It's been a slow news week. There is some entertainment, most of which I'll save for later. Here's the main news.

Gath did sign with Wynn on Thursday. After Garth told Steve Wynn on more than one occasion that Steve couldn't afford him, Steve proved him wrong. The deal includes a private jet to fly Garth to do shows on Fri, Sat, and Sun, and still have him home in time to take his kids to school on Monday morning. Garth will play 15 weeks a year (that Garth chooses based on family schedules) for 5 years. The ticket structure is aimed to deter scalping. Garth has an "I quit" clause if he stops having fun doing the show.

Mayor Oscar Goodman wants a new zoo downtown. He is working with the family from the late Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter. The family owns/runs a big zoo in Australia and wants to model the new Las Vegas zoo after it. It will not have the typical zoo animals. It will have crocodiles, platypuses, koala bears, wombats, etc. The new zoo will be shaped like a crocodile and feature crocodile wrestling. No word if the zoo will have sting rays.

Next door to the new zoo, the mayor wants a new childrens hospital. He thinks the zoo will take some of the edge off of the children suffering.

Steven Zegrean, the man who opened fire inside the New York New York resort in July 2007 received a sentence of 26-90 years in prison. The 53 year old man has already served 2 years.

A 19 year old boy won the Monopoly World Championship in Las Vegas. He beat a 25 year old Russian in the final round which lasted 45 minutes. The Russian landed on Pacific then North Carolina to drive him to bankruptcy. The winner won $20,580, which is the total amount of money in a Monopoly game. The losers got what every Monopoly dreams of....Free Parking.

The 12th murder/sucide of the year in Las Vegas occurred this week when neighbors in the gated community reported a natural gas smell. That when authorities discovered the house had had the stove gas turned on for over 24 hours and found the bodies. The 75 year old woman had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her 80 year old husband and 46 year old son were also found dead in the house.

The shopping mall in City Center has been certified as energy efficient. It is the 4th building in the project to get LEED certification

For the first time in 15 years, Dr Lonnie Hammargren will not open his house to the public on Nevada Day this year. The main reason is that his wife, Sandy, just had knee surgery and is not getting around very well. Lonnie also has several obligations around the country around this time and doesn't have the time to properly prepare. And there's the case of complaints from neighbors regarding code violations that Lonnie is addressing. Nevada Day is October 30.

The WynnDot web sites and phones were indeed busy with traffic for concert tickets Saturday morning. The phone lines took about 141,934 calls before the system reached maximum capacity and callers received a busy signal. The web site received more than 5.4 million page views with up to 40,000 people waiting in an online queue at any given time. They tried very hard to make the system work and plan on making it even better next time.

Clint Holmes has a new CD titled Clint Holmes Re-Imagined. that includes singing with his wife Kelly Clinton, his 6 year old granddaughter, and other close friends and family. Clint's son, Brent designed the cover for the album. He still has his eyes on Broadway.

Rumors suggest Society of Seven will pop up at the Gold Coast for an extended run starting on Nov 6, only playing weekends.

Erich Bergen has left Jersey Boys, where he played Bob Gaudio, and played it quite well.

JNT, will Eric Bergen perform as a solo in LV? I think he did so very successfully at the South Point recently.

I knew the original Society of Seven (the present group's uncles, I believe) many years ago when they appeared at the Outrigger Hotel on Waikiki Beach.

They are one singing act I really do enjoy. I forget the lady's name that appeared with them on the Strip recently but she was one of the best singers I've ever heard.

Was it "Lani"?

Anyone recall her name?

I highly recommend the Society of Seven.

It is very unclear in the entertainment circles what Erich is planning to do. He has an excellent fan base here, so one would assume he will stay.

I guess it's official now, so I can say the Society of Seven will be joined by season three American Idol finalist Jasmine Trias. SOS is scheduled to appear Friday-Sunday with shows at 3:30 and 7 p.m. Tickets start at $29.95 plus tax. I don't know how many originals are still in the show. Judging by their style, I don't think a few personnel changes will affect show quality.

The SOS gal you are thinking of is Lani Misalucha. She has her own show at the LV Hilton in the Shimmer Cabaret theater. Her show is called Voices. It started as a show with Earl Turner. Earl is gone now and Lani is doing the show by herself. I've had plenty of freebies to check it out, but haven't gotten around to it. It is my understanding that she carries the show very well by herself. You should check it out 'cause the girl has talent.

Boyd Gaming says it doesn't expect Echeolon Place to resume construction for at least 3-5 years.

Red Rock Canyon has a brand new visitors center.

USAirways is cutting back their Las Vegas schedule again, down from 64 to about 30. They will eliminate the crew base and maintenance in Las Vegas.

Wayne Newton opened at the Tropicana in a run that will take him through April. At that point he will evaluate if entertainment interferes with raising his 7 year old daughter. I strongly suspect Tropicana will evaluate if ticket sales interfere with their quest to turn a profit.

City Center unveiled their new uniform shop which has started making some 200,000 uniforms pieces for it's 12,000 employees. One feature of the uniforms will me a RF (radio frequency) chip to identify a given uniform to a certain employee. They did not elaborate on just how much the RF tag will be used to track the employee.

The Las Vegas Zoo came under fire this summer for poor conditions. They have secured $15,000 in support to improve conditions.

Mayor Oscar Goodman opened the possibility for a new sports arena. He will meet with designers next week. Underlying factors include his push for a new City Hall, because the current City Hall is in the area that he wants to put the arena in. There's also the issue that we would need a professional team to play in the arena. The NHL seems to be the easiest option.

Speaking of Mayor, local attention whore Holly Maddison thinks she might run for mayor. She is working on a reality show to gain a little more publicity.

Turning to the economy, sales tax figures are down 24% in August, Las Vegas is still #1 in foreclosures. and the average credit score for a Nevada resident is 655. the second lowest in the country.

Josette's Bistro, an authentic French birsto on Flamingo will be closing it's doors as she prepares to open a new Las Vegas history themed restaurant downton with her boyfriend and TV entertainer Tony Sacca.

Bette Midler will finish her contract on Jan 31, 2010 and will leave Las Vegas

George Wallace has signed for 3 more years at the Flamingo.

Viva Elvis will be opening soon and the Cirque website has videos of the director telling what the show is about. Ticket sales have not started yet.

DejaVu strip club has a new form of live advertising on the strip. They take a delivery truck, put big windows on the two sides and back of the box, cranked up the tunes, added some lights and a stripper pole, and topped it off with some pretty girls. The girls wear bikinis so it's technically a PG act. They only travel between 10pm and 2am. So far, it's a big hit.

Bette Midler will close at Caesars in January after her two year commitment is over.

Steve Dacri, one of the finest close up magicians in town will open his new show at the Shimmer Cabaret in the Hilton in January. The official announcement should come soon. If you like magic, this will be a must see show. I've met Steve several times. He was a regular at Jeff McBrides magician gatherings.

Joe Cada, a 21 year old from Michigan won the World Series of Poker and over $8.5 million on Monday night.

Just one bomb explosion so far this week. Two men built themselves a homemade bomb and took it out to a new housing development to see how powerful Darwins theory really is. Darwin's theory rang loud and clear over the neighborhood as the bomb exploded unexpectedly. The 44 year old bomb maker is dead and the injured 17 year old faces many felony charges including possession of an explosive device and murder.

Another glow in the sky was set off by Mayor Oscar Goodman as he flipped the switch that lit the Silver Slipper sign and Bow and Arrow Motel sign. Las Vegas Blvd between Sahara and Washington was recently designated a National Scenic Byway which is another step in securing funds for LV Blvd and the cultural corridor.

Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack Show debuted in The Congo Room on Thursday, November 19. You might remember Sandy's work on Rat Pack shows which debuted here in the Congo Room over 10 years ago. It was previously at The Plaza, The Greek Isles as well as road shows. If you've seen one of the shows in the past, note this one is completely different.

The Gift Of Lights is now open in Sunset Park. There is a special radio station to tune your radio to as you drive through some 400 displays and tunnels lights while you listen to Christmas music. The lights will continue through Jan 3.
Sunday through Thursday:
5:00pm - 9:00pm
$13 per car

Friday, Saturday & Holidays
5:00pm - 10:00pm
$15 per car

The Ethyl Ms Cactus Garden is lit up for Christmas also. Admission is free to this 3 acre display.

The owners of the troubled Prive nightclub in Planet Hollywood have filed for Ch 11 bankruptcy. They list about $50,000 in assets and about $10 million in debt.

The train to nowhere plans are moving head to head instead of forward. The steel wheels on steel rails plan is privately funded and hopes to have a train from Las Vegas to Victorville in about 5 years. The mag-lev train plans call for a mag-lev from Las Vegas to Primm NV, another from Anaheim to the outskirts of LA. "Profits" from those routes will be used to fill in the gap to tie Las Vegas to Disneyland.

America's Party 2010, the new year celebration on the strip will be worth seeing this year. Fireworks will be fired from the ROOFTOPS of the MGM, Planet Hollywood, Aria, Caesars Palace, Venetian, Treasure Island, and Stratosphere. If you remember, last years fireworks were fired from several parking garages and it was a flop.

City Center has been granted full approval for gaming.

Human Nature will be dark for most of December as they want to spend a Christmas summer with their families. They will return and the theater will be renamed after them.

Lady nags bus driver about directions. Bus driver loses his temper and his job as name calling leads to physical violence.

Stripper-mobile advertising truck from the DejaVu strip club has been parked on advice from their own lawyers.

Gaming expo for the latest slot machines is showing off their new products. In the future you can expect more celebrity based games, more pop culture games, and more sexual implications. If you see it on prime time TV, you can see it on a penny slot.

Harrah's just loves negative publicity in the area of safety of it's guests. This past Saturday, 12 guests were taken to the hospital after an "escalator malfunction" at Caesars Palace.

The Candlelight Wedding Chapel has now opened as a museum in the Clark County Heritage St display way out on Boulder Hwy. Operating under several names, it was finally moved as a result of the Fountainbleu project. It was the first chapel with an 800 number and the first with limo service. They did so many weddings that they installed a side door to keep the flow of people moving.

There's a new cool sign that rolled into town that many of you may not notice. It will be on Casino Center Blvd in the arts district. It's part of a HUGE project that includes the new transportation depot being built on Casino Center and Bonneville. The project includes lot's of old and new signs along the way, such as the old Landmark sign that was recently put up at a bus stop where the old Landmark was. The 18 block area of the arts district is known as 18b. That's why the new cool sign says "18b Arts District".

In case you've been avoiding the news, the country of Dubai is in debt...really bad. Dubai is famous for the Impossible Islands just off their shore shaped like palm trees and the world. Dubai also has unnamed partners (possibly tied to terrorists) that are major investors in Project City Center, which begins opening in December.

We Won, We Won, We Won...in a hard fought overtime game. The Las Vegas Locomotives won the UFL championship, defeating Florida. Hurray for the home team??? The players and coaches don't actually live here. They don't actually practice here. They don't really pay taxes here. Most people on this board know more about Las Vegas than anyone on the team. It's more of a traveling circus than anything else. Don't expect to see the inaugural trophy in Las Vegas. I'm betting it will find a home in New York City.

Carl Ichan is currently the high bidder to bring the stalled Fountainbleu project out of bankruptcy. His offer is about 150 million dollars, which sounds like a bargain considering this is a multi billion dollar project. But it is 3 times more than the previous offer.

If you were on the strip Friday night and noticed it was shut down at Flamingo in front of Caesars Palace, a pedestrian had issues with the occupants of a car. It ended with the pedestrian being shot.

In addition to the Landmark and 18b sign, the very old and animated 5th St. Liquor Store sign has popped up on the new RTC bus route leading out of downtown.

Darn, we missed the gun play!!!
That would have really made our Honeymoon special! LOL

Does the Locomotives play any games in Vegas?

I'm still rooting for Penn-national gaming. You understand, it's the home team!

The signs are VERY COOL.

The Locos played 3 regular games at Sam Boyd Stadium on Boulder Highway. They also played the championship game there.

3 games? how many games in a season, and the only way that is gonna sound right is if you tell me there was only 6 games played in a season. Which of course seems real SHORT!

Yep.

I read in the Las vegas weekly that the stripper pole truck has been parked due to recomendations from Deja Vous lawyer. However the story (the truck) did make CNN's News of the Absurd Episode 115. It's the last story on #115

The stripper truck was just excellent marketing in bad economic times. While it served it's purpose of 15 minutes of fame, it wasn't well planned to last long. The biggest problem is that those girls make a living on tips. The truck did not have little openings for tourists to run up and drop a bill or two into their retirement fund. So they ride around in the truck for two hours doing more physical work than normal with no tips.

The local public would like to think their outrage shut it down though. Public outrage did shut down another great marketing ploy, which was a burger joint that had a logo/mascot of a woman with lines drawn on her like the cuts of beef on a cow. The place was featured on TV a couple of months ago and made my to do list, but about the same time as the stripper truck deal, The Grind Restaurant and Bar put up a huge inflatable of that logo. Public outrage took Juicy Lucy down. You can see pics on facebook under the name "Juicy Lucy at Grind Burger Bar & Lounge" which also has a link to the Grind, which is located in that new development on Trop, across from the airport.

Hard Rock Hotel's new tower to open Dec 28

Barry Manilow to move to Paris with his first new show on March 5, 2010

Hash House A Go Go will open it's second Las Vegas location in the Imperial Palace on Dec 10. Concept, portions, and pricing will be the same as the Sahara/Rainbow location.

Worlds Largest Christmas Tree arrived at the M Resort. The grand lighting of the tree is scheduled for Saturday.

Starting on December 14th, Pampas Brazilian Grille will offer an All-You-Can-Eat Steak and Eggs Buffet for $12.95 from 7 am to 11 am daily. This buffet will feature Brazilian grilled top sirloin steak, ham, pineapple, breakfast sausage, and Kielbasa ... all carved at your table. Along with these fresh cooked to order items there will be a buffet featuring fresh scrambled eggs, scones with cinnamon sugar, empanadas filled with meats or fresh fruit, bacon, breakfast potatoes, homemade lox and bagels, fresh fruits and breakfast pastries. PAMPAS is located in the Miracle Mile Shops at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

Soprano's Last Supper at the Tropicana will be doing a Christmas Show on December 1-23.

The Las Vegas City Council voted to approve construction of a new City Hall. Construction could start as soon as January. The area of the old City Hall could be part of the sports arena and hotel project. The new City Hall would be in the rapidly developing area across the tracks.

General Growth Properties filed reorganized plans. They own properties all over the country, but locally they own Fashion Show Mall, Meadows Mall, and the Shops at Palazzo.

November had the PBR(Professional Bull Riders) championship, the WSOP(World Series Of Poker), Metro PD K-9 Trials, and of course, the Firefighters. These are the best of the best at what they do. December continues with the best as the best of NASCAR came to town at the Speedway, on the Strip, burnouts in front of TI, public appearances, and awards ceremony. And the NFR(National Finals Rodeo) began it's 2 week event which is open to the public but sold out years in advance.

Just a quick question, someone might have an answer to here. It seems the Hilton does a very good job at attracting talent for the showrooms. However, they don't seem to keep it for any time, Menopause, Barry Manilow, Scinta's, to just name a few that come to mind. Do they not try to keep them, or are they outbid when the contracts are up? Or maybe just keeping it fresh?

One runner in the Las Vegas Rock n Roll marathon died two days after collapsing near the 1/2 marathon finish line. He was taken to the hospital immediately. Cause of death has not been determined.

Correction to last weeks update. The nation's largest Christmas tree will be lit tonight, Dec 12. It came from Oregon on the largest flatbed trailer. You can see this tree at the M Resort. The tree is 109 ft tall and weighs in at 22,000 pounds.

Multiple government agencies have canceled a plan to simulate a terrorist attack on the strip. The drill was supposed to prepare first responders. Common sense came into play at the last minute and someone decided the tourists don't really want to see that kind of action on their vacation.

The Wild Wild West on Tropicana will soon be more like hometown America as the cheap cheap coffee shop is now a Dennys and the hotel will be upgraded as it becomes a Days Inn.

After 8 years of being silly in love, Chris Phillips and Marley Taylor are breaking up. You may know them as Zowie Bowie. They are no longer engaged to be married, after she was caught cheating on him. They say that they will remain friends and may continue to work together for 10 more months when their contract at the Monte Carlo is due to expire.

The new Las Vegas Fire Department station at City Center has opened. It will split duties with the station on the south strip near Russell Road and the station on Flamingo near Paradise.

Steve Wyrick has closed his theater in the Miracle Mile shopping Center at Planet Hollywood. This project has been financially weak for a very long time.

Ice has closed at the Riviera. Jay White as Neil Diamond closed a while back. Charo has not been back since her ankle injury during the Jerry Lewis telethon.

First Tiger, and now zowie Bowie! Ain't Love Grand! Thanks for the chuckle JMT!

Cool and sunny Monday morning in December at the Palace Station. Parking garage in the back of the casino has a car fire. Attention focuses on car fire just as an armored car is taking cash from casino. Bandit with semi automatic shotgun robs armed guard with money bags and takes about $36,000 in cash. Cops are investigating to see if shots were fired.

City Center is officially open. You won't find many reports that mention that is only about half of the land. There are still many projects that are still construction zones.

As Oscar Goodman winds down his term as Mayor there is no commitment on his future, possibly as governor. Rumors are also flying around that his wife, Carolyn might run for Oscar's old job as Mayor of Las Vegas. Carolyn is generally considered a classy woman and very good to the community. Oscar and Carolyn both changed their party affiliation from Democrat to Independent.

Bad news for the Sahara, which closed two towers but will use them if demand arises.

Nevada brothels have been cleared use male prostitutes. The law was limited to females because the rules for testing for STDs would not work for men. New technology on STD tests clear the way for men to be tested also. No sign of Heidi Fliess.

Boyd makes offer to buy Stations Casinos. No details yet.

Garth Brooks is suing a hospital in his home town. It seems Garth donated a generous amount of money for a specific wing on the hospital to be named after his grandmother. The hospital took the money and did not follow Garth's wishes.

Sandy Murphy, who was suspected, charged, convicted, and acquitted in the death of Ted Binion is suing the State of Nevada. She is claiming false arrest, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution. She remains guilty of the theft of Ted's silver.

The Hoover Dam bypass bridge is 85 percent completed. Expect it to open in October or November.

For the second time in two months, Hells Angels Motorcylce Club buildings were raided. No word on exactly what authroities were looking for. Two homes, two business, and a clubhouse were raided as part of an ongoing investigation.

Half naked man wearing a barrel defaced the Welcome To Las Vegas Sign by throwing light bulbs filled with paint at the sign. Ironically, it was caught on tape by a TV crew doing a story on graffiti. Surely KVVU will have the video on their website, www.fox5vegas.com.

Ribbon cutting was held on Friday for the opening of the new Planet Hollywood Westgate, time share tower. Somehow that got lost in all of the City Center news.

The first public preview showing of Viva Elvis was held on Friday night. I was there. More on my opinion later. For now, just think about how hard it would be to pull off this show. Especially in Las Vegas. There's a lot of hard core Elvis fans throughout all phases of his life that would be very critical if there were errors or inaccuracies. While the show could use some tweaks and some parts were not that great, I think the show did very well.

Thanks, JMT!

"Local Headlines" is always the main post that demands my attention.