10.31.10 · 4:36 PM

A schedule break and an old acquaintance show Donny & Marie the Great White Way

Donny Osmond has performed with his siblings for so long and in so many configurations, it’s difficult to remember just when and where he has appeared onstage with his sister, Marie. So the heartthrob-iest Osmond was surprised to learn that Marie and he had never appeared together on Broadway. More startling was he learned of this gap in the family resume only after he and Marie booked 12 shows at the Marquis Theatre for a show titled Donny & Marie ... Read more...

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10.28.10 · 10:36 AM

‘The Lion King’ to go quiet at Mandalay Bay in December 2011

The sun sets on the jungle at Mandalay Bay in December 2011. Announced Wednesday, Disney’s The Lion King, the rare Las Vegas production to run full length with an intermission, has announced that it will run through December 2011 — but not after. The final performance is set for Dec. 30, 2011, and by then the show will have run longer than any Lion King production anywhere except Broadway, having logged 31 months and more than 1,000 performances. The show ... Read more...

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10.28.10 · 8:45 AM

Teller’s act away from the stage not nearly so clean

Teller is something of a slob. The Teller of whom we speak is the same Teller who is half of the comedy-magic team Penn & Teller, the one so prim and pristine onstage, so careful not to waste verbiage that during the act, he doesn’t even speak. That Teller. “As meticulous as I can be onstage, and I am a real perfectionist about the act, I’m really quite messy around the house,” Teller said Tuesday night at The Rio after ... Read more...

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10.27.10 · 1 PM

As he crosses No. 90, Jackie Gaughan is feeling lucky with a pair of 7’s

Jackie Gaughan is holding a pair of 7s. For him, it’s a winning hand. The legendary Las Vegas resort-casino trailblazer, who turned 90 on Sunday, has seven grandchildren. By the end of the week — and maybe by the end of this writing — he’ll have seven great-grandchildren. “We had one last week, and we’ll have another this week,” Gaughan’s son Michael, owner of the South Point and himself a giant in nearly every facet of Las Vegas culture, said ... Read more...

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10.27.10 · 12 PM

Bon Jovi set for March 19 stop at MGM Grand Garden Arena

Who says one can have too much Bon Jovi? About a year to the day after its most recent stop at MGM Grand Garden Arena, the Jersey Shore men are returning to that venue March 19 as part of its 2011 world tour. Tickets for the general public for the MGM Grand show go on sale Nov. 12 at 10 a.m.; tickets start at $59.50, ranging to $225, and are available at all Ticketmaster locations and through the MGM Grand ... Read more...

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10.25.10 · 11 PM

As ‘Burlesque’ release approaches, Tempest Storm seeks answers

It would seem impossible to make a movie hooked to the history of burlesque without invoking the name or even image of Tempest Storm, but Sony Pictures seems to have done just that. An upcoming feature film centering on characters who inhabit the world of burlesque, fittingly titled Burlesque, stars Cher and Christina Aguilera. The film is due for wide release Nov. 24, and the trailers are playing in Las Vegas theaters now. In a plot that Storm finds innately ... Read more...

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10.25.10 · 1:42 AM

Donny & Marie billboard speaks volumes for what it conceals

You can’t help but notice change in the billboard, a rectangle colored a brighter shade of fuchsia than its surrounding background. Something’s amiss here. Then you might remember, hey, wasn’t Chip Lightman’s name once scripted on that billboard? Yep, but not today. I’m speaking of the Donny & Marie billboard on Swenson Street just south of Tropicana Avenue, which promotes the Osmond siblings’ show at Flamingo. Now in an altered state, the billboard’s message once listed Chip Lightman as the ... Read more...

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10.24.10 · 4:06 PM

At all-star show, Justin Timberlake spells it out, and so do we

He bounded all over the stage Saturday night, romping with the band Free Sol, rapping with DJ Freestyle Steve, summoning each act (especially Christina Aguilera and Sir Elton John) with palpable zeal. He even ably strummed an acoustic guitar and sang with ease and confidence of a guy just 29, but who has spent two decades entertaining people. Justin Timberlake, he was the man of the hour. All 4 hours, in fact. You can’t say he was a mere caddy ... Read more...

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10.22.10 · 11:44 AM

Hugh Hefner on Sarah Palin posing for Playboy

Marilyn Monroe. Jayne Mansfield. Kelly Monaco. Jenny McCarthy. Pamela Anderson. Holly Madison. Sarah Palin? Yes. Sarah Palin, conceptually if not actually, one day may be on the list of famous/infamous women to have posed for Playboy magazine. During a quick-and-dirty Q&A just off the red carpet at Thursday night’s premiere of October Playmate Claire Sinclair as the guest star in Crazy Horse Paris at MGM, I asked Hefner if he ever would consider the former Alaska governor and nakedly ambitious ... Read more...

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10.21.10 · 12:38 PM

In golf terms, Justin Timberlake is almost too laid back to lay up

On a weekday morning in Summerlin, Justin Timberlake — the international pop star who has grown into a very good TV and film actor — looked like a regular weekend hacker. Or, in his case, a regular, once-every-four-months hacker. “(Monday) was the first round I’ve played in the last four months,” he told a small collection of media types at TPC Summerlin on Tuesday, in advance of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. “You know, it’s that old ... Read more...

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10.19.10 · 12:56 PM

Playboy subjects Claire Sinclair, Arianny Celeste show they are no mere posers

Even in the face of record unemployment figures, the Playboy magazine job-placement program remains alive and well in Las Vegas. The past two issues have produced one Strip headliner and given a former model and current UFC octagon girl an important entry on her entertainment résumé. Claire Sinclair, all of 19 years old, is the latest guest star in Crazy Horse Paris at MGM Grand. She graced the cover of the October issue of Playboy. She’ll be in the Crazy ... Read more...

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10.18.10 · 2:02 AM

Sadness, disbelief — and a sign from above — mark closing of Liberace Museum

The closing was marked by twin rainbows arching vividly in the distance. It wasn’t the pot of gold Liberace Museum needed to keep the attraction afloat. But like the bedazzled artifacts inside, it was fun to gaze at. As announced in September, the financially depleted museum on the corner of Tropicana and Spencer closed in a melancholy fashion Sunday, hastily dropping the curtain in a manner hardly befitting Mr. Showmanship. Hundreds of visitors began lining up at the entrance of ... Read more...

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10.17.10 · 5:37 AM

Amid apathy and dwindling revenue, the Liberace Museum closes Sunday

For a time it was our favorite jewelry box, its drawers filled with sparkling and laughably garish accessories. These pieces were the very birth of bling. Whenever friends and family visited, we’d eagerly show them our fancy box of baubles. They had never seen anything like it. They would share in the wonderment of the vintage pieces, marveling at how they so clearly inspired more modern designs. But over time, the pieces lost their luster. The jewelry box’s novelty waned; ... Read more...

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10.14.10 · 4:27 PM

How many sold-out shows would Recycled Percussion need to match its 610 million audience in China? A lot

It is Thursday, and these are notes on the fly … • To get a perspective on the 610 million TV viewers that Recycled Percussion reached in its Sunday appearance on the finale of China’s Got Talent, RP would need to fill the makeshift 220-seat MGM Grand Studio 54 theater 2,772,727 times to match that number in Las Vegas. • Quiz time: On Friday, who will attend both the Fremont Street Experience’s OktoberFrightFest with Verne “Mini Me” Troyer at 4 ... Read more...

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10.14.10 · 11:12 AM

David Foster, wanna-be sax man, talks of the Bay of Pigs and Betty Boop

David Foster makes his music on the piano, but if he were to master another instrument, it would be the sax. Why? You get more bang for the buck with the sax. Musically speaking, of course. “I love piano, because that’s what I play, but I’d love to play sax,” Foster says. “For a piano player to turn on a crowd, you have to work really, really hard. But a sax player can play just one note and move an ... Read more...

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10.13.10 · 11:34 AM

MDA loves Jerry Lewis … but still isn’t sure how he’ll be used in 2011

Muscular Dystrophy Association officials are attempting a delicate balance in addressing the status of its famed chairman. Give ‘em credit for the attempt, at least. But it is clear today that, while heaping praise upon Jerry Lewis for his decades of work for the MDA, the organization has radically changed the format of the “MDA Labor Day Telethon” without consulting with the man who has hosted the national broadcast since 1966. And the resulting decision to pack the program into ... Read more...

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10.7.10 · 12 PM

In a harshly worded lawsuit, Lightman seeks ‘amicable’ resolution with Donny & Marie

In a statement delivered to the media, Chip Lightman says he wants this issue settled “amicably.” It’s a noble objective. Noble, but improbable, when you consider what Lightman says elsewhere. In a lawsuit filed Friday in Clark County District Court, the Las Vegas law firm representing Lightman, Pisanelli Bice PLLC, describes Donny Osmond as “underhanded, devious, fraudulent and greedy.” How amicability finds its way into that barbed character assessment of Donny Osmond is yet to be determined, but at the ... Read more...

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10.5.10 · 5:41 PM

From the comedy store: Carrot Top bets the Fish and loses; RP heads to China; Geechy Guy live on KUNV

The first rule in sports betting is, never trust a $1 hot dog sold from a vending cart in the sports book. Wait. That’s not right. Rather, the first rule of sports betting is: Never bet your heart. Scott Thompson, known around the globe as Carrot Top, ignored that rule Monday night and now has to perform five minutes of percussive entertainment. The Luxor headliner, with hair the color of the Miami Dolphins’ tangerine uniform piping, bet Justin Spencer of ... Read more...

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10.5.10 · 10:52 AM

Schwarzenegger puts on a show as Curtis service turns into spirited affair

In the end, the man who boasted that he never lost a sword fight and never lost the girl couldn’t beat what beats everyone. “One thing we always talked about was aging. We would go absolutely nuts about the fact that we would have to age, we would be aging and eventually we would die,” California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday at a jammed funeral service at Palm Mortuary on Eastern Avenue for his friend for more than 30 years, ... Read more...

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10.4.10 · 9 PM

Brad Garrett, Ryan Seacrest co-producing a show for the kiddies

Garrett, Seacrest teaming up Brad Garrett and Ryan Seacrest are co-producing a children’s-centered show based on the Bill Cosby show (based on a series by Art Linkletter), Kids Say the Darndest Things. Garrett says, “This is because my show is sokid-friendly.” The working title is That Kids Show and it is set to run for six episodes on TLC in early 2011. Meanwhile, Garrett says business at the Brad Garrett Comedy Club is up about 60 percent from a month ... Read more...

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10.4.10 · 4:50 PM

‘The Defenders’ calls on Cristalli & Saggese to make Vegas its home court

Note: The following story appears in the new issue of our sister publication VEGAS magazine, which was to premiere with a party Saturday at Gold Boutique Nightclub & Lounge at Aria. The receptionist speaks to the attorney in a whisper. “Mr. Harris got married last night,” she says, tilting her head toward a man seated nearby with a stricken look on his face, “and he needs an annulment.” The attorneys nod. They’ve handled these types of ill-conceived matrimonial cases before. ... Read more...

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10.1.10 · 6:10 PM

There was cool, and there was Tony Curtis cool, and there was no comparison

A young man once walked into the office of UNLV film professor Sean Clark and asked, “When is this Tony Curtis guy coming back?” Familiar with film students on the UNLV campus, Clark had no idea who this guy was. “Are you one of my students?” Clark asked. “No, no, no!” the young guy said, expressing his wish to catch Curtis’ next presentation for film students on campus. “I just heard he was the coolest guy ever.” “He had no ... Read more...

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10.1.10 · 9:28 AM

‘Daunting’ is how Clint Holmes describes Sinatra tribute performance with Falcone, LV Philharmonic

He agreed to this in an off-handed sort of way. Sing the songs of Frank Sinatra, he was asked? Sure. He’d be honored. With Sinatra’s longtime music director, Vincent Falcone, directing? No problem, love it. Working from Sinatra’s own original charts? Got it. He knows them well, at least well enough for a one-off performance. With the entire Las Vegas Philharmonic? Absolutely, dial it up. “Then I thought, ‘What did I get myself into?’” says Clint Holmes, who performs with ... Read more...

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Featured Cocktail

Cocktail of the Week May 23, 2012
by Sabrina Chapman

Rhumbar’s Scorpion Bowl stings so good

Ready to celebrate the official start of summer? Prepare for takeoff. Memorial Day Weekend picks up speed with the addition of Rhumbar’s Scorpion Bowl ($49) to the weekend’s party lineup. ...
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