360 Vegas

My heart just got all achey-breaky. This next review is one that I’ve been hanging on to for some time.  Listeners with excellent memories might recall that back in spring of 2022, when I submitted my first review to be read on the show, we figured out that my wife and I were at a show the previous week that Mark was also at. I’m kind of in awe at how much has changed since then. I started as a regular contributor, then I attended my first Vegas Vacation, then we all started hanging out together on the many trips I’ve taken to Vegas since, and then Keren got tired of reading my reviews on the show, and so now here we are recording together. So today, let’s talk about the first time Mark and I hung out in the same room, even though we didn’t know it at the time. Let’s talk about X-Country. Okay, so let’s get this out of the way. I like women. If women choose to be naked in front of me, I like that, too. As I type these words out onto the screen, it occurs to me that I probably cannot review this show without

Random Vegas In a casino cage, damaged currency (slot machines refuse to accept) is referred to as “mute money.” “Mute” is shorthand for “mutilated.” (Vital Vegas) Twitpic of the week The more I look at this picture the more I appreciate the evolution of the Riviera.  Not just the hotel towers but the signage as well.  While she wasn’t in the best of conditions at the end she was still a classy broad…or gawdy.  The two tend to often blur in Vegas.  This arial picture of the property in March of 96, shared by @summacorp, showcases a few things about the Riviera.  It shows the rooftop pool that never came to fruition as well as just how much of the marquee signage tower was an employ shell in the inside.  This property will always have a special place in my heart because of how much the Martin Scorsese movie Casino was filmed at the property.  For more on that, you’ll have to check out our 360 Vegas POV series on the film, available exclusively to Patreon subscribers for $7 per month, less than a fancy cup of

Random Vegas When Wynn was building Bellagio, to pull in the kind of numbers he needed to make the place profitable, he knew he needed a show that would put people in the seats 6 days a week. So he went to Cirque and requested a production centered around water. Originally, it was going to be called Eau, the French word for water. However, people inside the organization were concerned that Americans would mispronounce it as “Eww”, so instead they went with the way it was pronounced, O.   Twitpic of the week  Holy...fuckin...shit. This week’s winner, shared by @stratvegas is fucking epic. Come on, a desert icon like the Stratosphere in the foreground of an epic collection of snow covered mountains in the background is simply breath taking. Seriously, words are escaping me. Do yourself a favor and check this week’s winner out. Simply stunning News Nightmare Las Vegas Wahlburgers 2: Wahlburgery Six: The Musical

Random Vegas Treasure Island was originally planned to be an addition to the Mirage before eventually deciding it develop it into a separate property (sincitytalk.com) Twitpic of the week “Holy shit, that used to exist” is the first thing I exclaimed the first time I saw this picture of the Riviera’s porte cochere, circa 1969.  With stunning curves and swooping elegance, it stood as a shining example of the art deco playbook at its pinnacle and proves that buildings can be sexy as well as functional.  This is what the place looked like when Dino was part owner as well as headliner.  I’d like to imagine that @_GrandpaD is a vindictive old man who enjoys showing things the rest of us can only be teased by.  Thanks…dick. News 360 Vegas Vacation 12 Bottled Blonde

Long, long ago, in the Miracle Mile Shops far, far, away… All right, so if you and the listeners haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a big dork. In my youth, I enjoyed video games, Star Wars, and installing A/V equipment so much that it’s a wonder I ever got laid. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve shifted my dorky obsessions to things like bourbon and Vegas, but I’m still a dork. So when it was announced that the show “A Musical About Star Wars” was coming to the Miracle Mile Shops, I had to check it out.  Over the holidays I grabbed a pair of tickets and we went to see it. Some background on the show: While I had never heard of the show before it was announced that it was coming to Vegas, it has been around for a few years. It premiered off-Broadway in New York back in 2019, and one of the stars of the Vegas version is a co-writer, and he was also part of the original cast.   Let’s just get this out of the way: the comparisons to Potted Potter playing at the Horseshoe are inevitable.  Both shows are in relatively sm

Random Vegas For the 23rd consecutive month, Vegas is reporting earnings over $1 billion (Review Journal) Twitpic of the week The New York skyline, shared by @VegasTravelNews, eloquently recreated on the Las Vegas strip, provides just enough of the real experience to check it off of my to-do list.  Plus it has a roller coaster.  Where is your theme park attraction real New York?  In all seriousness, the ability to enjoy different themes & experiences per property is one of the magical things about this city.  A pyramid, a Medieval Castle, Paris and a number for tropical themed resorts, all in one desert. News 360 Vegas Winter Vacation Report Crazy Housewives Heart Attack

Random Vegas It was reported that while building the MGM Grand, today known as Horseshoe, Kerkorian offered to pay Sinatra half a million to come out of his most recent retirement to perform a 1 week engagement. Even if he wanted to, Sinatra wouldn't have been able to because he was still under contract with Caesars who planned litigation if he attempted to play at another hotel (Vintage Research)   Twitpic of the week   There it is, north strip, as it was known in 1996. We still see the Stardust, La Concha, Silver Dollar, El Rancho (2ndone) and Riviera. Today, all that’s left is Circus Circus, Sahara and Stratosphere. Today, most of this picture is a wasteland. Comprised of empty lots where dreams were inspired but progress couldn’t match. Sure we got Resorts World and will soon have the Fountinebleau but still. It was a portal into the past, something Vegas doesn’t often regarding with nostalgia. At least we still have Peppermill to visit and transport ourselves to the time and period of Vegas we r

Most remember the Riviera as the old rundown place it felt like towards the end of its existence.  But the Riviera roamed the landscape like giants for a time, attracting the biggest names in entertainment.  However that was a long time ago and the Riviera was not able to keep up with changing tastes.  And as Liberace and Dean Martin’s stars began to fade, so did the Riviera, gradually declining into the property she was for her last 20 years, a grind joint. The Riviera is no longer with us.  While romantic hearts will look at this tragically, realists will acknowledge that Riviera is simply a story of a life cycle, the evolution of a property, from inception to implosion. Here is that story.

Random Vegas Riviera was the first casino in Las Vegas to have a fast food restaurant, a Burger King (@VitalVegas)   Twitpic of the week  With the help of @Maverickheli, at first glance, it looks like a large metropolis.  Half a second later you realize you’re looking at the strip and goddamn is it sexy.  It isn’t a colorful as it once was but it still glitters and glows.  This POV is simply breathe taking and a sweet addition to our Twitpic of the week collection   News The New Bazaar Shops

So this is actually the first Cirque show I’ve reviewed for the podcast. I’ve seen several Cirque shows; the wife is a big fan. Our first trip to Vegas together included The Beatles - Love, which I really need to revisit. Maybe Tony will go with me, since he really should see it. Since that first trip we took together, my wife and I have seen “O”, Mystere, as well as Zumanity. Confession time: I liked Zumanity. I think we saw it twice. I was definitely disappointed when I heard it was going away. But we really like Cirque, and we like New York- New York. We’ve never stayed there, but we always end up hanging out there. So I was very interested in what we were going to get when Mad Apple was announced. I heard a lot of buzz that it was “not your typical Cirque show,” which actually made me really nervous because that’s also what they were saying about “R.U.N.” and that show was apparently a giant belly flop…    Not the best photo, but she was hanging by her hair. By her hair! To me, it’s kind of funny that si

Random Vegas The 93 acres of land Caesars sits on requires 14 full time gardeners to maintain with an annual budget of $350k (Las Vegas: Behind the Tables) Twitpic of the week While a significant number of people in America are experiencing a brutal winter season, in Vegas, when it happens, its breathtaking and typically doesn’t last very long.  Clearly someone agreed with us as this week’s winner, brought to us by @summacorp, is a picture of Stardust Jan 5th, 1974.  There is something about snow that gives one the feeling of serenity and evokes thoughts of a warm fire and hot beverages.  The peaceful silence of its falling to the dangerous elegance of its presence reminds us once again that snow is only good for show in very limited doses and for recreation. News 360 Vegas Winter Vacation Downtown Stadium EarthCam

Random Vegas A common superstition for horse race gamblers is to never look at your ticket after you buy it (Las Vegas: Behind the Tables) Twitpic of the week   It’s man behind the scenes shit that fascinates me.  As far back as I can remember I’ve always been interested in what’s behind that “Employees Only” door.  That interest was only further exacerbated when I fell in love with Disney.  I love what they produce at the front of the house but what’s going on behind the curtain to make said magic.  @Maverickhelicaptures an arial view of the Flamingo but despite how good that looks, I can’t help but zoom in and look at the stuff on those roof tops.  Not only is Flamingo’s undercarriage on display, so is Drai’s at Cromwell. Although Cromwell’s roof is designed as a public space so you won’t find the bones of the operation on rooftop display.  If I wasn’t such a rule follower I’d attempt to breach security just to see what I could see before they caught me.  However just the idea of getting caught makes me an

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Random Vegas Cirque Du Soleil celebrated “O’s” 11,000 performance this week, bringing you over a decade of acrobatic shrinkage Twitpic of the week This week’s winner by @_GrandpaD captures something you don’t often see from neon signs in Vegas, scale.  Here we see maintenance doing the lords work replace neon tubes in the signage.  By doing so, we get a perspective that is rarely seen in this new world of LED signage.  This sign is massive and if they ever close, I really hope the Neon Museum has the inside track to not only save but display this, one of the most beautiful neon signs in Las Vegas News 360 Vegas Vacation 12 Universal Studios Vegas

Let’s talk about Rouge at the Strat. (And it’s Rouge as in “blush,” not Rogue as in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”) So when Rouge was announced earlier this year, I was definitely interested. It’s probably no secret at this point that I’m a horn dog, and like my Vegas shows to be titillating. I also believe that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and out of a sense of fairness I once took my wife to a male review; something I probably won’t ever do again. It’s not so much watching the men dance that I have a problem with, it was all the screaming. Why do women feel the need to shriek like banshees during these shows? He’s not going to fuck the loudest one in the room! So for the sake of preserving what’s left of my already terrible hearing, I’m opting out of male reviews for the future.  That being said, I’m willing to bet that a decent looking dude could park himself at the bar outside the Thunder From Down Under Theater around 11:30 at night, and it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Random Vegas It’s been reported that the Adele store ad Caesars Palace makes between $120 – 160k every day its open (Vital Vegas) Twitpic of the week   Lined up like they were taking a year book photo of their class, this week’s winner by @summacorp captures the Thunderbird road sign like marquees are seldom seen, to scale. By taking pictures in front of the sign you can really see just how big they were in relation to a person. Part of the magic of Vegas marquees is this overwhelming awesomeness of these signs. The only thing that would have made this picture cool is if it was in color instead of black and white. But we aren’t complaining. Thanks to the UNLV Special collections department for preserving the history of the city unlike any other city in the world News Foreshadowing the Queen B Little Miss Nasty

Random Vegas The International, better known as the Hilton and currently known as Westgate, was specifically designed to attract families and conventioneers It offered a supervised youth camp of sorts to keep the kids occupied so the adults could do what they wanted Twitpic of the week It’s been considered the worst eye sore in Vegas history, similar to its predecessor the Landmark.  The big blue building known as Fountainbleau, then various other names as new ownership groups attempted to rebrand the property while not making any actual progress to finish the project, is now officially the Fountainbleau again.  Its progress to completion is easily visable to the eye and once again, north strip has a pulse.  Signage has been installed and the original owners are once again the driving force behind this project.  @meltzVegaspicture shows progress and the signage reinforces that she is coming in the 1st quarter of 2023.  Led by the people who dreamed her up, its exciting to know that the original visionaries

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Random Vegas NYE 2022-23 will have fireworks launched from 8 strip resorts.  They are Aria, Caesars Palace, MGM Grand, Planet Hollywood, The Strat, Treasure Island, Venetian and Resorts World.  It will take five days for 66 pyrotechnicians to install the fireworks (RJ) Twitpic of the week In a city where mega resorts rule the landscape, never has a property done so much with so little.  4.4 acres is all the land that Cosmopolitan resides on.  Granted, it cost as much as a mega resort with a 3.9 billion dollar price tag but still.  Its clear the future of the strip is in properties like this and Cromwell, boutique hotels doing more with less.  @maverickhelicaptures the property in ways only it can.  Seriously need to get off our ass and take a helicopter ride around the city News Brew Dog Opens Goodbye Banger

Random Vegas The Neon Museum offers tour scripts in several languages: Chinese, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish The scripts are printed on reusable plastic booklets that visitors can borrow for free then return (VitalVegas) Twitpic of the week It was really inevitable.  How can the city claim to be the entertainment capital of the world and not have sports in the list of available options?  We are halfway there with the addition of the hocky and football.  Just basketball and baseball to go to complete the collection so many cities around the states have.  When and where is still up for debate but close to the strip is a solid bet.  @Maverickheli highlights sports addition to the famous skyline.  Las Vegas is finally becoming what it has coveted for so long, respect as a legit big city. News DivAdele Slingshot Terrorism Hard Rock Evolution