Living in Las Vegas, Dave’s home since 2001.
It’s Thursday, so that means another Vegas Seven. This week, I look at the Vegas staycation in the Green Felt Journal: Not everyone has the luxury of a Malibu summer home or the accrued sick/personal leave to spend their summer crashing in the Pacific waves or touring the Continent, so Las Vegans have increasingly turned […]
Staycations in Vegas Seven Read More »
life in vegas, Vegas SevenYesterday morning, after I read about the second homicide on the Strip in less than two weeks, I decided to write a short piece for Two Way Hard Three about why it was important for the County and Metro to get in front of the issue: But most people have the perception–or at least the
Talking Strip Safety on Two Way Hard Three, and more commentary Read More »
life in vegas, Two Way Hard ThreeJust in case you haven’t caught it on the Twitter feed, I’ve got two new posts up on Two Way Hard Three in which I share some photos I took Monday at a media preview for the Sahara Liquidation sale. Here’s a sample: Click here for the first patr and here for the second. Enjoy!
Sahara sale preview on Two Way Hard Three Read More »
life in vegas, Two Way Hard ThreeThe more I’ve been thinking about the situation on the Strip, the more I’m convinced that those who have a major stake in the continued viability of the Strip as a walkable pedestrian thoroughfare really need a better response to the performers/panhandlers/salespeople who are crowding out the tourists. So I wrote an open letter to
An open letter to the NRA in the LVBP Read More »
Las Vegas Business Press, life in vegasIn case you missed it, I’ve got a slightly-more-serious but still fun piece up on Two Way Hard Three about various longshots on the Las Vegas Strip: With a renewed push for a casino smoking ban in Nevada, I go to thinking: which would happen first–no smoking in a casino, or a casino dress code?
Which will we see first? in Two Way Hard Three Read More »
life in vegas, Two Way Hard ThreeI’ve got a Green Felt Journal out in today’s Vegas Seven that I’d really like people to read, because I think that the topic should be a major Las Vegas public policy issue: In the past year, a new menace has appeared on the Strip. Costumed “performers” have taken their place beside smut peddlers, nightclub
Freaks and Felons in Vegas Seven Read More »
life in vegas, Vegas SevenA profile piece that was a lot of fun to write is out today in Vegas Seven‘s Green Felt Journal. It’s the result of a long talk with Skylofts concierge Sherman James, who has quite a story: Sherman James might not be onstage when he arrives for work at 6 each morning at MGM Grand’s
Sherman James in Vegas Seven Read More »
life in vegasI can finally announce the specifics about this month’s Gaming Research Colloquium talk. Here’s the official announcement: Please join us on Thursday, March 24, at 12:15 PM, as March Gaming Research Fellow Benjamin Min Han delivers a Gaming Research Colloquium talk entitled “We’re Right Next Door’: Televisual Las Vegas in Cold War America.” Han, currently
March Gaming Colloquium announced Read More »
life in vegas, what's newYesterday I checked out the Las Vegas Mob Experience, the new attraction at the Tropicana. I had profoundly mixed feelings about it. We start out in a line, waiting to get in for about 20 minutes. There’s a big fake ship, with what is apparently bootlegged booze being off-loaded. As I tweeted, it reminded me
What I made of the LV Mob Experience Read More »
life in vegasAfter hearing–then reading about–one frequent Vegas traveler’s experience with the new Stratosphere, and seeing billboards trumpeting the “new” Strat splashed liberally around the valley, I was planning to head down to see what all the fuss was about. Then I got a call from KNPR’s State of Nevada to talk about the impact that the
Stratosphere renovations Read More »
life in vegas, news about gamblingVegas Seven is back on its weekly schedule after its end-of-year double issue, which means that today you have a brand new Green Felt Journal to read. It’s about how smaller casinos competing with the New Year’s parties on the Strip: The lion’s share of that haul goes to the big Strip resorts, which host
New Year’s Off-Strip in Vegas Seven Read More »
life in vegas, news about gamblingInteresting column in The Economist that I don’t necessarily agree with: More important, few residents of Las Vegas would any longer agree that their city is either great or happy. Nevada has America’s highest unemployment rate. In Las Vegas, unemployment has risen more this year even as it has flattened in the rest of the
Is the party really over? Read More »
life in vegas, news about gamblingNo Green Felt Journal this week because it’s a special Double Issue, but I did get a quick write-up of Co*, the Cosmopolitan’s not-a-cafeteria employee eatery in the Latest section in Vegas Seven: At the Cosmopolitan’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 15, property CEO John Unwin paid tribute to the 5,000 employees—the Cosmo term is “co-stars”—delivering “spirited
Co-stars at Co* in Vegas Seven Read More »
life in vegasI missed this yesterday, but my latest Green Felt Journal column is out in Vegas Seven. It’s about some of the unusual events taking place at the Silverton: Santa is floating inside the 117,000-gallon aquarium at the Silverton Casino and Lodge, his white beard billowing as the parrot fish and stingrays glide by. He’s taking
Silverton goes off-beat in Vegas 7 Read More »
life in vegas, news about gambling, Vegas Seven, writingA while back, some folks asked me what I thought the near-future held for Las Vegas gaming and tourism. After mulling over some of the LVCVA data for the past 40 years, I gave them six different scenarios. This might be nice for a wider audience, I thought. But, since I had a lot on
Projecting the future Read More »
life in vegas, news about gamblingFiring open the digital Las Vegas Sun today, I saw a breaking new story: New Years Eve packages for Cosmopolitan will be available for $5,600. Except that I first saw that story on vegastripping.com back on Sunday. It’s another sign to me of how the nature of news is changing: you’re just as likely to
Something for everyone Read More »
life in vegas, news about gamblingIn this week’s Green Felt Journal I look at how technology is changing the convention biz in Vegas: Getting conventions to come back isn’t going to be easy, though both the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority and several casinos are reporting more robust bookings next year. The challenge will be keeping these guests happy
Vegas convention tech in Vegas Seven Read More »
life in vegas, news about gambling, writingIt’s not every day that venting about the frustrating aspects of your job leads you to a column. But if you read my piece in the Las Vegas Business Press, you’ll see how I use some misconceptions about Las Vegas as an opportunity to set the record somewhat straight: Recently, for example, I received an
The complex Vegas story in LVBP Read More »
life in vegas, news about gamblingInteresting article in today’s Las Vegas Sun by Richard Velotta about how undue concern over carbon emissions may seriously impact travel. This has tremendous implications for Las Vegas: Seventy-two government agencies have cut their travel budgets because of environmental concerns, a top travel executive said, leading him to conclude that overzealous environmental policy could be
Big concern for Las Vegas Read More »
life in vegasMy latest Green Felt Journal is up in Vegas Seven. This week I talk about a brand new attraction at Circus Circus that’s a little spooky: About this time every year, theme parks around the country get a monthlong reprieve from the off-season as they re-theme themselves for Halloween. No one wants to float down
13th floor fun in Vegas Seven Read More »
life in vegas, writing