O.J. Simpson's much-ballyhooed visit to Las Vegas gave Palace Station some unwanted publicity.

But not all publicity is bad publicity. The off-Strip casino is probably now more well-known than Bellagio.

The alleged robbery, for which the disgraced Hall of Fame football player charged with 10 felonies, took place in a Palace Station hotel room.

For a week, images of the Palace Station's exterior and train locomotive marquee were blasted across the nation's media. Station Casinos spokeswoman Lori Nelson tracked more than 4,000 television news stories that featured video of Palace Station ReviewJournal.com - Business - INSIDE GAMING

The 2007 Vegas Music Experience, an international music conference co-sponsored by Billboard and the Vegas Alliance, will be Oct. 4-10 at the Palms.

The conference will include live acts, DJs, producers, up-and-coming artists, agents, record labels, promoters, nightclub and magazine officials, Internet specialists and others. Promoters say it will be a week of non stop music, entertainment, seminars, workshops, pool parties, networking opportunities and performances.

Visit www.VegasMusicExperience.com for sponsorship opportunities, a complete calendar of events and showcasing information for emerging artists.
Las Vegas SUN: LOOKING IN ON: ENTERTAINMENT

Nothing is left but charred rubble where celebrities and fans used to meet on common ground to dine and dance and mingle and to be entertained.

Tom Jones. Jerry Lewis. The Righteous Brothers. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. Robert Goulet, Joe Pesci, Connie Stevens and her brother Chuck, who was a drummer for Keely Smith. Local performers Danny Gans, Amazing Johnathan, Clint Holmes, Pat Morita, Lance Burton.

They all used drop by Capozzoli's to sample the authentic Italian cuisine. Some would take to the small stage in the corner for an impromptu performance that could last into the wee hours .

The renowned restaurant and lounge at 3333 S. Maryland Parkway burned Wednesday morning. The blaze is being investigated, but details about the investigation won't be available for several days, said Clark County Fire Department spokesman Scott Allison.

More Here:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/do/2007/sep/25/566633911.html

Car enthusiasts from all over the world will descend on Las Vegas Thursday, October 25, 2007 for four days of pomp and circumstance called Concours d’Elegance Las Vegas. Like other Concours events that have been held all over the world since the early 1900s, the event will feature hundreds of the most prized collector cars in the world, in addition to a week-long series of events to support local charities, including high fashion, automotive artwork and charity gala and auction, all leading up to the Concours d’Elegance Las Vegas Car Competition and Exhibition on Sunday, October 28, 2007.

The Concours d’Elegance Las Vegas Car Competition and Exhibition will feature some of the world’s most elegant collector cars on the 18th fairway of the PGA golf resort TPC at the Canyons. On display for the public will be car collections including pristine examples of pre-war, European, exotic, muscle, and custom automobiles. The Concours is not a contest of speed, but of excellence. Automobiles are judged for their style and excellence of design. In addition to the cars in competition, the Concours will offer late model and specialty vehicles for the public to view.

During the event, spectators and entrants will enjoy gourmet food, fine wines and live music. Tickets to Sunday’s event are $75 in advance and $100 at the door.

Concours d’Elegance events began over 100 years ago in the parks of Paris, the Rivera and other elegant resort towns of Europe . The rich and famous of European society gathered to socialize and celebrate the latest automobiles and women’s fashions as unique art forms that graced their stylish lives as much as the homes in which they lived and the banquets and dinner parties they attended. They called these events Concours d’Elegance, a phrase that, when translated, quite literally meant ‘competition of excellence’.

The Concours made its American debut in 1950 in Pebble Beach , CA . Today there are several dozen shows that have adopted the Concours name.

For more information on Concours d’Elegance Las Vegas please call 702-860-4565 or visit www.lasvegasconcours.com.

The average rate for a suggested three-month personal therapy session is about $600. For marriage counseling—oh, about double that. For a fraction of the cost and only about 90 minutes of your time, you can get both types of sessions in one, leave with answers and finally use those darn tissues for tears of laughter rather than tears of disappointment.

Yes, folks, she’s the woman who tells it like it is and perhaps tells us a little more than we need to know. She’s the one-woman therapy session, the incomparable funny lady and Las Vegas headliner, Rita Rudner.

Entering stage left in a gown fit for the Academy Awards, Rudner graces the stage just as effortlessly as a Broadway dancer and she should. In her early career she danced in six Broadway shows. Perhaps it was these encounters with the stage and audience that put this woman so at ease in the Harrah’s showroom.

With no opening act or intermission, no elaborate sets and lighting tricks, it feels intimate with Rudner, minus the psychologist’s leather sofa. From the get-go she jumps headfirst into the debate that is man and woman, married and single, young and old, clothed or topless. She claims that her husband does not advise that she sunbathe at one of Vegas’ many topless pool areas for fear of poking someone in the knee. And what makes her so lovable and relatable, and more entertaining, is the fact that Rudner can poke fun at herself—she is, after all, in negotiations to pay Playboy $1 million to pose for the magazine. And it’s her potent, biting wit that lends itself gracefully to her rather hysterical discoveries on the male and female psyche.

It’s Rudner’s close look at male/female theories that brings conclusions to the age-old question that partners must ask each other while pointing at the noggin—“What’s it like in there?” She sorts out rationalizations according to gender, touching on shopping, sports, cooking, dieting, hunting, sex, parenting, cleaning, personal appearance and even little decorative pillows—no insignificant rock is left unturned. Need I mention how many times this writer and her man nodded in agreement or donned looks of guilt after each punchline was delivered? The insightful and hysterical journey that this comedian will take you on will certainly have you reconsidering whether or not to keep your next therapy appointment.

Rita Rudner
Where: Harrah's
When: 8 p.m. Mon.-Wed. & Fri.-Sat.
Cost: $59.40 and up
http://www.lvshowbiz.com

Who says Las Vegas has no culture? It’s a common
misconception propagated by visitors and locals alike, who claim that there’s nothing more than skin, sin and open containers to be found on the 4 1/2-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard. Sure, we may lag behind the Parises and Londons of the world, but considering there are people still living who were around when our beloved city was established in 1905, Las Vegas has come a long way in a short amount of time. You might not find the Mona Lisa among Vegas’ popular museums and exhibits, but you just might discover the lavish costumes of a world-renowned pianist, or the signs and marquees that lit up the city 50 years ago.

It’s unclear whether Pablo Picasso visited Las Vegas during his lifetime, but the subjects of many of his works, from circus dwellers to prostitutes, can be seen daily along the Strip (if you look hard enough). The latest exhibit at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art (702.693.7871), In the Master’s Hands, focuses on Picasso’s unheralded ceramic pieces, on loan to the museum from the personal collection of the artist’s grandson, Bernard Ruiz-Picasso.

Picasso fever also takes hold at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at The Venetian (702.414.2493) where three of his works are displayed alongside Van Gogh, Monet, Cézanne, Mondrian and Braque in Modern Masters From the Guggenheim Collection. Tracing the development of modern painting in four thematic categories—portraiture, still life, landscape and genre scenes—the exhibit ties together nearly a century of classic works from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Thousands of years earlier, King Tutankhamun reigned over Egypt as a generally unmemorable boy pharaoh who only gained fame posthumously when his tomb was discovered almost completely intact by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922. The treasures of the tomb went on a highly popular world tour in the 1970s, but only the Luxor replicates The Tomb & Museum of King Tutankhamun (702.262.4000) as Carter first came upon it.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Madame Tussauds Las Vegas (702.862.7800) is sycophantic in the best way possible. The legendary wax museum at The Venetian features more than 100 likenesses of popular actors, politicians, musicians and sports stars. Here, you can marry George Clooney, feel up on J.Lo’s booty or look eye-to-eye with John F. Kennedy—all without fear of being hassled by bodyguards or Secret Service.

Many people are familiar with the mushroom clouds that defined the era of the atom bomb, but visitors to Las Vegas are probably not aware that tourists used to flock to the tops of hotels to watch bomb detonations conducted at the Nevada Test Site, located a mere 65 miles from the city. The Atomic Testing Museum (755 E. Flamingo Road, 702.794.5161) recounts this controversial history in staggering detail, with videos, photos, artifacts and interactive exhibits.

He defined showmanship and embodied the kitsch and glamour of Las Vegas wherever he went, so it’s appropriate that the Liberace Museum (1775 E. Tropicana Ave., 702.798.5595) resides here in all its sparkling, shimmering glory. On display are the ivory tickler’s elaborate costumes and pianos, as well as personal belongings and his extensive car collection. Three times a week, fleet-fingered pianist Wes Winters honors the man with A Musical Tribute to Liberace in the museum’s showroom.

More than a walking tour of Vegas’ past than a museum, the Neon Museum (702.387.6366) features restored neon signs from Vegas’ heyday, restored along the Fremont Street Experience, the pedestrian promenade in Downtown Las Vegas. The Hacienda Horse and Rider and Aladdin’s lamp are two examples of signs that defined America’s City of Lights.

The Hoover Dam (702.494.2517), with its visitors center, historical videos and photo displays and the Rock ’n’ Roll Memorabilia (702.693.5000) collection at the Hard Rock Hotel look back at
the past, but Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition and Bodies …The Exhibition, two ongoing exhibits at the Tropicana (702.739.2411), point toward the future of cultural diversions in Las Vegas. The touring showcases have had their stays extended by popular demand several times, clearly demonstrating the need for limited-engagement runs of nationally touring shows to augment the city’s resident museums. Their success proves that visitors are looking for a little more than some tawdry flesh to spice up a vacation, even if, topless show or art gallery, the basic rules remain the same: You may look, but don’t touch.
http://www.lvshowbiz.com

“An oasis in the desert where travelers from both the East and West Coast could come for gambling, fine food, luxury accommodations and great entertainment.” That was Bugsy Siegel’s dream. The man credited with making Las Vegas into the gambling mecca of the United States, Siegel envisioned a luxury property that would have individual air conditioning, tiled bathrooms, gardens and swimming pools and provide guests the “complete experience,” a property he would call the Pink Flamingo Hotel and Casino.

Now a 3,500-room property owned by Harrah’s Entertainment, the Flamingo, located in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, is surrounded by lush tropical gardens, a 15-acre wildlife habitat, swimming pools and spectacular waterfalls. The 77,000-square-foot casino boasts headline entertainment, stunning Strip views and one-of-a-kind guest rooms.

Having recently completed an award-winning renovation, the Flamingo’s redesign transformed more than 500 hotel rooms into lavish, stylish and technologically advanced suites. Acknowledged by the prestigious Hospitality Design Awards for Creative Achievement, the Flamingo GO Rooms renovation project was recognized as a finalist in both the Hospitality Debut and Mid-Range Hotel categories.
A collaboration between Flamingo and Cagley & Tanner, a Las Vegas interior design firm, the new GO Rooms’ modern designs capture the essence of the architecture of the legendary 1940s resort.

Highlighting the renovations was the completion of 30 GO Metropolitan rooms. The sleek 1,500-square-foot, two-bedroom suites epitomize luxury. They’re adorned with rich hardwood floors, marble bathrooms and state-of-the-art entertainment centers, four 42-inch flat-screen high-definition televisions and a vibrant green, brown and orange color scheme. The posh retro suites provide a stunning view of the pulsating Las Vegas Strip.

In a city where the landscape and skyline are forever changing, it is nice to know that a little bit of Las Vegas antiquity can still be found in the heart of the Strip at the Flamingo. As for Siegel, one can only assume that his “oasis in the desert” has far surpassed his imagination. And yet some 80 years later, the Flamingo is exactly what he envisioned … a place for guests to GO for a “complete experience.
http://www.lvshowbiz.com/

Hollywood movies are fond of portraying the classic 19th century magician, the one in a coat and tails performing tricks that half astound and half inspire claims of heresy from those who believe illusions are the work of the devil. Part of this fascination with the past stems from those kinds of entertainers being all but obsolete anymore, replaced by a new breed of casually dressed magicians performing large-scale illusions. Yet one illusionist bucks this trend and still manages to stay relevant at the same time.His name is Lance Burton.

Burton has been performing in Las Vegas for 25 years, ever since starting as a variety act in the long-running Folies Bergere at the Tropicana. In 1996, he accepted a headlining spot at the Monte Carlo in a $27 million Victorian theater that was built and named for him. At the time, his 13-year contract was the longest ever given to an entertainer on the Strip.

But Burton is much more than large monetary values and record-breaking contracts. His show manages to be family-friendly, yet engaging enough for adults to enjoy as well. (There are showgirls, after all.) His demeanor is humble, yet assured, graciously accepting applause for a job well done. His voice, that of a slightly slurred Clint Eastwood, bears the remnants of a Kentucky twang.

It all adds up to a stage presence that can be unassuming at first—that is, until the illusions begin. Nothing gets the applause going faster than a disappearing act, and Burton's show is chock full of them, whether it's a vanishing showgirl or two, or a bird in a cage. Burton manages to transport himself from the stage to various points around the theater in an amount of time so short it's downright mesmerizing. There's also levitation, a masquerade ball and some close-up sleight of hand for the lucky child that gets invited onstage.

A recent addition to the show is "The Solid Gold Lady," where a female assistant in a glass isolation booth is turned into a gold statue before the audience's very eyes. And what magic show would be complete without sawing a box in half with a not-so-lucky audience member inside?

Longevity is hard to come by in a city where bigger and brighter and newer is better. But for a quarter of a century, Burton has managed to stand as tall as the hotel in which he performs. That is, perhaps, his greatest trick of all.

With a bang—a Big Bang, to be exact—the show that Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté called a "flower in the desert," now totaling more than 6,000 performances and 13 historic years at Treasure Island, rumbles to life. Harnessed drummers descend from the ceiling, plumes of smoke fill the stage and illuminated from within, two canopied carriages roll forward, mysterious and unprovoked. A baby's voice. A baby's cry. Pregnant golden figures with bulging tummies balance on rolling balls. The stage rises and falls. What had sounded like a Russian folk song peters out and an enormous baby teeters out onstage with an equally oversize orange ball. Is it playtime, or time itself, that has unfolded at Mystère?

Since its premiere on Christmas Day in 1993, Mystère has garnered the praise of critics and audiences alike, and it's easy to see why. Loosely based on a journey through the history of life on Earth, it follows a path that winds through past, present and future, sometimes inhabiting multiple epochs at once.

Mystère employs few familiar English words in weaving its tale, and it lends to the otherworldly nature of the performance. A pair of female singers emit operatic, sometimes chantlike syllables, puppeteer-emcee Moha-Samedi speaks in gibberish, and the baby, well, other than shouting "Papa!," offers little in the way of recognizable speech.

What does translate, however, translates exactly: the consummate showmanship for which Cirque is best known. In a hand-to-hand feat of power and grace, two brothers perform an unbelievable gravity-defying duet using each other's Herculean strength to lift, balance and contort into seemingly impossible positions. Shaking and quivering as their bodies glow green from the light, they reach a climax when one brother balances his head, unassisted, on the other's raised foot to a well-deserved roar of approval from the audience.

But jaw-dropping action only begets more mandible-to-the-carpet thrills when it comes to Mystère. A glorified see-saw known as the Korean Plank propels performers into the air while the rotating stage increases the degree of difficulty. Acrobats descend from the ceiling on bungee cords in tentacled outfits that contain more than 2,500 hand-glued sequins. An aerial high bar act takes the action 40 feet above the stage, performing the popular gymnastics routine at an unheard-of height. Fittingly, it is the only act where a safety feature (in this case, a net) is readily apparent.

Along the way, the mischievous Brian Le Petit, resembling what a Back to the Future-era Christopher Lloyd might've looked like had he been raised in a Provence château, runs amok, interspersing acts with the kind of incorrigible, conscience-ridding behavior usually reserved for the young and the insane.

Conjured by the vivid mind of director Franco Dragone, Mystère is a voyage to incredible places—locales that tend to reside in the most psychedelic of dreams and the deepest caverns of the imagination. It is an hour-and-a-half oasis of life, teetering on the edge of reason, confounding the expectations of gravity and satisfying a hunger for what was never known to exist.

Mystère
Where: Treasure Island
When: 7 & 9:30 p.m. Mon.-Wed. & Sat.; 4:30 & 7 p.m. Sun.
Cost: $82.50 - $104.50
Info: (702) 492-3960 or
1-(866) 80-SHOWS
http://www.lvshowbiz.com/