It is a risky thing to make deals with governments that exist without the consent of the governed and remain largely unaccountable and, in the absence of a free press, furtive. Needless to say the casino business has not seen things that way. When an elite loots a nation they have lots of money to [...]
Perhaps the Hard Rock brand owner needs to listen to some rock songs and read some rock history. The Hard Rock casino is not connected to the national Hard Rock chain. The Hard Rock casino has use of the name. Easy short hand: The Hard Rock in Vegas is where John Entwistle of the Who [...]
“Chop a line now!”
The giant heroic statue Vegas nightclubs have erected to Paris Hilton seems to have a soft white powder for feet. Paris Hilton has been naughty in Vegas for many, many years now. The first time I saw her where she should not be was a New Year’s weekend, Guns & Roses concert at the Hard [...]
This is perhaps the most pathetic series I have ever embarked on. But our local Strip resorts seem to have run out of ways to make money that aren’t sneaky like the resort fee or customer service damaging like layoffs. Anyway, I took a few moments to make a list of ways casinos could earn [...]
Honestly I never cared about Vince Neil enough to know his history or that he claimed to not drink at all. If so, it would have been easy enough to call him out on that. He is a regular, with a glass in hand, around Vegas at receptions and events. I can’t vouch for what [...]
One of the many repercussions of BP’s destruction of a large chunk of ocean has been some locally and many nationally want to reconsider storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain less than 100 miles from Vegas. In fact, just as the government failed to finally kill the project, the Republican nominee for Senate in Nevada [...]
The annual SXSW festival in Austin, Texas is happening now. And, that reminded me of a depressing conversation I had there with guitar player/writer Lenny Kaye in March, 1999. This was just before I moved to Las Vegas. Kaye is the guitar player in The Patti Smith Group. In 1999, after years out of the [...]
Nevada has a tradition of individual freedom and a libertarian streak against government regulation. But I think we have reached the point where casinos should begin offering their customers and employees a smoke free environment. Certainly, companies like MGM-Mirage and Harrah’s with multiple properties on the Strip can easily experiment with a smoke free resort [...]
