Nevada Lottery Coming?

I've got an NYT piece out today on the debate over whether to allow a lottery in Nevada, one of seven states where it's presently banned. A move to change that -- which would take several years because it involves amending the state constitution -- passed the Assembly last week 31-11, so now it's on to the Senate. Read all about it on this New York Times page.

Confirmed: Top Chef Season 6 To Be In Vegas!

[UPDATE: Tonight, I got 100 percent confirmation that the show will do its season here. This is really big and really great timing for a much-suffering Vegas. It's a great opportunity for the city to shine not as some crazy, wacky place but as a serious culinary destination. -sf]

The sixth season of Bravo's Top Chef begins filming on Monday, April 27, in a city that has not been disclosed. I had a really fun 50-minute interview with chief judge Tom Colicchio -- and Craftsteak and 'wichcraft owner at MGM Grand -- today for an upcoming episode of "The Strip" and he would not disclose the location, the jerk. He said they avoid announcing the city because if they do, fans start hanging around the house where the contestants live trying to figure out who's been eliminated and so on. I even asked him to tell me if it was NOT in Las Vegas and he wouldn't answer that, either. (Of course, it's really hard for anyone to "hang around" the SkyLofts at MGM Grand to see who's coming and going, hmmm?)

BUT! Rumors abound -- Eater.Com says it'll be filmed at the M, YumSugar.Com has a poll showing most readers want it to take place here -- and I just stumbled over a sliver of a clue. Y'see, the show is filmed in about a month straight through. And yet one of the other judges, Toby Young, is auctioning off dinner with himself at Craftsteak on May 2 on eBay to benefit the Starlight Children's Foundation. The deal also includes two nights at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Now, it's not unreasonable for Jones to fly in and out that night. But isn't it odd that they wouldn't just offer the dinner to the winner for after the end of filming, just to make sure Jones could make it?

One way or the other, if Top Chef's coming to Las Vegas, we'll know pretty soon regardless of Colicchio's best effort otherwise since they'll have to do challenges on the Strip and around famous landmarks, right?

Vermin Perez Hilton v Miss California

[UPDATE: Norm Clarke quizzed the vermin PH about this post and the vermin PH responded: "I am praying for Steve Friess." That's pretty funny.]

[UPDATE #2: Perez apparently also says he wishes he had called Ms. Prejean a cunt, too. That'll surely win the gays some friends, huh?]

I've avoided commenting on the flap over Miss California, Carrie Prejean, who answered the vermin Perez Hilton's question at the Miss USA contest in Las Vegas last weekend about gay marriage with an inarticulate response that rambled about alleged free choice -- no gay Americans can choose fully recognized marriage -- before revealing her personal view that marriage is between a man and a woman. (There she is to the right, looking awfully wholesome.)

The whole thing was disconcerting because while I obviously don't agree with Prejean, I'm not sure that political opinions are how we ought to choose beauty queens. And the vermin Perez Hilton, who heretofore has done nothing whatsoever for gay rights and didn't donate a dime to fight against Proposition 8 last year, decided this was a great time to exploit the issue by recording a video blog in which he cackles about all the attention he's gettin over this and then calls Prejean a "dumb bitch." Next thing you know, he's on Larry King Live as though he's been in the thick of this issue all along when he actually represents the worst, the grossest, the least productive and most unpleasant side of what gay America has to offer.

Worse, though, is that using that kind of nasty language is the surest way to shut down any serious debate or discourse. It's not the verbage of a thinking person, one who cares about something greater than his own fame. Once the vermin Perez Hilton attacked this young woman, she became a right-wing hero and handed the Hannitys and Limbaughs of the world a clear-cut case of politically correct aggression with which to paint all gays who argue for marriage equality. She may be wrong on marriage equality, but that doesn't (necessarily) make her dumb or a bitch. Conversely, the vermin Perez Hilton may be right but that doesn't (even remotely) make him smart or honorable.

It really, really bothered me that Prejean may actually have lost her crown on this answer. (She came in second to Miss North Carolina, whose name nobody knows or cares thanks to the vermin Perez Hilton.) That's why I'm delighted that my friend and Miles' colleague Alicia Jacobs, an entertainment reporter for KVBC and one of the vermin Perez Hilton's co-judges, explained to Advocate.Com better why the way Prejean answered cost her in the competition.



I don't know if I totally buy what she says there, but it's a better-reasoned answer than what the vermin Perez Hilton has had to say. See? You can be smart and pretty. Or you can be hideous and stupid. (And, yes, I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder over this creep. Click here to see why.)

Alicia, who talks in that video about attending gay weddings, was also at ours, as you can see:


Mostly, I wish this thing would go away. The vermin Perez Hilton did more to firm up the resolve of straight-only-marriage proponents and provide them with a widely sympathetic figure around which to rally than anything in recent memory. Nicely done!

Why Same-Sex Marriage Matters

I suspect most who read this blog support marriage equality or at least some form of civil unions. But if you don't or if you know lots of people who don't, I'm reposting with permission here a lovely essay written by my friend Jack LeVine. Jack lost his husband, J.J., on Tuesday afternoon after more than 30 years together. J.J. had emphysema.

J.J. died within hours of the Nevada Senate voting to pass a domestic partner law by a 12-9 vote, two short of enough to override a threatened veto by Gov. Jim Gibbons. It's on to the Assembly now, where State Sen. David Parks believes he has a veto-proof majority. Whether he can persuade Gibbons not to veto or pull two more votes over in the Senate to override remains unclear, but this debate so often takes place in the sanitized environs of media debate.

This, then, is the practical reality. This is a real couple. And, as a side note, I'll be on Nevada Week in Review tonight on VegasPBS discussing this issue as well.

Here's Jack's blog post after J.J. died. Jack blogs at VeryVintageVegas.Com. Grab a hankie.

A Memorial: James J. Pechacek 1954-2009

April 22nd, 2009

My husband passed away on Tuesday. Actually, he was my Fiance. We’d been engaged for 33 years. He tried to hang on long enough for us to get married. That goal helped keep him alive for the last several years. He’d have been perfectly content with “domestic partnership”.

JJ was a very private person. Few of you ever met him, nor even knew of his existence. Those who did were indeed, very privileged.

JJ was the counter balance force in my life. We were polar opposites in so many ways. He was a meticulous stickler for details, a deep thinker, a slow responder. He prided himself on his rationality, and his memory. JJ was the best “phone a friend” walking encyclopedia that anyone could have ever hoped to have known. And though he didn’t think so, he was the cutest little puppy in the world.

JJ was the first fan of Vintage Vegas. He’s the one who made me believe 20 years ago that we could create a vibrant, energetic, fun urban core. When we first moved to Las Vegas 1985, he’s the one who only wanted to live downtown. He’s the one who pointed out the first “mid mod” homes that I soon fell in love with. We didn’t know the words for mid mod, but JJ’s the one who showed me why they were important. JJ was my biggest supporter, my most ardent fan. And he was my most vocal critic. I’m so going to miss him.

JJ liked his privacy and his anonymity. I was most shocked on Sunday when he told me that I could tell some of our story in public….as long as it was to make a point.

We met in 1975. We were both 21 year olds. He was hitchhiking to Florida. I was driving the semi-truck. I stopped to pick him up in Louisville, and was in love before we got to Nashville. He wanted to be a Gypsy. I wanted to be rich. He wanted to see the great cities and buildings and mountains and rivers and I wanted to meet a couple of million interesting people. We both got what we wanted.

It’s been a long, exciting, and fun journey since then. We’ve been rich and poor and rich and poor again. We’ve been healthy and sick. We’ve been fun loving and furious. We were a couple thru lots of thick and thin. We were PARTNERS. That’s the word we used to describe ourselves. And in our minds and in the reality of space and time we were married. We were married because we said we were. We could have cared less what any church might have thought. That our government considered us second class citizens… mattered a lot.

It was crushing to me yesterday when the coroner’s office didn’t have a category that described us for the death certificate. They wrote that he was SINGLE. They said I WASN’T THE NEXT OF KIN!

Back in January, the hospital recognized the legal power of attorney and other forms that had cost us thousands of dollars in legal fees. Most “not married” couples don’t have those papers ready when they need them. Many couldn’t afford them in the first place. We were fortunate in that regard. Without them, they would wouldn’t have even had to let me into the room.

There’s a thousand things, both big and small that require “the stamp of recognition” from our various governments. Social Security Survivor benefits, taxes, inheritance rules, property rights, parental rights, and on and on and on. This is no small matter to the lives of many millions of Americans.

And that brings us to the irony of the timing of JJ’s passing. Within a few minutes one way or the other of JJ’s death….The Nevada Senate passed “Domestic Partnership” legislation. JJ would be very proud of them. Many of our best friends are in Carson City this week to tell our stories, and to lobby for passage of the bill. JJ wanted me to go, but I couldn’t leave him alone for 3 days. I’ve asked them to deliver a copy of this obituary for me.

Our governor has said that he’ll veto it if it passes. Why? Because “he doesn’t believe in it” is the only answer he has. JJ believed in it and so do I. I hope you do, as well.

One of JJ’s final requests was that I tell you our story and that I ask all of you, in his memory, to PLEASE call or write the Nevada Legislature, AND THE GOVERNOR and tell them that you support domestic partnership legislation. For that matter, tell the Congress and the President as well.

All JJ wanted was that I be recognized, at the barest of minimums, as his LEGAL “next of kin.”

What's New For the 40th World Series of Poker...

There's a press conference on Tuesday for journalists to discuss with World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack what's new about this year's richest tournament in gambling or individual sports, but they've already released a press kit that does not in any way appear to be embargoed.

So far, this is what I've gleaned:

* November Nine, Again, With a Twist. The bifurcated $10,000 Buy-In No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em Main Event continues for a second year with some tweaks. Last time, they played it down to two finalists on Nov. 9 and then brought them back on Nov. 10 to finish up. This year, they'll play down from the Final Table of nine in July, have that bunch play down to the final two on Sat., Nov. 7, and then give them some days off before resuming play on Tues., Nov. 10. I'm not sure what the point of all that is, exactly, except that it gives the folks at ESPN more time to edit down the Nov. 7 play. They'll show all the final table action -- meaning Nov. 7 and Nov. 10 -- in a two-hour finale on ESPN on Nov. 10 from 9-11 p.m. ET. So I assume play starts pretty early on Nov. 10. No word if they're using the Penn & Teller Theater again for the Final Table. Probably, though.

* 40th Anniversary No-Limit. They've added a four-day $40,000 buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament to the roster to honor the 40th anniversary of the event from May 28-31, the first event open to whomever wants to buy in.

* Champions' Tourney. They've also added a Champions Invitational. They're hoping to round up the 27 living champions of the Main Event. There's no money or bracelet at stake, just something they invented called the Binion Cup and a car. Jack Binion will be there to award the winner.

* One-Billionth Dollar Served! They don't tout this in the press material, but it does seem like this will be the year the WSOP hits the billion-dollar mark for amount given away in prize money. The fact sheet says $867 million has already been awarded and last year they gave away $180 million. They only need $133 million to hit that figure. Something tells me they've got some sort of award for being the one who hits that for them. If not, call it the Friess Cup!

Finally, I noticed something kinda funny. The WSOP pays out the 9th-place winning amounts to all of the nine members of the Final Table; last year that was about $900,000. So it's funny that they feel compelled to promise -- as they do, according to this document -- an all-expense-paid trip for two for their return to Las Vegas in November for the end of the tournament. Surely these guys can afford to come back -- and bring their significant others!

The tournament, which includes 57 different events, begins May 28 at the Rio.

Palazzo Falling Apart!?!

Eek! One of our listeners, Mark from Chicago, shot this from his 34th floor room and sent it along with this note: "I checked into the Palazzo today and while I was impressed with the room, the view was surprising. While my wife was playing with the remote shutters we noticed the molding coming off of the window."

Nicely done, Sheldon. Mark has more to tell about this in a voice mail we'll play on next week's show.

The Show is UP: Shecky's Complaint

I'm still quite sickly. Or, at least, my voice is a wreck even though I'm feeling better. You can hear a moment of it at the top of this shortened episode of "The Strip" in which we present our chat with the legend Shecky Greene, who appears at the Suncoast next month. Next week: Carlos Santana! Click on the date below to listen or right-click and save to your computer. Or subscribe (it's free!) via the iTunes link or via the Zune link. -sf

April 23: Shecky's Complaint

When Steve makes a joke that’s so awful it’s funny, Miles refers to him as Shecky Friess. That’s because long before Steve was hamming it up badly, comic Shecky Greene was one of the legendary comedians who made Las Vegas what it is today. Greene, now 83, is back in town for a three-show gig at the Suncoast next month, so Shecky Friess chatted him up about being tackled by Buddy Hackett in the middle of Paradise Road, about crashing his car in the Caesars Palace fountains and about which of the current crop of comics he loves and which he hates with, as Shecky put it, “a purple passion.”

Links:
Shecky Greene's site
Tickets for Shecky's show at the Suncoast