2008 August

A few photos of sights around the Las vegas scene this week. Included are some of the “Good News” projects on the Las Vegas strip, I’m referring to those under construction billion dollar resorts that continue to rush towards completion regardless of the problems with the economy.Of course not everyone is beholden of the new ultra-lux Vegas so I’ve included a couple of pics of Binion’s nostalgic Cowboy Limo.

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Apple said four years ago that over 100 million U.S. residents were within 15 minutes of an Apple Store.Tomorrow, a few more will be that much closer.Just in time for the holidays, Apple is holding the grand opening of its new Apple Store tomorrow, from 10 a.m. to midnight.

Regular hours will run to 11 p.m. daily, with a midnight closing on Friday and Saturday.

This marks the third Apple store in Las Vegas and the second one on the Strip — in The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace (right next to the Gap).

The first Apple Store in Vegas was in the Fashion Show Mall, and the second opened recently at the Town Square.

A special offer at all Apple Stores — get a free iPod with the purchase of a Mac. Offer expires Sept. 15.

The opening of an Apple Store usually comes with free t-shirts for all attendees. Not to mention Apple geeks galore (of which we are one).

Posted by R.C. Clark at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hopefully without gun in hand, Jerry Lewis will again host this year’s 22-hour Jerry Lewis Telethon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association.The 43rd annual event will broadcast Monday live on Channel 13 at the South Point Hotel and Casino (at the Equestrian Center). Free tickets are available.This year, the telethon will allow bids via online auction, which runs now through Sept. 4.

Some of the unique items include:

* VIP treatment at next year’s telethon, with a meet-and-greet with Lewis and a one-bedroom suite at South Point for three nights.

* Emmy Awards party sponsored by People magazine and “Entertainment Tonight.”

* a phone call from John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting.

Posted by R.C. Clark at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sheldon Adelson spoke in Macau of his interest in a Las Vegas Strip in India.

Similar to the Cotai Strip in Macau where his Venetian casino resides, his Las Vegas Sands plans to build 14 more hotel-casinos there within the next 5 years.

Cost would run upwards of $12 billion, which Adelson said he “would be happy to spend.”

Indeed, with a net worth of $26 billion and the Forbes list of richest people in the world, Adelson could fund the project out of the change in his couch cushions.

The Cotai Strip in Macau was modeled after the Las Vegas Strip.

India currently has just one legal casino.

Posted by R.C. Clark at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A twin-engine airplane crashed into a house in North Las Vegas this afternoon.

It crashed into Jones Blvd. and Cheyenne, causing two elementary schools to go into lockdown because of the number of emergency vehicles swarming the area. Hundreds of residents are currently without power.

Just last week, another plane crashed into a house, also near the North Las Vegas Airport. That crash killed the pilot and two residents inside the house.

Posted by R.C. Clark at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For the first time in more than a decade a new casino hotel is opening on the Boulder Strip. The quarter billion dollar Eastside Cannery will open the doors to the public at 8 pm Thursday amid all the pomp and fanfare that typically accompanies a Las Vegas casino hotel grand opening.The project was brought in on time and on budget, a rare feat in today’s volatile construction market. Stop by the new property located at the site of the long gone Nevada Palace on Boulder Highway. Consider sampling the fare offered in one of the six new restaurants.

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Rapper Suge Knight was arrested today in Las Vegas on multiple charges.Responding to a car accident report at Spring Mountain Road early this morning, Metro found Knight holding a knife next to his girlfriend of three years who accused him of beating her.According to police reports, Knight and his girlfriend were in the car when he punched her while he was driving. She allegedly held onto the steering wheel, causing the car to drive up a curb, then she ran from the vehicle with Knight chasing with a knife.

He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance, battery domestic violence, and possession of dangerous drugs without a prescription. The drugs he’s accused of having are Ecstasy and hydrocodone.

Knight is currently being held at the Clark Couny Detention Center, and his girlfriend is being treated at Spring Valley Hospital.

Posted by R.C. Clark at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In breaking news from ESPN.com, Oscar De La Hoya is expected to announce at 2 p.m. ET tomorrow that he will fight his last fight against Manny Pacquiao.If the fight goes through, it would make Dec. 6 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas the largest fight in recent history, with purse on the north side of $100 million.The plan was for the two to fight early on, but an out-of-ring riff on each of their financial cuts broke off the deal. De La Hoya wanted 70 percent. Pacquiao, who would have to move from lightweight to welterweight for the match, wanted more than 30 percent.

Tomorrow, De La Hoya will announce for sure whether it will be against Macquiao.

Posted by R.C. Clark at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a quick speculation lasting all of a week and a half, Jay-Z has sold his 40/40 Club.Not the entire 40/40 chain as was speculated, but just the Vegas location at Palazzo.

Rumors for the entire chain with Sands Corp. (which owns Venetian and Palazzo) in control of the brand was in the realm of $45 million, but the actual sale of the 40/40 at Palazzo was undisclosed.

Named after a baseball club comprising players scoring 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a season, Jay-Z still plans to expand in other U.S. cities and abroad.

Palazzo reclaimed the 24,000 square foot floor space and will be free to reboot it into its own sports book, a club, or something else entirely.

Posted by R.C. Clark at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photos by the flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

The first Blogger’s Las Vegas holiday tournament way back in ’04 at Sam’s Town
Bloggers. Long despised by staid mainstream outlets as nothing more than a collection of overweight cheetoh-bingers not possessed of enough skill to make it in the ‘real-world media’ who opt instead to give voice to their rage and shortcomings from a lonely PC in a basement somewhere, likely belonging to their parents.Hogwash. I have little doubt that the projections of the frustrated ‘real-worlders’ voicing these things is derived solely from the fact that they want to try and deflect attention away from their various secret Cheetoh-binging shames. There is only one cure for this: Go grab a Super-Size bag of the fried orange goodness, smoke a bowl, and learn to love again.

And while you’re working on that, you can check your RSS Reader to make sure you are subscribed to these Top 5 Poker Blogs. Ponder their individual significance, and rediscover the virtue that lies within countless layers of degeneracy.

(In no particular order….)

#1–Guinness and Poker

403rd best Hold’em player in the world. The Blogfather. A midget utilizing razor sharp wit plus advanced cut and paste-fu skills to bring your workplace productivity to heel. If you haven’t been reading Iggy (or god forbid, know nothing of his many triumphs over vertical adversity), please slap yourself and correct this situation post-haste.

#2—Tao of Poker

Dr. Pauly consistently cranks out loads of content for a ridiculous number of different blogs (including here at LVV). Through his home base at The Tao he keeps Gonzo reporting alive and well, reporting from the trenches of poker tournaments worldwide. Drugs, hookers, and profligate gambling of all sorts–all the stuff suburbanite breeders with responsibilities wish they could do, experienced from the safety of a desktop.

#3—Up for Poker

Otis, G-Rob, and Luckbox (CJ)–Three completely different takes on the same issue or off on their own tangents. If you can’t find content you like from at least one of these three action-junkies then you’re likely either Amish or dead.

#4—Bill Rini

Bill has been a big part of the poker blogging world for a very long time. There’s really only one word for this site: solid. Whereas most blog content is a lot like Chinese food (you’ll need to eat again in a half hour or less) whereas a greater portion of servings from Rini is akin to a Lumberjack breakfast-you know you’re going to have to take a seat and digest for a while. Bill also posts about is world travels, which is a nice bonus.

#5—Wicked Chops Poker

Lotta Poker news and reportage, plus GIRLS. While the others mentioned here have been around longer, this site is more than deserving of its spot on the list due to their quality implementation of the concept, rather than the concept itself. The concept, of course, being much like pizza, which is still good, even when it’s not. And it’s probably NSFW, even though it is technically.

I would be remiss in not also mentioning the Rev. AlCantHang, another poker blogging veteran, world traveler, and wholly unique drunken-partying entity (as in, they spring up wherever he is present). Like WCP, it’s poker and girls, but with more booze (much more) and is probably even less safe for work.

Thus saith the Lord.

Up next, Top 5 Poker Forums.

Posted by Human Head at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We came across a Craigslist post that enlists players in the world’s largest simultaneous game of Monopoly.The Hasbro game is seeking a Guinness Book of World Record (while also garnering free advertising for their new Monopoly World game, of which Las Vegas was not represented in U.S. cities (ahem) — only New York City was), and dozens of cities around the world will be playing, including Las Vegas. Other cities include London, Madrid, Tokyo, and Atlantic City (the home of Monopoly).Wednesday, Aug. 27 is the morning, and you can be a part of recordmaking history while enjoying a game of global Monopoly, a free breakfast, t-shirt, and prizes (including the new Monopoly board game).

The action takes place at Paris Las Vegas’s Eiffel Tower Restaurant at 7 a.m. (registration is at 6:30 a.m. if you’re one of the first 100 people to RSVP to monopolylasvegas@hunterpr.com) and lasts to 8:15 a.m.

RSVP anyway and show up to root on the players, and you’ll also get a t-shirt.

When emailing, include “Las Vegas RSVP” in the subject.

You must be at least 18 years old or accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Posted by R.C. Clark at 8:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Above is from the police-released surveillance video of a man robbing the Harrah’s cashier cage.Yes, that’s right — in broad daylight yesterday morning at 11:34 a.m., the guy brazenly came in to the main casino cage, took an undisclosed amount of money, then walked right out and hailed a cab southbound on the Strip. All without anyone being the wiser.Reports say that he handed a note to the cashier demanding a large amount of money.

He was not armed but is believed to be dangerous.

If you have any information, call Metro or Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555.

Posted by R.C. Clark at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photos by the flipchip • lasvegasvegas.comIts a very long ways down
While documenting the progress on the Boulder Dam Bypass project we saw this portable potty perched at the top of the 155′ tall temporary pylons. The roadbed of the bridge is almost 1,000′ above the river so the portable john is over 1,150 feet in the air.The temporary pylons will carry the cables that support the two concrete halves of the arch as they inch their way across the chasm and finally connect in the middle. Once joined the pylons and cables will then be removed making this the longest concrete arch bridge (almost 1,600′) in the world.

photos by the flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
The porta potty (upper right)photos by the flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Another viewphotos by the flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
The Big Picture

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photos by the flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Do you get annoyed by the outdated rule where you can’t use your cell phone in a sports book without getting pestered by a surly security guard?Well, there’s some good news. The Nevada Gaming Commission finally got their act together and decided to suspend the “no cell phone rule”, which now means that you can talk and chat away while sitting or standing inside or near a sports book in any casino.There is some fine print. This is just a temporary relaxation of the rule. They will be conducting a one year trial basis to see if the removal of the ban works.The rule was initially set in place to prevent locals from putting in bets from out-of-state gamblers.

I always thought that the no cell phone rule was antiquated, and now I can sit in the sports book and field phone calls and make text messages without getting pestered by the federalies.

Let’s hope the ban lasts more than the one year allotment.