The new $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel-casino will open mid-December with about one-third of its 2,995 total rooms delaying opening until July 2011.
It’s likely to be the last major new hotel-casino to open on the struggling Las Vegas Strip for at least a few years.
Cosmopolitan’s CEO John Unwin said the hotel’s amenities include 13 restaurants, a spa, nightclub, 150,000 square feet of meeting and convention space and retail stores.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
While Las Vegans and tourists alike are warmly welcomed to celebrate (and brave!) the return of the scorching sun’s rays and sweltering heat, some enterprising people are also taking the opportunity to cash in on the many pool festivities occuring at the thirteen or so casino and resort pools in Las Vegas.
A new web series on YouTube, “Vegas Summer Crew,” is inviting everyone to the pool parties. Poolside festivities will be delivered nationwide online, encouraging everyone not to miss out on one drop of sweat next season.
The series also is opening doors for some lucky buxom and buff pool denizens, offering them the chance to become one of the faces of the “Vegas Summer Crew.” The chosen few will act as the series’ hosts, showing up to a total of nine events, consisting of major casinos’ poolside concerts and parties, as well as some red carpet events. Hosts will be interviewing attendees and checking in on the party, all while being filmed and fed back to the web.
Auditions will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 13 at Cashman Theater (850 Las Vegas Blvd North). The show is seeking people 21 and up who consider themselves fun, outgoing and energetic. It also helps, of course, if you look great scantily clad — hopefuls are asked to show-up in their best bikini or board shorts.
“What we’re looking for is people with fun, outgoing personalities that feel comfortable going out into a crowd and getting interaction. No on-camera experience [is necessary]; they just have to be fun,” says Tony Marin, a rep for the “Vegas Summer Crew.”
There also will be an ongoing contest throughout the pool season allowing people all over the country to submit a video of themselves in a swimsuit explaining why they too would make a great face for the “Vegas Summer Crew.” Eight contestants will be chosen, winning themselves a trip to Las Vegas and a potential guest host spot.
There’s an added bonus to getting your face out on the World Wide Web: “There will be compensation for whoever we hire,” says Marin.
Sounds like this summer job sure beats selling lemonade on the corner.
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Paris Hilton usually always goes crazy when she’s in Las Vegas. Even the recent dumping of her boyfriend, Doug Reinhardt – again – didn’t dampen her spirit one iota. She danced on tables all night long Saturday and until Sunday morning in Las Vegas.
Hilton got her party on first at the Wet Republic pool at the MGM Grand during the day on Saturday and then for her grand coup de grace proceeded to Tao at The Venetian, hanging out with her sister Nicky and her sister’s long-term boyfriend, David Katzenberg, and equally controversial tablemates NFL star Reggie Bush and Oscar winner Jamie Foxx.
As previously reported by Las Vegas Backstage Access, Paris Hilton has had no takers for her proposed new reality television show.
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Some in the U.K. may be OK with donating with their livers, but are rolling over in their graves over the unauthorized donation of their prized hearts!
The British National Health Service Blood and Transport organization is currently investigating errors in its 14 million-strong donor list that may have led to organs being removed from donors without permission, it said Saturday.
Going back a decade, computer programming glitches are the suspected culprits. This means that since 1999, for example, people who wished to donate their lungs or skin may have been incorrectly identified as wanting to donate their corneas or heart.
The Sunday Telegraph said the glitch affected about 800,000 people, 45 of whom have since died and donated organs. Just under half are thought to have made donations based on the faulty data, the paper said.
The revelation comes at a very awkward time for the British government, which has been pushing to increase their rate of organ donation, one of the lowest rates in Europe. To make organ donation easier, U.K officials have gone so far as to float the idea of automatically designating every person as an organ donor unless they or their survivors opt out.
The computer glitch comes atop a series of gross information technology mishaps in the U.K., raising questions over the government’s ability to properly handle its citizens’ data. Officials have also misplaced data on 3 million driving test candidates, 600,000 army applicants, and 5,000 prison officers over the past few years.
Filed under Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
The unique multi-media event featuring live orchestral music of all six of John Williams’ epic Star Wars scores will play two performances at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on May 29 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m..
The production features a full symphony orchestra and choir, accompanied by specially edited footage from the films displayed on a three-story-tall, HD LED super-screen – one of the largest ever put on tour. The live music and film elements are synchronized, creating a full multimedia, one-of-kind Star Wars experience.
“We’ve taken the key themes from the music and cut together all the images that fit with each theme, so you can really get a sense of how the music played into the images,” said George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars Saga.
Accompanying the concert is an exclusive exhibit of Star Wars costumes, props, artifacts, production artwork and specially created behind-the-scenes videos from the Lucasfilm Archives. Many of these pieces are leaving Skywalker Ranch for the first time ever. The exhibit features many classic fan favorite artifacts, as well as several new and never-before-seen items, including full costumes for Jedi Masters Kit Fisto and Plo Koon will be on display.
And, for the first time ever, pages from John Williams’ original hand-written sheet music for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace will be exhibited for the public.
Also on display will be various never-before-seen props from the films, including blasters and helmets from Coruscant, Tatooine and other iconic Star Wars locations.
The Las Vegas performances are part of the return of Star Wars ™: in Concert to North America, a fifty-city leg of the worldwide tour that starts May 13 in Ft. Myers, Florida, and will include dates in the United States and Canada. More than 350,000 Americans attended Star Wars™: In Concert during its three-month inaugural 47-city North American tour last year, which Pollstar rated as the 9th biggest tour of 2009.
Tickets are priced at $25, $35, $55, $85 and $125, inclusive of tax and fees. Tickets will be available at the Orleans Arena Box Office by calling 702-284-7777 or by visiting www.orleansarena.com.
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With many businesses in the Las Vegas economy having to rapidly reinvent and transform themselves just to stay afloat, Las Vegas Backstage Access thought you’d enjoy a quick staffing operations recap on booze and boob joints in Sin City.
For Las Vegas adult strip clubs the general rule is that for 18-and-over clubs you can see the barely-legal dancers completely in the buff, but – always a catch – they can’t serve you alcohol.
Now, if you want to drink alcoholic beverages, you’ll have to hit up a 21-and-over Las Vegas club for a lap dance and a cocktail; the dancers there are of legal drinking age as well. (The rare exception to the rule is the Palomino where—through a supposed deal Frank Sinatra made back in the Mob day—the club has 18-and-over fully nude dancers and serves alcohol.)
On the other paw, Déjà Vu Showgirls, has just made the switch from completely nekked and dry to 21-and-over, topless, and offering a full bar. And, to celebrate the change in these tough times, Déjà Vu marketing and promotions director Larry Beard says, “We will have free draught beer for a short time to promote the change to alcohol.”
While there was no official reason for the switch, according to Beard, if you still really want to see dancers completely in the buff, you can still do so at their sister property, Little Darlings.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Performances, Uncategorized
What Las Vegas Backstage Access reported yesterday, came true: Season 9 “American Idol” finalists were spirited quietly away on an overnight trip to Las Vegas.
On Friday the finalists arrived and took in Cirque du Soleil’s “Viva Elvis” show and then they took over the stage on Saturday for a critique and mentoring by Adam Lambert, Season 8 ”Idol” runner-up.
Lambert flew in from Vancouver to meet the contestants, who rehearsed Elvis hits such as “Viva Las Vegas.” Lambert told them not to be afraid to jump out of character.
Season 9 finalist Crystal Bowersox was standoffish at the Friday meetup, eating by herself at the Aria buffet as other fellow contestants ate together.
No photos were released of the “Viva Elvis” event and security personnel went so far as to temporarily confiscate cell phones for most of their three-hour stay in the Elvis theater at Aria.
The “Idol” contingent left about 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Meanwhile, across town at Sam Boyd Stadium, Season 8 winner Kris Allen tweaked Lambert during Pet-a-Palooza, which drew an estimated 28,000 happy four-legged beast owners {also reported by Las Vegas Backstage Access yesterday}.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, Music, news, Performances, Uncategorized
The top nine of “American Idol” just may be going to Las Vegas for Elvis Week!
At least that’s what the latest rumors say. According to The Wrap, gay glam-rocker Adam Lambert and the season 9 crew may convene at the Aria Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip for Lambert to mentor Idol hopefuls. Aria happens to house Cirque du Soleil’s new “Viva Elvis” show.
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Morris R. Jeppson, a weapons specialist who armed the atomic bomb aboard the Enola Gay as it headed for Hiroshima, died at the age of 87. 
Family members said Jeppson died March 30 at a hospital in Las Vegas after being hospitalized for back pain and a severe headache, The Washington Post reported.
Jeppson, known as “Dick,” was a 23-year-old Army Air Forces second lieutenant when he flew his first and only combat mission aboard the Enola Gay, which dropped the bomb Aug. 6, 1945 on Hiroshima, resulting in 100,000 deaths and injuries and the Japanese surrender and the end of World War II.
The bomb had to be armed in flight to prevent accidental detonation during the plane’s takeoff. Jeppson, the weapons test officer, armed the bomb’s electrical system, pulling out safety plugs and replacing them with firing plugs. His boss, Navy Capt. William S. Parsons, installed the charge that would be fired into the weapon’s uranium core.
Jeppson would later recall the flash as the bomb exploded. “No joy at that point,” he told Time magazine in 2005. “But it was a job that was done.”
After receiving the Silver Star, Jeppson worked as a civilian in electronics and applied radiation.
Jeppson was born in Logan, Utah, June 23, 1922, and joined the Army Air Forces, hoping to become a pilot. But after he failed the vision test, the military sent him to electronics and radar training programs at Yale, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jeppson received a bachelor’s degree in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and worked for the university’s radiation laboratory and at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He then founded two companies — one that built linear accelerators and another that made industrial microwave ovens.
He had lived in California before moving to Las Vegas about 20 years ago.
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Brooks & Dunn, Lady Antebellum, Randy Houser, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire and Montgomery Gentry are just some of the many country music stars planning to participate in the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards In Las Vegas starting on April 18.
Honoring country music’s top talent and the industry’s hottest emerging talent, to be broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 18 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network. In addition, the Academy will tape an all-star concert special, ACM Presents: Brooks & Dunn – The Last Rodeo at the same location on Monday, April 19, to air at a later date on the CBS Television Network. Both shows are produced for television by Dick Clark Productions.
The list of events includes the ACM Concerts at Fremont Street Experience, the ACM Chairman’s Ride, a special USO performance, All-Star Jam and more.
Some details are as follows, with timing information to be released later:
Friday & Saturday, April 16 & 17
ACM Concerts at Fremont Street Experience – For the 4th year in a row, the Academy of Country Music presents concerts at Fremont Street Experience! Featuring headlining performances by Lady Antebellum on Friday and Miranda Lambert on Saturday, these free and open-to-the-public concerts start at 6:30pm on two stages in downtown Las Vegas. For the 2nd year in a row, winners in each of the newcomer categories Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo will have the chance to perform at Fremont Street Experience during these concerts.
Saturday, April 17
ACM Chairman’s Ride – This event has grown from its inception and for the second year will be an invitation-only event for artists and industry VIPs to experience a scenic ride through the gorgeous Nevada landscape. ACM/The Home Depot Humanitarian Award honorees of 2010, Montgomery Gentry, will host the ride for the 6th time this year. The event benefits ACM Lifting Lives. Event details and timing will be made available only to invited, registered participants.
USO Concert in Partnership with ACM Lifting Lives™ – For the first time ever, ACM Lifting Lives (the Academy’s charitable arm) is partnering with the USO to bring a free, private concert to the service men and women of Nellis Air Force Base just outside of Las Vegas, NV. USO tour veterans Montgomery Gentry and Randy Houser are scheduled to perform for the crowd. The event will be open to all military ID holders and media credentialed specifically for this event.
Sunday, April 18
45th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS – Hosted by Reba McEntire for a record 12th time and featuring the hottest performances by today’s superstars of country, the Awards will once again take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
ACM All-Star Jam – This raucous, no-holds-barred jam features impromptu performances from the artists who participate in the Awards. Past performers have included Big & Rich, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Kelly Clarkson, Sara Evans, Jack Ingram, Jewel, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Montgomery Gentry, James Otto, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, Taylor Swift, Sugarland, Carrie Underwood, Gretchen Wilson, Dwight Yoakam and more.
Monday, April 19
ACM Presents: Brooks & Dunn – The Last Rodeo – Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn, the best-selling duo in the history of country music, will receive the Academy’s Milestone Award in recognition of their 20-year, record-breaking career during this tribute concert special. They will be honored for holding the record for the most wins of any artist in the Academy’s history with 26 awards in total, including three Entertainer of the Year awards. They will also be honored for holding the record for most Top Vocal Duo wins, with 15 awards, eight of which are consecutive from 2000-2007. Artists already scheduled to perform at the taping include superstars Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. Details on special elements of the show and more performers that will be added will be announced at a later date. Tickets are still available for this show, which benefits ACM Lifting Lives and will air at a later date on CBS Television Network from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. For information on tickets visit www.Ticketmaster.com
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, Music, news, Performances, Uncategorized
The “reveal” update: Last night the 47-year-old Holyfield (43-10-2, 28 KOs) knocked out 41-year-old Frans Botha with 2:05 left in the eighth round Saturday night. Holyfield (43-10-2) knocked the defending champion down 31 seconds earlier with a right to the old guy’s chin.
—————
Some professional boxers just refuse to give up- or, perhaps, they can’t afford to.
American heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield, left in photo, 47, squares off tonight with almost equally aged foe Francois “White Buffalo” Botha, 41, of South Africa at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. At stake is the WBF heavyweight championship belt- and best, if you want to watch the fight, to pull out the No-Doz. 
Holyfield, the former four-time heavyweight champion, apparently, wants to who wants to prove he stills has the skills to be a world champion, even though he last held a belt nearly 10 years ago and has lost two fights in a row.
Holyfield has a professional boxing record of 47 wins with four losses, two draws and 27 KOs.
Botha (47-4-3, 28 KOs), has had a relatively distinguished career as a heavyweight boxer with top contenders, but has fought several world heavyweight champions including Mike Tyson, Shannon Briggs, Axel Schulz, Michael Moorer, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko.
Even so, Botha is named the current World Boxing Foundation World Heavyweight Champion. (Although he won the International Boxing Federation World Heavyweight title in the ring the fight was declared a no contest and he was never officially recognized as champion.)
Probably feeling that long-term boxing is not good for the brain cells, Botha had some smarts and turned entrepreneur for a short time, corning the market on some magical champagne glasses. All you had to do was twist the stem and, voila!, the fluted glass supposedly lit up like Grand Central Station at rush hour.
Promoters are literally begging the fight sales light up. By Friday afternoon, only 2,000 tickets had been sold, leaving promoter Crown Boxing, which is paying Holyfield $150,000 plus a pay-per-view percentage, to hope for a large walk-up crowd. Even $25 lower-bowl seats are going unsold.
Holyfield currently has the odds of minus-360, Botha plus-280
If you’re into comedy and want to save gas money, turn on the fight at 8 p.m. (PT) on pay per view (Cable 502, DirecTV, Dish Network) and shell out $29.95.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, sports, Uncategorized
The Prive and Living Room nightclubs at Planet Hollywood resort in Las Vegas are losing their lease with Planet Hollywood and many are saying the nightclubs will close this weekend.
The adjacent and jointly operated clubs, which filed for bankruptcy protection in Miami in November, filed a motion on Wednesday to dismiss the bankruptcy case because of the lease issue.
{Las Vegas Backstage Access has written in the past on Prive nightclub and their many woes.}
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Pure Management Group has announced its intention to convert Company Kitchen & Pub House at the Luxor in Las Vegas into Company Lounge, “a casual nightlife venue.”
This is the second such change for the 11,000 square-foot venue, which opened in November 2007 as Company American Bistro. Originally helmed by Chef Adam Sobel (formerly of Restaurant Guy Savoy, currently executive chef of RM Seafood), the über-chic, ski lodge-inspired venue’s opening celebrity investor lineup included such Hollywood luminaries as Nick Lachey, Nicky Hilton and Wilmer Valderrama. Following Chef Sobel’s March 2008 departure—as well as that of Top Chef’s foam-of-famer Marcel Vigneron—Company briefly shut down to transform into the more approachable, American tapas iteration.
A PMG representative reports that the Company Lounge schedule has cut back from the resto’s Wednesday through Sunday, 5 p.m.-late, to just “Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings.”
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A year in the making, the Red Rock Canyon Visitors Center grand opening will be today, April 10. 
Located 17 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip on Charleston Boulevard/State Route 159, the new exhibits provide a glimpse of surrounding geology from the death of the supercontinent 250 million to 160 million years ago and of human history going back 10,000 years, including the Old Spanish Trail of the 1800s and Las Vegas today.
A new amphitheater with seating for 290 gives lecturers a place to talk, actors a stage to perform and provides a place outside to hold weddings.
Visitors will experience outdoor exhibits that bring replicas of some of the park’s most fragile features to the foreground: things such as American Indian rock art panels, desert tortoises in their natural habitat, and a life-size cougar that lurks atop one of the shade walls.
It’s all designed so people can touch, feel, see and understand the national conservation area from the perspective of earth, water, fire and air.
Park volunteers, Bureau of Land Management personnel and elected officials will hold a grand opening for the new visitors center and exhibit area at 11 a.m. before public access to the displays begins at 2 p.m. Among the attendees will be Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who championed the effort behind the $23 million visitors center expansion project and the bill that paid for it through the sale of public lands in Southern Nevada.
Look-alike Teddy Roosevelt actor Joe Wiegand will be at the grand opening today and again Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The admission fee to the park includes access to the visitors center and its outdoor exhibit area.
Visited by more than one million people each year, the 195,819 acre Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area adjacent to the visitors center stands in mark contrast to Las Vegas, a city primarily geared to entertainment and gaming. Red Rock Canyon includes a 13-mile scenic drive, more than 30 miles of hiking trails, rock climbing, horseback riding, mountain biking, road biking, picnic areas- and now, a new visitors center.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
Fans of “Star Trek,” in its numerous incarnations, who also truly loved “Star Trek: The Experience” at the Las Vegas Hilton,” will surely feel they’ve died and been beamed up this Saturday in Las Vegas.
Popworx, the auction house that specializes in sales of television and movie assets, is holding the Star Trek auction at their warehouse (66 Spectrum Boulevard in Las Vegas) including various props and settings from the former Las Vegas resort hotel attraction. It was built during the era when Las Vegas thought it was going to be a family-friendly destination (what many call “The Bad Years”).
The sale focuses on the larger items from ‘ST:TE,’ including wall panels, furniture from Quark’s Bar, Starfleet costumes, and seats from the Klingon Encounter ride. Also on sale will be transporter room and hallway pieces from the Enterprise D replica that was part of the attraction.
The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Everything is cash and carry (so, rent that huge moving van now), and no credit cards will be accepted.
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Alicia Keys is tackling the unemployment epidemic, one fan at a time. On April 6 the neo-soul singer-songwriter-philanthropist proudly announced she is partnering with the jobs Web site www.Monster.com to launch her Web site IAAS.com (I Am a Super Woman) and have it fully operational with all the bells and whistles in July.
Keys is specifically looking for a full-time “head blogger,” and she’s taking applications through May 1.
So, if you’re in Las Vegas this Saturday, April 9, don’t forget to stop by Keys’ Freedom Tour at Mandalay Bay Event Center, with plenty of resumes in hand– she just may snatch yours blowing in the stiff unemployment wind as she’s singing her message-laden songs.
Failing this, you need to wait until Keyes is in Portugal to start the European leg of her tour.
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Rodd Wilbur isn’t your ordinary chef. In fact, he’s not a chef at all. But what he “relishes” – he prefers “cloning” – the secret recipes for popular dishes made by restuarant chains like McDonald’s, Applebee’s and KFC. Then, to make some scratch, he writes books to show how you too can make the yummy stuff.
Wilbur started with the Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookie theft, coming up with a recipe that was a variation on the Nestlé Tollhouse classic and tasted remarkably close to Debbie Fields’ moneymaker. Then he moved on to more savory exploits. For his second recipe, he reverse-engineered the Big Mac. That special sauce? It’s basically Thousand Island dressing!
A former TV news reporter, Wilbur, a Summerlin, Nevada resident, now works full-time cloning recipes for his cookbooks, which are for sale on QVC and have been featured on Oprah and Live with Regis and Kelly. He’s really not a chef or an innovator; he’s a casual-dining cloner, and success means tasting just like the real thing.
“I want it to be exact,” Wilbur says as he gets to work on recreating a batch of cous cous salad from the Houston’s chain of restaurants. “I don’t want to make it better; I don’t want to make it worse. I don’t want to make it less fat. I don’t want to do anything to it except exactly duplicate it.”
So far, Wilbur has exactly duplicated enough recipes for nine cookbooks. His 10th, 17 recipes shy of completion, should be out in September. The book will be called Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3. “Alternate title: The Greatest Cookbook Ever Written,” Wilbur jokes.
Since publishing his first cookbook in 1993, Wilbur has sold close to 5 million copies of his cookbooks, all of which tackle well-known recipes from fast food or casual dining chains and break them down for cooks to re-create at home.
His 1,000th recipe — the one most requested by visitors to his website — was Olive Garden’s chicken and gnocchi soup, or as Wilbur describes it, “really good shit.”
Flipping through the pages of his books is like looking at a greatest-hits menu from chain restaurants: Buffalo Wild Wings’ Caribbean jerk sauce, the Cheesecake Factory’s Bang-Bang Chicken and Shrimp, Chili’s lettuce wraps, KFC’s biscuits.
And Wilbur has all kinds of tricks for figuring out what goes into the dishes that people crave. Sometimes he asks for a seat at the bar or near the kitchen, so he can watch how desserts or dishes are assembled. Other times he claims to be a strict vegetarian or vegan, so he can find out if a dish contains chicken broth or animal fat. When Oprah Winfrey challenged him to create the Jack Daniel’s grill glaze from TGIFriday’s before appearing on her show, Wilbur faked an allergy so the restaurant would give him a list of the ingredients.
Wilbur just loves his role of playing recipe investigator, hunting for clues and then putting the recipe pieces together until he’s completed a culinary puzzle that tastes fresh off the line.
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Think what you smell is purely incense? Think again. Now, incense has a growing new use– a legal substitute for pot in Las Vegas and elsewhere around the country.
Smoke Depot in Las Vegas currently sells a legal greenish-brown substance called Black Mamba which, for many, creates a highly euphoric feeling similar to marijuana. Collectively known as “Spice,” sister brands include K2, Cloud Nine and Green Buddha.
All are herbs that, many times, are laced with a variant of THC, the psychoactive substance found in marijuana. Though the canister’s gold-and black wrapper warns: “Not for human consumption,” consumers across the country are smoking Spice like pot and experiencing similar effects. But since it doesn’t contain actual THC, Spice isn’t detectable in drug tests.
Black Mamba has been the preferred brand throughout Las Vegas over the last few months, according to numerous shop owners. They’re so popular that stores like Smoke Dept can’t keep them stocked! And the skyrocketing sales are primarily attributed to word of mouth advertising due to the nature of the product.
The products are not cheap. A gram of Black Mamba costs $20 at Smoke Depot and they’ve been selling about 200 grams a week for the past three months.
A number of shops in Las Vegas say they’ve been selling to anyone, including teenagers.
But just because it’s legal doesn’t mean Spice is safe.
In the last two months, a Missouri toxicologist says that he’s seen more than 30 cases of teens with hallucinations, elevated heart rates, vomiting and seizures after using K2.
Las Vegas storeowners say customers are starting to request K2. Spice is still so new that the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services says it hasn’t seen many reports. “It’s on our radar, but there’s not a lot known about it,” spokesman Ben Kieckhefer says.
Users in Las Vegas are experimenting with Black Mamba, K2 and Spice Gold more than any other brands, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police narcotics detective Bruce Gentner, and the results haven’t been pretty. “We just had a case where two young men got really sick,” he says. “They bought it at a local smoke shop here, and within minutes of smoking it, they were transported to the hospital with hallucinations, vomiting and panic attacks.”
Black Mamba comes from a plant called Damiana, grown regionally. In its natural form, it’s used in tea and liquor and is a known sleeping aid and aphrodisiac.
Although Black Mamba is typically Damiana treated with a THC variant called JWH-018, users can’t be sure what they’re getting, says Gary Boggs, executive assistant of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s office of diversion control.
Though prohibited in most of Europe, the main ingredients in most Spice are not regulated in the United States.
The DEA is going through preliminary steps to determine whether the substances in Spice should be federally controlled. Then it will collaborate with the Department of Health and Human Services, a process that could take years.
Kansas recently became the first state to ban the compounds, and two counties in Missouri also have barred the substance. The Missouri Senate will take a second vote to send a bill to the House that would ban it statewide and make possession of Spice a felony. Weber School District in Utah recently banned Spice from school grounds.
Filed under Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
As previously reported by Las Vegas Backstage Access, the Monte Carlo magician has indeed called it quits after headlining and performing about 15,000 Las Vegas shows for the last 14 years. Lance Burton will close his Monte Carlo run in Las Vegas on Sept. 4.
Burton reports that the decision to leave was his, though he remains guarded and vague when it comes to providing specific reasons for his departure.
“About three ago I had a moment of clarity when it just all became clear to me that I’m not on the same page as the hotel,” Burton said, adding, he doesn’t plan to badmouth the hotel where he spent at least a third of his career and has a deep emotional connection.
Some say that Burton and MGM Mirage officials were at odds over budgeting and cost-cutting issues, but, Burton says, that’s not the primary reason he gave notice.
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Do you find it hard to be clearly focused when hyped up on energy and caffeine drinks, all the while our zany world is spinning at Mach 1? The uncontrollable jitters make it hard to accurately text on your cell phone while clubbing. And, if nothing else, it’s just plain hard on your ol’ ticker.
Rejoice! Ex Drinks has come to the rescue. Headquartered in Henderson, Nevada, the company now has a relaxing natural fruit drink called Chill.
“The relaxer drink category is the latest and newest growing category,” says Deborah Behr, managing director of Ex Drinks. “We do have America’s first relaxer beverage. We were the first ones to bring it in the United States. The concept in it is exactly that: to have something to kick back and unwind; put your feet up.”
Containing chamomile, valerian, lemon balm and vitamins, Chill comes without the artificial flavors, colors and other additives often found in energy drinks.
You can pick up a can of the refreshing liquid relaxation at Albertson’s in the Las Vegas Valley or visit their Web site at www.exdrinks.com for more information.
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The fourth-annual Jennifer Harman Charity Poker Tournament, benefiting the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) no-kill animal shelter, will take place on April 13 at the Venetian poker room in Las Vegas. The tournament will start at 5 p.m., and the event kicks off at 4 p.m. with a red carpet and silent auction.
The $330 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament will also feature $100 rebuys for the first three 20-minute levels, and a one-time $100 add-on for double your starting stack. Matt Savage will be the tournament director.
The grand prize of the tournament is a $10,000 World Series of Poker main-event seat, and a Curtis & Co. watch. The top-10 finishers will be awarded prizes that have a combined total value of $30,000.
Celebrities who have been confirmed attendance for the event include Cheryl Hines from “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Dennis Haskins from “Saved by the Bell,” actor Lou Diamond Phillips, modern artist Michael Godard, and ESPN commentator Lon McEachern.
Professional poker players in attendance will include Marco Traniello, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Hoyt Corkins, Andy Bloch, Chau Gian, David Chesnoff, Lacey Jones, Jeff Madsen, Todd Brunson, Erica Schoenberg, David Greay, David Singer and Lee Watkinson.
The three previous champions of this event: David “HEYIMDRO” Rowan (2009), Seth Dupree (2008), and Kirk Morrison (2007).
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
The 36th annual UNLVino wine tasting extravaganza in Las Vegas is back, starting on April 8, for an incredible three days of non-stop Champagne, sake and wine tasting action, and also to drum up some much appreciated funds for UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration’s Food and Beverage Management Department.
To kick it off, UNLVino presents Bubble-Licious, a celebration of all things sparkling at Caesars’ brand new Garden of the Gods pool complex.
Here are the three locations and times:
Bubble-Licious: Thurs., April 8, The Garden of the Gods, Caesars Palace, 7-10 p.m.
Sake Fever: Friday, April 9, Palms Pool & Bungalows, The Palms, 7-10 p.m.
UNLVino Grand Tasting: Saturday, April 10, Bally’s Ballroom, 2-6 p.m.
Tickets are available here.
Filed under entertainment, food, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
If the wind and rain stops, the temperature in Las Vegas will soar, which primarily means two major can’t-miss thangs: It’s time to hit the pool and it’s time for SpyOn Vegas’ Hot 100 Contest—which also takes place at a pool.
The annual hotties competition seeks out the most beautiful women Las Vegas has to offer and rewards them for their god- (or surgeon-) given good looks with cold, hard cash. It’s the third year for the Hot 100 and, like the chests of many of the competitors, it is bigger and better than ever.
The so-called “Battle of the Beauties” is set to give out a whopping $100,000 in prizes this year—despite Las Vegas’ choking economy – that’s double the amount that was doled out last year—to the top 20 finalists. First place is awarded $35,000, second gets $20,000 and third fetches $10,000, while finalists four through 20 collect between $6,000 and $1,000.
Registration is open on: www.SpyOnVegas.com The competition gets under way April 30 at Wet Republic. Twelve weeks of events, Friday afternoon pool parties and online voting will follow, culminating with the crowning of “hottest female in Las Vegas” on July 23.
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Hugh Hefner, aka The Hef, will turn 84 this week, and now has one helluva 23-year-old ”keeper” girlfriend to help celebrate his birthday in Las Vegas at the Playboy towers in the Palms Casino Resort.
“I am in a very good relationship with a young lady named Crystal Harris,” Hefner said, beaming. “She’s a keeper.”
Crystal Harris looks like many of the other women that Hefner has dated over the years. Harris appeared in the December 2009 issue of Playboy. To see Harris’ website, click here.
Hefner will celebrate his birthday on April 9, emphatically says, “I will defintitely not be celibate– I’ll be celebrating.”
Hefner found the nudie rich Playboy magazine in 1953 and has a reputation for dating several women at a time; though, when he was married for eight years, he emphasized monogamy.
“I’ve never thought in terms of quantity, but more in terms of quality.”
The Playboy King recently made news when he formally invited the President to the Playboy Mansion. No word if the Prez is considering.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
With this week marking Tiger Woods return to professional golf, more high-profile names with Las Vegas nightclub connections have surfaced in his ongoing infidelity scandal.
Los Angeles nightlife impresario and Peter Morton’s right hand man supplying celebrities to the now defunct Body English nightclub at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel, Brent Bolthouse is mentioned in the May issue of Vanity Fair, which features “The Temptation of Tiger Woods,” one of the most comprehensive accounts to date on the golf star’s double life.
Porn star Holly Sampson, right, told Vanity Fair that Bolthouse got her involved in a May 2009 bachelor party Woods was throwing for an associate. 
Meanwhile, Rachel Uchitel, the former Las Vegas Tao VIP host who has been referred to as Tiger’s Mistress No. 1, recently told FoxNews.com that she has moved to Las Vegas to be with her dogs and family, adding she gets less media scrutiny in Las Vegas than she did while living in New York City.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, sports, Uncategorized
Monte Carlo headliner magician Lance Burton will be mysteriously and suddenly packing his magical Las Vegas suitcases and announcing his departure this week. 
Lance Burton is ending his current six-year contract at the Monte Carlo at the end of this summer — five years earlier than planned.
Burton had headlined at the Monte Carlo casino resort for 13 years before renewing the deal last year that would have taken him to 2015.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
High rollers are not just hanging around at the card tables in Las Vegas anymore.
Aria in the new CityCenter complex in Las Vegas boasts $5,000 denomination slot machines with a max bet of 1 credit per spin.
Dig deep and just maybe you too can have a thrill!
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
The NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Show, the world’s largest electronic media show, conference and expo for film professionals who create, manage and distribute entertainment across all platforms, takes place April 10 – 15, 2010 in Las Vegas (exhibits open April 12).
This week it was announced that Stan Lee, the iconic co-creator of Spider-Man, X-Men and The Incredible Hulk, will appear at this year’s event. 
“A key theme of this year’s NAB Show is transmedia: developing, integrating and monetizing content for multiplatform distribution,” said Chris Brown, executive vice president, conventions & business operations for NAB Show. “Stan Lee has epitomized the concept of transmedia with his amazing creations, which have been turned into smash hit feature films, television series and innovative digital content.”
Stan Lee is the Founder of POW! Entertainment and has served as its Chairman and Chief Creative Officer since inception. But he is best known as the man whose super heroes propelled Marvel to its preeminent position in the comic book industry.
Lee’s co-creations include Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange. Now the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Media, Lee creates new intellectual property for POW!, which has been in operation since 2001.
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Long dubbed “Mr. Las Vegas,” veteran entertainer Wayne Newton has landed his first reality TV show, which will focus on the women who run his life, both on and off stage.
The iconic singer who has performed for over 40 years and in over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas will front the new show on American cable channel WeTV. Release timing is being worked out.
Tentatively titled, “Wayne’s World,” the show will feature his wife and attorney Kathleen McCrone, her sister Trisha McCrone and Newton’s publicist and his 7-year-old daughter, Lauren. Even his mother-in-law, Marilyn, will make an appearance – she runs the star’s merchandise empire.
The announcement of the show comes after a super bad start to 2010 for Newton – his wife filed court papers in February in a bid to keep her assets separate from those of her financially-troubled husband, and his adopted daughter, Erin, suffered liver, kidney and respiratory failure and fell into a coma after giving birth to the star’s grandchild.
The health crisis forced Newton to pull out of a series of lucrative engagements, so he could be close to his sick daughter, who is now on the road to recovery.
Las Vegas police descended upon his Sin City ranch, while he was at his daughter’s bedside at the end of February, to try to collect court judgments relating to a bank loan Newton reportedly reneged on.
Newton has blamed years of bad money management by his team of advisors for his financial troubles.
He also has been accused of failing to pay storage fees to keep his private jet in a hanger at the Oakland County International Airport in Michigan.
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Bernard Hopkins, 45, is a minus-500 betting favorite at MGM Mirage’s sports books going into Saturday’s fight with Roy Jones Jr., 41, who is going in at plus-350 odds at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. 
It’s a glorious boxing rematch 17 years in the making. For Jones, 54-6, losing five of his past 10 fights dating to 2004, it’s more about proving to people he’s not washed up in the fight game.
Jones beat Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 1993 middleweight bout.
But for Hopkins, apparently, it’s just another day at work. After the fight he plans to be sitting in the Mandalay Bay audience with his 10-year-old daughter to watch the “Lion King.”
Today’s weigh-in is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Mandalay Bay and is open to the public.
Tickets for the fight are priced from $100 to $750.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, sports, Uncategorized
www.PinUpGirlClothing.com is having a pin-up contest with $2500 in cash and prizes at Blush Boutique Nightclub this evening. The event will run from 10 p.m. to midnight, hosted by Vegas pin-up babe Ms. Redd.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
Good news, Los Wages, Donald Trump is hiring today! (And, no, it’s not an April Fools’ joke, although you may later be labeled a butt- or worse!)
You may be hired, and then in a blink of the eye, you may be fired equally swiftly on national television. But so what? A job is a job, even if it’s temporary, right?
The Donald’s staff is having an open casting call today in Las Vegas, auditioning potential contestants for the next season of The Apprentice.
Producers are particularly seeking candidates who have been affected by the recession, like business professionals recently laid off, college grads who cannot find a job or people working a job they are overqualified for because it is the only option for survival.
If this sounds like it has you written all over it and you think you can handle The Donald’s demands (or if you do not have anything better to do because, well, you’re unemployed), head over to the Trump International Hotel today, where wristbands will be distributed at 8 a.m. and interviews begin at 9 a.m.
If you cannot make it down to Trump’s tower Thursday, you can apply by e-mailing ginacasting@yahoo.com . Please include a recent photo, an updated resume and a personal and professional biography detailing how the recession has affected your life.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
God has a new garden in Sin City? Yep. Scantily clad – or wearing nothing at all – Las Vegas sun gods and goddesses have a a whole new worship retreat at Caesars Palace. 
Caesars Palace has just opened its newly refurbished pool area. Coined “The Garden of the Gods,” the complex has been completely and extravagantly redesigned by Allard & Conversano into three levels of aquatic wonder featuring eight unique and lavish pools inspired by the Roman Gods that encircle a five-acre pool complex.
The area includes a swim-up blackjack pool, a European style pool, a family friendly pool, and even a guests-only, butler-served pool area.
Each pool is named for a god or goddess and has its own special bells and whistles. The Fortuna pool, for example, features an 18-foot waterfall and a swim-up blackjack table. The twin Bacchus pools have butler-staffed cabanas which are, alas, for invited VIPs only. For maximum sun exposure, get over to Apollo — it’s strategically positioned to get your tan on. And, unlike many of the other adult-oriented pools, Garden of the Gods also caters families with its Temple pool designated for young swimmers.
At one of the pools, chocolate will be available not just as a snack or dessert but in the form of a 30-foot chocolate waterfall (good for dunking strawberries — sold by the bucket) that cascades into a 3-acre pool filled with the stuff only Willy Wonka could dream of.
The Sokolati pool (greek for “chocolate”) is new to the Las Vegas scene and is the first swimming pool comprised entirely of chocolate. Depending on the season, you may find Sokolati filled with dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or caramel.
There pools are nestled among 44 new luxury cabanas, each stocked with plush furniture, flat screen TVs and wireless Internet.
Caesars Palace has also added a whirlpool retreat area and garden wedding venue to provide a total pool experience.
The pool complex is open daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m..
Check it out- you may just feel like you died and got a heavenly reprieve.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, travel, Uncategorized
Burlesque Queen Dita Von Teese has always teased about taking it off, but not really doing it- and that’s proved, for many, the charm of her act. But tonight at her Las Vegas premeire opening she has a brand new trick up her bare sleeve, taking her act up a notch or two: going topless!
The petite porcelain powerhouse, fashion icon, author and entrepreneur, who once dated Marilyn Manson – and once even danced for dollars at the topless gentlemen’s club Crazy Horse Club here in Sin City – is reportedly really excited about her premiere tonight in Crazy Horse Paris at the MGM Grand.
Providing the audience her first totally topless unveiling, Von Teese will perform three sexy, saucy and sassy new numbers on the cabaret stage there for a limited run through April 7.
Dita was the first guest star in the history of the famous French cabaret, and she will feature new performance numbers that she developed especially for her sold-out performances in the French capital last year.
She will debut “Lazy,” a routine that features her and the magnificent Crazy Horse dancers. Her “Le Bain Noir” will be a new take on her famous bathtub show that she first performed here in 2007. Dita also promises a new “Teese’ing’ version of the iconic Crazy Horse number “Teasing.”
Showtime is 8 p.m.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Performances, Uncategorized
UPDATE: April 20, 2010 - Lacey Carroll, David Copperfield’s accuser, has dropped her lawsuit. Reasons not provided.
A 2011 trial date has been set in the lawsuit against magician David Copperfield, a frequent MGM Grand entertainer in Las Vegas, and throughout the world as well.
A federal judge has set a May 2011 trial date for a civil lawsuit filed by a model who claims she was raped by celebrity magician David Copperfield on his private Caribbean island in 2007.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour lifted a stay that has held up the lawsuit pending the outcome of a two-year federal criminal investigation, which ended in January without charges being filed.
Coughenour also rejected a motion by the lawyers for Lacey Carroll, the 23-year-old 2010 Miss Washington runner-up, seeking a court order to prevent the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office from returning evidence gathered in the criminal case to Copperfield. They argued that the material was relevant to the lawsuit and worried that Copperfield, one of the wealthiest entertainers in the world, would remove the material to his island or destroy it.
The judge said there was no evidence that would happen, and pointed out that Carroll’s attorneys can still obtain the material through the normal discovery process. Coughenour said Copperfield knows that Carroll wants to review the evidence — some of it seized in FBI searches of his Las Vegas warehouse and MGM Grand Hotel theater in 2007 — and is obliged to preserve it.
Coughenour also noted that nothing is stopping Carroll from subpoenaing the evidence from the prosecutor, although that move could be challenged either by Copperfield or the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The lawsuit was filed last July, just before the expiration of a two-year statute of limitations.
Carroll had claimed that she met Copperfield at a performance in the Tri-Cities area and that the 53-year-old entertainer invited her to his $50 million private island, where she claims he raped her.
The case took a twist when Carroll was charged in January with prostitution and lying to police. She is accused of trying to solicit a 31-year-old Bellevue businessman for $2,000 for sex, after going with him to a hotel room.
When he refused, according to a police investigation, Carroll told staff at the hotel that the man had assaulted her. Carroll and the man each called police.
She later refused to cooperate with the investigation, telling detectives she was worried that the Bellevue incident might affect her lawsuit and the Copperfield investigation.
Carroll has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
Three Las Vegas chefs are battling for the coveted title of Best Chef of the Year Southwest in the 2010 James Beard Awards, and several other Strip chefs are represented in the Oscars of the food industry, as well.
The finalists were announced last week in New Orleans, and the winners will be announced May 3 at New York’s Lincoln Center.
The three Best Chefs of the Southwest finalists are the off-Strip Saipan Chutima from Lotus of Siam, Claude Le Tohic from Joël Robuchon at MGM and Rick Moonen from RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay.
Michael Mina from MGM, Mandalay Bay, Bellagio and Aria is recognized twice in the prestigious awards: His RN74 in San Francisco is nominated for Best New Restaurant, and his self-named restaurant, also in the City by the Bay, is nominated for Outstanding Service, competing against Robuchon’s restaurant at MGM Grand.
Robuchon’s MGM pastry chef Kamel Guechuda is up for the Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year.
Chef Tom Colicchio, well known to foodies here for his Craft at MGM and as host of Bravo’s Top Chef, is nominated as Outstanding Chef of the Year for his original Craft in Manhattan.
Two other New York chefs with outposts in Las Vegas will also battle in the Outstanding Restaurant Award category: Mario Batali, who has restaurants at The Venetian and Palazzo, has been nominated for his Babbo in New York City and Daniel Boulud from the Wynn for his Daniel in Manhattan.
Timothy Hollingsworth, former Venetian chef for Thomas Keller Brasserie and now at Thomas’ French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., has been nominated for Rising Star Chef of the Year.
In other Las Vegas chef news, Todd English from Bellagio and Aria was nominated for Best TV Special for Food Trip With Todd English, as was The Venetian and Palazzo’s Emeril Lagasse who will go head-to-head with English in the TV category for Emeril’s Culinary Adventures: Napa.
And architect and designer David Rockwell, who has masterminded numerous Las Vegas restaurants, Crystals at MGM’s CityCenter and the show Peepshow at Planet Hollywood, will be inducted into the Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America.
Filed under food, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
A new survey released by the University of Las Vegas (UNLV) reveals that 40 percent of the residents living in Las Vegas would rather leave if the opportunity presents itself.
The $62,000 survey revealed an especially irksome city resident trait: People not usually talking to their neighbors.
Filed under Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
The Simple Life is not simple anymore for Paris Hilton.
Paris Hilton`s latest idea of making a new reality show on her personal life has found no takers among TV executives pitched from many channels. It appears that television brass doesn’t care about her, leading many to say her audience appeal is vanishing at warp speed.
Pop socialite, Hilton heiress and consummate Las Vegas partier, once being the center of tabloid action with millions of fans, had been planning a new reality television show to revive her sagging career, covering her engagement and wedding to current boyfriend Doug Reinhardt. 
In the past, the 29-year-old has found a modicum of success as a porn star, subject of a homemade sex tape, and in several reality shows. But the pop tart has failed miserably in legitimate movies- her name in the credits usually guarantees that a film won’t be taken seriously.
Of course, the current rekindling of former BFFs Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie just might do the trick. After a long absence, the duo was recently spotted last week seriously chatting up some scheme at Victoria’s Secret 15th Swimsuit Anniversary in Beverly Hills.
Other viable options for Hilton could be to continue to seek out and walk red carpets - for a reduced fee – or do infomercials- IF execs see the products would benefit from her endorsements.
Could Paris Hilton morph into the female incarnate of deceased supreme huckster Billy Mays?
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Tiger’s return to golf in the Masters Tournament on April 8 will not similarly mark his return to relationship graces.
Joslyn James, the jilted ex-mistress to Woods and ex-porn star/model, has been of late releasing a torrent of nasty Tiger Woods text messages dating from last October. Having a three-year affair with Woods, she has told ESPN affiliate KWWN 1100 last Friday that she even put her porn career on hold for the golf star! 
“He wanted me to quit porn … and I stopped.” James said. She reportedly met him at a Las Vegas nightclub and had sex with him that night. She has refused to identify the club.
But she has confirmed she would be soon releasing a torrent of even racier sexting messages.
And Tiger’s troubles don’t end there. Far from it.
Tiger Woods’ wife, the Swedish beauty Elin Nordegren is apparently on the warpath, again, and this time she may have Tiger’s head. She is reportedly consulting again with divorce lawyers over his decision to return to golf.
Elin, 30, is said to be “furious” at Tiger’s comeback, because he is spending up to 16 hours a day practicing and not working on rebuilding their relationship, according to the UK’s Daily Mirror.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, sports, Uncategorized
If so, maybe now’s your time– IF you have the scratch!
With Las Vegas continuing to face a stiff economic recession – primarily based on a sharply declining gambling economy where fewer players are wagering less money and staggering, near nation-leading unemployment – it’s significantly reduced a majority of Las Vegas-based company revenues and their ability to refinance their debt.
Caught up in the financial maelstrom are Station Casinos owners, and brothers, Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta. Station, which mainly runs casinos targeted toward residents of the Las Vegas area and has been struggling with managing debt ever since it finished going private in November 2007, are now embarked on a quick mission to sell their 14 casinos in Las Vegas while keeping a minority 46 percent stake in four others.
Their plan was disclosed last Thursday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by the Las Vegas-based casino operator calls for mortgage lenders holding debt to become the new majority owners of the Red Rock Casino Resort Spa, Palace Station, Boulder Station and Sunset Station. Station Casinos Inc. said the outstanding debt secured by the four casinos was $1.8 billion.
Palace Station and Red Rock are the company’s two largest properties, with more than 1,800 hotel rooms combined.
Station said the reorganization plan was filed with a federal bankruptcy court in Reno, Nev., where the privately held company’s case was originally filed last July.
Under the new proposed plan, the Fertitta brothers will pay $85.6 million in cash for a 50 percent stake in the four casinos, and then sell a 4 percent share to Colony Capital LLC.
The Fertittas would continue to manage the properties under a long-term deal, according to the plan.
The casinos to be sold include Santa Fe Station, Texas Station, Fiesta casinos in two Las Vegas suburbs, and 50 percent stakes in Green Valley Ranch Resort Spa Casino and Aliante Station, among other properties. Seven of the properties do not have hotel rooms.
The company said it hopes a judge will approve its plan by this summer so the casino operator can emerge from bankruptcy before the end of the year.
Marc Falcone, chief financial officer for Fertitta Gaming, said the Fertittas would also try to buy the assets to be sold.
As would be expected, rivals backed with significant financial resources are entering the Las Vegas casino feeding frenzy, aggressively pursuing the acquisition of the diminished valued assets.
One such rival, Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corporation, reiterated its interest in buying all of Station’s casinos.
Filed under Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
The first legal male prostitute in the U.S. has left a Nevada brothel. Why? Fewer than 10 customers after a two-month stint!
Brothel owner Jim Davis of the Shady Lady Ranch, a brothel 150 miles northwest of Las Vegas, said a new replacement stud has been hired, but the original 25-year-old “prostitude,” who worked simply under the name “Markus,” could be back.
Bobbi Davis, who co-owns the brothel with her husband and runs it as its madam, said the departure of Markus was a mutual decision.
Markus is still listed under the name “Markus Destin” by adult talent agency OC Modeling.
Davis said the brothel would keep employing men to have sex with women, including its latest hire, a Las Vegas man in his mid-30s who works under the name “Y. Not,” who has had about 10 customers since Markus has left.
The focus of the business, however, will remain on women prostitutes serving men, Davis said.
The Shady Lady Ranch created a huge stir in Nevada’s brothel industry when it successfully won state and county approval to hire a male sex worker.
After hiring Markus, the Davises cut him off from speaking with reporters after his first two interviews, in which he compared himself with Rosa Parks and Mahatma Gandhi.
Markus was the subject of a first-person story by the New York Post after a female reporter hired him but she said they did not have sex.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
The aging but still high-energy rocker Vince Neil, apparently believes that if you don’t reinvent yourself you’ll die- or at least slowly wither away. He’s once again onward and ever upward, this time in a unique way: he’s launching his own mini air force! 
Neil, a Las Vegas resident, is helping people fulfill their dreams of having the opportunity to travel like a rock star. The Motley Crue frontman is in the midst of launching Vince Neil Aviation to be headquartered in the private terminal at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.
The first three planes in his new fleet are a Hawker 700, a Lear 35 and a Gulfstream.
“The planes are now all finished, they are all tricked out exactly how you think a rocker’s tour plane would be, complete with painted flames on the fuselage and the zebra-striped interior furnishings!” Vince laughed.
“The Hawker holds eight people and makes the trip to New York from Las Vegas nonstop. The Lear 35 holds seven and goes nonstop to Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Aspen and into Mexico and Canada, but cross country to the East Coast requires one fuel stop,” says Neil.
“I even took the third plane — the Gulfstream — hopping through South America on my most recent solo tour there, and we stopped in Aruba on the way home to Vegas for a four-day-weekend vacation. I’ve booked it myself next week for concerts in Mexico,” says Neil.
Neil says that he’d started his new airline company to primarily complement his other entrepreneurial enterprises that include his imported tequila, his Dr. Feelgood’s chain of rock bars and his Vince Neil Ink tattoo shops.
Shortly, his new Web site VinceNeilAviation.net will be up and running with rates and all the other information on his charters.
The rocker loves all his toys — a black 2008 Lamborghini, a 1932 Ford hot rod and his special Count Kustom chopper — that’s when he’s not working at his Tattoo Shop at The Rio or the Dr. Feelgood’s Bar & Grill on West Sahara in Las Vegas.
Neil also will release his new solo single “Tattoos & Tequila” on April 6, and his new CD Tattoos & Tequila follows in May. Check out an advance download sample, the video and his screensaver at VinceNeil.net.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, travel, Uncategorized
Forget the root-beer– I mean, after all, when in Las Vegas party you should be partying with the big boys – or gals – right-o? And that includes your beer!
Combine your beer with dollops of real ice cream at the Yard House in Las Vegas ( Town Square, 6593 Las Vegas Blvd South) for a mere $7.
Not an ice cream junkie? Then take a play out of Yard House director of beverage Kip Snider’s playbook who likes to add Lindemans Framboise or Young Double Chocolate stout.
Filed under food, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment has named Anthony M. Sanfilippo president and chief executive officer of the casino company.
The 51-year-old Sanfilippo succeeds John Giovenco, who has served as Pinnacle’s interim CEO since November 2009. Giovenco will continue to serve on Pinnacle’s board.
Sanfilippo is a former president, chief executive and board member of Multimedia Games Inc.
Pinnacle also announced that Richard Goeglein has been appointed to the position of non-executive chairman.
Sanfilippo’s appointment is effective immediately. He also has been appointed to Pinnacle’s board of directors.
Sanfilippo has managed and developed gaming operations in Louisiana, Missouri, Indiana and Nevada.
Sanfilippo is buying 125,000 shares of Pinnacle common stock from the company.
Filed under Uncategorized, entertainment, Las Vegas, news
Las Vegas is once again losing one of its celebrity chef restaurants. Charlie Trotter has closed his two-year-old Restaurant Charlie in the Palazzo in Las Vegas.
Trotter, who is a Chicago institution, won his first Michelin star at his seafood-centered Las Vegas restaurant. The sushi bar inside the restaurant, Bar Charlie, was selected as one of the nation’s best sushi spots by Bon Appetit last year.
Alas, the finances just weren’t working out for the Las Vegas restaurant that gave a valiant performance.
Filed under food, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
The Scottsdale-based publisher of monthly fashion and entertainment magazines in nine major U.S. markets is moving its headquarters to Los Angeles, supposedly to be closer to a larger pool of creative talent, according to the company’s chief executive.
944 Media LLC hopes to complete their move by the end of April.
Chief executive Marc Lotenberg said many staff members will be offered a chance to relocate to Los Angeles, while others will be laid off. He said the company employs about 100 people, but wouldn’t say how many could be affected by the pending move.
Lotenberg founded 944 magazine in 2001 after graduating from Arizona State University with a business degree in supply chain management.
Lotenberg opened similar publications in Las Vegas, San Diego, Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, Orange County and San Francisco.
Last year, 944 Media acquired Six Degrees magazines in Las Vegas, Miami, Detroit and Atlanta. Six Degrees publications in Las Vegas and Miami were merged with 944 publications in those cities and the company launched new 944 magazines in Detroit and Atlanta, Lotenberg said.
The company also publishes an annual commemorative sports lifestyle magazine called Game.
Filed under Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized
Another Las Vegas-based TV pilot is in the works. Loosely based on the Las Vegas law firm Cristalli & Saggese, the series plans to feature Jim Belushi cast as a character based on Michael V. Cristalli and Jerry O’Connell as one based on Marc A. Saggese. Both are on board, Cristalli said. The characters’ names will not be the same as the lawyers.’
It’s the culmination of a four-year project that began with a relationship between Cristalli and Saggese and brothers Joe and Harry Gantz, the producers and developers of the HBO documentary series “Taxicab Confessions.”
“We shot a docu-drama several years ago about the law office” says Cristalli, and it was sold to CBS as a drama.
The TV pilot’s director, Davis Guggenheim, directed Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and the writing team of Niels Mueller and Kevin Kennedy collaborated on “The Assassination of Richard Nixon,” which starred Sean Penn.
Cristalli and Saggese represented Sandy Murphy in her October 2004 retrial in the Ted Binion murder case that ended in an acquittal of murder, but she was convicted of lesser charges of burglary and grand larceny.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Performances, Uncategorized
Entertainment News
