The Show is UP: Cirque's Top Guy

So we lied. Sort of. We're holding back the Cheech Marin interview for two weeks. Sorry! But, anyhow, Guy Laliberte should be entertaining enough and, if not, listening to Miles describe the weird Fitzgerald robbery caper sure is. Check it all out by clicking on the date to hear it or right-click to download the show and listen whenever you want. Or subscribe via iTunes here or via Zune here.

Nov. 18: Cirque's Top Guy

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, the former street performer who redefined the human circus into a worldwide entertainment phenomenon, just helped open the company’s sixth show on the Las Vegas Strip, Criss Angel Believe. He gave Steve 10 minutes the day of the show’s opening which, of course, meant Steve took 15. In this conversation, Laliberte defends the show and his alliance with the controversial Mindfreak illusionist, discusses the recent purchase of a large chunk of his company by Dubai and tells why there won’t be a Cirque show at Mandalay Bay … YET. Just a note, this interview was conducted outside so Laliberte could smoke, so there is some background noise.

In banter: Terry Lanni goes bye-bye, LVS lays off 11,000, MGM Mirage's CityCenter condo sales suck, Vegas may be shrinking, Wynn joins the S&P 500, Bob Maheu's awesome house and Jubilee! goes, uh, topful.

Links:

Cirque du Soleil’s website, where they sell tickets for all their shows, is here
The R-J’s Arnold Knightly’s report about the changing of the guard at MGM Mirage is here
MGM Mirage’s press release on its deal to build in Vietnam is here
The WSJ blog on Sheldon Adelson’s vanishing fortunes is here
A piece on Primm’s woes is here and a piece about Mesquite’s closure is here
The R-J’s coverage of Sheryl Crow and the Aliante opening is here
See a piece on Wynn’s joining the S&P 500 here
Read Steve’s blog commentary about Vegas shrinking here
Norm’s coverage of Jubilee! going topful is here
A piece on Vegas’ brief flirtation with lowering the gambling age to 18 is here
Take a virtual tour of Bob Maheu’s home on Steve’s blog here

The Strip is LIVE tonight w/ Guy Laliberte, Cheech Marin

It's a two-fer tonight because both interviews were relatively (for us) short. The unlikely pairing of Cirque du Soleil CEO Guy Laliberte and comic/actor/stoner Cheech Marin should be fun.

Join us at LVROCKS.com at from 6:45-8pm tonight for the live show and chat with other listeners. Or wait for the podcast. Your call. I've gotta run now and get rid of a nagging sinus headache or I'll be very grouchy on the air. Bye.

Vegas' Most Boring Spectator Sport

Why do people watch LIVE poker? I ask every single poker star I interview, and Chris Moneymaker on "The Strip" gave the best answer: No clue.

I was invited on Friday to come to the Bellagio to watch the final table of the World Poker Tour Championship, a sort of mini-World Series of Poker event with a $25,000 buy-in in which the winner got about $4 million. (Jamie Gold, by comparison, won a record $12 million last year at the WSOP.)

The big draw was that Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil and the wealthiest man in all of Canada, was one of the six left in out of 639 players. I went over at about 4 pm to observe with the prospect of interviewing Laliberte for this blog and "The Strip." He's an elusive fellow, I've only interviewed him once back in 2003 for a Newsweek piece on "Zumanity," and I thought it would be fun.

I was also exhausted from a very long week that included four hours of gruelling dentistry Thursday and still had me throbbing on Friday.

Three hours later, I left. It could have taken all night -- in fact, Laliberte was knocked out in fourth place for $600,000ish about 90 mins after I departed -- and the allure of going home and lolling with Miles on a Friday evening after a long work week was just more appealing than sticking around for an undetermined amount of time to bring you all a chat with Laliberte. I'm sorry.

But mostly I was baffled by why the audience -- about 400 people -- were so enthused. They sat there for hours watching...nothing. They had to follow on monitors and try to understand what the announcer said about chip counts and the like, the action was very slow and most of the hands involved people folding. I had the advantage of sitting behind a row of poker bloggers in the media booth so I could look over their shoulders and read how they explained the situations, but even they had no idea what sort of mental gymnastics these players were going through. (I was also stunned by how many poker bloggers there are, all largely writing the same thing, and how very respectful the World Poker Tour folks were of them. I doubt there's any activity where the media reps are even slightly as solicitous toward bloggers.)

The point is, I get why people watch poker on TV, where you can see the hole cards and remark on the decisions with perfect 20/20 hindsight. But in person? For hour after hour?

In about a month, the World Series of Poker will rev up again at the Rio. Thousands will stand around and watch. It is probably the weirdest spectator sport in all of Vegas. There's hardly even the chance of scoring a free drink or glimpsing a bare breast or anything!

Can anyone explain this to me?