Looks like the Venetians' new tower, the Palazzo, won't be fully operational until mid-January and so are not allowing people to book rooms until after the scheduled December 20th opening (December 28th, to be exact).
Normally, a new Las Vegas resort will pre-book rooms well in advance of the opening and, if you're like the Wynn, for example, be sold out for the first several months--a good way to get the flow of revenue going without having to do much of anything. It appears the Palazzo will open in pieces with one of those so-called "soft" (i.e. not-quite-ready) openings in late December.
Tryin' to grab some of that New Year's Eve money, ya think?

While Las Vegas has plenty of wealthy older men willing to treat young, attractive girls quite well in exchange for some companionship, the same environment doesn't exist here for older women and young, virile men. If that's what you are into, looks like you may have to pay a visit to Kenya as these sexy British seniors do, who are finding plenty of hard-bodied bucks willing to please.
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A pretty good writer from Denver gives a fun review of his time in Las Vegas. Worth a read if you have a few seconds...
An excerpt:
"I will start by saying that a trip to Vegas is something everyone should do at least once in their lifetime. Vegas is hard to describe. It's amazing what unmitigated greed and truckloads of money can accomplish. The sheer scale, scope, and decadence of it all are unimaginable.
Vegas was a veritable U.N. of debauchery. It was a lot like Epcot in Disneyworld, only with hookers, legalized gambling, and no closing time."

A vending machines that dispenses cell phones and SIM cards has popped up in Terminal 2 of Las Vegas' McCarran Airport, appealing primarily to international visitors who want to make cheap calls back home. According to the article, U.K. travellers, for example, are used to paying $1.45 per minute to calls back home. With the vended cards/phones, the price of calls is a miniscule 1.5 cents per minute!
Another selling point is that the phones and cards automatically search for and find the strongest network nearest each subscriber as the subscriber moves about Las Vegas or the country.

The Super Bowl of rodeo is coming to town once again and we'll be inundated with cowboys, country music and western apparal sales. It's National Finals Rodeo time (12/6-12/15) and with it's $5.5 million in prize money it's helping make the best cowboys very rich. The all-around winner pocketed a record $330,000 last year. Now that deserves a big yeee-hawww!
An NFR Slide Show
The LowLife NFR Listing including schedule of events.

Should you venture off the Strip, you'll find some great bars and lounges with excellent food and drink specials. This article lists some of the more unique happy hour offerings from across the valley.

With the upcoming opening of the $2 billion Palazzo hotel tower, a vision Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson had a decade ago, is almost complete. He envisioned two large, upscale hotels connected to a huge convention center. First, Adelson bought the old Sands Casino, tore it down and built the Venetian in it's place, connecting it to the Sands Convention Center. Then he upgraded the convention center and when the Palazzo opens in December he'll have the complex that will be marketed as "MEGACENTER" (yes, in all caps), specifically targeting convention traffic.
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An L.A. Times writer takes a look at some of the unique places to watch football in Las Vegas. From scantily clad waitresses (and Miller Girls, Las Vegas Vodka Girls) and special drink prices to La-Z-Boy recliners and king crab leg specials--Las Vegas offers some excellent amenities that just might making football viewing better than being at the game.

A few years ago, our (mostly) beloved mayor, Oscar Goodman, thought it would be a cool idea for Las Vegas to have a museum that was totally unique and very Vegas. Oscar wanted a "mob museum", an ode to Las Vegas' mobbed-up beginnings, showcasing our colorful and lore-filled Mafia past, some of which would feature Goodman's former clients when he was a defense attorney for local mobsters.
Well, it looks like the project is becoming a reality. The museum backers have a building, they have enough money to get started, they have a leader (a former head of the Las Vegas FBI), and they have some pledges of support from people like the "Casino" book/movie author and from the FBI itself (who will loan organized crime artifacts).
It'll be a fitting legacy for ol' Oscar...

Did ya ever wanna be in the circus, perhaps be a performer in one of the Cirque du Soleil shows around town? Or maybe your kids saw Mystere and "wanna do that". There aren't a whole lot of places to gain the experience unless you run off (or ship your kids off) to Eastern Europe or Russia for awhile. That is, until recently. Las Vegas is now home to a circus-act training center where the Cirque stars of today can practice and young, potential stars of tomorrow (ages 5 and up) can get training from Moldovan masters.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman has been sued yet again due to another incident in Las Vegas. This time, a former beverage manager at the Hard Rock is claiming Rodman rubbed against her body and slapped her ass. The time before, Rodman allegedly "humiliated" a Mirage craps dealer by rubbing dice on his head, chest, stomach and genitals. The dealer wanted $80k for the incident. The case was settled out of court.
Watch for Rodman, a frequent visitor to Sin City. If your humiliation level is low and suing is your thing then you can make a bundle off of his bad behavior.
We probably would have asked him to a party, instead...

With the Las Vegas housing market in a prolonged slump, almost every major builder is offering deep discounts on their recently-built inventory. If ya have the bucks, you can save $25k to $200k on new homes from pretty much every valley builder, with the price slashing dropping their 8-10 week inventory to as little as 4-6 weeks.

A new coffee shop has opened in Las Vegas and it's not the same ol' grind. Well, the coffee might taste familiar but the servers inject a little bit more zip in the cup since the are clad in sexy lingerie. Located near UNLV on the corner of Swenson and Flamingo, Sexxpresso is hoping sex sells mocha java. Grab yourself a Double D size cup of Wet Dream, Joy Ride or Erotic Pleasure and enjoy both the taste and the view.
--VegasRex.com has a slide show.
--MSN.com has a video (after the ad, of course).
--Sexxpresso is hiring, in case you were looking...

Norm, the Review-Journal gossip dude, seems to have given Louisville University a bit of a hissy fit when he reported "At LAX nightclub (Luxor) on Wednesday: Former NBA pro Walter McCarty and members of the Louisville Cardinals basketball team, toasting shots of Patron tequila and glasses of Veuve Clicquot champagne after their win over UNLV."
Now, the University is talking lawsuit.
However, it appears that ol' Norm just may have some pretty damning evidence in the form of eye witnesses, credit card receipts and photos posted on NapkinNights.com.

If you drove to Las Vegas or rented a car once you got here, you just may have noticed that navigating the hotspots via auto can be a real pain.
"The Strip, of course, is where the traffic jams the worst. On any given night, it is wall-to-wall autos, and with mega-watt car stereos booming and half-gassed co-eds leaning through moon roofs of rented limos, challenged by legions of inebriated pedestrians dashing across the boulevard, it almost seems as if getting somewhere is really not the point."
How to avoid some of the Las Vegas traffic.

The Broadway musical "The Producers" is going to become the latest casualty on the Las Vegas Strip.
Mel Brooks' story of a scheming producer and his accountant who try to produce a flop and then reap the benefits is closing February 9th after a 1-year run.
Tony Danza, who plays the lead role of Max Bialystock, has extended his contract another month to remain with the show until the final curtain.

Unlike The Sands, Dunes, Stardust, New Frontier and some of the other hotels where the famed Rat Pack used to hang out, it appears the Sahara will be spared a demolition. The new owners of the 55 year old hotel have decided to leave the structure intact and are weighing plans to substantially renovate the interior and possibly even changing the name. They've put a quick $2 million into spiffing up the lobby and plan to spend a lot more in the coming months.

Wanna go shopping on Thanksgiving or the day after? Las Vegas offers plenty of options as the casino malls are open on Thanksgiving day as are the two major outlet malls and Kmart. This article lists the malls open on Thanksgiving and Friday along with hours of operation.

If you have any stock in Wynn Resorts Ltd., the owner of Wynn, the most lucrative casino in Las Vegas, keep looking in your mailbox as you are about to receive a hefty dividend check. Wynn will be sending out $686 million to stockholders in a few days. At $6 per share, founder and chairman Steve Wynn will receive some Christmas spending cash to the tune of $144 million out of that total.

In years past, Thanksgiving in Las Vegas was a rather slow time for the Strip with many people staying home or heading to their relatives and with convention traffic on pause. Over the past few years all that has changed dramatically.
"Instead of gathering at Grandma's house, (Vegas visitors during Thanksgiving) eat gourmet turkey dinners and champagne brunches at casino hotels. They've scored hard-to-come-by tickets to popular shows, such as Jubilee at Bally's Hotel and Cirque de Soleil. And they'll avoid the scores of business convention-goers who fill the city at other times of the year."

About a year ago, Nevada voters approved a law to ban smoking in their friendly, neighborhood bar and tavern (but not in strip clubs, brothels, casino gaming floors or bars that don't serve food).
To hang onto customers who smoke, bartenders have dreamed up all sorts of ways to evade the new rules. In lieu of now-prohibited ashtrays, they put out cups of water. They stock foil ashtrays in cigarette machines. They close their grills but, with a wink, hand out menus from nearby restaurants that will deliver to bar patrons.
A look at the smoking scene a year later...

I guess we should feel honored that terrorists might think so highly of us that we're listed as the ninth-rated city in the U.S. most likely to suffer a terrorist strike.
Five cities, according to the report, face a substantially greater risk of terrorism than Las Vegas: New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. At ninth, Las Vegas is bunched together with Boston, Houston, Philadelphia, and Miami.

Jet nightclub in the Mirage was packed with onlookers as 25 contestants competed in a pole dancing competition called "Pole-A-Palooza 2007". Before the final three showed off their pole prowess, one local high-roller upped the ante and offered an additional $10K of his own cash to make the total prize $20K for the lucky winner. Anika, an instructor at Pole Fitness studio in Las Vegas, was voted winner by the capacity crowd of adoring and appreciative patrons.

Here's a look at some photos from the event (click on the numbers to view individual photos).

Teller, the quiet member of the Penn & Teller comedy duo perfroming at the Rio, lives in Las Vegas and his house is a playground for both adults and inquisitive kids complete with tricky mirrors, hidden doors, screaming tables and a talking bear that can do card tricks. Check out the slide show, too.

While the Strip hotels are all fine and dandy, there are some other lodging options you might want to check out. Here is a listing of 10 alternative places to stay. You might also check out this article which takes a look at condos and time shares. It also mentions vacation home rentals which the County is trying to make illegal due to all the complaints from neighbors.

If you have some extra money to throw around perhaps you might want to check out some of these items: A $3,000 cocktail, a $225 sushi roll, a $5,000 burger & wine combo, a $1,200 couples massage or a $18,000 pair of jeans. This article takes a look at some of the excesses available in Las Vegas to those with a suplus of disposable income.

Norm, the gossip dude from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, says the Hard Rock Hotel is undergoing a transition:
"Changes are brewing at Hard Rock Hotel.
Simon Kitchen & Bar, which closes tonight, is being replaced by AGO, the South Beach Italian-style restaurant by Agostino Sciandri and Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro.
A.J.'s Steakhouse will soon be replaced by a new concept created by the owners of Los Angeles hotspot Les Deux Café.
AGO, pronounced aw-go, is named after Sciandri, who opened his first one in West Hollywood in 1997 with De Niro, who also is a part-owner of Nobu. AGO's menu is heavily influenced with Tuscan flavors.
Singer Pink and former motocross star Carey Hart are turning a Hard Rock lounge into a rock and roll bar called Wasted Space. Chef Kerry Simon is moving his "fun dining" concept to Palm Place, with a spring opening planned."
We always like A.J.'s so hopefully it's replacement will do it justice...

So you're a mid- to large-sized city and you notice that maybe some of that convention traffic just might be a lucrative market to be in and maybe you should go after some of it. It's not as easy to grab as it looks and it certainly doesn't come cheap, especially if you are trying to steal some of it away from Las Vegas.

Las Vegas has topped TradeShow Week's ranking of who gets what in terms of the top 200 trade shows for the past 13 years. In 2006, the city hosted 45 of the 200 biggest shows, a 22.5 percent market share. Orlando was in second place with 20 shows (a 10 percent market share), followed by Chicago with 18, and New York City with 16.

Even more incredible statistics from the Bloomberg.com article ... (more)

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team had a pretty good year last year, winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament and making it to the Sweet 16, ending with a 30-7 record. This year it will be a different story with 5 seniors gone (4 starters--1 in the NBA) and no one over 6'-8". It'll be a short, plucky squad relying on fast breaks, full-court presses and 3-pointers.

A few Runnin' Rebel factoids:
--This season is the 50th year of UNLV basketball.
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Just ran across a news release from an Australian newpaper (of all places) which has announced that LSO Ltd, which also trades as Lifestyles Resorts, Wide World Lifestyles and PlayCouples, has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in California.
It seems to be a case that sex sells but doesn't always pay the bills for the company that organizes erotic, adult-only holidays mainly in Jamacia and Mexico at resorts with names like Hedonism 2 and 3 and Desire.

From Argus Hamilton --
"Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bought his own jumbo airliner on Sunday. When Muslims are off the ground, they are free to violate their religion's strict ban on the use of alcohol. Protestants get the same waiver the moment they land in Las Vegas.''

While the transition from being the Aladdin to becoming Planet Hollywood has been going on for months with several mini-grand openings of clubs and eateries occuring during that span, the official, official grand opening for the property is scheduled for this weekend.
Planet Hollywood has pulled in a lot of their Hollywood friends for the two-day event: actors Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis, actress and singer Barbra Streisand and comedian Jon Stewart top the list of stars expected to attend or perform over the weekend.
Here's a LowLife good luck toast to PH (any excuse to toast, you know) with wishes you do better than the hapless Aladdin did...

A reporter from the L.A. Times visits Sin City not to gamble and party and see shows but to check out the natural splendor of the valley while rock climbing, biking and kayaking. A look at some non-casino things to do while in town.

While a lot of Strip shows have acrobats doing aerial stunts on rings and silk strands, Zumanity's have usually been some of the more skillful around. Unfortunately, that part of the show may be curtailed for awhile until a female acrobat recovers from a 20 foot drop onto a male standing on stage, which many in the audience thought was part of the show.
Ouch! Now that's gotta hurt!
The male has been released from the hospital and the female is said to be recovering.

If you're a political junkie then you probably know Las Vegas will be the center of the U.S. political world tonight. If you don't give a rat's ass but want to avoid some extra traffic during rush hour, stay away from the area around the Cox Pavillion (on the UNLV campus) as the Democratic presidential candidates will be gathering and debating in front of a national CNN audience, letting us know how they will save American from itself.

There aren't any tickets left but A.L.L. has made special arrangements for it's members. If you tell security you've had a 3-way with moderator Wolf Blitzer you will be given VIP treatment. Try it and see what happens!

Crazy Horse Too gentlemen's club was shut down and seized in September by federal marshals due to all sorts of shenanigans by the owner (who is currently in prison). The feds have been trying to sell the place and have missed the Las Vegas City Council's deadline.
The deadline has now been extended to the end of the year and, with 4 serious offers in hand, it looks like the club may re-open in the next few months.

To chefs, it's like receiving an Oscar for their work. To restaurants, it can mean as much as a 30% increase in business. To discriminating diners, it's the first place to look when visiting a city. What is it? It's the France-based culinary Michelin Guide and it has finally decided to rate Las Vegas (and Los Angeles) restaurants.
And we done good, real good...

--Complete Las Vegas Michelin Listings-- (more)

The cocktail waitresses at the Infield, Planet Hollywood's sports book lounge, may wear long sleaves but they make up for it with an open jacket that displays a push-up bra and bare midriff. Combine that with the boy shorts and the fishnets and you've got a pretty sexy number serving you drinks while you're rooting for your team to make your bet a winning one.

One of the headlines read "New Frontier Gone, Beer Prices Up On Strip". As the Las Vegas Strip goes higher and higher end, we now have one less piece of history in Las Vegas. At 2:30 Tuesday morning, the New Frontier Hotel was imploded to make way for yet another multi-billion dollar resort. To see the demise of the resort where Elvis first played in Las Vegas, check out this video of the demolition (ya might have to sit through an ad).

CatHouse is a new club/restaurant that will be opening in the Luxor near the end of December. Looks like it'll have some of the scantiliest-clad servers on the Strip! Woo hoo!!
American LowLife has received an exclusive 1st look at the renderings of the lounge, bar, restaurant and, best of all, the attire of the ladies who will be working there. Can a topless club inside a casino be far behind?

Here are additional artist renderings and a complete press release which explains the concept. (more)

If you are cruising near the Strip and happen to notice the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel is red, well, it's because there's a vino celebration goin' on!

Paris Las Vegas will light the 50-story replica of the Eiffel Tower red at midnight on the morning of Thursday, November 15th to launch a week of Beaujolais Nouveau festivities celebrating the release of the 2007 wine. This is the first property wide Beaujolais Nouveau celebration in the history of Paris Las Vegas.
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During the past decade, Las Vegas has seen an amazing growth in the number of award-winning restaurants and an influx of world-class chefs. This trend has also affected the traditional buffets as many of them have become rather amazing in their own right. Forbes Magazine has listed their top buffets in town along with a slide show. (Click on the little arrow to start the slides)

A new shopping mall is coming to the Strip. Well, it's sort of on the Strip and it's sort of a mall. Town Square Las Vegas is a $750 million, 1.5 million square foot, 117 acre development at Sunset Road and Las Vegas Boulevard (includes the existing Fry's Electronics) and is designed to look like a small town.
Besides all the shops and restaurants, it'll also have a $3 million children's park will have a lifesize playhouse, treehouse with climbing rope, hedge maze with animal topiaries, 35 pop-jet splash fountains and playground equipment made of Robinia wood (I guess that's good, right?).
Town Square opens this Wednseday.

For a restaurant to receive good ratings in the French Michelin Guide is quite an honor; to receive 3 stars is, like the food they serve, to die for. MGM Grand's "Joel Robuchon" was the only eatery to earn the coveted award in Michelin's first ever edition covering L.A. and Vegas. 3 Stars denotes a restaurant with "exceptional cuisine" that is "worth a journey."
6 other restaurants (3 in LV) earned 2 stars. Michelin will host an exclusive celebration at Blush Nightclub at the Wynn on Thursday evening, Nov. 15.
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Michael Martin of the JetSetReport likes to check out upscale hotels, clubs restaurants, etc., and let people know if they are good enough for them. In this report for TheStreet.com, he seems to feel that Las Vegas is making some progress in becoming swankier, less sleazy (although he's not impressed with the Four Seasons Hotel). Hopefully, we won't do away with sleaze all together...

The new Red Rock cocktail uniforms have been designed to look like club wear off the rack at Bebe. "The whole theme of Red Rock was to be a little more chic, a little more hip, to get away from the bustier of Las Vegas," said Stacy Stagg, assistant general manager at Red Rock Resort.
The uniforms cover up just enough to make the servers feel comfortable yet offer enough glimpses through the slits on the skirt and the keyhole at the top to please the discerning customer.

O.J. Simpson is back in town for his preliminary hearing and so are scores of media personnel, causing the City to close roads and parking lots downtown, near the courthouse.
Not sure where O.J. is actually going to stay as the Palms (where he stayed last time), MGMMirage and Harrah's have publicly stated they don't want him on their properties. Even the Palace Station, site of Simpson's caper, doesn't want the business. Go figure.

The largest carrier at McCarran, Southwest Airlines (SWA), is adding even more fun & games to boarding their planes. SWA, the pioneer of the plane-boarding cattle call is adding another layer of passengers that get to board before those in the "first" group. Currently, handicapped passengers board first followed by families with children (there seem to be lots of these, don't there, with many loosely fitting the age requirements?) and then the "A", "B", and "C" groups of 30. Now, if ya spend $10-$30 more than SWA's top fares, you become an "elite business traveler" and can jump in front of the line. Cool, huh?

In case you want to be present at one of the frequent Las Vegas Strip hotel implosions, the time and day of the New Frontier de-construction is this coming Tuesday (11/13) at 2:30 in the morning. Appetizers and asbestos dust will be served.

The Venetian's new sister property, Palazzo, is set to open next month (a 12/20 target date) and the 50-floor tower will add 3,068 rooms to the Strip including 375 concierge-level suites and six villas up to 11,000 square feet each! The 250,000 square foot pool deck will connect with the Venetian's pool deck. A look at the construction photos.

New Info Added!Showroom/Restaurant/Shops info... (more)

--The 2008 Las Vegas Grand Prix through the streets of downtown looks like it has been cancelled as the promoter of the open-wheel car race has pulled out. A look at the failed downtown venture along with some previous ones.
--Singer Robert Goulet will be buried this Friday and the LV Convention Authority has asked hotels to post his name on their marquees for the day.
--Empire Ballroom has a new show called "Mexican Divas", a "glamorous revue" geared towards the Hispanic market.

Helen Salas is a Miss Nevada who just happened to win Tryst's Halloween costume contest and the $10,000 first prize. Hey, the costume ain't bad but was it the best? Some attending said it wasn't (although she has a smokin' bod which certainly can't hurt). In any case, it fuels speculation that some of these mega-dollar costume contests aren't on the up and up. Perhaps it's just sour grapes on the part of a bitter few but we've heard that perhaps one or two of the nightclub contest winners around town are pre-determined, with more elaborate costumes being overlooked.
(more)

Sexy uniforms are no strangers to Las Vegas but are usually the assigned garb of cocktail waitresses in trendy bars, not servers in fine dining restaurants. Strip House, a new gourmet restaurant inside Planet Hollywood, is bucking that trend with sexy-yet-sophisticated cocktail mini-dress attire.

Designed by Kiki de Montparnasse (I'm sure I'm supposed to know that name) features "a high elegant front (which) harmonizes a dangerously low back to reveal a signature satin lace-up corselette bra embellished with tulle lace. Complete with flutter sleeves, Kiki de Montparnasse’s style reflects the sexy sophisticated atmosphere of Strip House."

Whatever. All we know is that this is a dining trend we can get behind...

The best place to find attractive lipstick lesbians in Las Vegas was Girlbar, inside the Krave Lounge every Saturday night. Unfortunately, it looks like the party is over. According to their website: "Girlbar events are no longer at Krave in Las Vegas. Hot, new and exciting Girlbar Las Vegas location coming soon!"
Word we got is they were asked to leave...
When we find out where this hot new lez hangout will be we'll let you know.

It appears we'll have to wait awhile to party with the newly sober (and puffy-lipped) Lindsay Lohan. Lohan was originally contracted to party New Year's Eve at LAX Nightclub but has decided to spend the evening at home, celebrating quietly with friends and family "working on her sobriety" (at least those are the plans right now). Supposedly, Pure Management wouldn't let her out of her appearance contract so we'll probably see the immensely talented (did we say that?) starlet in Vegas when she starts drinking heavily again.

As you can see by Lindsay's photos, alcohol withdrawal can have a devastating effect on the body, causing lips to puff up uncontrollably at times, especially after injections.
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The 18th-fairway home at Shadow Creek formerly occupied by Steve and Elaine Wynn has been sold by owners MGM Mirage for a record-matching $17.5 million. The previous new home record was reached when a member of the Wal-Mart family bought a MacDonald Highlands home for $17.5 million earlier this year, with $1.5 million in furniture added over and above the selling price.
(more)

With the sides of Las Vegas buildings increasingly becoming huge billboard backdrops for liquor companies, athletic apparel and special events, some people are wondering if the trend is too tacky even for a town that's a bit schlocky to begin with. I guess a million bucks is tough to turn down...

A Las Vegas resident who commutes to his job in California (he's a practicing CA lawyer), recently filed a discrimination suit against the Las Vegas Athletic Clubs for charging lower membership rates for women and also for having a separate ladies gym within the main gyms. Now he has set his sights on Las Vegas nightclubs who offer Ladies' Nights.

He says "the only women who like ladies' nights are whores." (more)

Rosario Dawson was a hottie prostitute/dominatrix in the movie Sin City and now she's moving to Sin City. Well, she'll have a house here that her brother will live in and she'll visit frequently when she's not in London (where she's also going to buy a residence). She says it's time to get out of L.A.
We don't really care all that much either way (although it would be cool to see her out and about) but it's a good excuse to post pictures of Rosario.

Hey, we're fine with gays and all. Some of our best friends are gay. And some of their best friends are gay, too. And I think all of us guys have woken up one time or another in a strange bed, still drunk with several empty bottles of Jack strewn around in a room full of naked, passed-out men with dirty condoms stuck on or in their bods. It's all part of how male bonding has changed since Queer Eye came on Bravo.
But Hans Klok, the Dutch magician at Planet Hollywood, was a naughty and fibbing little boy... (more)

In one of the few cities left in America where union membership is on the rise, the Culinary Union is flexing its muscles on behalf of the laundry workers where the hotels send all those sheets you dirty up. The picket lines started at the Tropicana and the Palms and will spread elsewhere in the upcoming week, possibly culminating in a strike. Major issues include swingers using oil-based lubes and having anal sex on their nice, clean sheets and something else...oh, yeah, and medical benefits.

The word on the street, er, on the track is that Las Vegas will be getting another NASCAR race. Bruton Smith, the owner of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has been trying to add another race to our annual March event for quite awhile but officials didn't want to increase the overall number of dates on the national schedule. So, Smith has gone out and bought another racetrack (New Hampshire) that had two races and it looks like he'll be moving one of them here. (more)

This has nothing to do with Las Vegas and she's not a swinger as far as we know but we ran across these photos of a very talented California high school pole vaulter named Allison Stokke. I guess she was 18 years old when these were taken and has since graduated and enrolled in Cal-Berkeley where she'll be on the track & field team.

You probably didn't know we were that interested in pole vaulting. Well, we're getting there. (more)

Lance Bass, the former 'N Synch singer who is now openly gay, says he once married a female friend of his while in Las Vegas to get free drinks.
"People do stupid things in the heat of the moment," the 28-year-old singer told E! News in an article published Tuesday on its Web site. "I've been in Vegas where I've gotten married for like five minutes, but no one talks about it, though."

Bass, who was part of the boy band 'N Sync, says he got hitched in "1999 or 2000," and the bride was "just a friend." (more)