Michigan alum made big bet on in-state rival
Derek Stevens, owner of the D Las Vegas, attended the University of Michigan, so why is he betting on Michigan State to win the NCAA Tournament?
“I got my undergrad degree from University of Michigan, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to make a bet on Michigan State,” he said Tuesday after the story broke that he has a $20,000 futures bet on MSU that would pay $1 million.
He told Darren Rovell of ESPN.com that he took Michigan State at 50-1 on Dec. 5 after the Spartans had lost for the third time in eight games.
Stevens, who grew up in Michigan, made the bet at the Golden Nugget after the hotel’s owner, Tilman Fertitta, approved it.
“The great thing about it is you can only do things like this in downtown Las Vegas where the casino owners are both competitive but we’re also family,” he said.
“You need somebody who’s willing to make the bet and somebody willing to take the bet,” he said. “It’s been great to see how downtown is revitalizing. It’s sort of symbolic of the downtown entrepreneurial enthusiasm.”
ELTON’S SPREE CONTINUES
Elton John was back at the Wax Trax record store Tuesday on another vintage music buying spree.
He explained why in a tweet.
“I unloaded my entire record collection in 1991,” he tweeted. “It was the first thing I sold to help set up The Elton John AIDS Foundation.”
He added, “Happy to say that I’ve recently started collecting vinyl again. LPs will always occupy a very special place in my heart.”
The Caesars Palace headliner showed up at the record store Sunday and left with 75 items, mostly music by Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. He bought about 100 items Tuesday, including one of the Beatles’ controversial “butcher” albums.
The album, titled “Yesterday and Today,” showed the Beatles dressed in white smocks and featuring decapitated baby dolls and pieces of meat.
Known as a “first state” cover, it’s one of the most sought-after Beatles collectibles.
“That’s what they call the different levels of the censored cover being peeled off to expose the original butcher cover underneath,” said David Rosen, who helps run the store with his parents, Rich and Sunny Rosen.
A customer got a surprise Tuesday when he went to pay and had to hand his credit card to John because he was seated in Rich Rosen’s chair behind the counter.
SMALL WORLD
Ask Las Vegas singer Tina Walsh, who is on an Asian tour with the international company of “Phantom of the Opera,” about how small the world can be.
The tour has included shows in Bangkok, Singapore, Shanghai, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and, this week, Istanbul.
For Walsh, Istanbul represented a homecoming of sorts.
“My family and I had the privilege to live in Istanbul for almost three years when I was a young girl,” she told her Facebook friends Monday.
Walsh started first grade in Turkey.
The return to Turkey’s largest city, population 14 million, included a surprise reunion.
Walsh, whose lead roles over 30 years in Las Vegas include “Jubilee,” “EFX Live” and “Mama Mia,” was able to reconnect with her first ballet teacher.
It happened after Walsh approached a front desk employee and shared some photos of the ballet teacher. Within an hour, the hotel employee made the connection.
Walsh and Jale Yilmabasar Ertugan reunited Monday. They had much to catch up on. Ertugan, after being one of top ceramic artists in Europe, went on to become a painter.
“Jale inspired me to dance,” said Walsh, via Facebook. “She gave me a sense of tapping into my creativity and imagination.
“I never forgot her and what she did for me as a young aspiring artist was priceless.”
Walsh played Donna Sheridan in “Mamma Mia,” which had a six-year, 2,247-show run at Mandalay Bay from 2003 to 2009.
She played Madame Giry in “Phantom” at The Venetian for 4½ years, a role she has continued on the tour.
SIGHTINGS
Yahoo News anchor Katie Couric, with three friends at Giada (Cromwell) on Monday. … When U.S. Sen. Harry Reid agreed to an interview Monday morning with CNN’s Dana Bash, he chose La Comida, the Mexican restaurant owned by Democratic backers Michael and Jenna Morton because, I’m told, he wanted to support downtown and small businesses. The move paid off immediately: Nearly a dozen CNN crew members were back at La Comida on Tuesday for lunch . … At John’s show on Monday at The Colosseum (Caesars Palace): Actor James Franco and Planet Hollywood headliner Jeff Dunham. … The men of “Vanderpump Rules,” competing in a cocktail-making contest at the House of Blues’ Foundation Room (Mandalay Bay) on Saturday.
THE PUNCH LINE
“We are very close to a nuclear deal with Iran. The negotiations have been more complicated than a George Clooney prenup.” — David Letterman
Norm Clarke’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 702-383-0244 or email him at norm@reviewjournal.com. Find more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke.
