was missing, I raced out front to call for her, expecting her foxy little face to turn up grinning at me. It did not.

Instead, I spotted an unrecognizable lump in the first lane of the street. I won't describe her; I just can't except to say that she seemed to have come unraveled. I thought she might still be breathing, so we raced to the animal ER about three miles away. It was futile. We left in sobs, her little pink collar and tags in my blood-soaked hands.

Needless to say, this has put a traumatic damper on our first weeks of this new life. Grief for a pet is very complicated because the pain is real and present and yet there's a fear the world will find it trivial. I've seen it referred to it as the ultimate "first-world problem." But even if you can't relate to the impact an animal can have in your life, you must be able to comprehend the dizzying, nauseating experience of encountering such a sudden, violent death to something so sweet, defenseless and dependent. That I did not realize she was gone for those few minutes -- the entire awful thing took place in the span of less than 10 minutes -- will haunt me for as long as I have other animals. That she is so instantaneously gone is disorienting, confusing and painful for everyone in this household.

We know there are many friends, family, readers and listeners who have enjoyed hearing about our life with Aces. She's a dog that had been abandoned by someone in dire economic straits who dumped her in our neighbor's arms at a supermarket a couple days before Christmas. The neighbor brought her to us, and we took her in.

Since then, she was the centerpiece of countless photos and Tweets. She was brought into the household to bond with Miles because the other two, Black and Jack, had taken to me in a way that left him alienated. It worked; Miles and Aces drove 2,000 miles together from Las Vegas a few weeks ago while I took the other dogs on a more scenic route. That photo above was taken by Miles in a hotel room in Nebraska during their drive.

Unlike the other dogs, Aces was an equal-opportunity lover. In doing so, she seemed to teach her brothers to be kinder and more open to people other than me, and Black and Jack have been unusually doting and cuddly towards Miles in the past two days. May that be her legacy.

We know many of you will feel compelled to do something or write to us. All we'd really like is for you, if you feel so moved, to toss a few dollars to the Humane Society of the United States in Aces' name to honor her memory. Had our neighbor not accepted Aces from her desperate prior owner, she would have surely ended up in a shelter. She was a rescue animal, minus the paperwork.

This blog will stop being updated as of tonight, so I urge you to "friend" us on Facebook if you'd like to keep up with us. We just felt strongly that we wanted people to know what had happened, how wonderful an animal we've lost and how heartbroken we are.

Leftover Funnies Before I Shut Up

2011-09-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've got to stop blogging, as I'll explain in the next and final post. But before I go, allow me to empty my files of odd, interesting and weird stuff. Like, for instance, I don't recall if I ever posted this photo anywhere but on Twitter, but if that's not Vegas, I don't know what is:

I think I took this screenshot because I wondered how the Monte Carlo and New York-New York was so unlucky as to be the skyline image of The Strip for, of all things, the web banner for the police:

I think Hanging With Friends might be right about this being a proper noun...

...and I know my iPhone's predictive text is right about Matt Goss:

Gosh, this from our HOA's monthly circular is great news!!!

click to enlarge

I have no idea how this gibberish came to be, but I do think that Caesars Entertanment ought to consider, in rebranding Imperial Palace, calling it Impiety City instead:

click to enlarge

I didn't know airports have slogans, for what it's worth:

Juvenile, I know, but it was a porn convention:

Am I the only one a little thrown by the fact that Flickr used what appears to be this guy's Manhunt pic to promote their service?

Meanwhile, the crack, uh, staff at Caesars Entertainment has a squatting problem because THIS is CaesarsEntertainment.Com:

Yikes, right?

And, finally, Miles wants me to have this enlarged and hung over my desk to deflate my ego whenever necessary:

I put The Olds to sleep.

Stuff I Found Cleaning Out My Vegas Office

2011-09-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

As you may have read in my acclaimed love-letter essay to Las Vegas and my life there in Las Vegas Weekly, I spent my final days in Nevada packing up a house and office stuffed to the gills with historical and peculiar Vegas stuff. There was a shelf in my office closet with at least a six-foot pile of press materials that proved akin to an archeological survey, newest to oldest layered upon one another like a geological formation.

The stuff I unearthed was Vegas in its most optimistic, boosterish form, such as the above document outlining the expansion plans for the airport. I also found this promo for CityCenter...

...which is technically true because, uh, the future always begins now. Duh.

I loved this relic...

...and made sure to put this piece of Frontier glass in a safe place.

I found this magnet from the late, great Dive at the Fashion Show Mall, where I used to take my little brother all the time for fries and to peer through the periscope that offered a Strip view. It was just last month that a listener of the podcast asked me something about this place:

I found these artifacts of the earlier days of our podcast...

We used to send CDs and thank-you notes to all our guests, and once we got this back from the amazing Paula Poundstone:

Here was one of the table centerpieces from the final performance of Siegfried & Roy, a fundraiser for Keep Memory Alive, the foundation that funds the Lou Ruvo Cleveland Clinic for Brain Health in Vegas:

I found it rather unsettling that I did not and still don't remember that I had actually been a patient in 2002 of the most infamous endoscopy doctor in America:

At the same time, I find it awesome beyond words that I found this, which my old R-J friend Natalie Patton sent to me in 2000 when I was about to depart for China:

And I have no idea whatsoever how I came into possession of this rather invaluable bit of family history...

...but I'm so glad I have it.

The Show is UP: The Finale

2011-09-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

We're having some sort of problem with iTunes and our final -- and several recent special -- episodes of "The Strip" have not been making it into the RSS feed. We're working on fixing that right now, but all of the recent episodes since the iTunes snafu began are listed with links to your right on this blog. I hope to have TheStripPodcast.Com fixed and updated as soon as possible. FYI, We urge you NOT to unsubscribe from our RSS feed because you just never know when a random special might surface there. I still have some good stuff sitting around waiting for my time to edit and post. It could be a while, but it will happen.

Anyhow, here's the show you and we have been simultaneously waiting for and dreading. Enjoy, and listen all the way to the end.

Sept. 7: The Finale

Special Reissue: The First Episode from 9/1/05

After six years, this is the final regular episode of "The Strip." The show, which debuted on Sept. 1, 2005, was co-hosted by journalists and life partners Miles Smith and Steve Friess. In this emotional episode, we recount the top 10 moments of the show as voted on by listeners, talk about the changes in their lives and play some classic old clips including a never-before-published 6-minute rehearsal in which they discuss what they show should be about and how they'll go about doing it.

The top clips include great moments from Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Curtis, Jim Murren, George Wallace, Johnny Mathis, Sheldon Adelson and, of course, Steve Wynn.

Links to the original episodes that spawned the Top 10 moments list:

10. Whoopi

9. Johnny Mathis

8. George Wallace

7. Jim Murren

6. Steve Wynn touring Encore

5. Tony Curtis

4. Sheldon Adelson Slamming Steve Wynn

3. Steve Wynn touring The Wynn

2. Miles doing Neil Sedaka (various shows)

1a. Steve Wynn Slamming Adelson in Macau

1b. Steve Wynn calls Adelson "delusional"

Links to stuff discussed:

Steve's LVW column updating old columns

Steve's four blog-and-Flickr shows for The Road Trip: 1 2 3 4

Flooding closed the St. Joseph, Mo., casino

The Knight-Wallace Fellowship that Steve is now on

Jersey Boys moving to Paris

Hunter Hillegas on KNPR on the Plaza

The Luxor is sinking?

Bradley Ogden out, Gordon Ramsay in at Caesars Palace

THE FINAL STRIP PODCAST IS MONDAY AT 8 PM ET

2011-09-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

Hoo boy... This is really it! We are really, really here, and if you don't believe us, here's a shot of the dogs in their new abode to prove it. It's time to be a fellow and improve ourselves.

We'll record the finale of The Strip from our new Ann Arbor home on Monday evening at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. It'll be a stroll down memory lane in many ways, and we encourage everyone to join us in the live chat room.

Do NOT forget to vote on the Top 10 moments of the series, too. I'll compile the clips we'll use mid-day Monday. And then, after that, dim the marquee lights on Las Vegas Boulevard, folks, because The Strip as you know it will be over.

The Road Trip, Part IV

2011-09-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

We concluded our big road trip from Vegas to Ann Arbor, Mich., by waking up amid the Springfield cornfields. Again, there's a Flickr slideshow player at the end of this post or you can watch it here.

As Amy and the dogs relaxed at the hotel on Thursday, I headed to the splendorous Illinois Capitol, where I ended up on a tour given by a fellow who could not have been less interested in giving a tour. When I asked if there was any way to get to the top of the dome, as I had the day before in Missouri, he claimed asbestos and bird poop prevented such things from happening. It didn't sound very credible to me.

He also seemed not to notice that of the three of us on his tour, two wore hearing aids. When he was asked him to repeat himself, he seemed absolutely aggravated by the chore and frequently dumbed down what he had said before. It wasn't that we were stupid, sir, we just didn't hear you because you muttered and didn't wish to be there.

That said, the Springfield capitol is very impressive and extremely historic. But a few things struck me. First, the Abe Lincoln obsession is totally understandable, but there are other U.S. presidents with significant Illinois ties such as Ronald Reagan (born in Dixon, Ill.) and Barack Obama, the former state senator. I had to ask when we were in the Senate chamber where Obama sat. Roughly, it was here:

That was a seat in the back, denoting how junior a member of the body he was. That furniture was not used by him as the prior stuff was replaced a few years ago. His old desk was destroyed. "We didn't know he'd become president," the guide wryly remarked.

And I think that's my takeaway from Illinois, that that building and that whole scene is yet another reminder of just how totally unlikely it was that this guy was ever going to become president, let alone within the decade. He was one of so many legislators, and he served in a building that is a monument to so many incredible historic figures. It doesn't matter what you think of Obama; his path to this office is just extraordinary and almost without precedent in American politics.

Illinois is also known for having several recently convicted governors. I wondered how they'd play that here, but they just put up their portraits nonetheless, as seen by the one here of ex-Gov. George Ryan.

The guide said "the controversial Gov. Rod Blagojevich's portrait will be here someday, too." OK, then.

I'm often asked what's the difference between one and another capitol, and they do blend together. But stopping in on those in Illinois and Indiana on the same day really hit home the differences. Illinois was gorgeous and artistic, a monument to the affairs of the public and our way of life. Indiana? Meh.

The Springfield dome was amazing, Indianapolis' perfunctory:

The legislative chambers in Illinois were august and dramatic...

...and Indiana's was decidedly not.

One state takes good care of even its restrooms. The other doesn't care.

The entryway for Illinois is grand and imposing, Indiana less so.

The artwork and sculpture throughout in Springfield was first-rate, relevant and historic. This is how Indianapolis has left Christopher Columbus' bust desecrated by pigeons:

Gross! Lord only knows what Columbus' relevance to Indiana was to merit him as a major piece of art, but if they do have it they kinda owe it to him not to look like he just participated in a gay gang bang.

I also have never seen an informational marker that ran out of space as this one did:

You may also wonder who the hell else does this hobby. Actually, loads of folks:

And here's the page I signed for, perhaps, the last time as a Las Vegan:

On the drive, Amy and I debated the proper spelling of "capital" v "capitol." So you know, the city is a capital, the building is a capitol. Google Maps didn't know that, either, though:

There's much more, including more terrific puppy pix, in this Flickr slideshow of this segment of the trip, which did conclude in Ann Arbor. I'll get into that in another post. In the meantime, here's the fourth slideshow, which begins in the cornfields of Springfield, takes us to the capitol, then on the Indianapolis before one last car shot of we road warriors. Enjoy!

Road Trip, Part III

2011-09-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

OK, so I'm a little behind here, but that, above, was me on the steps of the Kansas Capitol on Topeka on Tuesday. This is where, in the summer of 1993, my fascination with statehouses began. As an intern at the Topeka Capital-Journal, I used to sit on those steps at sunset and write letters. The steps were as lovely and broad as I recalled, and I did sit to write some letters there, too. But holy Christ it was hot out, so the recreation of a younger self's romantic habit was sort of rushed so as to not kill my dogs. They lived, by the way, as seen here with my travel companion, Amy:

All this said, it seems appropriate that I'd discover upon my return visit to Topeka that I'd been doing the state capitols thing all wrong all this time. I chatted up the visitors reception desk lady, told her of my hobby and how it all started here, and she says to me, "Well, do you have The Book?"

Uh, what book?!?

Turns out, there's a book. And hobbyists are supposed to get them stamped when they visit different capitol buildings. Yes, there's a frigging stamp, too. See?

I kinda wish someone had told me about this, say, 18 years and 35 capitols ago. Grrr.

There are plenty of interior photos of the Topeka capitol in the Flickr slideshow for days 5 and 6 of the big road trip to Michigan, the player for which you'll find at the end of this post.

But the big revelation of this leg of the trip was the sensational Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City, which was simply so impressive. I was blown away from the entry to the gorgeous dome and meaningful artwork throughout, but then I also got sort of lucky.

You see, I always ask if there's any way to climb to the top of the dome. This worked in Providence, you may recall. And here, the word from the visitors reception folks was that you could do it only if you were escorted by "someone with a key." Who have keys? Every state representative. One fellow on an elevator -- I asked if he was a state rep! -- told me to just go into any rep's office and ask. So I stepped in here...

...and the wonderful lady who works with Rep. Mary Nichols, D-Maryland Heights, Mo., was happy to do it. That meant walking me behind the upper edge of the House chambers, which resulted in this Death Star-esque photo:

Then she unlocked a padlock, came with me part of the way to shoot this...

...and told me where to go before letting me climb up there by myself. There's a little walkway that encircles the very top, and I got some wonderful shots of Jefferson City and the Missouri River it straddles.

Many more images of this adventure are in the Flickr show. But it was interesting to spot this sign:

It was surprising to see such explicit art on the grounds of the building once overseen by ex-Gov. John Ashcroft, who had the Department of Justice cover up naughty bits of statues in DC when he was the Attorney General. Go ahead, enlarge this to see that the sculptor clearly gave this stone statue some, uh, wood:

People ask what the attraction of capitols is. I'm not terribly interested in museums, but I think I enjoy learning about history and seeing great art in buildings that continue to function and where history continues to be made. In other words, it's a living, breathing edifice. And I find out all sorts of tidbits I didn't know, such as that both Lewis AND Clark were once governors of Missouri:

And yes, I got The Stamp.

After Jefferson City, Amy and I headed east once more, this time en route to Springfield, Ill., to spent the night. We stayed almost entirely off the Interstates, which gave us some wonderful opportunities for diversions and discoveries. For instance, we headed through tiny Louisiana, Mo., a town right on Mississippi River. Before we got into town, we happened to drive past...

...a 140-year-old Jewish cemetery?!? It was an awfully unlikely find, so we stopped and browsed the 40-odd graves. As you can see in the Flickr slideshow, most of the stones are very well kept up, even though only one is even remotely new. Here's a website on this cemetery, proving we're not the only ones fascinated.

After that, Amy and I got some take-out -- it's very difficult to eat in with dogs when traveling in hot weather -- and sat in this gazebo having lunch as we gazed at the mighty Mississippi.

Idyllic.

Meanwhile, I'm getting closer to finishing my capitols tour -- down to about 14 or so left, mostly in the northeast and the mid-Atlantic states -- and I'm going to need something else. As we made our way through Kansas and I saw this...

...and realized the next thing should be Presidential Libraries. Miles' reaction was, and I quote, "Zzzzz." But who cares? I just wonder if there's a Book.

More tomorrow on the last couple days of The Trip, including Springfield and Indiana capitols. But for now, here's the slideshow. It opens in Colby, Kan., on Monday, takes us to Topeka, then on Tuesday to Jefferson City and Louisiana, Mo., before we crashed in Springfield for the night. Enjoy.

The Road Trip, Part II

2011-08-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

After the big party Hunter and I attended in Sun Valley on Saturday, Hunter flew back to Vegas on Sunday from Salt Lake City to check out -- and be summarily unimpressed -- with the reopened Plaza. Check out brutal Tweet 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The Plaza is in big trouble if they don't get their act together asap.

Anyhow, I left Hunter and stopped by the Utah Capitol. I know I've been there already, but I couldn't find the picture, so I took another one. Then, on the way out of SLC, I saw this:

Yes, I was tempted to stay on I-15!

The next leg of the road trip awaited, though. I headed to Dinosaur National Monument, which straddles the northwestern Colorado-northeast Utah border and evidently is where loads of dinosaur fossils have been found. It's sorta schticky, as seen by this by the visitors center...

...but also a rather scenic 10ish-mile drive. You see vistas like this:

There is a dinosaur artifact area but it was closed when I was there. Either way, there's great camping and hiking land up there, and the rocks have gen-u-ine petroglyphs, see:

There's more from here in the Flickr slideshow at the bottom of this post. But this awesome bit of neon from Steamboat Springs, Colo., was just wonderful:

I didn't stay there because the Fairfield Inn was cheaper and I got Marriott points, but I was surprised on Monday morning to find that the resort-fee concept has spread:

It was only about $3. I guess it included Internet service, but I wasn't warned and it didn't actually work. I didn't complain, though, because for reasons I do not know, the front-desk dude gave us a massive room upgrade to a gigantic, gorgeous room.

Meanwhile, a subplot of this trip is that it's Black and Jack's first major road trip and their bodies aren't taking it all that well. They've had a rough time, but I've been coddling them a bit extra and feeding them carefully and finally, today, they're not as miserable, see:

Today, I drove through the sensational Rocky Mountains through the Rocky Mountain National Park route, aka U.S. 34, with John Denver's Greatest Hits playing on the iPod, of course. Here's the best shot:

There are loads of other awesome pictures in this Flickr slideshow, which starts in SLC, goes to Dinosaur and Steamboat Springs and then into the park.

And, yes, this shot...

...was a little dangerous to take. But then I got to Denver and picked up Amy, who flew in from Vegas to accompany me for the rest of the trip. Next stops: Topeka, St. Joseph, Mo., Jefferson City and Springfield.

The Road Trip, Part I

2011-08-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

I made my tearful farewells on Friday morning, then picked up RateVegas.Com's Hunter Hillegas at McCarran for the first leg of my road trip to Ann Arbor. We drove north from Vegas on U.S. 93 through Pioche, Ely and Jackpot, Nev., where we spent the first night.

Here's something funny that happened:

I had been to Ely a couple weeks ago on my Eureka sojourn and have had a separate slideshow ready to go from that whenever The Daily runs my Eureka-gold piece. Thus, I'll hold off on those shots, and the shots in the slideshow below are only from this trip. Hunter's got a bunch, too, but he hasn't posted them yet. I'll link when he does.

I had routed us to Panaca for lunch because... I'm not sure why, actually. I'd heard of it and included it in my Vegas Bucket List column. Turns out, there's truly nothing there. Pioche, on the other hand, was utterly lovely and quaint and we stopped for gas and lunch there. There are shots of that in my slideshow.

After lunch and Ely, we drove to Jackpot, a border town on the northern edge of Nevada intended to lure gambling dollars from Twin Falls, Idaho folk. But this place surprised both Hunter and me as being far more built-up and legit than we expected. Cactus Pete's, owned by the same folks as the Stratosphere, was a real place with a decent all-night cafe (on weekends) and a busy casino floor. Our hotel, the West Star Hotel "Casino", by contrast, was just sad. I'll update my slideshow with Hunter's shots later in the day.

Then it was on to Sun Valley, Idaho, where we attended a massive party hosted by Elaine Wynn for four Sun Valley friends who turn 90 this year. They included Vegas financier legend E. Parry Thomas, California real estate mogul Harry Rinker, California accounting giant Ken Leventhal and Chicago industrial park developer Marshall Bennett. I'm working on at least one significant feature on Elaine Wynn, so I really wanted to attend this for the color I needed to place Elaine at the center of Sun Valley high society.

The pictures reflect the party. Vegas bigwigs in attendance included Irwin Molasky, the Thomas and Mack clans and Janie Greenspun Gale. Also, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter gave a toast.

Here's a whole slideshow from Flickr:

Today I take Hunter to Salt Lake City, from whence he flies back to Vegas to check out the new Plaza before heading home to California. I'll have a day on my own through the Rocky Mountains, then I'll pick up Amy in Denver for the rest of the drive. We'll hit three or four state capitols I've not seen, including Jefferson City, Springfield and Indianapolis. If we have the energy, we may carry on to Columbus, too, before heading north to Ann Arbor.

Miles decided he wanted to drive on his own for some post-Vegas catharsis, so he has Aces as his co-pilot and I have Black & Jack.

Gotta go! More later. Also, check out Hunter's stuff on Twitter.

My last regular LVW Col: Leave Barney Alone!

2011-08-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here we go, folks. I've got a whole package planned next week, but this is the last regular edition of The Strip Sense, unless the LVW repurposes the column's name for someone else. I kinda hope they don't since Miles came up with it, but it's their call. Either way, this is my final entry. Enjoy. -sf

Leave Barney Alone!
The county's attempt to control those in costumes is a waste of time

By STEVE FRIESS

It is something like 156 degrees outside, and I stand at Flamingo and the Strip begging. “Please,” I plead with Luigi, Barney and Mr. Stormtrooper. “I really need your names for my column. It’s a journalism thing.” And yet, as if they’re Iranian dissidents, Mafia informants or underlings of Sheldon Adelson, they refuse to tell me who they are. The fear is palpable.

“You gonna to get us in trouble,” the big purple dinosaur says with more broken English and less gay giggle than I recall from babysitting my sisters’ kids. “Leave us alone.”

I’d love to, but local politicians have in their sights the poor souls who dress up as fictional characters and take photos with tourists for tips. “We can’t just sit back and allow something like this to happen without addressing it,” said Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly at the August 2 meeting.

Actually, sir, you can.

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com

The Blooper Show is FINALLY Up!

2011-08-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

Our blooper episode, recorded on 8/14, turned out to be a blooper in and of itself. I forgot to set GarageBand to record the feed from the mixer, so instead we recorded what the Mac's mike heard. It was a terrible mess and a huge loss because the original version was so much fun. But frequent guest co-host Amy came back on Saturday, 8/20 with another pizza and we re-did it with updated Vegas news and no chat room. This means the chat room folks haven't heard this version, either, which is unusual. Anyhow, enjoy! I'll post whenever I know when we're doing another show, but the grand finale episode will definitely by Sunday, Sept. 4, from Ann Arbor. Also, there will be MANY specials and extras coming in the podcast feed over the next week, so subscribe via iTunes. I won't be announcing them here. -sf

Aug. 20: BLOOPERPALOOZA!
Extra: More bloopers that didn't make it in the main show

Episode Guide:
Open & Banter: Start to 36ish
Intro/End-Show Bloopers : 36:45-44ish
Wordplay Bloopers: 44:30ish-50ish
Banter/Midshow Bloopers: 50:50-1:07ish
Trivia/Poll/Feedback: 1:07ish-1:20ish
Interview-related Bloopers: 1:20:35-1:31ish
Cursing Bloopers: 1:31:20-1:35ish
Miles' Voices Bloopers: 1:35:30-1:40ish
TSTToTW: 1:40ish-end
Something More: 1:53-end

As faithful listeners know, this podcast is edited. We appreciate being independent, but we don’t believe that independent means we should be careless and sloppy. So Steve goes through every week and cleans it all up so you don’t have to waste your time hearing long pauses and unnecessary or irrelevant banter. Also, there’s a whole culture that’s built up around the chat room and we interact with those out there in ways that the podcast listener wouldn’t follow. So, anyhow, each year we have created a Bloopers Episode. Hear us curse, bicker and ponder deep but Vegas-irrelevant thoughts. It's fun. You'll laugh. Mostly.

In Banter, we mulled our encounter with Mrs. Wynn in Sun Valley, talked about the de-Elvising at Aria and the likely implosion of The Harmon, we explained our strategy for packing and moving and much more. Near the end, we also discuss Steve's bingo adventure.

Links to stuff discussed:

What our ReLo Cubes look like, from Upack.Com
Aria is De-Elvising and removed the ugly wrap
Links (when available) to the Eureka Flickr Slideshow, The Daily article, the KNPR segment and the LV Weekly column
The site for Tanked
Steve's Las Vegas Weekly cover story on the Jockey Club
MGM Resorts wants to implode The Harmon, according to the WSJ
360Vegas Podcast is worth a try
Pix one, two and three of Steve’s Bingo adventure at Sunset Station

R-J Layoffs Yield Bizarre List of Employee Ages

2011-08-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

So that, above, is a letter that arrived at the homes of those who were "selected for Involuntary Termination" (read: You WIN!) along with a truly bizarre attachment that I'll get to in a moment. You can click on the image above to enlarge it and read it. I've read this sentence many times and I can only conclude that someone who somehow still has a job needs a remedial writing course:

The Company is providing information to you regarding class, unit or group considerd in the selection decision to you, as well as information regarding other classes, units, or groups similarly evaluated by higher levels of management.

Yeah, beats me, too. But what comes after this is even stranger: It's a three-page list of every newsroom job and the age of the person who occupies it. There are no names, but it's not difficult to figure out who's who in many cases. Here's a couple of examples:

As you can see, I'm being very selective here. I could post the entire list with everybody's ages, but there's no need for that. The newsroom leaders, however, who expect every reporter to ask the ages of most figures in stories, cannot claim any sort of vanity or privacy in the matter.

Mostly, though, I'm trying to understand the purpose of distributing this. They're giving those who were fired a list of everybody's ages. Is this a pre-emptive legal defense against someone who might sue them on grounds they were terminated based on age? It seems really extraordinary to go this far, but I'm not a corporate lawyer and haven't had a full-time job since Clinton, so I don't know.

It was fascinating, though, and I'll do some age analysis in a moment.

But first, the document answers a few questions we've been wondering. Who, exactly, was fired in Thursday's newsroom purge? Here's that list:

So that's 12, every one of whom was on my list, so I did a complete job. My list was longer -- 22 names -- because it includes the fired from non-newsroom departments as well as a few who lost their jobs over the past week or two, too. Thus, I stand by my reporting and accept that, above, as the official count for the newsroom itself for that one day of carnage.

Again, I don't see the need to publish the ages of those fired or other those who kept their gigs. But I found some interesting data therein nonetheless.

This document indicates the newspaper now has 107 newsroom employees, although that includes four non-journalist support staff jobs. Of this, there remain 43 "reporters" or "senior reporters" across every section including their weekly publications such as CityLife and the View neighborhood sections. That's about one reporter for every 46,511 people in Las Vegas. I do not know what the national average is or the average in other cities, so I can't put that number in context.

Other tidbits:

* The average age of those who lost their jobs on Friday was 51.4.

* The oldest newsroom employee is a 69.1-year-old columnist.

* The youngest newsroom employee is 20.4-year-old photographer.

* There are five staff photographers and two photo editors left, meaning the department lost 36% of its employees and 44% of their shooters.

* The paper now has just one graphic art illustrator on staff. If that person's on vacation or out sick, I guess there are no charts or graphics in the paper?!?

* The average age of the R-J's reporters is 42.5.

* The youngest reporter is 22.3, the oldest is 63.9.

* This list indicates there are four columnists. I assume they include Norm Clarke, John L. Smith, Jane Ann Morrison and, well, I don't know. It's confusing because there are clearly more columnists, see:

I guess many of these folks -- such as Howard Stutz and Mike Weatherford -- are counted as reporters or maybe "senior reporters." And I imagine folks like Vin Suprynowicz and Sherm Frederick are freelancers or contractors of some sort with their Sunday pieces.

Anyhow, make of this what you will. On Monday, I expect to obtain the documents the fired journalists must sign to get their severance, so stay tuned. And at 9 a.m. PT, I'll be on State of Nevada on KNPR to discuss the matter.

More On R-J Carnage: Severence, Silence & Sherm

2011-08-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

[UPDATE: Oskar Garcia of the Associated Press is out with a report on these layoffs that pretends none of the reporting you've seen here exists. He did, however, speak to Bob Brown, the publisher who declined my requests as well as those of KNPR. Evidently, Mr. Brown does not believe in speaking about this within his own community. Not terribly good modeling for potential sources for the newspaper itself, is it? See what he had to say to Garcia here.]

I continue to add names and details to the prior post on the firings at the R-J, and it doesn't seem like a second round is occurring today as was rumored. But here's some news from today:

* Severance: The employees who lost their jobs yesterday were handed a white envelope, told to get their things and escorted out of the building. Here is how one now-ex-RJer described their parting gifts via email to me:

Terminated employees were given their checks paid through the week with any leftover vacation/sick time hours included. The severance offered is 12 weeks of pay if you sign on the line not to sue the Stephens Media Group if it is found that they had terminated you for other reasons, such as age or some other protected class. Sign that and you get your money. Also, we get three months of medical benefits, including family coverage. If we have a lot of stuff in our desks, we must make appointments to collect the items before 8 a.m. so our presence is not be disruptive. HR Benefits Manager Cindy Meyers or corporate attorney Mark Hinueber went over the package with us and explained how to file for unemployment and what to say. Those with 401(k)s can leave our money where it's at or cash it out to roll into an IRA (not recommended). Editor Mike Hengel was seen standing by a photographer as he cleared out his locker to ensure he didn't leave with company equipment.

Wow. That's just heartbreaking. Just because the corporate bastards act like greedy asses who don't take any pride in the quality of their product doesn't mean the former employees will, even in the darkest moments of their professional lives. Such demeaning treatment at the conclusion of long and honorable service is depressing and, sadly, quite normal today.

* Silence: Bob Brown, the new publisher who was the ad director, has told KNPR that there will be no press release about the careers he just wrecked. He hasn't responded to e-mail or phone calls from me, either. But KNPR is undeterred and recognizes the importance of this news, so I'll be on State of Nevada on Monday at 9 am PT discussing the firings and what it means for Las Vegas journalism. This will be my second appearance since my farewell interview, which is kind of funny but also a bit of an honor. Also, while I do appreciate the traffic and attention, I think it's sad that the Las Vegas Sun's only coverage of this matter was to provide a link here.

* Sherm: In the wake of such emotional news, I yesterday laid into Sherm Frederick, the disgraced former publisher of the Review-Journal. I do believe he made several terrible decisions and is owed some of the blame. But I also have heard -- and I remember from my own time there in the 1990s -- that he was always a staunch defender of his journalists having once been one and probably kept some people on longer than he should have because he had a personal connection with and empathy for them. That all can be true and honorable at the same time as he coasted along during the Vegas boom years and took credit for profits that were inevitable in that economy. What he never did was prepare for the next generation of journalism in any meaningful way and he just allowed a moldy old system to roll along unabated. But mostly, if Sherm is unwilling to take any responsibility for the economic condition of the newspaper -- and he won't because he's too vain and proud -- then someone needs to sit up and acknowledge that he deserves to be held accountable, too.

Massive Layoffs Strike The R-J Today

2011-08-18T16:50:00.000-07:00

Last Updated at 2:05 p.m. PT, 8/19/2011 with new names and other details.

I'm working hard to gather up all of the names of those journalists who are being ushered out of the Review-Journal's headquarters right now. As I did when Greenspun Media Group canned nearly 40 people in 2009, I will continue to update this post as more names and details are confirmed.

Right now, I count 22 people on the list, almost all of them newsroom folk. I've also noticed that the RJ appears to have stripped the website of RJTV, the ill-executed daily news capsule that might have actually worked if it had decent production value and if there was some way to download or embed it.

On Facebook earlier today, former R-J Editor Thomas Mitchell wrote in response to talk show host Heidi Harris asking if the fired included anyone she knows: "Probably not ... photogs, sports, artists, pressmen, ad folks. But there is one you know, but I've not got confirmation of departure." More recently, he commented on the Facebook site of one of the fired, Dennis Rudner, "Hope you got a decent severance package."

Here's hoping that the "one you know" referenced by Mitchell is not the legendary John L. Smith, whose column last weekend certainly struck me as tentatively valedictory. That would be devastating. I also hear a press release is being worked up which, if true, would be substantially more transparency than occurred during the Greenspun massacre. (Update: No answer -- not even voicemail -- in Publisher Bob Brown's office.)

So here's the growing list. I'll add new names and the length-of-service as the information comes in. Most of these folks were fired today, but a handful lost their jobs in the past couple of weeks. In addition to this, I understand 15 employees in the press room -- a full shift -- were let go earlier this week. And, of course, there was another, smaller layoff spree at the RJ earlier in March.

I keep this list so the public knows how their newspaper is being diminished and also so these men and women do not become anonymous casualties after their many years of hard work:

* Edmund Meinhardt, editor, LV Health/View on Health, 4 years
* Steve Guiremand, sports copy editor and @UNLVRebelNation tweeter
* Dennis Rudner, assistant sports editor, 12 years
* Jim Decker, photographer, 24 years
* Jean Thorne, graphics
* Rowena Sioson Castillejos, graphics
* Jason Whited, CityLife staff writer
* Alan Choate, general assignment reporter
* Jim Haug, education reporter
* Joyce Lupiani, content editor, 16 years
* Gary Thompson, photographer, 35 years
* Craig Moran, photographer, 17 years
* Mike Johnson, news-graphic artist, 26 years
* Valerie Miller, Las Vegas Business Press reporter
* Scott Wyland, county government reporter
* Duane Prokop, 5+years
* John Gurzinski, photographer, 20 years
* Nate Tannenbaum, RJTV anchor
* Erik Huey, online advertising
* Jeff Wolf, sports reporter
* Dean White, assistant to circulation director
* John Edwards, business reporter

Rudner, on his Facebook wall, wrote: "The worst part about being laid off after 12 years on the job is the effect it has on your children, even if they are teens." Heartbreaking.

That impact to the photo department is severe. And it's made even worse to those shooters by the fact that they don't own their own equipment anymore. That is, when the cameras went high-tech digital and cost $5,000+ each, the photogs began simply using the company's. So these folks are hamstrung in terms of freelancing, from what one shooter told me. Also in the photo department, former photo editor Jeff Scheid was demoted to staff photog and Kevin Cannon is the interim photo editor.

This paints a picture of a newspaper in dire economic conditions that can only be the result of the long, incompetent tenure of disgraced former publisher Sherman Frederick. Yes, the new publisher, Bob Brown, is a former ad guy and may not have the journalistic sensitivities that Frederick did have most of the time, but it was Frederick who made a long list of terrible decisions.

Frederick constantly calls me "bitter" on his blog and on Twitter, but mostly I've just been strident that the newspaper wasn't pivoting into the new media environment with any creativity, investment or ingenuity. I have warned for many years now that that failure would endanger the entire enterprise and I said repeatedly that it would ultimately cost jobs. Sure, the economy bites and newsrooms are challenged everywhere, but this is a newspaper that actually LOST circulation even as this city's population exploded. That takes a special brand of incompetence.

It just didn't matter then because the fat margins cushioned that failure for a long time. Now we see the results, and they're horrifying for the people involved. Sherm, meanwhile, still enjoys his blog and column and his Podunk newspapers. Awesome.

We are LIVE tonight with BLOOPERPALOOZA!

2011-08-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

As promised, we're live tonight with bloopers, bloopers and more bloopers. We'll begin at 6 p.m. PT, we'll have a special in-studio guest with us, and we've got a ton of very funny, silly or weird moments that you didn't hear on the shows of the past year.

Also, after the proper show is over, we'll play the other 19 minutes of bloopers we're putting into a special edition. All told, we'll probably be on the digital air from 6-8p. Join us here.

One word of warning: Miles has a foul mouth. This show is not appropriate for the intensely religious or small children.

Sending Good Vibes To John L. Smith

2011-08-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

This morning's newspaper arrived with news from Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith that he just underwent surgery for throat cancer. As usual, he disclosed it and described his experience with the flair and grace that he has displayed for decades as, by far, the most gifted columnist in the state.

It sounds like they have the problem in hand, and here's to John making a full recovery. It's kind of amazing to realize that he was out in the hot Vegas sun chasing down a wayward voter who might have thrown a 1-vote North Las Vegas City Council race even as he was getting second opinions on how to address his diagnosis. That front-page column, in fact, ran the same day, Aug. 5, he had seven hours of surgery to remove the cancer. I'm certain the night before he was being wheeled into the OR, he was answering questions from copy editors. In a city of many columnists -- heck, reporters! -- who never get off their duffs to literally chase a story, John remains true to the craft and a lonely, exceptional example for the rest of us.

John is also, by a large measure, one of the best human beings in Las Vegas media. He's just a nice, humble, friendly man. And the hits he's suffered in recent years -- his daughter's brain cancer, bankruptcy brought on by Sheldon Adelson's hubris, divorce, a DUI and now his own cancer -- returns us to the age-old question of why bad things happen to good people.

Today's column sounded a little bit more valedictory than I hope he intended. He writes as though he's got one foot out the newsroom door, and that would be a tremendous loss for the R-J and the community.

Miles joins me in hoping John has a speedy recovery. The city needs him, perhaps more than it knows.

My Stuff, Lately

2011-08-12T07:50:00.001-07:00

Nobody will ever accuse me of slacking off at the end of my Vegas run. In the past week alone, several significant pieces have appeared, but two in particular are worthy of highlighting:

* JOCKEY CLUB 4EVA: The cover of the Las Vegas Weekly is an assessment of this little eyesore of a timeshare complex run by understandably grumpy people and it's weird relationship with all the massive towers, most specifically the Cosmo, that surround it. As I am writing this from charming Ely, Nev., I can assure you I appreciate history and revere what's come before, but as a business model the Jockey Club portends the future of Vegas in a not-so-good-way. Check it out.

* HYDEIA BROADBENT, FORMER CHILD STAR: Fifteen years ago, North Las Vegas resident Hydeia Broadbent addressed the Republican National Convention as a 12-year-old with AIDS who stopped the show and forced the religious right to hit pause on the culture war for a split second. She became the most famous youth HIV/AIDS activist in the world, filling a niche vacated by the deaths of Ryan White and Pedro Zamora. I profiled her for an award-winning cover story in Poz Magazine back then, but what's become her since? Well, she's 27 now, barely speaks to her mother and is trying her best to recover from a childhood in the spotlight during which nobody really thought that she'd ever live to be an adult. It's messy and fascinating, and I'm pleased Desert Companion gave me the space to tell the story.

In addition to all that, there's also my column in the Weekly assessing the changes at the Plaza and a feature in Desert Companion on the largely unnoticed 100th birthday of the late William F. Harrah. And other stuff, too, but I can't think of it at the moment as I've gotta get in the car and head to Eureka. But there's some stuff to chew on for your Friday.

Next Show is Sunday at 6p

2011-08-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

I'm in Ely, Nev., about to head to Eureka for a piece on how the high price of gold is impacting one rural community that lives off of mining. Then I have to drive back to Vegas and we have the farewell party on Saturday from 2-5 pm PT at Piero's. I've also got a massive pile of writing to do to finish up about four assignments by the end of the weekend.

On account of all of that and the fact that sorting out all the outtakes and assembling our final bloopers episode of "The Strip" will take some serious editing time, we're going to be live on SUNDAY at 6 p.m. PT instead of Saturday, as aforementioned. We'll have a special guest or two, and a good time will be had by most. Join us here for that on Sunday.

The Farewell Tour Hits Stride On Wednesday

2011-08-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

All the appreciation we've been feeling from listeners, readers, friends, sources and colleagues as the days tick down before we leave Vegas has been overwhelming and gratifying. Still, it's hard for me to stop working when there's so many stories left to finish, so it's a weird time.

For efficiency's sake, I've consolidated some key moments tomorrow. Podcast fans ought to know we will NOT be doing a live show on Wednesday but, instead, will do a live one on Saturday night with some surprise appearances. More on that to come.

Here's what happens tomorrow:

* At about 10 a.m. PT, I'm scheduled to be on KNPR to talk about these years of coverage and whatever else they throw my way. Listen live at knpr.org or on 88.9 FM if you're here. It'll replay at about 9 p.m. PT.

* At 11:30 a.m., I address the monthly luncheon of the Lambda Business and Professional Association. This is the gay business networking group where I interviewed Carolyn Goodman and Chris Giunchigliani in May in the only serious news-making debate/forum/event of the otherwise dull 2011 mayor's race. This time, I'll be discussing what I've seen change in news coverage and the lives of GLBT people in Las Vegas since I first arrived in 1996. It's at Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant in Commercial Center and costs $15 at the door. All are welcome, gay or not.

* At 4 p.m., I'm due at the Coffee Bean at 10834 W Charleston in Summerlin to discuss my two pieces for Desert Companion, the lifestyles magazine produced by Nevada Public Radio. More on those pieces in this separate post, but they include the one on would-have-been-centenarian William F. Harrah and a lengthy, important piece on the troubled transition to adulthood for Las Vegan Hydeia Broadbent, once America's most significant child advocate for people with HIV/AIDS.

So that's tomorrow. And don't forget YOU are welcome and invited to our farewell party at Piero's on Saturday from 2-5p. We don't actually check out of Vegas for another couple weeks and my Las Vegas Weekly presence doesn't end until Sept. 1, but these will be very, very busy and stressful times indeed and it's nice to do all of this before it gets completely out of control in our home.

Why I'm On A Diet

2011-08-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

After this week's LVW column on the local Weight Watchers cover model appeared, I received a lot of email similar to this blog comment from Josh of VegasMavens.Com:

How much of your success with WW would you attribute to wanting to enter your Fellowship "leaner and meaner" or, perhaps, just leaner? Would you consider posting a more detailed posting on your experience with WW on your blog or perhaps on the podcast?

As Miles will tell you, there's nothing I enjoy talking about more these days than my diet because, well, it's going so well and has been relatively easy for me.

But first, an important disclaimer: I have been gifted with my mother's efficient metabolism. I am not Frank Bruni. I merely abused that gift and am now in course-correction mode. Recall these photos from prior blog posts:

That's a lot of snacking with impunity. I was always reasonably thin regardless. Here are some shots of me from age 21 to 34, when I covered the OJ Simpson trial alongside Dominick Dunne:

And then something happened. All that glorious junk food decided it liked hanging onto me. Here, in order, are shots that show the story. The first one, from a 2008 political memorabilia convention, was less than a year after the one above with Dunne. After that, I'm in San Antonio for my Little Brother's Air Force boot camp graduation (March 2009), covering a deadly courthouse shooting in Vegas (January 2010), at Casa Wayner (January 2011) and at Barry Manilow's piano (March 2011), plus the shot atop this post covering the Tea Party rally in Searchlight in March 2010:

I could see where this was going and I had to buy bigger clothes, which simply offended my thrifty Jewish sensibilities too much. Trouble is, as you can see, I'm not someone who had to worry about this before. And, also, I'm not someone particularly inclined towards exercise. But then I developed an inflammation in my left heel that my podiatrist believed had to do with recalibrating my gait to accommodate my weight gain, and that freaked me out even though it was merely a theory for the foot pain I've been experiencing.

So, yeah, with all these other massive life changes coming, I decided to do something about before it went too far, I got too old and I just became contented being a larger and larger person who can't bear to look at myself in photos.

I opted for Weight Watchers mainly because Miles and I had discussed it for a while and it seemed like a plan that provided the best structure without forcing people to eat their food, as Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem do. Miles has opted not to work on his weight until we get to Michigan, which I respect, but I didn't want to hold off any longer.

Here's the part where I'm going to sound like a WW evangelist. I like how it works. They weigh you and take your height, and from that they give you a certain number of points that you can eat per day. In my case, I got 46 points each day and I started at 219 pounds, a figure that completely shocked me.

The points are calculated by some WW formula in which carbs, protein, fiber and fat are tabulated via a special WW calculator. To keep you from being discouraged or feeling deprived you also get 49 extra "bonus" points a week, although I don't believe I've ever use any of them.

I'm not sure I could have bothered with WW a year ago for two reasons. First, the old program counted various fruits and vegetables against your points, and that's a lot of what I eat to avoid being hungry. The new "Points Plus" system allows as much of most fruits and vegetables as you want without counting them in your daily total. But, secondly, in the old days people had to carry a WW calculator and book to figure out or look up the point values of various foods and then you'd have to hand-write what you ate.

That's much too much work and baggage. But the WW smartphone application handles all of that for you. It has the calculator, the entire database of food and a means for you to track what you've eaten and how many points you have left.

Because I've lost the weight I have, my points total has been reduced to 43 a day. I generally only input things that are worth points, so what you don't see are the grapes, bananas, carrots and diet drinks I consume. I also don't pay much mind to inputting what part of the day I've eaten something, so I can assure you I did not eat a bowl of cereal and a tuna melt before noon on Saturday.

What I'm impressed by with WW is that there really isn't anything I like that I can't have. I just have to alter how much I have. My weakness is Crunch N Munch, and we still had a box when I started WW in June. Rather than throw it away, I read the box and then broke it down into servings in individual plastic baggies. Then, when I wanted some, I had a feeling of completion and I'd only cost myself six points.

The weight loss has been slow but very steady. I'm down 17.6 pounds through 10 weeks as of last Friday, when I went for my weekly weigh-in. Other people don't go to the WW meetings, they just do the thing online and keep their weights for themselves on an honor system. Odds are good when I get to Michigan I may transition to that approach, but for these past few months I've found it very useful to listen to the discussion of how to eat better and suggestions for tasty low-point recipes or store-bought products. Also, I like being accountable to someone else, in this case the lady who does the weigh-ins at the WW place.

It's been relatively easy for me, but that's partly because it turns out I'm not naturally an intensely hungry person and, also, I've always loved a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Also, I love cooking for myself and have been reading Vegetarian Times for a while because my 85-year-old friend, Walt, doesn't eat meat and I try to feed him sometimes. Thus, finding foods on the "good" side of the ledger that I'll enjoy and will be satisfied will be pretty easy. By doing the calculations and reading food labels more carefully and just paying more attention, I've got a much clearer sense of how to eat well and what reasonable portions are.

I had decided to see how far I could get down without having to start a serious exercise routine. I'm not looking to be an adonis, I just want to be healthier. I already walk the dogs, sometimes two miles a day, and I know I'll be walking and biking plenty in Michigan anyway until the snow arrives.

A few years ago, I read a column by the R-J's Jane Ann Morrison, who was discussing how some candy resulted in some expensive dental bills. The passage that always stuck in my head was this:

When it turns fall and the temperatures cool down, even ever so slightly, I enjoy the occasional caramel. At 170 calories each, they're not something I eat regularly. But Halloween isn't far away and it's one of those candies that bring soulful satisfaction.

I didn't understand this. Really. If she loved the candy so much, eat it! Eat the whole bag! What's the big deal? How could a piece of candy provide a "soulful satisfaction?"

Now I get it. Healthy people pace themselves. They allow themselves an occasional treat and, thus, they enjoy and savor it that much more. The serving-size baggie of Crunch N Munch was far more delicious and satisfying than back in the day when I inhaled the entire box during a sitcom and could barely stand up afterwards. I mean, I can eat it, finish it and remain conscious! What a deal!

I'm down to 201.4 pounds now. My official WW goal was 200, which was about a 10 percent loss from 219. But for my height, I really shouldn't be more than 185-190, so I'm aiming for that range. I'll let y'all know if I get there.

The big challenge right now is that, in leaving Vegas, loads of people want to take me out for meals. And there's a ton of great food around here that I'll sorely miss. I'm definitely going to have to suspend the diet when I scratch Pamplemousse off my bucket list, I can tell you that!

The show is UP: Settling Old Scores With George Wallace

2011-08-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

We broke some "news" in our George Wallace interview this time. The comic says he's thinking he may vacate the Flamingo showroom where he's appeared for eight years. He also indicates that his friend, Gladys Knight, is having throat trouble and plans to quit her Tropicana gig. And he and Wayne Newton actually have gotten into it over Wallace's ads calling himself "the new Mr. Las Vegas." Fun stuff. Click on the date below to play or right-click to save the show. Or you subscribe -- for free -- in iTunes or Zune. -sf

Aug. 7: The Real George Wallace?

George Wallace threw us for a loop back in the fall of 2005 when he claimed to be two different places and then unceremoniously dumped us. And he’s paid for it, at least in these parts, with us mocking him as the symbol of a bad guest and many listeners saying they’d avoid his show because of the shoddy treatment. But Steve can’t really leave well enough alone. As we conclude our run as Vegas podcasters, he wanted another whack at Wallace, and so he was over at the Flamingo today for a face-to-face conversation. It turned out to be very fun discussion in which Wallace spoke possibly vacating his berth at the resort when his contract ends this year and much more.

In Banter: Oscar Goodman Steak, Steve Wyrick woes, outdoor (?) summer theater in Vegas, obsessing over fake Spongebobs and more.

Episode Guide:
Open & Banter: Start to 18ish
George Wallace Part I: 24ish--51ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 51ish-59ish
George Wallace Part II: 1:00-1:26ish
TSTToTW: 1:26-end

Links to Stuff Discussed:

George Wallace’s website
Our original George Wallace interview episode from 2005
VegasHappensHere.Com on Wolfgang Puck leaving the Springs Preserve
A report on developments related to Oscar Goodman Steak
This blog asks whether Steve Wyrick will ever open
The Strip Sense column in 2010 on the Plaza’s gaybashing theater operator, John Beane
The cutting-edge Riv brings bingo back
The County Commission obsesses over fake Spongebobs
Spring Mountain Ranch State Park’s Super Summer Theatre
Railroad Pass casino is 80
The Sahara’s NASCAR auction is on
Cee-Lo may have a Vegas residency gig
Lance Rich’s proof there was no water in My Heart Will Go On in …A New Day

MINI-EXCLUSIVE: Oscar Will Have A Glass Office At Oscar's

2011-08-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

It's a small detail, but it's one that makes me mildly more optimistic that any steakhouse, even one "licensing" the name of our wildly popular former mob attorney/mayor, can work at the Plaza.

A Plaza source told me today they're building a glass-walled office for Oscar Goodman off from the bar area in the famed glass-dome space that is soon to open as Oscar's. In it will sit his famous mayoral furnishings, including this:

I'm told it'll be sort of like the Oscar Goodman Zoo where visitors will be able to witness the famed leviathan himself in his natural habitat. Interesting. You can see my pictorial of Oscar's City Hall office from 2009 here.

I'm still fairly dubious of how well this concept will work. As I'm hearing it, this steak place is going to be sort of a Vegas-themed Hard Rock/Planet Hollywood kinda thing, decorated with Oscar's likeness and artifacts of his illustrious careers. There's even talk of opening Oscar'ses in other cities after this one establishes itself.

Ultimately, though, gimmick-driven restaurants usually don't succeed, not even in the case of Switch at Encore where the kitchen is run by exceptional chefs. So Oscar's will have to serve up great food that is, because this is still Downtown, inexpensive. And cheap steaks usually are not terribly good steaks. So there's the conundrum.

Still, if Carolyn's husband is actually there hamming it up a lot -- and I mean A LOT -- then maybe it could work. I question, though, how often Oscar Goodman might toil in his office doing whatever "work" he has to do after, say, 6 p.m. when the dinner rush takes place.

Magician Steve Wyrick Postponed Again; Will He EVER Open?

2011-08-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

That's not just my question. It's the one stalking the folks at the Las Vegas Hilton, too. There's some snag going on over there that goes beyond needing more time to perfect the show, and now I have a Hilton source telling me there are financial problems. Before it even opens, there are financial problems?!?

I had exclusively reported on July 26 the the journeyman magician's new headliner gig had been postponed from a 7/27 opening to an 8/5 opening, and the other day a ticket agent told me its new opening date was 8/6. Well, that's today, and the Las Vegas Hilton website has scrubbed those dates and a ticketing agent said it's supposed to open 8/9 but "I can't really predict the future."

Indeed. Don't hold your breath on that, either, because the resort's website shows Wyrick scheduled to appear EVERY SINGLE NIGHT UNTIL JANUARY 31, 2012 WITHOUT A SINGLE DAY OFF.

Yeah, right.

[Aside: By then will it even be "the Hilton" by then?]

If you try to book tickets for any of these dates, you evidently can do it, though. They're $39.95 to $125. Something tells me there'll be plenty of seats available on a walk-up basis, though, so I'd hold off on that.

Why does this even matter? Well, Wyrick's face is already plastered on a 20ish-foot-tall banner on the side of the resort where Barry Manilow's visage once gazed down upon the masses. Has there ever, in the history of Las Vegas, been a show advertised and promoted like that that has simply never opened?

Wyrick, of course, has a long history of financial troubles and disappointing shows. Most recently, he went bankrupt after the $35 million Wyrick Theater and bar complex in the Miracle Mile Shops failed miserably. And yet he keeps trying to come back, and that spirit and effort deserves a certain admiration from even those not impressed by his tricks.

There's one more bit of proof, though, that Wyrick is clearly not ready for primetime at the Hilton. This...

...is what you find out front at SteveWyrick.Com. Maybe that's a time-traveling DeLorean? THAT would be an awesome trick.

KSNV's Beautiful Tribute To Miles

2011-08-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Miles' final day at KSNV, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas. He worked there or at the company's Reno station for 12 years, finishing up as the executive producer overseeing the entire news operation for the past four years. To commemorate the occasion of his departure -- he's coming with me to Ann Arbor to partake in my fellowship -- his friend and anchor Jessica Moore offered these truly lovely words at the close of the last newscast he produced, the 5 p.m. show:

FYI, we're having a little party at Piero's on Aug. 13 from 2-5 pm where friends, colleagues, listeners, readers and viewers are welcome to swing by and visit with us. Hope to see you there!

Gay Golconda: Nevada's Homo Haven?!?

2011-08-05T14:58:00.001-07:00

Lots of folks are slicing and dicing 2010 Census data, including those interested in tracking the lives of gays and lesbians. The Census does not ask sexual orientation so there's no raw count of how many gay Americans there are, but it does track same-sex households by allowing gays to check either "married" or "unmarried partner" when indicating the second adult's relationship to whomever is Person No. 1.

The first time this was done was in 2000. Before that, the computer automatically changed the gender of Person No. 2 to make hetero-sense of the responses. When the data came out in 2001, it was significant because it was statistical proof that gays literally, truly, are everywhere. Same-sex couples lived in more than 99% of counties in America, meaning we lived among the rest of you even in the reddest, most conservative and religious nooks.

Thus, it's not surprising that on this go-around, the data similarly shows there are same-sex couples in all 17 counties in Nevada. It's equally unsurprising that the percentage and raw numbers of them is high in the Vegas and Reno areas as well as Pahrump. You can see the various breakdowns, including by gender and percent with children, for Nevada and almost every other state here.

But take a look at this map from the Williams Institute at UCLA's Law School:

What, pray tell, is that darker blue splotch that suggests a concentration of The Gay up there in the middle of Northern Nevada's mining country? At first, I thought maybe it was third-largest-"city" Elko, but it's not. I consulted a Silver State county map so I could determine...

...that it sits in the southeastern corner of Humboldt County. This graphic shows Winnemucca, which would be of gay historical significance because one of the most beloved characters in the great novelist Armistead Maupin's "Tales Of The City" series, Mrs. Madrigal (played by Olympia Dukakis in the PBS mini-series) was raised there in a brothel. Her mom's character, in fact, is Mother Mucca.

I digress, though. I got Dr. Gary Gates, the demographer responsible for tabulating and analyzing these numbers, to make sense of that splotch. We worked out that, in fact, the census tract that is that shape doesn't even include Winnemucca. Rather, according to the Census website...

...it just misses that metropolis. Instead, there's another colored bubble therein that implies some sign of life. Let's look closer:

Golconda!

Uh, what?

Golconda. Duhhh! Everybody open your Internet hymnals to Wikipedia:

Golconda is an unincorporated community in Humboldt County, Nevada, United States. Located along Interstate 80 in the northwestern part of the state, it is named for the ancient diamond mining center of Golkonda in India. The community lies east of the city of Winnemucca and the Golconda Summit, a nearby mountain pass. A post office is located in the community.

Golconda was built when discovery of copper, silver, gold, and lead brought entrepreneurs who opened mines and mills in the district. The town was a diverse society including both native-born Americans as well as foreign populations including individuals of French, Portuguese, Paiute, and Chinese descent who all lived and worked in the small community. During 1898-1910, the town had a train depot, several hotels, a school, businesses, newspapers, and two brothels. Its population peaked at about six hundred in 1907-08. Although boosters predicted growth for Golconda, after 1910 the mines played out, leaving the region as an area of ranches and farms. Most of the town's buildings from its mining heyday are gone, and Golconda today is a minor stop on Interstate 80.

And that's all she cut-and-pasted, folks! A short, dry passage, nothing to indicate a love of rainbows or show tunes or Subarus. I may go and update this page shortly, however, to provide the BREAKING NEWS that it's also, according to the data, the GAY CAPITAL OF NORTHERN NEVADA.

Gates and I had quite a chuckle over this. He said that sometimes anomalies arise because people live in complicated households of multiple adults and shared-custody children and don't fill out the forms right. But he took a careful look at what Census gives us for that tract and he found that there are 17 same-sex couples among the 1,824 households reported. (The Wikipedia entry indicating that the population peaked at 600 more than a century ago could refer to a peak at that time and not more recent population data. I'm further baffled by the 1,824 households, though, because this also implies far fewer people up there than what Census came up with.)

Either way, 17 pairs is obviously not a particularly large number, but proportionately -- that is, per capita -- it puts Golconda in league with the Reno area and makes it significantly gay-coupleier than Pahrump. And Pahrump is holding its first gay pride event in a couple weeks!

Here's a cute old picture from the UNR library showing Goldconda in its heyday:

I've put in a request with the Nevada Secretary of State to see how many same-sex couples are registered domestic partners in those parts. (You can be counted as a couple on the Census but not be registered with the state.) I can't wait to ring some of them up and ask them: What gives? Is there a hummus place up there to die for or something? Did "Brokeback Mountain" inspire some sort of retro, head-for-the-hills migration boom? D0es the County Commission hand out free Birkenstocks?

Why do I feel I've got one last Nevada reporting trip in my future?

P.S. Thanks to whomever it was who put that uber-gay-looking Golconda ballcap pic on the Interwebs. God only knows why, but bless you.

LVW Col: The Weight Watchers Guy From Vegas

2011-08-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

Evidently, there's just no way for me to move through life without smacking into a good story. About two months ago, I started Weight Watchers. At my third meeting, our leader was excited to report that WW Magazine would have a man on the cover for the first time, and that he was from Vegas. So my tentacles went up, and here's that column. God knows what I'll do with myself when that happens during my fellowship. Yikes! P.S., I'm now down 17.6 pounds as of this morning's weigh-in. Woo hoo! -sf

Las Vegas Loser
By STEVE FRIESS

Years ago in San Francisco, I met up with some vacationing British friends. The guests were surprised that the people of the City by the Bay seemed so fit, and one friend asked, less-than-half-jokingly, “Where are all the fatties? All we hear about is how fat the Americans are.” Before I could reply, another Brit fired back: “They’re at the buffet in Vegas, ain’t that right, Steve?”

I couldn’t protest. Men’s Fitness has, after all, dubbed Vegas America’s fattest city, and clearly our girth precedes us. We are huge, and not in a good way.

That’s why the accomplishment of math teacher Chris Smith ought to be trumpeted. Not only has he shed 117 pounds in about two years, down from 322 pounds, but this month he becomes the first man to grace the cover of Weight Watchers magazine. You’ll also see him holding one of his “before” photos on new TV commercials with, among others, newly svelte Jennifer Hudson.

The actual news in there is that Weight Watchers is finally highlighting the importance of weight loss for men. Guys don’t realize it until we try to drop a few pounds, as I recently have, but the diet industry focuses obsessively on those with the milk-producing variety of breasts. When a man who isn’t gigantic decides to diet, people actually ask why.

That’s what I’ve found since I began WW in June.

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com

The E-Mail That Got ex-R-Jer Corey Levitan Fired

2011-08-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, the Review-Journal let one of its highest-profile writers go. Corey Levitan is especially sensitive to having it said that he was "fired," but that's what it was, of course. Not surprisingly given how legally vulnerable the R-J could be for discussing the matter, I only have his side of the story.

But what a side it is.

I didn't cover this at the time because I'm generally uncomfortable digging into the personal labor strife of individual journalists unless they do something truly offensive to the public, as KTNV's Nina Radetich did when she tipped off a car repair shop about an investigation her colleague was about to break. Radetich's motive, it seemed from leaked phone messages, was to help her now-husband get some crisis-management work, an effort at personal enrichment that violated the public trust. Channel 13 didn't care about that, unfortunately, and Radetich still taints their airwaves.

The dispute between Levitan and the R-J, however, had nothing to do with any violation of the public trust. Levitan was a features writer at the paper whose most prominent gig was doing odd jobs around town and writing about them, at first weekly and later once a month. By getting that kind of real estate in the paper for pieces that focused, essentially, on himself, he earned both fans who found him amusing and detractors who found him irksome. He also was an early adapter to web video at the R-J, which I admired, of course.

He officially was no longer employed at the R-J on June 14. He had had epic battles with his boss, Features Editor Frank Fertado, for years; others in the newsroom recall public rows. To hear Corey tell it, Fertado hired him at the behest of former editor Thomas Mitchell but quite quickly came to dislike him. There's obviously more to it, but because neither R-J publisher Bob Brown or new editor Mike Hengel responded to requests for interviews, I'm loathe to get into all of the frustrations Corey has vented.

That said, Corey -- right, in the photo on the front of his current website -- had already gone public with his anger and sadness about the loss of his job. He has a newborn, so it came at a perilous time for a young family. He's been shopping his odd-jobs column, or some cousin of it, to various publications around Vegas and last week wrote on Facebook that a deal to do something for Las Vegas CityLife was scotched at the last minute because Stephens Media, which owns the alt-weekly as well as the R-J, wouldn't let CityLife editor Scott Dickensheets hire him. Dickensheets declined comment, too.

That Facebook post, as well as one that simply showed his daughter in a car seat with the words "Thanks, Stephens Media!" appear to have been taken down. To me, he said of the CityLife snub: Stephens Media "fired me twice. This is something of a personal nature. And I don’t get it."

After asking for a few weeks, Corey finally sent me the dramatic email he sent to Brown and Hengel on June 9, the event that precipitated his dismissal on June 14. Corey called it "a total fuck-up" but, to his mind, not one "that rose to the level of retribution." Yet Corey also claims he knew as far back as May that his employment could be shaky anyway because "efficiency experts" had evaluated the features section and decided the 9ish-person staff could be reduced to, perhaps, 4.5 full-time writers. Evidently, disgraced former publisher Sherman Frederick has left the paper's financial ship in disastrous order, and reporters at the paper have recently been informed their 401(k) match would be reduced or eliminated and that layoffs are imminent. I'm sure Frederick blames Harry Reid and Barack Obama in some way.

Anyhow, here's Corey's email. Stephen Slater he's not, but it's certainly unusual to get to read a correspondence like this, so I found it newsworthy:

Bob and Mike,

I so wish I didn't feel the need to write this. This is not your fault, or your problem, but it is a problem that the readers are experiencing that you have the power to solve.

Have you noticed the most popular search term on this report? Of all the things people search for on our site because they have no idea how to find it, I am number one.

Each week, my column is progressively harder to find on the website, and in the print edition. (Check out how small it ran last Sunday, without even a photo on the Living front page.)

Thanks to my initial success, I am still constantly recognized whenever my wife and I are out in public. But, almost to a person, what I get now is: "Why did you stop writing your column? I loved that!"

Since "Fear and Loafing" was demoted in July 2008 from every Monday to the first Sunday of every month, it has never run above the fold, and never once has a house ad explained to readers when and where the column could now be found.

By the way, the very week it was summarily demoted, it won first prizes for Best Local Column from the Nevada Press Association and for Best Specialty Reporting in the AASFE.

I have raised these complaints to Frank, but he doesn't want to hear them. He has called the column "stale" and thinks I am of greater value to his section by fleshing out ideas that he comes up with, such as Easter egg painting, Henderson arts festivals and a day at the Broadacres swap meet.

Until now, I have shut up for fear of appearing insubordinate, and because if it got back to Frank, he can and probably would make my life a living hell. Also, both of you have bigger problems on your plate.

However, in the current climate, with every reporter's worth to the paper being evaluated, I have decided that it might be a good idea for me to quit shutting up.

All this talk about making the features section more edgy and exciting is particularly frustrating to me, because I know I would do exactly that in my former position of prominence.

I LOVE this paper, and there's nothing I want to do more than help you make it more entertaining.

Your pal,
Corey

Needless to say, Bob and Mike didn't think of Corey as their pal. They immediately forwarded the missive to Fertado, and Levitan spent that weekend popping Xanax to calm nerves over what might happen next. From my interview with Corey, it seems clear to me that he believed the higher-ups would, perhaps, reprimand his boss.

"I don’t fault them," he says of his bosses. "They were misled. They were misguided. . . . I didn’t think it was a viable option, getting rid of the most popular writers."

The Strip IS live tonight...with a Mystery Guest

2011-08-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

I don't want to announce who our guest is this week because Miles doesn't know yet, either, but let's just say that we're taking care of some old business from the earliest days of ~~Vegas S&M~~The Strip. So join us at about 8p at this UStream site to hear the interview, then stick around for Miles to come home for the live show.

And, no, just to head off needless speculation, it's not Steve Wynn. I think he's still peeved that I was first in both the print media and the blogosphere to call out his anti-Socialism/pro-Sinophilia contradiction.

Anywho, we're running out of time, folks, so come on down for the live show and watch the puppies eat their snacks. It'll be grand. Or wait for the podcast version. That's great, too.

Wolfgang Puck Departing Springs Preserve?

2011-08-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

Just got word that Wolfgang Puck appears to be about to relinquish control over the food service at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve Cafe. The replacement is actually pretty interesting, too.

Here's what employees of the water district, which oversees the 4-year-old Spring Preserve, were told today in an e-mail blast:

"The LVVWD Board of Directors today approved a staff recommendation to negotiate a contract with the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas to operate the Springs Preserve's restaurant and onsite catering. If the Board approves the contract at a subsequent meeting, the Culinary Academy would replace Wolfgang Puck as operator of the Springs Cafe. The Culinary Academy of Las Vegas is a nonprofit partnership—between Union Local #226, Bartenders Local #165 and Las Vegas Strip properties—which provides employment and training for hospitality-industry workers."

That's kinda cool, right? The local cooking school will manage this? It's sensible, undoubtedly less expensive and a smart partnership between two educational institutions.

Still, it can't be a good sign for the Springs Preserve's visitation numbers. And for Puck is like the Cirque du Soleil of food around these parts; he's only previously closed one restaurant in Vegas that I know of, Chinois.

The Shows are UP: Charlie Palmer & Hal Sparks

2011-07-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

Here we go, another two-fer week as we wind down the program. Enjoy. Click on the date below to play or right-click to save the show. Or you subscribe -- for free -- in iTunes or Zune. -sf

July 31: Charlie Palmer, Hall of Famer
EXTRA: Hal Sparks on Vince Neil, QaF and Minority Comedy

The last time we spoke to celebrity chef Charlie Palmer, he used this program to break a WORLD EXCLUSIVE about his plans to build a hotel in Las Vegas. This time around, he joins us as one of the three newest inductees into the American Gaming Association’s Hall of Fame. Palmer talks about that, about the aforementioned hotel he still intends to build some day and about a particularly wild birthday meal he had on an island in Fiji. That’s all coming up. Also, we excerpt our interview with comic Hal Sparks, the former “Talk Soup” host and “Queer As Folk” star who appears this weekend at the Las Vegas Hilton. It was Sparks’ show, you might recall, that Vince Neil interrupted in order to confront a former girlfriend, Alicia Jacobs.

In Banter: Drrrty pools, Wyrick delays, Vegas Top Cheffers, Bucket Lists and more.

Open & Banter: Start to 18ish
Charlie Palmer: 18-50ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 51ish-1:04ish
Hal Sparks Excerpt: 1:04-1:07ish
TSTToTW: 1:08-end

Links To Stuff Discussed:

The sites of Hal Sparks and Charlie Palmer
The Daily’s piece on pee in the pools
Bellagio’s rooms pictorial and report by VegasHappensHere.Com
WSOP betting at sports books are open and popular, says the Sun's Case Keefer
Top Chef Just Desserts contestants from Vegas
Charlie Palmer’s Fiji birthday extravaganza

Plaza Partners Up With Gay Basher For Theater!

2011-07-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

No, really.

The supposedly resurgent Plaza just announced a deal with the Insurgo Theater "Movement" to have the local troupe present its frequently terrible productions in a new 75-seat space on the hotel-resort's third floor. Insurgo is expected to open with "Waiting For Godot" when the place officially re-debuts on Sept. 1. (David McKee broke the news before the press release via CityLife, by the way.)

You might recall the Insurgo from my LVW column last fall. They're the ones whose owner, John Beane, wrote this on a public Facebook site to openly gay Review-Journal theater critic Anthony Del Valle:

“you’re a piece of shit, man. i can take a bad review any day and i definitely have shit nights as an actor. but youre just such a fucking piece of spam about it all. you cant just write the review. youve got to demean, you’ve got to insult the company and the effort of doing it at all. the union redemption offering at the end was just faggoty pissy bullshit. it was womanly. seriously. fuck you.”

Mr. Beane would later respond that he did not call Del Valle a faggot and offer up a link to Tim Gunn in an "It Gets Better" video to show how he really, truly empathizes with the Plight of The Gays. He never apologized or even acknowledged that his use of these slurs was ill-advised.

And now the Plaza is his partner. How exciting for them!

Wall Street Journal Mocks CityCenter

2011-07-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

Someone has spoofed the art at CityCenter, as Ali Berzon of the Wall Street Journal reports here. Hat tip to David McKee, whose blog I found this on today:

LVW Col: My Vegas Bucket List

2011-07-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Listeners to The Strip have heard me talking about this, but this past weekend I put in some extended hours working down my Vegas Bucket List. ALSO, LVW has set up an interactive thing where you can tell them what's on your bucket list, so go here for that. Here's this week's column about why I'm doing it. Enjoy. -sf

As Time Ticks Down, My Bucket List Grows
By STEVE FRIESS

“The best is yet to come, and babe, won’t it be fine,” Tony Bennett crooned to the rapt audience at the Palms. “You think you’ve seen the sun, but you ain’t seen it shine.”

That was Sunday, a night I almost never go out. And I was legitimately exhausted to boot, because on Friday I’d driven to Cedar City, Utah, to see a play at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and then woke up early to spend Saturday hiking in Zion National Park.

I toyed with the idea of passing on Bennett, but then remembered what was propelling this frenzy of activity in the first place: My time in Las Vegas is ticking down, and I don’t want to regret things I didn’t do. By the end of August, my partner and I will be en route to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to participate in a fellowship I earned, and there’s no telling whether we’ll move back.

I am treating this as a major life passage. And I’ve learned through prior life passages that it’s extremely important to me to squeeze every last drop out of the last epoch before it’s over and my world changes forever.

Thus, my Vegas bucket list.

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com

Dave Berns' Weird Gay Adventure

2011-07-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

Let's get this out of the way first: It doesn't bother me that I wasn't quoted in Dave Berns' Vegas Inc cover on the gay marketing of Vegas despite spending a bunch of time essentially providing him with information he used as well as many of his other sources.

Really. I do that to other people all the time, it's part of the process. We interview lots of people, gather information, decide what to include based on all sorts of criteria. No big deal.

No, what bothers me is that Dave Berns is well aware the data he cited about gay travel trends in Vegas are not scientific or reliable and he used them anyway as if it is. Few journalists would rely on a poll on a website as some sort of fact, but he nonetheless used numbers derived in very nearly the same way.

Dave (left) and I discussed this at length, the fact that Community Marketing Inc out of San Francisco polls a self-selected group of gay and lesbian people via the Internet and that the respondents are generally the same urban, tech-savvy people poll after poll. The tell-tale sign ought to be such idiotic CMI conclusions as that Las Vegas is the nation's No. 1 travel destination for middle-aged lesbians. Yeah, right.

CMI uses no random sampling, no effort to be demographically diverse in any way. As Berns was finishing his piece, I forwarded to him the latest CMI "survey" to show him how shoddy their methodology is. He replied with agreement. I also told him to ask Bob Witeck, a well-known GLBT publicist and marketer in Washington, for his views on CMI's data, but Witeck later told me Berns didn't bring up the topic at all.

Instead, Berns wrote these passages anyway:

A 2009 Community Marketing study found that the average household income for gay men and women is $81,500, or about 80 percent higher than the figure for the typical US household. Forty percent of gay men reported household incomes in excess of $100,000 annually. Thirty-six percent of lesbians reported household incomes of more than $100,000.

[snip]

Las Vegas consistently ranks among the top business and leisure destinations for the 4,296 LGBT travelers surveyed by Community Marketing. New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas typically hold the top three spots, with lesbians between the ages of 18 and 54 choosing Las Vegas as their favorite getaway.

Where's the skepticism about CMI? Where is the explanation to readers of their methodology? It's not there because that would distract from and convolute the story that Berns wanted to tell. There actually is a very good, credible source regarding GLBT average income, and what it shows is that lesbian couples are among the least affluent configurations because on the whole American women make less than men and two women make less than two men or a man and a woman. Lee Badgett of University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who has a Ph.D. in economics from Berkley, even wrote a whole frigging book about it.

But hey, never let bad data get in the way of a good story, right?

It's not the only place Berns lazily cites ridiculous data. This, too, is a joke:

Statisticians and social scientists have long argued that up to 10 percent of the US population is gay. The figure could be much larger.

Uh, no. Actually, the 10 percent figure has long been debunked as a perversion of statistical analysis by pseudo-scientist Alfred Kinsey 70 years ago, as this NPR story from just last month explains. The most recent studies -- say the ones done repeatedly since the mid-1990s when gays finally started to feel OK about even answering such questionnaires -- put the GLBT portion of the general population at about 3.5%. No, Dave, it's not likely to be "much larger." The root of the 10 percent cannard has been disproved for so long that we had seminars at the national convention of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association a decade ago on why it's important to report these things accurately even if they don't "help the cause."

Finally, this is 2011. Gay people are on TV every day, getting married or marching as active-duty military personnel in pride parades or dancing funky in the aisles of their daytime talk shows. So why, oh why, did Berns feel the need to quote anonymous gay people in a fluffy trend story?

Anonymity, it has evidently been forgotten, is supposed to be a journalist's last resort when he truly cannot get the information or perspective any other way or, perhaps, if he just doesn't have the time to keep beating the bushes for someone who will answer on the record. It's become a cancer on the credibility of the media, another reason the public has consistently downgraded its regard for the information we provide. We owe our readers better, and we owe them a better reason for using anonymity than merely that a person with nothing to lose just didn't want to give their name while providing comments that could be obtained elsewhere.

There was just no need for this. Dave had several folks, myself included, who could have used email and Twitter to get him dozens of gays happy to talk on the record about Vegas. It appears he was so enslaved to his opening anecdote about the gay Blue Moon Resort -- he did go out of the office for that bit, after all! -- that his commenters could only be men lounging at that pool on that day and evidently they played hard-to-get with him. Never mind that a 24-room gay motel doesn't reflect anything about a trend in a city with 150,000 rooms, but that's a whole other thing.

If Berns couldn't find any gay travelers to talk on the record about their views on Vegas in the week or two he worked on this piece, that's intensely sad news for Vegas Inc and a disturbing indication of where a once-outstanding reporter's energy level has sunk. Then again, the editor -- an out gay man who ought to have known how idiotic it is to cite that 10% Kinsey figure -- didn't hold him to much of a standard anyhow, so whatever.

The Strip is LIVE tonight w/ Charlie Palmer & Hal Sparks

2011-07-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

We are live again tonight on this UStream channel, starting at 7:30 p.m. PT this time so we can play both interviews before Miles gets home for the proper portions of the show.

This week, we visit once more with Charlie Palmer, who used this program once upon a time to reveal a WORLD EXCLUSIVE about plans to build a Vegas hotel. Last week, it was announced he'll be inducted into the American Gaming Association's Hall of Fame, so we talked about that, why he never expanded beyond his two Vegas restaurants, what's next for him in New York now that his Grand Central Station eatery is closed and why the e-winebook idea he pioneered at Aureole hasn't really spread as far and wide as expected.

We also have an interview with the very funny comic and former "Talk Soup" and "Queer As Folk" star Hal Sparks, who talks about having his show interrupted by Motley Crue rocker Vince Neil's "assault" on ex-girlfriend and ex-TV reporter Alicia Jacobs at the Hilton in March. We'll play a Vince-related excerpt of the Hal Sparks chat during the main show, then issue the whole thing as a Strip Extra to keep the main episode from becoming too long.

So start by playing the Hal Sparks conversation at about 7:30 p.m., followed by the Charlie Palmer interview, followed by the proper show when Miles arrives from work to do the proper show parts.

Just a tip: As the weeks tick down, the live show gets weirder and weirder. Normally, I end up with about 1-3 minutes of outtakes, but it's been more like 10 over the past few weeks. Miles can't seem to help himself, and it's really funny stuff. So come on down for the live show while you can!

Or, of course, the podcast version will be out later this week. And soon I will pull together our final outtakes show, too. Sigh. A lot of "last" this and "final" thats going on around here. Yikes.

Finally, if you're unclear who Hal Sparks is, check out these excerpts of his 2010 Showtime special, "Charmageddon":

Media Muddle: Gross Pools, Due Credit & Stupid Questions

2011-07-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

A few bits and pieces of stuff that caught my eye lately in the Vegas-related media:

* Nothing makes me happier than when a local freelance writer breaks a good, enterprising story out from under the established press, and that's what Melissa Arseniuk did on Sunday in The Daily with her probe of the cleanliness of the pool water at several Vegas "day club" venues. It's thoroughly disgusting but also a pretty great idea and one that it's fairly unlikely either major media company -- or Arseniuk's former employer Vegas Seven for that matter -- would do as it would put at risk one of the few steady advertising revenue streams that have held up through the recession. Nicely done, although did she have to invoke the most predictable of Vegas cliches in her lead? You have that awesome a story idea, it deserves equally original writing.

* Anyone who cares about Vegas and Vegas business matters ought to be subscribed and listening to the Vegas Gang podcast to begin with. But if you need convincing, pick up their superb and frank interview with M Resort developer Anthony Marnell III.

* On that same VG episode, former In Business Las Vegas editor Jeff Simpson noted the meager Vegas media response to the passing of Terry Lanni and used it as a mark of why it's so important for people who care about Vegas -- and cover it -- to pay attention to what's going on on blogs such as Two Way Hard Three and VegasTripping. (I'd add in Stiffs & Georges, too, as required visiting.) Of course, I agree, but Jeff left out one more important piece of it: The established media also must start to acknowledge when online publications break news. Norm Clarke of the R-J is the only one who does so consistently. It was VegasTripping.Com that broke the Aria Legionnaires' disease story, but for whatever reason Jon Ralston would rather give the scoop credit to his hated rival the Review-Journal (?!?!?) than the correct outlet. Lookit:

That's at least two errors in two sentences for Ralston, who loves to mock the R-J for its mistakes but won't ever correct these. First, VT had this up at 8:50 a.m. and the R-J had this up at 9:46 a.m., so VT wins. Oddly, Ralston should have known because he linked to the VT posting. But, also, VT's Chuck Monster is not a local. The blog is based in California. Oopsie.

* Speaking of David McKee, he now has my blessing to be upset with Brian Greenspun for not memorializing Terry Lanni in his Sunday column. In fact, neither newspaper even bothered to write an editorial about Lanni and Vegas Inc just reran Liz Benston's first-day obit. A shameful, disrespectful goodbye for a monumental figure. I was glad to see Howard Stutz follow up with a report about Lanni's memorial service in Southern California, but why wasn't that in the newspaper, too?

* A few things I learned from other journalists this week:

In Nevada, 75 percent of families choose to donate organs when loved ones who never indicated a preference are in life-ending condition.
The Nevada desert is used to approximate Mars' surface.
China had this awesome-looking fake Apple store for a few minutes.
Free public wi-fi can be dangerous for the businesses that furnish it, too
Laura Myers is a gifted writer as well as a nice lady, and here's the proof
Far-right R-J columnist Glenn Cook can be human and funny, too.

* In journalism school, you learn never to open a story with a question. I'm OK with opening with questions -- I never do it, but I don't always hate it -- but I do think there ought to be a rule that you never open a story with a dumb question. You know, like when J. Patrick Coolican of the Las Vegas Sun writes:

Throw this onto the ever-growing pile of the baffling: Why is there no discussion about blight on the Strip? Why is there no sense of concern — and with it, fresh ideas — about the long stretches of our most important economic and cultural asset that are pocked with half-finished projects or just empty land?

Is he kidding? Maybe this goes back to Simpson's point about Vegas journalists needing to pay attention to what's going on online. "No discussion?" There's discussion constantly on the Vegas-related podcasts, at least, including Vegas Gang and The Strip. There was discussion of it in the MSM, too, when Steve Wynn paid to put up trees in front of the stalled Echelon to improve the view a little, when Sheldon Adelson put a wrap on the stalled St. Regis condos and Caesars Entertainment finished the exterior of the stalled Octavius Tower and when MGM Resorts finished the exterior of the vexed Harmon and when the Stratosphere CEO told me for my LVW column that what I dubbed as Decay Alley at the north end of the Strip post-Sahara would be rough on them.

Which is to say, there's been discussion. No, Patrick, you're not the first to notice this. You may have an interesting idea for what to do up there, although I've never heard the many tourists I hear from regularly suggest what Vegas is missing is an outdoor market where they can buy crafts and crap in 105-degree heat. But when you open like that, you show how little you pay attention to the discourse going on all around you.

* Norm Clarke is a maestro at finding the Vegas angle of just about any celebrity death, and there seem to be an awful lot of 'em. So here's what he came up with regarding Amy Winehouse. Amazing, really.

* In case you missed it, I raved about Andrew Kiraly's novel Crit on The Strip last week. It was our Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week for July 20, too. I read it in about four hours and I'm a slow reader. Buy it.

Extra Audio: Phantom's Super Phan

2011-07-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

My column in Las Vegas Weekly two weeks ago was all about Janis Sartin of Castaic, Calif., a Phantom superfan who has seen the show in Vegas 55 times and counting. In fact, she's back in town today and by the time I have breakfast with her tomorrow her count will be 57.

I just posted to our podcast feed an extra edition featuring the interview with Janis, who is quite frank about her Phantom obsession. It's a fun chat and you can hear it here or download it by right-clicking here.

Also, here are some phun pictures from her collection of photos with Phantom stars and her Phantom collection at home:

The Roger Thomas ShowS are UP!

2011-07-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

I had some sort of bizarre problem with TheStripPodcast.Com just as Amy and I were heading off to Utah to take in some not-Shakespeare at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, so for the moment, the bare minimum is on the site. But I did manage to post the proper episode of The Strip with Roger Thomas as well as a narrated video slideshow of the tour I took of Wynn Design & Development last week.

There's lots of goodies in both, and you can hear by clicking on the links I just provided or save the files by right-clicking to watch/hear later.

Among those goodies, the real headline was Roger's reaction to the earlier leaked photos of the Bellagio room redesign that were posted on VegasTripping.Com. In the past, neither Roger nor Steve Wynn have been willing to critique the design stewardship of their first masterpiece resort, so I sent Thomas the VT pix with the identifying information cut off. I hoped Roger would say, "Holy crud, what is THAT?" but instead he recognized some of the architectural elements that he created for those rooms.

Then he critiqued them anyway. Here's the exchange:

Friess: I think a lot of people when they look at that are really surprised that that is Bellagio.

Roger: I’m not. I think it’s consistent with the design that their management always seems to pursue. It’s almost as if they haven’t noticed that they’re in Bellagio. When you're in a guest room, you can pretty much get away with that. I like our guest rooms to be a natural progression and part of the whole. If you can get away with ignoring where you are in a hotel, you can usually get away with that in a guest room. I don’t think they’ve done that as successfully at Bellagio with the buffet and with several of the restaurants that are kind of a slap in the face of the space they’re in. They don’t feel terribly well integrated to me. [But] when you go through a small door to enter a space, what's within can be a greater change than a very wide opening to another space.

Friess: When you look at these pictures, the Bellagio was such a personal project for you. Does it not rankle you to see what they've done with it?

Roger: No. I get to wake up every morning and make my dreams come true. If someone decides they have a better idea, I just let it go. I'm so busy and focused on creating new and better environments for Wynn Resorts, frankly if someone changes things and I'm not really a fan of what they've done, i just look at it as they've made themselves easier for me to compete with.

Friess: Boy, you're catty this morning.

Roger: It's not catty. Actually, having said that, I think there are some very comfortable things about this room. I notice for one thing that they're now using an intelligent service for the snack service that looks exactly like the way we designed ours with the stepped up presentation. And there are a lot of things, they've got a patterned sheer over a blackout which is, you know, something we started doing. I think there are a lot of things about this room that look very considerate and like they're very aware of what the guests needs. ... I haven't sensed the room 360-degrees, but it looks like they approached it in a fairly sensitive way and that there's good consistency in many of the design decisions that they made in terms of design style. Would I have made any of those decisions? Probably not, but that's besides the point.

Friess: You made the comment about the Buffet, and I haven't been in the buffet in quite a long time. They've redesigned it since you folks left?

Roger: They did, and the facade of it is kind of an extreme mismatch for the environment which surrounds it. I think that's intentional. I just don't think it was successful.

There's plenty more, including Roger's praise of Chuck from VegasTripping and the revelation that Jerry Beale, the designer brought in to replace Roger when Roger was supposed to leave the company, has departed for Los Angeles. So check out all the fun stuff.

P.S. I'm going to wait until after this Utah trip to get the 3-minute narrated slideshow up in which Roger explains the artistic significance and intricacies of the $12.8 million vases the company recently bought.

A Bellagio Adventure

2011-07-22T13:56:00.001-07:00

If you followed Twitter and the blogosphere yesterday, you'll know that I was at Bellagio yesterday getting an opportunity thanks to an insider friend to take a look at the recently redesigned rooms. I Tweeted out the first photo and even fielded questions from VegasTripping.Com's Chuck Monster about whether the rooms were actually occupied yet.

And then, lo and behold, within about an hour of that very query, Chuck posted his own breathless EXCLUSIVE!!! -- and can never again mock Robin Leach, natch! -- of photos from the same room. Obviously, this miffed me, but Chuck privately insisted that it was a total coincidence and that one his contributors happened to be checking in at the very same time I was there. I didn't so much mind being scooped -- OK, I hate that very much -- but it was the nyah-nyah of his original post (which began, simply, "Sorry, Steve!" and was later replaced with something obsequious) that was weird and juvenile and made me happy to be heading out soon. Lord knows, I was the one who taught Chuck never to sit too long on a scoop (See: Twerps, Twitter), so I couldn't really be that upset if he had had this stuff in his arsenal and put it out before me. Check out their material here.

In private, Chuck insisted no snark or sucker-punch was intended and that this was all just a big, fortunate-for-him surprise. And I have no choice but to believe him, despite the fact that he continues to deny me the benefit of the doubt and sticks even now to his accusation that my regretfully laudatory August column on the Twerps was actually a sellout of everything I stand for in the service of acquiring some Twitter followers. (It's hard to follow logic, but hey, whatcha gonna do?)

Any which way, I got to see the rooms, too. The 27th and 28th floors are now done and the 25th and 26th are out of service while they are renovated. And while earlier images showed the green editions of the rooms with hideous wallpaper that I was later told would be discarded, I think we can assume that everything you see here is just green in the green version. I did manage to look in the entrance of the green-decor'd rooms, too, and there's one shot in the slideshow of that.

I'll say this: As much as everyone wants to bash on it, I actually liked it. It was comfortable. I think I'd prefer the blue more than the same in green, but once they got rid of the horrid Golden Girls wallpaper, I think it improved vastly.

You'll be able to hear what Bellagio's original designer, Roger Thomas, thought of all this soon when the podcast episode is up -- he's not charitable -- but, again, it's a matter of opinion. Somehow I suspect some of the Wynn acolytes would be praising the heck out of this if Thomas had created it, just because it's him and whatever Bellagio does is anti-Roger/Steve.

Meanwhile, a few changes afoot in the lobby. First, they're about to open a Hermes and Omega stores.Hermes replaces...well, I think it's just removing some gaming space, and Omega replaces the no-longer-necessary CityCenter sales office.

The summertime Conservatory is nifty, but with Ferris Wheels being all the tacky rage on the Strip these days, this amused me:

Some other Conservatory visions:

That "portrait" above is based on this:

And, finally, I couldn't stay mad at Chuck for too long because, well, I got lucky at Bellagio, too. I started with $3 and..

So there.

The End (And Beginning) Of Yao (And Me)

2011-07-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

That, above, is by a large margin my most cherished photo from any story I ever did. Not because I am much of a pro basketball fan or even paid much mind of Yao Ming's career while he played in the NBA, but just because of the bizarre dimensions of the thing and how he grumpy he looks. No, I did not step on his toe.

With Yao announcing in Shanghai the end of his NBA career this week, it seems worthwhile and fun for me to go reminisce on my involvement in its start. That picture was shot on an early April 2001 afternoon in a hotel room in the Chinese carmaking capital of Changchun, where USA Today sent me to chase down Yao at the Chinese Basketball Association's All-Star Game. It was on this assignment that I realized I could be really good at both freelancing about even topics I'm not naturally knowledgeable about and parachuting into foreign lands and finding the news.

In January, I had attended a CBA basketball game in Beijing for two reasons. First, I was curious what it would be like and, secondly, the very first morning after I arrived in Beijing I looked out my 13th-floor apartment window to see the words "NBA" and "I Love Basketball" written in English in the snow on a basketball court. I had gone to China to kick back, take stock and NOT work -- sounds familiar now, doesn't that? -- but great stories slapped me in the face everywhere I turned, the Chinese hankering for hoops being the very first. I soon learned that the Chinese were mad for American basketball and that Chinese TV aired one live NBA game every day overlaid by their own color commentary in Mandarin.

Here's how I described the game in a weekly e-mail missive I'd send to my friends and family from China in the era before blogs:

We found a thumping, pulsating arena -- site of 2008 Olympic badminton, perhaps? -- where we were lucky to get seats together and many fans happily stood in the aisles and along the railings to cheer as the team played beneath a massive Chinese flag. Scalpers lurked outside, a guy in a duck suit roamed the room as Beijing's mascot and the loudspeakers blared Ricky Martin and the Backstreet Boys as a dozen cheerleaders in black tights and shimmering butterfly vests danced about the court during time-outs. I noted there seemed to be few families in the audience, but then realized that under China's One Child policy, there aren't as many children so you're not going to bump into a the irksome broods that make outings at professional sports in America so much fun.

It didn't take long for me to learn about the Chinese stars who wanted to come to the U.S. and the NBA's desperate desire to expand and exploit this mammoth new market. In fact, that basketball game was the first time I saw any non-tourist black people in China; they were NBA rejects. Each Chinese team was allowed to hire two foreign players.

It seems obvious now that the U.S. was about to have a Chinese NBA invasion, but Americans had not heard much of a peep about this when I landed. Sports Illustrated had written something about Yao and another Chinese player named Wang Zhizhi, but they hadn't interviewed them and their story was at least two years old.

Timing and drama conspired in my favor. The Chinese didn't want Yao to come to the U.S. yet because his team, the Shanghai Sharks, hoped he'd help them win their first national title first. Also, Chinese culture demanded that the older, 23-year-old Wang go first, and Yao couldn't enter the NBA draft on his own anyway at that point because he was under 21. In the end, Wang came that year, and this was how I wrote about his entry into the draft on the front of USA Today's sports section in March 2001:

BEIJING -- He's a basketball player, so he's supposed to be tall.

But when 7-foot Wang Zhizhi strides through a Beijing restaurant en route to a private karaoke lounge to conduct an interview, it's hard not to be stunned by how close his head comes to the ceiling.

The Chinese gape because Wang, 23, is one of the most famous basketball players in China. American tourists stare, too, wondering who the giant might be.

They'll likely find out soon enough. Wang is in the final stages of securing a release from the top military basketball team in China to sign with the Dallas Mavericks, which could occur as early as Thursday. He's likely to be followed this year or next by 7-6 center Yao Ming, 20, as the first two Asian players in the NBA.

After that, though, I kept hearing how openly displeased Yao was with his forced deferral, and I convinced my editors at USA Today to let me track him down in Changchun. I don't even remember how I did it; I worked a circuit of translators and NBA sources but I swear there was also a little hotel camping-out involved.

What I got was this:

CHANGCHUN, China — Yao Ming doesn't want to be here anymore.

The potential No. 1 pick in this year's NBA draft isn't interested in putting on slam-dunk performances for the Chinese masses at their All-Star Game here. He absolutely loathes having to sit for questions from the Western media about his future. And he cringes at the growing likelihood that he may be forced to skip this year's draft to stay in China another year or two and continue to play for the Shanghai Sharks.

The mind of this anxious 20-year-old with almost no say in his own destiny is an ocean way, in a land where scouts are buzzing about his vast potential and where his compatriot, Wang Zhizhi, suited up Thursday night as a Dallas Maverick. Yao says he wants to enter the draft this year if he is permitted to make himself eligible, which he called "almost a sure thing."

This was an important piece for a few reasons. First, it was a thorough introduction of this monumental figure to the United States audience on page 1A of the largest-circulation newspaper in the nation. And second, it actually showed Westerners that Chinese people can, under very specific circumstances, get away with criticizing the government and official decisions. This circumstance was that this was an extraordinarily gifted athlete and potential cash cow, not a grunt. Later, the Chinese authorities would confiscate a fairly sizeable chunk of his NBA earnings.

Here was the money line from Yao, who spoke through an interpreter because he was years away from speaking English:

"I appreciate the CBA and I am happy playing here. But now I am ready. I want to be with the best."

The next year, after Wang broke us in over here, he got his wish. He was drafted No. 1, and I covered the machinations of that, too. After that, the story was the province of sports writers, not folks like me more interested in the geopolitical and fiscal implications than on-court action.

Years later, a university student in America contacted me. He was doing a piece on people faking photos on the Internet. He was sure the shot above was bogus. I assure him -- and you -- it was not. It was an awesome moment in time.

The Strip IS Live on Wed w/Roger Thomas!

2011-07-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

As we wind down The Strip Podcast, we're visiting with several of the most popular guests we've had over the years, and one who never fails to fascinate is Wynn Resorts uber-designer Roger Thomas. This interview took place in two parts, the first in person following a tour of the new Wynn Design & Development digs on Friday, the second by phone on Sunday. We'll play both starting at 8 p.m. PT on Wednesday at this UStream channel.

I'll also be putting together a slideshow video episode from the tour, and I hope to have it all available by this weekend, but I'm also swamped with deadlines and have every intention of taking a trip with Amy to the Utah Shakespeare Festival on Friday and to Zion National Park on Saturday.

So, if you want to be first hear what Roger does with his iPad, his reaction to the Bellagio room redesign, what's being designed these days for Vegas and a lot about his approach to the Wynn Cotai project -- and you know you do -- join us. We'll play the Roger chats and then get to the proper parts of our show when Miles gets in from work.

Or don't. But you'll have to wait and get it when it's all in the feed via iTunes or Zune and is posted here and on TheStripPodcast.Com. And lest you think it's too late to be bothered to subscribe, I'm fairly sure there will be quite a few specials and extras over the next few weeks because there are lots of people I want one last crack at, but we're not only doing proper shows once a week.

Yes, Miles is coming, too

2011-07-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

We opted not to make that big a deal of this, but since I've been asked countless times in recent weeks -- and four times today -- what my spouse, Miles, will be doing when I head to Ann Arbor for my Knight-Wallace Fellowship, it is a relief to now be able to say that he'll be coming, too. He disclosed on this week's show that he had given his notice he'll leave his job at KSNV, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas, where he's been responsible for overseeing the news operations since 2007.

It wasn't an easy decision, of course, but the fellowship provides spouses with the same opportunities that the fellows receive. Miles also gets to take whatever classes he wants at UM, is covered on my health insurance, gets to participate in all fellowship seminars and gets to come along for a pretty small fee on our big trips to South America and Turkey. We've got enough savings and other income from investments, work I'm finishing now as well as my fellowship stipend that Miles won't have to work at least for the first half of the adventure.

This is a unique opportunity for him as a fellow journalist and for us as a couple. Neither of us has any idea what we or one another are like without the constant, intense pressures of work. Particularly in recent years, he's been on call almost all the time and putting in 10-to-12-hour days routinely. And even when we go on vacation, I'm off finding stories about cat-fur clothing, reindeer au poivre and Haitian earthquake victims.

So, yeah, this fellowship is causing all sorts of ripples and dramatic changes in the Vegas media universe. And that's as it should be. I've been asked many times who will replace my voice as media critic, Vegas observer and credible provocateur, and I've no doubt someone will. Of course I think KSNV will suffer for Miles' departure, but the news will air without missing a beat and others will fill his shoes in their own ways. That's how these things always go.

Meanwhile, we get to do something most couples dream of: Stop. Look around. Learn. Observe. Relate. Relax. Brainstorm. Plan. How could that pass it up?

Media Muddle: Terry Lanni Edition

2011-07-18T11:25:00.001-07:00

When someone like ex-MGM Grand/Mirage CEO Terry Lanni dies, it ought to be a fairly major news event. Here is someone who had his hand at the helm of two of the most significant corporations in the history of an industry, oversaw the two important mergers in the business, brought Wall Street respect to a Mob-tainted business, personally helped elect numerous key Nevada politicos and was pivotal to adding high-end shopping and dining to the Vegas menu. He's also a contemporary figure, with countless people still around who knew him, who owe their careers to him, whose city and state have been transformed by him. We're not even talking about someone long removed from his legacy; he only left the business in late 2008.

It's a huge, important story with many facets. Just imagine what the Seattle papers will do when Bill Gates dies. Or even, I would expect, what sort of feeding frenzy would be set off here when Steve Wynn or Oscar Goodman passes. A one-day story for either of them? Uh, no. It would be team coverage, the sort of thing that requires tearing up the front page for at least a day or two and sending journalists out to flesh out and document a singular force of history.

Yet, bizarrely, thus far both Vegas newspapers have treated Lanni's death as a one-day affair and, to add to the indignity, we're talking about a one-day affair on a Saturday, the least-read paper of the week. I'm sure there'll be more to come as he is memorialized, but I was looking forward to the Sunday or even Monday take-outs that would add color and shading to the legacy of this key figure. Instead, all I got from the mainstream media was an appropriate, if boring, Jon Ralston column on Sunday. Nothing at all today, not even a letter to the editor.

What surprised me most, though, was how tepid the Review-Journal's effort was for Saturday. Liz Benston of the Las Vegas Sun wrote an extensive obituary with additional reporting from Amanda Finnegan and Rick Velotta. It was well-written, comprehensive and multi-faceted, and it provided some terrific detail. That was a good start, appropriate for the first day. I'm still waiting for the rest, though.

The R-J? They burdened already-swamped Howard Stutz, who has been putting in hundreds of hours tracking the World Series of Poker and keeping tabs on every move in the MGM-Perini tussle over The Harmon, with also handling probably the most significant local obituary of the year. And the results are what you would expect from someone with barely enough time to blink, a formulaic and dull piece that largely strings together quotes from the statements issued by luminaries across the gaming universe.

(Aside: It's clear the R-J didn't have a pre-written obituary ready to roll, knowing Lanni was ailing. It's standard practice as most newspapers to have something available in the event of the death of most major local figures whether they're ill or not.)

There were real problems with the R-J's Lanni piece, too. It's written in such a way that it's not indicated that most of the quotes came from media statements, instead leaving readers to believe that Stutz had actually interviewed Kirk Kerkorian, Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson. It's unclear if he spoke to Caesars chief Gary Loveman, as those remarks were not found in other stories or on other sites. Intriguingly, I see the Associated Press' Oskar Garcia did the same thing. When exactly did it become OK for reporters to let their readers believe they had spoken to people while quoting from, essentially press releases? Seeing how reclusive Kerkorian never gives interviews, for him to step out to honor Lanni would have been a pretty big deal. He didn't.

What's worse, the editing of the R-J story was shockingly abysmal, too. It's MGM Resorts, not MGM Resort, R-J copy folk. Thus, it would be MGM Resorts', not MGM Resort's. They made this error twice, too. It wasn't even corrected on the Web. Sloppy. Yuck.

Mostly I'm disturbed that the R-J did not feel the need to get Stutz some help. Could it have to do with the fact that the paper's new editor, Michael Hengel, and new business editor, Jim Wright, have been in Las Vegas for a combined 18 months? I'm quite certain former editor Thomas Mitchell, with all his institutional knowledge of Lanni's long and monumental Vegas career, would have peeled a few writers off of whatever they were doing to get some more material for Stutz. How longtime managing editor Charlie Zobell didn't step in to command more resources and coverage is beyond me, but maybe he was too busy simply explaining to Hengel and Wright who Lanni was in the first place.

Meanwhile, a few more Lanni bits to take stock of or check out:

* Wall Street Journal: Pulitzer winner Alexandra Berzon did something novel; she actually did her own interview with Frank Fahrenkopf, head of the American Gaming Association. The R-J, the Sun, the AP and Ralston couldn't be bothered. Also, the WSJ put a second reporter on the story to help Berzon. Weirdly, though, the WSJ obit did not reference the scandal that accompanied Lanni's departure from MGM Mirage regarding his dishonest resume, a story the WSJ broke.

* The Los Angeles Times: Despite Lanni being a local who died in Pasadena, Ashley Powers got just this little bit of ink in which she drew from Murren's press statement and dug back into archives for a quote from Gary Loveman. At least she didn't mislead her readers into thinking she personally spoke to Murren.

* Jeff Simpson at RateVegas.Com: A thorough and personal essay about Lanni from a major Vegas business journalist veteran that included discussion of Simpson's own role in pressuring MGM Grand/Mirage/Resorts to be transparent in its diversity initiatives.

* David McKee: Over at Stiffs & Georges, McKee indicates that he favors Stutz's R-J obit over the Sun's. We disagree, obviously.

* New York Times: A perfunctory effort, but there it is.

* KNPR: Chatted with Stutz this morning. The audio isn't online yet, but when it is, it'll be here.

* VegasTripping.Com: Referred to Jon Ralston merely as "a local blogger," a very enjoyable slight to a media figure whose stock-in-trade is slights. Nice.

* TheStripPodcast.Com: In case you missed it -- and judging from the robust download data, few of you did -- we reposted our April 2008 conversation with Lanni. Check it out.

The Show is UP: Fluff LeCoque's Jubilee!

2011-07-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

For some reason, this was a particularly laborious editing experience. It may have been because I had to remove the outtakes of Miles being lewd and crude and making hilarious voices, which is great for our final outtakes show but perhaps not so great for me working through the audio. Either way, here's what we did. Enjoy. Click on the date below to play or right-click to save the show. Or you subscribe -- for free -- in iTunes or Zune and you'll always get it first. -sf

July 15: Fluff LeCoque's Jubilee!

EXTRA: Jubilee!'s most successful alum, Tina Walsh

Thirty years is a blink of the eye in most places, but it’s an eternity for the every-changing Las Vegas. This summer, the venerable, historic Jubilee! celebrates the start of its fourth decade at Bally’s, so we chatted with the 88-year-old firecracker who has ruled the land of massive headdresses and sequined skivvies with an iron fist for all this time. Fluff LeCoque talks to Steve about bruised thighs, chubby guys, fake boobs and so much more this hour. Also, we’ll hear an excerpt from our conversation with Jubilee’s most successful alumna, Tina Walsh, who was a principle singer for the show in the 1980s and is presently appearing as Madame Giry in Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular. The entire conversation with Walsh will be posted as an extra edition into the feed and on the website.

In Banter: Miles makes HIS big announcement, Steve has a WSOP adventure, several Vegas closures afoot, the Plaza has some odd new things coming, more MGM misfortune and a Titanically bad restaurant idea.

Open & Banter: Start to 41ish
Fluff LaCoque Part I: 41-103ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 104ish-1:13
Fluff LaCoque Part II: 1:14-1:33ish
TSTToTW: 1:34ish-end

Links to stuff discussed

Get tickets for Jubilee! and the backstage tour
Tina Walsh’s Phantom bio
Steve’s essay for The Daily about his WSOP adventure
A piece on the “bubble” bursting at the 2011 WSOP
A feature about Michael Stevens, the quadriplegic who lasted to Day 3 of the WSOP
Steve’s piece on The Daily about Paul Pierce’s WSOP playing
A piece on Phil Hellmuth’s Day 2 drama
News on Rosemary’s and Carluccio’s closing
That weird Titanic dinner at Bernard’s
The questionable news outlet known as Las Vegas Entertainment News
Howard Stutz’s latest on the Perini-MGM scrum over The Harmon
The Plaza’s plan for a sexy salon and the Swingers Club
Legionnaire’s Disease drama at Aria
Project Linq is coming, supposedly
Steve and Jamie’s piece for the L.A. Times on the topless shows in Vegas

Special Reissue: Terry Lanni in 2008

2011-07-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

I'm racing out to an important lunch and interview, but we just re-posted our April 2008 conversation with the late Terry Lanni, the former MGM Mirage CEO. He has died at age 68. Listen here or right-click here to download it.

I don't have time to offer much in the way of thoughts, but check out the Review-Journal, the Sun, David McKee and Dave Schwartz's stuff.

The Strip's 2008 interview is fascinating to listen back to, a time when MGM was narrowing down their pick for architects for Atlantis 3000, the project planned for Sahara and the Strip, and was having trouble picking a name for what would become Aria. We discussed succession plans, Atlantic City and much more.

Here's one poignant bit, though. I was asking about the young new executives taking over Vegas and I asked, "Do these guys make you feel old or past tense in any way?" His reply:

Past tense. I’ve never thought of myself as past tense. I look in the mirror in the morning and I don’t see a 65-year-old. Maybe I should, but I don’t. Maybe I should have my eyes adjusted. No, I think it’s great. That’s what happens in life. You go through and next generation comes along and they’re going to have to learn some things from people such as me or people my age and then it’s their turn to take over and I’m gonna be the biggest cheerleader in the world for them.

Very, very good and classy man. Complicated legacy. More later.

The Strip Is Live Tonight At 8p PT!

2011-07-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

Thirty years is a blink of the eye in most places, but it’s an eternity for the ever-changing Las Vegas Strip. This summer, the venerable, historic Donn Arden's Jubilee! celebrates the start of its fourth decade at Bally’s, so we chatted with the 88-year-old firecracker who has ruled the land of massive headdresses and sequined skivvies with an iron fist for all this time. Fluff LaCoque talks to Steve about bruised thighs, chubby guys, fake boobs and so much more this hour. Then we’ll hear from Jubilee’s most successful alumna, Tina Walsh, who was a singer and dancer for the show in the 1980s before starring in EFX, Mamma Mia! and presently Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular. Also, we just love her.

As usual, we'll play the interview starting at about 8 p.m. PT and you can hear that and chat with other listeners -- pluss watch Black, Jack and Aces do silly puppy things! -- on this UStream site. When Miles gets home from work, we'll do the regular parts of the show.

C'mon down! But if not, I'll try getting the podcast out probably Friday, so you can subscribe to The Strip (it's free!) in iTunes or Zune to get the latest show and various specials.

The Strip is Live -- TOMORROW!

2011-07-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! I've gotta go play in the World Series of Poker Media Tournament and write about it, and it starts at 4 pm. While odds are fairly high I'll be done in time to catch Brian Williams, I can't assume that and I'll need to see what else happens. So Miles and I will be recording our show on Thursday night at 8 pm PT. Another notice will be posted here tomorrow explaining what the game plan is.

That said, there is already a new trivia question, so have at it.

Media Muddle: Sad Shermy Righthaven Edition!

2011-07-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

For reasons nobody can explain, the disgraced former publisher of Nevada's largest newspaper continues to write columns and to blog for the R-J, the newspaper whose circulation and reputation he trashed and that faces years of litigation ahead on account of how he and his minions botched their efforts to protect their copyrights.

Still, that he continues to have a voice is worthwhile for delicious moments like this. Today, he wrote about some cheating scandal eight states away that he believes indicts public school education.

This is fun stuff. Sad Shermy, he of the creative but self-sabotaged copyright-enforcing jihad, reprinted three long paragraphs of his Sunday column's source material, an article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in providing the background of the cheating scandal. Didn't Righthaven, aka the R-J, sue others for that? Why yes, they did!

Sad Shermy may argue Fair Use, except that he's not commenting on the quality of the piece or the writing as, say, I just do down below. He could have just as easily, were he not lazy as hell, paraphrased the facts of the case himself. He found it more convenient to rip off another writer's reporting and work. What's more, check this out:

That's a screenshot from his column online. What's missing above? Oh! That's right! A link to the original report. You know, something almost every Righthaven defendant did provide.

But wait, there's more! On the R-J's site right now under this very piece, a commenter has left this:

See that? Righthaven, aka the Review-Journal, has also sued websites for allowing commenters to post lengthy passages of R-J stories. Here the R-J allowed "Jack Webb" to post 228 words of a 539-word blog item by Alex Pareene of Salon.Com with no commentary, nothing to reflect fair use. And remember, there are editors at the ReviewJournal.com who approve or reject comments. They have made a legal case that website purveyors are responsible for everything, including the copyright violations committed by their readers.

Where, oh where, is Steve Gibson of Righthaven when he's needed? Oh, that's right. Preparing for depositions about whether he and Sad Shermy misled the courts about who owns the rights to the material Righthaven sued over. Natch.

* * *

On a vaguely related but terrifically entertaining note, that same column was Shermy's chance to cackle over the education system today. And yet, try to spot the not-so-tiny mistake:

Remember, folks, this is a piece about education. Someone -- probably not Sad Shermy! -- corrected that rather egregious misspelling online, which is why the dead-tree version still has its merits. Web readers must have left comments mocking the error, but editors chose not to approve them on account of that it makes Sherm Frederick look foolish and undercuts his moral authority as an expert on the results of that old-school education system he graduated from back in the '50s or whenever. If this hadn't been in print, I'm quite sure Sad Shermy would deny he had made such a fundamental spelling error in the first place.

But here's the best part. Look way up at the first screenshot there. Oh, OK, look at it here:

I doublechecked and, yes, in print Sad Shermy also spelled "principal" correctly in the portion where he cut-and-pasted passages to save himself the bother of paraphrasing the very premise of his column. In other words, he didn't even re-read what he put in his own piece or he at least would have noticed his own spelling error or, worse, ignorantly changed it in the AJC version. He just hit CTL-V and then went on from there, bloviating and doing what his good friend, ex-RJ editor Thomas Mitchell, once called "chew[ing] up the intellectual property of others and spit[ting] out their cuds."

The Strip is LIVE tonight at 8pm PT w/ @AnnieDuke

2011-07-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

[UPDATE: We'll start the Annie Duke interview at 8:15p]

On the eve of the start of the 42nd World Series of Poker Main Event, we hear from the only pro in the game who has any kind of serious name recognition in mainstream popular culture. That's Celebrity Apprentice runner-up Annie Duke, who is sitting out the WSOP this year to focus instead on her role as commissioner of the Epic Poker League. My Las Vegas Weekly column this week lays out my argument for why this league could be exactly what the game needs to interest people beyond the poker world. Annie explains how it works and then talks a bit about Joan Rivers, Donald Trump and her 1 v 100 stint.

The episode also is expected to include an interview with U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Las Vegas, who is sponsoring a bill to repeal the virtual ban on playing poker online. That conversation won't be recorded until tomorrow, though.

As usual, we'll play the interview starting at about 8 p.m. and you can hear that and chat with other listeners -- pluss watch Black, Jack and Aces gnaw ferociously at treats! -- on this UStream site. When Miles gets home from work, we'll do the regular parts of the show.

C'mon down! But if not, I'll try getting the podcast out probably Thursday night, so you can subscribe to The Strip (it's free!) in iTunes or Zune to get the latest show and various specials.

SPECIAL: INSIDE THE PLAZA RENOVATION

2011-07-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

Last week, I went on a hardhat tour of the Plaza as it nears the completion of a $35 million renovation. Along the way, I also asked CEO Tony Santo a number of questions that are on the minds of many, from the mechanics behind the Plaza's big Fontainebleau firesale buy. Santo and I also discussed the departure of Firefly, what constitutes a VIP/high-roller at a place like this, why the balconies will be closed and why they decided not to go back to calling the joint the Union Plaza.

I've tried a couple of things with this one. First, there's the Flickr slideshow above. Second, there are two versions of the edited audio in the podcast feed, one a normal MP3 playable on any device and the other an AAC version that will show pictures on iPods capable of displaying them as the interview/tour unfolds. You can right-click on the links in the prior sentence to download either or subscribe to the show (it's free!) in iTunes or Zune. (Aside: If anyone uses Zune, please let us know. Miles doesn't believe it.)

That's what I did on my holiday weekend. How was yours?

Totally Awesome Time-Lapse Film Of Vegas

2011-07-01T13:19:00.001-07:00

You all remember Philip Bloom? He's the British filmmaker who last year threw a questionable tantrum against the Wynn Las Vegas, accusing them of nearly killing him because they failed to remove a feather pillow from his room. That was a messy drama that ended with Bloom first threatening to sue me and then making the whole matter disappear from his blog and elsewhere.

Well, we come not to bury Mr. Bloom but to praise him. This is just spectacular and beautiful and well worth the accolades that Mr. Bloom's many fans have bestowed on his technical genius. Check it out. It's about 4 minutes of sumptuous Vegas Porn, shot from the MGM Signature. I've watched it several times now and just think it is sensational.

24 Hours of Neon from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Hat tip to Markus Hundt in Germany for passing along the link.

Source: Bellagio Abandoning Awful Floral Wallpaper In Redesign

2011-07-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

The Twitterverse, podosphere and blogland have been going nuts in the past week or so over photos leaked to VegasTripping.Com that show some fairly hideous design features for the redesigned basic rooms in the main Bellagio tower. A disgusted Chuck Monster of VegasTripping.Com, on the most recent episode of The Vegas Gang podcast, said it made the rooms look like they belong in the Stardust and others chimed in that it looked like something that would give Roger Thomas hives.

With good reason. That above and this...

...are pretty awful. Also, it reminds me of Blanche's bedroom in Golden Girls:

Well, I'm happy to report that a trusted MGM Resorts source tells me that even when the sample rooms were being shown to various employees, the staff was being told the designer herself had decided she didn't care for that wallpaper and that it would be replaced with something understated. No word yet what that choice is.

The rest of the furnishings and such, however, will be as these photos show them and actually look "pretty cool" in person, I am told. If you look at the pictures and imagine that wall print gone, the whole scheme is infinitely better if still not all that great.

The first floor of rooms come into circulation within 10 days, I am told. Starting last month, they are taking four floors out of commission at a time in the main tower and plan to completing/releasing a floor a week until December when they're all done. It's the first main-tower room redesign since before the Spa Tower opened, which puts it at about 7 years. That's letting things slide modestly, given the high-end Vegas standard is to redo the rooms every 5 years, but these haven't exactly been the flushest of times for MGM.

I tend to think that Chuck's analysis on Vegas Gang was fairly spot on: This is appears to be an effort to bring the Conservatory into the rooms the way Mirage has borrowed design motifs from the volcano. But, really, the pale greens and stripes and the clashes with the carpet do not feel sophisticated, and that will harm the Bellagio brand.

Still, at least someone had the wisdom to realize that wallpaper would be offensive in a Radisson, let alone in the best-loved and most iconic luxury resort on the Vegas Strip. Can't wait to see it for myself.

[Thanks to Chuck for permission to use these images. Check out a couple others on his site.]

LVW Col: Vegas Blew It, And Not In A Good Way

2011-06-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

Here's the columnized version of the blog post of the other day. Also, you can hear me, Chuck and travel agent Terry Wilsey discuss the topic on Las Vegas Weekly Radio Mag tonight on KUNV, 91.5 FM, at 5:30p. I'll update this post with the link when there's a podcast version available. -sf

When it comes to gay marriage,
Nevada is a few states too late

By STEVE FRIESS

Like most gay Americans not on the happy streets of Greenwich Village on Friday as the New York Senate deliberated whether to make my home state the largest and coolest state to recognize same-sex marriages, I sat with one eye glued to cable news coverage and the other avidly scanning the web. And amid that hullabaloo, an email arrived from Nevada’s foremost conservative activist, Chuck Muth.

He, too, was paying attention and took the unfolding historic moment to call on his Silver State minions—those who sign his anti-tax pledges and cower when he unleashes his ire—to embrace marriage equality because “it’s inevitable. It can and will be delayed, but not stopped. And eventually, it will be as acceptable as black/white marriages.”

It was at once a reality check and a warning against being on the wrong side of history. It wasn’t the first time Muth or other principled conservatives—those who follow their credo all the way to the belief that government should stay out of personal as well as economic lives—had made such remarks, but his timing heightened the message.

To sweeten the pot, Muth added this: “As an economy based almost solely on tourism and entertainment, Nevada—and especially Las Vegas —should accept reality, embrace the inevitable, repeal the state’s ban on gay marriage and scarf up on the tourism bonanza that would result rather than suck hind teat behind the likes of Hawaii and New York.”

Sorry, Charlie.

Read the REST at LasVegasWeekly.Com

The Show is UP: Ex-Harrah's CEO Phil Satre

2011-06-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

New show, turned around really quick! Bill Harrah died 33 years ago today, so this is good timing. Enjoy. Click on the date below to play or right-click to save the show. Or you subscribe -- for free -- in iTunes or Zune and you'll always get it first. -sf

June 29: Phil Satre Is Not Harrahfied

This fall will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of William Harrah, the man whose name is on more casinos in the world than any other. His former company, which recently changed its name to Caesars Entertainment, has very little planned outside of some promotions at the original Harrah’s resort in Reno, but we decided he deserved a little more attention than that. Harrah died 33 years ago tomorrow at the age of 66, so Steve spoke with his successor, Phil Satre, who helmed Harrah’s for 21 years and is responsible for spreading that name around the world. Satre, who left Harrah’s in 2005 and is now the chairman of the board of IGT, talks about the quirks and visions that made the man what he was and then explains several decisions made in the 1980s and 1990s including the choice for the company to never build any new hotel-casinos in Las Vegas. Also, Steve introduces Satre to the term “Harrah-fy” and asks Satre whether he feels he degraded the quality of the resorts he acquired.

In Banter: Octavius, Plaza, Bellagio, Maloof, Hilton and an aquarium-related Vegas-set reality show.

Open & Banter: Start to 25ish
Phil Satre Part I: 26-58ish
Trivia/Poll/Letters: 58ish-1:06
Phil Satre Part II: 1:07-1:48ish
TSTToTW: 1:48-end

Links to stuff discussed:

A news report on the Plaza and the stuff they bought F-Blew
See pix of apparent Bellagio room redesign and hear Chuck and others pan it on the latest Vegas Gang show
VegasHappensHere with Flickr slideshow of Octavius Tower VIP suite and bathroom
Oprah on the toilets at the fancy Caesars Palace suites
Peter Greenberg Radio Show, which Steve is on on July 2
Hilton and Hilton Worldwide in conflict over franchise
Electric Daisy succeeded, says Las Vegas Weekly
Steve’s column on why Las Vegas missed the financial boat on gay marriage
Brian Greenspun’s column on the honorable, now-2% Palms owner George Maloof
The brief on TANKED on Animal Planet
The Sunbelt Car Collection can be seen, according to our TSTTotW from Sept. 25, 2009

The Las Vegas Hilton To Be Renamed!

2011-06-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

Both the Review-Journal and VegasInc is reporting today that Hilton Worldwide is terminating its franchising agreement with the folks who own the las Vegas Hilton, effective the end of 2011. Chuck at VegasTripping.Com, in an item referencing the R-J piece, wrote that this means the Hilton will have to change its name. The R-J report says no such thing -- gigantic, glaring omission, bro -- but Liz Benston in VegasInc does.

This is kind of a pretty big deal. That sign alone cost $8 million and was the most expensive marquee ever when it was built. Other than the Barbary Coast-Bill's and Aladdin-PlanetHo name-changes -- both brought on by ownership changes -- can you recall another property losing its identity? I mean, the Flamingo Hilton became the Flamingo, but big whoop. And, yeah, the Las Vegas Hilton was originally the International. So there's that.

I have a few ideas, though! Since they're always pimping the Elvis connection over there, the Elvis-a-Rama is presently available. Or maybe it's time to create an Electric Daisy Resort so at least the peace-loving stoners will have a place to rest their weary heads next time the slither on by these parts. Or, given that the property almost stretches far enough north, could this be the New Sahara? I'm sure Sam Nazarian would happily liquidate the name along with the toilets for the right, probably not terribly high, price.

My money? Something far more boring. Remember that massive flagship Marriott that's supposed to spring up one of these decades across from the convention center? Well, look it! They can skip the construction costs and all that bother! Hooray!

Pictorial: Caesars' Octavius VIP Suite & Toilet

2011-06-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

When I got the request last week to come to Caesars Palace to record a spot on this upcoming Saturday's Peter Greenberg Radio Program, I was sure there was some kind of mistake. The info indicated we'd be recording in the Marcus Aurelius Suite in the Octavius Tower, but I hadn't realized there was anything actually functioning in the otherwise gift-wrapped but empty building.

Turns out, there are three completed suites of about 11,500 square feet, each with a patio just slightly elevated from but overlooking Caesars' courtyard of pools. From what I was told while I was there, the company is in the process of completing six more such suites above and below the one I was in, but you can't rent them. They're only for VIPs.

So I took a bunch of photos, and you can either see them on Flickr with their titles/captions or here's a Flickr slideshow:

I did promise the Caesars peeps I wouldn't dwell too much on the toilet, which is why I put all of that above up front. But, umm, those toilets -- as regaled about by Oprah during commercial breaks during her taping in the Colosseum three years ago -- really is quite a thing. The seat pops up -- and warms up -- for you when you enter, and check out the remote control:

It's enough to make you say, "Holy crap!" Talk about solving a first-world problem.

Meanwhile, and perhaps tangentially related, I found this new sign by the valet door of the Augustus Tower, necessitated by the fact that Caesars now allows guests to bring their pooches, kind of oddly worded:

Just who is getting the relief? Your dog or all the other guests who are sick of hearing it yap? Just wondering.

The Strip is LIVE tonight @ 8pm PT!

2011-06-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we go in-depth with former Harrah's CEO and current IGT board chairman Phil Satre, who led the company from 1984 to 2005 and is largely responsible for the company's head-spinning growth and dominance in the world of gaming loyalty clubs . We called on Satre because this fall would have been the 100th birthday of Bill Harrah, but the company that until two minutes ago bore that name has precious little planned to commemorate the moment. Satre offers up some terrific tidbits about the quirky founder's personality, reacts to recent data showing slot machines may be able to create a chemical dependency, talks about that one thing he almost built on the Strip and much more.

So here's zee plan: At 8 p.m. PT, we will begin to play the interview with Satre, and you can hear that and chat with other listeners -- and watch Black, Jack and Aces gnaw ferociously at treats -- on this UStream site. We'll stop playing the interview when Miles gets home from work so we can do the regular parts of the show, and then, of course, the podcast of it all -- in the correct order -- will be available tomorrow with the whole Satre discussion intact.

I hope you'll be there. But if not, I'll try getting the podcast out as quickly as I can, so you can subscribe to The Strip (it's free!) in iTunes or Zune to get the latest show and various specials.