Garth: That’s the way it is

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 of the few truly momentous artistic events to have hit the Strip in the last decade. (Fighting words, I know. Bring it on, M. Laliberté.) For example …

“Like Wayne Newton down the Strip at the Tropicana, Brooks is using his and others’ songs to tell the story of his artistic development. But unlike Newton, Brooks makes himself the least important character in that story. And that is why Newton’s show is so insufferable and smug, and why Brooks’s show is so revelatory and charming.”

Of course, I do retain a soft spot for Steve Friess‘ wry description of Brooks’ winningly disheveled appearance …

“He strolls on stage looking like the guy who’s come to fix your sink, in mom jeans and a grey hoodie, topped by a baseball cap and standing in tan workboots.”

But if you compare, say, my very mundane review of Brooks with Prevatt’s, it’s pretty clear that Mike is the one who’s really nailed what makes a chubby guy with a guitar the most impressive spectacle on the Strip.

Will govern for food. A picture worth a thousand words (or bucks).

MGM, Chamber kiss & make up. Both the prestigious name and — more importantly — the large checkbook of MGM Mirage will again be at the disposal of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Does this mean that the tax-dodgers at the Chamber have caved on their opposition to an MGM-supported gross-receipts tax … or vice versa? Or is this another instance of MGM CEO Jim Murren demonstrating that he’s his own man, not Terrence Lanni Jr.?

The Chamber is one of the worst offenders in Nevada when it comes to freeloading off of tourists and right now we’re learning what happens when there’s no one behind the tree to tax. I attended a budgetary meeting headlined by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman last night and the economic forecasts weren’t worrisome — they were darn near frightening.