Come hell or high water (or selling out to the Arabs or construction worker deaths or a phased-rather-than-full grand opening or selling off some prized assets or a hacked-up building architecture or piss-poor stock price), MGM Mirage is gonna get that monstrous CityCenter completed.

That is, if they could just come up with the last $1.2 billion needed to finish the darn thing. Up until now, MGM has been paying its share of the project with company cashflow but since they just tapped into their line of credit (to the tune of $842 million) it looks like their revenue stream won't sustain that sort of thing any longer. Hmmm... What to do, what to do...

Now it appears German money giant Deutsche Bank might be able to help but it comes with strings attached, of course. Deutsche Bank, which acquired the $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan for $1 billion at a foreclosure sale in August, might be willing to give the casino company up to $700 million in financing it needs to complete CityCenter. In turn, MGM Mirage would either operate the Cosmopolitan (scheduled to open 2Q of 2010), which sits on 8.5 acres bordering CityCenter, or take over the project in exchange for giving Deutsche Bank an equity stake in CityCenter.

Boy oh boy... It all seemed so simple for MGM when they first announced the CityCenter a few years ago--use existing cashflow, team with a couple of other hotel operators, sell a bunch of condos and have a large line of credit available just in case. But since then it's been one struggle after another. Makes ya almost feel sorry for the casino giant...

"Bottle Service", that oh-so-Vegas practice of paying a fancy nightclub 5-10 times the list price for a bottle of liquor, has an updated version happening at O'Sheas on the Strip that helps out all us blokes being bitch-slapped by the tough economic times.

The little Irish-themed casino (Irish, in that it’s largely painted green and a midget/dwarf/little person is dressed as a leprechaun for photo ops), located between the Imperial Palace and Flamingo, is offering its own satirical version of bottle service.

For $45, customers receive a bottle of Jack Daniels or Smirnoff (750 milliliters, which is enough to get ya goin’) with a mixer and plastic cups. They call it “The Brown Bag Special,” and the deal is offered at both bars, all hours.

Can't beat that nor the resultant hangover, either...

Since the new M Resort is opening this Sunday (10 p.m.) and we know several local LowLifes are Las Vegas restaurant aficionados, we thought we'd link to a piece by the Las Vegas Review-Journal's food critic who, while she didn't get to eat any of the food, managed to take a look at the decor, ambience and menu of M's nine food offerings.

We agree with Anthony Marnell III, chairman and CEO of the resort, when he says "Las Vegas lost its way and started overcharging people--you're never going to see a $15 martini in this hotel."

We'll drink--and eat--to that!

It was a match made in, well, Vegas, and we all thought it would last forever (didn't you?) but the storybook (comic book?) romance of a famous Playboy Bunny and an infamous TV-magician-turned-circus-ring-leader has hit the rocks after 117 days (but who's counting?) of pure bliss.

That's right, tabloid fans, Holly Madison and Criss Angel have returned to the status of "close friends"--where they were in the beginning before they admitted they were humping like hounds--and Ms. Madison has moved out of the Luxor penthouse, presumably returning to L.A. since none of the rumored Vegas-based roles have panned out for her.

This article chronicles the short-lived Madison/Angel romance. Now, maybe Angel can concentrate on improving "Believe". Or, maybe he won't be able to concentrate as he will have a nightly reminder of Madison--all those bunnies running around the Cirque stage...

Hash House A Go Go is a trendy, breakfasty eatery a few miles west of the Strip on Sahara Avenue (there's also one in San Diego). The place is so trendy, in fact, that ABC-TV's "What Would You Do?" visited the restaurant, installed hidden cameras and the set up a couple of bogus scenarios to catch the reactions of the patrons.

Looks like big fun ensued...

"Report On Vegas" Reports on the Hidden Cameras at Hash House (more)

Remember the movie "Minority Report"? There's a scene from that Tom Cruise flick about a futuristic high-tech cop where the star is hurrying through a mall and, after retinal scanners identify "Chief John Anderson", the electronic billboards play personalized ads designed specifically for him.

While advertising hasn't come quite that far just yet, video screens are starting to analyze you, figuring out generally who you are and then playing ads that fit your demographic.

Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer's gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity -- and can change the ads accordingly.

This form of advertising hasn't come to Las Vegas yet but I would expect it to hit a high-density mall (Caesars?) or cash-strapped casino in the not-too-distant future. Two years ago, a video screen was imbedded in the floor of the MGM mall (on the way from the casino to the MGM arena) that detected movement and changed an image which initially looked like a static graphic to a moving image just as the person was about to step on what appeared to be a colorful floor tile. The sudden movement caused people to take notice of the image--which started out as something fun like fish in a fishbowl or pinballs bouncing around but eventually morphed into an ad for Ka, Studio 54, etc.--and, judging by the way people stopped in their tracks and viewed the presentation, was quite effective. (the vid panel continued to track movement and the fish or pinballs moved away from you if you tried to step on them, which most everyone inevitably did)

It may take awhile for retinal scanners to be common-place but it seems like we might be on our way, doesn't it?

We recently reported that Station Casinos was in financial difficulties and facing a possible bankruptcy. Now, their biggest rival in the locals market, Boyd Gaming, has made a $950 million offer to purchase a large portion of Station Casinos. While Boyd didn't have enough money to complete the barely-started $4.8 billion Echelon resort on the grounds of the old Stardust, they do have a $2 billion line of credit they can use whenever they need it. They see an opportunity and they are pouncing on it like a hungry leopard on a wounded water buffalo.

What Boyd Has, What Boyd Wants (more)

Ever thought about starring in a reality show? How about one based on your swinging lifestyle? It just might be your ticket to the big time. Read here for details... (more)

The indicators we use to determine how the town looks for a given week are the number of people who post in the "Vegas Visitors" listing, the number of new member signups, how full Going Out is and the RSVPs for the various parties going on. Then we use the the ol' eyeball test when we drive the Strip or hit a club or hotel to confirm.

This past weekend, for example, all of those indicators were in the healthy level and Saturday night seemed like a pretty happening night around town. Maybe it was the mild weather, the killer hotel room deals, or maybe people are just tired of listening to the gloom and doom and decided to cut loose for a change. In any event, from what we saw and the feedback we received it wasn't too bad of a weekend, at least on the partying level.

Unfortunately, on a deeper level Las Vegas sounds like it ain't doing so good. At least that's what the press is saying. Particularly the national press which always enjoys the practice of kicking-when-down, especially when it comes to Sin City. To get it off our plate we'll dump a bunch of these articles into a Know It A.L.L. posting at the same time...

Forbes Magazine calls Las Vegas "America's Most Abandoned City" in the U.S. (followed by Detroit--wow, we beat Detroit?!--and Atlanta) based on rental and housing vacancies. Time Magazine makes its viewpoint evident in "The Depression Hits Las Vegas" by using phrases such as "the madness of gambling" and "the depravity of betting on cards and dice".

More Yuck: In-Progress Resorts Cosmopolitan and Fontainebleau Facing Issues (more)

It's on Las Vegas Boulevard but it's quite a ways from the Strip. If you're driving into town from Los Angeles it'll be the first resort you see when you hit town and the last one you'll pass on your way out, which is just the way the folks at the soon-to-open M Resort want it. Actually, they would prefer that you stopped in to check the place out and, starting March 1st (10 p.m.), you can do just that.

The 400-room, $700 million M, named for property developer Anthony Marnell III (whose father built the Rio in 1990), is situated on 90 elevated acres 10 miles south of Mandalay Bay, so many of it's restaurants and rooms will have excellent views of the glitz of the Strip. One thing that won't have a view of the Vegas lights, however, will be the nightclub because M decided they didn't want to have one opting, instead, to concentrate on dining and drinking options.

M will have six places to grab an adult beverage including the elevator-accessed Hostile Grape, an underground wine cellar where guests can taste 120 different wines via a prepaid card. Most of the other bars and nine dining options will have a view of the large pool area which will have a full-on concert venue with a cool Strip backdrop.

Other M features include a state-of-the-art sports book, a 7,000 seat events center, a 23,000 sq ft spa, a convenience store, gasoline station and a pharmacy (is that a dream job for a pharmacist or what?!). A 14-theater movie complex should be completed by the end of the year, a 1-million-square-foot mall will open in late 2010 and, if the economy improves and the extra rooms are warranted, M has plans for 2,000 more.

Locals are generally excited by the opening of a new Las Vegas resort but this one is generating more interest than usual: more than 37,000 people applied for the 1,800 jobs on the property...

The Hard Rock Hotel has some mixed emotions about the resort's $760 million construction project being ahead of schedule. While it's great that the Hard Rock has benefited from the economic slowdown by attracting the best construction workers--so many good ones were unemployed--and that things are moving so smoothly that the new 490-room Paradise Tower will open two months ahead of schedule (this August 1st--they are already taking reservations) but they are very concerned about the ability to fill all those new rooms.

They could have done like Caesars did on their new tower--finish the exterior and wait until demand picks up to complete the interior--but they've decided to go ahead and launch and hope for the best.

In the good ol' American spirit of pulling for the underdog, we wish them the best. In the good ol' spirit of wanting to score a good deal on a hotel, we're thinking the new HRH rooms might just be fairly reasonably priced, at least after all the grand opening excitement wears off.

All you fans of chiseled & rippled males strutting their stuff around stage will be excited to know that yet another male revue is coming to town, this time to the Hooters showroom, after pit-bull comedian Bobby Slayton closes his act on March 8th.

"Men of X" opened in Laughlin in April (hmmm, let's see--using the Broadway analogy--if Downtown and locals casinos are "off-Strip" then Laughlin would be considered "off-off-Strip"?) and Hooters is hoping that the show will help draw women to the resort which, in turn, will draw even more testosterone-carriers to the brand that already caters primarily to men. We'll see if it works.

Anyway, the 6 males of X-Men, er, ah, Men of X will perform a 75-minute show in the 250 seat theater. The production is described as “up close and personal and lots of fun and sexy” which is sounds like the PR description for Vegas' other beefcakes show--Chippendales, Men of Sapphire and Thunder From Down Under--which I suppose is better than being described as "distant, impersonal, boring and sexually unappealing".

Also, if you haven't seen Bobby Slayton you might want to check him out before he exits. His no-holds-barred comedy act is pretty good, unless, of course, he chooses to pick on you and even then it's still kinda fun.

"Ka", the reported $200 million Cirque du Soleil show at the MGM best known for it's amazing rotating stage, celebrated its 2,000th show on Wednesday. Robin Leach, the gossip columnist blowhard who covers the rich and famous, loves the show and was undoubtedly in attendance at the VIP reception which followed.

A VIP who attended the 1,999th show earlier that evening didn't stick around for the reception. Academy Award-nominated Brad Pitt would certainly have been invited for the event but he was having a "boys night out" and had better things to do. No, it wasn't an "Ocean's 11" reunion. Rather, Pitt attended Ka's early show with his adopted sons Maddox, 7, and Pax, 5. He had front row seats, of course...

We mentioned previously on Know It A.L.L. that casino mogul Steve Wynn had dumped Elaine, his wife of 46 years, for an unidentified British woman. That woman, now identified, is socialite Andrea Danenza Hissom, a 40-something mother of two teenage sons, who has recently divorced from a London investment broker. As you can see by the photo she's a pretty hot milf.

Wynn and his girlfriend have been rendezvousing on his yacht on the Caribbean island of St. Bart's. They reportedly met on the French Riviera last summer.

Andrea Hissom is Victor Danenza’a daughter. Danenza was a suspect in an FBI securities fraud investigation. He fled overseas to Paris in 1976. Danenza was again in trouble in Britain in 1992--something about more shady stock deals. Ironically, he also was rumored to supply wealthy businessmen with hot, younger women when making deals. He wouldn't use his daughter for something like that, would he? Nah, couldn't be...

Should Steve and Elaine actually get a divorce, the settlement is bound to be one of the larger ones in entertainment history. Michael Jordan paid his ex-wife a reported $168 million in their divorce two years ago. The Jordans were hitched at Las Vegas Little White Wedding Chapel in 1989. The Wynn's divorce settlement should far exceed that amount since Wynn is wealthier than Jordan (although considering Wynn Resort's stock price of late the gap between the two has grown considerably closer).

Also, will Steve fire Elaine as she is currently the Director of Wynn Resorts? Bet the Wynn Human Resources guy is not looking forward to that...

Hmmm... Let's see... A few months ago Station Casinos decided to tap into the rest of a credit line it had previously established. Six weeks later they announced they were going to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Now, Harrah's Entertainment, the largest casino company in the world, says they are going to make use of the remaining $740 million of an initial $2 billion line of credit. Is it a precursor for a bankruptcy filing? Many experts think that's what we're seeing.

Egads, what's next? MGM problems? Oh, that's right, they are having a string of difficulties in getting the massive CityCenter completed. But MGM has the fabulously wealthy city-state of Dubai as a partner so what could possibly go wrong there?

Well, Dubai is having some serious problems of its own. It's a long article but if you ever wanted to know more about Dubai and what makes it tick, this is a great look at this recent mega-player on the international money scene and how the current economic climate is affecting it, and possibly MGM on down the line.

Oh great, yet another piece of bad news. With the new President getting down on companies that hold extravagant conferences in Las Vegas, the convention business is starting to tank. President Obama told an audience in Elkhart, Ind., that companies “can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.” The remark was taken by many here as an attack.

In the last month, 30,000 hotel room nights booked for conferences have been canceled at an estimated loss of $20 million to the city, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. And those figures do not include 17,000 people who were expected to attend a State Farm agents’ convention this October. That conference was canceled last Wednesday.

We'll see how this plays out but with our new, lower prices on rooms we're definitely the best value of any convention city. Now, we'll see if businesses feel they can even afford conventions period...

As you can read in some of the latest reviews of the Valentine's event held at Power Exchange, the evening didn't quite go as advertised and was a disappointment to many who attended. There were several relatively minor things that occurred but the major issue was the fact that P.E. decided, for some still unclear reason, not to make the entire upstairs a couples-only area.

When we arrived at P.E. on Saturday night we were delighted to see the number of cars in the parking lot and, at first, were excited by the sheer number of partiers on the second floor. Our enthusiasm was short-lived, however, as we noticed quite a few single males and transgenders mixed in with the crowd. Now, we are fine with both single males and TG's when we expect them to be present but considering that this event was specifically designed to cater to couples on a couples-oriented holiday, well, we were severly disappointed.

The couples-only issue was the major focus in the pre-event meetings between P.E. and A.L.L. and therefore explicitly mentioned in the advertising for the party. We are sorry it didn't turn out that way and would like to extend our apologies to everyone who was less than enthused how the event transpired.

In light of this situation we have removed all P.E advertising (I think we got it all) and American LowLife is no longer offering a 1/2 price discount coupon on the club's behalf. We still respect the anything-goes attitude of P.E. and feel the place has a lot of potential but when our members are promised one thing and receive another we feel we need to respond in a proactive way.

Just wanted to let you know...

If you like to slam a couple of drinks and then sit down for a few hands of poker at one of Las Vegas' many poker rooms, just beware that there are some sharks out there licking their lips in anticipation. We have a few friends who regularly hit the casinos looking for players with more money than experience (or sense).

This writer recently visited the Palms poker room and, besides commenting on the luxurious appointments, he also reported on the "fish-in-a-barrel" players hanging out there:

"By the time 11:00 PM or midnight rolls in, the games tend to have louder, more aggressive, drunker, and certainly wilder players. Maybe they're leaving the nightclubs and bars. Maybe they're just getting ready to party and are juiced up on adrenaline and testosterone. But for whatever reason, the rooms become wonderfully profitable for the disciplined player. I recommend them most at this time."

At the same time some city and state officials are advocating legalized prostitution in Clark County (although the state senate recently decided not to consider the issue), Las Vegas Metro Police Department is cracking down on the girls who work the resorts by publishing a "Top 50" list of the worst repeat offenders and creating a "no-enter zone" .

Convicted working girls entering the designated resort corridor (which, according to the map, appears to also include Hush and Power Exchange) for any reason other than lawful employment or residency will be rearrested and given jail time.

Police will use the list to identify the worst offenders. Others will use the list's photos to make it easier to pick out a trick for the night (although some of them are kinda scary).

Valentine's Day is supposedly special day seemingly created by greeting card companies to increase their sales. The holiday sees the second greatest number of cards sent--approximately one billion--with only Christmas having more. The chocolate companies then jumped on the bandwagon and now the diamond producers and jewelry stores spread the message of "you would if you loved her". If the economy hadn't tanked we're pretty sure Lexus and other auto makers would be telling us to buy her a car to prove our love.

Well, in case you hadn't noticed it, there seems to be a backlash against the consumerism involved with showing that special person in your life you care. People are fed up with being guilted into proving their love using monetary evidence. Or so says a multi-year study conducted by a UNLV researcher and published in this month's Journal of Business Research.

The researcher asserts: "Everybody knows V-Day is supposed to be about sunny smiles and glorious rainbows and fluffy puppy dogs, but it has somehow morphed into a buy-me-a-trinket-with-diamonds-on-it-and-I'll-love-you-forever day filled with pressure."

~sigh~ It's a bummer that Valentine's Day has come to this but that won't stop us--nor a whole slew of lifestylers--from having a romantic and sexy time. Perhaps if the vanilla world would just say to hell with all this commercialism and decided, instead, to have some wild--and inexpensive sex--with complete strangers we could get back to the basics of the holiday. See you at the Power Exchange. Or Hush. Or Green Door, Couples Oasis, Sinsations or the Purrfect Party. Let's all celebrate Valentine's in a sweaty--and romantic, of course--heap!

Well, we were warned you it was going to happen and now it is. Terry Fator, the puppet dude who parlayed a win on NBC's 'America's Got Talent' into a reported $100 million contract to take over the Mirage showroom vacated by Danny Gans, is gearing up for next month's March 17th opening.

Preview performances begin March 13th and Fator has tried to make his act just a wee bit more "Las Vegas" by adding a racier character (well, racier for him) named "Vicki the Cougar", a personna all lifestylers can appreciate (many 1st hand).

For a description of Fator's main characters and how they came about, read this.
Note: The link in the beginning of this post has several links to some YouTube vids of Fator that it seems have been removed. Wonder if the Mirage ordered that. Hmmm... I'll try and dig more up...

Since A.L.L. is such a soft and cuddly site where nary a sarcastic or cynical word is uttered, we'll keep with that tradition and send along a photo of the latest leopard cub--"Java"--now on display at Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden in the The Mirage.

The Secret Garden now has six leopards, one snow leopard and one black panther, all of which are endangered species.

Ain't he cute? And ain't we sweet? Yep, in both cases...

(For a slide show with a bunch more cutesy pics, click here. Mouse over the photo for the slide show controls)snow leopard and one black panther, all of which are endangered species.

If you haven't visited Encore, Steve Wynn's new gem of a property, then this article in Casino City Times will give you a nice look at the property. It isn't a critical piece at all but then again, Encore is a pretty damn nice resort so maybe there's not a lot of criticism to be said.

Ok, so maybe you won't be a porn star but you could make $500 or more when you respond to one of those billboards along I-15. If you've wondered about the story behind advertisements, here's an article about the company--named "Bait & Tackle"--and what you would have to do to earn the cash.

Motley Crue has been in the Las Vegas news lately. First, the back-from-the-dead metal-rock band closed Hard Rock Hotel's famed intimate, 2,000 seat nightclub The Joint this past weekend to make way for a new and improved version. Hard Rock was forced to compete with the likes of the newer House of Blues and the newest Pearl (Palms) so will open a new 4,000 seat club with the same name in April. The Crue was specially selected to close The Joint much as they did the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts in 1997 (although there was no near-riot this time).

Lead singer Vince Neal is busy in Vegas working on projects outside the band with the opening of rock 'n' roll nightclub/restaurants and tattoo parlors. Reports are he will open a 3rd "Dr. Feelgood" (the first two are in Florida) at an undisclosed location on West Sahara on April 11 (with a "soft" opening mid-March). He's also planning another "Vince Neil Ink" tat shop in the Rio this summer (the first is in O'Shea's on the Strip).

Also, whether you are a fan of the band or not, you might want to read Nikki Sixx's account of a year in the life of a totally fucked up addict (heroin, coke, Jack Daniels--you name it). "The Heroin Diaries" is a hard-to-put-down diary of the Motley bassist and song writer. Sixx shot, snorted and drank nearly everything he could put his hands on and gives an unbelievable look at how the band lived, died--Sixx was officialy dead at least once--fought and fucked during one of their legendary tours.

If you are a skier or snowboarder and want a quick "white stuff" fix, the latest inclemate weather resulted in a monster dump of new snow on our local ski area, Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort. Including last night's precipitation, LVS&SR has received 27 inches of new snow making for a 54" base.

Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort is less than an hour away and the perfect place to escape reality for awhile.

Well, bummer. Now the massive CityCenter is having even more problems. We were all kinda wishing that when the largest private construction project in the country was finished it would give this hurtin' town a bit of a positive jolt. We had hoped the financing difficulties and the construction deaths were long behind us and it would be clear sailing through to the grand opening. Guess not. Now, due to construction issues, they are going to scrunch the coolest-looking part of the project...

From the Las Vegas Sun:
"What if they had shorted the Empire State Building by a couple of football fields? Or gave the Great Pyramid a flattop? Or built the Eiffel Platform?

Size certainly isn’t everything when it comes to buildings, of course. But the impact of many iconic structures is in their sheer stature. That is why it’s so startling — disappointing, even — that the Harmon hotel, CityCenter’s gateway to the Las Vegas Strip, has suddenly been cut down to about half its intended size."

Designers and architects are calling the reengineering devastating to the aesthetics of CityCenter.
The general contractor says it was design flaws, a subcontractor and some inspectors who are to blame for the mess.

Rates to get to Las Vegas, rates to stay here and rates to play here keep going down. Lowered plane fares, slashed room prices and incentive packages that include restaurant, spa, and show tickets are all part of the offerings going on right now.

A $19 room at the Sahara? $90/night at Mandalay? Free Cirque tickets? Buy one flight get a return round-trip free? It's getting crazy, I tell ya!

If you've flown on a flight into Las Vegas, particularly on a Friday afternoon (but anytime, really) you were bound to notice that the atmosphere was, most likely, quite festive as that prelude to imminent all-out Vegas partying can get a bit raucous. Some flight attendants we know dread that shift--some even requesting not to be scheduled during the prime party flights--while others simply resign themselves to the inevitable and make the best of it.

We understand it. People come to Vegas to party and want to get in the mood a little earlier than after touch-down. We seem to recall a similar atmosphere on flights to Jamaica, Cancun and Cabo. We might have even participated in the festivities although the memory is fuzzy now.

Unfortunately, all too often that sort of bachelor party behavior shows up during a way-too-expensive show on the Strip. We understand the hooting and hollering during a concert or at a strip club but all throughout a Cirque (or similar) show? Dude, people are trying to watch an outrageously-priced spectacle where audience participation is mostly just an annoyance! Can ya put a lid on it for the next 90 minutes or head to Treasures Gentleman's Club, instead?

A Las Vegas Sun columnist had a particularly bad experience while trying to take in "Love" at the Mirage recently...

We've been collecting some entertainment news and such for awhile so we're going to attempt to clean our slate and dump them into a single Know It A.L.L.

The singing duo that comprises Zowie Bowie (not to be confused with David Bowie's son) who perform every Sunday Night at Green Valley Ranch (they had originally anchored the Red Rock lounge since it opened) is moving to the Palms' "The Lounge" starting March 6th for a nightly show. More pictures of Zowie Bowie.

More News About ND's Fuego, Fab Four Mania, Menopause, Rita Rudner, Danny Gans, and Bette Midler (more)

They've always wanted one and this summer there will finally be a Hard Rock Cafe on the Las Vegas Strip.

But first the background: The initial Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) in Las Vegas was (and still is) a smallish, Denny's-sized restaurant which sits in front of the Hard Rock Hotel. The two are not affiliated (except with a land-sharing agreement) although HRC co-founder Peter Morton started both of them. Lots of selling has gone on since. Currently, the casino is owned by the Morgans Hotel Group and the cafes are owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Morton is a very rich man. (Note: The movie "Domino" starring Keira Knightley was about Morton's bounty hunting step-daughter Domino Harvey. Who knew?)

Details on the New--and Big--Hard Rock Cafe (more)

It was an experiment that worked well. Caesars Palace execs weren't sure if Elton John would be a successful, long-term headliner at their huge Colosseum so they signed him up on a sorta trial basis (75 shows in 18 months) in '04 as a fill-in for Celine Dion.

On this coming April 22nd, after his 241st show, Elton and his "Red Piano" will call it quits (we think). Elton's doesn't jump around on stage as much as he used to and his voice can't hit the high notes but he still gives a heckuva show so if you haven't checked him out yet the final clock is ticking. Tickets are now on sale for the last run of shows.

We applaud Caesars for taking the chance on a long-term commitment with an entertainment icon that might not have translated to Vegas success (like they also did with Celine and, more recently, Bette Midler) and hope they can come up with another unexpected gem.

The LowLife listing for Elton's Red Piano

Judging by the number of LowLife events this February 14th, Valentine's Day is a holiday for both lovers and sexers (you get the idea) and since the celebration lands on a Saturday evening, there seems to be a ton of options to chose from for both eating and, well, eating of a different kind...

If you traditionally enjoy a nice romantic meal on Valentine's then you might want to take a look at our extensive listing of Las Vegas restaurants and some of the special meals they are preparing for the evening. It's definitely mouth-watering.

Speaking of mouth watering, there are so many sexy Valentine's parties and happenings around town that, once again, we created a special Valentine's Party Listing just for those happenings.

On the lifestyle side of things, be sure and consider the Valentine's party at the Power Exchange where the entire upstairs will be for couples only, the sexy party at Hush with Danny and T.A.N. friends, and the Green Door's comedy pajama party with hostess Morgan Ray.

More parties include PurrfectLV, Couples Oasis, Sinsations, and JJ Western Swing in Pahrump. Here's the complete listing of lifestyle parties.

Here are some figures for both the television side and the sports betting side (we like numbers so we do this) of Big Game XLIII (Note: "XLIII" refers to the 43rd Super Bowl. If you see "XLIII" on much of the "Big Dog" brand clothes in your closet it might be time to skip a few trips to the Rio buffet. Then again, if you are that big maybe you'll want to try out for the new United Football League coming to Las Vegas. Burly females might want to consider a spot on our all-women tackle football team, the Las Vegas Showgirlz.)

TV Ratings
It wasn't quite a record but last week's Super Bowl did pretty well as it was the 2nd-highest rated championship game of all time. Last year's event was the highest rated game in history but considering that it had an undefeated New England Patriot team attempting to make history against the big-market New York Giants, this year's small-market match-up stands up pretty well.

An average 95.4 million viewers watched the game (down 2% from last year's game) with an estimated 147 million tuning in for at least six minutes of the game. We probably will never see any show beat the top rated show of all time, the last episode of M.A.S.H., which drew 106 million viewers.

TV Ad Rates
While the cost of a 30-second ad was a record this year--at $3,000,000 per--advertisers considered it a good deal due to the number of in-game ad views, the close attention paid to the ads, the pre-game build-up of the ads and the replaying of ads on YouTube, Hulu, Yahoo and many other places. It's interesting to note that the ad rate for the first Super Bowl in 1967 was $42,000 per spot, in 1980 it was $222k, $700k in 1990 and $2.4 mil. in 2000. Complete listing.

Sports Betting
While a near-record number of people watched the game, the number of people who wagered on the Big Game--and the amount they bet--were significantly down from last year but Nevada's sports books were more than happy. Wait a minute... The public bet $92.1 million last year and only $81.5 mil. this year and the books were pleased? Yep. As any better will tell you it's not how much ya bet but how much ya win and, since the books lost money on Super Bowl 42 ($2.6 mil.) for only the 2nd time in 18 years, winning $6.7 mil, this year was very nice, indeed.

As you might expect, it's assumed the economy was the culprit in the lower overall handle with less people betting overall and those that did wager dolling out fewer bucks per bet.

While Las Vegas thinks it's ready for a major league professional team to be located here, we've had all sorts of trouble attracting one. Part of it is the fact that we allow betting on sports and the league execs can't seem to grasp our point of view that sports wagering is going to happen whether they like it or not so it may as well be regulated and on the up and up like it is here.

The other sticking point is our lack of major league-quality facilities. If we had a professional arena in Las Vegas there have been indications the NBA and NHL would get involved in serious discussions with us for a franchise. Perhaps if the economy hadn't tanked we might have even broken ground on one. Given the costs of a new football stadium, however, it'll be quite some time before the NFL is even forced to acknowledge that we are a viable candidate.

If Not the NFL, Then What? (more)

If you play poker and/or follow the World Series of Poker, the following articles might be of interest to you...

WSOP To Keep Final-Table Delay
In the past, the World Series of Poker has been played from beginning to end during a two-week sitting and then, when the event began being televised, the show edited and eventually broadcast months later. This past year, ESPN decided to do something different and, while the preliminaries occurred in July, the 9-person final-table happened in November at the Rio's Penn & Teller Theatre and much of it was televised live. It looks like it was the most successful WSOP ever so the final-table delay will once again be part of the July/November event. There will be some changes, however, such as stretching the final-table action from two to four days.

Whether the delay had anything to do with it or not, there's no denying that last year's WSOP was an overwhelming success. In addition to record-breaking attendance and TV ratings for the final table, the WSOP broke overall marks for total prize pool ($180,774,427), number of entries (58,720), number of players (31,146) and number of countries represented (124).

No-Dealer Poker Update
A few months ago we reported on an electronic, dealerless poker room being created in the Excalibur as a test to see the response. In what is surely bad news for this town's poker dealers, it sounds like players of all ages like the game and are becoming repeat customers. A poker playing columnist gave the game a try and filed this report on the Excalibur's poker experiment.

It's getting a bit tight around the collar for ex Fry's Electronics vice president Asuaf Umar Siddiqui. For quite awhile he was living the high life as a Las Vegas "whale", with all the benefits that go along with gambling lots (and lots) of money in our casinos. Unfortunately, he lost (and lost).

So, whataya gonna do when you owe a bunch of Vegas casinos (and resorts in Atlantic City and Connecticut) over $65 million? Well, if you've got the right job and the wrong inclinations you simply cook up an elaborate scheme in which ya cut side deals with some of your company's suppliers, buying their goods at higher prices and in greater quantities than normal in exchange for kickbacks of up to 31 percent of the sales price.

Big Play, Big Debts, Big Theft (more)

The phrase "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models" is sure to get most red-blooded LowLife's motor running and the rumor that a bunch of them might be headed to Las Vegas for a promotional event is even more exciting. I'm getting some wood just thinking about it...

Anyway, the word is that Las Vegas will, for the first time ever, host a series of events to kick off the 2009 version of SI's swimsuit edition.

While details are sketchy, the models will invade the city February 12th and their Las Vegas appearance will be part of a three-way promotion involving Sports Illustrated, Southwest Airlines and the convention and visitors authority.

Now, this is visitors authority-sponsored event we can get into. It seems to fit our image more than flying in a bunch of hicks from Cranfils Gap for an free week of sightseeing...