Archives
October 2006
10/31/06
10/30/06
10/29/06
Celeb Halloween Pics: Dennis Rodman, Tera Patrick, Criss Angel, Amazing Jonathan, Gene Simmons, More
10/27/06
10/26/06
10/26/06
10/25/06
10/24/06
10/23/06
10/22/06
10/20/06
10/19/06
10/19/06
10/18/06
10/18/06
10/17/06
10/17/06
Basketball Bonanza: the Lakers, the Kings, the Maloofs and a $6K Burger -- LUXE LIFE SPECIAL EDITION
10/16/06
10/16/06
10/15/06
10/13/06
10/12/06
10/11/06
Siegfried & Roy Talk About the Future; Gordie Brown Opens at Venetian; Elton Back in Vegas
10/11/06
10/10/06
10/9/06
10/9/06
10/9/06
10/8/06
10/6/06
10/5/06
10/5/06
10/4/06
10/4/06
10/3/06
10/3/06
10/2/06
10/2/06
10/1/06
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
In This Issue:Return
of the Magic: Luxe Life speaks with
Siegfried &
Roy about their desire to return to the stage.
Entertainer
Gordie Brown opens his new theater at The
Venetian.
Elton
John is back in Vegas, and is doing a live QVC broadcast from
Caesar's this Friday.
Paula
Abdul is named Woman of the Year.
Fans turned out in full force last week for the Siegfried & Roy Star presentation on the Walk of Fame, at their statue outside the Mirage. (Click here for the Luxe Life coverage of the event.) Roy was coincidentally celebrating his 62nd birthday, for which he’d treated himself to a brand new super sports car. Could there be a better sign of his ongoing, incredible recovery from those awful injuries he’d sustained 2-years earlier on stage in their final performance? With a police escort, they arrived in a white Bentley Corniche convertible, waving from its rear seat and were greeted by fans, MGM executives Terry Lanni, Bobby Baldwin, and Scott Sebella and now we’ve got the time to bring you our full chat with the two magical masters of illusion.
SIEGFRIED: Las Vegas has been good to us, and the people who make Siegfried and Roy gathered from all over the world to celebrate Roy’s birthday. I am so happy because 2-years ago people said it was going to be impossible what we see tonight. So, in those 2 years, I am seeing a miracle. Before, I produced and did magic on stage, now I live real magic, fulltime, every day. I’ve come to realize, out of all this, what life is all aboutand that true love is the real magic. I am very blessed to experience something together here on the Strip with all of our friends and together with Roy, my partner, by my side for 45 years. We have tried to give back to Las Vegas as much as Las Vegas has given to us. I think it works both ways because, ever since we came here, Las Vegas and the people of Las Vegas have always been behind us. It gave us the strength and showed us the opportunities for us to catch on, and we caught on and I am happy to say that S&R was, for many years, the highlight of Las Vegas and I feel really good about taking a little part of that.
RL: Roy, tell us how you feel and how you are doing with your progress. And when you vow “there will be another show, just watch us,” how far away is that from happening?
ROY: Well, we have to keep you guessing, keep the suspense. This today has been a deeply emotional experience.
RL: The actual day-to-day progress, are you still working through that, are you still in pain or is that gone?
ROY: No, the pain is easing. We even go horse back riding now and I’m driving my new car. I keep going and I have to have faith.
RL: You pray that the Good Lord is watching over you everyday?
ROY: Yeah. You have to keep the faith.
RL: I think everybody has the faith that you will win this incredible fight.
ROY: For eventful prayer all of us have a lot. All of our fans are now supporting and giving us all these things it is good to know there are many friends there. I am very fortunate. His friends measure a man and I am thus a very rich man, so life is very good for me. Las Vegas has held its arms open for me for 30-years and it is now my spiritual homeland, so I will always stay here.
RL: So you are happy about the way you have come since the accident a couple of years ago?
ROY: Yeah. We call it the incident that became my life saving.
RL: Good luck. God bless.
RL: Siegfried, did you ever think that this day would come when you came here all those years ago?
SIEGFRIED: Of course. My dreams were always really high, but I couldn’t dream that much. All the tough times that we have behind us are still with us. I wouldn’t miss a minute of it, because it showed me a life, and what we created was our show and this is our life on stage and now life is our stage on here, I enjoy every minute and I can say life is good. But I had a very bad nightmare last night. I actually dreamt that I was put down into the sidewalk and they put the Star right on top of me and people were working on top of me. Now I see the Star for real, I just want to lift it up to heaven to light up the magic we both have in our hearts.
LEFT: Roy blows out the candles on his birthday cake. RIGHT: Roy enjoying OktoberFest with a brew.
I also chatted with their long-time manager Bernie Yuman after the ceremony.
RL: Bernie. this must be a thrilling moment for the boys; this is definitely one of the highlights of their life?
BERNIE: I believe that anytime you have the opportunity to acknowledge the enormity of the contribution that S&R made to live entertainment it is totally good. A little over 40-years ago they began to deliver an experience on their platform of a stage and were relentless in the pursuit of success and by Feb 1,1990 they had done more than anybody else in the history of entertainment to change the face of Vegas. They are the greatest entertainers to ever perform on any stage anywhere in the world.
RL: Roy is feeling much better. He says the pain is getting less and less. Is this a miracle or magic?
BERNIE: What I think is that, as a human being, you have the chance to overcome adversity and take the human spirit to the highest level, and he has done that.
RL: It is his birthday today and he promised that there will be another show one day. That is obviously something that drives him. That passion is still there. Is it sooner rather than later in his mind do you think?
BERNIE: I have been next to Roy for 31 years or something close to that, and today being his birthday his tenacity, his perseverance, his determination relentless in his pursuit, you can never underestimate Roy. Bet on him, don’t bet against him. Roy has the will of a thousand men. He is 62 today. He has always taught me to live your dreams fulfill your destiny, with magic anything is possible. Look for the return of the magic.
Following the unveiling of their star Siegfried & Roy went to theirMagic Garden at the Mirage with its wild animal sanctuary and dolphin pools for an official cutting of a birthday cake.
OPENING NIGHT
Bernie
Yuman's other act of magic is propelling the career of entertainer
Gordie
Brown (pictured), and tonight, his preview
performances begin at his very own
theater The
Venetian has built for him, with the gala opening night set
for
October 24. Bernie told me: "Gordie Brown is a comedian and performer
who
defies description. If you want to laugh, if you want to be amazed then
he’s
the man and you gotta go to know it. He has incomparable comedic timing
and a
uniquely edgy and energetic style. It’s a hilarious joyride where the
laughs
start fast and never stop. You want to forget about the war, you want
to forget
about gas prices. It is just pure entertainment and you don’t think
about
anything, you just have to laugh. It is not what you don’t see in
Gordie that
makes him so unique and special; it is what you do see. He has got a
great
dynamic, a great star quality and that is what it is all about."
A sizzling 5-piece band accompanies Gordie’s music and comedy and his impressions of your favorite stars, politicians and pop-culture icons defy description. Venetian president and CEO, Rob Goldstein commented: “It takes a great entertainer to fit a great resort like The Venetian. Our guests have come to expect a world-class experience when they step through our doors, and Gordie Brown delivers world-class entertainment, every night, every show.”
Shortly before "curtain up" on his debut preview this evening, I got to chat with the new Star of the Strip. He told me: “Originally I came to the Golden Nugget downtown for 6 months and that became a year and I ended up doing 2 1/2 years there. But in the world of corporate takeovers (Landry’s Restaurants now owns the Nugget) they closed the theater. Now I’m at The Venetian and it is pretty phenomenal. When I saw it for the first time I had to come back to earth on how I was feeling. It is really set up in a way that it is really classy and intimate. I don’t even think from the stage to the back row is more than 50 feet. We have 800 seats and two-shows-a-night for a total of 8-shows-a-week. Everything I’ll be doing -- the singing, the dancing, the impressions -- will lead up to making people laugh. As you would say, Robin, it's about the champagne and the caviar."
Suddenly I thought I was hearing myself, because Gordie ran right into a spot-on comedic rap impression of me, and it's so good he’s keeping it in the show: “Robin Leach walking into Tao. With a lot of bling, yo, yo, yo… It’s Robin Leach, my voice is loud, you can hear me coming now. Call me if you need me for champagne wishes. I will be on the dance floor pimpin out my bitches” “Now that’s made you laugh,” he said switching back to himself. "I really want to make the show different because I have to surprise people so I have to come up with a lot of great things. I am definitely nervous but very excited about such a generous opportunity. I couldn’t believe it when I saw my own new theater. I was so amazed by all of that work they had done. I can’t wait to get started tonight and just go on entertaining night after night. This all started for me back in 1985 in Ottawa. At 16 I had entered a contest and that made me really get the bug to want to be an entertainer, and since then going to from opening for others and now to being the headliner. Canadians spend a lot of time indoors during the winter, so we are watching American television and coming up with impressions to make people laugh. Fortunately a lot of Canadians, from Dan Aykroyd to Jim Carrey have done very well making Americans laugh."
WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Paula
Abdul may be best known as an 'American Idol' judge, but here
in
Vegas we also know her for developing her own entertainment facility at
the
Silverton
resort casino-hotel. But now she’s just been named as Nevada Ballet
Theater’s "Woman of the Year," joining such previous honorees as Celine
Dion, Ann-Margret,
Debbie Reynolds
and Carol Channing. She’ll pick up the award January
27 at
the Wynn
Hotel.
ELTON SELLS ON TV
Sir Elton John started another run of "Red Piano" concerts last night at the Colliseum in Caesars Palace, but Friday afternoon, at 4pm, he takes on a completely different role in the showroom. For the first time, in a live remote broadcast, he will make his QVC debut from Caesars with his latest project, 'The Captain & The Kid.' During the one-hour QVC broadcast, Elton will sing a selection of songs and offer viewers insight into the fascinating story behind his new release, 'The Captain & The Kid,' which is based on the 39-year songwriting partnership between Mr. John and Bernie Taupin. The legendary career of Elton John has spanned more than three decades and, as one of the world’s most successful touring artists, and one of the top-selling solo artists of all time, he's sold more than 200 million records worldwide, with 29 consecutive Top 40 Hits and 35 gold and 25 platinum albums.
STRIP SCRIBBLES
Master Chef Gustav Mauler, right, has been named Restaurateur of the Year.
Congratulations to our pal, master chef Gustav Mauler, for being named Restaurateur of the Year at the annual Int’l Food and Beverage Forum’s Hall of Fame gala. A scholarship funded to $10,000 was established in his name. Formerly with the Mirage, Gustav, who owns Sazio at the Orleans and Spiedini and Gustav’s Cigar Bar at the JW Marriott in Summerlin, joins such previous honorees as Vegas star chefs Michael Mina and Alain Ducasse. … Pro-poker players David Williams and Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari joined magician David Blaine for the 1-year anniversary of Worship Thursday’s at TAO. … Backstreet Boys singer, Kevin Richardson was catching the last sun of the season at Caesar’s Venus Pool Club, drinking mango margaritas and eating shrimp cocktails… nearby at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in the Forum Shops. Glass sculptor Dale Chihuly selected the signature smoked salmon pizza which I nicknamed "Rich and Famous Pizza” … Last but not least up, and coming actor Jensen Ackles, of the WB’s hot show “Supernatural” partied till the wee-hours at Tangerine, shaking up a storm with the burlesque strip-tease dancers.
LEFT: Poker player Antonio Esfandiari and David Blaine. RIGHT: Poker pros David Williams and Gus Hansen.
TONIGHT'S TIP
It's Rush Wednesday at Beacher's Rockhouse and that means a ladies-only stripper pole dance contest, a bull-riding contest and the game of beer-pong! If you missed the gorgeous glam-girls of FHM last night they move down to Tangerine tonight.
TOMORROW'S TEASE
Halloween is getting closer and who better than magic’s master of the macabre, Amazing Johnathan to sit for an exclusive Luxe Life interview about his new show at the Sahara and his new TV special upcoming on The Comedy Channel. Plus we’ll meet the sexy new members of the LV Gladiators and check in backstage with Rita Rudner.
Be sure to check in with our Mayor Oscar Goodman as he blogs about his travels with the NBA Europe Live Tour in anticipation of Vegas hosting the NBA All-Star 2007.
CONTACT US
You can
shake up our spirits with an email to robinsvegas@aol.com to ensure you
don’t
miss one more exclusive edition where the spin stops here too, click
here or at the 'Alert Me' up top if you’d
like to know the
split-second we post the brand new Luxe Life.
Go to AOL Vegas for much more on hotels, casinos, restaurants, nightlife, and everything Las Vegas! Check our travel section for great deals on hotels, airfare and much more! And whenvisiting Vegas, besure to see Las Vegas Magazine in your hotel suite featuring a print edition of AOL Vegas Luxe Life, and an incredible directory of attractions, shows and restaurants.
robinsvegas at 11:55:00 AM PDT Blog about this entry |
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Siegfried & Roy Talk About the Future; Gordie Brown Opens at Venetian; Elton Back in Vegas
In This Issue:
Fans turned out in full force last week for the Siegfried & Roy Star presentation on the Walk of Fame, at their statue outside the Mirage. (Click here for the Luxe Life coverage of the event.) Roy was coincidentally celebrating his 62nd birthday, for which he’d treated himself to a brand new super sports car. Could there be a better sign of his ongoing, incredible recovery from those awful injuries he’d sustained 2-years earlier on stage in their final performance? With a police escort, they arrived in a white Bentley Corniche convertible, waving from its rear seat and were greeted by fans, MGM executives Terry Lanni, Bobby Baldwin, and Scott Sebella and now we’ve got the time to bring you our full chat with the two magical masters of illusion.
SIEGFRIED: Las Vegas has been good to us, and the people who make Siegfried and Roy gathered from all over the world to celebrate Roy’s birthday. I am so happy because 2-years ago people said it was going to be impossible what we see tonight. So, in those 2 years, I am seeing a miracle. Before, I produced and did magic on stage, now I live real magic, fulltime, every day. I’ve come to realize, out of all this, what life is all aboutand that true love is the real magic. I am very blessed to experience something together here on the Strip with all of our friends and together with Roy, my partner, by my side for 45 years. We have tried to give back to Las Vegas as much as Las Vegas has given to us. I think it works both ways because, ever since we came here, Las Vegas and the people of Las Vegas have always been behind us. It gave us the strength and showed us the opportunities for us to catch on, and we caught on and I am happy to say that S&R was, for many years, the highlight of Las Vegas and I feel really good about taking a little part of that.
RL: Roy, tell us how you feel and how you are doing with your progress. And when you vow “there will be another show, just watch us,” how far away is that from happening?
ROY: Well, we have to keep you guessing, keep the suspense. This today has been a deeply emotional experience.
RL: The actual day-to-day progress, are you still working through that, are you still in pain or is that gone?
ROY: No, the pain is easing. We even go horse back riding now and I’m driving my new car. I keep going and I have to have faith.
RL: You pray that the Good Lord is watching over you everyday?
ROY: Yeah. You have to keep the faith.
RL: I think everybody has the faith that you will win this incredible fight.
ROY: For eventful prayer all of us have a lot. All of our fans are now supporting and giving us all these things it is good to know there are many friends there. I am very fortunate. His friends measure a man and I am thus a very rich man, so life is very good for me. Las Vegas has held its arms open for me for 30-years and it is now my spiritual homeland, so I will always stay here.
RL: So you are happy about the way you have come since the accident a couple of years ago?
ROY: Yeah. We call it the incident that became my life saving.
RL: Good luck. God bless.
RL: Siegfried, did you ever think that this day would come when you came here all those years ago?
SIEGFRIED: Of course. My dreams were always really high, but I couldn’t dream that much. All the tough times that we have behind us are still with us. I wouldn’t miss a minute of it, because it showed me a life, and what we created was our show and this is our life on stage and now life is our stage on here, I enjoy every minute and I can say life is good. But I had a very bad nightmare last night. I actually dreamt that I was put down into the sidewalk and they put the Star right on top of me and people were working on top of me. Now I see the Star for real, I just want to lift it up to heaven to light up the magic we both have in our hearts.
LEFT: Roy blows out the candles on his birthday cake. RIGHT: Roy enjoying OktoberFest with a brew.
I also chatted with their long-time manager Bernie Yuman after the ceremony.
RL: Bernie. this must be a thrilling moment for the boys; this is definitely one of the highlights of their life?
BERNIE: I believe that anytime you have the opportunity to acknowledge the enormity of the contribution that S&R made to live entertainment it is totally good. A little over 40-years ago they began to deliver an experience on their platform of a stage and were relentless in the pursuit of success and by Feb 1,1990 they had done more than anybody else in the history of entertainment to change the face of Vegas. They are the greatest entertainers to ever perform on any stage anywhere in the world.
RL: Roy is feeling much better. He says the pain is getting less and less. Is this a miracle or magic?
BERNIE: What I think is that, as a human being, you have the chance to overcome adversity and take the human spirit to the highest level, and he has done that.
RL: It is his birthday today and he promised that there will be another show one day. That is obviously something that drives him. That passion is still there. Is it sooner rather than later in his mind do you think?
BERNIE: I have been next to Roy for 31 years or something close to that, and today being his birthday his tenacity, his perseverance, his determination relentless in his pursuit, you can never underestimate Roy. Bet on him, don’t bet against him. Roy has the will of a thousand men. He is 62 today. He has always taught me to live your dreams fulfill your destiny, with magic anything is possible. Look for the return of the magic.
Following the unveiling of their star Siegfried & Roy went to theirMagic Garden at the Mirage with its wild animal sanctuary and dolphin pools for an official cutting of a birthday cake.
OPENING NIGHT
Bernie
Yuman's other act of magic is propelling the career of entertainer
Gordie
Brown (pictured), and tonight, his preview
performances begin at his very own
theater The
Venetian has built for him, with the gala opening night set
for
October 24. Bernie told me: "Gordie Brown is a comedian and performer
who
defies description. If you want to laugh, if you want to be amazed then
he’s
the man and you gotta go to know it. He has incomparable comedic timing
and a
uniquely edgy and energetic style. It’s a hilarious joyride where the
laughs
start fast and never stop. You want to forget about the war, you want
to forget
about gas prices. It is just pure entertainment and you don’t think
about
anything, you just have to laugh. It is not what you don’t see in
Gordie that
makes him so unique and special; it is what you do see. He has got a
great
dynamic, a great star quality and that is what it is all about."
A sizzling 5-piece band accompanies Gordie’s music and comedy and his impressions of your favorite stars, politicians and pop-culture icons defy description. Venetian president and CEO, Rob Goldstein commented: “It takes a great entertainer to fit a great resort like The Venetian. Our guests have come to expect a world-class experience when they step through our doors, and Gordie Brown delivers world-class entertainment, every night, every show.”
Shortly before "curtain up" on his debut preview this evening, I got to chat with the new Star of the Strip. He told me: “Originally I came to the Golden Nugget downtown for 6 months and that became a year and I ended up doing 2 1/2 years there. But in the world of corporate takeovers (Landry’s Restaurants now owns the Nugget) they closed the theater. Now I’m at The Venetian and it is pretty phenomenal. When I saw it for the first time I had to come back to earth on how I was feeling. It is really set up in a way that it is really classy and intimate. I don’t even think from the stage to the back row is more than 50 feet. We have 800 seats and two-shows-a-night for a total of 8-shows-a-week. Everything I’ll be doing -- the singing, the dancing, the impressions -- will lead up to making people laugh. As you would say, Robin, it's about the champagne and the caviar."
Suddenly I thought I was hearing myself, because Gordie ran right into a spot-on comedic rap impression of me, and it's so good he’s keeping it in the show: “Robin Leach walking into Tao. With a lot of bling, yo, yo, yo… It’s Robin Leach, my voice is loud, you can hear me coming now. Call me if you need me for champagne wishes. I will be on the dance floor pimpin out my bitches” “Now that’s made you laugh,” he said switching back to himself. "I really want to make the show different because I have to surprise people so I have to come up with a lot of great things. I am definitely nervous but very excited about such a generous opportunity. I couldn’t believe it when I saw my own new theater. I was so amazed by all of that work they had done. I can’t wait to get started tonight and just go on entertaining night after night. This all started for me back in 1985 in Ottawa. At 16 I had entered a contest and that made me really get the bug to want to be an entertainer, and since then going to from opening for others and now to being the headliner. Canadians spend a lot of time indoors during the winter, so we are watching American television and coming up with impressions to make people laugh. Fortunately a lot of Canadians, from Dan Aykroyd to Jim Carrey have done very well making Americans laugh."
WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Paula
Abdul may be best known as an 'American Idol' judge, but here
in
Vegas we also know her for developing her own entertainment facility at
the
Silverton
resort casino-hotel. But now she’s just been named as Nevada Ballet
Theater’s "Woman of the Year," joining such previous honorees as Celine
Dion, Ann-Margret,
Debbie Reynolds
and Carol Channing. She’ll pick up the award January
27 at
the Wynn
Hotel. ELTON SELLS ON TV
Sir Elton John started another run of "Red Piano" concerts last night at the Colliseum in Caesars Palace, but Friday afternoon, at 4pm, he takes on a completely different role in the showroom. For the first time, in a live remote broadcast, he will make his QVC debut from Caesars with his latest project, 'The Captain & The Kid.' During the one-hour QVC broadcast, Elton will sing a selection of songs and offer viewers insight into the fascinating story behind his new release, 'The Captain & The Kid,' which is based on the 39-year songwriting partnership between Mr. John and Bernie Taupin. The legendary career of Elton John has spanned more than three decades and, as one of the world’s most successful touring artists, and one of the top-selling solo artists of all time, he's sold more than 200 million records worldwide, with 29 consecutive Top 40 Hits and 35 gold and 25 platinum albums.
STRIP SCRIBBLES
Master Chef Gustav Mauler, right, has been named Restaurateur of the Year.
Congratulations to our pal, master chef Gustav Mauler, for being named Restaurateur of the Year at the annual Int’l Food and Beverage Forum’s Hall of Fame gala. A scholarship funded to $10,000 was established in his name. Formerly with the Mirage, Gustav, who owns Sazio at the Orleans and Spiedini and Gustav’s Cigar Bar at the JW Marriott in Summerlin, joins such previous honorees as Vegas star chefs Michael Mina and Alain Ducasse. … Pro-poker players David Williams and Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari joined magician David Blaine for the 1-year anniversary of Worship Thursday’s at TAO. … Backstreet Boys singer, Kevin Richardson was catching the last sun of the season at Caesar’s Venus Pool Club, drinking mango margaritas and eating shrimp cocktails… nearby at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in the Forum Shops. Glass sculptor Dale Chihuly selected the signature smoked salmon pizza which I nicknamed "Rich and Famous Pizza” … Last but not least up, and coming actor Jensen Ackles, of the WB’s hot show “Supernatural” partied till the wee-hours at Tangerine, shaking up a storm with the burlesque strip-tease dancers.
LEFT: Poker player Antonio Esfandiari and David Blaine. RIGHT: Poker pros David Williams and Gus Hansen.
TONIGHT'S TIP
It's Rush Wednesday at Beacher's Rockhouse and that means a ladies-only stripper pole dance contest, a bull-riding contest and the game of beer-pong! If you missed the gorgeous glam-girls of FHM last night they move down to Tangerine tonight.
TOMORROW'S TEASE
Halloween is getting closer and who better than magic’s master of the macabre, Amazing Johnathan to sit for an exclusive Luxe Life interview about his new show at the Sahara and his new TV special upcoming on The Comedy Channel. Plus we’ll meet the sexy new members of the LV Gladiators and check in backstage with Rita Rudner.
Be sure to check in with our Mayor Oscar Goodman as he blogs about his travels with the NBA Europe Live Tour in anticipation of Vegas hosting the NBA All-Star 2007.
CONTACT US
You can
shake up our spirits with an email to robinsvegas@aol.com to ensure you
don’t
miss one more exclusive edition where the spin stops here too, click
here or at the 'Alert Me' up top if you’d
like to know the
split-second we post the brand new Luxe Life.
Go to AOL Vegas for much more on hotels, casinos, restaurants, nightlife, and everything Las Vegas! Check our travel section for great deals on hotels, airfare and much more! And whenvisiting Vegas, besure to see Las Vegas Magazine in your hotel suite featuring a print edition of AOL Vegas Luxe Life, and an incredible directory of attractions, shows and restaurants.
robinsvegas at 11:55:00 AM PDT Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | digg this
