Friday, Dec. 5, 2003 | 10:47 a.m.
What Las Vegas casino mogul got his start with a nongaming family business in a different state?
Who has a flagship property on Flamingo Road?
Is a year away from 40 years old?
And is celebrating his casino's third anniversary Saturday?
No, it is not 39-year-old George Maloof.
We're talking about Ed Herbst, 41, president of ETT gaming. With brothers Timothy Herbst (vice president) and Troy Herbst (secretary and treasurer), Herbst operates the Terrible's Hotel on Flamingo and Paradise Roads.
It celebrates its third anniversary Saturday with a variety of low-key events and triple payouts on select machines.
"Last year we did double payouts. Next year we'll probably do quadruple," Ed Herbst told VegasBeat on Thursday.
So no parties with Hollywood stars are on the anniversary agenda?
"I am good friends with George," Herbst said. "But we each have our own approach to things."
"I would not exactly say we are media-shy, but we have a different focus than some others do. My brothers and I all were born and raised in Las Vegas, and we want to serve the people here first and foremost."
The Herbst family business got its start when patriarch Ed Herbst opened his first service station in Chicago in 1937. His son Jerry and Jerry's three sons created Herbst gaming in 1987. The family is best known for its service stations; Herbst gaming has more than 8,500 machines at more than 50 locations.
Billboard
VEGAS Magazine is hosting the official "Billboard Music Awards" pre-party in conjunction with Fox and the MGM Grand, at Studio 54 on Tuesday night.
"It is sure to be a star-studded event," VEGAS Magazine Publisher Michael Carr told VegasBeat. Indeed it is. Celebs expected at the party -- and to appear on the live national telecast the next night from the MGM Grand Garden Arena -- include Sting, R. Kelly, Gwen Stefani, J.C. Chasez, Shania Twain, Clay Aiken, Beyonce, Chingy, Celine Dion, LL Cool J, Dave Navarro, Kelly Clarkson, Nick Lachey, Jessica Simpson and show host Ryan Seacrest.
Also expected to make at least a cameo -- the current VEGAS Magazine cover girl, Paris Hilton.
Good deal
Looking for an opportunity to see several Strip performers entertain, maybe have a beverage, see a television show taping, and have it cost less than a tank full of gas?
Then go to Tony Sacca's 18th annual "Merry Christmas Las Vegas" taping on Sunday afternoon at the Theatre of the Stars showroom at the Stratosphere.
A $25 ticket -- proceeds go to the Youth Foundation for the Performing Arts -- gets you performances by Lance Burton, Ronn Lucas, Bill Acosta, Sandy Hackett, Mark & Clark, Cook E. Jarr, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and others.
Call 889-3587 for tickets and info.
Party on
"Girls Gone Wild!" producer and Vegas resident Joe Francis is not letting his legal troubles get in the way of a good time.
Florida authorities are after him for allegedly using underage girls in his voyeuristic videos. So he'll stay closer to home on New Year's Eve.
He is going to be part of the countdown crew at The Rio club Bikini's, along with HBO's "Def Comedy Jam" DJ Kid Capri.
Also, KLAS Channel 8 will be on the scene, going live as 2004 approaches.
Come together
The year 2004 is the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley in show business and the 40th anniversary of The Beatles coming to America.
So, the Las Vegas Hilton will present Beatles tribute band The Fab Four and highly regarded Elvis impersonator Trent Carlini on a double bill.
They will play at 8 p.m. on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31.
Question for the ages -- who opens?
Casting call
James L. Brooks ("Cheers," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Terms of Endearment"), is having a casting call for his new movie on Saturday at The Rio.
"Spanglish" is described as a "cross-cultural comedy/drama" and stars Adam Sandler, Anne Bancroft and Tea Leoni.
Brooks is looking for a "strong 12- to 15-year-old comedic actress" to play Sandler and Leoni's daughter.
Those who fit the bill are asked to assemble at Rio Pavilion 1 at 10 a.m.
VegasBits
Be a star: At 11 p.m. today cameras from a new MTV show, "The 10 Million Dollar Weekend," will be taping at Ice Las Vegas, the club on the corner of Harmon Avenue and Koval Lane ...
Sparkle: Former "M*A*S*H" star and now jewelry designer Loretta Swit will be at the Cashman Center this weekend for the International Gem & Jewelry Show. She will be among 200 exhibitors at the opening of the public event ...
Goal: Former U.S. soccer team star Paul Calgiuri and members of the current squad are hosting an assembly this morning at Andre Agassi's College Preparatory School on West Lake Mead Boulevard. From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., the players will host a charity blackjack tournament at the Hard Rock Hotel to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society ...
Oh, say: McKenna Medley -- teenage daughter of Righteous Brother Bill Medley -- kicks off the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center tonight when she performs the national anthem. Different performers sing each night. "The Sirens of TI" are slated for Wednesday and Clint Holmes closes the event Dec. 14 ...
Ante: "World Poker Tour Ladies Night" debuts at 9 p.m. Wednesday on the Travel Channel (Cox cable channel 66). For the spring, the cable channel is prepping "World Poker Tour Hollywood" with Drew Carey, Jack Black and Camryn Manheim.
Playa: Comic and actor Mike Epps ("All About the Benjamins," HBO's "Def Comedy Jam") plays The Orleans Arena on New Year's Eve. Tickets, priced at $45 and $50, are now on sale.
From Sun wires
In one of the more unexpected political matchups of the year, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is going head-to-head against liberal pundit Al Franken -- for a Grammy.
Clinton was nominated for a Grammy on Thursday for the audiobook version of "Living History," the best-selling tome on her time in the White House.
She has already won a 1997 Grammy for the audiobook of "It Takes a Village." Now she'll be competing with Franken, talk show host Bill Maher, actor Don Cheadle and poet Nikki Giovanni.
Former President Bill Clinton, also was nominated for a Grammy. He is nominated for an audiobook he recorded with Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loren.
King better: The pneumonia that kept Stephen King hospitalized in Bangor, Maine, for 10 days has "pretty much resolved itself," his spokesman said.
But King's Bangor lawyer said Wednesday that "since he's in the hospital, the doctors want to work on his general health and leg issues to see if they can alleviate some of the pain that he's had."
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