life in vegas

Men’s Fitness magazine did some kind of poll to determine what the fittest and fattest cities in America are. Because you’ve probably got a pretty much uniform distribution of physically fit and unfit people around the country, this seems like a fool’s errand to me, but it made headlines. From MSNBC, but it’s everywhere: When […]

That’s probably just the first time I’ll use some permutation of that phrase over the next five years, because Boyd Gaming announced this morning that it is closing the Stardust to make way for Echelon Place. Because I’m such a “gaming industry insider,” I arrived at the office and found a copy of the press

I’m still busy with Roll the Bones, but I’ve got to post what I think is the one-liner of the year…so far. From the AP: Some teenage soccer players and their parents saw more sights than they wanted when they stayed at a hotel where about 200 swingers were having a New Year’s party. Paul

If you’re curious about which Las Vegas casino will be getting the boot next, you can check Las Vegas Casino Deathwatch. Or, you could just throw the name of every structure over 20 years old into a hat and pick one. Or, you could read this aritcle from the LV Business Press: Once Tamares Group

According to Entertainmentwise (not my first choice for breaking casino news, to be sure), George Clooney’s Las Ramblas project has been “scrapped.” What does that mean? You be the judge: George Clooney’s plans to build a casino in Las Vegas have been totally scrapped. The actor had planned on teaming up with Brad Pitt and

I don’t have much time to write a real post/commentary today (work on Roll the Bones and several other things is taking up all my time), but if you want to catch me on the radio, check out KWDN 720 AM at noon (Pacific time) today. I’ll be a guest on “Lunchtime with Ira,” broadcasting

The UNLV air is redolent with horse excrement and parking is completely jacked up, which can mean only one thing: the rodeo is in town. If you don’t know what I mean, read this from the LVRJ: Since professional rodeo’s biggest event came here in 1985, innumerable Southern Nevada residents and businesses, as well as

The Westward Ho casino closed yesterday, and one RJ reporter called me as a matter of course for my learned opinion on the significance of this event. Actually, I suspect that most of the people in her rolodex were away from the phone for the afternoon. But I’m always happy to help, and I was

I got a paper notice in campus mail today from Felicia Campbell: Far West Popular Culture Association Far West American Culture Association Call for Papers Eighteenth Annual Meeting January 27 – 29, 2006 Las Vegas, Nevada Sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts University of Nevada, Las Vegas We cordially invite you to our Eighteenth

Have you ever wanted to check out the pope’s wheels? Here’s your chance, thanks to a hot tip from the Las Vegas Hilton: Kruse International will auction Pope John Paul II’s personal vehicle, a 1975 Ford Escort GL, at the 32nd Annual Las Vegas Fall Auction at the Las Vegas Hilton (October 28&29). He is

Is this a case of casinos imitating life? It’s spooky: Harrah’s Entertainment has closed the Bourbon Street casinos two weeks early because of a water main break. From the LVRJ: The off-Strip Bourbon Street Casino, bought by Harrah’s Entertainment this summer for future development, closed Monday two weeks ahead of schedule. Harrah’s, which bought eight

Now that I’m getting the blog under control (and because I’m going to be out of the office most of next week), here’s this week’s big announcement: I’m going to be appearing at the Vegas Valley Book Festival next weekend. I’ll be promoting this book: More directly, I’m a panelist on one session and moderating