Las Vegas Weekly

December 29, 2009 · 11:59 AM

Strip Scribbles: Tickets available for Garth Brooks concerts this weekend

By Robin Leach

Garth Brooks performs at Encore Theater in the Wynn on Dec. 12, 2009.

Photo: Henry Diltz

The anti-scalping efforts by Garth Brooks and hotel tycoon Steve Wynn appear to have worked, with several seats canceled for the country superstar’s previously sold-out shows at Encore Theater in the Wynn this weekend. Tickets, priced at $125 (with taxes and fees, the total is $143), for the Jan. 1, 2 and 3 shows can now be purchased in advance from the Wynn box office or will be sold to standby lines each day on a first-come, first-served basis.

*Many of the nation’s leading broadcasters will be in Las Vegas next week for the giant Consumer Electronics Show to watch how rival content is being distributed not only on the Internet but also via messaging services on cell phones and handheld devices. Look for Twitter and Facebook to announce short-form video abilities at the National Association of Television Program Executives convention at Mandalay at the end of January.

While content still remains king, the 60-year business of providing it for free by selling commercials is about to become history in the not-so-distant future. Local stations here in Las Vegas and across the U.S. that carry programming for the four major networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC -- are so hurt by falling advertising revenue and audience ratings that you soon may have to pay for what you watch.

Top TV execs headed here are saying that free TV will eventually end and that you’ll pay as you go to watch programs. Insiders are betting that Fox and NBC will be the first to change as free TV switches over to a cable fee model. It will be the hottest of conversations and future planning at CES here starting Jan. 6. It’s such a dramatic change that it even overshadows the temptations and titillations of the Adult Entertainment Expo that runs concurrently alongside the more buttoned-up suit-and-tie delegates!

*A vibrant Jewish community discovered in the remote Amazon jungle. A man who saved 1,700 people, prosecuted as a traitor. Japanese schoolchildren unravel the mystery of a little girl’s suitcase from Auschwitz. Lemon trees become a bitter divide in the search for peace. The captivating tales are included among 17 award-winning comedies, dramas and documentaries at the 9th Annual Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival from Jan. 14-31. Most films will be screened in the theater at The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Campus in Summerlin and presented by Las Vegas-based Jewish agencies, organizations and synagogues. Additional screenings will be held at Cinemark Century Theaters at South Point and UNLV Greenspun Hall. For more information, go to www.jfsalv.org.

Wicked whispers & racy rumors

I’m hearing reports of major show changes and canceled productions in town going into effect after next week’s CES. Some even involve jumps from one hotel property to another! … Many hotels are defying the economic downturn and topping the $10,000-a-night price in “fully sold” situations for suites needed by CES delegates. … Allegedly, there are no further seats available on any airlines into Las Vegas for New Year’s weekend as of this morning. … Which Strip star has been posing provocatively as a pinup for private photo sessions? … A long-awaited showbiz divorce finally gets adjudicated very quietly, with the longtime mistress moving into a new home here. … Just asking if another married man has left his wife to move in with his new lover, and can it possibly be true that one entertainer is successfully juggling longtime gal-pal “wives” by commuting between here and San Diego?

Star surveillance

Mindfreak illusionist Criss Angel took a break from his Cirque du Soleil show Believe at the Luxor to check out Untamed Illusions starring the Fercos Brothers at Planet Hollywood. … UFC head honcho Dana White will introduce his UFC 108 fighters Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva at the MGM Grand today in advance of their Saturday battle there. … Playboy beauty Andrea Lowell, who was one of the contestants on my series Fame Games, and now hosts The Playboy Morning Show on Sirius, was spotted at Palms Place.

Tonight’s tips

It’s the first of two nights of glamour queen Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas in concert at Mandalay Bay, and our Editor Don Chareunsy and contributing photographer Tom Donoghue will be front and center for their photo report and story right here tomorrow. Let me know if she still gives me the shout-out when she sings “Glamorous”! … Talk-show titan Jerry Springer hosts the last two America’s Got Talent Live! shows at Planet Hollywood. … It’s heavenly rock and roll when the Reverend Horton Heat flames out the devil’s darling at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay. … Electro hip-hop darlings LMFAO (Sky Blu and Redfoo to those in the know) are set to give a special performance at the Sindustry Eve party at Blush in the Wynn. … Allan Havey starts a run through Sunday at Harrah’s Improv with Marc Price and Flip Schultz.

Tomorrow’s teases

Four nightclubs prepare for New Year’s Eve openings! We take an advance tour of Haze at Aria with The Light Group Managing Director Jody Myers and check out Eva Longoria Parker’s Eve nightspot above her restaurant Beso in Crystals at CityCenter, Vanity in the new Hard Rock Hotel tower and Smokin’ Aces in The Venetian.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter HERE.

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Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter HERE.

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