Sh*t You May Have Missed While Pumping Up For Olympia Fitness Expo

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It’s Sh*t You May Have Missed for the week ending September 16th, 2016

Hey, all! BigAZMarty here with this weeks news and happenings around Las Vegas!

1. On Friday the ex-judge that was hired to be the mediator for the Caesars Entertainment Operating Company division bankruptcy case quit. Said the bankruptcy judge was pushing him to breach confidentiality rules and that he could no longer continue in the job with that occurring. Read here. With Oct 5th (the date the appeals judge gave to shield parent from lawsuits by Jr. bondholders) fast approaching, this is not going to end well. The appeals judge previously stated CEOC faces an uphill battle, and historically this appeals judge tends to side with the “little” guys (read: people that were wronged..i.e. Jr Bondholders).

2. By mid-week, the Apollo and TPG people who were on CEOC’s Board of Directors (plus then-Harrah’s/Caesars CFO Eric Hession and CEO Gary Loveman at the time) were prompted legally by the bankruptcy judge to provide their reports on their personal worth. Basically, they may be forced to add in dollars to the bankruptcy as part of a settlement. Interesting that the two directors from Apollo and TPG said they already offered up $250 million each. I am guessing that Jr. bondholders are looking for more than around 50 cents on the dollar then. Read here. What I do fear is a complete breakup and auction type sale of all of Caesars Entertainment. Jr. Bondholders would never get what they are wanting from that at all, but they would move higher in the recovery of money stages. Stocks would be zero’ed out and probably have to be re-incorporated into a new company if there is anything left. Supposedly without the mediator, the meetings are still ongoing to get the deal done before Oct. 5th. Time will tell.

3. EATER Vegas has some renderings of the new additions to Palace Station…see here. I am hoping (along with Vital Vegas) that this is NOT the finished product, as that’s about as offsetting as possible to leave the old tower as is and plop a modern glass and steel tower right next to it. I think they should also re-skin the old tower with glass and crop the top (a-la Imperial Palace-to-Linq conversion) to make it at least seem externally attached to the new tower.

4. Vital Vegas has rumors that Tournament of Kings is going to be closing up at Excalibur…read here. Also, a good tidbit in there that MGM‘s shops have seen a 30% drop in business due to the paid parking fiasco. Let’s just say…if you gouge your customer, they will not come no matter how nice it is (unless you are at any Disney Park).

So long, horses of Excalibur…

5. The LV Monorail will be arriving at the Shoppes at Mandalay Bay Place (these are the stores between Mandalay Bay and Luxor). Construction to possibly start in 2017. So it’s going be a station in the current Luxor parking lot, and a new parking garage will be going up in the back of the Excalibur where the horse practice fields are. Thanks to Eater Vegas for the specific details…read here. This may also explain why Tournament of Kings is going away. No practice area for horses and LV Monorail traffic to make up the 30% lost to parking fees? Weird, because I thought that for at least Mandalay Bay shops the parking was still free. Now that they have a west-side station on the Strip, perhaps MGM can find a way to re-purpose the existing people movers to go all the way from Mandalay Bay to Bellagio. Or at least find some way to gap that missing link between Excalibur and Monte Carlo where you have to Strip-walk it. Too bad those two MGM trams aren’t compatible with the LV Monorail…the could have sold it to them and yes I’d still pay to ride that instead of drive. Now if they can just get it to the airport and Downtown.

6. Clifford Perlman passed away. He was the owner of Caesars Palace after Jay Sarno, and his business model for Caesar’s pretty much became the de facto model for corporate ownership in Las Vegas. Read here and LVSun here.

7. The D hotel, formerly Fitzgerald’s, is celebrating its 5th year by way of Downtown Event Center acts. Read the details here. This is this coming weekend so you may have to be in town already to enjoy it.

8. The Puppet-Up! Uncensored show at Venetian that we recently reviewed is closing up Sept 17th per Adelson’s paper here.

Farewell, naughty Muppets at Venetian…

9. Harrah’s Million Dollar Quartet is ending its run on Dec. 4th. Vital Vegas with the details here. LVRJ article here.

10. Vital Vegas also has a pretty good write-up and lots of pictures and a video of the 2016 Pole Expo. See the article here. And odd that there is only one dude there, as Vital Vegas puts it. I think it’s genius! Dude thinks “Where are the most awesome flexible women and how do I meet them?” Pole Dancing, that’s it! More power to him….although a short mohawk and a costume that sorta looks like a tight diaper is an odd choice of outfit/style.

11. Vital Vegas also has the “cover” shot of the La Bayou aftermath. They are putting up walls, so Fremont Street visitors don’t see behind the curtain. Funny…that damn transformer “treehouse” is in every shot. LV electrical utility is really going to have to do something about that…put it underground perhaps? See for yourself here.

Temporary structure at La Bayou site. pic.twitter.com/GIQYzhTCuv

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) September 15, 2016

12. Ethel M Chocolates is celebrating 35 years and redoing a lot out there off Sunset (sorta near the Sunset Station in Henderson). Re-modelling and re-doing tours and adding a High Roller combo (in case you want to stay on the Strip and experience both High Roller and some fairly pricey chocolates). Read Robin’s NICHE article in LVRJ here. Sounds intriguing, but personally I wouldn’t eat rich chocolate while stuck in a pod for 30 minutes.

14. For you Rolling Stones fans, they have added another date to their T-Mobile Arena stay…read here. Based on how many emails from MGM, AEG, and TicketMaster my wife and I have received, they are really wanting to sell out. I don’t even think the extra Garth Brooks tickets got this much ad time. I still remember living in Southern California and the original final tour…I think in late ’80’s or early ’90’s….so either quit or stop calling them “Final Tours.”

15. Raiders Stadium is still fluid, now as expected the Bali Hai site is being opposed by Southwest Airlines (remember they opposed the Tropicana site near the airport as well)…read here. They, however, do like the Russell Road location across the I-15 west from Mandalay Bay. However, public funding issues remain with sides not agreeing on what the public will pay or return to the public on profits. Read here.

15. As we reported this week, Las Vegas Sands opened its Paris Las Vegas clone, the Parisian Resort on the Cotai Strip in Macao, read here. LVRJ, or Sam Adelson’s personal paper has a video of the opening in the article here and some tidbits about all the LVSands hotels there. Like all the hotels are connected to each other…I think Sam said it best “This is the only place in the world … that you can go, under one roof, to 13,000 rooms and suites, more than 900 retail shops, 2½ million square feet of MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions) space and countless restaurants”. It sounds like we have some work to do MGM and Caesars.

16. EATER Vegas is reporting Sin City Brewing expanding into Grand Bazaar Shops in front of Bally’s read here.  Interesting side note, the Crazy Girls got the old Sin City Comedy and Burlesque theater a while back and this week it was rumored the Sin City Comedy and Burlesque would close up, but not true according to Vital Vegas Twitter feed here.

17. Caesars Entertainment is opening up to WeChat to get more Asia / Chinese based bookings for its casino/hotels in the US, read here.  This will circumvent travel agency and tour operators.

18. Holy crap…this is just nuts….the blog at Caesars has this nugget of oddball places to have a wedding on their properties (of course you don’t think they’d list anyone else’s stuff do you?).  The Nuts thing is the last entry at the bottom…now I just have the willy’s thinking about it. A “Real Bodies” at Bally’s wedding….sheesh as if it’s not creepy enough…who would ever think that is romantic?  Read here. Oh, wait…Mortician’s, Funeral Directors, Psychopathic Killers maybe?  Still thinking this is a Halloween type thing maybe since it’s in that room of bones style chapel.  Remember this is not just themed, those were someone’s bones. Oh and Marilyn Manson or Rob Zombie might be up for this.  Or people that have met and are getting married from being fans of all the zombie TV themed shows out there maybe?  It’s still too creepy to think about…so I’m going to stop now before it affects my dreams.

19. Remember when I was musing that Dan Gilbert would be a good person to buy and finish the Fontainebleau? There are some interesting moves inside his Jack Entertainment companies that I think would make it easier to get a Nevada Gaming License read here. It looks like Dan likes the management style of Red Rock Resorts (i.e., Station’s Casinos) as both of the persons mentioned have spent time there before.  The rumor around the purchase was that the “Entrepreneur” would need to gain Nevada type casino experience…perhaps he had it all along and just needed to get the HR team involved to make it official.  Interesting that no news on the real estate front from Icahn though.  For you that don’t know Jack Entertainment is the gaming division that now 100% owns and runs several of the former Caesars Entertainment partnered properties in Ohio (was previously named Rock Gaming).

Anyways…that all for this week’s news and now to our Editor-In-Chief Michael Movestro for our stuff and other notes.

Thanks, BigAzMarty! Looks like it was a busy week! It was busy here also at Vegas Bright where readers took the author spotlight to share their Vegas Musts, and we have a few more for next week as well! Let’s get started with the stories we brought you this week at Vegas Bright.

20. The week started off on Sunday with the Vegas Bright Podcast Episode 18: Vegas MUST-A-THON where I talked about the Vegas MUST-A-THON happening all week on Vegas Bright!

21. Author-For-A-Day “WavesOfFury” Slams Us With A Rush Of Vegas “Must-Do’s”

22. Vegas Bright reader Fisherman shares his “Vegas Musts.”

23. Vegas Bright reader Robert Berry shares his “Vegas Musts.”

24. Blonde4ver and her hubby visit Heart Attack Grill.

25. Vegas Bright reader McGoo shares his “Vegas Musts.”

26. Vegas Bright reader Chris in Tennessee shares his “Vegas Musts.”

27. Our culinary tag team (Sammasseur and Greg Bennett) braves Gordon Ramsay’s scowl at BURGR.

28. Vegas Bright Reader & Podcast listener Corgimom compares her Vegas Musts between 2005 and 2015.

29. Vegas Bright reader Jackie Franklin shares her Vegas Musts.

30. Adelson’s “Paris” Wannabe Opens in Macao.

31. Vegas Bright reader MinnesotaPhats shares a list of “Vegas Musts.”

32. Vegas Bright reader CousinsAPlenty shares her “Vegas Must.”

33. Gennadius takes us on a stroll through Gold Spike Social Club.

34. Vegas Bright reader Chocolate Brown shares his “Vegas Musts”

35. Vegas Bright reader MDogg shares his “Vegas Musts.”

36. And of course, this very article you’re reading right now.

Tidbits from our social media: 

In addition to sharing all of our articles via our Facebook and Twitter, we also share some interesting news/announcements and deals.

These are the pieces of info that were shared this week via our Facebook page by Sammasseur and Greg C.

• Passing on a great deal to see guest host Nyle DiMarco at Chippendales for select dates, only $49.95 on Groupon.
• For those departing from McCarran airport in the mornings, please note this alert, as just received from Alaska Airlines. 
• Another show to close: Man-In-The-Know Johnny Kats of LV Sun reports on a final performance date for Million Dollar Quartet at Harrah’s.
• Last October we listed Wayne Newton’s Casa De Shenandoah as a Vegas “Must” attraction, and here’s a deeply-discounted Groupon for tickets. See our original review here.
• Just announced mere minutes ago and we have the scoop: Revolt Nightclub will be bringing LGBT nightlife back to Planet Hollywood…They will be located inside the Miracle Mile Shops…Official opening date with be September 23rd.
• Bid farewell to Puppet Up! The well-reviewed adult improv show at Venetian is being yanked.

Meanwhile on twitter, not much was happening as far as deals and announcemnts go, but I did get this suggestion (and it wasn’t the first).

Thanks, I've been hearing that a lot!

— Vegas Bright Newscast (@VegasBrightSite) September 14, 2016

And we also shouted out an Authorversary:

Happy Authorversary, Blonde4ever! 😀❤️✨💻🛎📓🇨🇦 https://t.co/p6lUAM5xuB

— Vegas Bright Newscast (@VegasBrightSite) September 15, 2016

And on Sunday….a retweet

Never forget. pic.twitter.com/6aBAFKAk2d

— NYNY Vegas (@NYNYVegas) September 11, 2016

We’ll see you for more stories next week including more Vegas Musts, it all starts on Sunday with the Vegas Bright Podcast.

Photos: [Greg C., Sammasseur, Robert Berry, Jackie Franklin, Gennadius]