Daily Archives: April 4, 2009

A Little Less Juiced Sin City

Although reportedly ‘safe and sane’ energy juice drinks are now alternatively swigged in copious amounts nightly by Paris Hilton and her clan to keep them up all night and partying hearty, it’s nice to know that less juice of yet a different type can also be a good thing in the City of Entertainment.  

Although many states reported little or no change in energy use during Earth Hour, officials at NV Energy report that earth-hourenergy consumption during the March 28 one-hour event [click on prior Las Vegas Backstage Access articles: 1  2] in the Las Vegas Valley dropped roughly 3 percent below a typical Saturday night. 

Although virtually every Las Vegas hotel-casino on the Strip powered down their exterior lights for an hour during that evening, it’s really difficult to accurately determine how much of that power drop might have come from conservation-minded residents turning down or off their lights as the company doesn’t differentiate between power use along the resort corridor and residential consumption. 

But saving energy really wasn’t the goal of Earth Hour.  Rather, the idea was a call for world action for climate change, letting policymakers know the people mean business on the issue. 

Las Vegas means business on climate change initiatives and saving energy costs.

Leave a comment

Filed under Las Vegas, news, travel, Uncategorized

Las Vegas Topless Strip Clubs Rain Cash-For-Customers

As former topless cabaret mogul and government informant Michael Galardi walks the Las Vegas Strip schmoozing and looking for a new gig, a high-stakes strip poker match of a different type is agressively being played out at many Las Vegas topless adult entertainment clubs. 

Long a “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” accepted business practice, Las Vegas strip clubs handsomely tipped cabbies that delivered lusty patrons to their doorstep.  Fifty bucks was the norm for over a decade.strip-clubs1

Until now.  

As home prices and sales continue to plummet and people try to find jobs or at least hold on to their employment, many Las Vegas topless strip clubs have seen fit to double the cab tip ante to at least $100 per customer.   That new ransom could equates to an average estimated payout of $5 million a year by each participating strip club.  A C-note buy in for participating in the cash-for-customers game is commonly paid by Ricks’ Cabaret Gentlemen’s Club, Treasures, Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club, and many more- at least the ones that aren’t secretly looking for new owners or staving off their bankruptcy. 

No end appears in sight for the advancing Taxi Topless War.  Many clubs are trying to recoup rising “acquisition” costs by charging higher cover charges and drink prices.   Rick’s CEO and President Eric Langan mirrors the intentions of many strip club owners, saying he has no intention to be outbid by his Sin City bretheren and is willing to write off the expenses as the cost of marketing. 

As Las Vegas cab and limo drivers rake in record amounts of dough, they’re also arguing more with doormen to cut ever higher deals.   And it’s not uncommon to see cab drivers pass up picking up ladies waiting for a ride on the street in favor of waiting gents that can bring them more revenue.

Casino hosts, too, are also rapidly buying in to the very lucrative cash-for-customers game.   They’re not just referring their clients to the strip clubs, but hosting them inside the caverns of lust.

And, of course, you can bet your last dollar that the IRS will eventually come sniffing around and look for its due.

Recession hitting the Las Vegas topless clubs?  Pshaw!

Leave a comment

Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Performances, travel, Uncategorized

Rock ‘N Roll Double-Header Tour Heading to Las Vegas?

This summer, Def Leppard and Bryan Adams will give the phrase “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” a whole new meaning def-leppardas they co-headline a nationwide Rock ‘N Roll Double-Header Tour. Teaming up for the first time, two of the most popular rock acts to ever take the stage are slated to perform at 26 minor league baseball stadiums around the country, starting on June 1 when they travel to Portland, Oregon, home of the Beavers.

Bryan Adams and Def Leppard, combined, have sold more than 100,000,000 albums worldwide. Each made their album debut in 1980 — and 25 years later they are still hitting performance homeruns. Only five rock groups can claim two original albums selling 10,000,000 plus copies each in the U.S.: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Van Halen and Def Leppard. 

However, not seeing the Las Vegas 51s, our 27-year-old Triple-A minor league baseball franchise team that plays at Cashman Field, on the concert tour list, Las Vegas Backstage Access is checking with Chicago-based promoter Jam Productions to see if they’ve simply flubbed up.  

Or could it just be that Derek Stevens, CEO of the Stevens Baseball Group, who bought the franchise from Mandalay Baseball Properties in 2008 has other plans for his team this season?

Leave a comment

Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, sports, travel, Uncategorized

Las Vegas Metro Police- Fast as a Speeding Tweet

The Las Vegas Metro Police Department (LVMPD) is the latest addition to our city’s zany social networking tweeting crowd. Now along with chatting on Cirque du Soleil characters, virtual partying with the Playmates on Palms Vegas and following celebrity sightings at the speed of neon light on Myvegasscene.com, you can get up-to- the-minute updates on the whereabouts of Las Vegas vice cops. 

Twitter members send 140-character maximum text “tweet” messages like “Metro is setting up a perimeter near Warms Springs & Rainbow. Please avoid the area,” and can plan their “life” accordingly. 

Metro is also posting photos of suspects and alerts about missing children. “This is huge, because if we have people on their cell phones who subscribe to this site, as they are taking their kids to school and dropping their kids off, they may see this little four-year-old wandering around in his pajamas,” said Metro Officer Ramon Denby in an interview with Las Vegas One. 

So far, the results are promising:  In the three days the feed has been up, it already has 332 followers. 

LVMPD joins a number of city police departments (Boston, Toronto and Milwaukee, to name a few) that leverage Twitter to help fight crime in their communities and make residents’ life easier by providing instant alerts. 

But it’s not just the hard-core stuff:  Twitters were also the first to know that the local metro cops were serving lunch at the Las Vegas Valley’s Applebee’s locations on March 26, with all tips going to Special Olympics fundraising efforts.

Leave a comment

Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized