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.

Why 40/40 @ Palazzo Was A Bad Idea

UPDATE: PLEASE SEE THE EXPLANATION AND APOLOGY FOR THE INAPPROPRIATE WORDING IN THIS POST HERE. I AM NOT REMOVING OR ALTERING THIS POST OTHER THAN TO PRESENT THIS UPDATE BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO BE ACCUSED OF COVERING UP THE ERROR.

The Review-Journal has broken news today confirming longstanding rumors that Palazzo would buy back the Jay-Z sports bar/restaurant the 40/40 Club and turn it into a sportsbook. This blog claims the deal could be worth $44 million to the music mogul.

I'm going to say something very un-PC here, but somebody should. This wasn't a surprise. The surprise was that anybody thought that a place that elsewhere is known for drawing large numbers of black customers would fit in well in a $2 billion resort like Palazzo where the only minorities they're really aiming to please are Asian whales.

Is that a racist statement? I don't mean it to be. 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. Do you think that Palazzo has ever taken out an ad in Jet or Ebony? Hell to the no! They're busy advertising in Conde Nast Traveler and Forbes.

This isn't the first time there has been a poor marriage of this sort. Avenue Q, the Tony-winning Broadway show, could have been a success in Las Vegas. Just not at the Wynn, which is similarly pursuing the middle-aged upper-crust, not the young urban professionals. In a smaller theater at a resort that draws a more liberal crowd -- the Palms or, even more appropriately, New York-New York -- it could have had a long, successful run. But as Wynn realized much too late, it was "an inside piece of business." Ditto to Spamalot; did you really think the mimosas-and-caviar crowd would have a taste for silly, sardonic British humor?

I know there are other examples. Hans Klok might have...oh, wait. Never mind. He would have failed even if he were at the center of a Cirque show.

Of course, there's one other reason why 40/40 failed: Nobody could find it. It's tucked below the front valet and the most the Palazzo could bother to indicate it by signage was to put out foam board signs on easels in the casino. Hard to sell chicken wings, even to the CEO of China Mobile if he's got a hankering, if nobody knows where you are.