The Shows are UP: Charlie Palmer & Hal Sparks

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

The Show is UP: Fluff LeCoque's Jubilee!

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

The Strip is Live -- TOMORROW!

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.

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

[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.

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.

The 4 Jewish Poker-Playing Brothers

This picture sorta says it all, doesn't it? That's Michael Mizrachi, 29, at the World Series of Poker table on Saturday, when he qualified for the November Nine and won himself at least $800,000. Behind him is older brother Robert, twin Eric and little bro Donny from left to right. They are the poker world's answer to the Williams sisters. Or maybe the Osmonds.

As readers of this blog well know, when I come across a human interest story that fascinates me, I mine and mine and mine it until there's nothing left. That is, of course, how I pay the bills. So expect more from me on these guys, but below is the top of my piece for a very popular Jewish-interest web magazine, TabletMag.Com, that posted today that must be, as of now, the definitive story on these guys. But you can hear the whole interview with their mother -- and trust me, it is absolutely amazing -- by clicking here or right-clicking here to download it and hear it at your leisure. If you already picked it up when it posted Sunday, I apologize for the audio error and promise this version works great.

Full House
Michael Mizrachi and his three brothers are observant Jews
and champion poker players
By STEVE FRIESS

The boys were being irksome and unruly on that night 20 years ago. As their mother and her friends were playing gin rummy late into the evening, they ran wild around the table, announcing to the room what cards the women had in their hands, until, finally, they were banished to their bedrooms. With that, the house grew quiet. Susan Laufer Mizrachi had proved she could control her brood.

Except that, as anyone with young sons knows, silence is a good clue something’s up. And sure enough, at 3 a.m., when Susan’s friends went home and she checked on her four sons, then aged 4 to 12, she found them playing their own card games and keeping track of their accumulating debts to one another on pieces of paper that she still has.

“Their father would say, ‘Look what you’re doing to these kids, you’re playing cards every night and they’re just gamblers,’ ” she recalled. “And I said, well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Two decades later, those apples have grown into a quartet of Jewish card sharks who have taken Las Vegas by storm.

Read the rest at TabletMag.Com

The Show(s) is UP: Johnny Chan/Mama Grinder

It's a poker kind of week around here, so we grabbed the legend Johnny Chan for a chat and he let loose on Harrah's for taking a cut of the WSOP pot. Then, of course, I chatted with Susan Laufer, mother of the four Mizrachi sons who cashed in the WSOP Main Event. You decide which is more fascinating. Click on the date below to listen or right-click to download and listen at your leisure or subscribe via iTunes or Zune.

July 19: Johnny Chan's WSOP Complaint
Special: Mama Grinder Explains Mizrachi Mania

The current generation of professional poker players generally have little regard for those who ruled the game prior to the big boom, except when it comes to at least one guy: Johnny Chan. That’s because Chan was the champ who appeared as the idol successfully bluffed by Matt Damon’s character in “Rounders,” the seminal 1998 poker flick frequently credited with inspiring thousands of young people to take up the game. Chan, the last player to win back-to-back World Series of Poker Main Event championships 22 years ago, was back in the news this week when appeared briefly in the top 10 in this year’s tournament before hitting a few bad beats and busting out in 156th place. The outspoken pro spoke to Steve this hour about why he’s unhappy with the current management of the World Series, why he was unimpressed by Phil Laak’s recent 115-hour poker-playing spree and why he’s never played a hand of cards at Aria.

In Banter: Steve’s new boob job, it’s fucking hot, Veer opens, South Point expands and thoughts on the Vegasness of Top Chef and Holly’s World.

Links to stuff discussed:

Johnny Chan’s website
The Johnny Chan-Matt Damon video clip from Rounders
Steve’s piece for AOL News on the 2010 World Series of Poker’s final table
The special edition the Strip with the mother of the Mizrachi brothers
The R-J’s coverage of the opening of Veer
The website for Holly’s World
The Top Chef profile of Stephen Hopcraft of Sea Blue at MGM Grand
The image of the chefs on that Mandalay Place wall and the chalk Justin Bieber worship
The Las Vegas Sun on the expansion at Suncoast
WSJ blog on Steve Wynn buying the Plaza Hotel
Steve’s AOL News coverage of Phil Laak’s 115-hour poker feat

New Times 4 Strip/Petcast... & Johnny Chan!

OK. We're shifting the schedule, possibly permanently, to accommodate Miles' working a lot of weekends. So, starting tomorrow, The Strip is live at noon PT and The Petcast is live at 1 p.m. PT at LVRocks.Com.

This week's guest on "The Strip" is two-time WSOP champ and "Rounders" star Johnny Chan, who had a remarkable run in this year's Main Event and finished up 159th out of 7,319. The legend has some tart words for the corporatization of poker, is dismissive of Phil Laak's recent 115-hour poker-playing stunt and fondly recalls his recently departed friend, Bob Stupak.

Then, on The Petcast, we'll chat first with Stephanie Hoefener, a board member for Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue which this week bought 172 wild horses to save them from slaughter. Then we talk to journalist Jason Cochran, who had a piece on WalletPop.Com comparing the costs of having dogs and cats.

Join us live at LVRocks.Com to listen live, see us via webcam and join us in the chat. You can also listen via mobile device. Or you wait for the podcast version, of course, and subscribe via iTunes or Zune to The Petcast or to The Strip in iTunes or Zune.

This week's LVW col: After The Flop

Here's this week's LVW col. Let's see if the poker peeps can muster the shock and awe that Batsh*t Bette fans did. -sf

After the Flop
Poker's time in the sun may have come and gone, if recent ratings are any indication By STEVE FRIESS

If there were ever a year when the World Series of Poker should have enjoyed a renewed boost, it was 2009. The stars had aligned in every conceivable way, and grandiose predictions seemed warranted.

“This is going to be the most-watched Final Table in history,” legend Phil Hellmuth predicted to me before it took place in two spurts on November 7 and 9.

And I believed him. It certainly made sense. Alas, he was wrong.

After all the noise in recent weeks about the conclusion of the 40th WSOP Main Event—the $10,000 Buy-In No-Limit Texas Hold ’Em tournament viewed as the pinnacle of the game’s prestige—virtually nobody bothered to report the outcome that actually mattered. TV ratings for the two-hour Final Table broadcast on ESPN on November 10 were actually down from the 2008 broadcast. The difference was nominal—this year’s show drew about 1.8 million viewers, and last year’s drew 1.9 million—but still, down is not up. Worse yet, ESPN says the 2009 ratings for the 31-telecast, 15-week season had a 1.0 share, which was even with the 2008 season.

All of which invites this important question: Now can we say that poker has plateaued in the United States?

This notion is one that makes World Series of Poker bosses groan. Skeptical journalists have long been taking note of poker’s relative weakness versus its white-hot years, 2003-2006, when poker TV shows were all the rage and Internet poker blossomed into one of the universe’s all-time most profitable enterprises. In 2006, when 8,773 players entered the World Series of Poker’s Main Event and the top prize hit $12 million, there seemed nothing that could slow the game’s stampede into the hearts and minds of American popular culture.

Poker overlords like to note that Congress put the kibosh on poker’s growth by passing a law in the fall of 2006 severely restricting the ability of most Americans to easily put money into their online poker accounts. This certainly is true and did result in a dramatic drop the following year in WSOP Main Event entrants. In fact, in the three years since, that figure has yet to top even 7,000.

That’s all well and good, but that does not explain the waning interest in watching poker on TV, and it is only via TV that tournament poker can become anything more than a peripheral part of mainstream American culture. Why would one’s inability to play online reduce one’s interest in following the pros? If poker wants to be compared to the big sports leagues, don’t they know that the vast majority of people who watch the NFL or NBA don’t actually play football or basketball?

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com.

The Show is UP: Charo!

Don't prejudge this lady. Yes, she's got the maracas, but beneath them is a serious musician and a veteran performer who has earned a place in Vegas performing lore. Also, she's delightful to chat with and tells great stories. Plus, it's worth it to tune in just to hear how I was nearly mistaken for a predator. Eek! You know the drill: click on the date below to listen or right-click and save to your computer. Or subscribe (it's free!) via this iTunes link or via this Zune link. -sf

July 23: Cuchi Cuchi for Charo

You think she's just a blond, air-headed, surgically enhanced... oh, wait. That's last week's guest. This week, we've got Charo the giggly, jiggly Spanish singer and guitarist, who in the early 1970s was making as much as Sinatra for shows on the Strip, is back in town with a new headliner show at the Riviera. Steve chatted with Charo this week about plastic surgery, her affection for RuPaul and where her signature “cuchi cuchi” line came from.

In banter: A weird WSOP interview story, a weird Panorama Towers ad, a weird Caesars Palace sign, a baffling Monte Carlo strategy and more.

Links To Stuff Discussed:

Steve’s NYT piece on the WSOP Bear Stearns guy
Charo’s website
Tickets to Charo’s show at the Riviera
Hotel32 at Monte Carlo
VegasHappensHere image of RS PALACE
Anthony Cools’ show extended for four years
VegasHappensHere.Com on the weird Panorama Towers job audition