The Strip

At 77, William S. Boyd could just sit back, count his money and let his children carry on his family’s casino and philanthropic legacies in Nevada. But for Boyd, retirement from running the company means being active in it in other ways, and he remains very much involved in the important decisions of Boyd Gaming. Mr. Boyd speaks to Steve this hour about halting construction of Echelon, making a play for the properties of bankrupt rival Station Casinos and old versus new Vegas.In banter: Frank Caliendo opens, Steve bets on Cotto for a friend, WSOP ratings are flat, the Rio is NOT all suites, three popular attractions are now neighbors, crazy Bette fans attack and Jim Murren claims he listens to this show.Web: TheStripPodcast.comEmail: TheStripPodcast@aol.comBlog: VegasHappensHere.ComTwitter: @TheStripPodcastPhone: 206-424-4737

 She’s conquered Hollywood and Broadway and won over the hearts everywhere in between so at 70, Lily Tomlin has finally decided it’s time to become a Vegas headliner. For nine nights, from Nov. 10-18, the comedienne brings her cast of famous characters – Ernestine the telephone operator and bratty 5-year-old Edith Ann among them – to the stage. Tomlin explains this hour her illustrious career never before included the Strip and chats with Steve about her roles in Desperate Housewives, West Wing, Damages and the X-Files. Plus, she explains why she walked off the Dick Cavett show in 1972 in a feminist huff and why she and her longtime partner Jane Wagner won’t be getting married.In Banter: A CityCenter tour, Bette's departure, the WSOP final table, Miles' Oval Office adventures, the disgraceful debasing of The Harmon, a Top Chef viewing party and some we-toldja-so's.Web: TheStripPodcast.ComEmail: TheStripPodcast@aol.comTwitter: @TheStripPodcastBlog: VegasHappensHere.ComVoicemail: 206-424-4737

Four years ago, a San Francisco chef took a gamble and opened up his San Francisco kitchen to the first challenge of a new Bravo TV show called “Top Chef.” At the time, Hubert Keller came across as tough and grouchy but the show was a hit and his Fleur de Lys in California became a place of intrigue for its fans. Fast forward to this year when warmer, cuddlier Keller appeared first on Top Chef Masters and then in an episode of the current, Las Vegas-set season of the show. Business at Fleur de Lys – long an underperformer at Mandalay Bay – is booming. Keller speaks this hour about that, about what it smelled like to grow up above his family’s bakery in Alsace, France, and about how a Frenchman became one of the biggest things ever in the burger cuisine. Plus, as usual, Steve asked Keller about his food guilty pleasures.In Banter: Ticket scalping issues, Barry Manilow, the Podcast-a-Palooza, Harrah's dumb iPhone app, DB leaves Wynn, DB opening at Sands in Singapore and who is the Maori Hi Five?Twitter: @TheStripPodcastEmail: TheStripPOdcast@aol.comWeb: TheStripPodcast.ComPhone: 206-424-4737Blog: VegasHappensHere.Com

When the idea first came up, nobody -- and by nobody we mean Steve -- thought it could possibly work. Chazz Palminteri was a career character actor with modest name recognition next to the likes of, say, Holly Madison, and his plan was to bring a serious autobiographical one-man play to the Strip? Fuggedaboutit. But Palminteri has faced down doubts about "A Bronx Tale" before, and here he is now in the middle of a two-week run at the Venetian that has been extended by popular demand. Palminteri joined us live at the 2009 Vegas Podcast-A-Palooza to discuss the show, his friendship with Frank Sinatra and the chronological problem in his play that only three people have ever asked him about in 20 years.In Banter: Rating the Garth deal, revealing some new slot machine ideas coming to G2E.Blog: VegasHappensHere.ComTwitter: @TheStripPodcastEmail: TheStripPodcast@aol.comPhone: 206-424-4737Site: TheStripPodcast.Com

It’s the biggest TV show ever set in Las Vegas, but can CSI: Crime Scene Investigation succeed as a permanent Vegas attraction? The folks at MGM Grand decided to find out. On the occasion of the opening of the interactive solve-it-yourself CSI: The Experience, Steve sat down with both Vegas-raised creator Anthony Zuiker and the show’s longtime star, Marg Helgenberger and Helgenberger expressed some disappointment with her role.In Banter: Debate over the notion of a Top Chef restaurant, Miles' redux on those effing curtains at Switch, A Bronx Tale is excellent, Wynn's new flight deal, post-MJ career notes, weird lights on the Cosmo and more.Web: TheStripPodcast.ComEmail: TheStripPodcast@aol.comVoicemail: 206-424-4737Twitter: @TheStripPodcastBlog: VegasHappensHere.Com

In a city of knockoffs and impersonations,  how do you go about reinterpreting a great piece of music without being tainted as a copycat? Well, it helps if you’re already a legendary rock band in your own right behind you, too. That’s how Cheap Trick’s doing it anyway, landing at the Las Vegas Hilton for nine performances of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band before a full orchestra and assisted by such other pop stars as Joan Osbourne. Cheap Trick’s guitarist and vocalist Rick Nielsen joins us this hour to talk about the band’s relationship with the Beatles, about growing up in Rockford, Ill., and whether this swing of shows could portend a resident Vegas gig of some form soon.In banter: Mindy Kaling gets Vegas whiners whining, Terry Fator puts puppets on cabs, Amy gets a Vegas welcome on her European cruise, Top Chef's been good to Hubert Keller and more.Email: TheStripPodcast@aol.comWeb: TheStripPodcast.ComVoicemail: 206-424-4737Blog: VegasHappensHere.ComTwitter: @TheStripPodcast

Welcome to a special interview edition of The Strip. The first-ever Phantom Fan Week is coming to Las Vegas in mid-September, so Steve decided it was time to check back in with legendary Broadway producer and director Hal Prince. That event marks the first time Prince has returned to Vegas since the 2006 opening of “Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular,” the shortened, high-tech version of the opera-house squatter tale that is the most successful musical of all time. At that time, Steve irked Prince by saying the “Phantom” story is “a bit of a downer,” a debate the two comically revisit in this hour. They also address Prince’s recent stroke, his close encounter with the Cirque du Soleil gang, the coming Phantom sequel and Patti LuPone’s recent on-stage outbursts. Prince, who at 81 has won a record 21 Tony awards, was instrumental in the creation of Phantom, Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Fiddler on the Roof, A Little Night Music, Evita, Sweeney Todd, Cabaret and countless other classics. He plans to open his long-awaited next musical, Paradise Found with Mandy Patinkin, next year and, as you hear, he expects the Las Vegas version of Phantom to run “indefinitely.” We’ll be back with a regular episode next week, but as always you can email us at TheStripPodcast@aol.com, read Steve’s redesigned blog VegasHappensHere.Com and leave us voicemail at 206-424-4737.

Raw footage courtesy of KLAS-TV in Las Vegas of Elijah "Lil Elijah J" Johnson of The Lion King performing "Dancing Machine" at the Pearl in the Palms on Aug. 29, 2009 for the "Las Vegas Celebrates The Music of Michael Jackson" benefit concert. The concert raised more than $100,000 for the Clark County Public Education Foundation earmarked for music education programs in Las Vegas-area schools.The concert was produced by Erich Bergen of Jersey Boys and Steve Friess of VegasHappensHere.Com and co-host of TheStripPodcast.Com. See VegasLovesMJ.Com for more info or contact VegasLovesMJ@yahoo.com.

If you were at the Palms on Saturday for the Michael Jackson tribute benefit, you might want to put your ticket stub in a safe place. Years from now, the concert may very well be remembered in the same light as Motown 25, a magical moment when the world witnessed the birth of a major talent. This time, it was Elijah Johnson, the 11-year-old star of the Lion King at Mandalay Bay, who flew onto the stage in a burst of energy and confidence and sang and danced with an exuberance that now has the Tonight Show calling. Johnson, who leaves the cast of Lion King in October, joins us this hour with his father in the studio to discuss that magical moment last weekend and what it could mean for his future. In Banter: MJ benefit follow-up, Earl Turner's peeps are jerks, McKee's Carmen Electra infatuation, MGM Mirage's condo issues and more.Thanks to Stiffs & Georges blogger Dave McKee of Huntington Press for filling in for Miles. Read his work at http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/blogs/dmckee.Site: TheStripPodcast.ComEmail: TheStripPodcast@aol.comVoicemail: 206-424-4737Twitter: @TheStripPodcastBlog: VegasHappensHere.Com 

She’s been mocked mercilessly for her voice, her red carpet antics and, of course, her plastic surgery. And yet at 76 years old, Joan Rivers is somehow still relevant, with a new show on TV Land called How’d You Get So Rich and stand-up shows this weekend and next at the Venetian. Rivers returns to our version of The Strip, too, to gab about her recent slam on all poker players on The Celebrity Apprentice, about how she’s more famous today than her late nemesis Johnny Carson and about which stars she thinks have – get this – had bad plastic surgery. In Banter: The fake Hotel 32 iPod app, more MJ-Vegas benefit news, what Holly's really like and a report on the Bootleg Canyon Flightlines attraction.That’s all coming up, plus news from Vegas, a new trivia question, the poll, listener feedback and, as always, the Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week. You’re on the Strip.Website – thestrippodcast.com?email: TheStripPodcast.ComPhone 206-424-4737Blog –vegashappenshere.comLive chat room at LVROCKS.COM Tuesday 7-8 pm PTTwitter: twitter.com/thestrippodcast 

For an upcoming story for Vegas Magazine, I had to try out the Bootleg Canyon Flightlines, a four-ride zipline attraction outside Boulder City, Nevada, near Las Vegas. Here's some video -- watch us get stuck! Check out VegasHappensHere.Com for more photos and links to Trevor's Flickr album. Also see bcflightlines.com for more info. Follow me on Twitter @TheStripPodcast!

You have until WEDNESDAY, AUG 26, to enter to win tickets to the Aug. 29 concert at the Pearl, “Las Vegas Celebrates The Music of Michael Jackson.” Here’s how: call 206-424-4737 and leave a message explaining which Michael Jackson song is your favorite and why. You can even sing a few bars. We’ll draw one winner and give you two tickets to the concert. But you have to call in by noon Pacific Time on Aug. 26.   As always, our website is theStripPodcast.Com, email us at TheStrippodcast@aol.com, visit Steve’s blog, VegasHappensHere.Com, and leave us any ol’ voicemail at 206-424-4737.   And now onto this week’s interview. Daniel Negreanu’s general demeanor is calm and breezy, which has earning him the demure nickname of Kid Poker. But the kid, presently No. 3 on the list of all-time earnings in poker tournament play at $11.6 million, has a bit of a wicked side, too. His Tweets during this year’s World Series of Poker were rife with snark about other players, Asian drivers and weird encounters with fans on the rail, and in this week’s conversation, Negreanu has some harsh words for fellow star Annie Duke’s representation of the game on the recent season of Celebrity Apprentice. Plus, is it true that most poker players are atheists? Negreanu answers that, too.   Take a listen and have a great week.

Whether you buy hypnotism or not, there's no denying that Anthony Cools has Las Vegas under his spell. The Paris Las Vegas headliner has become a somehwat unlikely Strip entrepreneur, responsible for four shows besides his own including Bobby Slayton and Penny Lane at the Tropicana and Mental and Freaks at O'Sheas. Cools explains how he became the king of middle-brow and why he thinks some of the more disgusting acts that take place at Freaks are really "quite romantic."In Banter: Amy and Steve discuss Mental and Freaks, another MJ raid, Laughlin sees an uptick, Steve's Steve-O story and a Maggiano's deal for Amy, and more.Web: TheStripPodcast.ComEmail: TheStripPodcast.comVoicemail: 206-424-4737Blog: VegasHappensHere.ComTwitter: @TheStripPodcast

Whether you buy hypnotism or not, there's no denying that Anthony Cools has Las Vegas under his spell. The Paris Las Vegas headliner has become a somehwat unlikely Strip entrepreneur, responsible for four shows besides his own including Bobby Slayton and Penny Lane at the Tropicana and Mental and Freaks at O'Sheas. Cools explains how he became the king of middle-brow and why he thinks some of the more disgusting acts that take place at Freaks are really "quite romantic."In Banter: Amy and Steve discuss Mental and Freaks, another MJ raid, Laughlin sees an uptick, Steve's Steve-O story and a Maggiano's deal for Amy, and more.Web: TheStripPodcast.ComEmail: TheStripPodcast.comVoicemail: 206-424-4737Blog: VegasHappensHere.ComTwitter: @TheStripPodcast 

What’s a legend of Motown doing as the chief backer of a Vegas production featuring a white former boy band from Australia? Smokey Robinson explains that, talks about Michael Jackson and sings a few bars of the first song he ever wrote this hour. It’s no “My Girl,” but he was only 6 when he wrote it. That’s coming up, plus Andrew Tierney of that very band, Human Nature, talks about the group's transition from top-of-the-heap Down Under to headliners at, uh, the Imperial Palace.In Banter: MJ concert details, the attack of the Chitown columnist, Beyonce v Anthony Cools, Prive's woes, Tao's interesting idea and more.Blog: VegasHappensHere.ComEmail: TheStripPodcast@aol.comVoicemail: 206-424-4737Site: TheStripPodcast.Com