Gloria and Emilio Estefan were honoured with a Las Vegas walk of fame entertainment star, the first for the celebrated Latino music icons. Following two days of fanfare, a star was placed in their honour on the Las Vegas Strip sidewalk on Friday. 
Famed producer and musician Emilo Estefan told The Associated Press that the award was special to him because it is the first time he and his wife have received a star as a couple, and it comes from Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world.
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Las Vegas Gay Pride is built around two key events: the Las Vegas Pride Parade, held on Friday, April 30, at 8 pm; and the Las Vegas Pride Festival, which takes place the following day, Saturday, May 1, from noon until 10 pm. Keep in mind, though, that there are a number of smaller gatherings and parties leading up to the big weekend – here’s a full calendar. 
Las Vegas’ first Gay Pride took place in 1983 – there’s a nice synopsis of the event’s history on the Pride Las Vegas website.
More than 10,000 people attended in 2009.
Las Vegas performer Frank Marino acts will be the Grand Marshal on Friday during the Gay Pride Parade in downtown Las Vegas.
The Pride Parade takes place in downtown Las Vegas at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 30. The parade route is along 4th Street from Charleston Blvd. to Ogden Avenue.
In 2009, organizers added a Parade Pre-Party, which takes place on Friday at 5:30 pm in the pedestrianized Fremont Experience section of downtown’s historic Fremont Street.
The Las Vegas Pride Festival is set at the Clark County Government Center Amphitheater at 500 S. Grand Parkway on Sat., May 1 from noon until 10. This action-packed, all-day event always features a slew of notable entertainers.
Of course, additionally, numerous gay bars as well as gay-popular restaurants, hotels, and shops have special events and parties throughout Pride Week. Please check local gay papers and websites, such as Q Vegas and GayLasVegas.com, for details.
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Cirque du Soleil has confirmed months of rumors and announced plans to unveil a Michael Jackson-based show in 2011 in Las Vegas. Shows, actually—there will be two of them.
The first, a touring arena show, will debut next fall and get “an extended run” in Las Vegas before the permanent Jackson show opens in late 2012.
Assuming none of the existing shows—KÀ, The Beatles Love, O, Mystère, Zumanity, Believe or Viva Elvis—don’t close between now and then, the incoming MJ spectacle will make the eighth resident Cirque show in Las Vegas.
Cirque is keeping tight-lipped about where the show will be housed, among other facts, but its promised “special lifestyle projects, including a nightclub.” Rumors say the show will be at Mandalay Bay.
The new show announcement comes less than a year after Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009.
Michael Jackson’s estate will receive royalties from the projects—but it will also share in half the costs of “creating, developing, building and producing” the shows, too.
The size and scope of the Cirque show will be unprecedented, including larger than life 3-D technology and most likely the largest budget for any Las Vegas show.
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DJs are firmly entrenched in nearly every entertainment nook and cranny in Las Vegas. Now they get to show who has the best music blending talent of all in the first ever Las Vegas DJ Awards.
The event is Sunday, April 25 at The Bank nightclub in Las Vegas. About 40 Djs will duke it out across 12 categories for the title of top turntablist in Sin City, including Best Local Following, Best Female and Sexiest DJ. While there are no cash prizes, winners get trophies and bragging rights for the next 365 or so days. Doors open at 10:30 p.m., $30 cover, Las Vegas residents free. Vote for your favorites at www.jackcolton.com/lvdjawards
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If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing Wayne Newton, known as “Mr. Las Vegas,” then Saturday is your last chance to see him at the Tropicana.
Wayne Newton’s show “Once Before I Go” at the Tropicana’s Tiffany Theater ends April 24. The show is backed by full orchestra and celebrates the iconic performer’s 50-year career entertaining Strip-goers with jokes; banjo, fiddle and guitar skills; and tunes such as “Danke Schoen” and “Great Balls of Fire,” during which he’s been known to play the piano with his toes a la Jerry Lee Lewis.
Classic photos and videos, as well as Newton’s signature “meet and greets” with the audience, add to the fun. Ticket prices range from $69.99–$168.99 VIP; the latter includes a “golden circle” seat, meet and greet with Wayne Newton plus photo taken with Wayne.
The Tropicana plans to remodel the showroom after his exit, but comedian Paul Rodriguez will have a month’s engagement in the interim starting May 3, with a special Cinco de Mayo show in Spanish.
Tropicana: 3801 Las Vegas Blvd. South, 800-634-4000.
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Parrotheads in Las Vegas can breathe a deep sigh of relief- paradise, at long last, is coming! Jimmy Buffet and his Coral Reefer Band will be serving up a grand buffet with way more then cheeseburgers and margaritas when they take the stage at the MGM Grand Gardens Arena in Las Vegas on Sat., Oct. 23. 
The 63-year-old singer/songwriter is ageless. On April 24 in Tampa, Florida, Buffet will kick off his “Under the Big Top” tour, which will find the veteran entertainer backing a new live double-album and trekking across over 16 U.S. cities in 2010.
“Buffet Hotel” was his latest studio release and first since 2006’s “Take the Weather with You,” surfaced late last year.
Tickets for the Las Vegas performance will go on-sale Mon., April 26 through TicketMaster.com A word to the wise: Strive to be the first as tickets go quickly.
Until then, you’ll have to be content to just nibble on sponge cake and watch the sun bake in good ol’ Sin City.
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Mark McGrath is hosting auditions this Saturday in Las Vegas, seeking seeking contestants to appear on a hit game show.
On Sat., April 24th an open casting call will be held for the all-new syndicated version of “Don’t Forget the Lyrics!” Set to premiere in the Fall, 2010, “Don’t Forget the Lyrics!” is a musical game show that tests contestants’ knowledge of song lyrics from different genres, decades and artists.
Mark McGrath, a member of the multi-platinum group, Sugar Ray, will host “Don’t Forget the Lyrics!” where he brings ordinary people center stage for a chance to win a fortune – just by knowing the words to the biggest hit songs ever recorded.
The auditions will be held on Sat., April 24th from 11a.m. to 4 p.m. at Bonkerz Comedy Club, 2411 West Sahara Ave., in Las Vegas.
A photo ID is required as contestants and their guests must be 21 years or older to audition. Casting is seeking contestants that are fun, outgoing and very knowledgeable of popular song lyrics. Also contestants must be willing to sing the songs on the game show.
Whether your cup of tea is Motown or Country, or anything in between, they’re looking for all types of music fans as the songs are hits, from the 50s to present day Top 40.
“Don’t Forget the Lyrics!” originally premiered on July 11, 2007, on FOX television and became one of the most popular shows in America, as well as an international phenomenon.
For an application and further details please log on to http://www.dftl.tv.
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In the fickle music biz, careers many times breeze in and out like the capricious winds.
Last year the Nashville trio Lady Antebellum, right, – “Lady A” to their fans – didn’t win the one category they were nominated in last year (for Top Vocal Group), but this year it’s a whole new story. They’re the favored front-runner, with seven nominations for Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Lady Antebellum’s free performance drew a huge crowd to Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas last night. Some said the show drew upwards to 20,000 people. If so, that would make it the largest non-New Year’s Eve gathering ever on Glitter Gulch and the biggest in the four-year tradition of ACM-related concerts.
Nominated for seven awards, the group attended last Wednesday’s “American Idol” show and did a post-show taping of their hit “Need You Now.” Their performance will be part of the “Idol Gives Back” show next week.
Lady Antebellum announced on Friday that their latest, “American Honey,” was the band’s third consecutive No. 1. Lady Antebellum’s current single, “Need You Now,” is No. 4 on Billboard’s overall Hot 100 song chart, sandwiched between Train and Lady Gaga.
Miranda Lambert, right, a six-time nominee for Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards show, though, will prove tough competition. She heads an ACM-filled lineup of free concerts tonight at the Fremont Street Experience. Lambert performs from 10:45 to midnight on the Third Street stage. Kicking off the evening from 7-7:30 p.m. at the First Street stage will be Joey + Rory, the Top Vocal Duo nominee. Gloriana, the Top New Vocal Group nominee, plays from 7:45-8:25 p.m., also at the First Street stage. The Randy Rogers Band, nominated for Top Vocal Group, performs from 8:40-9:25 p.m. on the Third Street stage. Luke Bryan, winner of the Top New Solo vocalist award, precedes Lambert, from 9:40-10:30 p.m., performing on the First Street stage. 
If you’re lucky enough to catch Lambert and others tonigt performing live in Las Vegas, it’s a good deal. The ceremonies at the MGM Grand Garden are a pricey ticket if you don’t have friends at a record label, topping out at $450 for something you can watch free at home. (The 5 p.m. festivities air on CBS, live on the East Coast and tape-delayed on Las Vegas KLAS-TV, Channel 8, at 8 p.m.)
Most of the ACM stars will stick around Monday in Las Vegas for “Brooks & Dunn — The Last Rodeo,” an all-star tribute concert that will be taped at the MGM for a separate CBS show airing next month. Tickets are $108 to $208 for the 7:30 p.m. show in which the likes of Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney and George Strait will salute the venerable duo of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn before they hang it up.
The ACM Awards ride country music’s ever-growing popularity; what once was a niche genre is getting harder to distinguish from any remaining notions of a separate pop world.
Last year’s ACM broadcast drew 14.8 million total viewers, a 26 percent gain from the year before. “It’s a happy problem,” says Barry Adelman, a producer and writer for the broadcast. “We’re not trying to fix something that’s dipping, we’re trying to keep something that’s going up, going up even higher.”
And lest we forget…Garth Brooks isn’t performing at Wynn Las Vegas this weekend. But Steve Wynn did buy him that private jet and the pilot surely knows the route by now. And who would want to leave that guy out of a weekend like this one?
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Maybe yes, maybe no. The duo from the classic rock group Emerson, Lake and Palmer has planned their “Unplugged Tour” for the Las Vegas Hilton for April 24. But, hold on… to date, the group has had a very rocky start and have cancelled their prior U.S. shows due, as they say, to “musical and technical reasons.” Keep your fingers crossed- and toes!
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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}.
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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
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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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Las Vegas is definitely showing signs of perking up and bouncing back if popping champagne corks and dining on haute cuisine is any indication.
What city needs Big Brother and trillion-dollar bailouts when you’re lucky enough just to have Jay-Z and wife, Beyonce, grace your presence?
Jay-Z and Beyonce battled preganancy rumors like true rock stars last weekend — by hitting up Las Vegas with gusto. After Jigga rocked out at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms alongside Young Jeezy and Trey Songz, he joined B at the hotel’s Mint High Roller gaming lounge around 4 a.m.
Music mogul Jay-Z was also celebrity host and a big part of the crowd draw at Tao nightclub last Saturday night with Beyoncé.
A colossal 3.9-gallon bottle of Ace of Spades champagne is now for sale at the Tao nightclub in the Venetian for $100,000, thanks to the big price boost that comes with Jay-Z’s autograph on the bottle Saturday.
The bottle, known as a Nebuchadnezzar in the bottle family – only two in the world -holds five times the amount of bubbly that comes in a double magnum, but is only half of the king of champagne bottles, the 30-liter Melchizedek.
Jay-Z featured the champagne in his 2006 video “Show Me What You Got” after Cristal boss Frédéric Rouzaud made some disparaging remarks about the music mogul’s fondness for Cristal. Jay-Z led a boycott of Cristal and switched his allegiance.
The mega-club Tao, which opened in September, 2005, announced it had a monster night that didn’t include champagne imbibing last Saturday– a record 1,400 dinner covers on the restaurant side and more than 7,000 people going through the nightclub, another record.
Then, further down the Strip at CityCenter, the Light Group nightclub Haze at Aria was the scene of an epic champagne-buying spree last Saturday night. A photo of the high roller’s receipt for $182,000-plus turned up on an Aria casino host’s Twitter site.
According to the casino host, the big spender ordered super-sized bottles: one each of Cristal, Moet Chandon, Dom Perignon and an unidentified brand of vodka.
He left a $30,000 tip on top of the automatic 20 percent gratuity.
The man made the purchase after asking for an entire section of the nightclub. Told he would have to “buy big” for that to happen, he ordered the four bottles, which appear much larger than magnums. A magnum holds two bottles, a Jeroboam four bottles and a Methuselah eight bottles.
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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.
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Michael Legrand is a virtuoso musician with few equals. The three-time Academy Award winner and five-time Grammy winner started his lifelong dedication to music at the ripe age of 11, where he began his study at the Paris Conservatoire. 
Legrand has composed more than 200 film and television scores for directors, including Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Brooks, Clint Eastwood and Robert Altman, and has recorded more than 100 albums with international music celebrities.
On March 27 he will be blending his magic for his 50th Anniversary Concert Tribute at 8 p.m. in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Legrand will conduct a 66-piece orchestra and be showcasing the evening’s entertainers: George Benson, Melissa Manchester, Jerry Lewis, Dionne Warwick, Andy Williams, Patti Page, Frank Sinatra Jr. and Steve Lawrence.
Actors Jon Voight and Jennifer O’Neill will host the gala, which will air at a later undetermined date as a made-for-TV concert special.
Perhaps the biggest news is the rumored surprise appearance by Sting.
Tickets range from $62.50 to $150 (plus fees); www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com For more concert details: www.MGMLegend.com
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The Neon Reverb music festival is taking place on Fremont Street stages in Las Vegas from March 10 through 14. It’s a huge affair and offers a talented array of musicians to satisfy virtually any music taste.
And thanks to a growing number of corporate sponsors and name indie bands, with any luck, this edition should prove to be a resounding success.
The outdoor stages will be graced with the likes of The Ruby Suns, The So So Glos, Spindrift, Rainbow Arabia Soe & The Skyrider Band, Bo-Peep, Aerodrone, Kid Theodore, Wild Yacks, Imagine Dragons, Black Camaro, and tons more to numerous to list. For a full list of bands, please go to www.NeonReverb.com
This Neon Reverb installment will look a bit different from its three predecessors. While Downtown — the Beauty Bar, Bunkhouse, Aruba, Gypsy Den, Las Vegas Country Saloon — will once again serve as the fest’s hub, plans could call for an enhanced all-ages component at North Las Vegas’ Area 702 Skatepark.
Hip-hop should also command a larger presence among the bill’s 100-ish acts, thanks to partnerships with Vegas collective Macro-Fi and local rapper HighDro (the latter runs a weekly hip-hop showcase at Boomers, another Neon Reverb stronghold). And Yayo Taco, Dino’s and the 540-capacity showroom inside the Greek Isles Hotel all serve as first-time venues.
Also, expect this Las Vegas music festival to feature more international flavor than ever before. Working with online promotional entity Sonicbids, Neon Reverb’s booking team has secured confirmations from a number of overseas acts, such as New Zealand Sub Pop-pers Ruby Suns, Japan’s Bo-Peep and Ireland’s Autumn Owls. Other out-of-towners already on board: LA’s The Delta Mirror, Colorado’s Indigenous Peoples, Idaho’s Finn Riggins and Reverb returnees Leopold and His Fiction, and Mere Mortals. And, of course, the fest will boast its usual slew of Las Vegas favorites over its three nights.
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The recently deposed “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien has apparently lined up his first Las Vegas headliner gig. 
O’Brien, who took over Jay Leno’s spot last June only to lose it to him in January, has apparently a May 1 engagement at The Pearl, the Palms’ concert venue.
But he’s reportedly still bound to his NBC contract, which paid him $45 million to walk away. His exit agreement with NBC reportedly prohibits him from any form of TV until September, when he is allowed to launch his own show. According to reports that surfaced after his departure from NBC, where he was a late-night host since 1993, he’s not even allowed to give interviews.
But as a way to get around that, keep his name out there and interact with his fans, his people have been talking about some sort of national tour for the past few weeks.
According to rumblings, he’s poised to use his new Twitter account, possibly to circumvent the contract language.
Look for his announcement any day that his national tour will include a stop in Las Vegas. It will be called a revue because it will be a mix of music and comedy.
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Members of the Las Vegas entertainment community are once again stepping up again to help one of their own. An all-star lineup will be donating their time this Saturday for a fundraiser at the Suncoast for singer/musical conductor Bill Fayne, who is recovering from major throat surgery for cancer. 
“The great news now is that he is on a course to full recovery,” said entertainer Clint Holmes, co-host of the afternoon show with his wife, Kelly Clinton-Holmes. Fayne has been Holmes’ longtime conductor and arranger.
Fayne, who has lost 50 pounds from his surgery and diabetes complications, and Clint Holmes have been friends since their college days.
Taking the stage will be Terry Fator, Frankie Scinta, Lance Burton, Louie Anderson, Robin Leach, Sandy Hackett & the Rat Pack Show, the ladies from “Menopause,” Elvis Presley tribute artist Paul Casey, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tribute artists “Oh What a Night” and Human Nature.
The lineup of entertainers include Domenick Allen, Leigh Zimmerman, Cayleigh Capaldi, Rick Faugno, Lena Prima, 5th Avenue, Voci Vegas, the Las Vegas Tenors, Tony Sacca, Jerry Lopez, Jeff Neiman and Vincent Falcone.
The event begins at 2 p.m. this Sat., March 6 at the Suncoast. Tickets are $45, $35 and $25 and are available at the Suncoast box office and other Boyd Gaming properties.
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It’s once again time for the Extreme Thing in Las Vegas.
Tickets are on sale for the Clark County Parks and Recreation Departments 15th annual Extreme Thing Sports and Music Festival, Saturday March 27 at Desert Breeze Park in Las Vegas.
This is the first year the event will have three stages: The Verizon Wireless Stage will feature Sum 41; the AP (Alternative Press) Stage will showcase Call the Cops and I Fight Dragons in addition to Story of the Year and The Cab; and the XPOZ Local Band Stage will feature loca Las Vegas acts. Which local acts is still a question as Las Vegas bands are competing in the XPOZ Battle of the Fans. For more information on Battle of The Fans checkout www.smokefreescene.com
In addition to great music, Ricardo Laguna will once again present his pro-BMX dirt jump competition. Professional wrestler Adrenaline Unleashed brings professional wrestling to the outdoors. And the roller derby tournament and skate competition is sure to be a fine flying feature.
Sponsors of the 2010 event include Las Vegas City Life, Red Bull and X107.5FM.
Tickets can be purchased for $17 general admission or #45 for the combo package at www.extremething.com by phone at 702-454-4000 and at participating Smith’s Grocery stores. Tickets will be $20 on the day of the event.
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Barry Manilow believes that a good love song never goes out of style. He believes it so much that he has now released an album dedicated to the idea. “The Greatest Love Songs of All Time”, released January 2010, contains 15 classic love songs including “Fools Rush In” and “How Deep Is the Ocean.” And the 63-year-old singer will be bringing these songs and more to his two-year run at the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino starting Friday, March 5.
“I’m actually going to focus on the fact that we are in the most romantic world called Paris,” a gushing Manilow said. “Since I sing such romantic songs, I thought that would be a really good place to do something like this.”
Manilow hopes his new Las Vegas show will receive the same response as his prior Hilton show. The Las Vegas Hilton performances were primarily collections of his greatest hits. However, fans need not worry, he plans to incorporate those long-time favorites into his new Paris show as well.
Tickets start at $95 and can be purchased at parislasvegas.com; 800-745-3000.
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Smokin’ Hot Aces in Las Vegas will host an as-yet untitled battle of the bands beginning March 7.
This is not your run-of-the-mill band contest. The winner receives $10,000 in cash and prizes, the opportunity to open for a Universal act during Memorial Day weekend performance at the Venetian’s new rock bar, and exposure to major record labels.
Judging the event will be Las Vegas musicians, Strip performers and celebrities to later be announced.
Band performances will be spaced two-per-night (9 and 10 p.m.) every Sunday from March 7 through Memorial Day.
Judges scores will be combined with online and in-person ballot voting to determine the competition’s four finalists.
If you think you’re smokin’ hot enough, please contact Steve Slaughter at steve@thirtythreegroup.com
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Insurgo’s No Shame Theatre in Las Vegas may just be the ticket you’re looking for to show you can write plays that people will flock to see.
No Shame is a longtime national movement that has finally arrived in Las Vegas. The first 15 written works arriving each week at Insurgo Theatre will be cast, rehearsed and performed- on the same night.
You can bring literally anything in to showcase- from avant-garde to music- or movement-based pieces to improvisational works, monologues and scenes.
Non-writers interested in acting can also show up and let the Insurgo staff know they’re ready to perform whatever’s thrown at them. The only rules for actors and playwrights is that you can’t hurt yourself, the audience or the space. And no breaking the law. Anything else is fair game.
No Shame Theatre on Thursdays beginning Feb. 25 at 9:30 p.m. $5 for both general audience and participants. Insurgo Theatre Movement, 900 E. Karen Ave., Las Vegas, 702-369-3692. www.insurgotheater.org
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What does the very popular Austrialian vocal group Human Nature when they’re not performing at Imperial Palace in Las Vegas? Gamble. What else? It’s Sin City! 
Human Nature, who formed as a doo-wop band in 1989 in Sydney, Austraila, has now been performing “The Ultimate Celebration of the Motown Sound” to rave reviews at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas for the past nine months.
Tight harmonies and rich vocals are what make Human Nature standout in concert. Songs like “Reach Out”; “Just My Imagination”; “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch);” The Jackson Five’s “ABC,” and the group’s moving version of Robinson’s “Ooh Baby, Baby,” are their mainstays.
Motown music legend Smokey Robinson has acted as their official envoy and presenter of the LasVegas show and its touring production. Now, it appears that Robinson has switched gears somewhat, gearing up for doing his own shows and promoting his own music including his new CD on his own label, “Time Flies When You’re Having Fun,” which is an album that embraces Robinson’s favorite theme: Love.
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The official once-a-year celebration in Nevada occurs in Black Rock City, starting on Aug. 30 and running through Sept. 6. But if you can’t afford to lose that much time from work – or simply don’t want to fry your ass with some 48,000 or so other radical and self-reliant Burning Man participants (called ”Burners”) – there are other alternatives close to Las Vegas to get your radical art and nature urges on.
The first major event is “Forgotten City,” running April 22 through 25 in Nipton, California, one hour south of Las Vegas.
The next artist conclave is on May 6 through 9 called, “Toast!” an Arizona burner event in Witch Well, Arizona. Four days of large scale art, music, performance, and interactive participation. The Azburners are an interactive group of artists, performers, musicians and participants.
Vegas Backstage Access has written many articles on “Burning Man” which can be searched on our site in the right hand column.
And, here is a cool 360-degree movie style panoramic of the various enclaves comprising the big daddy Black Rock City event.
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Let’s face it: Celine Dion operates like a city within Las Vegas. When many performers are looking to hang it up, or at least slow down, Dion, 41, who started singing professionally when she was 12, churns full speed ahead with no end in sight. 
Keeping a relative secret for over a year, Dion recently officially revealed that she is returning to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on March 15, 2011 with an all-new show and a three-year contract, while planning to stay in her Lake Las Vegas home. Tickets are now available.
During her last five-year reign at Caesars, a custom-built Colosseum was completed for her at a cost of $95 million, who then proceeded to sell more than 200 million copies of her 25 albums in French and English. The queen singer also drew celebrities galore into Las Vegas, refreshing the entertainment scene like few others before her. Most can’t wait for her Las Vegas comeback.
Her Las Vegas show, A New Day, took in more than a whopping $400 million at the box office and in merchandise, and the production employed hundreds – the 50 dancers, musicians and others visible onstage were just the half of it.
It has been announced that she’ll be employing 31 musicians, a full orchestra and a band. Not bad for a city starving for any economic bumps it can get.
Talking about bumps, after four unsuccessful rounds of in vitro fertilization, Céline Dion is not giving up hope for a second child, with her husband, Rene Angelil, 26 years her senior.
“I’m going to try until it works,” says Dion, who continues giving herself daily hormone shots — and enduring the roller-coaster ride of emotions they bring — after the heartbreaking loss of a pregnancy in August and three other failed IVF attempts last fall.
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And you thought he was…dead? Pshaw! Elvis performed his last show in Las Vegas and now is back to his old Sin City haunts, if only in spirit. But his show will, hopefully, run forever. 
Viva Elvis premiered on Feb. 19 and is the seventh Cirque du Soleil show on the Las Vegas Strip. It is one of the centerpieces of the new $8.5 billion MGM Mirage CityCenter, located in a new theater in the Aria Hotel and Casino.
Viva Elvis features all of his greatest hits set to music and embellished with spectacular sets and effects, dancing and acrobatics. It positively fills the eyes-all the time steering clear of the somber and darker sides of Elvis, thanks to the untiring efforts of Priscilla Presley and Elvis Presley Enterprises to protect the Elvis legacy.
This is a spectacularly beautiful show and it is one of only two Cirque shows in Las Vegas to employ a proscenium stage rather than using a theater-in-the-round setup.
There are other singers, but the only male voice belongs to The King himself. The evening opens witha huge video-jukebox. On the screen is Elvis singing Blue Suede Shoes. It’s light, fun and immediately gets the audience in the mood for more of his music. Don’t Be Cruel is next, followed by Junior Clay, the only actor in the show. He is Elvis’ manager, Col. Tom Parker. He comes out to explain that Elvis had a twin brother who died at birth and Elvis missed his twin his entire life. Thus he introduces the next number, One Night– a love song, more shouted than sung and is very effective. But here, for some reason, it’s used to portray brotherly love.
Two acrobats do their schtick on a large wire guitar suspended upstage center. As they’re doing their acrobatics, there’s a woman sitting at an old upright piano softly playing and singing the song. No argument that Elvis missed his twin. And no argument that these two guys on the guitar are really good at what they do. The only argument is against taking such a passionate number and doing this to it.
The next scene goes back to Elvis’ childhood in Tupelo, MS. Old photos are projected on the screen as the townsfolk carrying umbrellas come out on the stage and perform All Shook Up as a gospel tune. And the woman singing the song actually changes the lyrics to say “I’m itchin’ like a woman on fuzzy tree.”
The spectacle is a grand and joyous event that will stick in your mind for a long time — a terrific celebration of Elvis’ music. The dancing and acrobatics are lavish and exuberant. The on-stage band is exellent. And the production values are incomparable. It’s just plain fun to watch with wonderful sets, colorful costumes and captivating special effects.
Yes, the show is a bit pricey in a struggling Las Vegas economy, tickets ranging from $114 to $200, but well worth the price if you can afford it. Shows are at 7 and 9:30 p.m., Fridays though Tuesdays. 702-531-2031.
Long live The King!
Filed under entertainment, Music
Gilley’s is coming back, bull and all. The mechanical bull that has long been victorious in numerous battles waged by tourists, locals and bikini-clad riders is back to buck off all comers at it’s new ‘arena’ at Treasure Island, when Gilley’s Saloon, Dance Hall and Bar-B-Que re-opens April 16.
A Las Vegas cousin of the famous Texas saloon, it was THE popular country honky-tonk and a huge attraction at the New Frontier for years until owner Phil Ruffin sold it and bought Treasure Island for $775 million.
It will be going in the former Tangerine nightclub space now occupied by Christian Audigier the Nightclub, which overlooks the Sirens of T.I. gunbattle. Gilley’s will have retractable glass for outdoor Strip seating, and will be accessible from inside the casino and via a newly constructed bridge in front of the Siren’s ship. 
Gilley’s will be open for lunch and dinner, featuring a show kitchen and custom saddle seats at the bar, live entertainment Thursday through Saturday, line dancing and the world-famous Gilley Girls.
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Celine Dion, 41, is reportedly in a New York City fertility treatment center. She was impregnated in August but it was announced in November that the embroyo transfer was unsuccessful.
Dion will be reportedly announcing on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” this week that she is returning to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in March 2011.
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Believe it or not, Las Vegas does have a Downtown Arts District. Yesiree, and, not only that, but they are offering up a second showing of cultural artsy-fartsy festivities with the inauguration of Third Friday this Friday, Jan. 15, starting around 6 p.m., running until approximately midnight.
Following the footsteps of the economically challenged First Friday, now Las Vegans have the added opportunity to browse art galleries, enjoy the bands and mingle amongst fellow art fanatics twice a month — doubling the pleasure and doubling the fun- if not immediate income to producers.
Taking place on the same Las Vegas streets and benefiting the same cause, Third Friday may be similar to First Friday in many ways, but it’s projected to vary slightly.
While Cindy Funkhouse, of the Funk House and Fallout galleries, runs the beginning of the month installment, Cion Noble of the Box Office gallery and venue is coordinating this middle-of-the-month run.
Hans Cewe , one of the owners of the Gypsy Den — a vintage boutique and art gallery which also triples as a music venue — is happy to see the rise of another event to bring people Downtown Las Vegas, hoping thing will expand from there.
The Gypsy Den, also run by Cewe’s daughter Katie, will be offering up it’s stage to local bands for the night, with the lineup so far including local acts Vitamin Overdose, Close to Modern and The Marquees.
Third Friday’s main focus is not merely on the patrons it brings Downtown, but also on the various artists involved.
“It’s basically going to be a networking opportunity for creative people,” says Noble. “The theme is to network… I don’t anticipate vendors and crafts in the first couple of months — I’d like to see it grow into something that’s similar to First Friday eventually.”
The mix of “creative people” so far set to ring in Third Friday’s opening night at the Box Office includes Cameron Grant, rock and blues bands Black Cherry Blue, Flux and JD Vittles, as well as a comedy improv and musical open mic event hosted by LV Freeze.
In keeping with the idea of supporting Las Vegas arts, Funkhouse isn’t viewing the second installment as a threat. Instead she’s offering her support, “merely as a participant,” and opening her galleries’ doors — although she says the art on the walls will be the same as what’s viewed the first weekend of the month. “It’s not practical to change our show out every two weeks, that’d be too much work,” explains Funkhouse.
If Third Friday catches on, perhaps the struggling downtown Las Vegas can look forward to a more regular crowd. Who knows, maybe a little more culture in our Sin City lives, with good eats, is a good thing.
Filed under art, entertainment, food, Las Vegas, Music, Uncategorized
2009 American Idol winner Kris Allen is making a special appearance at B.B. King’s Blues Club at The Mirage in Las Vegas on Friday, Jan. 8 at 9 p.m.
Allen will be performing a very special solo acoustic set. His previous appearance at B.B. King’s saw him perform with a full band, playing hits from his latest album as well as spins on favorite songs from years past.
Allen’s path to the recent “American Idol” victory included memorable performances of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and Kanye West’s “Heartless.” He was praised by the judges for his original arrangements of such well-known songs.
Since the finale, Allen has had multiple songs appear on the Billboard charts and his finale song “No Boundaries” was No. 1 on the iTunes chart. Earlier this month, Allen released his debut album for 19 Recordings/Jive, featuring the already hit single “Live Like We’re Dying.”
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Doug Elfman of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince Neil is in Las Vegas at friend Danny “Count” Koker’s Desert Moon Productions recording his new solo album, “Tattoos And Tequila”, with bassist Dana Strum and Jeff Blando (both of Slaughter) and drummer Zoltan Chaney. 
One of the tracks being laid down during the sessions is a cover version of the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic, “Who’ll Stop The Rain?” An April release is expected.
In a recent interview with The News Tribune, Vince stated about the upcoming CD’s title, “It’s rock ‘n’ roll. That’s it. It has nothing to do with MÖTLEY CRÜE. Tattoos and tequila is basically my life.”
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Neil is also writing a book akin to MÖTLEY’s autobiography, “The Dirt”, with Esquire writer Mike Sager.
Filed under Las Vegas, Music, news, Uncategorized
Las Vegas Backstage Access has scoured the plethora of deals (and steals) in Las Vegas for New Year’s Eve and we think for the money, the best place to be is the Crazy Horse III. They’re offering unlimited well drinks the entire evening, free admittance, and free limo rides all for $40. If you want a bottle of good champagne, it’s $100.
More than that, their entertainment complex, now called Party On (was Afterhours) is featuring a free birthday celebration party for Scott Ian of Anthrax. And you can also hang out to listen and dance to Slipknot’s Corey Taylor and the Junk Beer Kidnap Band. They’ll be having lots of surprise guests during the evening.
Equally important, instead of fighting the over 300,000 revelers on the Strip to travel anywhere, their conveniently located off of Interstate 15 at 3525 W. Russell Road. Phone 702-673-1700.
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Everything in Las Vegas does not need to emphasize the new and expensive ritzy venues. Take for example the Fremont Street Experience in “old” Las Vegas. For only $10 (locals) to $20 (visitors) they’re offering a “TributePalooza” this New Year’s Eve featuring the tribute bands of INXS, U2, Depeche Mode, Van Halen, No Doubt, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Guns N’ Roses.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman will lead the countdown in a fireworks show in a specially designed New Year’s show that will take place under the street-long video screen canopy.
Only people age 21 and older will be allowed.
The concerts start at 6 p.m. For more information, please call 702-678-5600.
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The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas will host a special performance of The Darling Stilettos’ Rock-N-Roll-A-Go-Go, presented by rock legend Matt Sorum. 
The rock music show features four sexy female leads, takes the audience on a rock-fueled journey through the history of rock music from the British Invasion to Punk and Classic Rock. Backed by Sorum on drums and a guitarist, the show is an experience for any rock music enthusiast.
These special performances of The Darling Stilettos’ Rock-N-Roll-A-Go-Go will take place on Friday, December 18 and Saturday, December 19 at 11 p.m.
The good news is the show is complimentary and is open to the public. Must be 21 years of age and older. For more information, please visit www.darlingstilettos.com.
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Looking for a great blues music experience while visiting or staying in Las Vegas? Now’s you can have it all at the new B.B. King’s Blues Club in The Mirage in Las Vegas. 
With few blues clubs in Las Vegas, the club’s grand opening is a welcome addition to our entertainment and dining landscape. The venue opens with a blue carpet gala this Friday, Dec. 11, from 7 to 8 p.m.. Confirmed celebrities include the legend himself, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Willie Nelson, Steve Cropper, Lee Ritenour, Robert Cray, Lee Roy Parnell, Matt Goss, Robin Antin, Taylor Barton, Cast of History Channel’s “Pawn Stars,” Cast of Thunder From Down Under and many more.
The empire of B.B. King is rapidly expanding, with clubs opened in Orlando, Memphis, Nashville, Itta Bena, West Palm Beach.
Located across from The Beatles REVOLUTION Lounge, next to Samba Brazilian Steakhouse in The Mirage, the new Las Vegas venue offers music seven nights a week, ranging from funky and fast style to soulful and smooth tunes that emanate from the in-room stage.
The house band, B.B. King’s All-Star Band, surpasses the standard of what many know to be a house band and friends of the King are very likely to stop by at any time to join them and jam the night away.
And if you feel like cutting the rug, you can dance the night away on their spacious dance floor.
Hungry? Not only can you enjoy all the music, you can come in anytime for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night dining to check out Executive Chef Oscar Pena’s delicious Creole cuisine.
It’s also a great place to book for your meetings and events.
For more information, please visit www.bbkingclubs.com or call at 702-242-KING (5464).
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It’s been a rather long time since Las Vegas Backstage Access has written on the Dancing With the Stars Julianne Hough- on April 6, 2009 to be exact, when she garnered awards at the Academy of Country Music Awards show in Las Vegas. 
Hough, 21, who as a Las Vegas youth attended the Las Vegas Academy and whose mom still lives here, is reportedly recording a CD that will reflect her musical influences (such as U2 and Coldplay), and she’s also making two movies, the remake of Footloose, as well as Burlesque, starring along with Cher and Christina Aguilera. If that’s not enough, she also has a cardio ballroom dance workout DVD, Dance with Julianne, due out in January.
Is she done with Dancing With the Stars?
“Never say never,” Hough says, “but at least for the next two seasons.”
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, Music, news, Uncategorized
The famous Sand Dollar Blues Nightclub & Lounge at 3355 Spring Mountain Road in Las Vegas is older than Schep is a pup (and that’s a damn old pup), known for providing some of the best blues music on the planet- let alone Las Vegas.
Not only that, but every biker that’s anyone has kicked up their boots and stayed awhile at the music venue.
But, sadly, as with many Las Vegas businesses, it has succumbed to economic plights, closing last month.
But don’t throw in the towel just yet.
New owner Steve Champlin says the venue should be back up and swinging sometime over the next couple of weeks. He says to expect pretty much the same “blues-oriented” Sand Dollar us locals have come to know and love, but with more rotating bands, more benefit events and, eventually, multiple acts slated each night.
That’s good news for a blues population that has been faced with fewer and fewer Las Vegas venues.
The dank lighting, aromatic carpet and even the cobwebs taking up corner residences will remain part of the unique ambiance.
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Last year, only about 13,000 runners took part. This year, organizers say an international field of elite athletes helped round out and expand the registered runners, bringing out 27,000 racers on a brisk and wintry day today in Las Vegas.
Runner Caroline Rotich led all runners, finishing with a kick and crossing the finish line with a time of 2:29:49 to win the Rock ‘n’ Rock Las Vegas Marathon today, Sunday. She took home $25,000 for her win.
The festive marathon started at 6:15 a.m. today on Las Vegas Blvd. north of Russell Rd, near Mandalay Bay parking lot. And, for the first time ever for the marathon, nearly 7 1/2 miles of the Strip was closed to traffic.
As the name Rock ‘n’ Roll suggests, there were more than 35 live bands, cheerleaders and themed water stations set up along each line of the Las Vegas Strip course. There were also be hundreds of running Elvi and 85 couples taking part in the Run through Wedding.
Event organizers expect the Las Vegas economic boost to be around $30 million. There is a strong international presence of athletes who have come from 39 countries and all 50 states.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, Music, sports, Uncategorized
It was interesting to note that many of the top Grammy nominations on Wednesday night were garnered by performers that recently have performed in Las Vegas.
Beyonce lead the pack, receiving ted nods, including nominations for Album of the Year for “I am…Sasha Fierce.”
Country crossover sensation Taylor Swift wasn’t far behind, the 19-year-old got eight nominations, including Album of the Year for her multiplatinum sophomore DVD “Fearless.”
Other nominees for album of the year – and Las Vegas entertainers – include Lady Gaga’s “The Fame,” (coming to Vegas shortly), the Black Eyed Peas’ “The E.N.D.” and Dave Mathews Band’s “Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King.”
The Grammys are Jan. 31. For a complete list of nominees, please go to: http://www.grammy.com
Filed under entertainment, Music, news
Grammy-award winner Ne-Yo is set to perform at The Pearl Concert Theater in the Palms Casino Resort on Jan. 1. 
In 2006, Ne-Yo hit the R&B scene with a style all his own – a mix of classic sounds with a modern twist. His debut album, In My Own Words, hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and solidified his role as an artist to watch. The Las Vegas singer’s sophomore album, Because of You (2007), also peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200 and brought Ne-Yo much acclaim when he won Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards.
With Ne-Yo’s third DVD, The Year of the Gentleman, the Las Vegas native and premier songwriter has constructed a suite of songs that shows exactly what he means by class. Written over the course of travels through Europe and his own fascination with the hometown boys known as the Rat Pack, Ne-Yo explains, “For me, the sharpness of Sammy and Sinatra is the kind of style I strive for in clothes and music. Year of the Gentleman is named in honor of those guys.”
This event is produced by Andrew Hewitt and Live Nation. The Pearl Box Office in the Palms Casino Resort is open from noon – 7 p.m. daily. Doors will open at 8:00 p.m. and show time is 9:00 p.m. For more information, please call 702-942-6888.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs is about to open a new nightclub in Las Vegas. Well, at least he’s going to help open one.
“(The) Hard Rock is opening a club and I’m supposed to be opening up that new club for them,” so says the versatile artist.
The new nightspot, Vanity, is set to open on New Year’s Eve.
Still, the rapper formerly known as Puff Daddy won’t necessarily be at the Hard Rock when the ball drops on 2010.
Instead, he said he is scheduled to host a day or two after the grand opening celebration, on or around Jan. 2.
Still, he may very well be there at the Hard Rock on NYE.
Maybe.
“I may be out here, I may be shooting a television special,” he teased, adding with a smile, “I can’t give you any more details, that’s breaking news.”
Still, it’s pretty safe to say Puffy is planning to party somewhere in Las Vegas on Dec. 31.
The hip-hop heavyweight is no stranger to the Las Vegas club scene and likely has a litany of lucrative hosting offers on the table for New Year’s Eve.
“I’m the Black Sinatra,” he said. “I’m supposed to be out here.”
It wasn’t always this way for the rapper/actor/producer/fashion designer/fragrance developer/father/vodka czar. Whew!
“I used to come to Vegas maybe once every other year,” the outspoken 40-year-old icon said. “I’ve been out here already four times this year … This is the most I’ve been out here.”
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, Music, news, Performances, Uncategorized
According to People.com, Slipknot/Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor married Stephanie Luby on ‘lucky’ Friday, Nov. 13 at Las Vegas’ Palms Casino & Hotel, where the wedding party walked down the aisle to Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”. 
Approximately 350 wedding guests packed the hotel’s nearby Pearl Concert Theater, including Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath, as well as Camp Freddy’s Dave Navarro and Billy Morrison, who acted as the minister. The rockers then all took the stage, and even the groom joined in on three songs.
This is Taylor’s second marriage.
Taylor, 35, has two children: A daughter named Angie, born in 1992, and a son named Griffin, born in 2002, both of whom he had with his first wife, Scarlett.
Taylor divorced Scarlett — whom he married on March 11, 2004 in a small ceremony at the Botanical center in Des Moines, Iowa — in early 2007.
In the November 2008 issue of Revolver magazine, he is quoted as saying, “After I got sober, I realized my relationship wasn’t right for me. My wife and I had damaged each other too much.”
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Extremely popular Korean superstar Rain, 27, promoted by J-Tune Entertainment, has announced he will play his first American concerts in three years when he headlines The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas Dec. 24-25. 
Rain is one of the very first Asian pop singing stars who has a rapidly growing fan base extending beyond Asia.
Rain’s last American concert also took place at The Colsseum in December 2006. The Caesars shows will be the first in the U.S. since the end of the lawsuit brought against the singer for canceling concerts in Los Angeles and Hawaii in 2007.
This concert marks be the U.S. leg of his “Legend of Rainism” tour that took place in Japan in August and in South Korea last month.
Rain is also on an American press junket to promote “Ninja Assassin,” a Hollywood extreme action movie produced by James McTeigue, in which the South Korean-born star, whose real name is Jeong Ji-hoon, plays the lead role of Raizo, an orphan who is trained by a secret ninja clan to become a deadly killer.
Amazingly, Rain pulled off 90-percent of the stunt roles, using minimal wire support. He was hurt on many occasions, and though he didn’t break any bones he bears “many scars of honor.”
It is also the first time a Korean star is playing the title role in a major Hollywood franchise.
The modern martial arts flick is the South Korean superstar’s second collaboration with the creators of “The Matrix” series. He made his Hollywood debut in “Speed Racer,” which was directed by the Wachowski brothers.
Before playing in Las Vegas, Rain performs a two-night stand at AsiaWorld-Arena in Hong Kong Nov. 28-29, followed by a Dec. 3 gig at Jakarta International Event & Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Links: Web http://www.rain-jihoon.com/main.html and http://www.rainism.com and MySpace http://www.myspace.com/officialrainusa
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Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is losing its Colosseum headliner in a few months and has had to hustle to replace her. 
Bette Midler is wrapping up her two-year run in “The Showgirl Must Go On” in January. Cher has stepped up to fill the void and has added to her contract shows in April and May.
“What a fabulous two years this has been, and I thank AEG and Caesars Palace for the best partnership a showgirl could imagine. Who knows? These legs have had such a great run in the desert—it may be time to haul them to places with more humidity and fewer slot machines. But first I need to finish recording my album of the sexiest new love songs that only a showgirl could sing,” stated Midler.
“Bette is one of the most talented, hard working professionals in the business and we would have loved for her to stay longer, said John Meglen, co-CEO and President of AEG Live/Concerts West. “All of us at AEG Live thank Bette and the entire cast, crew and staff for a great two year run at The Colosseum.”
“Like every one of her performances, the approaching finale of Bette’s two-year engagement leaves us applauding for more,” said Gary Selesner, president of Caesars Palace. “Bette always will have a home at Caesars Palace.”
The Showgirl Must Go On will perform November 7 through 15 and December 30 through January 31, 2010. The show is dark Monday, Thursday and occasional Fridays. Tickets for these final performances are on-sale now at Ticketmaster.com, keyword “Bette Midler”, by calling 1-877-7BETTEM, or in person at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace Box Office in Las Vegas, which is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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Wayne Newton is telling his fans “Danke Schoen” after 50 years in Las Vegas and hinting that his latest run in Las Vegas could be his last. But the singer synonymous with Sin City says he’s leaving himself an opening in case he wants to perform after April. 
The man known throughout the world as “Mr. Las Vegas” says retirement is possible, but that decision won’t hinge on the success of his new show that opened at the Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Instead, he says, it depends on whether his itch to keep working conflicts with his desire to spend more time with his 7-year-old daughter.
“I’m enjoying my second daughter in a way that I didn’t get a chance to do the first time around,” Newton, 67, told The Associated Press. The decision that I make, whether or not to perform or retire, will pretty much be based on that.”
Newton’s current Tropicana show, “Once Before I Go” took 2½ months to write and is presented as a live memoir of Newton’s life and his career, with never-before-shared insights from Newton about personal episodes along the way.
“It’s challenging to keep it entertaining,” Newton said. “And that was my first prerequisite.”
Newton has told his audience that it was tough for him to pick highlight songs from a career that includes 165 records.
“It would be impossible for me to pick songs from all of them even if I remembered them, which I don’t,” Newton quipped.
Newton arrived in Las Vegas in 1959, when a two-week tryout at the Fremont Hotel & Casino turned into lounge act of six shows per night, six nights a week for nearly a year. The crooner earned national fame after a 1962 television appearance on “The Jackie Gleason Show,” which led to many more singing and acting gigs on TV and in film.
He also headlined at several casinos throughout Sin City, including the New Frontier, which hosted entertainers including Elvis Presley, Ronald Reagan and Siegfried & Roy over its 65 years. The casino was imploded in 2007.
“I’ve been working since I was four,” Newton said. “There really has not been a time in my life that I don’t remember working.”
“If I still feel like I have something to give when this particular show is over, then I’ll make the decision to probably curtail work a little bit but not give it up totally,” he told the Associated Press. “If I don’t feel that way at the end of this, then I’ll probably hang it up.”
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, Music, Performances, Uncategorized
Cirque du Soleil has announced the title for its new show based on the life and music of Elvis Presley: Viva Elvis.
The production, to be directed by choreographer Vincent Paterson, will take up residence at the new Aria Resort & Casino in the brand spanking new $8.5 billion CityCenter in Las Vegas, beginning performances on December 18.
Tickets are not yet on sale but the show will open for media previews in December.
The show will fuse dance and acrobatics, live music and iconic tracks, nostalgia and modernity, high technology and raw emotion.
While he is most famous for his collaborations with Madonna and Michael Jackson, Paterson has also worked in the performing arts. In 2006, he staged a ’50s style revival of Massenet’s Manon for Los Angeles Opera.
Cirque du Soleil currently has numerous shows already in Las Vegas, including O, LOVE, Ka, Zumanity, and Mystere.
The company is also currently touring its Allegria show; recently opened its new show Ovo in Toronto; and another new show, Banana Shpeel, begins performances in Chicago this month and will then play New York.
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If Wayne Brady and “Let’s Make a Deal” isn’t enough, the Four Queens in Las Vegas is doing a test run of “The Las Vegas Rock and Roll Gameshow” that runs today, Sunday, Wednesday and Nov. 19 and 22.
It’s a low-budget affair meant to appeal to the ham in all of us. “Peoplw will never watch anything more interesting than themselves,” says co-producer and co-star Matt Phillips says of the show.
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Soul singer and frequent Las Vegas performer Toni Braxton has reportedly split from her husband Keri Lewis after eight years of marriage. 
The couple has two children, seven year old Denim and Diezel, six.
The split news, reported by Essence.com, comes as the Unbreak My Heart singer faces the prospect of losing her home after she allegedly defaulted on her mortgage payments.
The singer owes more than $12,500 on her mansion in Century City, California and officials at the Bank of America are now looking to foreclose on the property, according to TMZ.com.
The news comes just a week after it was revealed that Braxton is facing a lawsuit from bosses at another financial institution, City National Bank, who claim the star owes them $900,000 in loan payments.
Braxton has been facing financial difficulties ever since she scrapped a series of Las Vegas concerts in 2008 after she was hospitalised with a reported heart problem. She is currently embroiled in a legal battle with her insurance company, after the firm refused to pay out on the axed shows.
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The Playground/Crazy Horse III strip club complex in Las Vegas has just opened an intimate, 200-person rock club called Dead Man’s Hand.
So, what’s the big deal you ask?
Curiously, there is no gambling permitted, thus the customary restrictions on nudity don’t apply. Their business model has resulted in creating the only place in Las Vegas where you can see big name rockers perform and then go into the next room for some stripper lap dancing for the ultimate coup de grace.
The other nice thing that helps our choking economy: the admission is always FREE!
For more, please check out www.PlaygroundLV.com
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If you haven’t got tickets yet, just forgedaboutit. In a few hours from now more than 40,000 people are expected to jam Sam Boyd Stadium for their 360 Tour until it probably bursts wide open, surely setting a record for the largest concert ever held at the venue.
It took 135 trucks to haul in the 500,000-plus pounds of equipment used to construct the foreboding claw-like structure that will surround the band. The massive stage will stand more than 150 feet tall. And, if that’s not enough, they’ll show off a new cylindrical video display of connected LED panels held high by a 150-foot steel frame.
Compared to their November 2001 show during their Elevation Tour, only 18,000 people came. But that was a memorabable event nonetheless, as No Doubt opened for them and rocked out for 30 minute. Not to be outdone, freelance photographer Denise Truscello, who still photographs in Las Vegas, got an impromptu makeout session with Bono when he ducked his head into the photographers’ pit.
But what everyone remembered was not Truscello, but when the glowing LED screen behind the stage rolled with the name of every person killed in the attacks of Sept. 11 as Bono sang out “One.” A band capable of evoking any emotions onstage reduced 18,000 fans to tears.
U2 always does something unpredictable when they perform in Las Vegas during their 16-city U.S. tour.
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Barry Manilow fans have just a few chances left to see their idol perform at the Las Vegas Hilton. Barry Manilow announced that he is ending his five-year stint at the resort on December 30. 
The show, “Ultimate Manilow: The Hits,” can still be seen Nov. 27-29 and Dec. 28-30. Ticket information can be found on the Las Vegas Hilton Web site.
The 66-year-old singer arrived in Las Vegas in February 2005 with a show titled “Manilow: Music and Passion.”
Since then, the Hilton said he has performed more than 300 shows to nearly 450,000 people.
Earlier this year, Manilow appeared on “American Idol” as a guest instructor during the show’s “Hollywood Week.”
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In a couple short hours from now country music king Garth Brooks will confirm in Las Vegas his new residency at Steve Wynn’s casino hotels, most notably the Encore Theatre at the Wynn. 
The planned run of performances ends the black Stetson-wearing king’s self-imposed retirement that began back in late 2000 when the 47-year-old wanted more time with his three children.
The announcement will be made at 1 p.m. PT today, Oct. 15, inside the Danny Gans Theatre in the Wynn with Steve Wynn by his side.
We expect the run to start as a total of 16 weeks of concerts starting in 2010. Garth’s appearances will be keyed to major holidays, and he will most likely move into a Las Vegas home with his wife, country singer Trisha Yearwood, and his three children.
Brooks has sold more than 128 million albums in the U.S., according to the Recording Industry Assn. of America, second only to the Beatles’ 170 million albums. Brooks has outsold the Fab Four — more than 68 million, to the Beatles’ 58 million.
During the 1990s he also was one of the most popular concert attractions in the world. Amusement Business magazine ranked his 1996 tour the biggest country music tour in history after he sold 1.8 million tickets that year.
Interestingly, though, he plans not to tour or make records for another five years, leaving his retirement a quasi-so proposition in Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas shows, which should sell out by this weekend, will be a tremendous tourism boost to Las Vegas.
UPDATE: He will be performing at Wynn’s Encore Theatre in Las Vegas for five years, three nights each week (one show Friday, two on Saturday, and one show on Sunday) starting sometime in 2010. Under the terms of his deal with Steve Wynn, each week after his show he will be flown in his jet provided by Steve Wynn back to his home in Oklahoma so he can spend time with his family.)
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The single from the eagerly anticipated Michael Jackson movie ‘This Is It’ is set to premiere online on Monday, Oct. 12.
Sony Music tells the Associated Press that the unreleased single, also titled “This Is It,” will debut Monday at midnight on www.MichaelJackson.com.
The song, which will play over the closing sequence of the film (in theaters Oct. 28), includes backup vocals by Michael’s brothers, The Jacksons, says the AP.
The tune will also be included on a two-disc CD set featuring Michael classics such as “Thriller” and “Billie Jean.”
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More Garth Brooks chatter that he has an Oct. 15 news conference scheduled regarding his Wynn Las Vegas entertainment offer. As Las Vegas Backstage Access sorts out facts from fiction, we’ll keep you posted.
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Live Nation has confirmed to Las Vegas Backstage Access that the Gaga/Kanye “Fame Kills” tour is officially off.
Mediatakeout claims it’s Gaga who wanted out, not Kanye, even though she was singing his praises recently in a Las Vegas radio interview for what would have been their Nov. 13 concert at Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Readers, what do you think: sad for the show you won’t be seeing, or was Fame never meant to live forever, nor to light up the Las Vegas sky like a flame?
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A few nice things about October in Las Vegas: The fricken hot heat of summer which sears your eyelids to your eyeballs abates for six months; kids go back to school, giving their parents at least a semblance of renewed sanity; and an Oktoberfest is promoted in nearly every nook and cranny in Las Vegas, hopefully, to give the venue a revenue bump.
One of the premiere events is the Jacktoberfest Beer Festival that runs today from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Sunset Station in Henderson. 
It features 30 different beers from all over the world. And if that is not enough to satiate your needs, then maybe the live music from The King Mixers, Hair Nation and Sin City Sinners will- these are not your ordinary garage bands.
Included in the $20 entry fee for this event is a plethora of events that only drunkards could truly appreciate: $500 for Sexiest Oktoberfest costume (or what many of you normally wear anyway), Hooters Bikini Beer-Chugging Contest, BBQ Grill Toss, Weiner Dog Races, and so much more.
For the really commercial strength chuggers there’s an after party inside Club Madrid later in the day. No word yet on whether escorts will be allowed to accompany the inebriated.
Please call 702-547-7777 or log on to www.sunsetstation.com for more details.
Please, arrange for a cab to get back, enjoying the day even more.
Bottoms up!
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Tommy Rocker has been a Las Vegas club/restaurant owner and long time musician and entertainment fixture for decades- probably singing more Margaritaville ballads to locals and out-of-towners then Jimmy Buffet himself — and plucking more feelin’ good tunes from his guitar than his patrons drank Margaritas at his Cantina in Las Vegas. 
So, it was no major surprise that about four years ago, during a talk after one of his trademark Saturday open-mic shows, Tommy Rocker (real name: Thomas Greenough) spun yet another euphoric and repetitive tale about how he was going to turn his Tommy Rocker’s Cantina into an adult club. At which juncture, most patrons just so fit to call for another drink.
Remarkably, he’d held a topless-club license for years but had never taken advantage of using it to ostensibly draw in the big bucks. Then, about a year and a half later, in the summer of 2007, Rocker converted mere bravado into action, turning the one-time Parrot Head emporium on 4275 Dean Martin Drive, just south of The Rio into a gentlemen’s club.
But soon he found that even the lure of silicone boobies wasn’t enough to make him visit his business often, which was his usual modus operandi. Inactions and neglect eventually translated into a suffering balance sheet, badly in need of life support and more than just mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, no matter how sexy the giver. The adult club was a good idea, in theory, but so not Tommy.
So Rocker decided to give up on his “gentlemen’s club” and switch back to his old open-mic, live music beach-club format that was attended regularly by a standing-room clientele.
“A couple of months ago, I found myself thinking, ‘I hate this bar. I hate coming here, and I own the place.’ I realized then it was time to change it back,” says Rocker.
And not any too soon. On Sept. 9 Tommy Rocker’s Cantina & Grill, received 19 demerits including violations for slimy and spoiled mushrooms.
Under his new business name, Tommy Rocker’s Mojave Beach Bar & Grill, he’s not only vowed to clean up his food act but has scheduled a comedy night (Cozy’s Comedy Corner, the first Friday of every month, inadvertently giving First Friday more competition), his own sing-along show Saturdays at 9:30 p.m. and country night with Seth Turner at 8 p.m. Wednesdays, followed by open mic with Las Vegas singer/songwriter Joey Vitale.
The grand reopening and 20th anniversary for Rocker’s business in Las Vegas is Oct. 3.
This is a good thing. This is a very good thing. Tell your friends. The conga line forms to the left.
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A new Michael Jackson single called “This Is It” will hit the airwaves on October 12, two weeks before it is available as part of a two-disc album released by the late pop star’s record label.
Sony Music’s Columbia/Epic Label Group said it would release the “This Is It” album internationally on October 26 and in North America on October 27, to coincide with the simultaneous global release of the Jackson movie of the same name on October 28.
A spokeswoman in London said that contrary to some reports, the posthumous single would not go on sale separately but would be available for radio stations to play from October 12.
“This song only defines, once again, what the world already knows — that Michael is one of God’s greatest gifts,” said John McClain, co-producer of the album and an executor of Jackson’s estate. Jackson died of an overdose of prescription drugs on June 25, at around the time he was rehearsing for a 50-date, sellout series of comeback concerts in London.
The “This Is It” movie, subject of a $60 million deal between Jackson’s estate and concert promoter AEG Live and Sony Pictures, is based on footage from the final concert rehearsals.
Sales of Jackson’s records spiked after his death, and the release of the movie and album will add to the value of the “Thriller” singer’s estate, estimated at around $400 million.
Sony Music said the first disc of the two-disc album will feature some of Jackson’s greatest hits plus two versions of the new single “This Is It.” The song includes backing vocals by Jackson’s brothers.
The second disc will include unreleased versions of some of the singer’s classic tracks and a spoken word poem entitled “Planet Earth” performed by Jackson and never heard before.
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Velvet Revolver/ex-Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash has just revealed a huge lineup of musicians who will join him for his all-star concert in Las Vegas on October 2. 
The concert, billed “Slash & Friends”, celebrates the 20th anniversary of Las Vegas hotel, casino and white tiger playground the Mirage.
According to Slash, the “house band” for the Mirage gig will consist of:
* Tommy Clufetos (Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent) – Drums
* Johnny Griparic (Slash’s Snakepit) – Bass
* Ted “Zig Zag” Andreadis (Guns N’ Roses) – Keyboards
* John 5 (Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson) – Guitar
* Slash – Guitar
* Franky Perez (Scars on Broadway) – Vocals
Slash’s special guests that night are “more or less in this order”:
* Rocco Deluca (The Burden)
* Nicole Scherzinger (Pussycat Dolls)
* Courtney Love (Hole)
* Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick)
* Robin Zander (Cheap Trick)
* Joe Perry (Aerosmith)
Slash says, “Matt Sorum [Velvet Revolver, ex-Guns N’ Roses] is [also] jamming a couple songs, plus there will be some other surprises. I also just got confirmation that the Joe Perry Project is playing as well, [so] it promises to be a bitchin’ evening.”
Slash has spent the last few months recording material for his forthcoming solo album, which will be released under the “Slash & Friends” banner. He says, “the [record] is in its mixing stage and the mixes to this point sound great. We have recorded 18 songs, with one more I want to track in the next couple weeks.” He adds, “the record is still slated for a February/March release.”
Slash tracked most of the CD with former Nine Inch Nails drummer Josh Freese and ex-Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney. Confirmed guest singers so far include Ozzy Osbourne, Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows and Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave). The CD was produced by Eric Valentine (Good Charlotte, Queens of the Stone Age) and features additional appearances by ex-Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and former Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl.
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As scooped by Las Vegas Backstage Access on Sept. 17, it’s official now: Singer Wayne Newton is being welcomed back to perform on the Las Vegas Strip at the Tropicana Hotel-Casino and celebrate his 50-year iconic career. 
Officials for the Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino said that the 67-year-old “Danke Schoen” crooner plans start a limited run next month.
The show will be titled “Once Before I Go,” and is being promoted as a look back at Newton’s career and life story.
Newton said in a statement that the show is exciting and artistically challenging, and “the kind of show I’ve always wanted to do.”
In addition to performances at various Las Vegas casinos during his illustrious career, Newton toured Australia in 2006 and also recently appeared on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, Music, news, travel
Momentarily it will be officially announced that aging crooner Wayne Newton will be back on the Las Vegas Strip as a resident headliner at the Tropicana. 
Although the aging Las Vegas icon has lost his robust trademark singing voice of 50 years, this time a new show described as a “theatrical extravaganza,” will focus more on his personality and charm, not his singing.
Jack Wishna, the agent brokering the deal through his CP America company, has acknowledged a pending contract but said he couldn’t discuss content until it is final.
Others say Newton is finally ditching the bandstand crooner format he clung to with diminishing returns in this decade, and that his show will be reformatted to emphasize his strengths and not his weaknesses.
A new format could go one of two directions or somehow combine them: A variety show in which Newton would introduce guest stars, or a “Joker Is Wild” shift (named after the Sinatra movie bio of Joe E. Lewis) that would have him maybe sing “Danke Schoen,” but mostly tell jokes, play his banjo and serve up backstage yarns from his long career.
Please stay tuned for more updates from Las Vegas Backstage Access.
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Forty-nine thousand dollars. A four, a nine, and three zeros. Yep, that’s the amount the Las Vegas Hard Rock paid for the jewel encrusted glove worn by Michael Jackson during his 1996 wedding to his second wife, Debbie Rowe. On the day the two were married, they attended a Sydney, Australia premiere of the film “Ghosts”. At the conclusion of the performance, Jackson tossed his glove into the crowd where it was caught by music memorabilia collector, Bill Hibble. 
This is the first of the iconic Jackson gloves that has gone on sale since his June 25th death. However there are at least three more scheduled for auction this year. In November, the Hard Rock Cafe New York will be hosting a memorabilia auction to support MusiCares. One of the evenings top draws is expected to be the sequined glove Jackson wore at the 1983 Motown 25th Anniversary special – the event where he first performed his “moonwalk”.
Curator Warwick Stone plans to place Jackson’s wedding glove on display with other memorabilia at the Las Vegas Hard Rock, but, as of yet, hasn’t announced when.
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The “Thrill is Gone” no longer as the King of Blues brings his popular restaurant, bar and nightlife venue, B.B. King’s Blues Club, to Las Vegas. The namesake that made Lucille famous is set to open winter 2009 at The Mirage. With very few blues clubs in Las Vegas, this club will be a welcome addition.
From early morning to late night, B.B. King’s Blues Club will serve the best in Creole cuisine fused with that southern comfort touch. Palates of Las Vegas visitors and locals alike are sure to be awakened by signature items such as Fried Dill Pickles, Gumbo Ya Ya Straight from the Bayou, Lip Smacking Ribs, Southern Fried Catfish and Banana Bread Pudding.
And it doesn’t stop with the food- the drink concoctions are just as tasty and full of soul – from the Boll Weevil that’s sure to pack a punch to the Wang Dang Doodle that the women will love.
It is an all-in-one experience as B.B. King’s Blues Club offers music seven nights a week from funky and fast to soulful and smooth. Come for dinner and experience the tunes that emanate from the in-room stage. As the night progresses, so will the tunes as guests turn to the dance floor to dance the night away. The house bands at B.B. King’s Blues Club surpass the standard of what many know to be a house band, and friends of the King are likely to stop by at any time to join them and jam the night away.
B.B. King’s Blues Club at The Mirage will be located across from The Beatles Revolution Lounge and next to Samba Brazilian Steakhouse. The 558-seat venue will feature four bars; one outside looking into the club and three inside, all with great views of the stage and entertainment. The restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night dining; open until 2 a.m. on weekdays and 4 a.m. on weekends or until the last man (or woman) is left standing. The signature retail section of the famed blues club will be open all hours for patrons to take home some soul, including T-shirts, glassware, guitar picks and more. For more information: www.bbkingclubs.com
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Las Vegas Backstage Access has learned that prominent conductor Edwin Outwater will be joining the “Sgt. Pepper Live” project once again to lead the full symphony orchestra for “Sgt. Pepper Live” featuring Cheap Trick at the Las Vegas Hilton, the concert previously written on by Las Vegas Backstage Access on Aug. 26. 
Outwater was the guest conductor at both “Sgt. Pepper Live” shows at the Hollywood Bowl and will be guest conducting the Las Vegas Hilton shows, Sept. 13-15, 17-19 and 21-23. He is currently the the music director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in Ontario, Canada. Prior to his current position, he served as resident conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and held the post of music director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. In both capacities, he worked closely with Michael Tilson Thomas, accompanying the orchestra on tour and conducting numerous concerts each season. He made his subscription debut in 2002, with Kurt Masur conducting Britten’s “War Requiem,” and has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie and many others. His consistently innovative programs have featured the works of composers such as John Adams, Thomas Adès, Chen Yi, Gabriela Lena Frank, HK Gruber, Lou Harrison, Robin Holloway, Nathaniel Stookey and Tan Dun.
Internationally, Outwater has appeared with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Adelaide Symphony, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of New Zealand. He has put together many music education programs for youths and has been on the faculties of the University of Tulsa, the Idyllwild Arts Academy and the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2004, he was awarded the Leonard Bernstein award for excellence in educational programming and the MET LIFE award for community outreach. Outwater is a Harvard University graduate with a master’s degree in conducting from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Cheap Trick is best known for its classic singles “I Want You To Want Me” and “Surrender.” The band recorded the album All Shook Up in 1980 with Sir George Martin and Geoff Emerick, producer and engineer of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Emerick will continue to be in charge of the audio production for “Sgt. Pepper Live.” He received Grammy awards for the engineering of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road.
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The topless vampire show “Bite” is still going strong, celebrating its fifth year at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. More than a half-million fans have attended 1,500 performances of the offbeat rock ‘n’ roll musical, produced and written by Tim Molyneux. 
“Vampires allow us to do the things that provide the ingredients for a great Las Vegas show: fun music, high-energy, acrobatics in the air and on the stage, magic, martial arts, gymnastics, contortion, comedy, drama, great dancing, live singing and sexy girls. The show tells a compelling story through the lyrics of the sons and the classic vampire lore of lost love,” says Molyneux.
Wow, what a mouthful- and what a vampire feast! The show is at 10:30 p.m. Fridays though Wednesdays, dark Thursdays; $49.45; 702-380-7711.
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DJ AM, whose real name was Adam Goldstein, the celebrity disc jockey who publicly acknowledged his history of drug addiction and had filmed a reality show in which he offered to help other addicts, was found dead in his Manhattan SoHo apartment yesterday. He was 36. 
Police found a crack pipe and prescription pills in his apartment. Paramedics had to break down the door before they found him, shirtless and wearing sweatpants, in his bed around 5:20 p.m. on Friday.
There was no evidence of foul play, although a medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
DJ AM, whose had openly discussed past addictions to crack cocaine, Ecstasy and other drugs, addictions so bad he once tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head — but the gun jammed. However, he claimed he had been drug-free for years, even swearing off cigarettes.
In October, MTV was to debut his reality show, “Gone Too Far,” in which he and concerned families staged interventions for drug abusers. In a recent AP interview, he talked about holding a crack pipe for the first time in years for the show and said he felt as though he had an angel on his shoulder for surviving so much turmoil.
“There’s no better way to remember what it was like when I was at my bottom than to see someone at their bottom,” he told the Associated Press.
MTV did not have an immediate comment on whether Goldstein’s show would air, but said in a statement that it “was honored to support him as he helped young people battle their own addictions.”
Goldstein rose to fame several years ago as a highly sought-after deejay for hire who regularly performed at Las Vegas’ and Hollywood’s most exclusive nightclubs and parties and was admired by music aficionados for his deft mashups of rock and roll with hip-hop, who always kept the dance floor packed and clubgoers hypnotized.
Goldstein was also part owner of the LAX nightclub at the Luxor in Las Vegas.
This Friday he was scheduled to perform at the Rain nightclub in the Palms Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas.
He was famous for his relationships with reality TV star Nicole Richie, the daughter of singer Lionel Richie, actress-singer Mandy Moore, and friend Criss Angel.
As previously reported by Las Vegas Backstage Access, Goldstein was critically injured last September when a Learjet crashed on takeoff in Columbia, S.C. The plane was transporting among others Goldstein and Travis Barker, a drummer for the pop punk band Blink-182, after a performance; the pair had formed the duo TRVSDJ-AM.
Barker and Goldstein were burned, though Barker was injured more severely. Goldstein had to get skin graft surgery, but about a month later he was performing again, joining Jay-Z on stage.
“I can’t believe I made it,” Goldstein said. “I’ve prayed every night for the past 10 years. There’s a lot more to thank God for now. … I was saved for a reason. Maybe I’m going to help someone else. I don’t question it. All I know is I’m thankful to be here.”
He is also one of the playable characters in Activision’s “DJ Hero,” a rhythm video game from the makers of “Guitar Hero” that uses a turntable-shaped controller. The game is set for release Oct. 27.
Celebrities, friends and fans instantly shared their reactions on Twitter, where “RIP DJ AM” was the No. 1 topic on Friday.
Singer John Mayer wrote: “We’re supposed to lose our friends to time, at an age when we’re ready to agree to the terms of having lived a long life. Not now.”
Media and onlookers flocked to his apartment, creating a frenzied scene; flowers had been placed outside the entrance.
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Celine Dion is expecting her second child in May, her Montreal publicist recently confirmed. 
The former Caesars Palace headliner conceived after fertility treatments, as she did with son Rene Charles, born Jan. 25, 2001.
Dion, 41, ended her world tour in February and later acknowledged during an appearance on “Oprah” that she was hoping to have another child.
The Canadian singing star has hinted that she intends to return to Las Vegas to perform after a baby break.
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Multi-award winning music legend, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, & Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Van
Morrison will perform his hits at The Joint this fall. Van Morrison is a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, author, poet and multi-instrumentalist, who is widely considered one of the most important living artists of our time.
Van Morrison has albums that are ranked in the greatest of the entire rock and roll canon, with over 150 songs featured in major motion pictures, the latest being featured in the Scorsese film “The Departed”.
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How time zooms by at warp speed when you’re passionate in what you do and have a never say die attitude. Success is the tasty fruit of victory. Just ask Sally Steele, publisher for VEGAS ROCKS! magazine. Fighting the grasp of corporate Las Vegas biggies that apparently enjoy swooping in for the media kills and “friends” that say she couldn’t pull it off, Steele has squashed her detractors and beaten all odds and is now celebrating five years in business in Las Vegas. Way to go, Sally! 
The once jilted bride and single mother, with no prior experience in publishing, made bank for her and her children by driving limousines in the wee hours and backstreets of Vegas. But, during it all, the dream and passion of publishing a Las Vegas rock n’ roll music magazine remained uppermost in her mind and actions.
Celebrating her achievement while recognizing those many supporters and true friends who have steadfastly believed in her and given so much, Steele is having a blow-out fifth anniversary rock n’ roll party like no other on August 29. The best rockers will be on hand to wish her well. You’re invited to come out and join in on all the fun and great music.
For more details, please visit www.clubzone.com/events/las_vegas/132773/premierclublv or www.VegasRocks.com to buy tickets online.
Congratulations, Sally, Las Vegas Backstage Access wishes you all the best and continued success!
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Trina Johnson-Finn is back, thankfully, performing in Las Vegas this Sunday, Aug. 23. It’s her first time on stage since her release after spending more than 100 days in South American jail, as previously reported by Las Vegas Backstage Access. 
Johnson-Finn has a 90-minute show at the Bootlegger Bistro on Sunday, Aug. 23, starting at 8:30 p.m.
She had been held in Suriname on charges that she impersonated past Las Vegas singer Toni Braxton to defraud a boisterous and demanding concert crowd. She was acquitted in June.
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Women, get ready to P-A-R-T-Y– Latin style! The iconic, steamy-hot bare-chested men of Chippendales, The Show, known as The Ultimate Girls Night Out, at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas have spiced their show, appealing to the Latin crowd with their new “Noche Latina Thursdays.” The Latin-inspired show features a Spanish-speaking MC, Spanish version of featured songs and uptempo Spanish music replacing certain acts. 
The Latin show runs on Thursdays, starting at 10:30 p.m., running through September 3, at the Chippendales Theater at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. Tickets are $39.95 and $49.95 and are available online at www.RioLasVegas.com or by phone at 702-777-7776. Every ticket includes a coupon for 25% off dining at one of the Rio ’s dining establishments, including Martorano’s, VooDoo Steak and Buzios Seafood Restaurant.
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A new kind of scary music carnival of sorts composed of famous (and infamous) old, but vital hard rockers may be coming to Las Vegas. Apparently, old rockers never really die- they just play on.
Veteran rockers Kiss have reportely announced on the sly plans to bring a reported big-budget, Cirque du Soleil-style stage show to Las Vegas with at least a $40 million to $50 million budget, according to those behind the planned production. 
The show, which will purportedly be titled “Kiss: Carnival of Souls,” is being devised by Kiss’ Gene Simmons, a very frequent Las Vegas visitor, and Paul Stanley, with L.A. comic book publisher Radical Publishing and its Singapore-based sister company Storm Lion also involved in putting it together.
Details still are emerging about the show, but according to Barry Levine, co-founder of Radical, it will be an all-encompassing affair.
“It involves every aspect of music, movement, lighting, stage design and special effects,” Levine says via e-mail from Singapore. “Since Kiss is the epitome of theatrical rock, we need to make sure it represents the Kiss brand. The Kiss brand has endured and sustained itself like no other group for the past 35 years.”
No official opening date has been set or even a venue named. Levine says that it will debut in “approximately two years and yes, we do have an idea of where we want it to be, but that will only be revealed once certain requirements are met.”
Promoters who book The Pearl at the Palms, The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel the Las Vegas Hilton and the 7,000-seat theater at Planet Hollywood, though, played it Vegas-style safe to the vest, saying they either were not familiar with the proposed production or that they had not engaged in discussions with the producers.
Levine says he first developed a working relationship with Simmons and Stanley as a photographer for Kiss more than 30 years ago. He says that a production like this has been in the works for some time.
“There have been talks about Kiss creating a Vegas show for the past 20 years,” Levine says, “but the collaboration between Kiss, Radical and Storm Lion seemed to help take it to another level.”
Levine also says Stanley and Simmons will have a strong hand in the development of the show. “Kiss will be hands-on as they have been from day one and they already have an initial concept,” he says.
Levine says he has enlisted the help of Michael Gill, who helms the Vegas-based Gill Theatrical Management. Gill’s firm oversees daily operations of local titles including “Phantom — The Las Vegas Spectacular” and he often has served as a go-between for producers seeking to place titles on the Strip.
If the show does come to fruition, Levine says it will be a mix of the new and the old intended to reach an audience that reflects as much.
“I feel that Kiss will be reaching its current demographic from 10- to 60-year-olds,” Levine says. “Will it be tailored to a specific hard-rock audience? No, it will be tailored to a Kiss audience with new music along with classics that we all love.”
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Baby boomers will surely be in Las Vegas heaven this weekend as Jerry Presley, Elvis’ second cousin, takes the stage Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Eastside Cannery’s Marilyn’s Lounge.
Presley has spent much of his career performing with such classic acts as the Platters, the Coasters, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs and Jackie Wilson. But since 1969, he’s been focusing primarily on his tribute to his second cousin. By now, Elvis’ songs are so iconic that, Presley says, “if you forget the words, most of the audiences can sing it for you.”
And the real nice thing is the concert price: It’s FREE!
Future Eastside Cannery shows are scheduled to include such performers as Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the Association, Herman’s Hermits, The Guess Who, The Turtles and Rare Earth.
In addition, Eastside Cannery recently began hosting “Classic Rock Saturdays” events.
Eastside Cannery Casino & Hotel is located at 5255 Boulder Highway. Friday and Saturday shows start at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. 702-856-5470.
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Tie-dyed shirts, peace, free love and lots of spirits will be the free flowing order for this weekend’s merriment, as Las Vegas honors today through Sunday the 40th anniversary of Woodstock at the Fremont Street Experience. 
Although that historic crowd of a half a million won’t be hanging around this weekend, nevertheless “Woodstock TributePalooza” should be packed with a similarly frenzied crowd that will be treated to a variety of musical acts representing some of the more iconic performers from the past — Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, among others –that graced the stage during the historic concert and almost instantly became the hallmarks for a generation.
Among the performers will be Dead Ahead, a band that performs the music of the Grateful Dead; Randy Linder, performing Credence Clearwater Revival; Byron Bordeaux playing Jimi Hendrix music; Alan Kaye doing Joe Cocker’s music; The Wholigans performing music from The Who and Cara Lee, who will pay tribute to Janis Joplin.
A movie, “From Havens to Hendrix,” will play on the lighted canopy. Music and performances are scheduled to start every day of the tribute at 6:30 p.m., with acts planned through midnight. For a full schedule of events, visit www.vegasexperience.com or call 702-678-5777.
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After a hugely popular and well received Las Vegas concert, it was announced on Tuesday that Beyonce and Lady Gaga each earned nine nominations for next month’s MTV Video Music Awards– more than any other artist. 
Reigning champ Britney Spears, another Las Vegas water-imbibing regular, continues her stiff musical comeback with seven nods for “Womanizer” and “Circus.”
For video of the year, Beyonce (“Single Ladies”) faces off against Spears, Eminem (“We Made You”), Kanye West (“Love Lockdown”), and newbie, but strong contender Lady Gaga (“Poker Face”).
Beyonce has only been nominated for video of the year once, losing her 2007 nod for “Irreplaceable” to, of all people, her husband, Jay-Z, and Rihanna for “Umbrella.” Beyonce does have six wins out of 14 nods in various categories to console her. She contends for a slew more this year, with “Single Ladies” earning nine nominations in total, including best female and pop videos as well as six technical nods.
Talks are on for Beyonce to return to Las Vegas to perform over the holidays.
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If Michael Jackson is not going to be buried at Neverland Ranch, the ranch may just be relocated to Las Vegas.
E! News reports the current owner of Neverland has drafted plans to dismantle the King of Pop’s once-adored residence and move it from the outskirts of Santa Barbara, Calif., to Sin City and fashion a Graceland-style tourist attraction.
Jackson’s estate is “seriously considering” the idea, although still in its preliminary planning stages.
Colony Capital, the investment firm that saved the property from being auctioned off last year, is reportedly developing a business plan with Jackson’s estate to transport Neverland’s main house and several other structures to what would have to be a pretty large piece of land near the Vegas Strip.
A source with knowledge of the project says Colony executives are drafting proposals for a museum, theater and, pending approval from the family, a burial plot for Jackson’s body (like the one at Graceland where Elvis Presley was laid to rest) where fans could pay their respects to the fallen iconic singer.
Michael G. Dave, a California probate attorney, says it would only require the blessing of estate executors John McClain and John Branca to start launching the plans.
Supposedly it would cost at least tens of millions of dollars to reimagine Neverland in Vegas, sources told E! News. But one insider says Colony Capital founder Thomas Barrack has met with community resistance when it comes to moving forward with development on the current Neverland site, and that moving the whole kit and caboodle to Vegas could end up being the more profitable venture.
Meanwhile, insiders say Jackson’s estate is also in talks with concert promoter AEG Live—which had been organizing Jackson’s London comeback—to set up a tribute show at a major Las Vegas hotel-casino, such as Cirque du Soleil did with the Beatles-themed LOVE at the Mirage.
A representative for AEG declined to comment, but executives have publicly stated they are interested in taking the momentum from the 50 sold-out Jackson concerts that never took place and putting it toward a tribute to the fallen pop star.
When he lived in Las Vegas between 2006 and 2007, Michael Jackson had also worked with businessman Jack Wishna on the idea of a LOVE-style spectacle featuring his music.
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As previously reported by Las Vegas Backstage Access, country singer Garth Brooks appears to be still actively looking for a Las Vegas gig, ostensibly with Steve Wynn’s Encore Theater, after previously retiring and walking away from his iconic rise to stardom in October 2000, saying he wanted to spend more time with his three daughters. 
Despite trying to ink a Las Vegas show deal, people from both camps remain stauch that there is no deal in the works.
Some close to the action are going so far as to say Brooks has already signed a 16-week headliner detail to appear at the Encore Theater, starting in October.
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With the Las Vegas temperature cooling a tad this weekend (if 100 degrees is better than 110 for you), it’s a great time to get out and about, blissfully frolicking in all the tempting merriment. Here’s our Las Vegas Backstage Access Best Bets on a roll: Usher is walking the red carpet at 7 p.m. tonight at the Playboy Club at the Palms. Jenny McCarthy will be at Pure nightclub at Caesars Palace on Saturday, walking the red carpet around 11:30 p.m. Judas Priest and Whitesnake will be whaling away at Thomas & Mack on Saturday night. No Doubt and Panic at the Disco will perform tonight at the Hard Rock. Country singer Alan Jackson will be at M Resort’s outdoor piazza on Saturday. If extreme cagefighting is your cup of tea, check out the diminutive Miguel Angel Torres and Brian Bowles as they fight for the coveted WEC bantamweight championship at 3 p.m. on Sunday at the Hard Rock Hotel. If soothing your nerves is the order of the day, take in the cool relaxing jazz from Elvis Costello’s hot wife, Diana Krall, as she performs at The Pearl at the Palms at 8 p.m. on Saturday. For a great blast from the past, listen to Gladys Knight as she pips away today through Sunday at 8 p.m. in the Showroom in The Orleans. Whew!
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Mariah Carey announced that she will be soon coming to Las Vegas for four shows, spotlighted in the 2,500-seat Pearl Concert Theater in the Palms.
The quartet of shows at the Palms will be the most intimate of the multiple Grammy Award-winner’s career, and are scheduled for Sept. 11 and 12, and Oct. 9 and 10.
Tickets for the four shows range from $129 to $254 and will go on sale at noon on Aug. 8.
The September dates come just days before the release of Carey’s 12th album, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.” The record, which features Mimi’s current single, “Obsessed,” is set to hit stores four days after opening night at the Pearl, on Sept. 15.
The singer and occasional actress’s choice of venue is hardly a surprise: She and husband Nick Cannon spent a fair chunk of time on the Las Vegas venue in May and celebrated their one-year anniversary at the resort, as well. 
Carey has spent a considerable amount of time in the resort’s recording studio during the weeklong trip this spring. And though no official details were announced, the fruits of her Studio at the Palms-based labor last spring will likely be featured on her soon-to-be-released record.
Since first breaking onto the scene two decades ago, the 39-year-old star has become the top-selling female vocalist of all time. Carey and her impressive, five-octave vocal range has sold over 175 million records worldwide.
With 72 total weeks at No. 1, she is currently tied with Elvis Presley for having spent the most time in the Hot 100’s top spot. She has 18 No. 1 songs and The King has 17, but both remain just shy of the all-time record for most No. 1 songs. The Beatles currently hold that title with 20, but if the Carey camp has its way, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” will achieve chart-topping perfection and render the Fab Four’s title a mere memory.
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In a special promotion with Miller Lite, the Palms Casino Resort and N9NE Group in Las Vega, hip-hop superstar and R&B favorite Ludacris will perform a special concert at the Palms Pool & Bungalows Friday, August 21 at 8 p.m. Complimentary tickets will be given away with specially marked packaging of 18-packs of Miller Lite. 
Grammy award-winning artist Chris “Ludacris” Bridges remains one of the top visionaries of the hip-hop world. His latest album Theater Of The Mind (2008) continues to push the Atlanta-based entertainer to the top of the charts. His latest venture is a collaboration album with Disturbing Tha Peace member Shawnna called Battle of the Sexes (due out Summer 2009).
In addition to his success as a rapper, Ludacris’ acting career remains strong with appearances on the NBC drama Law and Order SVU, the Oscar-winning big screen film Crash, the independent sensation Hustle & Flow and 2008’s Max Payne and Rocknrolla.
Beginning Friday, July 24, 2009 through August 20, 2009 or while supplies last concert goers can stop at any Food 4 Less, 7Eleven, Rebel, Green Valley Grocery or wherever you buy beer and look for specially marked 18-packs of Miller Lite to acquire a sticker redeemable for one free ticket to the concert. The consumer will then take the sticker, along with the receipt showing proof of purchase, to The Pearl Box Office between the hours of noon and 7:00 p.m. to receive their tickets.
For more information, as well as a list of retail locations to purchase specially marked 18-packs of Miller Lite, please visit www.palms.com.
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For one performance only, Las Vegas ’ top entertainers will come together for a special performance Las Vegas Celebrates the Music of Michael Jackson on Saturday, August 29, 2009, at 3 p.m. from The Pearl Concert Theater inside the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
6W Entertainment in partnership with VegasHappensHere.com will present this multi-artist production celebrating the many hits of The King of Pop, entertainers including cast members of Jersey Boys, Lion King, Peepshow and Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular will perform the hits of the Jackson songbook, all in celebration of what would have been the entertainer’s 51st birthday. This unique show will also include video montages throughout from those who knew Michael or were inspired by his work. The multi-faceted acts will be backed by a 10-piece band comprised of musicians led by Las Vegas ’ own Joey Melotti. Additional performers and event details will be announced in coming weeks.
This special event will commemorate and celebrate Jackson ’s life while raising funds to help kids across the U.S. and right here in Nevada keep music alive in the schools. All proceeds from ticket sales of this event will benefit Music Education programming in Clark County Public Schools.
“I can’t think of a better way to pay tribute to the person who inspired me and a whole generation of performers. This event helps keep the music of Michael Jackson alive, while raising money to make sure music education stays alive in schools in our community,” said show host and co-producer Erich Bergen.
Tickets for Las Vegas Celebrates Michael Jackson go on-sale Saturday, July 25, 2009, at noon. Ticket prices are $29, $54, $79, $104 & $129, plus applicable box office fees. A VIP package is available for $504 and includes VIP seating, admission to the exclusive after party with the cast, gift bag and limited edition autographed poster. Please visit any Ticketmaster location, call 1-800-745-3000, visit www.ticketmaster.com or www.livenation.com to purchase tickets. The Pearl Box Office is open from noon – 7 p.m. daily. Doors will open at 2 p.m. and show time is 3 p.m.
For more information about this event, please visit www.vegaslovesmj.com.
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It’s been four years since Blink 182’s extended hiatus, but now the time is ripe, according to singer and guitarist Tom DeLonge, bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker to breathe new life into Blink 182 and kick off their reunion tour in Las Vegas.
Possible talks of a new tour occurred at the 51st annual Grammy Awards in February, and now, five months later, Blink 182 is back. The band has already started a new album and spent three months preparing for a 52-date reunion tour, which kicks off this week with back-to-back nights at The Joint this Thursday and Friday at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas locals have another reason to hit the Strip for a little summer entertainment. 
The Blue Man Group at the Venetian has a locals-only offer – just mention “Kids Free” when buying your full-price ticket and get one children’s ticket free. This offer is valid for children 3-12 (children under 3 are also free and would sit on the lap of the adult) and is good through December 9, subject to availability.
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A Michael Jackson benefit concert is reportedly being held August 29 at the Palms, on what would have been Jackson’s 51st birthday.
Talent planned will “run the gamut from cast member of current shows on the Strip to the big guys, along with some bands,” according to Las Vegas “Jersey Boys” star Erich Bergen.
All proceeds will go to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, with a focus on music education in Nevada public schools.
The event will be held in The Pearl, the Palms’ 2,500-seat concert venue.
A Twitter feed has also been set up @VegasLovesMJ for fans who want to keep up with the latest developments.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas KVBC-TV, Channel 3 entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs reported Saturday, citing an informed source, that Jackson’s body has been moved out of music producer Berry Gordy’s crypt to an undisclosed location.
Jacobs also confirmed that Jackson’s brother, Jermaine, could be meeting with Wynn Las Vegas executives this week to discuss a show featuring most of the Jackson 5.
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Burlesque Pussycat Doll’s founder and choreographer Robin Antin has a new act coming to Las Vegas. British singer Matt Goss on September 4 will start performing regularly at the Lounge in the Palms Casino & Hotel. 
Goss was the lead singer of 1980s pop group Bros, recording and performing many UK chart-topping tunes. In the summer of 2003, Goss did a tour of 13 UK venues, releasing in November his first single in the UK since 1996, “I’m Coming With Ya,” that reached number 22 in the UK charts.
He also appeared on the TV reality TV show “Hell’s Kitchen;” in March 2005 he released his autobiography, “More Than You Know”.
“Matt will be having women in the audience just crying, “says Antin, adding, it doesn’t hurt that “he looks like David Beckham.”
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West Las Vegas was historically a proving ground for many of a young musician. Ray Anthony, Lionel Hampton, Sy Zenter and others picked a spot at one of the six clubs on Jackson Street in Las Vegas on Monday nights and jammed, because most musicians were off on Mondays. 
Those old days still live on in Las Vegas at the Huck Daniels Celebrity Jam at 8 p.m. Saturdays in the Fiesta lounge in the El Cortez. Usually the sessions are packed and last until 1 or 2 in the morning, with more than a dozen musicians and vocalist usually taking their turn onstage, providing some of the best “hidden” entertainment in Las Vegas at a price that’s hard to beat: a two-drink minimum.
It has not been easy for the Huck Daniels Celebrity Jam session, which began 19 years ago at the Aladdin, then bounced around to the Maxim, Continental, and the Stratosphere before landing at its present home at the El Cortez.
“Now it’s a struggle to survive,” says guitarist Huck Daniels, who moved to Las Vegas from Reno in 1962. “Back in the day, young musicians with a lot of experience could play smaller clubs till they got up on their instrument and stuff. We don’t have that anymore and as a result you have guys who don’t know how to act on stage.
“About a third or the people here are singers and musicians, the rest are just fans,” Daniels says.
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Human Nature, below, the Australian all male vocal group that formed as a doo-wop band called 4Trax in 1989, while the
four boys were still in high school in Sydney, has now turned into a top chart-smashing Motown group that is wowing sold-out crowds at the Imperial Palace with feel-good music. Long in talent, they also have the distinction of having the longest show name in Las Vegas: “Smokey Robinson Presents Australia’s Human Nature – the Ultimate Celebration of Motown.”
The band already has 17 Top 40 hits and five Top 10 hits in Australia since 1996, when their first album Telling Everybody was released. Their three follow-up albums all went multi-platinum in Australia.
The King of Motown, Smokey Robinson, right, their producer along with Adam Steck, is also in talks to perform solo at Imperial Palace on Friday’s, Human Nature’s day off. 
“Very seldom do I get really excited about something musically,” said Robinson when he recently introduced the singers. “But these guys blew me away. They are singers’ singers. In their area of the world they are the Beatles. They haven’t been exposed in the United States yet, but they’re getting ready to take us by storm.”
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The 400-seat Harmon Theater’s lounge, located behind Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile shops near the corner of Harmon and the Strip in Las Vegas, is just starting to get noticed big time by Las Vegas entertainers of all kinds. The quaint venue is meant to host live bands- yes, live bands, remember those? The lounge exudes a non-corporate cozy vibe, complete with red-velvet curtains and couches reminiscent of underground clubs in the hippest of the best music cities.
“This is like New York, Chicago, London and Paris,” says J. Hutchings, bass player in the late-‘90s funk-rock band The Watson Family. “This is a badass club. I can imagine a scene forming here.”
Equally significant, the Harmon Theater’s 1,3000-capacity main room- better known as the gay-themed nightclub Krave- has now been offered up for live acts Sunday through Thursday, which has Las Vegas-based promoter Brandy Provenzano dreaming big.
“I’m still booking at Wasted Space and Beauty Bar [in Las Vegas],” says Provenzna. “But I’m gonna start focusing my stuff here. It reminds me of the Troubadour and the Roxy [in Los Angeles]. This could be one of those rooms bands would seek out to play.”
The Harmon venues have hosted live music before, but during the bygone era of live music in Las Vegas. Their resurrection could just mark a new chapter for the stagnant live music scene in Las Vegas.
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The Las Vegas Marathon has long been a tradition in the Las Vegas Valley, but now the large national and international appealing race, along with the race course, is getting a whole new makeover under new leadership. The Las Vegas Rock N’ Roll Marathon unveiled it plans last week for their inaugural race on December 6 and the big change for runners is that they will be running smack dab on the Strip, not racing down residential streets as in past years.
But that’s not all. To provide a truly Las Vegas entertainment overload experience, local and regional live bands, not DJs, will be playing every mile and there will be competitions at the water stations for runners.
On top of that, many runners will be dressed up in costumes, running for causes, and, yes, even getting married in group ceremonies during the run.
The estimated 20,000 runners and 150,000 spectators this year will hopefully also bring some much needed revenue to the City of Entertainment. If participation in the marathon reaches the numbers expected, organizers believe it will bring in about $40 million to Las Vegas and about $1 million in tax revenues.
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Selling cultural art opportunities in Las Vegas that are ostensibly designed to benefit residents, and not so much the tourists, is apparently a very difficult sell.
‘First Friday’ in Las Vegas started in 2002 as an art crawl, or a monthly block party on the first Friday of each month that includes downtown galleries and businesses in the Las Vegas Downtown Arts District. Art galleries were open. Musicians would take to the sidewalks next to psychics, poets and other strolling performers. Crowds grew from a few hundred to as many as 10,000, requiring barricades, police officers and a host of special permits.
But now all that has changed. No white familiar tents dotting the landscape. No stages blasting rock music. No crowds lining up in large lines at food vendors.
Funding problems are causing Whirlygig, the nonprofit organization running the event, to scale back considerably. Founder Cindy Funkhouser has been seeking money, including private donations, but not enough has resulted to keep the festival going.
Festival costs are in excess of $13,000 a month for barricades, stages, power, lighting and permits. Las Vegas, which is a large support of the event, contributing $80,000 a year, now concentrates that amount on just six months, when crowds are the largest, rather then the entire year. It hoped Whirlygig would grow into a self-sustaining organization. It didn’t.
Funkhouser says she and her husband, Rick Dominguez, want to get back to presenting the large festival, but says “We’re just kind of winging it. I’m just kind of at the point where this is what it is.”
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Before heading off to London early this week, pop music icon Michael Jackson has a new $40 million lawsuit to contend with. According to his attorney Ira Meyerowitz the new breach of contract lawsuit reportedly won’t stop Jackson from going ahead with his plans to perform in the 50-show “This is It” tour in London.
Allgood Entertainment reportedly had a signed contract with Michael’s manager to do a reunion concert with members of the Jackson family and produce it as a pay-per-view spectacular. The contract apparently had stipulations in it forbidding the sometimes Las Vegas resident to perform elsewhere beforehand or for 90 days afterward.
But the London shows violated contract terms even before he’d performed them. Allgood’s managing partner, Patrick Allocco, said, “We’ve given Michael Jackson and his London promoters every opportunity to resolve this, but we have not heard from anyone. … . We want to be compensated for an agreement they entered into or be involved in some way with the London shows.”
The deal called for him not to perform elsewhere for a certain period of time before the event or for at least three months after it. The lawsuit, now in court in New Jersey, says Jackson, manager Frank DiLeo and event promoter AEG Live/Concerts West broke the contract by signing to do the London series of concerts this summer.
So far, representatives for Jackson and AEG have made no comment.
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If blood-curdling, gut-churning music is your relaxing Las Vegas cup of tea on a leisurely Sunday, best to make tracks now to the Cheyenne Saloon, 3103 N. Rancho Drive, 702-645-4139. Their eclectic music lineup includes such bruisers as Flesh Consumed, Dismal Lapse, Embryonic Devourment and more. Need we say more? Tickets are $15 at the door.
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When traveling to Las Vegas to gamble and party (yes, Obama, Las Vegas Backstage Access said it), it’s always good to seek relief and soothe the losses and migraines by humming to tunes that are written about the city.
Although the official theme song of Las Vegas is “Shine, Las Vegas,” by George Dare, proclaimed in a 1986 city proclamation, here’s the Top 10:
“Viva Las Vegas,” Elvis Presley (Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman)
“Leaving Las Vegas,” Sheryl Crow (Sheryl Crow, Bill Bottrel, David Baerwald, Kevin Gilbert and David Ricketts)
“Let’s Go to Vegas,” Faith Hill (Karen Stanley)
“Big in Vegas,” Buck Owens (Buck Owens, Terry Stafford)
“Sin City,” AC/DC (Angus Young, Malcolm Young, Bon Scott)
“Heaven or Las Vegas,” Cocteau Twins (Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie, Simon Raymonde)
“Here’s to Las Vegas,” Barry Manilow (Barry Manilow)
“Me and My Monkey,” Robbie Williams (Robbie Williams)
“Sin City,” Flying Burrito Brothers (Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, Pete Kleinow, Chris Ethridge)
“LV (Las Vegas),” Clint Holmes (Clint Holmes and Pat Caddick)
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Caesars Palace headliner Bette Midler’s multiple-award-winning choreographer, director, producer and performer
Toni Basil will receive the 2009 Living Legends of Hip Hop Award at the 8th Annual World Hip Hop Dance Championship at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on August 2. Toni has choreographed and directed commercials, TV shows, movies, music videos and world tours for such entertainment icons as David Byrne, David Bowie and Tina Turner.
She has served as dance director and choreographer for Midler for more than two decades, including her current hit The Showgirl Must Go On at Caesars Palace and returned for Bette’s new run of shows. Her recording and energetic music video for “Mickey” in a Las Vegas High School cheerleading outfit (her alma mater) have left an indelible mark on pop culture and is placed in the collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
At the World Hip Hop Dance Championship, Toni will become the first woman in the event’s history to receive the Living Legends of Hip Hop Award, taking her place alongside such past recipients as MC Hammer, Boogaloo Sam and Don “Campbellock” Campbell.
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Nickelback is bringing their Dark Horse tour to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, September 6. Special guests include Hinder, Papa Roach and Saving Abel. 
Their 32-city tour kicked off in February and they have been selling out arenas all across the country ever since. The Nashville Scene succinctly said it best: “…nobody puts on a better show than Nickelback does.”
Dark Horse, the 2008 release from Nickelback, is their first album since the best selling All The Right Reasons which came out in 2005. Nickelback currently has the number one rock song in the country with “Something In Your Mouth” and their latest single “If Today Was Your Last Day” has become a radio and video sensation.
Tickets can be purchased at http://www.mgmgrand.com/entertainment/grand-garden-arena.aspx . Tickets range in price from $51.50 to $89.50.
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Carlos Santana under hypnosis must feel he’s died, gone to heaven, then was lucky enough to have been mysteriously reincarnated smack dab in Sin City. To be honored and appear in a Las Vegas concert series no less, with ticket prices hovering in the rare ionosphere air, most likely exudes an unsurpassed nirvana feeling for the music icon that’s managed to live out his 1960s in 2009. 
“Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through the Hits” is Santana’s new 72-show residency at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas that launches May 27, with 36 concerts planned for this year and 36 in 2010.
With Santana anything is possible- and usually you can bank on it. Talking and singing about love, light, and spirituality, you never know quite how to read him.
What drives this man of superhuman music talent? Some might arguably say it’s money and really his last stand to go for the gusto, with ticket prices for his new Las Vegas shows ranging from $79 up to $299 — which is a lot of money for many people in this economy.
But their apparently all wrong; Santana says it hogwash: “I have no clue about that. I’m more with, ‘This finger goes onto this note and it makes juicy sounds, and I’m going to make people dance and laugh.’ It’s not like I don’t care or I’m ignorant. It’s just that I’m not wired to have that insignificance on me other than what I’m going to get to give back to other people.
His viewpoint on drugs, on the other hand, is a totally different matter. “I think that the solution to all of this stuff would be to legalize it, decriminalize it, reinvest all that money into teachers in schools.” says Sanatana.
“If we would teach in schools the incredible sensation of climax that it feels to be of service to other people — like Mother Teresa, or Desmond Tutu or the Dalai Lama — smoking pot, and drinking tequila, and watching porno or whatever people do, it pales in comparison when you actually wake up to be of service to people.”
I think we should legalize marijuana. I think Barack Obama should bring the brothers and sisters home — the soldiers. If I was to see him, I would go, ‘Listen to Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ and John Coltrane, and bring the boys home from the war now, like we did with Vietnam.’ They’re not going to come here. People in Vietnam did not come here to attack us after we left them alone. So let’s get rid of that fear, that fantasy, that stuff. Let’s get rid of the bogeyman, because the bogeyman is us looking in the mirror of each other.”
So just maybe his residency in Las Vegas might also be his ticket for euphoric happiness, proving to offer a symbiotic relationship with his favored ganja. Where Las Vegas is not really Amersterdam where anything does go, it’s somewhat friendly to marijuana smokers. “Medicinal use” of course.
After all, Nevada’s voters legalized marijuana for medical purposes in 2000. Patients diagnosed with a “qualifying condition” are allowed to possess small amounts of the drug. They also are allowed to grow it for their own use.
They are not allowed to grow it for lots and lots of other people and sell it to them. But any licensed doctor can prescribe marijuana in Nevada.
But regardless of Santana’s passion and love for good vibes, cannabis and dislike of bogeyman, his upcoming Las Vegas concert series will surely test the mettle of our local entertainment-based economy in these challenging times.
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Pop rockers No Doubt will kick off their first tour in five years when they headline Tiger Jam XII presented by AT&T on May 15 and 16 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. 
Formed in Anaheim, California, No Doubt reached international success with their 1995 release Tragic Kingdom. That album, including the mega hit “Don’t Speak” among many others, has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Their follow up, Return of Saturn, was nominated for the Best Rock Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards and granted a four star review by Rolling Stone Magazine. The band went on to win two Grammy Awards for 2001’s multi-platinum Rock Steady and performed at the Superbowl XXXVII Halftime Show in 2003 alongside Sting.
After the double platinum success of No Doubt’s Singles Collection, featuring the hit “It’s My Life,” and a subsequent tour with Blink-182, lead singer Gwen Stefani released two successful solo albums in 2004 and 2006 respectively.
“I’m thrilled No Doubt is kicking off their tour at Tiger Jam XII,” event host and professional golfer Eldrick (Tiger) Woods, 33, said. “They are amazing performers, and I’m honored they are helping raise funds and awareness for the millions of young people my Foundation supports.”
Saturday evening’s highlights will include top-notch epicurean fare and exclusive live and silent auctions featuring one-of-a-kind luxury items. Following the dinner and auctions, the celebration will progress to the Mandalay Bay Events Center stage, where Woods will introduce Grammy Award winners Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young for a rocking concert.
“Playing this show is going to be really fun for all of us. Tiger’s foundation empowers kids to achieve their dreams and we’re excited to help support that,” No Doubt’s singer Gwen Stefani said.
Paramore and The Sounds will join No Doubt as special guests on the Tiger Jam stage.
Tiger Jam has garnered a reputation as being one of the premiere fundraising events benefiting children for past 11 years. Each year, the concert event hosted by Tiger Woods raises millions of dollars for the Tiger Woods Foundation and youth-driven charities in Las Vegas, as well as the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, and the GRAMMY in the Schools program.
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Forty years ago the Woodstock music festival featured tie-dyed bedecked hippies that espoused peace, love, happiness, fused with lots of freebies – speech, sex and pot – and a plethora of equally mind-blowing music. Now Las Vegas plans to vicariously relive those groovy days and, hopefully, provide a much needed boost to Las Vegas’ sagging economy as well, reeling in more visitors that spend more money on food, entertainment and gambling. 
That’s the hope.
And the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas (three miles north of the end of the Las Vegas Strip) is banking on it, spending about $1.7 million on the promotional campaign between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends- $500,000 more than it normally would during the season.
They’ll be paying tribute to 1969 all summer long with free rock concerts and seasonal themes that feature the likes of yesterday’s music heavy hitters Blood, Sweat and Tears; Three Dog Night; the 5th Dimension; Rare Earth; the Grass Roots and Canned Heat.
John Van Hamersveld – artist known for his artwork for “The Endless Summer” in 1966 and for making the cover of the Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” album in 1967 – will be painting two buses, one to be used as a stage.
Special videos shows are being planned for a giant screen hanging over the street that include rolling credits memorial for the 58,000 Americans killed or missing in action from the Vietnam War.
Each of the 10 casinos on the Fremont Street Experience are also making plans to tie to the 1969 theme.
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Las Vegas is finally getting in the groove and embracing the hip-hop culture movement, sort of. 
On April 25 they’re hosting the “Hip-Hop Culture 2009…The Evolution” event which features Las Vegas DJs, MCs, poets, artists, dancers, fashion designers, and other assorted artsy-fartsy types in an effort to keep its positive, “encouraging youth to stay in school and support good communities, while at the same time discouraging gang participation, violence and drug use.”
A good cause for Sin City.
The event will start at 2 p.m. at the Sammy Davis Jr. Plaza at Lorenzi Park, 720 Twin Lakes Drive in Las Vegas. $5, $3 for seniors and children 6-12. 702-229-4800.
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Legendary singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett will be returning once again to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for a one night show on May 16. 
After gaining considerable success in the music business, Buffett opened the Margaritaville restaurants which are now found in 11 locations including 3555 Las Vegas Blvd. South on the Las Vegas Strip. His business empire also includes the Radio Margaritaville station on Sirius Satellite, extensive Margaritaville merchandising and he continues touring in support of his body of music.
Tickets for the May 16 performance are reportedly still available: http://www.mgmgrand.com/entertainment/grand-garden-arena.aspx or www.vegas.com
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Not many artists have an opportunity to make a concert entrance by descending from the rafters in an elevator and exiting to the showroom floor via a David Copperfield magic illusion, but young country music star sensation Taylor Swift had just that, stealing the moment at the 2009 Academy of County Music Awards at the MGM Grand Las Vegas on April 5. 
Swift will be back in Las Vegas on May 23 as she brings her Fearless Tour 2009 to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Opening acts will be American Idol alum Kelli Pickler and country music group Gloriana.
A few tickets are still available if you want to watch the Nielsen 2008’s top-selling artist perform.
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Marie Osmond’s life is a blur. She wouldn’t have it any other way. And, amid all the hubbub in a topsy turvy and sometimes cruel entertainment industry, she stays on top. 
Marie, the only Osmond sister, lives in Las Vegas, says she is still a homebody as much as high roller — a mother to eight kids, a woman who struggles with her weight, time management, career choices and choosing a partner.
“I really don’t think my life is all that interesting,” said Osmond as she boarded a plane to sign her new book, Might as Well Laugh About It Now. “But I am flattered by the people that have read it and identify with it.” Her book chronicles various events in her life, from defending her father’s leadership of the family business to extolling her parents’ influence on her value system.
Recent TV gigs, ranging from her 2007 stint on “Dancing with the Stars” to appearances on “Oprah,” have reintroduced Osmond to a new generation or two who didn’t know her much beyond the squeaky-clean teenager of the 1970s-era “Donny and Marie” variety show.
Now a doll designer popular on the QVC cable shopping channel, Osmond agrees life in the media fishbowl is a trade-off in privacy, but she uses the attention to benefit others. Osmond and actor John Schneider dreamed up the Children’s Miracle Network in 1983. It’s a charity, Osmond says, that annually helps 17 million children and their families. The charity idea grew out the death of her brother’s infant daughter.
“We are all in fishbowls,” she said in an interview. “You just have to learn to be OK with yourself.”
As much as her later career has been separated from her family act, her life is still very much tied to the brothers with whom she traveled the world last year in performances marking the family’s 50 years in show business.
Her Las Vegas stage show at the Flamingo with brother Donny is on hiatus until April 21, but she has contracted for two more years and a solo syndicated TV talk show is in the works for this fall.
It’s all just another day for the work in progress Marie Osmond.
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The bad economy, $5 beer prices, and long lines didn’t put a damper on the high spirits last night in Las Vegas as The Killers performed to a sold-out crowd during the opening night of The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. 
Among the celebrities in attendance were tennis great Andre Agassi and wife Steffi Graf, actor Owen Wilson and Stephen Dorff.
The new Joint is a bigger, shinier version of the old Joint, complet with a better sound and lighting system and overall crowd experience. It also features balconies and VIP suites designed for high rollers, with food ranging from sushi to burger sliders.
Tonight’s show is Avenged Sevenfold and on Sunday Paul McCartney takes the stage.
The looming question that remains is whether the new Joint and the $750 million renovation can help to bring back the good ol’ entertainment days when virtually all major performer performed at the Las Vegas venue.
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Jessica Simpson, a frequent Las Vegas visitor, is one of those talented types who can’t seem to catch a break. As a pop singer she was constantly compared to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera – too voluptuous to be nice and not 
gritty enough to be naughty.
Her personal life has been the used as the source to create tabloid top sellers with pictures and stories of men who have, and who haven’t, spent time with her.
And now only months after settling into her single woman skin and stepping up to the country music mic, Simpson appears to be ending her foray into her musical roots. While she remains part of the Sony Music Group on the Epic label, Simpson is no longer involved with Sony Music Nashville. Lauren Auslander a former spokesperson for Simpson said, “She (Simpson) was on loan to Sony Nashville for her country album.”
Many fans believe that Simpson is a favorite target of the media and is often portrayed in a less than favorable light because of petty jealousy. In a recent interview, Rascal Flatts’ lead singer Gary Levox said Simpson “..is in a spot where whatever she does, they pick her apart. They need to just leave her alone and just let her sing.”
“She’s a wonderfully gifted singer,” added bassist Jay DeMarcus. “All the other stuff overshadows what she’s really about and it’s unfortunate, because there’s more to her there than just tabloid fodder.”
It could be Jessica Simpson will spend her time in the spotlight being the blonde everyone loves to hate. But with her talent, it’s more likely, Las Vegas Backstage Access believes, that she’ll find a way to rebound like blonde archetype Madonna than fall into the archives like Taylor Dayne.
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A tribute to rhythm and blues legend Ruth Brown will be on April 9 at the Bootlegger Bistro in Las Vegas. 
The Tony Award-winning Brown, who also won a Grammy, died at age 78 on November 17, 2006 in Henderson, Nevada.
Her original Bootlegger band and son Ronnie McPhatter will be among the large number of musicians attending, including Dennis Bono, Regi Brown, Jimmy Castor, Sonny Charles of the Checkmates, Wendy Edmead of The Pointer Sisters, and Earl and Sonny Turner of The Platters.
A $5 admission donation will be charged, with all proceeds going to The Society of Singers. The Bootlegger Bistro is located at 7700 Las Vegas Blvd. South, No. 1, in Las Vegas (702-736-4939).
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When Las Vegas hosts a party, stand back- nothing is ever commonplace in the City of Entertainment. Last night’s 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Arena proved to be no exception. The buzz of the award’s evening followed a week of Las Vegas fun, glitz, and glamour as Hollywood stars joined with country music’s best and brightest.
The three-hour awards show featured award presenters Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jamie Foxx and Matthew McConaughey, but all eyes were on legendary Reba McEntire as she hosted the show for the 11th consecutive year.
Providing a fitting prelude to the awards, hundreds of frenzied fans greeted their favorite musicians and singers on the red carpet outside of the MGM Grand before the show.
After Kenny Chesney performed “Out Last Night”, Jennifer Love Hewitt arrived on stage wearing in a long white flowing gown and announced the first award of the night for Song of the Year among award contenders George Strait, Jamey Johnson, Heidi Newfield, Brad Paisley and Trace Adkins.
Jennifer said she was not only a big fan of country music but also of Vegas. “There’s no place I’d rather be,” she said before announcing, in a surprise win, that Jamey Johnson had won for “In Color.”
In the competition for Top Vocal Duo award, the very popular Sugarland beat out Big & Rich, Brooks & Dunn, Montgomery Gentry and Joey + Rory. Sugarland is playing at live in concert at the Primm Valley Casino Resorts on July 24. [Las Vegas Backstage Access February 11 article.]
Las Vegas resident, MGM Grand illusionist and Magician of the Century David Copperfield, a coming-out country music fan that attended the ACM for the first time, donned a black Stetson while he pulled up his sleeves and made Taylor Swift magically appear from an overhead empty suspended box on the stage. Swift hung around a bit to receive her crystal award for having the most record sales in the year and winning the Album of the Year Award for “Fearless.”
Hollywood superstar and frequent Las Vegas entertainer Jamie Foxx, raised in Texas, confessed he was also a country music fan and then proceeded to introduce country music legend George Strait, saying he will be a guest singer for his friend at a taping in Las Vegas today for a May 27 CBS special when Strait is honored as Artist of the Decade. Straight, with a career spanning 25 years, is the most nominated artist in the history of the Academy of Country Music Awards with a total of 78.
Las Vegas’ hometown product Julianne Hough – she attended Las Vegas Academy and her mother lives here – 
provided a Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction moment, though subtle, before gushing and accepting with pride her duo Top New Artist and fan favorite Top New Female Artist awards as her country singer boyfriend Chuck Wicks waited in the wings, cheering her on.
Julianne and Chuck left this morning from Las Vegas on a flight to be back in Hollywood for tomorrow night’s episode of Dancing With the Stars, where they will partner for a Viennese Waltz to a Rascal Flatts number. (Rascal Flatts won once again.)
The highlight and culmination of the evening came when Carrie Underwood won the Entertainer of the Year award, 
being the lone female among nominees Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, George Strait and Keith Urban. Matthew McConaughey made the awards presentation. (Did she really venture out after the event and check out George Strait’s ‘white boots’ in McConaughey’s car?)
There was never a dull moment. Even before it started, Tim McGraw got in a production fracas that ended with him walking out before the show started.
Sporting his ‘Made In USA’ labeled guitar, John Rich sang to a cheering crowd “Shutting Detroit Down,” a ballad of frustration on corporate greed and workers getting the short end of the proverbial stick.
Toby Keith took the opportunity to single out a reporter from a Nashville newspaper over the publication of a Rolling Stone story by actor Ethan Hawke. Both Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson denied the story, but the Tennessean published it anyway without reaching out to Toby. He lambasted the reporter with a series of F-bombs, and it seriously looked as if he might leave the media stage and go after the writer — but cooler heads prevailed, and Toby left the room abruptly.
Behind the scenes, Trace Adkins, who was the runner-up on the first season of Celebrity Apprentice, took a verbal shot at this season’s participant Dennis Rodman. Trace said that if the former bad boy of basketball didn’t change his ways, it would wind up killing him.
All this action in just one grand and glorious Las Vegas evening.
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This summer, Def Leppard and Bryan Adams will give the phrase “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” a whole new meaning 
as 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?
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Iconic guitarist Carlos Santana, 61, and his band, including drummer Dennis Chambers and keyboardist Chester 
Thompson, has just signed a two-year deal through 2010 to do 36 shows a year in the newly refurbished The Joint, which opens on April 17. Their Supernatural tour starts on May 27 and continues through June 14; they’re scheduled to return in September.
Santana said he will approach his upcoming The Joint residency “from the point of bringing a spiritual confidence,” philosophically musing “a sunset and sunrise is never the same. Making love is never the same unless you’re doing something wrong.”
Produced by media production company Frank the Plumber, the group will do four shows a week for three weeks per run. Tickets go on sale today.
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In Las Vegas the only real certainty is uncertainty itself. Entertainment acts change, shows come and go. And G-string revues are as much a part of the Las Vegas entertainment fabric as gambling itself. Some say they harken way back to the days of the Dunes Hotel & Casino where it was fashionable to head out and watch the glamorous shows. Fast forward to today, even the hugely popular sex goddess and entrepreneur Tera Patrick is contemplating a switch from a steady diet of porn to burlesque in Las Vegas.
Following the footsteps of “Lido” that closed in 1991 after 32 years, this Saturday, March 28 after 49 years the iconic “Folies Bergere” burlesque revue at the Tropicana in Las Vegas will sadly go dark forever after performing 29,000 shows- along with the feathered showgirls the the style, spirit, and very essence of classic Las Vegas entertainment.
But, even if you’re not one of the lucky 100 people that got a ticket for the final Folies show or one of the 750 invited guests and alumni, there’s still hope.
You can still watch sexy cabaret revues like “Fantasy,” “Crazy Girls,” “X Burlesque,’ or the full-blown old-Vegas style revue “Jubilee!,” that’s been going since 1981. Then there is the female attraction of “Men of X at Hooters.”
But if you are game for a brand new Las Vegas burlesque treat you might want to catch the first previews of “Peepshow” that start on March 30 and run through April 17 at Planet Hollywood. Billed as a “modern contemporary burlesque” the sexy show features Scary Spice Girl Mel B. (Melanie Brown) and “Dancing With the Stars” champion Kelly Monaco, who also played on “General Hospital” and posed for Playboy- watching them perform alone is worth the price of admission – and a cast of 29 principals, tightly choreographed dancers, and a band of all female musicians. 
Neither Mel B nor Monaco will be topless, but several of the dancers will be for the cabaret show. Mel B plays Peep Diva, the mistress of the ceremonies, and Monaco is Bo Peep, who falls asleep in a short movie that starts the show.
Broadway director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell says, “It really isn’t a musical because there isn’t really a written book and scenes that string the show together in that sense. It’s a story told through song and dance. It’s really modern day burlesque. We’ve taken song and dance and the arte of striptease to tell a story.”
BASE is producing the Las Vegas show. Architect David Rockwell (“Phantom, the Las Vegas Spectacular”) designed the lavish set. And Greg Barnes, who won a Tony Award for “The Drowsy Chaperone,” is creating the costumes.
The music includes Michael Bubble’s “Feeling Good,” Connie Francis’ “Teddy,” Madonna’s “Hung Up,” and original tunes by Andrew Lippa.
“We took the bones of what I created in New York and tailored it for the Las Vegas market,” says Mitchell. “We couldn’t do this show in New York City. This is a Las Vegas show, for sexy adult men and women who want to go out together and have an amazing time. We’re not trying to pound anything over anyone’s head.”
Mitchell says he doesn’t want to reveal too much else about the show.
“I don’t want to be coy, but isn’t that the fun of striptease- what you don’t see as opposed to what you see?” says Mitchell. “It’s one of the things I think is desperately missing here in Las Vegas and something I’m a huge fan of- the right time to take it off. It’s about how you take it off.”
Tickets range from $65 to $100 and previews for the tale with a tease start on Monday, March 30 through April 17 at the showroom at Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas (702-785-5000).
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At 12 years old Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was performing as the Tin Man at Eleanor McMain Secondary School in 
New Orleans. Now 26 and known as Lil Wayne, he’s preparing to perform the major hits from his 13 year career at the Pearl Theatre at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The Saturday, March 28 show comes just weeks before the anticipated debut of Lil Wayne’s seventh album, Rebirth, which is expected to follow in the Grammy nominated footsteps of The Carter III. Which Rebirth cuts will be the next Swagga Like Us or Lollipop?
Singer/songwriter Keri Hilson – the reported love squeeze of Lil Wayne – is also scheduled to perform with the rapper.
Hilson’s own album A Perfect World will be available March 24. Lil Wayne and Hilson performed together on Turnin’ Me On the third single from Hilson’s album released as a download on November 25, 2008. Turnin’ Me On hit number two on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and broke the top 20 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
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Europeans apparently still love the 50-year-old ‘Gold’ Gloved Wonder, who inhabited Las Vegas in reclusive style before recently moving to Hollywood.
And his fans don’t mind paying for Jackson’s concerts in our economic recession.
Following Jackson’s 12-year tour layoff, AEG organizers now have extended his original 10-concert, $1 million per concert, deal at London’s 02 Arena to a total of 50, extending his planned performances out to February 2010.
Tickets sold like proverbial hotcakes- with plenty of syrup: 360,000 tickets were sold in 18 hours during the presale, equating to 20,000 tickets per hour, and 33 tickets per minute.
If – IF – Michael Jackson shows up and makes all his concerts, that will mean 1 million fans will have witnessed in person the aura and karma exuding from the self-proclaimed aging King of Pop.
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Tickets for a one-off gig by Sir Paul McCartney in Las Vegas sold out in seven seconds after going on sale. Just 4,000 fans will be fortunate to see the former Beatle perform at the grand opening of the New Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on April 19. 
Sales opened on February 14, Valentine’s Day, and sold at a rate of almost 600 seats a second, according to promoter Concerts West, saying it would be “a night like Vegas has never seen before.”
Prior to this, Take That held the record for the fastest sell-out of a music tour when all 600,000 tickets for their Circus tour sold out in four-and-a-half hours last year.
Organizers claim Sir Paul has beaten that sell-out feat, although this has yet to be verified by the Guinness Book of Records.
The new $60 million Joint is double the size of its predecessor. Almost every leading band has performed there at some time, including Oasis, The Killers, Linkin Park and Bon Jovi performed.
McCartney is also set to headline the opening day of the Coachella music festival in California in April.
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With Paris Hilton’s 28th birthday celebration just this past Saturday, March 7 and all her zany friends and guests showing up at Body English nightclub in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, we at Las Vegas Backstage Access predicted it wouldn’t be long until her other buds would soon follow suit.
We were right.
Lindsay Lohan joined her girlfriend Samantha Ronson in the DJ booth at Prive nightclub at the Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas on March 9. Later, Ronson was seen taking off in a car at the valet about 3:15 a.m. and a few moments later a “visibly upset” Lohan retrieved her car and took off racing after Ronson. No other cars, thankfully, received any bruises.
Now, for the hat-trick- we really need some kitchy Las Vegas antics from Britney Spears. But who knows, maybe her Circus tour is tiring her out?
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There are Elvis impersonators aplenty in Las Vegas, but one of the most popular is Trent Carlini. Starting this Monday, March 9, Carlini will be officially launching “Elvolution” for seven shows each week in Steve Wryick’s magic theater in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. 
Carlini, who came to Las Vegas in 1990, performing in “Legends in Concert” for six years, then followed for five years in “The Dream Kings” in the Boardwalk, says the “Elvolution” title is about how much Elvis fandom has evolved since Elvis’ death in 1977. “People are actually appreciating the (tribute) artist’s talent other than enjoying the Elvis music. People recognize me more as a talent more than someone just hiding behind a mask.”
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As reported by Vegas Backstage Access a couple of times in the recent past, there was a strong indication that there would soon be a Michael Jackson tour announced. Now it’s official: The self-proclaimed 50-year-old King of Pop announced on Thursday at a London news conference that he will have a series of 10 performances – the ‘This-is- It’ tour – at the 20,000-seat London’s O2 Arena, beginnning July 8.
After taking a 4 ½ hour physical from concert promoters’ doctors, Jackson was declared fit as a fiddle to perform. Then he came out and told his fans that this would be his last concert in England, leaving the door open, perhaps, for concerts elsewhere.
The shows would mark Jackson’s first major performances since 2001 and 2002, when he appeared at a pair of 30th anniversary celebrations and two benefit concerts. His brief appearance at the World Music Awards in 2006 was booed by some audience members. Jackson’s last extended performances were for the HIStory tour in 1996-97 that had 82 performances.
There is still hope for Las Vegas performances, though. While Jackson has expressed little interest in a long-term Las Vegas deal because of the rigorous demands, he has always thought of Vegas as a last stop for fading stars. And remember that the Los Angeles-based AEG, which manages and books The 02 and also sets deals with The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. AEG reportedly has a deal for more than triple the 10 dates that were announced.
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Michael Jackson has reportedly returned to London yesterday to launch his comeback. The 50-year-old debt-ridden King of Pop, who has been living in Las Vegas for the better part of two years while entertaining many performance offers, is scheduled to make a “special announcement” March 5 at The 02 Arena in London. 
Jackson will reportedly perform 10 concerts for a reported $10 million.
The Los Angeles-based AEG Live, who operates The O2, has reportedly booked the deal. If the shows are well-received and attended, and Jackson can make the commitments, the deal could extend to a total of 20 to 30 performances, at up to $1 million per show.
AEG also has a strong Las Vegas connection. Could it be that he will perform here too?
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Sir Elton John started out as a limited run scheduled for just 75 shows over 3 years. But as the lights went down on 
the first Elton John Red Piano performance at Caesars Palace on February 14, 2004, it became clear that this wasn’t going to be just a normal Vegas revue gig. And it wasn’t the David LaChappelle photography, the inflatable banana’s and cherries or the actual red piano center piece that made his Las Vegas performances stand out. It was the music, performed by Sir Elton John and his band that routinely drew his fans to his sold out show.
Now, 241 performances later, Sir Elton John will say good-bye to the Coliseum at Caesars Palace on April 22, 2009.
Sir Elton John’s career began in 1961 as a member of the band Bluesology. In 1967 he started working with Bernie Taupin and a legendary music industry relationship was born. After his 1970 self-titled debut album there followed a long string of critical and financial successes. From 70’s hits like the perpetually popular “Your Song” to “Good-bye Yellow Brick Road” to 80’s favorites “Empty Garden” and “I’m Still Standing,” Sir Elton John and his who’s who cache of co-writers and producers have entertained audiences around the world.
In 1992 Sir Elton John established the Elton John Aids Foundation to help find a cure for HIV. To date, this organization has raised more than $150 million and actively works in 55 countries offering support services and treatment options to those living with HIV/AIDS.
Also in the 1990’s Sir Elton John began another somewhat magical musical relationship when he collaborated with Tim Rice on Disney’s ‘Lion King’ soundtrack. He earned a Grammy and his first Oscar for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and went on to work with Rice on the Broadway hit ‘Aida.’
While performing at Caesars these last five years in Las Vegas, Sir Elton John has shared the Coliseum Theater with Celine Dion, Cher and Bette Midler. In late 2008 he took the Red Piano on the road, touring Europe with the show before returning to Las Vegas for the final Caesar’s performances.
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The teen idol Jonas Brothers stealthily arrived in Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon, when many were watching the NASCAR Shelby 427 race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with a yearning to watch their 3-D concert. 
The virginal Disney pop trio flew to Las Vegas and rode to the nearest movie theater, Rave Motion Pictures in Town Square. The group, girdled by handlers, said hi to the teens that leapt from their theater seats, but then were gone in less than a minute. Oh well.
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Money-hurting music pop star Michael Jackson, on and off again Las Vegas resident, has got rid of his white gloves and is now in talks to mount a concert comeback with up to 30 live shows in either London or Las Vegas later this year.
If it happens, it would be Jackson’s first major performance since his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges.
London’s O2 arena is said to be competing with a few hotels in Las Vegas to lure the 50-year-old “King of Pop” back to the stage he once ruled. This effort has been launched in the past, but now it’s in earnest.
Even though his bizarre behavior has wrecked his image, some insiders think the shows could net him $215 million, according to published reports in British newspapers.
“It will be the greatest comeback in the history of pop and there would be no problem selling out the O2 every night,” one source told London’s Daily Mail. “No one is concerned about his reputation and people don’t feel it is a risk. Organizers are confident people will come from all over the world to see him.”
There’s one fact for certain: Jackson really needs the work. Once one of the richest entertainers in the world, he’s in severe dire financial straits these days. Last year he had to fight a $7 million lawsuit by a son of the King of Bahrain over an unpaid debt. In April, he’s auctioning off thousands of his possessions, including the sequined white glove he famously wore in the “Billie Jean” videos.
Jackson has said he is working on a new album, but nothing has materialized. An adaptation of his video “Thriller” is supposedly headed for Broadway. Released into 1982, “Thriller” is the best-selling album of all time and launched Jackson’s career into the stratosphere.
He’s largely been a mysterious recluse in recent years while his reputation has been battered by sex scandal, strange illnesses, plastic surgeries and other odd and eccentric behavior.
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It was first Danny Gans, “The Man of 200 Voices,” performing at the Mirage in Las Vegas in 2000 with Steve Wynn as 
his backer. And now, not much has changed: “Danny Gans, the Man of More Than 200 Voices,” is regularly entertaining at the Encore in 2009. And Steve Wynn is once again watching him from the wings.
Gans one-man Vegas show began at the Stratosphere in 1996, moved to the Rio in 1998 and then to the custom built Danny Gans Theatre at the Mirage in 2000. He brings new material and an expanded repertoire to the Encore Theatre which is sure to earn him further recognition in the local entertainment industry.
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Hip-hop star Nelly is pacting with “The Biggest Loser” producer 25/7 Productions to take a stab at the popular variety TV genre.
“Nelly’s Night in Vegas” is currently being pitched to networks as a weekly series that would feature Nelly performing and interacting with celebrities. 25/7’s Dave Broome is set to be the executive producer along with Nelly and “The Daily Show” co-creator Madeleine Smithberg.
“I was thinking about what was missing on TV, and when this idea came about, it made sense for me,” said Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. “We do have talkshows, but no one’s speaking from the pop culture perspective. Let’s get a little more pop, a little more edge, a little bit younger, and not look like you’re sitting in the principal’s office. As a performer, that’s the type of show you look forward to going on.”
Broome said the producers have reportedly already sealed a deal with Planet Hollywood to film the weekly show at its Las Vegas hotel; 25/7 is also in conversations with other sponsors about potential pacts.
“Nelly’s Night in Vegas” would be a talkshow-variety hybrid, Broome said, with a sidekick and house band, as well as guests and performances. Because it will shoot in LasVegas, there may also be an in-studio gaming element.
Nelly has sold more than 20 million albums throughout his career and has picked up several Grammy Awards. As an actor, Nelly appeared in feature “The Longest Yard” and in a multiepisode arc on CBS’ “CSI: NY.”
Nelly is the latest star to dabble in reviving the variety genre; CBS is working on a variety special starring musician John Mayer, while Fox is set to launch a show this spring starring the Osbournes.
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Rap producer Marion “Suge” Knight has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery on February 17 for beating a woman in a Las Vegas parking lot last year. 
Knight entered the plea in Las Vegas Justice Court in a deal that dismissed two felony drug charges and one felony coercion charge. The plea deal came a day after Knight was treated in an Arizona hospital for facial injuries suffered during a fight following the NBA All-Star Game. Knight was not charged in the incident.
Las Vegas police arrested Knight in August. Officers said they saw the 43-year-old co-founder of Death Row Records striking Melissa Isaac while holding a knife in a parking lot near the Las Vegas Strip.
Isaac, who identified herself to police as Knight’s girlfriend, was not stabbed, and was treated and released for her injuries. Knight was found to be carrying Ecstasy and hydrocodone, police said. Knight was facing mandatory probation and up to four years in a Nevada state prison on each of the drug charges.
Knight’s attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, have said they had evidence that would have defended Knight against the charges.
Justice of the Peace Eric Goodman ordered Knight to receive counseling and pay a $340 fine. He was ordered to report back to court in August for a status check.
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The NFL football season is history. But that doesn’t mean excitement needs to be put on hold. Oh my gosh, no. The folks over at Sports Illustrated were creatively up to the challenge, responding by providing the ultimate in eye-popping candy when 19 swimsuit models arrived in stunning fashion at LAX nightclub in the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Thursday, February 12, to launch their new promotion for the much awaited 2009 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.
The event marks the first time the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model team decided to make Las Vegas their destination promotion site. Earlier in the week they were in New York. The models arrived in grand style aboard “SI One,” a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, which was completely wrapped in Sports Illustrated swimsuit imagery- something unique to no doubt soothe weary pilots’ eyes as they fly the airways. This is also the first time that Southwest Airlines has wrapped a plane in virtually nose-to-tail imagery. 
Although the Sports Illustrated 46th swimsuit edition is now available on newsstands, Las Vegas Backstage Access thought you might want to see a quick teaser flash slideshow of the 19 models arriving on the red carpet at LAX. (please click on underlined words to view show; view their names by clicking on captions button in lower right). Our professional photographers have assembled a quick exclusive glimpse of the beauties. Included is cover girl Bar Refaeli (pictured in this article), the girlfriend of actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brooklyn Decker, fiancée to Andy Roddick. Six-time Grammy award-winning recording artist John Legend performed at LAX for attendees.
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit franchise reaches more than 66 million satisfied adults annually in over 10 countries including China, Czech Republic, Greece, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, and Taiwan.
Approximately one in three Americans over the age of 18 “read” the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model edition.
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Las Vegas Backstage Access is not into the habit of providing a long listing of events. That can be obtained from many 
other publications. However, when an event is really spectacular, new, or otherwise just kitschy, then we’ll bend your ear. Such is the case – minus the kitschy – when this year’s Grammy winning Sugarland performs live in concert at the Primm Valley Casino Resorts on Friday, July 24. If you haven’t seen them – country music duo composed of singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (background vocals, lead vocals, mandolin, and acoustic guitar) – or just want to take an escape from the Las Vegas neon, you’ll assuredly have lots of fun. For more information, call 702-386-7867
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Russia is a huge country with lots of art and cultural exports including dancers Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf 
Nureyev and producing classic works such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. Now, two of the country’s most famous companies, the Bolshoi and Kirov, are touring the United States and are coming to the UNLV Performing Arts Center, Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall, on Wednesday, February 11, at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $45 to $90. Info: 702-895-2787
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Tiger Jam is coming back to Las Vegas with renowned musical talent, amazing guests, and, of course, a legendary 
host. No Doubt will join Tiger Woods on May 16, 2009, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas to celebrate Tiger Jam XII presented by AT&T and kick-off their first tour in five years. The event benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and select Las Vegas-based charities.
“I’m thrilled No Doubt is kicking off their tour at Tiger Jam,” Woods said. “They are amazing performers, and I’m honored they are helping raise funds and awareness for the millions of young people my Foundation supports.”
Saturday evening’s highlights will include top-notch epicurean fare and exclusive live and silent auctions featuring one-of-a-kind luxury items. Following the dinner and auctions, the celebration will progress to the Mandalay Bay Events Center stage, where Woods will introduce Grammy Award winners Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young for a rocking concert.
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What’s a “monster circus?” It’s yet another new spectacular production for Las Vegas that never ceases to have enough aces up their entertainment sleeve. Monster Circus is truly a freaky circus that combines a high-octane live rock concert – no DJs here – with sexy dancers, human circus acts, aerials, freaks of nature, and, of course, a tour bus full of platinum certified real rock stars that play their award-winning rock and heavy metal ballads of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s- all while interacting with their audience.
It’s a first for Las Vegas.
Rock star debauchery begins with an all-star lineup of the jaw-dropping Monster Circus band featuring artists Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot, Whitesnake, Dio) John Corabi (Mötley Crüe, Ratt), Fred Coury (Cinderella), Bruce Kulick (KISS), and Tony Montana (Great White). Various guest artists will “join the circus” and perform the hits they personally rock out to, creating an ever evolving talent and set list. In addition to these rock and metal masters, special theme nights will be dedicated to the songs of a single legendary band.
All the non-stop zany action kicks off on March 19 inside the legendary Hilton Theater in Las Vegas where the biggest names in music, from Elvis Presley to Barry Manilow, have performed. The circus is in Sin City six nights a month on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights with an 11 p.m. show time. March dates are 19-21 and 26-28. And for those that still can’t get enough rock ‘n roll, a nightly after-show party will keep you blood pumping as the circus action continues till the wee hours of the morning.
Tickets can be purchased at the Las Vegas Hilton box office, online at www.lvhilton.com, www.vegas.com, www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 702-732-5755 or 800-222-5361.
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A special free treat is in store this weekend for Motley Crue music lovers: Neil Wharton, 30, the son of Motley Crue’s 
Vince Neil, will make a rare stage appearance and sing as his dad in the Motley Crue tribute band Generation Swine. The group will perform next to Vince Neil’s Ink tattoo parlor at O’Sheas casino in Las Vegas this Friday and Saturday, in free 7 p.m. warm-up parties for the weekend Motley Crue concerts at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. The Joint performance will close the historic venue until a new one is built there and opens with the same name in April.
Wharton, who now lives in Los Angeles and works as a full-time warehouse manager, sees his dad about 10 times a year. Normally preferring punk rock versus his dad’s pop metal style, Neil Wharton began filling his dad’s shoes when Swine frontman Rob Gebhard suffered a heart attack last summer and the band needed a replacement.
Wharton’s main purpose in performing is to raise money for the Skylar Neil Foundation that honors his sister, who died of cancer in 1995.
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The best bands and entertainers have performed at the legendary Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. During its near 14-year run, The Joint has hosted the biggest names in entertainment as The Eagles, the Rolling Stones, The Beastie Boys, David Bowie, The Strokes, Robert Plant, Stone Temple Pilots, Tom Petty, Metallica, The Who, Steely Dan, Billy Joel, The Deftones- way too many to list. But come this Saturday, February 7, the doors will shutter to the 2,000-seat venue as it is prepares for a bigger 4,000-capacity new The Joint that is planned to open in April.
Saturday’s venue-closing performance will be from none other than the iconic rock ‘n roll Motley Crue, comprised of Vince Neil, Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx, and Mick Mars.
Be ready for action through the last beat- and, perhaps, beyond. The last time a similar venue closed was the Aladdin Theater in 1997. With that closing the people left the concert and many yanked up their chairs as commemorative souvenirs. Who know what will happen this time
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Valerie Miller, writer for the Las Vegas Business Press, reports that Miami-based Spanish Broadcasting System has signed a significant affiliation deal with the Las Vegas/Laughlin-based Cranston Acquisition to carry MEGA TV on KMCC-DT, Channel 32 and analog KBNX-TV, Channel 31.
The channels are planned to show such programs as “Paparazzi TV,” “Maria Elvira Live,” “Este Noche Tu Night,” “Bayly,” and more.
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Las Vegas may not be the first place you think of when you’re considering attending a top notch wine tasting event. However, the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino is betting that you’ll be interested in blending fine wine with a sampling of Fremont Street jazz when they host The Spring Wine and Jazz Fest on March 27 through March 29. 
The three-day event begins Friday night with a Champagne and Wine Reception under the beckoning desert sky at the hotel aquarium and pool. Guests will join winemakers and wine owners, sampling wines while listening to jazz.
Saturday night you have the opportunity to sample wines from 60 California and Washington wineries – current vintage releases and barrel samples – alongside food from the hotel’s award winning chefs accompanied by more local jazz.
Then it’s off to a champagne brunch with a side of jazz on Sunday served with Laurent Perrier,Taittinger, and more that will conclude with a live auction.
By booking for all three events prior to January 31 the total cost is $249 per person. Individual event tickets may be purchased. And for an additional fee you could attend a Napa Valley Red Blend Showdown and a Blind featuring tasting of Opus One, Duckhorn Paraduxx and BV Dulcte. There will also be a Blind Tasting that would let you compare your skills against the Masters through a five bottle tasting that will include training on insider methods of deduction.
Participating wineries include William Hill, Beringer, Gallo Estates, Geyser Peak, Rutherford Hill, Sawnson, Mount Veeder, Conn Creek, Twomey, Willamette Valley Vineyards and Hugo Family Cellars.
The Golden Nugget is also running a Winery Club Room Package that includes two nights, a spa credit and 25% off any bottle of wine at the Grotto Ristorante that starts at $179 http://www.goldennugget.com/specials/winerypackage.asp Reservations may only be booked by phone at 800-634-3454 and use promo code WINE09.
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The glitz and glamour of Hollywood comes to Las Vegas for one evening, coordinated by the efforts of the Arthritis Foundation, when “Oscar Night America,” will be hosted inside the Rain nightclub at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on Sunday, February 22. Cocktails and silent auction start at 4 p.m., followed by dinner and Oscar telecast at 5:30 p.m.
This year’s event, also known as “The Second Best Oscar® Party in the Country,” will mark a series of firsts. Rain Nightclub at the Palms Casino Resort will be a first-time host for the event, allowing for an all-new format and seating arrangement. Also, a new host committee has been assembled to conduct the event consisting of veterans of Las Vegas nightlife, entertainers, and casino marketing and socialites. Additionally, Oscar Night® America 2009 will stray from its traditional format in an effort to speak to a new audience and create a unique set of experiences. Our Las Vegas event will also be honoring three very deserving community members this year including Commitment to Community Award Honorees Glynda Rhodes, Zappos.com and Cathy Ray Community Health Award Honoree Parvin Modaber-Jacobs, MD. Here’s the link to sign up for this invite-only event: http://www.secondbestoscarparty.com/
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Joaquin Phoenix, who recently announced his retirement from acting in order to pursue his new music career, on Friday night, January 16, stepped to the microphone at the Lavo nightclub in the Palazzo in Las Vegas. 
The two-time 2008 Oscar nominee hasn’t completely walked away from the movies, though, as Casey Affleck, also an Oscar nominee, was at the Palazzo to record the special event for a documentary that Affleck will direct about Phoenix’s new musical career.
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Frequent Las Vegas celebrity DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) who survived a fiery Learjet crash in Southern Carolina in September has sued on December 23 several companies and the estates of the two plane’s pilots for negligence and breach of contract.
The deadly crash claimed the lives of everyone aboard except Goldstein and Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, who also suffered major burns in the accident.
The suit reportedly does not specify the amount Goldstein hopes to receive for damages including pain and suffering, medical expenses and loss of wages. It does, however, seek a trial by jury.
The cause of the South Carolina crash has not yet been determined, but it is suspected that a faulty tire may have played a role in the crash.
The duo are set to perform their first show live together since the crash on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles at the Wiltern under the moniker TRVSDJAM. Their performance will be streamed live to nine other U.S. cities.
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Our economy is in the proverbial dumpster. What do you think will be the future for the newspaper 
and magazine industry? What business and journalism ideas and techniques do you think will best work to keep your clients happy and in business in these down times?
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Entertainment News
Vegas Backstage Access (VBA) 