VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Vegas has Time for national exposure

Monday, July 19, 2004 | 10:24 a.m.

Uh-oh.

It's got to be all downhill from here. Time, the most mainstream of magazines, has rediscovered Las Vegas.

"It's Vegas, Baby" is the cover headline on the latest issue of the venerable newsweekly, which hits stands today.

The subhead: "Why America's No. 1 tourist town is hotter than ever." The cover image is of two blondes dancing in short black skirts.

Several bits of news jump out from the long cover article, which is the magazine's second Vegas cover story in eight years. Among them:

Hard Rock Hotel owner Peter Morton has hired celebrated architect Richard Meier to design a new tower as part of the hotel's planned expansion.

Palms owner George Maloof is wary of everyone in Las Vegas: "You can't have a real relationship here," he tells the magazine. "Not just romantically. The only people I trust are my brothers."

Casinos will eventually find a way to bring strip clubs inside. "It's guaranteed. It's just a matter of when," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman told the mag.

The articles also offers props to the Hard Rock comedy show "Beacher's Madhouse" ("it's impossible to get tickets"); Jeff Shulman, president of Las Vegas-based Card Player magazine; and Robert Goulet.

The cover article also answers for us once and for all exactly what is an "ultralounge." It is: "The Vegas term for a Eurotrash bar with overpriced drinks," Time columnist Joel Stein writes.

Free speech

Linda Rondstadt isn't the only entertainer to make her politics known while appearing on a Las Vegas stage. Caesars Palace headliner Sir Elton John has also been known to speak his mind, and in remarks he made to Interview magazine in its August issue (also out today) he says he is concerned that today's celebrities are too reluctant to speak out.

In Interview, reflecting on the shortage of pop songs condemning the invasion of Iraq, John says, "There's an atmosphere of fear in America right now that is deadly. Everyone is too career-conscious. They're all too scared. I don't know if there's been a time when the fear factor has played such an important role in America since McCarthyism in the 1950s as it does right now."

John said that performers are likely "frightened by the current administration's bullying tactics."

"There was a moment about a year ago when you couldn't say a word about anything in this country for fear of your career being shot down by people saying you are un-American," he told the magazine.

The 1960s, he said, were different.

"People like Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, the Beatles and Pete Seeger were constantly writing and talking about what was going on," John said. "That's not happening now."

John often makes an anti- President Bush remark during his shows at The Colosseum, which resume Friday. There is usually a smattering of applause and a few scattered boos.

Ronstadt was kicked out of the Aladdin by the hotel's head of security after her performance at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts on Saturday night for dedicating the song "Desperado" to "Fahrenheit 9/11" director Michael Moore (see Jerry Fink's story, page 1A).

But Caesars has never interfered with what John has said onstage, as the Aladdin did to Rondstadt over the weekend.

Pitch

On "The Casino" tonight (KVVU Channel 5 at 9), producers Scott Lewis and Robert Allen are shown pitching their show "Shock!" to Golden Nugget owners Tim Poster and Tom Breitling.

Their meeting features an appearance by Tim Cridland (aka Zamora the Torture King), who impales himself with metal pokers, eats a lighbulb and cuts open his belly and pulls a string that he just swallowed out of his stomach.

The hotel eventually passed on the production, as Poster left during the presentation with a sick look on his face.

"Shock!" is playing weekends at the Greek Isles.

Film class

Director M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense"), a modern master of suspense, will be participating in a national question-and-answer session with fans in 41 Regal Cinemas around the country Tuesday night.

The session will be moderated by Joel Siegel, the bushy-haired entertainment critic for ABC's "Good Morning America."

Attendees will be also see a film clip for Shyamalan's upcoming thriller, "The Village," which opens July 30.

Las Vegas audiences can catch the activities at Regal Village Square Stadium 18 at 9400 W. Sahara Ave. starting at 6 p.m.

New media

Rosie O'Donnell had one. Oprah Winfrey has one. Donald Trump just announced he is starting one, too.

Now, you can add Steve Wynn to the list of rich and famous folks with their own magazines.

The still-unnamed glossy is set to debut in April, to coincide with the opening of his new Strip resort. The mag will be similar to M -- the essentially promotional but entirely professional publication distributed at MGM MIRAGE properties.

VegasBits

Jock: Hockey icon Wayne Gretzky, his actress wife Janet Jones and OPM (Forum Shops at Caesars) partner Branden Powers had dinner Saturday night at CraftSteak (MGM Grand) ...

Jock two: New Dallas Cowboys receiver Keyshawn Johnson was walking around the Bellagio on Sunday afternoon with a mesh baseball cap with, yes, a Cowboys logo ...

Jock three: Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back and four-time Super Bowl champion Franco Harris was at Rain (Palms) Saturday night ...

Play: Robin Leach was spotted at the opening of the new mariachi show "M" at Desert Passage (Aladdin) on Sunday afternoon ...

Play too: Actor Jamie Kennedy, actress Tara Reid and KVVU Channel 5 morning anchor Josh Talkington were all sitting at the same long table at the "Beacher's Madhouse" show at The Joint at the Hard Rock on Saturday night ...

Snap: Noted fashion photog Ellen von Unwerth spent all day Thursday shooting models in negligees in the Conrad Suite at the Las Vegas Hilton for an upcoming Victoria's Secret catalog. Several local shoots for the catalog have taken place lately, all for the retailer's Vegas-themed holiday catalog ...

Hot: "Catwoman" star and Oscar winner Halle Berry attended "Zumanity" (New York-New York) on Sunday night. She termed the adults-only Cirque du Soleil production 'The best sexual experience I've had,' " show spokeswoman Callie de Quevedo told us ...

From Sun wires

CBS defends 'CSI' decision: The firing of two "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" stars in a salary dispute was fair and intended to help the TV industry draw the fiscal line, CBS chief Leslie Moonves said Sunday.

Actors Jorja Fox and George Eads, who play investigators Sara Sidle and Nick Stokes on the hit CBS crime drama, were dumped last week when they failed to report for work on the upcoming season, he said.

"There comes a point where we feel a contract is a contract. ... we all have to look out for the future of the network television business," he said.

Deals with Fox and Eads were renegotiated after two years and a raise was offered for this fifth season, although there was no contractual obligation to do so, he said. The actors reportedly wanted a raise in their $100,000-per-episode pay.

Trump 56th: Trump may be a billionaire real estate developer with a hot TV show, but that doesn't make him master of the golf course.

Trump finished 56th in his debut Sunday at the $500,000 American Century celebrity golf championship at Lake Tahoe. The mogul said he didn't expect the competition to be so strong.

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