Las Vegas
Las Vegas News

Sunday, September 11, 2005 PRIOR ISSUE   -   ARCHIVES
Las Ramblas Plans Unveiled, Hurricane Katrina Hits Gaming, Alan Thicke Hosts Game Show, Eddie Money Rocks, Larry G. Jones Gets New Digs, Mickey Manners Headlines, Bikefest Next Weekend, 'Jimi's Image' Plays Tribute, Vanessa Williams On The Lake, Pietro's Receives Awards, Delisco Opens Show, Siegfried and Roy's Gildah Dies, Swim-up Blackjack Closes, Madame Tussauds Offers Tickets, Carmel Room Wine Maker's Dinner, Scandia Family Fun Center Closes, Power Pass To Attractions, More...

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by Jackie Brett
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The $3 billion Las Ramblas hotel and condominium complex project has been unveiled. Actor George Clooney and nightclub owner Rande Gerber have teamed with Las Vegas-based Centra Properties and Related Las Vegas to develop the project named after the famous street in Barcelona, Spain. Las Ramblas will be located between the planned W Hotel and Hard Rock Hotel expansion. When competed, it will have 11 buildings on the 25-acre site, creating a master-planned, high-rise urban, mixed-use living environment.

Construction will begin in mid-2006 and be completed in early 2008. It will feature 4,400 hotel rooms, condominiums and condo-hotel units comprising nearly eight million square feet.

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Phase one will include a 300-room hotel with 370 condo-hotel units above the hotel rooms, an adjacent tower with about 550 condo-hotel units and two gateway condo towers at the entrance of the project with more than 600 units.

Berger, who created the Whiskey Bar brand 15 years ago and opened one at Green Valley Ranch, will develop the restaurants, clubs and lounges through his company, After Midnight. The four towers in phase one will create an open-air esplanade with 150,000 square feet of restaurants, bistros and bars.

Las Vegas has a kinship relationship with the Hurricane Katrina disaster. From the hotel / casino perspective, many Las Vegas properties such as Harrah's, the Boyd Group, Imperial Palace and the Hard Rock, which was suppose to be celebrating a grand opening of its Biloxi casino, have sister properties in the region. Their workers are displaced and business is non-existent. Relief funds, donations and room offers are being extended in an effort to help.

Others affected are some of our restaurants with dining establishments in New Orleans. Commander's Palace Las Vegas in the Desert Passage mall is a sister eatery of the famed 125 year-old New Orleans original that is completely destroyed with an unsalvageable 18,000-bottle wine cellar and Café Adelaide that was opened by cousins. Commanders Palace is doing a week-long promotion with 50 percent of each day's proceeds through Sept. 14 going to benefit The American Red Cross' Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Emeril Lagasse's restaurant group operates New Orleans restaurants Emeril's New Orleans, Emeril's Delmonico and Nola Restaurant. They are trying to get at least one restaurant open to feed volunteers. Emeril's Vegas-based restaurants are Emeril's N.O. Fish House at the MGM and Delmonico Steakhouse at the Venetian.

House of Blues New Orleans is also closed due to the city-wide devastation.

Producer Norbert Aleman of "Crazy Girls" and "An Evening at La Cage" at the Riviera has lost his second home off of Bourbon Street in the heart of New Orleans. He also lost a million-dollar Woodland Hills mansion in the early '70s due to wild fires.

For the chance to win $1 million and a guaranteed grand prize 8-day / 7-night second honeymoon to Maui, a handful of couples will compete live on "Second Honeymoon™," hosted by TV personality Alan Thicke, in Las Vegas on Sept. 10, at the Fashion Show mall at 6:30 p.m. Local celebrity gossip columnist Norm Clarke will be a judge and sitcom star David Faustino from "Married with Children" and radio personalities will attend. To learn how to get free tickets for the taping, visit http://www.secondhoneymoon.tv/.

Eddie Money will headline at the Silverton's outdoor pool arena with two shows on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 7 and 9 p.m. Tickets are $30, call 1-866-946-4373 or 702-914-8557.

Money made a name for himself in the late 70s with hits like "Baby Hold On" and "Maybe I'm a Fool." His catchy, blue-collar rock style, coupled with his knack for funny narrative videos, ensured his success through the early 80s and new MTV era.

While his popularity dipped in the mid-80s, Money made a remarkable comeback in the late 80s with his Top Ten album, "Can't Hold Back." Money followed up in 1988 with the album "Nothing to Lose," which featured the Top Ten hit "Walk on Water."

Larry G. Jones - "The Man of 1002 Voices" has returned to Fitzgeralds downtown where he had a successful two-year run that led to his move to the Plaza a couple of blocks away. His emphasis is on musical impressions from the 50s-70s. He delivers up to 72 voices per hour of legendary singers, celebrities, and presidents; mixed with song parodies, physical comedy, and self created characters. Jones' 9 p.m. shows are Thursday through Monday. Tickets are $19.95 plus tax.

Larry G. Jones

Mickey Manners will return to the Riviera Comedy Club in one of his infrequent Las Vegas headlining appearances, beginning Monday, Sept. 26, for seven evenings at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. with comics Larry Myles and John Pizzi. Tickets are $17.95 plus tax and fee, call 702-794-9433.

The New York-born comic / actor was encouraged by late comedy legend Milton Berle to develop his variety act. Manners invokes laughter without resorting to anything off-color and this has advanced his reputation. The high standard he sets as a clean comedian is reflected in comments wherever he appears.

Besides touring with Berle in the East Coast tour of "Top Banana," Manners has amassed movie and television credits a mile long. His first television network show was CBS' "Stump The Stars," where he was a regular panelist for 16 years. He also starred in the CBS sitcom, "Many Happy Returns."

While motorcycle enthusiasts convene in Las Vegas, Sept. 16-17, music will enhance the event at the Fremont Street Experience. Legendary band, 38 Special, will play free of charge on Friday, Sept. 16. After more than two decades together, 38 Special has released more than 15 albums, spawning hits. On Saturday, Sept. 17, Dickey Betts & Great Southern will perform. Betts' guitar playing has exalted him to legendary status, earning him a Grammy nomination in 2001. Betts, who co-founded the Allman Brothers' Band, is in rich musical company with the talent-loaded Great Southern.

Developers have taken over the Scandia Family Fun Center that features miniature golf and is located off I-15 near Palace Station.



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"Jimi's Image" is a Jimi Hendrix tribute show starring Jimi Taylor, who for the past two decades has been bringing the legend's music style and energy to life. The 8 p.m. show in North Las Vegas at Jerry's Nugget Casino in the Royal Street Theater on Sept. 18 will commemorate the day Hendrix died in 1970. Tickets are $10 with a two-drink minimum, call 702-399-3000.

Jimi Taylor Tributes Jimi Hendrix

Accompanied by the acclaimed Las Vegas Philharmonic, Vanessa Williams will perform on the one-of-a-kind floating stage at Lake Las Vegas Resort on Sept. 23, at 8 p.m., finishing off the "Stars on the Lake" concert series for this year. Tickets are $150 for reserved VIP seating and $49.95 for General Admission plus tax and handling charges, call Ticketmaster 702-474-4000

With successes in music, Broadway, television and motion pictures, Williams has maintained a reputation as a world-class, multi-faceted entertainer. She has sold over four million albums worldwide since signing a record deal in 1987 and has earned a total of four Grammy nominations. She won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal for the hit single "Colors of the Wind." Her newest venture, "Everlasting Love," was released last January.

Epicurean International Associates has acknowledged Pietro's Gourmet Room, which is an intimate dining experience with tableside continental cuisine at the Tropicana, as one of the first 50 Professional Members of the USA. EIA is an association consisting of a select membership of connoisseurs and hospitality's elite worldwide. Pietro's is a winner of two consecutive DiRoNA awards and was named one of America's Top One Hundred Restaurants by the International Restaurant and Hospitality Rating Bureau.

Singer Delisco, who won Wayne Newton's "Entertainer" search, will open his own show in the Hilton Theater from Sept. 11 - Nov. 29. Tickets are $29 plus tax and service charge, call 800-222-5361 or 702-732-5755. Shows are at 7:30 p.m., Sunday-Tuesday.

Siegfried and Roy's Ceremonial Thai Elephant, Gildah, passed away recently of natural causes at age 57 at the Secret Garden at The Mirage.

Swim-up blackjack at the Tropicana pool closed for the summer season on Labor Day.

After enduring temperatures in excess of 125 degrees for more than 80 hours, extreme street magician Jimmy Luv was removed from his plastic box entombment by medical staff overseeing the accomplished magician's stunt. Luv was planning to spend 30 straight days in the box without food or water to raise awareness and funds for the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth in a stunt called "The Statement at the Southwest Fest." Event organizers and medical staff were regrouping to determine when the stunt will be continued.

Southwest Fest will be taking place on Sept. 24 and 25 and bring together live musical performances, over 300 vendor booths and family activities.

Madame Tussauds wax attraction at the Venetian on the Strip is offering free tickets to individuals and families who are vacationing in Las Vegas from the Gulf Coast regions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina. Madame Tussauds is open daily and has news hours from 10 a.m. -10 p.m., call 702-862-7800.

The Silverton's newest dining destination that opened last November, the Mermaid Restaurant & Lounge, pledges prompt service for lunch-time diners, or the meal is on the house. Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Mermaid staff will deliver your entrée within 20 minutes of ordering, or it's free. During lunch hours, diners can also enjoy 20 percent off all food on the restaurant's extensive menu - excluding alcoholic beverages. The Mermaid Restaurant & Lounge features a relaxed lounge atmosphere with oversized chairs, a multi-colored jellyfish tank, plenty of plasma screens and an adjacent 117,000-gallon "mermaid" tank.

The Carmel Room at the Rampart Casino at the Resort at Summerlin is presenting the second series of the Wine Maker's Dinner on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. The special dinner will feature foods with an Australian inspiration perfectly paired with wines from Rosemount Estate, one of the premier vintners from down under. The cost is $99 excluding gratuity, call 702-507-5955.

Corporate Pastry Chef and Associate Partner Christophe Ithurritze will host his annual cooking class Wolfgang Puck's Spago inside the Forum Shops at Caesars on Sept. 24.

The 10 a.m. class cost $45 with a limit of 30 people, call 702-369-0360. Participants will receive a Wolfgang Puck baseball cap and a $25 gift card for Nambé.

The Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group has introduced a new universal gift card, redeemable at all Wolfgang Puck dining establishments for food and beverage purchases and merchandise such as Puck cookbooks available at select restaurants. Guests may choose from five restaurants in Las Vegas: Spago, Trattoria del Lupo, Chinois, Postrio or Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill.

Blondies Sports Bar & Grill in Desert Passage offers a football party place to watch college and pro teams on the big screen this season. Breakfast is served at Blondies on NFL Sundays. Starting at 8 a.m., guests can help themselves to the make-your-own Bloody Mary bar. Philadelphia Eagles fans can cheer on their team with other fans and get free Jell-o shots when the Eagles score. Additionally, Blondies will serve $2 Budweiser drafts and $7.50 Budweiser pitchers all day.

Downtown's Valley Motel's neon sign on Fremont Street has been taken down, restored and placed in magician Steve Wyrick's personal home museum. The sign is from the first Las Vegas hotel where Wyrick stayed as a budding magician.

The Power Pass provides admission to more than 20 Las Vegas attractions such as Luxor's Imax Theatre and Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden & Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage and also allows you to skip standing in line to purchase tickets. The reusable pass can be purchased for multiple days, for one person alone or an unlimited number of people. You can purchase online or by phone at 800-490-9330.

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Editorial Content Copyright(c) 2000-2005 Jackie Brett; Internet Presentation Copyright(c) Las Vegas Leisure Guide