CityLife Drills Into Greenspun Media

So here's the problem with having both alternative weeklies owned by one of the two major media conglomerates in Las Vegas: They can't do serious, in-depth coverage of media issues without messy conflicts of interest of their own.

Amy Kingsley of Las Vegas CityLife tries this week with a lengthy piece on Greenspun Media Group, its supposedly unrewarded risks in the New Media space for the Las Vegas Sun and conflict on Corporate Circle between imported, high-priced Web guru Rob Curley and the traditional news staff. It is a good read and adds some intriguing detail to the decisions that led to the decimation of the staff that I chronicled and catalogued in December.

Kingsley is a terrific reporter -- I've personally complimented CityLife Editor Steve Sebelius for that hire in the past -- and she puts in a noble effort. But she fails because she didn't give the whole picture and she probably couldn't because, well, the whole picture could include some unflattering things about the company that pays her wages, Stephens Media. I mean, look at what's advertised directly above her story on the Web:


Awkward!

You can read the piece here and I do recommend it. One thing that accurately comes across is the blinding arrogance of Rob Curley, the Web wunderkind who took credit for revolutionizing the Internet operations of Newsweek, the Washington Post and a paper in Lawrence, Kansas. I was a cheerleader for him when he arrived but after an initial, pretty redesign, such little things like an effective search engine on LasVegasWeekly.Com and other issues made me wonder if he cared about the little things that make a site user-friendly.

Kingsley convincingly makes the case that his past successes may have been short-lived and the result of circumstances of timing and opportunity, not vision. Plus, Curley comes across as churlish with a quote like: "The only thing I love more than journalism is capitalism." From the looks of the expensive embarrassment that was 702.tv, he's failed in Vegas on both fronts.

[Aside: Curley re-tweeted today the Poynter Institute's pick-up of Kingsley's piece, which is strange given how badly he comes off in it.]

All that said, to really get where GMG is these days, you need to put it in the context of its total media ecosystem. That's an ecosystem that includes one of the most dysfunctional news websites in the nation, ReviewJournal.Com, and a main newspaper, the R-J, that has somehow lost circulation during the era of one of the biggest population growth spurts in U.S. history. If we're ready to call Curley a failure in Vegas, then first we need to know the web traffic of both papers' websites, which Kingsley does not provide. Somehow I bet if it looked good for the R-J, she would've had no trouble getting it and comparing it to the Sun.

She also has a passage in there about the Sun's failed web video efforts but doesn't bother to mention that the R-J hired ex-weatherman Nate Tannenbaum to do a laughable and technologically ridiculous daily newscast. I don't know how many plays it's getting on the LVRJ.Com site, but today's episode has been on YouTube for 21 hours and has enjoyed 4 hits. FOUR. Two of which were me looking for a good moment to shoot this screencap:


If you click on it, you'll see that the episode from two days ago has a whopping 27 plays. And here's the entire history of RJTV on YouTube:


You know what has had more hits than a month's worth of RJTV episodes? This:




One more thing. The illustrations that went with Kingsley's story were very weird. This, for instance, was for Curley:

Beyond the fact that he looks like a prison inmate, what's with the scribble in the lower right part? It looks like he's got duck's wings or something. I'm seriously wondering if artist Brian Taylor thought he was drawing Chris Cooper instead. See?

Anywho, the point is that news organizations cover one another at their credibility's own peril. Without attempting to put GMG's issues in context against the R-J's, they've left out a huge chunk of the story. Which, happily, is why we have blogs.

[DISCLAIMERS: I was a staff writer for the R-J from 1996-99 and have freelanced for the R-J, CityLife and the Weekly, where I have had a column for about two years. Also, I wrote this week's cover story for the Weekly, which means Kingsley and I were head-to-head as cover writers this go-round.]

Bill Clinton: Vegas Headliner!?!

This must be a first, right?

Bill Clinton is giving a speech at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. For money. For, so I'm told, himself. And they're selling it on Ticketmaster. When they go on sale on Feb. 1 -- at 10 a.m. for those who wish to set their clocks to this -- they'll cost $35, $45, $65, $100 and $150, with a VIP package that includes a meet-and-greet for $750.

Right about now I suspect endangered Sen. Harry Reid and U.S. Rep. Dina Titus are thinking, "What a waste!" Or, in Titus' case, "What a fucking waste." They surely wouldn't mind that dough for their own increasingly tenuous re-election bids. But, hey, the Big Dog needs to scare up some change to pay for Chelsea's wedding, I guess.

But has there ever, ever, ever been an ex-president who has given a publicly ticketed speech in a major Vegas showroom to profit...himself? Ever? For that matter, does he do these sorts of engagements in other places? Does Bill Clinton headline the La Jolla Playhouse?

The press release was just the weirdest thing. It treated this dude like this was any ole act playing a Vegas gig and ran down his greatest hits. The speech has a name -- "Embracing Our Common Humanity" -- by which in this case he must mean our common desire to come to Vegas and make off like a bandit.

Here's what the AEG peeps sent around:

LAS VEGAS, NV (January 29, 2010) – President Bill Clinton, Founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States, will speak at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Monday, February 22 at 7:30pm. President Clinton’s lecture is titled “Embracing our Common Humanity”.

The special evening event is presented by Caesars Palace and AEG Live. President Clinton served the United States for eight years during a time of unprecedented prosperity and change. Now, President Clinton is a powerful voice for progress around the world as he shares his unique insights and observations with audiences around the world. President Clinton’s public speeches describe the challenge of globalization, emphasize our growing interdependence, and point the way toward a common future based on shared goals and values.

William Jefferson Clinton was the first Democratic president in six decades to be elected twice – first in 1992 and then in 1996. Under his leadership, the country enjoyed the strongest economy in a generation and the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, including the creation of more than 22 million jobs. After leaving the White House, President Clinton established the William J. Clinton Foundation with the mission to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence. The Foundation has staff and volunteers around the world working to improve lives through several initiatives, including the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (now the Clinton Health Access Initiative, a separate nonprofit organization) which is helping 2 million people living with HIV/AIDS access lifesaving drugs. Other initiatives -- including the Clinton Climate Initiative, the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative, and the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative -- are applying a business-oriented approach worldwide to fight climate change and develop sustainable economic growth in Africa and Latin America. As a project of the Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative brings together global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues. In the U.S., the Foundation is working to combat the alarming rise in childhood obesity through the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, and is helping individuals and families succeed and small businesses grow.

In addition his Foundation work, President Clinton has joined with former President George H.W. Bush three times – after the 2004 tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Ike in 2008 – to help raise money for recovery efforts. He also served as the U.N. Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, and was named U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti in 2009 to assist its people and government as they “build back better” from recent storm damages and implement their economic vision for the future.


Seriously? We need Bill Clinton's resume? They need to sell the world on how awesome he (thinks he) is? Funny it left out the part about being impeached, huh? I mean, he's only the second president in 150 or so years to have that distinction!

And who do they think will pay to line his pocket? I can see if this was a fundraiser for Haiti or something, maybe. But it's unfathomable that tourists will say, "Well, there's that awesome Cirque show at the Mirage, but oh, look! Bill Clinton is talking!" And locals rarely go down to the Strip on school nights.

If you're hot to see this one -- You are? Really? -- I strongly suggest you hold off on buying tickets. Or give a ring the day before to the local Democratic Party, where they'll surely be looking for seatfillers.

I wonder if he'll play the sax. I hear the acoustics in that place are awesome.

Unmasking the Prostidude: Patrick L. Norton

For some reason, the media has agreed to cover for the nation's first "prostitude," providing him anonymity and allowing him to be known publicly only by his working name, Markus.

I'm not so generous. There doesn't seem to be any legitimate journalistic reason for not naming the fellow. Especially not when he's using the same photo in the press...


...as he does on Facebook.


So, America, meet your first legal manwhore: Patrick L. Norton of Hatton, Ala. He's a failed porn star who told Details he sees parallels between himself and Rosa Parks in terms of breaking down civil rights barriers. Then he went on to say his sphincter is not for rent, with I'm thinking wasn't much of an issue for ole Rosa. On the other hand, he did NOT specify whether his tonsils are off the table, did he?

Oh, and, by the way, when he said he was an ex-Marine, he wasn't kidding. His prior claim-to-fame was this Military.Com piece from 2007 about the rigors of preparing to be deployed in Iraq. His new profession sorta casts a new light on the headline of that piece, 'Hard Training, Excellent Preparation," huh?

The USMC must be so proud. I know I am!

NY Post: What NOT Eat in #Vegas

[UPDATE: NYP editor David Landsel responded via Twitter: "Yes, been to ALL the Las Vegas restaurants we recommended this week; took a couple of years!" OK, then.]


The New York Post today chimes in with a brutal travel piece instructing readers where NOT to eat when in Las Vegas. It is interesting for two reasons, (a) for their selections and (b) because very little travel journalism is ever devoted to what to avoid.

I'm a huge fan of travel journalism devoted to what to avoid, especially when it comes to Las Vegas. In fact, I've penned variations of my Vegas' Seven Deadliest Sins piece instructing readers what not to do for the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune more than once, although it's been a while and may be worth revisiting since not seeing Celine Dion is kind of worthless advice these days. But the point is, knowing what to avoid is at least as valuable in Vegas as knowing what to do. Time and money are precious.

This piece accompanies two others also by Post Travel Editor David Landsel and writer Andy Wang, one listing the 10 best Strip restaurants and 21 off-Strip essential bars and restaurants.

Taken together, the three articles represent perhaps the most exhaustive assessment of the Vegas food scene done by outsiders for something other than a guidebook. In fact, I can't quite imagine how they did it, two guys trying out some 41+ places on the sort of expense accounts money-bleeding newspapers have these days. If they actually ate at all of these places, we're talking an assignment that would have run Rupert Murdoch into the tens of thousands of dollars and taken weeks.

That said, the lists at turns are smart and simplistic, spot-on and unfair, pleasing and maddening. Which is how such lists always are and must be. In some spots, I was incredibly gratified to have my own long-held views affirmed, which may explain my respect.

For instance, I cannot bear all the raves that Thomas Keller's Bouchon at Venetian receives. The Review-Journal's Heidi Knapp Rinella, for instance, put it No. 7 on her best-of list for 2009, which makes me wonder if maybe she's not putting the food in the correct orifice. I have repeatedly said the Bouchon experience is ruined by a totally obnoxious and incompetent waitstaff -- and I've tried more than once to give them the benefit of the doubt that I had been there on an off day or two -- so imagine how delighted I was to see that borne out by the Posters: "What they forgot: A staff that doesn’t drop the ball all the time. Talk about wasted opportunities."

Bouchon was No. 3 on the DON'T-EAT list, which was topped by Guy Savoy, which I haven't visited in years and, thus, have no opinion other than that such travel pieces are worthless if they don't show the courage of going after big names. In this case, they've dressed down a Michelin-rated place perhaps because of its honors and the huge pricetag. No. 2 was Rao's for the same reason that got me in so much trouble with the Caesars Palace flak many moons ago, a complaint that the ambiance is completely uninteresting and the food is very good but not as good as the New York original and also kinda pricey.

I have issues with the rest of the DON'T-EAT list, though. The spanking for tourist-trappy No. 7 Tao is well-deserved, but I've enjoyed terrific meals at Wazuzu at Encore (No. 6) and a dismissal of "anything by Wolfgang Puck" (No. 9) is just a cheap shot. Cut, for instance, is an outstanding steakhouse and I've eaten better food for less money at Spago at Caesars Palace than at the original in L.A. Also, dismissing "anything at Mandalay Bay" (No. 8) shows an ignorance of Rick Moonen's mastery at RM. They didn't mean it anyway, seeing how the write-up actually sort of recommended two places there -- Fleur de Lys and Aureole.

Their BEST-OF list is topped by Bartolotta at Wynn, a home run of a choice. In fact, their lovefest for all things Wynn is spot-on: Wing Lei is No. 6, Alex is No. 7 and SW Steakhouse is No. 10. I'm a little surprised that Botero didn't rate and I'm sure Heidi Knapp Rinella will be shocked that the Posters weren't taken in at Switch (her No. 1 for 2009!?!) by all the diners who cheer as if to say, as Miles loves to mock, "Holy shit! Did you see what just happened to the fucking curtains?"

A big surprise of their BEST-OF is the presence of three CityCenter options, Sage at Aria (No. 2), Bar Masa/Shaboo at Aria (No. 4) and Twist at Mandarin Oriental (No. 8). Having not yet had the chance to eat-around at CityCenter, I'm now more excited than I initially was when I saw so few new-to-Vegas names list of chefs there. It seemed CityCenter was happy allowing Bellagio chefs to franchise. Yet what ones MGM Mirage did recruit - save for whoever's in the kitchen at Beso (No. 10 on the Posters' DON'T-EAT list) -- are doing good work.

Landsel and Wang's Off-Strip Essentials were fun, although several were groaningly predictable -- Lindo Michoacan, Raku, Lotus of Siam, Rosemary's and Luv-It Frozen Custard among them -- and the Peppermill is both predictable and ON the Strip. How odd, too, to recommend the Mount Charleston Lodge, which has perennially had dreadful food. The Posters seem to agree: "The food is a pedestrian disappointment; good thing there’s nothing ordinary about the setting of this hotel restaurant, high above the desert floor on the slopes of Mount Charleston." They're not recommending the restaurant, they're recommending the mountain. So why is this taking up valuable real estate on a best-of food list?

That said, the list did acknowledge the growing supremacy of Vegas as a place to eat really wonderful, varied and authentic Asian cuisine. I'm sure many of their Chinatown choices were solid -- KJ Kitchen, Tofu Hut, Raku, Archi's Thai Kitchen -- and what's telling is that I could take them to four equally amazing holes-in-the-wall over there.

All in all, though, a very respectful and broad assessment of the Vegas food scene. I could quibble all day long -- there's not a single recommendation for Caesars Palace or any Harrah's restaurant and the BEST-OF list fails to unearth any uncelebrated gems like Woo or Koi while veering towards the ultra-expensive -- but these are Landsel and Wang's opinions and by and large they back them up well.

Nicely done.

The show is UP: Kenny Kerr's Hard Fall

Here's this week's show. Click on the date below to make it play or right-click to save it and listen at your leisure. You can subscribe, too, (it's free!) in iTunes or in Zune.

Jan 6: Kenny Kerr's Hard Fall

He was the longest-running solo headliner in Las Vegas history, but just a few years since the end of his last gig, he’s probably largely unknown to most of you. Kenny Kerr was the first female impersonator to go mainstream on the Strip, opening in the late 1970s at the Silver Slipper, paving the way for Frank Marino. But Kerr’s story is that of great success and constant financial problems, and when Steve spoke to him in December he had left a gig at a small Italian restaurant miles from the Strip because the owner hadn’t paid him. This hour, hear Kerr provide some fascinating history about Las Vegas, go into some shocking detail about drag queen life and, of course, some delicious slaps at his archrival.

In Banter: Drama at Casino Montreal, a visit to Cirque's mothership, Aria v Bellagio, news on the Fontainebleau, Matt Goss and Krave and more.

Links to Stuff Discussed:

Steve's Las Vegas Weekly column on Kenny Kerr
The website for the Casino Montreal
A YouTube video of the Royal Ascot Sigma Derby-esque game at Casino Montreal
The website for Martini Time, a live cooking show at the M Resort
The sites for Viva Elvis and Criss Angel Believe
VegasHappensHere.Com on the snake-box thing and gay-travel survey
LVA blogger Dave McKee’s post on the emptiness of CityCenter’s Crystals
The Review-Journal’s Howard Stutz in Fontainebleau’s sale to Carl Icahn

Please go VOTE now!

Remember last summer when Erich Bergen and I knocked ourselves out to raise just an itty bitty bit shy of $100,000 for desperately needed public school music education programs? Remember how, at the time, Norm Clarkeof the R-J Tweeted that he thought it was "the best two hours of entertainment on stage in Las Vegas this year?"

Well, now you get to chime in, too. The Las Vegas Review-Journal's Best of Las Vegas voting is open UNTIL 5 PM PT on MONDAY and it dawned on Erich today that "Las Vegas Celebrates The Music of Michael Jackson" ought to be at least considered for Best Concert. And I agree.

So do this. Go here and write us in. It's category #43. And, sure, while you're there, go ahead and fill out the rest of the ballot.

Oh, and while we're at it, Erich posted some YouTube video from the show. I didn't even know this until today. Here's Erich and Holly Madison opening the show by starring in "The Way You Make Me Feel":



And here's Clint Holmes doing "Human Nature":



Oh, and just for kicks, here's breakout star Elijah Johnson doing "Dancing Machine."



Now go VOTE.

Monday Morning's Montage

1. An Honest-To-God iReagan Message. I'm working at the moment on a piece about all the Reaganish things about to occur between the dead president's 99th (2/6/10) and 100th (2/6/11) birthdays. In Nevada, for instance, a group of die-hard Reaganites are trying to find a mountain that they can name for him without offending someone. But, anyhow, in browsing the Reagan Library site, I discovered there's a free Reagan iPhone app called the iReagan. That cracked me up enough, but how ridiculously fitting was it that when you open it for the first time, the message above appears? (If you can't read it, click on the image.)

2. THIS cost $8.5 billion? Wow, huh? I shot that on Friday night. Not to mention, Norm Clarke says Aria's lobby leaks when it rains. In both cases, though, the CityCenter peeps are lucky because (a) it doesn't rain that often and (b) No locals will ever catch the correct turnoff to self-park at the place that Jim Murren said it's easy to self-park at.

3. Who IS This? Do you know? The image was in my room at the new HRH Tower at the Hard Rock along with portraits of Tina Turner and Blondie. I tweeted this, but nobody knew. Do you? No, really. I want to know.

4. Truly, Truly, Truly Only In Vegas: For the benefit of those of you who don't follow my Twitter stream, I thought I'd post this savory little image. On Jan. 4, when a lunatic shot two people at the federal courthouse in Vegas, the media was collected outside a downtown porn shop. My laptop battery was dying, so look how I got a, uh, charge?


5. Only In Montreal? This struck me as a really bad name for a restaurant. Can you imagine anyone ever opening a Cafe Hindenberg? Or the 9/11 Brasserie? Or the Fontainebleau Hotel-Casino?


6. Guess Who's NOT Hosting At LAX...Ever? That's a harsh bit of dialogue, huh? Ryan, in this case, is the character played by George Clooney in the Oscar-bait flick "Up In The Air" directed and written by Jason Reitman. And I'm betting Reitman's never even seen Criss Angel BeLIEve.

7. CityCenter Employees Drink Cheap! I just wonder (a) how expensive the Wild Wild West drinks were in the first place and (b) would even this persuade them to set foot in the place Trippies voters picked as the worst off-Strip joint in town? Also, I wonder if they'd count Jim Murren as an "employee"?

8. Speaking of them Trippies: There once was a podcaster who loudly renounced Twitter as a fad. It's over, he said repeatedly on his little show from late 2008 well into early 2009. Then he got an iPhone. And then he was voted the 2009 Best Tweeter. Pretty effed up, huh? But thanks so much! And thanks to the Trippies editors, too, for picking us best podcast! Also, congrats to Five Hundy By Midnight for being voted best podcast, to VegasRex.Com for nailing the vote for best blog and to Brandie at Planet Ho for being editors' choice for best Tweeter at @phVegas. But a POX on all you voters who slammed the Plaza as the worst downtown joint. There are places just as gross -- Binion's, anyone? -- that don't have Firefly. That alone deserves more respect.