The Strip is LIVE tonight w/Cheech! (Really!)

The time has come for Cheech Marin and Brian Wilson. The two more challenging interviews of recent months finally make their way into the show, so come on down to LVRocks.Com tonight at 6:45 p.m. PT to hear that plus witty banter about the news, a new poll, listener feedback and, as always, the Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week.

Or, if it's just too much of a bother for you to show up with your fellow listeners and hear all the outtakes, cursing and bickering, wait a day or two and the podcast will be available. Your call!

Hello, Gov. Gibbons

I am sitting here on my laptop waiting for my flight at the Reno airport when I look up and there is the controversial governor of Nevada, Jim Gibbons. He's been yapping nonstop on that controversial BlackBerry of his, perhaps the very one from which he texted a woman not his wife 860ish times in a few weeks.

It appears the guv is en route to Vegas in the same commercial flight as I am. Good call, austere times and all. I guess then if the plane goes down, the headline is "Gov. Gibbons killed in air crash" and is the second line, "Nosy blogger who wrote about possible crash also perishes." Or something.

Vegas Kids Do Good!

...or is it "Vegas Kids Do Well!"? Ahh, well, thank goodness nobody pays me to know the language. Oh wait...

Regardless, I have a piece in today's New York Times about a group of students at the exclusive private Meadows School who have drummed up $25,000 to invest in microfinance loans to poor people in third-world countries. It's a story my Petcast co-host Emily Richmond broke in the Las Vegas Sun in October, and I found the novelty of it -- not just the idea of kids doing something good and charitable but also that it appears to be a first-of-its-kind effort -- worth a broader audience.

What was also fun was visiting the Meadows School. I had only heard of this mythical place with the English translation of our city's name, where Mayor Oscar Goodman's wife, Carolyn, had built a powerhouse educational center that produces Ivy Leaguers and perfect SAT scores. Carolyn, by the by, is rumored to be considering a run for mayor when her gin-swilling hubby is term-limited out in 2011.

Anyhow, while I was there, I had to shoot some photos. Here's the entry sign...


...and the central campus vista...


Of course, with any private school of this type, it relies on both the $20K-a-year in tuition as well as the good will and vanity of generous parents. See if you recognize any of these surnames...





Virtually every tree, every bench, every building and even every garbage can was marked for its donation or dedication. But this one was my favorite...


We now know him, of course, as the newly crowned CEO of MGM Mirage.

Black Friday on the Strip

OK, I've been a bad blogger. I've been gallivanting in the most unlikely places in Nevada for an upcoming NYT piece, so forgive me as I must attend, occasionally, to the sort of thing that pays the bills. Also, I didn't expect my aircard ot be so slow in bumf***. In fact, I don't quite have any idea why that was the case.

Anyhow, allow me to catch up a little. On Friday, I grabbed my Little Brother, Jamie, and took him first to a sneak peek of the new Viva McDonald's up north of the stalled Echelon site on the Strip. I didn't really know what to expect, but this invite for a media event on 12/9 and a public opening on 12/11 that I'll miss because I'm off to NY next week made me curious:

Well, it turns out, it's really just a McDonald's. With music and LED screens. And the same menu as any other McD's. See, here's the big sign...


...and the front screens...


...and the interior bank of screens...


...upon which the manager has promised some special exclusive McD's video content that will become an event akin to the Bellagio Fountains. Really. He made that analogy.

Granted, the interior is prettier than most McDs...


...but otherwise they didn't really give me much to work with. Was it the most expensive McD's ever? No. Largest? No. Busiest? No. Busiest on the Strip? No. How much did it cost? Can't tell you. OK, then!

After that, Jamie and I hightailed it to the Four Seasons to check out the annual gingerbread village display that raises money for the Nevada Cancer Institute. They sell each house, starting at $300. That was pretty darned cool.

Here's the impressive basic information about the creations by Jean Luc Daul, the property's executive pastry chef:

If it's hard to read, they used 350 lbs of sugar, 90 lbs of chocolate, 360 eggs and 180 lbs of honey, among other ingredients. And look at what they produced! Here's an overview:


This is the Coco Chanel...


...and the vet's office...

...and City Hall...

There was this big carousel in the middle made "entirely of chocolate and sugar," according to this press release. Here that is with Air Force-bound Jamie...


Atop the carousel is the only evidence of Hanukkah...


But I don't mean to knock the endeavor. It was well worth the time. I mean, look at this detail!


It's open until Dec. 25.

The Show is UP: The Other Wynn

Happy Black Friday, everyone! No rest for the weary who hosted 10 people to an awesome meal last night after contributing to this NYT story! Today I'm off to lunch with a German listener of the show, then to get a preview of the Viva McDonalds because I'll be away for the actual opening and then off to see David Copperfield at the MGM for next week's LVW column. Oh, and my cell phone display is on the fritz, so I'm text-message-less until Monday when AT&T sends me a new one. These are tough times! Hope you're finding great deals out there. Why not listen to us while driving around or decorating the tree! Check it out this show by clicking on the date to hear it or right-click to download the show and listen whenever you want. Or subscribe via iTunes here or via Zune here.

Nov. 27: The Other Wynn

We know you’re sick of politics this time of year, but we’re serving it up this week with a distinctive female touch. First, a very rare interview with the first lady of Las Vegas, Elaine Wynn, as she explains her journey from lifelong Republican to Obamatic, much to the dismay of her industry and her husband. You might’ve heard of him. Then, U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley returns to the program to explain what’s happening with that Internet gambling ban, but what Steve secretly really wanted to know is, has she had any more plastic surgery?

In Banter: Criss Angel's follies, is Mel B a superstar, Bye, Danny Gans' billboard, Steve's on (yikes!) Facebook, and no, McCarran Airport is actually NOT the busiest in America on Thanksgiving.

Links:

Steve’s column about Elaine Wynn is here
Find Steve on Facebook here
See the recipe that Steve needed duck fat for here
The fraudulent but widely distributed report that Vegas is the T-Day king is here
See what Steve found in Bob Maheu’s trash here
TV Guide’s report about Peepshow at Planet Hollywood is here
See this week’s TicketNews.Com ratings here
The Believe-less piece on Criss Angel’s possible NBC sitcom from Variety is here
Norm’s report on Danny Gans’ last Mirage show is here
See the weird YouTube thing about, uh, Steve Frice here
Read Steve’s review of the Wynn Las Vegas in the Chicago Tribune from 2005 here
A report on Bush’s midnight regs on Internet gaming here

Thanksgiving in Vegas

We're having torrential rains here today! Holy crap! But, alas, the show must go on here in Vegas, so I ran out to do some reporting for a NYT T-Day piece and then got back in time to cook up my storm. Folks coming in 90 mins. Ack! Gotta go!

This week's LVW col: 18 is Enough

Here's this week's column! Time to cook up my T-Day storm! Enjoy and happy holiday!

18 is Enough
Opposing a lowered gambling age shows a hypocrisy in Sin City

By STEVE FRIESS

For a split second, if that, a few folks in Nevada mulled an idea proffered in a somewhat offhanded way by an attorney for a slot-machine manufacturer at a gloomy little state-of-the-industry conference. It was an idea so outlandish, so outrageous, so devious and ridiculous and dangerous that within one news cycle even the guy who dared to utter it said he was just asking a darned question and, geez, he wasn’t serious.

What horrifying thought could generate such outraged unanimity among a wide range of political bedfellows—Gov. Jim Gibbons and CityLife editor Steve Sebelius agreeing on something?!?—and such embarrassment that the notion could even be uttered?

I’ll tell you. The guy sorta, kinda wondered if maybe a state suffering a budget shortfall that could prompt the termination of school librarians and a halt to cancer treatments at public hospitals would consider expanding the pool of potential gamblers by—oh God, will this laptop keyboard spontaneously combust if I even type such shameful, forbidden words?—lowering the legal age for casino play to 18.

To which I ask: Uh, why not?

Read the rest HERE