BREAKING: Human Nature Gets 2 More Years

The good news: Human Nature, the Aussie group that does the wonderful Motown tribute show at the Imperial Palace and has been the Strip's rare breakthrough hit of the Great Recession, is getting two more years. A formal announcement is coming late Tuesday at the IP at which the guys will appear for a photo op with benefactor Smokey Robinson. Congrats!

The bad news: They're renaming the 653-seat showroom where they play as the Human Nature Theater.

OK, this is only bad news for me as I just through being taken to the woodshed by the population of lovesick middle-aged British women and gay men who make up Matt "Gossy" Goss' most dedicated fan base over my assault on the notion that someone like Goss has done anything to earn having a room named for him. That column, of course, compared his Robin Antin-engineered marketing and attitude unfavorably to the modest, harder-working guys from Down Under.

Ah, but I'm consistent! As much as I admire Human Nature, I'm not convinced they've earned in one year something that neither Frank Sinatra nor Liberace nor Elvis Presley ever had. A classier move: Brand it the Smokey Robinson Theater. He's earned it and he's connected to this act in a serious way. But they don't ask me, of course.

Even if I think giving Human Nature this honor is premature, however, they at least have done something Matt Goss hasn't done to deserve it: They became a bona fide Vegas success first.

This week's LVW col: Matt Goss v HN

Here's this week's very controversial column comparing the rollout of Matt Goss to that of Human Nature in Las Vegas. Enjoy. -sf

Mishegoss
Why Matt Goss could learn something
from Human Nature

By STEVE FRIESS

The act was big. Really big. Millions-of-records-sold big. But that was then and that was somewhere else and almost nobody knows about it in the United States, so the act landed in Vegas hoping that America’s entertainment crossroads would provide the introduction necessary for broader success.

That’s the setup, anyway. And in the past year, much to my fascination, we’ve seen that hand being played out in two dramatically different fashions on the Strip, with significantly different outcomes.

The Australian group Human Nature and British singer Matt Goss both largely started from zero in their career second acts after boy-band successes in their homelands. Both even found well-regarded names to stand up behind their incursions onto the Strip scene and a classic musical trope to emulate.

The results, however, have been starkly different. Human Nature is rounding the bases to their first anniversary at the Imperial Palace, having proven to be a rare smashing success during the city’s most challenging economic era. And Goss? He was bounced from the Palms after about five months during which he couldn’t quite fill a tiny lounge, only to relocate to Caesars Palace’s 160-seat Cleopatra’s Barge, which, again, he is not filling up without the help of casino comps.

So what does this tell us? The answer, dear readers, is in the Gossiness of it all.

What, perhaps you ask, is “Gossiness”? Well, nobody exactly knows, except that it is very likely in coming years to be an Urban Dictionary entry synonymous with an act that thinks it can burst on the Vegas scene and expect everyone to revere its awesomeness before it’s actually even bothered to prove its awesomeness.

Read the REST at LasVegasWeekly.Com

Show is UP: Robert Earl

Here's the show, which has been in the feed since Sunday. In fact, most weeks the show is in the feed a day or more before it get it on the site or blog! Another reason to subscribe (it's free!) in iTunes or in Zune. Click on the date below to make it play or right-click to save it and listen at your leisure. Enjoy!

April 19: Robert Earl's Exit Interview

Back when he was unveiling the former Aladdin as the new Planet Hollywood casino, owner Robert Earl made some pretty lofty claims about what his resort would mean for Vegas. That was then. Earlier this year, Earl turned over control of the property to Harrah’s Entertainment, unable to keep his head above water amid these unprecedented, perilous economic times. Earl, naturally, has no regrets as he explains in this episode what his role will be going forward and why the old one-property entrepreneur model of Strip ownership is, for the most part, dead. Other topics on the agenda: CityCenter, Prive, the Palms and his memorabilia stash.

David McKee of the Las Vegas Advisor fills in for Vegas, bantering about Macau perils, CityCenter data, Matt Goss branding, surprising Strip charges and much more.

Links

David McKee’s blog, Stiffs & Georges
Matt Goss’ website
Caesars Palace’s Cleopatra’s Barge
RateVegas.Com on CityCenter’s damaging data
The NWiR episode with Steve debating Rich Velotta on whether it’s too soon to judge CityCenter
Bobby Baldwin admits to David Schwartz in Vegas Seven that the Aria casino is dark
MGM Mirage’s food seminars at Whole Foods courtesy (via SaveLV.Com)
Steve’s profile of Stephen Siegel and VegasHappensHere.Com post on Rumor
News of Prive’s closing, the big travel convention that’s coming and Philly Inq’s casino