‘Final Fantasy’ finds fan in Fator

I try not to brag about my video game column, which runs in the Review-Journal and in newspapers across America. But the other day, Terry Fator -- the Strip's $100 million singing ventriloquist -- called me to chat about games because he knows my Game Dork column.

He says that before he won "America's Got Talent," he worked for a year at a Game Stop: "I couldn't get enough work as a ventriloquist."

So in 2001, he won a nationwide contest by selling 50 reserved copies of "Final Fantasy X." Why was his sales pitch effective? Customers appreciated his passion. He was a fan of the series: "I still think 'Final Fantasy VII' was the best."

Fator performs 7 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Monday ($58.91-$124.91; 732-5755) in his final Hilton dates before moving to The Mirage in February.

One of Fator's vocal impressions is of Amy Winehouse, the noted, drugged-out vocalist with the amazing voice but falling-out teeth. So I ask him a mean question: Shouldn't his Amy Winehouse puppet have fewer teeth?

"My puppet doesn't have to look like them, they just have to sound like them," he says.

STUFF TO DO AND SEE

• TV network GSN again films "High Stakes Poker" at the Golden Nugget. That's today through Sunday. Minimum buy-in: $200,000.

• Red Rock Harley-Davidson hosts an adult-themed holiday party from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. It's dumb to quote news releases, but this is a good one: "The event will be a naughty adult winter wonderland with an opportunity for photos with a seductive Ms. Claus (free with a store purchase) ... complimentary appetizers, sexy go-go dancers and scantily dressed elves." Elves are dirty.

• CHEAP DRINK ALERT! South Point is temporarily serving all casino-bar drinks for $1, including imports and premium liquors. Afterward, don't drive drunk, you drunkies.

• FREE HOTEL ROOM ALERT! I hear we have an ad in Neon for an actual free night's stay at a hotel. Man, this economy!

• FREE COMEDIAN ALERT! Flamingo comedian George Wallace says if companies have dumped their usual holiday parties, they can resurrect those parties by taking them to his show for free on Dec. 20, 26, 27, 28 and 29. You must reserve.

• Eastside Cannery, way off the Strip on Boulder Highway, opens One Six Lounge tonight on the 16th floor. Ex-Studio 54 DJ Frankie Anobile is running the music. Food is "retro revival" of American tapas (ahi tartar, mac and cheese fondue, etc.)

• Excellent DJ Felix da Housecat spins at the Palms' Rain on Saturday night.

• And Criss Angel and his "friend" Playmate Holly Madison blow out their mutual birthday cake candles at LAX at Luxor tonight. He turns 41 today. She turns 29 on Tuesday.

Doug Elfman's column appears on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 702-383-0391 or e-mail him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He also blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.