Seven Images For Thursday

My cup of odd and interesting images overfloweth, which is great because I'll have some fun stuff to blog while I travel to New York and then Fairbanks, Alaska, in the coming few weeks. But I'm in a giving mood at the moment, so first off, a listener sent in this tattoo, above. That's quite a Vegas fan, huh? Anyone else got wild Vegasy tatts? The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority should run a contest! Or at LEAST O'Sheas.

This came in the mail yesterday...


...and yes, it's a pair of sample tampons. Sent by my grocery store. To a household of two gay guys and two Chihuahuas. Presumably, they're supposed to data-mine the information they collect from our saver cards, right, in which case we'd be getting free samples of Good N Plenty and Wheat Thins. So the next time someone paranoid warns you that you're giving up your privacy to these marketers, just tell them about this. I'm no longer concerned; they're not really competent enough. And, in the meantime, anyone need a tampon? (One of them is still unopened. Shall I put it on the TheStripPodcast.Com prizelist?)

The other day I was at the Coffee Pub, a once-hot power-breakfast spot just east of the Strip on Sahara. Not so hot anymore, I guess, seeing how she...


...hasn't worked at KVBC for many years now, and it's not even called KVBC anymore. And this was one of the newer photos on the wall.

Speaking of walls...


...at Mandalay Place, you may notice a new sign touting these three chefs, Hubert Keller, Susan Feninger and Rick Moonen. All were contestants on Top Chef Masters and/or judges on Top Chef. Notice anything missing in the marquee? Oh, that's right: Any mention of Top Chef. I'm sure it's because the Bravo folks hold a tight rein on the branding, but it's odd for them to hold back in this way because it would've been a free billboard for the show in a heavily trafficked shopping esplanade connecting the Mandalay Bay and Luxor. How many thousands of eyeballs march by this every day? Oh well.

I mentioned this somewhere, but given that the R-J reported that July was our hottest ever -- take that, global warming deniers who think a late-season DC snowstorm negates melting polar ice -- I thought I'd show it again because I like it:


That's a dolly full of Häagen-Dazs -- a dolly full of Dolly Madison woulda been funner -- waiting to go up an elevator outside the New York-New York to the ice cream shop in the arcade there. Yum. Which reminds me: Anyone catch any overheated tourists mounting that ice sculpture at the Crystals? Will happen, sooner or later.

At first glance, there's nothing to odd about this image from the R-J during the World Series of Poker...


...until you think to yourself, "If I'm a 7-year-old, female poker fan would it really occur to me to ask this particular guy for an autograph?" I mean, (a) why is a 7-year-old a poker groupie in the first place but anyhow, (b) is Harrah's CEO Gary Loveman really a celebrity in this universe? Do you even think he has ever bet on a hand of Texas Hold 'Em in his life?

And finally, some of you have asked what my old car looked like. I found this from a few weeks ago at the Rio.


It's actually a somewhat flattering angle and still you can see several dings, that yellow stripe directly in front of the front tire, how the stitching on the top on this 1998 Sebring is coming undone. The back bumper was actually mended a little by, uh,White-Out. (A friend thought he was being helpful when I was on vacation and he was watching the house. Scary part: It looked better.) And that doesn't even account for the major engine problems.

Yes, everyone. I pledge to be more careful with my beautiful new vehicle. Especially, Emily, when we're driving you and Archie to Michigan at the end of August for your fancy shmancy fellowship. If anything happened to you, I'm thinking your mom might never supply me brisket again.

A Mini Podcast-a-Palooza for Monday

We didn't have a new episode of The Strip this past week because there was no engineer available at LVRocks.Com on Saturday which turned out to be just as well given that I had a mammoth neckache and was given some remarkable meds. But I did sober up long enough to catch up on posting both the latest of The Strip and of my other program, The Petcast.

Firstly, I encourage you to watch our Special Petcast Video show from the SuperZoo convention this fall at Mandalay Bay. We provided video commentary, interviews and product demonstrations. That included Pet Top, the Amazing Treat Machine, Pink Poodle Gourmet & Designs, The Port-A-Poo, the remote-control cat toy, the crazy creative grooming competition and much more! Don't miss the montage of fun photos at the end, too!

I also posted Episode No. 216 in which Emily and I discuss the problems of wild pets being released into the Everglades with Jenny Novak Tinnell of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. You can subscribe to The Petcast via iTunes, of course, to get all the episodes when they're released.

Oh, and I also managed to get "The Strip" updated, too. You can subscribe to that in iTunes, too, or in Zune. So here's that one:

Oct.31: The Top Chef Effect

w/Hubert Keller

Four years ago, a San Francisco chef took a gamble and opened up his San Francisco kitchen to the first challenge of a new Bravo TV show called “Top Chef.” At the time, Hubert Keller came across as tough and grouchy but the show was a hit and his Fleur de Lys in California became a place of intrigue for its fans. Fast forward to this year when warmer, cuddlier Keller appeared first on Top Chef Masters and then in an episode of the current, Las Vegas-set season of the show. Business at Fleur de Lys – long an underperformer at Mandalay Bay – is booming. Keller speaks this hour about that, about what it smelled like to grow up above his family’s bakery in Alsace, France, and about how a Frenchman became one of the biggest things ever in the burger cuisine. Plus, as usual, Steve asked Keller about his food guilty pleasures.

In Banter: Ticket scalping issues, Barry Manilow, the Podcast-a-Palooza, Harrah's dumb iPhone app, DB leaves Wynn, DB opening at Sands in Singapore and who is the Maori Hi Five?

Links to stuff discussed:

Top Chef Vegas
Fleur de Lys in Las Vegas
The Strip Sense column that included Hubert Keller
Our Vegas Podcast-a-Palooza episode
Harrah’s lame iPhone app
Steve Wynn’s gotten political
Jan Jones and others defend Obama
Steve’s column about Obama and Elaine Wynn
A YouTube clip of Lady Elaine from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood
Steve’s Las Vegas Weekly cover story on the D Gate murals
John Curtas of EatingLV.Com breaks news of Daniel Boulud’s Wynn exit
Las Vegas Walk of Stars

The Strip + Petcast Are LIVE 4-6 pm PT Saturday!

We'll be recording two episodes of "The Petcast" followed by a new episode of "The Strip" tomorrow afternoon from 4-6 p.m. PT at LVRocks.Com.

First, Emily and I are set to interview Ed Martin, owner of the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, the nation's oldest pet burial ground. Among other famous pets interred, Hartsdale last month handled the cremation of the last surviving working dog on the scene of the World Trade Center post-9/11.

Then, at about 4:30 pm PT, we Petcasters chat up Christina Cooper, co-owner of the Global Wildlife Center near Baton Rouge, La., about caring for a baby kangaroo abandoned by its mother, also a center resident.

After that, Miles and I will discuss the week's Vegas news -- Steve Wynn gets political, Monopoly takes over the town, rumors surrounding Barry Manilow and much more -- and feature a terrific interview with Fleur de Lys owner Hubert Keller about his "Top Chef" experiences and much more.

You can listen live from 4-6 p.m. PT via LVRocks.Com and chat with fellow listeners and us in the chatroom. Or hang on and we'll publish the podcast editions. Your call!

This Week's LVW Col: Frittering Top Chef

Frittering Top Chef?
Why the Vegas hype machine must turn up the head now on its biggest culinary moment
By STEVE FRIESS

Hubert Keller was on the line, enthusiastically dishing about the wonderfulness for him that has been his ride this year with the Bravo reality hit Top Chef. Keller, proprietor of Fleur de Lys and Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay, was a finalist on Top Chef Masters and then appeared again a few weeks ago to help assess the output of the contestants battling it out in the regular season, which is, of course, set here in Vegas.

The results of this exposure have been dramatic for Keller, whose Fleur de Lys opened in 2002 and has generally underperformed compared with both in-house competition from Aureole, Mix and StripSteak and versus the top tier of Guy Savoy, Alex, Picasso and Robuchon.

Keller’s TV exposure, however, has prompted a fairly radical turnaround. The pudding’s proof: Fleur had greater revenues in August 2009, while open five days a week, than it did in August 2008 open seven days a week. The place was packed on my recent visit, and it was library-dead during my two prior meals there.

But something was also missing, so I asked Keller the question I’ve wanted to ask many people as Vegas’ Top Chef moment hits its halfway point: “If so many of your guests are mentioning Top Chef when they come in, how come you don’t have a Top Chef menu?”

The generally exuberant Keller fell silent.

“Uhhh,” long pause, “good question, I guess,” he said sheepishly. “We did a Top Chef night in St. Louis, and it was an enormous success, but I guess, yeah, we still have to fix it up and use it as a tool and do some of the signature dishes that I did on the show, I guess. I guess I don’t want to bore people too much. But yeah, I guess that’s another thing that I could do.”

To which, in my mind, all I could think was: WTF?

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.com.

The show is UP: Cheap Trick

Here's this week's episode of "The Strip" featuring a conversation with Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick. It was fun for me to recall my own Rockford roots -- my first newspaper job -- and Amy and I had some excellent banter about the week's news. Click on the date below to listen or right-click to download and hear it at your leisure. Also, subscribe (it's free!) via iTunes or Zune. (does anyone listen via Zune? Email me!). -sf

Sept. 17: Cheap Trick Hopes You Will Enjoy The Show

In a city of knockoffs and impersonations, how do you go about reinterpreting a great piece of music without being tainted as a copycat? Well, it helps if you’re already a legendary rock band in your own right behind you, too. That’s how Cheap Trick’s doing it anyway, landing at the Las Vegas Hilton for nine performances of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band before a full orchestra and assisted by such other pop stars as Joan Osbourne. Cheap Trick’s guitarist and vocalist Rick Nielsen joins us this hour to talk about the band’s relationship with the Beatles, about growing up in Rockford, Ill., and whether this swing of shows could portend a resident Vegas gig of some form soon.

In banter: Mindy Kaling gets Vegas whiners whining, Terry Fator puts puppets on cabs, Amy gets a Vegas welcome on her European cruise, Top Chef's been good to Hubert Keller and more.

Links to stuff discussed:

Get tickets to see Cheap Trick’s Sgt. Pepper Live at the Hilton
Cheap Trick’s website
Vegas Podcast-a-Palooza on Oct. 17 at the Palms
See the redesigned VegasHappensHere.Com
Amy’s revived (for how long?) podcast, Grits to Glitz
Amy’s trip report on her European cruise
Sparky of Las Vegas, our redesigner and hero
Watch the whole Mindy Kaling clip
VegasHappensHere.Com’s rant on the whiners re: Kaling
Luv-It Frozen Custard’s website
Join Steve’s Facebook group “Las Vegas Needs To Grow A Pair”
Fleur de Lys, owned by Hubert Keller
Steve’s TV Guide Magazine piece on CSI: The Experience