Join us live in the chat at LVRocks.Com from 7-8 p.m. PT for our 3rd anniversary special, so as is our tradition we're rolling out the bloopers, outtakes and asides from the past year in one fun-filled edition. Plus, we'll discuss a lot of Vegas news, including the controversy surrounding the demise of the 40/40 Club, the third delay of the Criss Angel show and a bunch of other fun things that I'll remember once I finish the script!
No celebrity this week, but we do have a new trivia question. Our normal shows will resume next week.
Fair warning: This episode is full of all the foulest language we cut out the rest of the year. You've been put on notice.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
BREAKING: More delays for Criss Angel Believe
I received a note from the Cirque folks just now that the Criss Angel Believe show at Luxor is being further delayed. Previews were to start 9/12 but now will start 9/26. They'll have one 7 pm show between 9/26 and 10/7. Grand opening remains 10/10. Folks who had tickets for the other performances will get either refunds or can reschedule.
Why the delay? It's "due to the enormous complexities and technical precision required."
OK, I'm now officially fascinated by this show. What on earth will they be doing in that theater that makes for such complexities? In some odd way, these delays are actually increasing the hype. But I do pity the Angel fans who may be shuffling their vacations not once but twice now to see their guy's first appearance.
Why the delay? It's "due to the enormous complexities and technical precision required."
OK, I'm now officially fascinated by this show. What on earth will they be doing in that theater that makes for such complexities? In some odd way, these delays are actually increasing the hype. But I do pity the Angel fans who may be shuffling their vacations not once but twice now to see their guy's first appearance.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Today's Strange Foreign Snapshot
As promised, here's your daily odd photo from my heretofore private collection. This was seen on a city bus in Beijing in 2001:
Which one are you? And, more intriguingly, which one are the figures in the graphic?!?
Which one are you? And, more intriguingly, which one are the figures in the graphic?!?
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Of Chicken Wings and Irresponsibility
I take many others to task in my profession for their careless use of words and their unwillingness to explain themselves. Now it's my turn.
A few days ago, I blogged a quick analysis of why I think the 40/40 Club failed at the Palazzo. I have a two-part view. One was that it was badly located in the resort and the signage for it was substandard if not non-existent.
The other, more controversial, is that it was a bad match for the Palazzo. The 40/40 Club is a business popular elsewhere among young, black urbanites that was poorly matched with the overall emphasis of the resort itself. The Palazzo is not marketing itself in any way, shape or form to the broader black community, does not advertise in any national black publications. Certainly, they seek wealthy patrons of all types, but the wealthy at the level of the Palazzo's clientele are not typically folks who hang out in sports bars. As I wrote, the 40/40 Club could have worked in many other places on the Strip. But the Palazzo was not in any way actively engaged in pursuing either of the 40/40 Club's core constituencies: Middle-class sports-bar goers or blacks.
I stand by this analysis.
However, I made a reference that was very poorly considered and placed in exactly the wrong context. I wrote of the intent of the post:
"I mean it to be an objective look at an inappropriate pairing between the aesthetic of a resort that envisions itself and markets itself as the lap of luxury and a place known for being popular among rappers and folks who like a good chicken wing."
I can see now how the reference to chicken wings was taken, as some sort of a slap against food seen by many as stereotypically "black." And that is absolutely, positively, not how I intended what I wrote. Chicken wings are also a food stereotypically found in sports bars.
It is the first thing I think of when I think of food in sports bars; I suspect I'm not alone in that. I've never been in a sports bar that didn't serve them. They also are widely associated with watching sporting events, or at least they have been in my life dating all the way back to the first time I attended a fraternity party in college on through every single Super Bowl viewing I've ever been to. You, too, I suspect.
I did not intend to use this as an allusion to black people. And I totally see why people think I did. So I apologize for the carelessness of this sentence and I'm sincerely sorry about the ire it has drawn.
I should have known better and I really, truly am sorry.
A few days ago, I blogged a quick analysis of why I think the 40/40 Club failed at the Palazzo. I have a two-part view. One was that it was badly located in the resort and the signage for it was substandard if not non-existent.
The other, more controversial, is that it was a bad match for the Palazzo. The 40/40 Club is a business popular elsewhere among young, black urbanites that was poorly matched with the overall emphasis of the resort itself. The Palazzo is not marketing itself in any way, shape or form to the broader black community, does not advertise in any national black publications. Certainly, they seek wealthy patrons of all types, but the wealthy at the level of the Palazzo's clientele are not typically folks who hang out in sports bars. As I wrote, the 40/40 Club could have worked in many other places on the Strip. But the Palazzo was not in any way actively engaged in pursuing either of the 40/40 Club's core constituencies: Middle-class sports-bar goers or blacks.
I stand by this analysis.
However, I made a reference that was very poorly considered and placed in exactly the wrong context. I wrote of the intent of the post:
"I mean it to be an objective look at an inappropriate pairing between the aesthetic of a resort that envisions itself and markets itself as the lap of luxury and a place known for being popular among rappers and folks who like a good chicken wing."
I can see now how the reference to chicken wings was taken, as some sort of a slap against food seen by many as stereotypically "black." And that is absolutely, positively, not how I intended what I wrote. Chicken wings are also a food stereotypically found in sports bars.
It is the first thing I think of when I think of food in sports bars; I suspect I'm not alone in that. I've never been in a sports bar that didn't serve them. They also are widely associated with watching sporting events, or at least they have been in my life dating all the way back to the first time I attended a fraternity party in college on through every single Super Bowl viewing I've ever been to. You, too, I suspect.
I did not intend to use this as an allusion to black people. And I totally see why people think I did. So I apologize for the carelessness of this sentence and I'm sincerely sorry about the ire it has drawn.
I should have known better and I really, truly am sorry.
Other interesting stuff from Sunday's paper...
Amid the acres and acres of very, very predictable opinion pieces on the election in both Vegas papers today -- I'm just shocked, shocked! that the R-J's Erin Neff found Obama's speech on Thursday exciting and that the editorial board would be impressed by Gov. Sarah Palin's resume -- there was some actually interesting stuff.
* The R-J came through again with an extremely useful clip-n-save feature laying out at what bars and restaurants football fans can flock to watch their favorite NFL teams play. This would appear to be a lot of painstaking work and incredibly useful both to local Las Vegans, given we don't now and probably never will have a team of our own, as well as tourists who want to be amongst their brethren on Sundays. We used this feature on Aug. 17, 2007 as a Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week for "The Strip" podcast, and I'm happy they decided to update and republish it. Check it out here and bookmark it if you are so inclined. If my New York Jets are doing well -- big if, seeing how they play with the cast-off formerly great parts of other teams and all -- I may find myself at the Bunkhouse Saloon myself. Now, R-J, how about doing a similar feature for baseball and basketball? (If you have and I missed it, I apologize.)
* The casinos in the Gulf Coast region are shutting down this weekend in advance of Hurricane Gustav. I'd love to point you to Howard Stutz's short piece in the R-J today detailing this, but I cannot locate it anywhere on their fabulous website or even indexed in Google News. Of course, everyone's hoping this storm isn't as bad as advertised. But it did make me wonder something. How is it there haven't been any punishing typhoons beating the crap out of Vegas' other significant colony, Macau? Tis the season. I recall several times when I was in Asia typhoons did intense amounts of damage. Just something that crossed my minds; look for this to happen sooner or later.
* Norm Clarke's lead item about Tom Riccio, the guy who set up the OJ-Palace Station confrontation that is forcing me to sit in a courtroom for much of September waiting to see if The Juice finally get it, is just utterly chilling. Riccio strikes me as the very worst, the most cynical and corrupt sort of being our celebrity-scandal checkbook-journalism culture has produced. He set up the incident in the first place to sell the audio tapes, which he did. And now he's selling ad space on his limo for $7,500, dinner with him the night of his testimony for $5,000 and you can pay $6,000 to wear a hat with your logo. This is just pathetic. There's a whole site devoted to what he'll do for how much money. Ick. Maybe we can scrape together the money to get him to wear a hat that reads, "I am a disgusting human being and I have no shame." It's really hard for many people to feel sympathy for O.J. Simpson, but this guy helps.
* The Travel Industry Association has been wasting its members' money for the past two weeks taking out full-page ads in certain tourism-dependent cities and presidential battleground states including Vegas demanding first Obama and now McCain offer a plan to rescue the nation's travel business in their convention acceptance speeches. This is an expensive media campaign -- spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, it would appear -- that results in precisely nothing. Do they really think that either candidate is going to lay out a plan to help one particular industry? I'm not saying that there aren't good reasons for this trade group to raise awareness of its issues, but it's ridiculous to write something to either candidate that reads: "We want to hear a real plan from Senator McCain/Obama to help make travel and tourism in the U.S. work better for travelers and millions who serve them." You can't just come out of nowhere and make such a demand on the eve of each man's most important public moment. When neither of them respond -- and neither will -- then what? Condemn them? Sure, that'll get them caring what you've got to say next time.
* The R-J came through again with an extremely useful clip-n-save feature laying out at what bars and restaurants football fans can flock to watch their favorite NFL teams play. This would appear to be a lot of painstaking work and incredibly useful both to local Las Vegans, given we don't now and probably never will have a team of our own, as well as tourists who want to be amongst their brethren on Sundays. We used this feature on Aug. 17, 2007 as a Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week for "The Strip" podcast, and I'm happy they decided to update and republish it. Check it out here and bookmark it if you are so inclined. If my New York Jets are doing well -- big if, seeing how they play with the cast-off formerly great parts of other teams and all -- I may find myself at the Bunkhouse Saloon myself. Now, R-J, how about doing a similar feature for baseball and basketball? (If you have and I missed it, I apologize.)* The casinos in the Gulf Coast region are shutting down this weekend in advance of Hurricane Gustav. I'd love to point you to Howard Stutz's short piece in the R-J today detailing this, but I cannot locate it anywhere on their fabulous website or even indexed in Google News. Of course, everyone's hoping this storm isn't as bad as advertised. But it did make me wonder something. How is it there haven't been any punishing typhoons beating the crap out of Vegas' other significant colony, Macau? Tis the season. I recall several times when I was in Asia typhoons did intense amounts of damage. Just something that crossed my minds; look for this to happen sooner or later.
* Norm Clarke's lead item about Tom Riccio, the guy who set up the OJ-Palace Station confrontation that is forcing me to sit in a courtroom for much of September waiting to see if The Juice finally get it, is just utterly chilling. Riccio strikes me as the very worst, the most cynical and corrupt sort of being our celebrity-scandal checkbook-journalism culture has produced. He set up the incident in the first place to sell the audio tapes, which he did. And now he's selling ad space on his limo for $7,500, dinner with him the night of his testimony for $5,000 and you can pay $6,000 to wear a hat with your logo. This is just pathetic. There's a whole site devoted to what he'll do for how much money. Ick. Maybe we can scrape together the money to get him to wear a hat that reads, "I am a disgusting human being and I have no shame." It's really hard for many people to feel sympathy for O.J. Simpson, but this guy helps.* The Travel Industry Association has been wasting its members' money for the past two weeks taking out full-page ads in certain tourism-dependent cities and presidential battleground states including Vegas demanding first Obama and now McCain offer a plan to rescue the nation's travel business in their convention acceptance speeches. This is an expensive media campaign -- spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, it would appear -- that results in precisely nothing. Do they really think that either candidate is going to lay out a plan to help one particular industry? I'm not saying that there aren't good reasons for this trade group to raise awareness of its issues, but it's ridiculous to write something to either candidate that reads: "We want to hear a real plan from Senator McCain/Obama to help make travel and tourism in the U.S. work better for travelers and millions who serve them." You can't just come out of nowhere and make such a demand on the eve of each man's most important public moment. When neither of them respond -- and neither will -- then what? Condemn them? Sure, that'll get them caring what you've got to say next time.
Greatness/Silliness in a Snapshot
This...
...is brilliant. It was shot in Denver at the DNC last week by Review-Journal photographer John Locher. The paper ran it in Sunday's paper and made me laugh out loud.
Immediately, it brought to mind this photo I shot on a boat on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand in February 2002:
Here's what the little sign says:
Didn't know monks wore pink sweatsuits and had bad blonde dye-jobs.
In the process of digging up this photo, I realized I have a treasure trove of goofy signs from my time in Asia. So starting with this one, I'm going to post one roughly every day until I run out. Feel free to email me yours.
But just so you "get" what I'm looking for, this was shot in the women's bathroom stall at a McDonald's in Beijing in 2001 by my friend Debbie...
...is brilliant. It was shot in Denver at the DNC last week by Review-Journal photographer John Locher. The paper ran it in Sunday's paper and made me laugh out loud.
Immediately, it brought to mind this photo I shot on a boat on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand in February 2002:
Here's what the little sign says:
Didn't know monks wore pink sweatsuits and had bad blonde dye-jobs.
In the process of digging up this photo, I realized I have a treasure trove of goofy signs from my time in Asia. So starting with this one, I'm going to post one roughly every day until I run out. Feel free to email me yours.
But just so you "get" what I'm looking for, this was shot in the women's bathroom stall at a McDonald's in Beijing in 2001 by my friend Debbie...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Why Wasilla May Seem Familiar To You
Longtime readers of this blog recall that Miles and I honeymooned in Alaska in March 2007. After Friday's shocker pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate, much has been made of the years she spent as mayor of Wasilla, a town with a population smaller than most New York City blocks.
That town name, despite, its obscurity, might've sounded familiar to some of you and you've been trying to recall why. Well, here's an extremely amusing refresher:
Yes! That wacky mattress salesman was one of Gov. Palin's few constituents! Here's a different version:
What a great dance, huh?
While we're on the Palin topic, the minute McCain picked her I said to Miles, "Oh, the editorial cartoonists are going to have a field day with this." And, indeed, Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index came through as always with a growing round-up. Many were funny, this one from a cartoonist for the Calgary Sun was probably beyond the pale:
Take a look for yourself at several of them here.
That town name, despite, its obscurity, might've sounded familiar to some of you and you've been trying to recall why. Well, here's an extremely amusing refresher:
While we're on the Palin topic, the minute McCain picked her I said to Miles, "Oh, the editorial cartoonists are going to have a field day with this." And, indeed, Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index came through as always with a growing round-up. Many were funny, this one from a cartoonist for the Calgary Sun was probably beyond the pale:
Take a look for yourself at several of them here.
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