The Show is UP: Mystere + Jabbawockeez = Mysterawockeez!

We got back to the LVRocks.Com studio again after a couple of weeks for this episode, which includes what many emailers have said was the blowout grammatical argument of all arguments at the very end. So check that out as well as all the rest. Good stuff. You can click on the date below to get it to play or right-click on it to download it to listen at your leisure. Or, of course, subscribe for free in iTunes or Zune. -sf

Nov. 14: Mysterawockeez!
...with Brian Dewhurst and Phil Tayag

Just as the seminal Cirque du Soleil production Mystere was celebrating an astounding 8,000 performances at Treasure Island last month, the hiphop dance crew Jabbawockeez began a residency a t the Monte Carlo. The two have more in common than you might suspect, both being starless, wholly original visual spectacles that seemed unlikely to make much of a splash in Las Vegas. Mystere, obviously, has. We’ll have to see how Jabbawockeez does, but we’ll hear from stars of both in this episode. First, Steve talks to Brian Dewhurst, who was artistic coordinator for Mystere when it opened in 1993 and in 2000 began performing as a clown in the show. Then, later, we’ll have Steve’s interview with Phil Tayag, the youngest original member of Jabbawockeez.

In Banter: Chip Lightman moves on from Donny & Marie, Rita moves on from Harrah’s, MGM Resorts wants to move on from the Harmon, Steve Wynn has moved on from meat and more.

Links to stuff discussed:

Tickets for Mystere and Jabbawockeez
The Jabbawockeez website
A profile from Via Magazine of Brian Dewhurst from Mystere
VegasHappensHere.Com on Chip Lightman’s settlement with Donny & Marie
Rita Rudner’s news that she’s moving to Venetian in January
Howard Stutz’s scoop confirming MGM Resorts may implode the Harmon
Steve’s Las Vegas Weekly column urging MGM Resorts not to put a wrap on Aria
The Las Vegas Sun’s piece on renting out the condos at Mandarin, Vdara or Veer
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me’s site
Tickets to see Wait Wait live on 11/18 at Paris Las Vegas
The gambling win, room rates and visitation numbers were all up this month
British Airways is adding bigger planes with first class from London to Vegas
Steve’s AOL News piece on the World Series of Poker’s grand finale
VegasHappensHere.Com on Wynn Las Vegas jacking up Garth Brooks tickets by $110 a seat
John Katsilometes’ Steve Wynn piece on his veganism in the Las Vegas Weekly
Robin Leach reports about Steve Wynn’s reworked will
VegasHappensHere.Com on all the other various Wynn news, including the Pascal departure and the earnings call
The Indian TV interview in which Wynn discusses the Kevyn Wynn kidnapping in detail at the 24ish minute mark

The Strip & Petcast Are Live on Sat

It's that time of week again!

We're doing two new episodes of The Petcast from Noon to 1 p.m. PT and then an hour of The Strip from 1-2 p.m. PT.

For The Petcast, guest host Amy and I will chat in the first half-hour with Mary O'Connor-Shaver of the Coalition to Ban Ohio Dog Auctions. Then we'll hear from Barbara Schmitz, who spearheaded the successful movement to pass Prop B in Missouri, which radically alters the laws regarding dog breeding in that state.

Then, on The Strip, our guests are Jabbawockeez founder Phil Tayag and Mystere clown Brian Dewhurst.

As always, you can listen live at via LVRocks.Com and join the chat with fellow listeners. Or wait and grab the podcast version via iTunes or Zune or listen via that nifty "Listen Now" player on TheStripPodcast.Com or ThePetcast.Com. Your call.

The Show is UP: Cloris Leachman

Here's a supersized episode which should tide y'all over because we may be taking a weekend away next week. It's chockful o' great stuff, so enjoy. Click on the date below to listen or right-click to download and listen at your leisure or subscribe to get the episodes instantly when they're available via iTunes or Zune.

Sept. 12: True Cloris, Shining Through

Betty White may be getting all the headlines these days as America’s elder stateswoman of comedy, but has she ever played Vegas? Another randy grandma, Cloris Leachman, hasn’t either, but at 84 she makes her debut on Sept. 18 and 19 at the Suncoast. The Academy Award winner, who has also won more Emmys than any actor ever, spoke to Steve at length in advance of that one-woman show and brace yourself because some of this is almost as sexually explicit as that Tony Curtis chat we gave you a while back. There are many highlights, including Cloris sharing her experiences with Marlon Brando, Jackie Kennedy, Judy Garland, the Reagans and Kathryn Hepburn, although an instant classic is Cloris’ hilarious re-enactment of a call from Joan Collins, who was having an affair with Cloris’ husband George Englund in the 1970s. Leachman also discusses her new Fox sitcom, "Raising Hope."

In Banter: Liberace’s closure raises tough questions, Oscar Goodman faces wacky questions, the NY-NY’s 9/11 Memorial is in questionable shape and more. Also, a special live Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week furnished by Mike Dobranski!

Links to stuff discussed:

Get tickets to see Cloris Leachman on Sept 18-19 at the Suncoast
Cloris Leachman’s website and book
Cloris’ new TV show on Fox, “Raising Hope”
Get the DVD of “Young Frankenstein”
Sheryl Crow’s cancellation at the Joint
Steve’s column about Ted V. Mikels
The AOLNews.Com piece on the Liberace Museum closure
VegasHappensHere.Com exposes the New York-New York 9/11 Memorial decay
MGM Resorts still spins animal attacks, but this time there’s YouTube of it
Oscar’s brilliant interview on the BBC's HARDTalk
The Las Vegas Sun on the possible Wayne Newton home becoming an attraction
The website for Jabbawockeez and the R-J on how they got the Monte Carlo deal
VegasHappensHere.Com on the July gaming and visitation data
The YouTube clips of Cloris Leachman’s Oscar speech and a classic Young Frankenstein scene
The site for the Kimchi Museum in Seoul