Casino [ptz]

SITE NOTES

Not too much site work, outside of finishing the redesign. The Art Gallery has been overhauled to bring it up to the rest of the site. Work on the WSOP exhibit is continuing. Putting together the annual summaries is actually very labor intensive. The galleries, though, are virtually finished.

The biggest work we've done around here, though, is the New York New York Heroes Tribute project. Israel, the student assistant who is actually cataloging and photographing the t-shirts and other artifacts, has done a tremendous job--as of today, we have arond 1,050 things processed. We are going to move the first 100 boxes down into LASR (the automoated storage and retrieval system that will house the collection) tomorrow. It's really cool to see something go from being an idea to actually happening.

On to the news

LAS VEGAS, NV: COLOSSAL THEATER, HIP CONCERTS

Caesars Palace is betting the house that their new Colossieum, which will feature Celine Dion 200 nights a year, will re-established that Strip casino as an "important place." Story here from the LVRJ.
So for those of you keeping score at home, the correct analogy will be: Siegried and Roy::Mirage::Celine Dion::Caesars Palace. But she won't have Danny Gans to back her up, or the volcano.
So maybe the correct analogy is Celine Dion:: Caesars Palace :: Wayne Newton::Stardust. Yes, I think that is much better, except they just renamed a theater for Wayne, they didn't build a whole new one.
I'm going to go ahead and assume that Park Place Entertainment, which owns the Palace, knows more about entertainment than I do, because last I checked, Celine Dion was SO 1998. ;)
That's all the run I'll get out of that story.

An older story, but a funny one: The Hard Rock and the Palms are dueling over hip young acts like Ozzy Osbourne and Aerosmith. That's because Vegas is in a different time zone--when it's 8pm in Los Angeles, its 1981 in Las Vegas (yes, an old one but a funny one). Anyway, story here from the LVRJ.

I love how, for casinos, the young upstart crowd is, like, 40. Way to sign those cutting edge acts! Tell me one thing: if they are losing money on these gigs, how come Korn is over $65? I don't think I would pay that much to see anyone. Sammy Hagar at the Hard Rock is selling seats for up to $105. I'd see that show for free, maybe, but not for over $100. In better news, Disturbed, who I'm seeing in November, only costs $32.50 a seat. I wonder why they didn't make the article.

No time for the swing around the nation (i.e., hit the AC Press site). I'll bring you more news later in the week.
posted by Dave at 5:00 PM