Columnist Kate Maddox: Club raids are all the rave

Kate Maddox

Friday, Oct. 27, 2000 | 10:10 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at kmaddox@lasvegassun.com.

This week's Ecstasy bust at the Spearmint Rhino Gentleman's Club was yet another in a string of after-hours club raids being conducted all around town. Earlier this year Baby's at the Hard Rock was busted and a few top officials were fired. And who can forget the giant padlock that adorned C2K after cops finally pulled the plug on that allegedly drug-infested clubhouse?

Although Spearmint Rhino is known to most as a topless club frequented by men seeking a good time, it is also recognized in nightclub circles as a place to party from 3:30 a.m. till dawn, four nights a week. The strippers leave the stage, then club kids (at or close to the 21-year-old minimum age requirement) file in. Part of the club's popularity is that it's not connected to a hotel or a casino, with less security overlooking the scene.

However, early Sunday morning, police raided the party and made 11 felony arrests and confiscated more than 100 tablets of the club drug Ecstasy.

I'm hearing the next big bust will go down at another popular after-hours spot at a Strip hotel sometime in the next two weeks.

Former Gaming Today columnist Don Usherson has moved from print to TV. Usherson is about to tape the first episode of his new show, "Everyone's a Critic." The "Politically Incorrect"-style program has been Usherson's pet project for the past few months and he's excited to finally be getting things up and running.

The weekly round-table talk show will feature local entertainers and showbiz types dishing and discussing the ins and outs of the Vegas scene. Guests for the first episode include Melinda, First Lady of Magic, vocalist Jimmy Hopper, agent/producer Joe Guercio and Mr. Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton.

The show is scheduled to air locally in January.

The Secret Downtown is neither anymore. The swanky nightclub that was being built downtown has been plug-pulled. Mike Fuller, the mind behind most of Vegas' freshest club happenings, was recently informed that his major financial backer was pulling out of the deal.

Unfortunately, things were almost complete on what would have been Vegas' hippest 24-hour nightspot. But the man with the money decided he didn't want to be in the nightclub biz after all. (Sighting the first item, who could blame him, really?) The space below Glitter Gultch will be used for something else, but Fuller is confident that Secret will be completed at some point in the near future -- he just hasn't figured out where.

OK, in all fairness, everyone makes mistakes. However, sometimes one or two come along and I just have to chuckle. This week, as I opened my usual press information envelope from the Orleans, I was thrilled to learn that Debbie Reynolds would return to its showroom in December.

Only, this time Debbie was referred to as "unskinable." What? Um, note to the kind folks at the Orleans: I think you meant "unsinkable," unless of course you were trying to tell people that they'll never see Reynolds made into a handbag or a pair of boots. Ouch.

Wouldn't be so bad except that a couple of months back, the Orleans announced an upcoming concert by "The Infamous Righteous Brothers." I think we all know what they were trying to say, but infamous means "disgraceful" or "having a very bad reputation." I'm not sure if I know enough about the Brothers to leap to that conclusion, but I'm pretty sure if you put Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield through the reputation wringer, they'd come out squeaky clean.