Acrobatics showcase 'Matsuri' a great alternative to magic shows
By MIKE WEATHERFORD/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

It's not a unique sensation to walk out of a Las Vegas show feeling as though you enjoyed it more than you had any right to.

Some might even call that the very essence of Vegas entertainment: The dual appeal to those who haven't seen a live show in years and those who know their way around a theater, but still cave to the guilty pleasures of a magic or a balancing act.

In the case of "Matsuri," it's fairly easy to explain the likability of a Japanese acrobatics showcase that makes up in energy what it sometimes lacks in real content. Just look at the young faces of the 30-some performers and you see a convincing level of innocent joy there; not a trace of the insincere hackery often lurking behind the cheesy smiles of the usual suspects.

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Classic rock mainstays REO Speedwagon roll into The Pearl at the Palms on Aug. 10. Tickets are $49.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at The Pearl box office, 4321 W. Flamingo Road, and Ticketmaster outlets.

Folk rockers America stop at The Canyon Club at the Four Queens on Oct. 27. Tickets are $59.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at Ticketmaster outlets.

First is that most performances will be at 7 p.m. That's early for a topless revue, at least by conventional standards. "Everybody thinks I'm crazy," agrees Anthony Cools, who is producing it as a roommate production for his hypnotism show in the 300-seat venue that carries his name.

But he thinks it will reduce competition for every performance except two late shows, at 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Cools also figures 7 p.m. is a late show if you flew into Las Vegas from the East Coast that day. Or, if you're in town for a bachelor party, "you can see it before you start drinking" in the dance clubs or strip joints.

The calf began to nurse a short time later, successfully marking another of several critical challenges in the first hours and days of its life.  It must still overcome a number of other important milestones in its first months.

Knowing the dolphin was near full-term in her pregnancy, Duchess had been under 24-hour watch by Dolphin Habitat Animal Care staff for the week leading up to  the birth.  Mother and calf will remain under 24-hour observation for several weeks.

Animal Care staff will not handle the calf for several weeks, so precise weight and measurements are not available.  Staff has determined the calf is a male.

The Mirage Dolphin Habitat is accredited by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums.  The veterinary and marine mammal staffs at The Mirage are utilizing knowledge gained through their successful dolphin breeding program, as well as from other institutions to help Duchess and her calf through these important first weeks.

“Everyone at The Mirage is thrilled about the news,” said Jim Hudson, Curator of Dolphin Care at the Mirage Dolphin Habitat.  “We’re happy to have a new member of our family, but we must remain cautiously optimistic right now.  Dolphin calves are very delicate through their entire first year of life.  Duchess is an experienced mother and she appears to be bonding well with the new calf.  We have excellent facilities and staff at The Mirage and we stand ready to assist both mother and calf in any way we can.”

Duchess is one of five adult dolphins at The Mirage.  She came to the Dolphin Habitat in 1990.  The calf’s father is Lightning, a dolphin that arrived at The Mirage in 2006, from Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City, Fla., specifically to breed with the female dolphins at The Mirage.

Duchess and her calf will remain in the Mirage Research and Birthing pool, which is the most familiar and comfortable environment for them.  The pool is open to the public and visitors to the Dolphin Habitat can see both mother and calf immediately. 

Have a Game Plan

Many players simply go to the casino with a pocket full of money and jump from game to game until all their money is gone. I have yet to find anyone who can honestly admit that losing all their money during a casino visit was an enjoyable experience. You can have a much better time if you just spend a few minutes to make a plan for your next casino visit. I would like to offer you some suggestions for “planning” you next visit.

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She had some concerns about the "vastness of the stage," she said Thursday at a news conference.

One of the changes to the stage will be a return to the flat floor, after it was sloped for Celine Dion's "A New Day."

"I was so young, but I remember it well," she said following a spectacle on the steps of the Colosseum at Caesars Palace that was a splashy mix of production show (with six dancers dressed as bellmen who toted Louis Vuitton luggage onto the stage) and news conference played out for media members and dozens of star-struck onlookers. The idea was to announce Midler's two-year engagement as Colosseum headliner, stepping in when Celine Dion leaves. Midler begins her run Feb. 20.

Midler was in her mid-20s when she opened for Carson, whom she serenaded into retirement in 1992. "He was there a few times a year for them, and one of those times I was there, and I remember the big showroom and being part of a big show with a real star. It was great."

Midler also fell victim to a vintage wardrobe malfunction on opening night. "My opening night, I had to bail my dresser out of jail. It's just such a long story," Midler said, laughing. "That was my introduction to Las Vegas. She didn't bring me anything but one string of beads to wear. I had to improvise."
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/do/2007/may/04/566622064.html

Harrah's Las Vegas has just launched a multi-property poker progressive Mega Beat Jackpot, giving poker enthusiasts the chance to earn $50,000 or more playing Texas Hold'em at any one of six participating Harrah's casinos during the promotion. Starting today, poker rooms at Harrah's, Flamingo, O'Sheas, Bally's, Paris and Harrah's Laughlin are introducing this jackpot promotion that makes designated losing hands a winner.

The new Mega Beat Jackpot starts at $50,000 and increases daily the more the game is played without a winner. The initial qualifying hand to win is when four 10s or higher is beaten by a higher four-of-a-kind or better. Each week the Mega Beat Jackpot isn't won, the qualifying hand will drop numerically until the Mega Beat Jackpot is won. Once the jackpot's claimed, the prize will reset at $50,000 and the qualifying hand will return to four 10s.
Las Vegas Advisor - Features & News - Today's News

If you’re trying to envision where this is, just north of Circus-Circus is a small Travelodge motel – that is not included in this land deal, but just past that is a gas station that will go bye-bye and then all the land behind and to the north of the Sky condominium tower and the Hilton time-shares up to Sahara Avenue.

So what do they plan on doing with all that land? Build another massive complex of hotels and casinos eventually, of course.

It’s way too early for anyone to be getting specific but considering the fact that CityCenter, the aforementioned $7.4 billion project underway between Monte Carlo and Bellagio, is on 66 acres, the 100 acres of dirt they have here could see something even bigger and more expensive. Expect at least one new large hotel-casino plus a series of smaller boutique hotels, residential developments, and more.

The MGM Mirage folks did say that whatever the development wound up being it would include a major refurbishment of the aging Circus-Circus property that would probably involve them getting rid of the low-rise motel buildings out back and the RV park.

The major difference between this project and CityCenter is that they will seek partners to help develop the land instead of paying for the whole thing themselves.

There is no schedule for when this development will begin but a company spokesperson said it was possible that you could see construction there before CityCenter is done in 2009.

What this means, if all goes as intended, is that the next decade will shine brightly for the northern end of The Strip, now mostly dotted with aging dinosaurs like The Riviera, The Frontier, and Circus-Circus.

In addition to whatever MGM Mirage is planning to do, there are several major projects in the works in that neighborhood including Encore, the new sister hotel to Wynn Las Vegas due to open in 2008 or 2009; Echelon Place, the $4 billion complex of more than 5,000 hotel rooms and a casino that will replace the recently imploded Stardust; the Trump International Towers, the first of which should open next year; a major overhaul of The Sahara by its new owners, probably starting soon and complete by 2009 at the latest; and Fontainebleau, a $2.8 billion, nearly 4,000 room hotel and casino that has been planned for awhile now but recently got some new heavy hitting investors and may break ground later this year.
Vegas4Visitors Weekly Column by Rick Garman

This is the line of dialogue from the upcoming movie "Lucky You" that Kristin Bartolo hopes survived the final edit:

Billie Offer (played by Drew Barrymore): "I got the job! I got the job, at Dino's! Do you know where that is?"

Huck Cheever (played by Eric Bana): "Everybody knows where it is."

You can't buy such exposure and Bartolo paid nothing. Rather, the owner of Dino's Lounge, the long-standing self-proclaimed "Last Neighborhood Bar" across from Olympic Garden on Las Vegas Boulevard South made quite a sum a couple of years ago when the production crew for "Lucky You," which opens this weekend, took over the place for a week-and-a-half of filming in the tavern's parking lot.

The story centers on a star-crossed poker player trying to win a tournament in Las Vegas while he wrestles with personal problems. Among the locations used in the film are Binion's and the Silverton, and Dino's figures prominently in the movie as well as the film's trailers, in which the familiar neon green "Dino's" sign proudly glows. The crew performed a makeover on the tavern's exterior, repainting its walls and the trademark "Last Neighborhood Bar" sign, and also (regrettably) took down the "Drunk of the Month" promotional visage. But no filming was attempted inside the bar, which has occupied the same spot on the boulevard since 1962 and, in some spots, does show the nicks and scars of time.

"What they did was build Dino's in L.A., on a soundstage, to make it look like the inside of the bar," Bartolo said Monday morning. "They just shot the characters coming in and going out." The bar was closed for nine days when filming was being conducted, and the only two customers Bartolo served during that time were Barrymore and Bana.

"They were very, very nice," she said. "She is so tiny. But everyone was so nice and no expense was spared. We're talking Warner Bros. money, and money was no object from the moment they stepped on the premises. They fixed light bulbs in the signs, repainted … They paid what I would make in a day, plus a daily rate for the trouble."

And they did not change the name of the club.

"That was the coolest thing," Bartolo said. "We will be famous."
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/do/2007/may/01/566653539.html

At $29.95, the Gold Coast is practically giving away tickets to one of the best shows in Las Vegas.

If you aren't already a fan of Marty Allen and his dynamic wife - vocalist/pianist/straight man Karon Kate Blackwell - you will be by the time you leave the showroom.

The couple recently began an open-ended engagement at the Gold Coast.

This is a powerful one-two punch: Allen the tireless comedian who recently celebrated his 85th birthday, and Blackwell, a spirited singer and piano player who takes charge of the stage the moment she walks into the spotlight wearing one of her slinky gowns.

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Of the many fascinating magic tricks that Penn & Teller perform, the
neatest is how they can repeatedly say things that the mainstream considers heretical and yet remain the most popular magic team in the United States.

For example, rather than pay lip service to religion like performers are supposed to do, Penn goes on the radio to explain how disbelieving in God has made him more thoughtful and decent. Nor do they pander to facile patriotism. One of the mainstays of their act is to wrap an American flag with a copy of the Bill of Rights and set the flag on fire while somehow the document stays untouched. Even though the flag appears at the end fully restored, the point is not lost on the audience. It’s this kind of thing that distinguishes them.

Both Penn, the 6-foot-6-inch talkative guy, and Teller, the diminutive silent fellow, are Libertarians and free-speech advocates. They’re also devout skeptics. On Bullshit!, their television show on Showtime, their shtick is to present a popularly held belief—such as “true love is everlasting” or “passive smoke is harmful”—and debunk it. The show also exposes con artists, psychics, frauds, cheats and purveyors of illogic, which lots of people love until one of their heroes or dearly held values comes under attack.

It’s this uncompromising honesty of Penn & Teller and their insistence on challenging the audience that endears them to their fans.

Let’s also not forget that they’re funny. Yes, many of their tricks can be edgy—like firing bullets into each other’s mouths. But who doesn’t thrill to the sight of a little make-believe mayhem and attempted murder? True to their heretical selves, after performing an illusion, they often show the audience how it’s done.

When they’re not onstage at the Rio, Penn works with a group that investigates claims of the paranormal. He produced and both men appeared in the film The Aristocrats, which, in terms of language, is one of the dirtiest movies of all time. The team has written several books. In short, they’re two of the brightest, most interesting people in show business.

Penn & Teller
Where: Rio
When: 9 p.m. Sat.-Thurs. (dark May 3)
Cost: $85.80
Info: (702) 492-3960
Las Vegas Magazine