A decade of feuds, scandals, breakups

In a decade of soaring excess, we should have seen it coming.

Surely the boom was about to go bust when big spenders sprayed more champagne than they drank and clouds of cash came down like rain.

A new millennium that started with fears of a global Y2K meltdown ended with the crashing sound of Tiger Woods' hard fall from grace.

The city that promises to keep its secrets was bursting at the seams with scandal and looking to Elvis -- again -- and a guy named Garth for salvation.

Here are my top developments of the decade:

• Recession roulette. Too many people gambled that the good times would go on forever.

• Tiger's personal earthquake rocked the world, with Las Vegas at the epicenter.

• Michael Jackson's move to Las Vegas to relaunch his career, followed by his death and the many Vegas-related angles.

• Britney Spears' quickie marriage was an international blockbuster. It also was the beginning of a breathtaking unraveling, followed by a stunning comeback.

• Andre Agassi's soul-cleansing admissions in his book "Open," including his use of meth.

• Celebrity breakups: Britney's dawn-to-dusk marriage, Agassi's bitter split with longtime business partner/manager Perry Rogers, and Steve and Elaine Wynn's divorce after he fell for British divorcee Andrea Hissom.

• The opening of the Palms in 2001. George Maloof went all in on a celebrity-centric business plan fueled by the rise of mass media's fascination with celebrity news. The result: a nightclub boom that ignited bidding wars for the Britneys and Paris Hiltons, who made headlines and attracted crowds with their wild-child antics and extravagance.

• The feuds: Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson, who proclaimed himself king of Vegas and said Wynn's time "had come and gone." After Adelson lost 95 percent of his $28 billion fortune in less than a year, Wynn referred to him as "the master of universe." Runner-up: Donald Trump's bad-mouthing of MGM Mirage's $8.5 billion CityCenter and predicting its failure.

• The shocking and mysterious death of headliner Danny Gans at age 52. The coroner's office cited toxic levels of Dilaudid, a highly addictive opiate nicknamed "drugstore heroin."

• It's too early to tell, but Wynn's sweet-talking Garth Brooks out of retirement could do for Las Vegas what Elvis' comeback did 40 years ago.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Cirque du Soleil has issued an apology after a gay slur was unfurled during a trick by Luxor headliner Criss Angel. Cirque sent the statement to local blogger Richard Abowitz, who revealed the incident Wednesday on his new Web site, GoldPlatedDoor.com. He sought a response after a source told him the word "faggot" was displayed to the audience. Cirque stated the incident occurred Dec. 10 when "an inappropriate word was selected by an audience member as part of the premonition illusion." It was made clear to the audience, Cirque said, "that the word is not one that is used or condoned by Criss Angel or any of the artists in the show, and the emphasis on the word was deflected during the illusion. Audience members are typically not pre-briefed as to the words they can use." Abowitz said Cirque stated Angel did not say the word from the stage and suggested the audience member was British and meant cigarettes.

THE PUNCH LINE

"A new survey in Britain found that 7 percent of people plan on taking a sick day from work during the holiday season due to party-related hangovers. Meanwhile, the other 93 percent will just go to work plastered." -- Jimmy Fallon

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.