Mark’s Las Vegas Blog - Your Source for Vegas Info

Wow! Even though the official start of summer is still a couple of weeks away, you could have fooled me! It’s the start of our hot & dry season and the temps will be close to or over 100 degrees for the next few weeks!

One weird thing about our seasons is that our spring & fall are really short, maybe 3 weeks. That’s the best time of year, in between jacket weather and putting the AC on. Get to open up the windows and enjoy the breeze. I’d much rather the heat than the cold personally. Having grown up in South Florida we got used to really mild winters and it’s just a bit too cold for me in the winters here. I don’t mind the change but around March I just go “Ok enough already!”

 One expression you hear a lot is “But it’s a dry heat!” Yeah, maybe we don’t have the high humidity here but don’t kid yourself, 110 degrees is HOT! Plus the relative humidity is usually less than 10%.  One thing you gotta do is keep yourself really hydrated in the summer. Always have some water handy and especially if you’re drinking. You’ll thank yourself. Trust me on this one! I used to laugh at the water bottle people until I became one! Just something to keep in mind if you’re coming from a cooler climate or you’re from a place like Florida where it’s 90 degrees but it’s 95% humidity. Certainly don’t let it alter your travel plans but just keep it in mind that it is the desert and it’s a different climate.

As I had previously reported here the Hooters hotel was going to be bought out & turned into a boutique hotel. Well, you can scratch those plans.  According to the LVRJ.com, the prospective new owners missed a scheduled payment and Hooters terminated the deal. They said that they’s still consider some kind of similar deal if Hooters still wanted to.

 Honestly it’s not a big surprise. With the way the economy is going now people have less money to spend on big projects and with no real way to see any solid returns on your investment there’s a lot of smaller projects that will suffer the same fate.

 To be honest Hooters isn’t a bad place. It’s got a cool vibe to it, a nice pool, decent food,  and hey, it’s got Hooters girls! It’s really about a 5 minute walk from the Tropicana and the MGM Grand so it’s really not out of the way. Plus, c’mon who doesn’t love chicken wings!

Time will tell what will happen there but for the time being feel free to enjoy Hooters!

Word came down this week that the Crown Las Vegas project was kaput. It was supposed to be built on the former Wet & wild land next to the Sahara at the north end of the strip. Citing a soft financial market, the owners scrapped the 5 billion dollar project and have put the land up for sale.

They had planned to have the tallest tower in the US, but the FAA said that their plans would have interfered with the flightpaths at McCarran airport. At first they wanted to build a tower that was 1888 feet! In comparison the Stratosphere tower is 1,149 feet high. They did redesign their tower to be 1,064 feet which was approved by the FAA.

The head of the company behind the project is James Packer, son of the late Australian billionare and Vegas gambling legend Kerry Packer, who in his time was one of the biggest whales that Las vegas has ever seen. He had won and lost literally millions over the years.

The company though is going full speed on it’s other project, the Fountanbleau, which is right next door. And yes it’s named after the famous Fountanbleau in Miami in case you were wondering!

There’s been countless mega projects here that have been proposed and weren’t ever started and this is just another. I’m sure it won’t be the last. As the strip gets more saturated there’s gonna less big projects in my opinion in the coming years. Between the CityCenter, Echelon Place, Encore, and the Fountainbleau that’s 4 huge projects currently underway and that’s a lot of rooms, restaurants, retail shops and entertainment coming up to open in the next 18-24 months. We’ll just have to see what kind of impact those projects will make and we’ll take it from there! Just as always, never a dull moment in Las Vegas!

Today starts the 2008 WSOP. It kicks off a little different this year with a $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em for the first event, instead of a $1500 no limit like the last few years. This year they wanted to have a couple of more “pro” events and some other games that have fallen out of favor, such as a 2-7 lowball bracelet event. Most of the focus has been on no limit hold’em the last couple of years and it’s good to see some of the other games get some more attention.

It’ll be interesting to see how the main event final table pans out. I made my feelings known about that situation previously with this post. With the internet gaming ban still in effect I’m predicting another drop in the total players in the main event. Before the ban the online poker sites would let you directly transfer the buy-in to the WSOP. But after the ban you can’t do that anymore, making the aquiring of the $10,000 buy in a lot more complicated. in 2006 before the ban the Main Event had 8,773 players. In 2007 there was 6,358. I’m predicting 5,600 this year. We’ll see how things pan out.

One thing I, among other people “in the know” have been touting for quite a while is the value of downtown Las Vegas. As prices have escalated on the strip and many of the older more reasonable places have closed, the notion is that there’s no more places for the “average” person anymore here.

Well, I’m happy to report that downtown is looking up. I had some family out here this week. My parents came out from Florida along with my aunt & uncle from Massachusetts. My parents had been here before but it was the first trip for my aunt & uncle. I shuffled my work schedule around so I could spend some time with them. They really enjoyed their trip here. They confessed they really didn’t know what to expect and me, being the Las Vegas “expert” (hey my business card says so) made sure they had a good time.

One thing I insisted they get to see was the Fremont St. Experience. So one night we all piled in my truck and headed on down. They really enjoyed the whole deal, even though we didn’t see all of it.

I was, however, pleasantly surprised at just how many people were there. And it was on a Wednesday night, typically not a real busy night. Along with the kick ass light show, they had 2 different bands playing on the stages set up.

They really have tried to fix up downtown the last couple of years and it looks like they’re succeding. For people that say they miss the ”old Vegas”, well, it’s alive and well right where it all started. Downtown. You have several casinos all within a short walking distance, plenty of good food, free entertainment, and better (as in lower) limit gambling than the strip. Try to find $5 blackjack at the Venetian or the Wynn on a Friday night! You wanna stay in a nice place? The Golden Nugget is as nice as any casino on the strip. (I’ve had the buffet recently and it’s excellent)

So next time make it a point to come downtown. I’m sure you’ll have a great time. We all did!

The day is finally here! Time for the Rush concert. Anyone that knows me knows that Rush is my all time favorite band. It was great to see them last August at the MGM and when they announced a second leg of the “Snakes and Arrows” tour I just had to get tickets again! No way I was gonna miss them!

For some reason this time they played at the Mandalay Bay Events Center instead of the MGM, which was ok with me it was my first time to check out that venue. They’re pretty similar really, basically an all-purpose arena.

I had a pre-show meal at one of my favorite places, the Burger Bar, which I reviewed here. It was great as always, only made better by many Rush fans also enjoying a pre-show meal! I chatted with several people & all were eagerly anticipating the show. I had my usual & headed on over to the venue.

Ahh but what about the show you ask? (Yeah yeah I’m getting to that!) After getting inside & checking out the venue I found my seat.  Seeing as I’m on the short side and the decent floor seats were gone quickly I chose a seat on the side section about half way back on Geddy’s side, almost the same seats I had at last year’s show but a little closer. I like sitting there you get to see over the crowd.

On the last few tours they’ve not had an opening act, just doing an “Evening with Rush”, which suits everyone just fine. Opening acts tend to not be received as well, plus it gives the boys more time to play!

At about 8:05 the lights went down and it’s showtime! They basically have the same show they played last year, save for a couple of changes to the setlist. Even though they’re playing a lot of songs from the latest album they are including some decent older stuff and some songs not played in quite a few years.

They played for about an hour and 10 minutes then took a 20 minute break, being that they’re “about a hundred years old” LOL

They kicked off the second set with 5 in a row from the new one and then got into some more older stuff. Also on the second set was the highlight of any Rush concert, the drum solo. Anyone whose not seen Neil Peart’s solo live really is missing a treat. “The Professor” lived up to his name once again. He has made his solos a lot more musical the last few tours, not quite as show off-y as in the past, which is a good thing.

All through my past days as a musician, my biggest influence was always Geddy Lee, and it’s always such an experience to see him live. You really are amazed at just how talented the man is with all the duties he has in concert. Being the lead singer, playing some of the most complicated bass lines, playing keyboards and also triggering stuff with his feet. Also his voice is in fine form still. They have to transpose a couple of the really older songs but for the most part he pulls if off.

Alex was his usual self, really enjoying the show, making faces and being the “class clown.” He’s the overlooked one of the group but not for lack of talent. He can shred with the best of them when he wants to. In some ways he helps hold things together, letting the other two be more adventurous, which is opposite from how a lot of rock bands are.

The show was about 85-90% sold out, pretty good considering they had played here only 9 months previously. A lot of people had come in from elsewhere, as is usually the case for Rush. I wish I had the opportunity to travel around and see shows in different places. Some people stayed for a few days too (c’mon you can’t just come to Vegas for 1 day!)

All in all it was a great evening. The one thing I really admire about Rush is they’re doing it for the love of music. They don’t need to do it for the money anymore. Plus you really get your money’s worth. It’s almost a three hour show, plus don’t forget they’re not kids anymore they’re all in their mid-50’s now! They have some of the most loyal fans and for 30 years now I’ve been one of the biggest.

I have heard rumors about them working on a new record next year, so hopefully we’ll get to see them again in a couple of years. And I’ll be right there cheering them on!

Here’s some cell phone pics:

Harrah’s announced the other day that they will be delaying the final table of the world Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event final Table for…..16 weeks???? Are you kidding me? 4 months??? I’m sure someone at Harrah’s thought this was a good idea, but I’m not so sure. Could you imagine this happening with other sports? Like football for example. The Super Bowl is always a couple of weeks after the Championship game, in late February or early March. I couldn’t see the NFL going “OK this year the Super Bowl will be held the first week of July, 4 months after it should be played.”

Harrah’s has a couple of reasons for this. For one thing it has to somewhat do with the TV programming. It usually takes a few weeks to edit the telecast and have it ready for broadcast. There’s several bloggers and publications posting hand-by-hand updates from the WSOP and the results are known to anyone with an internet connection almost immediately. Harrah’s wanted more control over the way the results are known as far as I can guess and that’s one of the reasons behind the change.

But let’s think of all the possibilities. For one, it takes away from the mental and physical toughness that’s required to pull off a WSOP win these days, which is even more so with the huge fields we have nowadays. It’s a bit different trying to outlast 8000 people rather than 800! Also, it gives someone a lot more time to work on their game, hire a coach, study past broadcasts (hopefully) of their opponents. And lets be extreme about it. What if something happens to someone? What do they do if someone’s unable to return to finish the tournament? Take away their chips? If so, are their chips taken out of play, distributed equally among the remaining players? Do they forfeit?

Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s a silly idea. I can see maybe, maybe a week or two inbetween. But four months is just nuts. I feel it’ll take away too much from the integrity of the game and there’s just too much that can happen in that kind of time frame. But hey, maybe I’m wrong. You tell me.

One of the awesome things about living in Las Vegas is there’s always stuff to do. For free! As you all know I’m a big music fan and go check out live bands every chance I get.

 One that I saw was coming was the Queen tribute band “Queen Nation” . They were playing for a few days downtown on Fremont St. & I went down and checked them out. Out West there’s a ton of great tribute bands, the Atomic Punks being the most well known one. I had never heard of Queen Nation before but I figured what the hell, why not go see them. I’m glad I did! They kicked ass.

As you may or may not know, Queen was one of the biggest and best bands to come from the 70’s and 80’s, having several huge hits such as “Another One Bites The Dust”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, and the sports anthem “we Will Rock You.” Unfortunately, lead singer Freddie Mercury died of complications from AIDS in 1991. (Coincedently, Kiss’s drummer Eric Carr, who replaced original drummer Peter Criss, died on the same day of cancer, however, his passing was overshadowed by Freddie’s. Still it was a tough day for Rock ‘n’ roll.) He was one of the best frontman the rock world had ever seen, both vocally and visually. So, needless to say, a tough act to follow!

But Queen Nation came very close to the real thing. The singer did a fantastic job recreating the presence of Freddie, never an easy thing. He even resembled him to a certain extent The guitarist did an excellent job of pulling off Brian May, replicating his signature stage moves and even though he plays left-handed, he had one of Brian’s well known custom model guitars and his trademark curly hair. He was a great player, recreating his parts pretty much note-for-note.

The rest of the band was excellent too. The drummer had a flashy sparkle finish kit and the raspy voice Roger Taylor is known for. The bass player, while not really a look a like for John Deacon, covered his melodic bass parts with ease.

I’ve always been a huge Queen fan and they’re one of the bands I never got to see, being too young at the time they stopped touring. But Queen Nation did a tremendous job pulling off Queen’s trademark layered sound. They really are worth seeing if you ever get the chance!

I forgot to bring my real camera but I got some ok shots from my cell phone. Here ya go!

Keeping with the Mirage theme of my last post Las Vegas Mirage Volcano Under Construction here’s a couple of shots of the revamped aquarium behind the check-in desk in the main lobby.

The Mirage has been doing a lot to keep up with the times. Adding new restaurants, ravamping the buffet, opening the JET nightclub, and also upgraging the famous aquarium. It was a big deal when it first opened and after many years (like a lot of us!) was ready for a facelift. Here’s the finished product:

So this time I’m gonna show what it’s like to be a high roller & win millions! (well maybe dozens!)

The game of choice for us locals is predominately video poker. Really the only ones that play slots are tourists.

One of the weirdest things about moving here was seeing video poker machines basically everywhere! Yes, they’re in the airport as anyone whose traveled here has seen, but it took some getting used to seeing them in the 7/11, the grocery store, the gas stations, and especially all the local bars.

Anyone that’s played knows that you drink free while playing, just be kind and tip the cocktail waitress at least $1 per drink. It works the same at the local bars.  As long as you’re playing drinks are comped and tipping well keeps the drinks coming (and stronger too!)

Anyway I was out at my usual haunts over the weekend and was playing some video poker. Usually I don’t have the greatest luck but got lucky and hit this awesome hand on a Friday night:

That’s right folks. A royal flush! The very best hand you can hit playing video poker! It’s only the second one I’ve ever hit.

Remember before when I said I’m gonna show you how to be a high roller. Well look closely at the picture. That’s right folks. I was playing a nickel machine. 50 cents a hand. HUGE stakes! the hand payed a whole $200! American dollars thank you very much! (Of course worth about $17 with the devalued dollar these days!) Ehh I can’t complain it got me some new shoes and a nice dinner!

The very next night (that’s Saturday for those of you keeping score) I was out yet again (2 nights in a row! Somebody stop me!) and was playing some more VP and somehow managed to hit this beauty:

4 aces! That’s the second best hand you can hit on VP. Again notice the high roller here playing nickels. I’m like butter baby, I’m on a roll!

(Hey now! Be sure to tip your bartenders & waitresses they’re working hard for you. 2 shows on Sunday, try the special!)

Ok sorry I got carried away & thought I was a comedian again. Anyway just wanted to show you that anyone can hit it big in Vegas. Even me!