Stiffs and Georges

For those of us who missed it this year, the best Christmas tradition of which I know.
First and most importantly …
To you, the reader, who makes this possible, a year of happiness, health and wealth, whether material, intellectual or spiritual.
Atlantic City: Good luck in a year that will end with ‘13.’
Boyd Gaming: New TV commercials.
Caesars [...]

This just in … peripatetic chef Carla Pellegrino has just released a statement in which “announces her mutual separation from Tropicana Las Vegas,” after 19 months overseeing its Italian restaurant, Bacio. The Brazilian chef, also late of Rao’s at Caesars Palace, referred to “exciting new opportunities” but mentioned nothing specific than her ongoing relationship with [...]

… as in the Las Vegas Advisor weekly poll. Tomorrow’s promises to be a real doozy. The question is,  What was the worst show in recent Strip and Downtown history? The dog kennel hasn’t been completely filled but I can share with you some of the nicknames our hard-working research department has coined for some [...]

Shares of Caesars Entertainment sank today on the news that CFO Jonathan Halkyard has quit, taking an equivalent position at NV Energy. Although the latter’s financial outlook is far rosier, with scant long-term debt, its revenue base ($611 million last quarter) is a fraction of Caesars’, making it difficult to characterize Halkyard’s leap as even [...]

Dedicated to Mr. Charles Monster:
Wow, I totally didn’t see this coming … not! See our May 1 “Question of the Day” on Casa de Shenandoah for some ominous foreshadowing of The Wayner’s latest financial pickle. Wayne Newton’s contractor “claims the family unreasonably delayed the project to ensure it never opens.” Newton counterclaims that aforesaid contractor [...]

If you’re thinking of coming to Las Vegas for Christmas, I have one word of advice: Don’t. For the past week, Sin City has been steadily blanketed in rain, with no end in sight. It’s just miserable. (Instead of trying to build an arena, Gary Loveman should be working on an ark.) While this makes [...]

First, the good news. After going null for two with Paul Rodriguez (PR nightmare) and Wayne Newton (artistic disaster), the Tropicana Las Vegas appears to have swatted an 0-2 pitch into the bleachers. Brad Garrett’s eponymous comedy club is a hit, a palpable hit — as Shakespeare’s Osric would say. Garrett works the room gregariously [...]

Newly Harrah’s-ized Planet Hollywood has got a new Web site. OK, it’s a little rudimentary by 2010 standards but we’re in the top of the first inning here. (If for some reason the page doesn’t show in your browser, the promo code for $99/night suite rate is “tower.”)
Fans of Peepshow will be happy to see [...]

There I was, wrapping up a two-day “staycation” with dinner at Metro Pizza when I looked up and … let’s say I’m lucky I didn’t choke to death from shock at what I saw. There was Las Vegas Sands potentate Sheldon Adelson in the hot seat on Face to Face with Jon Ralston. What made [...]

Kitty-korner from Bally’s Las Vegas is the former site of Bourbon Street, long since imploded by Harrah’s Entertainment and not the least bit missed. It had a skanky reputation and the tightest slots you ever did play. After it was demolished on Feb. 14, 2006 (left), it became Wino Corner, with the empty bottles piled [...]

It’s an S&G Special Austerity Edition (i.e., no pictures) …
Three grand. That’s the value of a human life in Nevada. The Washingtonian who crashed his car into Laughlin’s Edgewater casino, killing two and injuring seven, is out on $6,000 bail. One presumes that the tally weighing on his conscience is considerably greater than that. And [...]

Folks here at LVA HQ must be feeling a little punchy, as they’ve come up with this bit of Humpday drollery, which I pass along for your diversion.
Recipe:
Take one Steve Wynn …

Add a splash of Marty Allen …
… and you get — a Wayne Newton!

Or, in mathematical terms …

Amid all the ink that’s been spilled about the phenomenon that is Garth Brooks at Wynncore, we have a winner. No review is more eloquent, detailed or well-observed than the one newly penned by my estimable CityLife colleague Mike Prevatt. His critique, more than any other, gets to the heart of what makes Garth-in-Vegas one [...]