Thursday, March 10, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
MIKE WEATHERFORD: Expansion at Palms will mean new venue for big concerts
The $600 million expansion of the Palms will change the casino from occasional concert host to full-time entertainment presence.
The third-phase plan announced last week will include a 2,200-seat concert venue along with a new tower. "We're building something we don't have, and I don't think the town has," Palms developer George Maloof said earlier this week.
The Palms is always running neck and neck with the Hard Rock Hotel, its closest local competitor. So it's no surprise the Hard Rock's recently announced expansion plans include a new and improved version of The Joint for 2007.
The current Joint will be torn out in the expansion and relocated in the new area to "increase its size and functionality," says president Kevin Kelley.
"A little more space is a good thing," Kelley said, but added the increased capacity would not come at the expense of the venue's intimacy.
Maloof was spare with details about his indoor venue, partly because it's still in development and partly out of caution that ideas could be copied before the venue arrives in mid-to-late 2006.
He did say it will be "a concert venue first," but didn't rule out the possibility of a standing show. "We want to make it comfortable, not so much different," he added.
The Palms has hosted big-name concerts in its Rain in the Desert nightclub, but limits them because the nightclub gets going early. "I wanted to create a separate venue," Maloof said. "There are certain nights we can't do a show (in Rain) because it's a nightclub."
Competing with the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay and The Joint for big-drawing acts is "an expensive business," he acknowledged. But "with everything going on in the city, people expect certain things from us and we plan on delivering it."
A new hotel tower also will include what Maloof describes as "reinventing" the Playboy Club, though not as a private membership operation. And expanding the hotel's meeting space may mean a new lease on life for the former Palapa Lounge, which curtailed most of its entertainment offerings at the end of last year because of the casino's crunch for space.
The Hard Rock also is considering a resident show. But Kelley said it would be "a serious production" rather than a portable, front-of-curtain offering. "Unless you give a 100 percent commitment to these shows, they don't work," he said. ...
The Suncoast is looking to shake up its showroom roster, which tends to get repetitious. On April 15-17 it brings home the touring clown show "Aga-Boom," a Cirque du Soleil spinoff headquartered here.
The stars, Iryna Ivanytska and Dimitri Bogatirev, used to be the comic relief in "O" before launching their touring quintet of clowning and physical theater.
May 27-29 brings the "Southern Fried Chicks," a stand-up comedy package billed as "urban, suburban & white trash," with the latter provided by headliner Etta May (Brenda Ferrari), who first built a following at Mitzi Shore's Comedy Store at the Dunes.
The tour also includes the "suburban" Leanne Morgan and "urban" Karen Mills, a former University of Tennessee basketball player. ...
Mitch Francis, operator of the half-price ticket outlet Tix4tonight, predicts locals will respond to his third location in the Fashion Show mall, one that is more easily accessed by car than the two that are geared to sidewalk pedestrians.
Francis helped launch Coca-Cola Tickets 2Nite at the Showcase mall before a litigious split with his partner turned them into competitors early last year.
Tix4tonight's first outlet remains in a tiny strip mall just south of the Harley-Davidson Cafe. Francis plans to move it to the Hawaiian Marketplace next summer. The second is a kiosk near the Peppermill restaurant.
The company now averages same-day ticket sales for about 40 shows, Francis says. "It's definitely grown. (Show operators) have learned we don't ruin their market" for full-priced tickets.
The pact with producers is based on the "built-in inconvenience" of only doing walk-up business. No phone orders and no calling in to find out what shows are listed that day. ...
George Carlin started performing again last weekend in the Washington, D.C., area, his first shows since completing a 30-day rehab program to treat what he called a "wine and Vicodin" habit.
Carlin is set to open at the Stardust, his new Las Vegas home, on April 21 for a stint that runs through May 4. ...
Legendary jazz drummer Louie Bellson lives in California, but has a lot of Las Vegas ties and musician friends in town. Many of them will be onstage with the 80-year-old drummer in a big-band concert capping John Freixas' student drummer recital at the West Las Vegas Library on Sunday.
"I've known (Bellson) since 1975. He took me under his wing and helped me get into college," says Freixas, who now has about 75 drum students of his own.
Starting at 9:30 a.m., the students will spend the day adding their own drum tracks to pre-recorded songs. At 5 p.m., students will have priority seating for the 6 p.m. big-band concert. At 5:30 p.m., remaining seats are free and open to the public.
Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays.
