Special Video Episode is UP

On Feb. 10, I observed Cirque du Soleil's open audition process for dancers. This weekend, I put together this special 9-minute video episode of The Strip to show how it worked. You can right-click on that link above to download it or click on the YouTube embedded player below to watch. (Subscribe to the show via iTunes or via Zune to get all new content from "The Strip.")




You can also read my Las Vegas Weekly column for more. And, as promised, here are some more photos.


As you can see in the video, the dancers had to perform improv numbers inspired by certain words they were given to whatever music was played for them. The first dancer, who is in the video, was given the word "airborne." I don't recall what the second one was told to do.



They also learned some steps of "Love" and "Criss Angel Believe" and then performed those for the casting team.


For some reason, No. 229 really loved my camera...


There was a lot of sitting around, of course:


Here is Cirque casting director Krista Monson speaking to the dancers who were still in the running to be qualified for potential Cirque roles. This is the afternoon of the fourth and final day of auditions.


It was an impressive experience, but it was also reassuring. I mean, who would've expected to find this...


...or this...


...or guys drinking this...


...at something like this? It makes me feel better about this...


...and this!

The Strip is LIVE tonight - w/ LOVE!

In honor of the second anniversary of Cirque du Soleil's "Love," we've got the very articulate and talented 12-year-old performer Kyle Stokely live in the studio to discuss his life as a would-be young Beatle. Plus, news from Vegas, a new trivia question, the poll, listener feedback and, as always, The Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week.

Join us at 7-8 pm PT in the chat and listen live at LVRocks.Com. Or wait until Thursday for the podcast version, which will likely include a chat with a second, as-yet-undetermined "Love" actor.

Mirage Re-Wrapped With Love

I thought it was an optical illusion -- a mirage, as it were -- a few days ago when I saw the folks up high working on the "Love" wrap on the Mirage. It seemed like it was getting bigger but, no, surely they were just finishing up its removal.

Turns out, they're putting it back up. Why? According to an MGM Mirage spokeswoman, the old one had been up for about a year and was fading from the harsh desert sun so this was a replacement job. So I guess that means that this wrap will be permanent fixture on the skyline. I'm not real sure how I feel about the permanent defacing of these buildings with advertising. It is, after all, Vegas. But still...

Vegas and High Tech

Yesterday's R-J had a front-page story about a Las Vegas City Council effort to create a citywide wi-fi Internet hot zone. It's interesting and largely irrelevant to tourists on account of the fact that the Strip is not in the city of Las Vegas and the hotels and their Internet service providers would never allow such an effort to cut into the cash cow that is the extortion that is their daily Internet fees. (That, of course, was necessary now that so few hotel guests in the age of cell phones pay up the age-old scam that is the fees to use the hotel telephone.)

Anyhow, it's Benjamin Spillman's cheapshot lead that bugged me:

"A place where coinless slot machines are considered high technology is moving closer to the ranks of cities with widespread wireless Internet access."

Now wait a sec. Is the implication here that Vegas is some sort of Luddite state? That the best technology we're known for is ticket-in/ticket-out? Really?

In actuality, Vegas is a fascinating proving ground and an unusual application for a long list of intriguing new technology that I've been writing about for many years. Here are just five of my favorites:

1. The e-Winebook at Charlie Palmer's Aureole. (See my Newsweek piece.) It's an Internet tablet that allows diners to search the ginormous wine selection by price, varietal, region and food pairing, then email themselves their selections so they can buy it again when they get home. And after it takes the sting out of the usually intimidating experience of wading through the leather-bound brick of most wine lists, you can watch the wine angels via live, streaming video.

2. The Fountains at Bellagio. Nuff said.

3. The Theaters. The stage folds at Love, oscillates at Le Reve and O, spins at Ka. (See my NY Times piece on the Ka theater.) The chandelier plummets at Phantom. The backdrop is eye-popping for Celine/Elton. Amazing stuff, and nobody builds them like we do for several reasons I outline in this USA Today piece.

4. The Fremont Street Experience light show. See my Wired piece on it.

5. The Interactive Tabletops of Tabu. As predicted in my Wired piece on it years ago, the technology is spreading. It's now used to project images near Shark Reef, the MGM Grand Convention Center and during Ka.

Oh, and the slot machine technology is pretty amazing, too, particularly the advances made in video graphics and interactivity.

I'm sure I've missed a few. I may want to do a piece on this, so anyone got any other favorites?