Columnist John Katsilometes: This wag isn’t above dog tales

Sunday, Oct. 2, 2005 | 12:07 p.m.

Let the record show that the first name to be bold-faced in Fabulous Las Vegas is that of a canine: Rapunzel.

This is a Polish lowland sheepdog with quite a tale. We start in the spring of 2001, as I was operating a StairMaster at Las Vegas Athletic Club. I'd optimistically set the machine for 30 minutes; at the 13-minute mark a person materialized in front of me. A publicist.

Over the next several minutes, as I choked for air, this person pitched a story about an event that was to happen the following day at Lied Animal Shelter: Siegfried & Roy were to adopt a dog. They were to arrive in a limousine, select the animal and give it a lavish new home.

"OK," I panted. "Uncle. We'll do something."

As it happened, last week I was a guest in the lucky dog's home, which is owned by Siegfried Fischbacher. I learned of this as I awaited the arrival of Roy Horn, whose story of recovery is related in today's paper.

While we unrolled extension cords and lugged lights into position to take photos of Horn, a small dog scampered across the floor. I asked the name and was told, "Rapunzel" -- the subject of the rags-to-riches tale I was pitched at the gym.

Horn later said that Rapunzel and another shelter adoptee, an orange cat named Pumpkin, tail him on his nightly walks. "The dog thinks he is a cat and the cat thinks he is a dog," Horn said with a laugh.

I thought, this story has it all: An odd encounter at the gym. A dogged Vegas publicist. A Disney-fied dog tale. The star power of Siegfried & Roy.

But where would you put all that?

Here.

Fabulous Las Vegas is home to all of that, and more. This column will be a vehicle for the news I feel makes this city fabulous, which is why it is titled as such. We'll write in shorts bursts, notebook-style, with lots of bold-faced names -- such as Wayne Newton -- and ellipses to keep us organized.

I'll be writing about the commoners, the famous and those who hope to be.

Sometimes the obvious will coexist with the odd; if I find some tidbit interesting I'll reason that you will, too. I have to laugh when someone actually asks, while observing themed slot machines at the California on Fremont Street, "Do these things actually pay out in Spam?" Or when I notice that, down the street, Mermaid's has added deep-fried Oreos to a menu that already features deep-fried Twinkies.

For only 99 cents!

I'm amazed how tourists seem to lose common sense the moment they touch down in Las Vegas. A friend of mine who drives a cab once told me that, while driving toward Red Rock, a passenger asked him, "Are those mountains real?"

I guess if you see enough fake skies ...

Or, there was the time at the Mirage when I was showing friends visiting from Northern California the giant aquariums behind the registration desks. As they gazed at the exotic fish I casually said, "Yeah, you can order one of those at the desk when you check in and have them prepared however you like. Room-service delivers them to you whenever you want."

"Wow," said one of my friends. "That's different."

We're here five days a week, dark Saturday and Wednesday. Contact me at the numbers listed below and, yes, if you see me on a StairMaster, feel free to say hi.

And tell me a story.

Fabulous Las Vegas runs Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach John Katsilometes at 259-2327 or 812-9812, or by e-mail at kats@lasvegassun.com