Soft lighting combined with strings of holiday lights and candles cast a gentle glow onto the rustic and vibrant décor, creating the perfect ambience for naughtiness. An ample bar beckons patrons to sidle up. For a bite to eat, take a few steps up where you can find groups of tables and cozy booths. The dining menu is both inventive and extensive, featuring Mexican, Southwestern and American cuisine.

But what the sinners of Diablo’s really want to give up their souls for are the drinks. The tequila list features more than 80 choices of the libation—everything from your typical tequila to the rare and exotic. In addition to the staple margaritas, sangrias and beer, specialty drinks like the Sinful Vixen, Karma, The Chupacabra and The Frida Kahlo can be ordered by the pitcher. Drinks by the pitcher? Now we’re talkin’!

Tucked in a corner is a set of stairs to the second floor, where the first thing you’ll feel is the gentle breeze. The open-air design creates a coastal feel and allows unobstructed views of the Strip. Feeding the frenzy is another bounteous bar where the “wheel of sin,” once spun, will determine drink specials. There’s plenty of seating for the weary, but why would the weary come? Here is where the real licentiousness begins, as a stage hosts live bands and DJs, who draw patrons to the dance floor. Helping to raise your spirits and blood alcohol levels are the roaming tequila vixens—let’s just say, muy caliente!

More than a decade ago, neon-lined Fremont Street closed to vehicles and was paved over with concrete in a successful attempt to restore tourist traffic to the area. A canopied LED screen stretching the length of five football fields was erected overhead, offering nightly light shows from dusk to midnight. Earlier this year, the city entered into a second revitalization phase, adding neon signs and landscaping to a three-block stretch of the street known as Fremont East.

It’s impossible to truly experience Las Vegas without spending at least one night downtown. So start out north on Las Vegas Boulevard, make a left (or right) at Fremont Street and head straight on till morning.

Buffets are must-dine options for many visitors, but few encompass the supreme bang-to-buck ratio of Lucky 7’s Buffet at the Plaza. For $7.77 all day, every day, everything from prime rib to Chinese food is up for grabs. Brunch goes on until 4 p.m.—perfect for a midafternoon snack of bacon and eggs. Not in the mood for anything on display? Head over to so-called “action stations” where chefs fulfill your requests while you wait.

Sweet treats abound at the snack bar inside Mermaids. Look for the tropically dressed ladies outside giving away Mardi Gras beads and head to the back corner of the casino, where deep-fried Twinkies and Oreos (opposite page), chocolate-covered bananas, hot dogs and French fries are all 99 cents each. Add a plastic football full of Miller High Life or a yardlong margarita from the neighboring bar for a dining experience you won’t find anywhere else. For a little more elegance, try Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse (Golden Nugget), Hugo’s Cellar (Four Queens) and Triple George Grill, an unheralded steak and seafood joint (201 N. 3rd St.).

Entertainment comes in many forms downtown, from free performances along Fremont Street to resident shows inside the hotels. Defending the Caveman (Golden Nugget), the longest running one-man show on Broadway, has been earning rave reviews for its endearingly funny take on the differences between men and women. At Fitzgeralds, impressionist Larry G. Jones is a veritable whirlwind of voices, chronicling the last 50 years of entertainment, politics and sports. Country Superstars Tribute brings together impersonators who look and sound like Nashville’s biggest names, including Toby Keith, Brooks & Dunn and Shania Twain. Renowned impersonator Harmik takes to the stage at the Canyon Club at Four Queens as Wales’ sweatiest, swingingest export, Tom Jones.

But it’s been said the best things in life are free. Every night along Fremont Street, you can catch a motorcyclist riding around and upside down inside a metal sphere, live rock bands and spray-paint artists producing works faster than Bob Ross. And, yes, the Piano Rig features a fleet-fingered ivory tickler performing on the back of a tractor trailer.

Winding down the night with a drink is always an acceptable idea, and downtown has more than enough venues to rehydrate, de-stress and let the inhibitions disappear. Overlooking the Fremont Street Experience from its west end, The Dome at the Plaza is a sports bar with a view to be relished. The same goes for Vue Bar at Fitzgeralds, an outdoor beer balcony in the middle of Fremont Street. The Rush Lounge at Golden Nugget features live entertainment, including local legend Frankie Moreno, who performs Wednesday through Sunday. But for a real taste of what downtown is all about, make sure to head to Hogs & Heifers (201 N. 3rd St.), the rowdiest, raunchiest watering hole where the bartenders dance on the bar and bras get hung up on the wall for posterity.

Certainly not complete, but a
sufficient enough guide to make a night of bar-hopping downtown more memorable than, say, a Pittsburgh Steelers flask.

Sidebar [201 N. 3rd St.]
Classy cocktails adjacent to both Triple George and Hogs & Heifers. Start out here, the place you’d least like to get thrown out of.

Hennessey’s [425 Fremont St.]
You’ll notice it by the world’s largest pint glass lingering high above on the corner of Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard.

The Griffin [511 Fremont St.]
Come for the vaulted ceilings, low lighting and intimate vibe, but stay for the killer jukebox, featuring a little bit of everything that’s good.

The man sings as if a bullhorn was lodged in his throat, his voice almost too big for his modest frame, like a shotgun shell fired from a peashooter somehow.

It's one of heavy metal's most signature sounds, sonorous and operatic, a summation of the genre's defining principle: Too much is never enough.

Pair Dio with two of his former Black Sabbath running mates — guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler — along with veteran drummer Vinny Appice, and you get Heaven and Hell, a band so metal, it deserves its own spot on the periodic table of elements.

More Here: http://www.lvrj.com/news/10298387.html

Hyperactive performer's life on stage is a snap.

By Jerry Fink/Las Vegas Sun.

He's a snappy dresser, makes snappy retorts and snaps to attention.

Hyperactive comic Bobby Badfingers (Bob Von Merta) lives in an obsessive, snap-related world , snapping out puns at an incredible rate - almost as fast as he snaps his fingers.

Snapdragons, snapping turtles, Snap-on tools, red snappers, snap peas.

He does a bit in his act about what the world would be like without snap - pants would fall down, bras wouldn't be fastened, no one could snap his fingers. No Snap-on tools or ginger snaps.

He's at the Las Vegas Hilton Sunday and Monday, opening for ventriloquist/impressionist/singer Terry Fator, winner of NBC's 2007 "America's Got Talent" competition .

More Here:http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/do/2007/oct/12/566646621.html

Planet Hollywood presented her with a four-tiered pink- and-white cake.

It was Anderson's third marriage; Salomon's second. She was married to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee in 1995 and, briefly, to Kid Rock a year ago. Salomon had a short marriage with Shannen Doherty of "Beverly Hills 90210."

Both Anderson and Salomon are known for infamous sex videos; her's with Lee and his with Paris Hilton.

WEDDING DETAILS

Guests at the Pamela Anderson-Rick Salomon wedding Saturday included her two sons from her marriage to Tommy Lee, actors Tobey Maguire, Lukas Haas and Ethan Suplee, and illusionist Hans Klok.

With Anderson in a white Valentino minidress and Salomon in a black suit and black knit skullcap, the newlyweds were declared husband and wife about 9:20 p.m. by Nathan Ward, who officiated the ceremony.

The couple's first song was Sade's "By Your Side," from the turntable of DJ Neva of Jet Nightclub at The Mirage.

The wedding reception was catered by Stack Restaurant, where Anderson and Salomon had dined Friday night.

After dashing back to Planet Hollywood Resort for the 10 p.m. show, Anderson — after the first time Klok made her appear on stage — informed the audience that she got married.

At the end of the show, Planet Hollywood servers began pouring champagne throughout the casino.

Anderson and Salomon, accompanied by members of the wedding party, arrived at the Heart Bar about midnight, where she raised a toast in front of a large crowd that ringed the bar area, which is in the center of the casino.

A four-tiered white cake with pink flowers was passed out to everyone in sight.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/10298402.html

NORM: Wallace, Seinfeld keep Slam clean.

Touching the bases at Andre Agassi's 12th Grand Slam for Children on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden:

By Mike Weatherford/Las Vegas review Journal

It's easy to get jealous of the volunteers in a hypnosis show. Not because they get to hop around like the cartoon Road Runner and go "beep beep," but because they get to sleep through the boring parts.

"Marshall Sylver Presents The World's Funniest Hypnotists" is better than its convoluted title, but it could improve its ratio of comic payoff to total running time.

If you have never seen stage hypnotism before, the induction process can be fascinating to first-timers. Otherwise, you know it's just a necessary ritual before you get to the good stuff: usually a crash course on hypnosis, followed by the mood lighting and celestial music while the mesmerist entrances his volunteers and thins the herd — close to 30 at this show, gleaned to a baker's dozen.

More Here: http://www.lvrj.com/neon/9780522.html

Keeping the Magic Alive
By Len Butcher/Las Vegas Review Journal

Magic has always been a major part of the entertainment scene in Las Vegas, and no one has had more success than Lance Burton who is now in his 11th year performing at the Monte Carlo in a theater named for him. I went to see his show the other night, the first time in more than a year, and though it was a weeknight, the place was packed and the show ended with a well-deserved standing O.

And that he has, giving his time and talent free of charge to a number of charities in Las Vegas to help raise funds. It won't come as any surprise to anyone who has seen his show, or who knows the man, to see him performing for another 10 years in the same theatre.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/eNewsletters/eNeon/only/burton.html

A few years ago, I was playing host to a friend of mine from out of town. He’d never gambled in a Vegas casino and was eager to take a shot, so I took him to the Strip.

He inquired about the various games and asked which one he should play. I explained to him why blackjack was the best game in the casino, since with a good set of rules and the correct playing strategy, you can almost neutralize the house edge. So we sat down at a table and exchanged our cash for chips. I was about to show this rookie how it was done.

On my second hand, I scored a 10 and an ace. Twenty-one, baby—a blackjack, or a “natural.” I had a $30 bet on the table, which would mean a nice $45 payout.

But then the dealer made a mistake—at least I thought he did. He paid me $36.