Monday Morning's Montage

1. An Honest-To-God iReagan Message. I'm working at the moment on a piece about all the Reaganish things about to occur between the dead president's 99th (2/6/10) and 100th (2/6/11) birthdays. In Nevada, for instance, a group of die-hard Reaganites are trying to find a mountain that they can name for him without offending someone. But, anyhow, in browsing the Reagan Library site, I discovered there's a free Reagan iPhone app called the iReagan. That cracked me up enough, but how ridiculously fitting was it that when you open it for the first time, the message above appears? (If you can't read it, click on the image.)

2. THIS cost $8.5 billion? Wow, huh? I shot that on Friday night. Not to mention, Norm Clarke says Aria's lobby leaks when it rains. In both cases, though, the CityCenter peeps are lucky because (a) it doesn't rain that often and (b) No locals will ever catch the correct turnoff to self-park at the place that Jim Murren said it's easy to self-park at.

3. Who IS This? Do you know? The image was in my room at the new HRH Tower at the Hard Rock along with portraits of Tina Turner and Blondie. I tweeted this, but nobody knew. Do you? No, really. I want to know.

4. Truly, Truly, Truly Only In Vegas: For the benefit of those of you who don't follow my Twitter stream, I thought I'd post this savory little image. On Jan. 4, when a lunatic shot two people at the federal courthouse in Vegas, the media was collected outside a downtown porn shop. My laptop battery was dying, so look how I got a, uh, charge?


5. Only In Montreal? This struck me as a really bad name for a restaurant. Can you imagine anyone ever opening a Cafe Hindenberg? Or the 9/11 Brasserie? Or the Fontainebleau Hotel-Casino?


6. Guess Who's NOT Hosting At LAX...Ever? That's a harsh bit of dialogue, huh? Ryan, in this case, is the character played by George Clooney in the Oscar-bait flick "Up In The Air" directed and written by Jason Reitman. And I'm betting Reitman's never even seen Criss Angel BeLIEve.

7. CityCenter Employees Drink Cheap! I just wonder (a) how expensive the Wild Wild West drinks were in the first place and (b) would even this persuade them to set foot in the place Trippies voters picked as the worst off-Strip joint in town? Also, I wonder if they'd count Jim Murren as an "employee"?

8. Speaking of them Trippies: There once was a podcaster who loudly renounced Twitter as a fad. It's over, he said repeatedly on his little show from late 2008 well into early 2009. Then he got an iPhone. And then he was voted the 2009 Best Tweeter. Pretty effed up, huh? But thanks so much! And thanks to the Trippies editors, too, for picking us best podcast! Also, congrats to Five Hundy By Midnight for being voted best podcast, to VegasRex.Com for nailing the vote for best blog and to Brandie at Planet Ho for being editors' choice for best Tweeter at @phVegas. But a POX on all you voters who slammed the Plaza as the worst downtown joint. There are places just as gross -- Binion's, anyone? -- that don't have Firefly. That alone deserves more respect.

The Strip + Petcast are LIVE 4-6p PT TODAY

Yes, we are live today from 4-6 pm PT at LVRocks.Com recording all-new episodes of The Strip and The Petcast. Thing is, I'm still debating at this point which interview we're using this week for The Strip. Tune in, find out and hang out with the regular chat-room gang!

BUT... I can tell you that on "The Strip" we'll be discussing my visit to the Cirque du Soleil headquarters in Montreal and providing a preview of some of the news I learned there, I'll give some thoughts on "O", "Criss Angel Believe" and "Viva Elvis" from my on-going effort to revisit all Vegas Cirque and much more. Plus, there'll be a new trivia question, a new poll, listener feedback and, as always, the Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week.

Join us at LVRocks.Com from 4-5 p.m. for two new episodes of "The Petcast" with Emily and me including a live interview with with the Animal Planet dude in the box with all those snakes. Then from 5-6 p.m. it's Miles and me.

See ya later?

The Wayner on Norm, Cirque & eBay

I've been so busy traveling that I'm afraid some critical nuggets from my Wayne Newton interview earlier this month may have gotten overlooked. Sure, I podcasted the conversation and did a point-of-view column for the Weekly, but these bits are just too savory not to blog about as well.

1. The Wayner Buys His Own Stuff Back On eBay


I asked whether there's anything special about his cufflinks and studs, given that his stage uniform for 50 years has been tuxedos. He said his wife has the studs monogrammed, which led to this exchange:

Wayner: At the Stardust, one of them got knocked off and it went on stage, bounced into the audience. I realized when it happened. I said, "You know I just lost one of my studs in the audience." I said, 'Don’t bother looking for it now, but at the end of the show I sure would like to have it found.' And needless to say it was never found.

Friess: And it was found in eBay a few years later.

Wayner: Listen, I have found on eBay that I bought back that have been stolen form the ranch here.

Friess: No! Like what?

Wayner: Like signed pictures of Lucy, on and on and on. Signed pictures to me end up on eBay.

Friess: You’re telling me people come to your home, take things, and then try to sell them and you are the one who buys them back?

Wayner: Yes.

Friess: Why don’t you just call the guy who owns it and say, "Hey that’s mine"?

Wayner: We can’t find them. They’re protected.

Friess: Wow. How much have you paid to get things back?

Wayner: None of them have been very, very expensive because they would be afraid ot steal those kinds of things that you would immediately miss. I would bet you I have bought back 10-15 different items on eBay.

Friess: That’s amazing. That’s just shocking.

Wayner: And it’s just easier to buy them back than to go through all this.

* * *

2. The Wayner Expresses Regret About the Norm Clarke Plagiarism Flap


Back in the summer of 2002, R-J gossip columnist Norm Clarke turned over his space to guest writers during a medical leave. The piece run under Wayne Newton's byline, however, was actually largely lifted from something written from an Anna Quindlen book. Anna Quindlen had a great deal of fun with it in a Newsweek column on Aug. 12, 2002 but on a recent episode of "The Strip," Norm said Mr. Las Vegas never acknowledged or apologized for the situation. Read on.

Friess: You substituted for Norm Clarke a number of years ago, you remember this?

Wayner: Yes, I do.

Friess: And apparently the piece that you wrote came from an Anna Quindlen column of some sort. Did you actually write that piece or did someone on your staff pick that out?

Wayner: Actually, someone on my staff write it. I didn't realize that part of it had been plaigarized. And the person that wrote it, to a great extent, believed they had not done anything wrong. And, in fact, I called the original author. Now, certain aspects of it had been changed a little bit but there were no questions that it had been plaigarized. I called the person, it was a lady, who could not have been nicer, and I explained the conditions and I said, "It's the last thing in the world I'd ever do and I just want you to know that I was so impressed with the article that I wish the person who had written it for me had truly written it for me." She couldn't have been nicer.

Friess: This was Anna Quindlen of Newsweek.

Wayner: Yes, and she was very understanding and that ended that.

* * *

3. Wayner Will NOT Be Seeing "Viva Elvis"


He was describing the historic Vegas entertainment trends -- magicians with white tigers, Danny Gans-esque impressionists and now "the Cirque syndrome," which he says is waning.

Friess: Is that because they've made bad choices like working with Criss Angel or because things go in cycles?

Wayner: I think it's both, actually. Both.

Friess: You were a friend of Elvis Presley's. They have an Elvis show they're about to open. Are you excited to see it?

Wayner: Uhh, no.

Friess: How come?

Wayner:I’m not a big fan of Elvis impersonators. I’m not a big fan of Wayne Newton impersonators.

Friess: Are there? Are there Wayne Newton impersonators? Are there many?

Wayner: There are about three that I can think of and I’m not a big fan of Frank impersonators. And the reason for it, frankly, Steve, is that having known those people and been friends with to those people and have them be friends to me, these people are simply touching on the aspect of what the tabloids write. They really don’t do an honest impression of Frank or Dean or Sammy. They do what they think the audience expects. Frankly, they're making a living and careers that people spend their whole life creating.

Friess: I just can't think of the last time I saw somebody doing a Wayne Newton impersonation and I was wondering why there aren't more of those.

Wayner: Well, it's probably because I'm still alive.

Secrets of The Strip Snake Stunt

I don't know why this image probably freaks out so many of you, Miles included. It's just a cute little Florida grey ratsnake, the first of two slitherers that Animal Planet herpetologist Donald Schultz handed me while I visited him inside the glass box he's living in until Jan. 26 for a Feb. 9 TV special called Venom in Vegas.

I went inside the box yesterday, when there were about 60 of the eventual 100 venomous and in some cases quite exotic snakes, for a very cheeky Sphere.Com piece that explains the point and some of the intricacies of the effort. Then I created two videos -- a short and a long version -- of the adventure. The shorter one (5 minutes) is on YouTube:





And the longer one, 16 minutes that include a snake sneaking into my pants and a look at Schultz's snake-bitten backhand, can be viewed by clicking below or can be downloaded and watched at your leisure by right-clicking here.


Folks can watch via Animal Planet's live -- albeit slightly intermittent, partly due to inclement weather -- webcam or come by to stare in person across the street from Caesars Palace. The box stands in the alley between O'Sheas and the Flamingo where Harrah's plans to build a bar street someday. They might consider asking this guy to come back as a permanent attraction for that.

Here's what I looked like on the webcam yesterday:


I've probably lost half of you by now because of everyone's fear of snakes. It's so odd because I've never minded them. They don't especially interest me, but they also don't gross me out. Then again, I have phobias of my own, too; I turn down assignments every year from travel editors wanting me to evaluate Vegas' thrill rides. I hate roller coasters, so I don't think I'm the guy to grade them.

Anyhow, I had no second-thoughts about signing the legal release that included this terrifying passage, bold-face and capital letters intact from the form itself:

I hereby acknowledge that my involvement with the Program includes my presence around, and possibly at close distances to, multiple snakes that have the capability to bite, envenomate, harm and even kill me and that snakes can and will attack for no reason. I acknowledge that my presence around these animals and my participation in the Program INVOLVES INHERENTLY EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, HIGH- RISK ACTIVITIES WHICH MAY RESULT IN MY DISFIGUREMENT, DISMEMBERMENT, ILLNESS, SERIOUS INJURY, EMOTIONAL TRAUMA, PROPERTY LOSS AND/OR POSSIBLE DEATH and no amount of planning and preparation can eliminate the risks inherent or otherwise in these activities. I understand that EVERY DECISION I MAKE WILL BE MY OWN DECISION and I hereby acknowledge and agree that my participation in the Program and undertaking of these dangerous activities is in my sole and absolute discretion and neither Producer nor O'Sheas is requiring me to do so and that I VOLUNTARILY AND FREELY ACCEPT AND ASSUME ALL RISKS, HAZARDS AND DANGERS THAT I MAY ENCOUNTER OR BE EXPOSED TO ASSOCIATED WITH MY PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM AND UNDERTAKING OF THESE DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES and that I do so with full knowledge, appreciation and understanding of the dangers and personal risks involved and I understand and acknowledge that the waivers, releases and indemnities in this Release expressly apply to these risks, hazards and dangers.

Yeah, whatever. Here's what the box looks like from the outside...


...and an exclusive (ooh, how exciting!) look at Schultz's opaque bathroom:


Here's what his bed looks like...


...and, as noted in the Sphere.Com piece, he's using some of his time to get into "Lost" and to, eerily, read the memoir about the late Animal Planet adventurer Steve Irwin written by his widow.


One thing that's interesting is that the room -- 320 square feet with a killer Strip view -- has all these snakes but you don't see them as much as you'd think. They hide in the (silk) plants or under the Ikea-like furnishings. See?


But Schultz, who is milking the venom and answering the public's questions via a speaker set up at appointed times, lures them out from time to time.


Oh, and I've included this last image...


...for a reason. Internet rumors have it that the box is being kept cold to subdue the snakes and keep Schultz safer. Not so. The room was really warm and has spaceheaters all over the place to keep the temperatures up. This is a stunt, to be sure and as Schultz readily admits, but he's doing it for real.

P.S. Thanks to Thee Merry Widows for "Snakebite Kind of Love" for the videos. It was used free from the Podsafe Music Network but now I can't get it out of my head. Check out their site and other music at MerryWidowsMusic.Com.

Sssnakes + Sssteve On The Strip!

I've been having a little trouble getting my head back in the game after a lovely break with Miles in Montreal, but that all stops abruptly on Tuesday morning at 8:45 a.m. PT when I pop into a 16-by-20-foot glass box with herpetologist Donald Schultz and a few dozen deadly snakes in the alley between O'Sheas and the Flamingo for Sphere.Com. Schultz is living in the box for 10 days doing snake experiments for an Animal Planet show, "Wild Recon," which airs next month.

Oh! And guess what? You can watch me! There's a 24/7 webcam here:


Also, until Jan. 27 (I think) you can just stop by and watch the guy in the box.

The disclaimer form is pretty intense and I've been instructed to dress protectively. So I could get bit and die. But I'm betting not. Anywho, gotta get some rest. Will be back on the regular blogging beat tomorrow with some fun Vegasy stuff from Montreal and, of course, some snakey stuff.

LVW col: Being Wayne Newtons

Bonsoir from Montreal! Here's this week's LVW column. Enjoy. -sf

Being Wayne Newtons
Mr. Las Vegas is a unique show-biz figure—or two
By STEVE FRIESS

What this Wayne Newton is saying about the other Wayne Newton could seem convoluted and a bit vainglorious, but after speaking to him for a bit more than an hour, I think I’m getting it. He’s describing a scene filmed for Vegas Vacation that he successfully had nixed from the 1997 release.

The original script called for somebody called Wayne Newton to lecherously tell Beverly D’Angelo’s character, Ellen Griswold, that he wants her to become a “Newton broad.” She asks what that means and he tells her that it’s a woman who has had “a nose job, a boob job and a butt job.” Then Wayne would part a curtain to reveal 200 such women.

“When I got the script, I went to the director and I said, ‘This is one scene that Wayne Newton can’t do,’” he recalls. “Notice my verbiage. Not that I can’t do, that Wayne Newton can’t do. Wayne Newton is almost in some ways a third party. I almost become a protector of Wayne Newton that way. It becomes humorous, because they write things that Wayne Newton cannot say as Wayne Newton, you know?”

I do. I went into my first interview with the Wayner early this month with a very specific impression of what he’d be like, only to realize that there are at least two—and maybe more—Wayne Newtons.

In fact, Wayne Newton is a peculiar show-biz animal, the likes of which there may be no modern peer. Sure, there are actors like Michael Cera, Joe Pesci or Sandra Bullock who always play the same sort of characters, and there are personalities like Larry King or Oscar Goodman who pop up here and there as themselves.

But Wayne Newton is an actor and singer whose image has been so completely swallowed by a certain persona—the sunny, buffoonish, slightly-but-never-explicitly sleazy elevated-lounge-lizard representation of an older Vegas era—that his only choice is to play it on screen and stage.

In fact, I can be forgiven for expecting that Wayne Newton when we spoke, because that was the Wayne Newton I met the prior evening at a meet-and-greet before his show at the Tropicana. He appeared then in a black velour smoking jacket, with a grove of chest hair a-popping, kissing my female companion so frequently that half his smooches ended up in her hair because she wasn’t paying close enough attention.

Then he got on the stage in Once Before I Go, told his story from 15-year-old Vegas wunderkind to aging survivor of the tuxedo-clad Vegas era before a 23-piece orchestra, his voice significantly, uh, weathered and almost nobody in the audience caring a whit.

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com

Lerner v. LaFleur: Analyst #CityCenter Smackdown!

Reading the analyses of Wall Street smarties on Vegas interests used to be a snooze. Looking at all the same data, these wonks usually came to the same conclusions.

Not anymore! I've been watching two analysts in particular who seem to routinely come up with dramatically different takes and today's email puts it in very, very high relief. Here are the headlines from emails Monday:

Bill Lerner of the Union Gaming Group: "2010 Off To Good Start in Vegas, MGM Most Leveraged to Recovery."

Robert LaFleur of Susquehanna International Group: "Is MGM Having Trouble Filling Rooms at CityCenter?"

Those are two rather different sides of that story, aren't they now?

Lerner has been a persistent cheerleader for MGM Mirage and CityCenter, so his daily "Heard On The Strip" e-blast fit that trend. He suggested that New Year's "may have been the strongest in MGM MIRAGE history" and that "CityCenter and Bellagio foot traffic have been quite strong based on our observations (across a significant number of days and day-parts)." He also wrote that MGM Mirage's 95% occupancy in its 3rd quarter of 2009 after laying off 12 percent of its staff suggests they're doing more with less. That would be good for the balance sheets, assuming those guests are enjoying the diminished service enough to return.

LaFleur, meanwhile, has spoken quite negatively about what CityCenter and Aria are, contradicting much of MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren's loftiest rhetoric. In my big L.A. Weekly piece on CityCenter, for instance, he said: "At the end of the day, the product is the gaming experience broadly defined. There’s nothing unique in the product offering. People don’t go to hotels because of the architecture of a hotel on a recurring basis. You go to a hotel because you like the hotel, you like the service, you like the ambiance."

On Monday, LaFleur reported on his firm's findings of "a notable reduction in asking rates at the Aria, the main hotel at CityCenter." Susquehanna every week catalogs Aria room rates for Saturdays and Wednesdays over the coming three months. Click on this graphic below to enlarge it and see what's been happening:


Wrote LaFleur: "After seeing in last week’s survey that MGM reduced asking rates by $20 a night for weekend nights in January, we saw MGM again reduce asking rates on these January weekend nights by another $30 in this week’s survey. In addition, we saw more sizable reductions in both weekday and weekend asking rates at Aria in February and March, the first time we’ve seen reductions in asking rates for these periods since we began tracking them. MGM management publicly said last week that occupancies were high at CityCenter. Our findings in this week’s survey suggest that MGM may have to engage in more aggressive price discounting to achieve these high occupancy levels."

Whom to believe? Well, at the moment the edge must go to LaFleur because he has actual data and Lerner says their analysis is based on, essentially, eyeballing the scene "across a significant number of days and day-parts," whatever that means. So they've come out of the best weekend in their HISTORY, per Lerner, only to cut room rates two weeks in a row?

Also, Lerner was happy to cite as fact things he can't know any other way than from publicists. For instance, from Monday's e-blast: "The combination of CES and AVN’s (Adult Video News award show) at the Palms this weekend generated incomparable volumes at the casino resort while The Hard Rock’s recently opened expansion is driving record gaming volumes at the property." Says who? What data supports such dramatic claims? Also, assuming the Hard Rock claim is true, wouldn't this volume spike just be the logical outcome of DOUBLED their gaming floor? Isn't win-per-machine or similar data more valuable than such a broad remark?

Meanwhile, LaFleur showed actual data and it is damning. Aria room rates fell $90 for Saturday, Feb. 6? That's 25 percent! It also means that Aria that night, at $269, is less than Bellagio, which is presently at $299. The place has only been open a month; surely if there's as much excitement about it as Lerner believes, Aria would be able to stay at least even with her own older sister?

So is CityCenter an out-of-the-box homer? Lerner would have us think so and, having had more than a decade as a top analyst for Deutsche Bank, he's no newbie. But then how about some real data to back up his exuberance?