David Graham, a personal pastor and golf buddy to the late impressionist, said his friend was "unusually low in spirits" when they golfed on the day he died.

But Graham said "heavens no" to the idea that it had anything to do with the coincidental on-sale announcement for Beyoncé doing four shows at Encore in late July.

Gans "liked Steve (Wynn) a lot" and Wynn was "very happy with him," Graham said.

The World Series of Poker's first high-stakes event starts on May 28. Which means we're just 18 days away from Phil Hellmuth's first temper tantrum of the tournament.

A new discipline system, however, could render his next outburst his last.

World Series of Poker officials want to do a better job tabulating infractions by players and improve enforcement. Players could be assessed penalties ranging from warnings to one-hand or one-round suspensions.

More here:
http://www.lvrj.com/business/44667642.html

Flamingo headliner Marie Osmond had another health scare over the weekend.

Osmond, who famously fainted after a 2007 "Dancing With the Stars" performance, experienced breathing problems shortly before Friday's "Donny & Marie" show, forcing it to be canceled.

"She had an allergic reaction to shellfish," Osmonds' publicist Laura Herlovich said.

Marie, who turns 50 in October, returned to the show on Saturday.

More here:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/44703617.html

By ANTONIO PLANAS/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

The body of a young man was found among the bushes at a bloody scene near the Caesars Palace loading docks early Monday.

The slaying was the second homicide in less than a week to occur at a resort on the Strip.

Las Vegas police said the victim was a white man in his 20s.

Homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said the victim suffered blunt-force trauma to his head. Police did not release the victim's identity, but a source who asked to remain anonymous identified him as Brad Flamm.

Metro Police say they have no motive as to why 27-year-old Bryan Hall, who is the suspect in a violent homicide outside the Caesars Palace Forum Shops on Monday, beat the victim with a rock the size of a grapefruit.

Metro Police homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said Hall was arrested about 2:30 a.m. today at his southwest valley residence in the death of 27-year-old Brandon Flamm of Las Vegas. Police had a warrant in hand and Hall was taken into custody peacefully, police said.

Hall is charged with one count of homicide with a deadly weapon and one count of robbery with a deadly weapon, Roberts said. Police are investigating the case and homicide detectives did not recover any money from the suspect this morning, Roberts said.

More here:
http://lasvegassun.com/news/2009/may/14/police-arrest-suspect-caesars-palace-homicide/

The best little production show you've not seen — and I know I haven't seen it — "Menopause the Musical" is moving to the Luxor's Atrium Showroom beginning May 26. I know, it's not the first time visitors to the Luxor have gone through the change (ba-dum-bum), and this show should serve as a balance to the Luxor's entertainment lineup, which features "Believe," Carrot top and the adult-themed "Fantasy." The show logged more than 1,500 performances in three years at the Hilton, making me wonder, how the hell have I not seen this yet made it to "Believe?"

They sound like Motown. They look like the Four Seasons. They are Human Nature, the Australian quartet presented by Smokey Robinson, which just signed to a one-year deal at Imperial Palace. The show's official title is "Smokey Robinson Presents Australia's Human Nature," but maybe they should call it "Detroit Boys," as the cast so resembles the stars of "Jersey Boys" at The Venetian. Regardless, hotel president Don Marrandino says he has a winner with the show supplanting "Legends In Concert," which has since moved to another Harrah's property, conveniently Harrah's. I've learned not to argue a show's prospects with Marrandino, who usually hits the target with his entertainment decisions. "I do see the comparison (with "Jersey Boys") he said during a news conference/mini-concert announcing the show's residency at the IP showroom. "But I think Motown music has a wider appeal. I know all these songs. They don't sing anything I haven't heard of." In fine voice are Human Nature members Toby Allen, Phil Burton, Andrew Tierney and Michael Tierney, who simply belt out the greatest hits of Motwon while donning early-1960's styled suits.

The show begins May 23, fast-tracked to launch in just 10 days, but the key time frame is six months from now. That's when Marrandino will decide if the Aussie crew, backed by the coolest guy in any room (that'd be Smokey) will have earned a longer stay. Same as the way he approached Donny & Marie at the Flamingo, actually.
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More casinos are turning to the all day, all-you-can-eat method to draw visitors to their properties.

The MGM Grand is offering an all-you-can-eat pass for breakfast, lunch and dinner for $29.99 per person, Monday through Thursday. The price for Friday, Saturday and Sunday is $39.99. Prices without the new pass are $13.99 to $27.99 for each meal.

Those who sign up for the players club at the Stratosphere will be eligible for the all day buffet pass for $19.99. The price goes up to $24.99 on Sunday mornings, and also Friday evenings for the seafood buffet. Regular prices without the deal run $11.99 to $20.99 per buffet stop.

The Excalibur in February began offering unlimited, all day access to its buffet for $25. The Luxor has a deal that packages its buffet with tickets to Criss Angel’s “Believe,” and includes access to other amenities.
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Criss Angel is about to become immortal.

No, the “Mindfreak” magician hasn’t discovered the secret for eternal youth. Instead, his likeness is about to be forever preserved in wax.

Angel’s waxen image will be unveiled May 21 during a special event at Madame Tussauds at the Venetian.

The 41-year-old magician is expected to attend the unveiling ceremony.

Like the statue of iconic rapper Snoop Dogg, which was unveiled last month, Angel’s wax figure required months of work to create.

Hundreds of pictures were used to ensure the lifelike replica was, in fact, lifelike.

An official announcement is expected from the famed wax museum later this week.
http://www.lasvegassun.com

Mane Attraction.
‘The Lion King’ promises to be an emotionally gripping theatrical, technical triumph.

BY: Jerry Fink/Las Vegas Sun

The Circle of Life will be complete again at Friday night’s star-studded premiere of The Lion King at Mandalay Bay. Siegfried & Roy will lead a contingent of Las Vegas celebrities to welcome musical genius Tim Rice, director and creator Julie Taymor and Thomas Schumacher, head of Disney Theatrical.

Contributing photographer Tom Donoghue joined me yesterday for an afternoon with the cast and crew of the amazing show, and each day now through Friday’s premiere, we will bring you our one-on-one interviews and exclusive photos.

I talked with actors Alton White, who plays Mufasa; Kissy Simmons, who plays Nala; Buya Zama from South Africa, who plays Rafiki; and Clifton Oliver, who plays Simba. The entire cast staged several scenes from the must-see hit musical for our Vegas DeLuxe cameras, and Kjeld Anderson, the production wardrobe supervisor, showed off several of the masks worn by the actors in the show.

More here:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/robin-leachs-las-vegas-celebrity-watch/2009/may/12/em-lion-kingem-roars-mandalay-bay/

BY: Jack Houston/Las Vegas Magazine

It had worked for Beauty and the Beast, the first Disney movie to make a successful transition to Broadway, and Cats, too, a musical with animal protagonists. But when Disney CEO Michael Eisner approached his then vice president of development for feature animation about staging The Lion King on Broadway, there were reservations. Major ones.

"There was nothing about the film that called out to be theatricalized," Thomas Schumacher recalled telling Eisner. "Frank Rich in The New York Times called Beauty and the Beast an animated Broadway musical. No one ever said anything similar about The Lion King."

But Eisner was persistent, so Schumacher set out to find a creative spirit who could translate the cuddly animated feature to the stage. He found that in Julie Taymor. Relatively unknown outside of the theater world, Taymor was the one who, as director and costume designer, would bring The Lion King to life on Broadway.

With Taymor onboard, the next step was conceptualization. Rather than follow a strict interpretation, she used the movie as a jumping off point. There would be no furry animal costumes cloaking unseen actors; instead, actor and animal became one. A giraffe is created by an actor on two sets of stilts wearing the animal's neck and head as a hat. A zebra is almost life-size with its head emerging from an actor's chest and the actor's head rising from its mane. Merging man and beast is a tradition that has existed since ancient mythology, yet Taymor's interpolation of it into the framework of a pop culture phenomenon was a bold masterstroke.

So, too, was toying with the story line. The original film clocked in at 89 minutes, more than an hour shorter than its eventual Broadway length, so there would need to be some embellishing. Simba's exile from Pride Rock is shown in greater detail, and the role of Nala is expanded to include a similar journey of discovery.

Kissy Simmons, who portrayed Nala on Broadway and reprises her role in the Las Vegas production, says the new production stays true to the majesty of the Tony Award-winning original.

"People really need to be prepared to be blown away," she said. "It doesn't matter where you're from, who you are, how old you are, your ethnic background or your culture, people always end up enjoying The Lion King."

Disney's The Lion King
Where: Mandalay Bay
When: Preview performances, 8 p.m. May 10-11 & 13-14; Regular performances, 8 p.m. May 15-16
Cost: $53 and up
http://lvshowbiz.com

BY: Paul Szydelko/Las Vegas Magazine

Two hours before the first notes sound in the glorious theater at The Mirage for The Beatles Love by Cirque du Soleil, the youngsters are lying on couches in a backstage lounge, enjoying SpongeBob SquarePants. So, what happens after they casually watch a pineapple under the sea and before they soar high in a bed above the majestic "Octopus' Garden" in front of thousands of audience members as the Kids of Liverpool?

The six youngsters, ages 9-12, the only children performing in a Cirque show in Las Vegas, rotate into four roles. From 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday to Monday (Tuesdays and Wednesdays form their "weekend"), Dakotah Rhoades, Noah Rotroff, Santino Cardinale, Mason Conner Roberts, Ty Wells and Seth Wright attend private school at Cirque headquarters together.

The children are driven from the school to The Mirage about 4:30 p.m. and have a snack or do homework until 5:30. On this Friday, they take a dance class from 5:30 to 6. They then go to their own dressing room, apply their makeup and change into costumes. By 6:15, technicians spray paint sores, scrapes and bandages on their arms and legs. At 6:30, they're ready for their cues, the first arriving about eight minutes into the production. They have dinner between the two nightly performances and they're picked up by their parents shortly after 11 p.m.

Never more than a few feet away from them is Susannah Denney, Cirque's child technician since Love's opening in June 2006, who has worked with more than a dozen boys.

Integrating new boys into the cast is a challenge. "You're immersing a 9-year-old into a professional performance," Denney said. "This is real theater, and they've never experienced the darkness backstage and the props and everything going around a million miles a minute."

Denney is in charge of the kids from the moment they arrive at The Mirage until they leave in the evening, defining the structure of their days, enforcing discipline and acting as a liaison between the production and the parents. "When they're first hired, we do an extensive tour, and the parents get to see exactly what the kids are going to be doing. When the kids are first here, the parents are allowed to stay with them until they're comfortable."

From there, Denney's goal is to provide a unique learning experience as well as helping to fulfill Cirque's vision of The Beatles. "For the most part, they grow up very quickly. When we hire them, we're very clear: This is a wonderful opportunity, but this is only temporary and as you mature, which is a good thing, we're going to be looking for younger boys, and you'll move on and have more experiences in life."

Steve Wynn just got an affirmation on his latest (and most expensive) work from one the leading travel magazines.

Travel and Leisure Magazine named Encore Las Vegas to its "It List: 45 Best New Hotels of 2009" in its June issue. The "It List" is an annual list complied by the magazine.

Travel and Leisure said while there are touches of opulence and luxury around every corner, "we fell for the natural touches: sunlight inside the casino and a botanical backdrop of sculpted flower beds, laurel trees, and potted palms that make the 2.3 million square feet of public space feel downright cozy."

The $2.3 billion Encore opened in December 2008 with 2,034 rooms and suites, 72,000-square feet of gaming space, five restaurants and 11 high-end retail stores.

Popsters the Pussycat Dolls perform at The Pearl at the Palms on June 27. Tickets are $54 and go on sale at 2 p.m. Saturday at The Pearl box office, 4321 W. Flamingo Road, and Ticketmaster outlets.

Rapper Jay-Z headlines The Pearl on July 3 and 4, with Ciara. Tickets are $129, $179 and $229 and go on sale at noon today at the venue box office and Ticketmaster outlets.

Pop favorites Steely Dan stop at The Pearl on Aug. 28. Tickets are $100, $125, $175 and $200 and go on sale at 1 p.m. Saturday at the venue box office and Ticketmaster outlets.

Pop siren Kylie Minogue brings her first U.S. tour to The Pearl on Oct. 3. Tickets are $65, $85 and $110 and go on sale at noon Saturday at the venue box office and Ticketmaster outlets.

Actor/R&B crooner Jamie Foxx rolls into The Joint on July 3 and 4. Tickets start at $49.50 and go on sale at noon today at the venue box office and Ticketmaster outlets.

Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal stop at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on Sept. 18. Tickets start at $60.75 and go on sale at 10 a.m. today at the House of Blues box office, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South, and Ticketmaster outlets.

The "104.3 FM Coyote CountryFest," featuring Tracy Lawrence, Tracy Byrd, Bombshel and Love & Theft, comes to the Orleans Arena on Aug. 29. General admission tickets are $10, reserved seats are $35, and go on sale at 10 a.m. today at the Orleans Arena box office, 4500 W. Tropicana Ave.

"Uncle Sam's Comedy Jam," featuring Mike Epps, Arnez J, Earthquake and Leslie Jones, takes place at the Orleans Arena on July 4. Tickets are $45 and $57.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. today at the venue box office.

Get "Hooked on a Feeling" with singer BJ Thomas at the Chrome Showroom at Santa Fe Station on Aug. 15. Tickets start at $22.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Santa Fe Station Boarding Pass Rewards Center, 4949 N. Rancho Drive.
http://www.lvrj.com/neon/45079727.html

Being originally from New York and a creative person I enjoyed immersing myself in the performing arts culture of the city I grew up in, especially the spectacular Broadway and off Broadway productions. However after relocating to Vegas, I felt a since of loss having left behind that which I truly enjoyed. Alas!, my dear readers I am happy to report Vegas has become home to the same cultural experience NYC boast  of. A true happening has descended upon us a movement of sight and sound that shook the Amsterdam theater to it’s knees for so many years, a production that truly Roared into my heart! A true experince for the entire family has come to Las Vegas, the long-running hit DISNEY'S THE LION KING is opening at the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel, bringing the same rhysmatic colorful experience right here to the Strip that has been enjoyed all over the world. An has wowed Broadway for almost 10 years. The cast of characters is as different and as spectacular as the well thought out costumes with music that will have you humming long after you've left the theater This unique stage production will have you in awe from the first moment the lights dim to the dramatic opening scene. I implore all Las Vegans to experience for yourself this truly Joyful Noise! I am proud to say the Strips lights are now shining as brightly as Broadways. The Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel will forever be known as Pride Rock!

It was a busy Saturday night at KA by Cirque du Soleil this past weekend when two superstars from the world of music and sports hit the over-the-top production, each on a boys’ night out in Vegas!

At Saturday’s 7pm show, NBA superstar Chris Bosh- Forward for the Toronto Raptors- skipped the poker tables in favor of taking in the larger-than-life Cirque du Soleil show at the MGM Grand. Following his visit, suave crooner Michael Buble- known for his hit song “Home” and for covering the likes of Frank Sinatra- slid into his seats to take in the 9:30pm show.

Edwin Pocasangre is very passionate about cooking; he began his career in Guatemala working in his family restaurant where he learned the basics from his grandmother. In 1989 Chef Edwin moved to the United States and began cooking in Los Angeles at restaurant, La Scalla where he first learned Italian cuisine. In 1994 Chef Edwin moved to Las Vegas and worked under the instruction of Wolfgang Puck where he became a Sous Chef at Spago. In 1997, was called to work as an Asst.Chef to Marco Porducci at Steve Wynn’s new restaurant at Treasure Island’s Francesco’s. Edwin’s passion for Italian cuisine has continued through 2001 Chef Edwin was promoted to Executive Chef Francesco’s where he currently works nightly creating fantastic Italian cuisine.

Jamie Foxx will bring his Intuition Tour to The Joint this summer. Foxx will play two shows at The new Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Friday, July 3rd and Saturday, July 4th.

With Intuition, Foxx is striving to create a state-of-the-art R&B album that will solidify his place among music’s elite. The album features an astonishing list of guest stars, truly the biggest names in urban music—Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West, T-Pain, T.I. (who spices up the album’s first single, “Just Like Me”), plus production by such hit machines as Tricky and The Dream, Timbaland, and Just Blaze. “We were trying to be like the Yankees, trying to get the best,” says Foxx.
http://reportonvegas.com/

Chip Lightman, Danny's manager for some eighteen years, said the autobiography Voices In My Head is at the publishers as this column is being written., and may be out as early as June. There may be a documentary in the works about Danny, too.

Danny Gans had recently opened his show at Steve Wynn's Encore following his closing at the Mirage. The Encore and Wynn will be holding a Memorial Service in Danny's honor on May 21-guests by invitation only.

The Hilton's new show Bad Girls which is produced by Glen Medas is another burlesque type adult treat. Fabulous costumes in the show and the lead singer, Lorena Peril , who stands out . She also does an outstanding impression of Christina Aguilera, which she did in American Superstars. This girl will be abig star.

Sharing the room at the Hilton with Bad Girls is John Stewart's show Voices with Earl Turner and Lani Misalucha. Earl is well known in Las Vegas and always creates that special bond with his audience while crooning those jazzy numbers while Lani is creating her own fans with that fabulous voice of her and great comedic talent.

The 90-minute dinner show features live music and traditional dances and costuming from several of the Pacific Islands including Hawaii, Tonga, Fiji and Samoa. Tickets are $49.95 and VIP tickets are $59.95, call 702-731-3311.

FREMONT STREET EXPERIENCE WILL STEP BACK IN TIME THIS SUMMER

Beginning Memorial Day weekend, the Fremont Street Experience (FSE) will be taking Las Vegas back 40 years with the "Summer of '69: Vegas or Bust" festival and concert series that will continue for 108 days through Labor Day weekend. The celebration will offer a summer of free concerts by major iconic bands from 1969.

All summer long, themed nightly entertainment will also include cover bands and tribute artists, theatrical performances with costumed entertainers, new Viva Vision shows paying tribute to the year 1969 and special guest appearances.

"Vegas Groovy Cruise," June 5-7, will feature and display classic cars plus muscle cars from 1969. Rare Earth and Bill Haley's Comets will both perform concerts on Saturday, June 6.

"American Pie 4th of July" from July 3-5 will commemorate Independence Day and highlight FSE's Viva Vision show, "Don McLean's American Pie." Headline concerts will feature Janis Joplin's Original Band Big Brother & The Holding Company on July 3, and The Grass Roots on July 4. Also on July 4, there will be a virtual fireworks show on the Viva Vision canopy.

"One Giant Leap: 40th Anniversary of Moon Landing" will mark the historic launch of Apollo 11 on Thursday, July 16, and the landing on the moon on Monday, July 20. Special "moon landing" concerts will feature Jefferson Starship on July 18 and The 5th Dimension on July 25.

"Woodstock TributePalooza: 40th Anniversary of Woodstock" will relive the August 1969 festival. FSE will bring the country's best tribute artists to Las Vegas to pay homage to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, Joe Cocker, The Grateful Dead and others from Friday, Aug.14 through Sunday, Aug. 16.

"Labor Day Weekend: End of Summer, What a Bummer Bash" will close the summer concert series Sept. 4-7. Highlighting the weekend will be concerts by Canned Heat on Saturday, Sept. 5, and Three Dog Night on Sunday, Sept. 6.
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