September 16th, 2005

Steve’s Soapbox:

Just letting all my members know that I made a huge mistake with the Posting/Answering and Reading information about the new Everything Las Vegas Forums which are located here: http://www.everythinglv.com/forums/

You DO NOT have to sign up for the Forums to READ the posts. You only have to sign up if you want to post or answer a question. Sign up is quite simple and can be done at the above link. BTW, there are now over 3600 Forum members. Please check out the site. You can also access the Forum group through the link at the ELV website http://www.everythinglv.com

TRIP REPORTS:
All members that have sent me trip reports over the last few months can find them now posted at http://www.everythinglv.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=11
From this point on all Trip Reports that are sent to me will be posted at the above link. You can post them yourself at the Forums but you have to be a member to post.

MEMBER’S NEED HELP

Due to the many requests that I have received, the Members Need Help feature of the newsletter has now been moved to the Forums. This was done so that All newsletter members can read and reply to each individual question. Remember, you must be register to “post and reply to the questions”. Members are having a great time with this new feature.

WHAT ABOUT THE MEMBERS CORNER AND RESTAURANT REVIEWS?

Even though there is a Forum for the Members Corner and Restaurant Reviews they will still be in the newsletter. It wouldn’t be fair to make my members sign-up for the Forums just to read these features. So what I am going to try is to include some restaurant reviews and members corner articles in the regular newsletter as well as allowing them to be posted in the Forum group. The Members Need Help section will now be moved completely to the Forum group. I will start doing this next week.

Hunter and I tried our best to accommodate everyone’s request. I think we worked things out the best way that we could.

Also please remember that the newsletter is moving to the new website the first week in October. You will get an email when something new has been posted.

I am going to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving from 11/22-11/28th. If you will be there at that time, send me an email just in case I get a members meeting setup.
Steve

Steve’s Las Vegas Quickies

German native Siegfried Fischbacher kicks off the six-week Oktoberfest with the traditional keg tapping at 7 p.m. today at the Hofbrauhaus, 4510 Paradise Road. The centuries-old festival features Bavarian music, a special beer and heaping platters of sausages, sauerkraut and schnitzel. For more information: 702-853-BEER.
reviewjournal.com — News: NORM

We are amazed that Wynn Las Vegas has installed nine multi-denom video poker machines containing 25 cent to $1 Full Pay Deuces Wild, among other loose pay schedules. As a rule, dollar-and-lower players find slim pickings at Strip casinos, so games returning in excess of 100 percent for optimum play (and that’s before you calculate in the slot club benefits) are extremely unusual and, of course, we can make no prediction on how long they will last.
From: Players Edge.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Aug-26-Fri-2005/weekly/3059952.html

Morton’s, The Steakhouse, 400 E. Flamingo Road, has a special offer through Sept. 30: a single-cut filet mignon, 7- to 8-ounce Australian lobster tail, Morton’s or Caesar salad and side of asparagus for $69 per person, plus tax and tip.

The Center Stage restaurant at the Plaza, 1 Main St., has introduced a new menu with an Italian chophouse theme. New dishes including veal saltimbocca, linguine with clams and shrimp Biaggio have been added to the dinner menu, which is served from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. daily.

Got a spare $1.6 million? The famous Howard Hughes 1954 Chrysler New Yorker currently owned by the Imperial Palace’s Auto Collection is going on the auction block. The last former Hughes car sold just a few weeks ago for $1.62 million. The 1954 Chrysler will remain on exhibit in Vegas until September 25.
The auction will be held at Hershey PA on October 5-8.

Savannah Samson will host the press conference September 21 announcing the opening of Scores Gentleman’s Club. Scores will take over the old Jaguars Gentleman’s Club.

It’s official: NBC Universal has a Sept. 24 kickoff party planned at the Palms for the third season of “Las Vegas.”

The promotional bash at Rain nightclub will also feature a release party for the Season Two-Uncut and Uncensored DVD and the Treadstone Records release of the “Las Vegas” soundtrack.

“Las Vegas,” with newcomers Rachael Leigh Cook and Lara Flynn Boyle, launches its third season Sept. 19.
reviewjournal.com — News: NORM: TV’s ‘Las Vegas’ kicks off LV style

Harvey Fierstein, the gravel-voiced actor who won a Tony for his gender-bending role as Edna Turnblad in the Broadway edition of “Hairspray” has signed on to open the Las Vegas version of the show set to debut in February, 2006 at Luxor. Fierstein, currently starring on Broadway in “Fiddler on the Roof” (soon to be opposite Rosie O’Donnell), will play Mama Turnblad for an unspecified length of time, although Dick Latessa, who originated the role of husband Wilber Turnblad, has signed on for only 12 weeks.
Vegas4Visitors Column for August 22, 2005

The Amazing Jonathan has recently cancelled a number of shows with paying customers already seated.

Las Vegas Showroom rumors are that the Harrah’s/Rio organization will be revamping it’s entire shows schedule. Sources say Clint Holmes and The Scinta’s are soon out and Erocktica who is currently “on hiatus”, won’t be back.

Las Vegas’ Entertainer of the Year, Danny Gans has announced that beginning November 1, he will take 12 weeks off for rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder.

Mary Wilson from Vancouver, British Columbia, hit for $1,242,484 on the quarter Wheel of Fortune slot machine at the Las Vegas Hilton.

This year’s version of the Fetish and Fantasy Halloween Ball will be held
October 29 at the Las Vegas Sports Center.

I am admitting that Eileen and I went to this event a few years ago when it was at the Tropicana. Ihave to say I was speechless.

The Blue Man Group is staging a short, free performance on an outdoor bridge in front of The Venetian on Sept. 20 to beat the drum (literally, one would think) for its new show there. Three of the local Blue Men will perform for 15 to 20 minutes in a performance overseen by the three founding creators, Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton and Chris Wink, who will be on hand for media interviews.

The giant rolls of paper unspool in the final performance of “Blue Man Group: Live At Luxor” today. The new show at The Venetian opens for ticketed previews on Oct. 1, with an “official” opening night Oct. 10.
reviewjournal.com — Living - MIKE WEATHERFORD

My thanks to http://www.lvfbm.com/ for the ongoing use of their articles.

Jackpot strikes a second time for man, 92
Megabucks hits for $21 million at Cannery
By Liz Benston

Apparently lightning does strike twice.

A 92-year-old man has accomplished the near impossible — winning a Megabucks jackpot twice in a row. It’s the first time someone has won the well-known jackpot more than once.

Local man Elmer Sherwin won the top Megabucks slot machine jackpot worth $21.1 million Thursday night at the Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas.

In 1989, Sherwin won $4.6 million from a Megabucks machine at the Mirage.

After he won the first jackpot, Sherwin said it became his “life’s dream” to win it a second time, Cannery spokeswoman Aimee Worth said.

In a statement issued by IGT, Sherwin said he wanted to win the award for a second time.

“I’m glad I finally hit; I’ve been trying to do it again,” he said.

He plans to surprise his family with the news.

“I want to see the looks on their faces when they hear,” Sherwin said, noting that he soon plans to try for his third jackpot.

The Megabucks machine, made by International Game Technology, is a dollar slot machine with a building jackpot that requires a $3 bet to hit the top prize. The jackpot resets at $7 million after a jackpot is won and begins to build again until someone lines up the Megabucks symbols on the machine.

The chance of winning the Megabucks grand prize is less than one in 10 million.

“It’s absurd,” said Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter. The odds of winning are “on the order of billions if not trillions to one. It’s crazy.”

Awards are paid in annual installments or a lump sum.

A 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles hit the highest jackpot in Nevada history, $39.7 million, on a Megabucks machine in March 2003.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2005/sep/16/519367352.html
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After revamp, Luxor is still ‘Fantasy’ land
By Jerry Fink

Change was inevitable at the venerable topless show “Midnight Fantasy” when MGM Mirage bought the Luxor and other Strip properties in a multibillion- dollar deal earlier this year.

With MGM’s emphasis on appealing to younger audiences, veteran producer Anita Mann was given the challenge of revamping a production that, in my estimation, didn’t need revamping.

It was one of the best choreographed, sexiest shows of its kind in Vegas classy, sensual, exotic, a hint of eroticism without being vulgar or salacious.

But the new owners wanted a “fun, young, party feel” to the revue, whose main flaw was lip-syncing by dancers while they performed various numbers that focused on male fantasies.

They wanted something different, something that did not try to compete with other topless productions such as “La Femme” at the MGM, perhaps because they felt they would be competing against themselves.

More Here:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/leisure/2005/sep/16/519366294.html
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Havana extended

“Havana Night Club — The Show” has been extended at the Stardust through Feb. 4.

This is the fifth extension of the Cuban production since its premiere on Aug. 21, 2004.

“Havana,” a creation of ND Durr, features a cast of 50 Cuban dancers, singers and musicians who trace the origin of dance in the Island nation, covering hundreds of years of musical history.

The cast members have been granted political asylum.
Las Vegas SUN: Columnist Jerry Fink
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Rosh Hashana at Lawry’s:

Lawry’s The Prime Rib will offer a special Rosh Hashana menu Oct. 3-4, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. each day. The menu includes sliced red, green and yellow apples with dipping honey, a round challah, chicken soup with roasted fennel matzo balls and asparagus and shiitake mushrooms. Lawry’s spinning salad bowl follows. The main course is Lawry’s cut prime rib of beef accompanied by a tsimmes of sweet potatoes and carrots, baked potato and asparagus.

For dessert — a traditional honey cake. Dinner price for adults is $55, children dine for $30 (does not include tax or tip). Reservations for Rosh Hashana and the regular menu are recommended. Call 893-2223. Lawry’s is located on Flamingo Road inside the Hughes Center.
Las Vegas SUN: Columnist Muriel Stevens
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Columnist Jerry Fink: Something for everyone at the Freakin’ Frog

The Freakin’ Frog at 4700 S. Maryland Parkway opens at 11 a.m. seven days a week and closes “when the freakin’ fun is done.”

“Rarely do we close before 3 a.m.,” said Adam Carmer, who started the small club in a strip mall across the street from UNLV about two years ago.

The beer and wine bar is a throwback to a different era, maybe the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco in the early ’60s — only without the drugs.

“I like to call it a ‘bohemian alcohol coffee shop,’ ” Carmer said. “We have good, inexpensive food with unique characteristics and an amazing beer collection.

“It’s a very bohemian atmosphere where you can be yourself. It doesn’t matter whether you’re wearing a tuxedo or jeans, we treat everyone the same.”

Carmer hasn’t lost his freakin’ mind, thinking a low-keyed club in a city of glitz could succeed. He knows what he is doing.

More Here:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/do/2005/sep/16/519366255.html
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Minimum Table Limits by Bill Burton

Since Las Vegas has dozens of casinos, they don’t have a problem that befalls many players in smaller gambling venues; namely the lack of lower limit tables. One of the questions/complaint I am always asked it, “Why are table limits so high? Why don’t casinos have more tables for the five dollar player?”

Areas with only one or two casinos and even Atlantic City on a weekend all suffer from the lack of tables to accommodate the lower limit players. Unfortunately it’s a matter of supply and demand. Since there are more players than table space the casinos can raise the limits and still fill many of the seats. The sad reality is that, it also makes more economic sense to the casino to have higher limit tables even if some of them are not full.

More Here:
http://casinogambling.about.com/od/oddsandends/a/tablelimit.htm
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The “Rat Pack Vegas” Contest

Contest starts:
Sept 16, 2005
Ends on Sept 22, 2005
Winner will be announced Sept 23, 2005

http://www.vegasdusoleil.com/ratpackvegasshowticketscontest.html
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From “Eye on Vegas”

Havin’ a Ball… room:
The new kid on the nightclub block is The Empire Ballroom. The nightclub and music venue sits in the space that used to house every local’s favorite, former nightclub Utopia. Not to fear, the infamous Utopia patio remains, however the rest of the room has essentially been gutted and rebuilt. A sunken dance floor, oversized chandeliers, private cabanas and two VIP rooms fill in the list of requisite touches. What REALLY has The Eye salivating is the amazing sound system that, with the right booking savvy, could just rival the House of Blues as a great live music venue. Setting the local flavor is DJ Scotty Boy who serves as resident DJ on the Friday and Saturday nights when locals get in free. Planned for an upcoming local night is 80’s metal parody band, Metal Skool. Sal Jenco is Empire’s Director of Operations, having spent years in LA running the Viper Room for Johnny Depp.

Where’s Kelly?
Kelly Clarkson’s sold-out concert scheduled at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts this past Saturday night was canceled by the performer due to a “lingering case of bronchitis.” How and why then, was she able to perform “Shelter” that same evening during the “ReAct Now: Music & Relief” telethon broadcast live on MTV, VH1 and CMT? While the spin from the Clarkson camp is Clarkson’s performance was taped earlier last week, she posed for photos on both Friday (9th) and Saturday (10th) at the soundstage being used for the Los Angeles-based telethon performances. Clarkson has assured the Aladdin she will “make good” with a rescheduled performance at “the end of the tour,” which we assume would bring her back this way sometime following her October 16 date in NYC.

Neighborhood bar and sports book, Pete & Shorty’s Book and Bar, is now open inside the Hotel San Remo. “We are excited to introduce Pete & Shorty’s as the first sign of the Hooters transformation at the Hotel San Remo,” said Richard Langlois, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Hooters Casino Hotel. “The Book and Bar will offer our guests a comfortable place to catch a game and place a bet, all while enjoying a cold beer and a great burger in a casual atmosphere.”

Source: http://www.lasvegasfoodservice.com/newsletter.shtml
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Upcoming Las Vegas Entertainment
Blues Traveler will run around the House of Blues on Oct. 28. Tickets cost $25 for general admission and $30 for reserved. They go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster and at the venue box office inside Mandalay Bay, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South. To charge by phone, call 632-7600.

Up-and-coming country crooner Dierks Bentley will play the House of Blues with openers Cross Canadian Ragweed on Dec. 10. Tickets cost $27 general admission, $35 reserved seating and $40 for special reserved seating.

Country group Sawyer Brown will play Boulder Station’s Railhead on Oct. 28. Tickets cost $19.95, $27.50, $37.50 and $42.50. Tickets go on sale Saturday at the hotel’s Boarding Pass Rewards Center, 4111 Boulder Highway, and at area malls. To charge by phone, call 547-5300.

Country singer Don Williams will play The Railhead on Nov. 19. Tickets — $24.95, $34.95, $39.95 and $44.95 — go on sale Saturday at Boulder Station’s Reward Center and at area malls. To charge by phone, call 547-5300.

Sheryl Crow’s concert at the Hard Rock Hotel has been canceled.
reviewjournal.com — Neon - TICKETS
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PLAYER’S EDGE: Las Vegas Hilton changes its player’s club rules

The Las Vegas Hilton has made several major changes to its Resorts International Player’s Club. Unlike the past, when members had both a cashback account and a comp account, all benefits have now been combined into one reward balance, which is expressed in dollars. Members may redeem their dollars for cash (at the booth) or for comps (directly at the restaurant cashier or when they pay their hotel bill).

Resorts International Player’s Club Rewards can be earned at the tables (approximately one hour of $25 action earns one reward dollar) or at the machines though unlike most clubs which reward points based on coin-in, Resorts International bases the reward dollar on a player’s “theoretical loss,” which is determined by the specific game he plays and how long he plays it. According the club’s brochure, members earn on average one reward dollar for every $125 coin-in, but in reality slot players will be getting a lot more rewards than video poker players. Any unredeemed cash and comp dollar benefits under the old club have been rolled over into the new system. And the club is keeping its popular “Hot Spot” program giving local members a 50 percent discount on shows and a 25 percent discount on meals.

More PLAYER’S EDGE here:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Sep-16-Fri-2005/weekly/3354845.html
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‘Not Just a Pretty Face’
It’s taken a lot of work for Frank Marino and ‘La Cage’ to reach 20 years on the Strip.

By Mike Weatherford

Frank Marino and Derrick Barry, who impersonates Britney Spears in “An Evening at La Cage,” are hearing good news from Marino’s booking agent over the speaker phone in Marino’s dressing room: Barry has been accepted for MTV’s “Date My Mom.”

“It’s really sad when he’s on MTV and I’m on Discovery Health,” says the 41-year-old Marino. He’s kidding. Mostly.

So goes the mostly good news that “La Cage” celebrates its 20th year on the Strip on Sunday. It’s the Strip’s only female impersonator revue and has displayed amazing resilience, given how many shows have come and gone since that initial 12-week booking at the Riviera.

Marino has been on board for all but the first few weeks and has served as its tireless promoter all along. The “openly admitted PR whore” recently was seen in “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous,” and let cameras film some nip and tuck for Discovery Health’s “Plastic Surgery: Before & After.”

More Here:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Sep-16-Fri-2005/weekly/3295148.html
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Top Ten Best New Las Vegas Restaurants
What are the best new Las Vegas restaurants? According to Max Jacobson, here they are. From..Las Vegas Life magazine.

1- ALEX —- Wynn Las Vegas
2- MIX———The Bellagio
3- OPA——-2550 S. Rainbow Blvd.
4- Joe’s——-Forum Shopes at Caersar’s Palace
5- RM Seafood—-Mandalay Place
6- Bartolotta—–Wynn Las Vegas
7- Fluer De Lys—–Mandalay Bay
8- Shibuya—–MGM Grand
9- Tableau——Wynn Las Vegas
10- Mistral—–Las Vegas Hilton

Also Mr. Jacobson has named the “10 New Spots To Dine For Less Dinero”
Source: Las Vegas Like magazine.

1- Carnegie Deli——–Mirage
2- Hue Thai’s Sandwiches—-5115 Spring Mountaun Road
3- Pink’s——-Zanzibar Cafe at the Aladdin
4- Islands—–10810 W, Charleston Blvd
5- Ocha—— 2211 Las Vegas Blvd. South
6- Sababa—–3220 S. Durango Dr.
7- The Olive Mediterranean Grill—3850 E. Sunset Road
8- Sonio’s Cafe and Rotisserie—–3900 W. Charelston Blvd.
9- Swagat Indian Cuisine—–3553 S. Rainbow Blvd.
10- Wichcraft–MGM Grand

I hope you enjoyed this issue. Please feel free to post a comment.

Steve

Posted on September 16th, 2005 by MrVegas98
Filed under: Newsletter