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bigup2dahorns

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On 5/25/2022 at 2:45 PM, Mitch Cumsteen said:

You really want to impress me, Caesars? Bring back the old football helmet chairs.

That was the first sportsbook I ever walked into and I thought those chairs were the coolest thing, ever. Actually, I still do.

 

r/nfl - Caesars Palace had some sweet helmet chairs back in the day.

I think they had to get rid of them for fear too many people would literally shit on the Raiders.

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On 5/26/2022 at 10:09 PM, thunderlounge said:

I’d die solo. 

This latest Vegas trip was a solo trip for work. The only reason I did not die was because I tried to die on my trip to Miami Beach a couple weeks prior. Something about being on a yacht all day, drinking, and not really eating creates a bad combo. 

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Elvis controversy:

Elvis might be leaving the buildings.

The company that lords over the King’s image and likeness is cracking down on Las Vegas chapels that book Elvis-themed weddings and, and otherwise embrace his persona. Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which licenses Elvis Presley-related merchandise, has issued a cease-and-desist letter dated May 19 to several Las Vegas chapels.

“This couldn’t hit at a worse time. It’s not a good thing,” Clark County Clerk Lynn Goya, who has presided over Las Vegas’ wedding marketing campaign, said Monday. “It might destroy a portion of our wedding industry. A number of people might lose their livelihood.”

ABG is a licensing company that manages the estates of Marilyn Monroe and Muhammad Ali, and its holdings include about 50 consumer brands (Shaquille O’Neal is among its leading investors). In this instance, ABG intends to stop the unauthorized use of (quoting from the company’s document) “Elvis Presley’s name, likeness, voice image, and other elements of Elvis Presley’s persona in advertisements, merchandise, and otherwise.”

ABG specifies “Elvis, “Elvis Presley,” “and “The King of Rock and Roll” as its protected trademarks.

ABG officials have not responded to an email for response or comment.

Issued and signed by an ABG attorney, the letter states that if an “infringing chapel” does not comply with the terms of the document within a week, the company’s counsel would advise seeking legal action. That date would have been May 27, or last Friday. As of Monday, no chapels have reported they have been contacted further by ABG.

Those businesses targeted include chapels that specialize in, or offer, Elvis ceremonies or have the King’s image as part of their name and logo. Viva Las Vegas/Vegas Weddings, the Elvis Chapel, Elvis Weddings and Las Vegas Elvis Chapel are among those confirmed to have been notified. These Las Vegas chapels, and dozens more, have just begun to recover from the COVID shutdown and a loss of nearly two years of business.

Conceivably, a chapel and ABG could reach a financial licensing arrangement to continue business as usual. The timing of ABG’s action falls just before the heavily hyped Baz Luhrmann biopic “Elvis” is released June 24. That film is certain to regenerate interest in Presley’s career, especially the opportunity to be married in Vegas by an Elvis impersonator.

The result of the ABG warning has sent a shockwave through the Las Vegas chapel community. These businesses depend largely on ceremonies performed by Elvis impressionists. All ilk of tourists, from couples visiting from tiny towns in Montana to Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian, call on the King to perform ceremonies. This is the case whether or not the ceremonies are legally binding.

“This could be very damaging to our industry,” Melody Willis-Williams, president of Vegas Weddings and Viva Las Vegas Weddings, said Monday. “Most of us are small businesses, and we’re up against a superpower with a lot of money. It could kill us in lawyer fees to fight this.”

Williams echoed the sentiment of many Elvis tribute artists and chapel owners who say these weddings King’s image in the public domain.

“Elvis weddings are synonymous with Las Vegas,” Williams said. “We keep Elvis alive.”

Kent Ripley of Elvis Weddings is among the operators who performs as Presley and is also co-owner of the business. He’s been in business for 25 years and has never received such a warning.

“We get bookings that have been planned for three, four, five years to have an Elvis wedding,” Ripley said. “They want to protect the Elvis brand. But what are they protecting by taking Elvis away from the public?”
Already, chapels are scraping Elvis from their websites and ceremony listings. One couple Sunday was disappointed after ordering an Elvis ceremony several months ago, only to have the Elvis impressionist dressed in a leather jacket, jeans and a fedora for a “rock ‘n’ roll”-themed experience.

Elvis-themed ceremonies are clearly a significant piece of the state’s tourism pie. The wedding industry produces $2 billion a year. Clark County has redoubled its efforts to re-establish Las Vegas as the “Wedding Capital of the World,” issuing its five-millionth wedding license in February.

Operators stress that there is no stopping a person dressed as Elvis from performing a ceremony at, say, the Elvis suite at Westgate Las Vegas or Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. And, the right to use Elvis’ image in stage shows (such as “Legends in Concert” and “All Shook Up” in Las Vegas) is protected by Nevada’s “right of publicity” statute that covers tribute shows.

Las Vegas attorney Mark Tratos, who helped draft that statute, explains the difference.

“An Elvis show is a performer essentially entertaining others by re-creating that person onstage,” Tratos said Monday. “The juxtaposition would be, deciding to go to a mechanic, as Elvis. Is he really an entertainer, creating a story? Or simply using the Elvis name to essentially draw a customer who can say, ‘I had an Elvis guy fix my car.’ The question is, are you using it to attract attention, versus storytelling?”

But there are no ticketed Elvis shows currently on the Strip (“All Shook Up” plays the off-Strip Alexis Park), while Elvis weddings remain enormously popular. All 55 of the city’s free-standing chapels have the option of hiring an Elvis artist for a ceremony, even without “Elvis” in the business title.

Williams says her business does “thousands” of Elvis ceremonies a year, not making the figure public because the wedding industry in Vegas is known to be hyper-competitive. But Graceland Wedding Chapel General Manager Rod Musum says his business performs about 6,400 Elvis weddings annually. Musum says Graceland has not been served with a warning from ABG.

But Kayla Collins of LasVegasElvisWeddingChapel.com and the Little Chapel of Hearts has been warned. She’s holding fast until her attorneys sort out how she can continue business in the face of this scrutiny.
“We are a family run business, and now we’re hanging with the big dogs,” Collins said Monday. “My husband built the website by himself. That’s our bread and butter. I don’t get it. We were just hitting our stride again through COVID, then this happens. I’m just trying not be freaked out by it.”

https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/vegas-chapels-all-shook-up-by-elvis-likeness-crackdown-2584838/

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On 5/26/2022 at 7:36 PM, Angry Gorilla said:


Report back. The tuna tacos and mac & cheese are also great.

Holy shit those tuna tacos were great. The grilled cheese dumpling things were fantastic as well. Oysters were on point. Brussel sprouts and 18oz NY Strip were good as well.  Beauty and Essex was a great meal.

other restaurants we hit:

Vanderpump Garden: my gf was not taking no for an answer so we hit it up Friday afternoon since we landed at around noon. Sliders were great. Vibe was great. Would definitely go back and most likely will next trip.

Bouchon (Brunch): GREAT. The bread they bring out with the butter/cream cheese and berry spread was a good start. Ordered the oysters and Escargot to start. Wow. Then I got this steak hash they were offering and my gf ordered the crab Benny’s. I hate that I can’t give a fair assessment to my plate because those crab bennys were on another level. The hash was good and all but it was something I might not order again with other stuff on menu. This place will definitely be an every trip stop.

China Poblano: got an order of guac and traditional dim sum to start both were really good. Then got the birria quesadillas and the Camarones al mojo de ajo negro. Those camarones were really good and something I’d never tasted before. Overall good meal. Sucks that only reason we may never go back is because my gf left her cell phone in the restroom and got back to the table when she realized she left cell phone in bathroom. Stolen in less than 2 minutes. Oh well there are shitty people fuck them.

Lotus of Siam: Man. What a place. Got the fried chicken wontons, tom kha soup, pineapple fried rice, and garlic prawns. Between the soup and the prawns, holy shit I can’t even describe them. Just fucking amazing. Polished it off with a bottle of sauv blanc and bam excellent meal.

Joe’s: Another amazing meal. Got an order of stone crab claws, dozen oysters, Alaskan king crab, and lobster mac. Couldn’t tell which I liked more between the claws or legs but both were fantastic and surprisingly filling. Oysters were a little saltier and were excellent. Enjoyed all that with another bottle of sauv blanc. Rounded it all out with a carajillo and a half slice each of the tres leches and apple pie. Amazing meal and well worth the price.

Joe‘s, Lotus, and Bouchon are going to be every trip stops from now on for me. Just amazing meals. This was the first time I went to Las Vegas and didn’t go crazy partying and mainly gambled and ate great meals but I gotta say I enjoyed the fuck out of this trip. Went to the pool on Saturday for about 2 hours and just had a bottle of champagne (paid for by black jack winninfs after brunch) and chilled for a bit. 

On 5/26/2022 at 8:40 PM, bigup2dahorns said:


I’ve been listening to the Bill Burr podcasts for awhile now he does 2 a week. Should be a great show.

Logistics of getting into the Chelsea was strange and kind of a cluster fuck. Other than that badass show. Walked up to the bar to order a drink and this younger dude came up to me and offered us 2 tickets on the floor for free since parents couldn’t go. Left of center stage and like 10th row. Badass start.  Can’t remember the name of the guy who opened but he was pretty fucking funny. Now Bill Burr was fantastic as always. He was really pushing the envelope but I was laughing my ass off the whole fucking time. Did a bit about mushrooms and being informed of Bob Saget passing and felt a little bad because you could tell even telling the bit gets him. Bit is funny as fuck tho.

Overall great fucking trip and can’t wait to go back.  

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Of course we book a trip weekend of 6/25 primarily to see Aerosmith (my wife's first concert and she's been talking about seeing them again for 10+ years) and Stephen Tyler enters rehab and has to cancel the shows.  SMH.   Rehab at 74!!

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1 hour ago, bigup2dahorns said:

Nice trip report CowboyFred. The food at Lotus is always fantastic and definitely worthy of being in the rotation every single trip. Next time grab the mango sticky rice for dessert.

My gf is allergic to mango so it’s fucked a lot of shit for me lol but I might still get it next time fuck it

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Curious if the test the other day clubs on the strip as well.

https://www.ktnv.com/news/investigation-pool-water-at-2-popular-vegas-day-clubs-contains-e-coli-high-levels-of-bacteria

 

Quote

 An investigation into popular pool clubs on the Las Vegas Strip revealed the presence of bacteria and even E. coli. 

Inside Edition sent a team of producers to collect samples at three of the most popular day clubs on the Strip: Marquee Dayclub at The Cosmopolitan, Daylight Beach Club at Mandalay Bay, and TAO Beach Dayclub at The Venetian.

 

 

Quote

The pool water samples were sent to IEH Laboratories in Seattle for testing, and the results were reviewed by Dr. Susan Whittier, a clinical microbiologist at Columbia University. 

"We found a lot of fecal bacteria in some of these pools," Whittier told Inside Edition. "The potential for infection occurring seems inevitable."

The Southern Nevada Health District requires these day clubs to keep pool filtration systems in continuous operation and to keep pools clean of debris, slime and biofilm.

 

Quote

But in the pool at Marquee Dayclub, Inside Edition producers found fingernails, cigarette butts, and foamy debris. 

The samples from Marquee contained a bacteria count of 15 million — and that foamy debris tested positive for E. coli, Inside Edition reported. 

At Mandalay Bay's Daylight Beach Club, the pool water sampled by Inside Edition had a bacteria count of 100 million, and E. coli was found in that water as well.

"I never expected to see those numbers of bacteria that we found," Whittier said. "It's kind of similar to like, swimming in a toilet."

 

Quote

At TAO Beach Dayclub, it was a different story. 

"Whatever they're doing is correct," Whittier told Inside Edition. 

The pool water sampled there was clean, with no evidence of E. coli bacteria. 

MGM Resorts International operates both The Cosmopolitan and Mandalay Bay. In a statement, the company said that "the health and safety of our guests is a top priority. Our pool operations adhere to all health regulations set by the Southern Nevada Health District."

 

 

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On 6/1/2022 at 9:18 AM, kevwun said:

What are the must gets at Lotus?  We are going in July for the first time.

Usual order with my gf and I. 

Pork Larb

Screenshot_20220602-201647_Photos.jpg

Tom Yum

Screenshot_20220602-201656_Photos.jpg

Seafood Pad See Ew

Screenshot_20220602-201705_Photos.jpg

Short rib curry

Screenshot_20220602-201715_Photos.jpg

 

I am going solo next week so might try some different things out but the short rib curry has never failed

Edited by Zepol87
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4 minutes ago, Zepol87 said:

Cosmo balcony rooms are badass, I almost drowned in a drunken stupor in a bath a couple years ago there. My gf put a bunch of bubble shit from lush or something I passed out hard. Those tubs are badass

We have a corner suite can’t wait. All the rooms are A+

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On 5/31/2022 at 6:18 PM, CowboyFred said:

Holy shit those tuna tacos were great. The grilled cheese dumpling things were fantastic as well. Oysters were on point. Brussel sprouts and 18oz NY Strip were good as well.  Beauty and Essex was a great meal.

other restaurants we hit:

Vanderpump Garden: my gf was not taking no for an answer so we hit it up Friday afternoon since we landed at around noon. Sliders were great. Vibe was great. Would definitely go back and most likely will next trip.

Bouchon (Brunch): GREAT. The bread they bring out with the butter/cream cheese and berry spread was a good start. Ordered the oysters and Escargot to start. Wow. Then I got this steak hash they were offering and my gf ordered the crab Benny’s. I hate that I can’t give a fair assessment to my plate because those crab bennys were on another level. The hash was good and all but it was something I might not order again with other stuff on menu. This place will definitely be an every trip stop.

China Poblano: got an order of guac and traditional dim sum to start both were really good. Then got the birria quesadillas and the Camarones al mojo de ajo negro. Those camarones were really good and something I’d never tasted before. Overall good meal. Sucks that only reason we may never go back is because my gf left her cell phone in the restroom and got back to the table when she realized she left cell phone in bathroom. Stolen in less than 2 minutes. Oh well there are shitty people fuck them.

Lotus of Siam: Man. What a place. Got the fried chicken wontons, tom kha soup, pineapple fried rice, and garlic prawns. Between the soup and the prawns, holy shit I can’t even describe them. Just fucking amazing. Polished it off with a bottle of sauv blanc and bam excellent meal.

Joe’s: Another amazing meal. Got an order of stone crab claws, dozen oysters, Alaskan king crab, and lobster mac. Couldn’t tell which I liked more between the claws or legs but both were fantastic and surprisingly filling. Oysters were a little saltier and were excellent. Enjoyed all that with another bottle of sauv blanc. Rounded it all out with a carajillo and a half slice each of the tres leches and apple pie. Amazing meal and well worth the price.

Joe‘s, Lotus, and Bouchon are going to be every trip stops from now on for me. Just amazing meals. This was the first time I went to Las Vegas and didn’t go crazy partying and mainly gambled and ate great meals but I gotta say I enjoyed the fuck out of this trip. Went to the pool on Saturday for about 2 hours and just had a bottle of champagne (paid for by black jack winninfs after brunch) and chilled for a bit. 

Logistics of getting into the Chelsea was strange and kind of a cluster fuck. Other than that badass show. Walked up to the bar to order a drink and this younger dude came up to me and offered us 2 tickets on the floor for free since parents couldn’t go. Left of center stage and like 10th row. Badass start.  Can’t remember the name of the guy who opened but he was pretty fucking funny. Now Bill Burr was fantastic as always. He was really pushing the envelope but I was laughing my ass off the whole fucking time. Did a bit about mushrooms and being informed of Bob Saget passing and felt a little bad because you could tell even telling the bit gets him. Bit is funny as fuck tho.

Overall great fucking trip and can’t wait to go back.  

Badass trip! Not sure I’ve ever made it through Vegas without brunch at Bouchon. Hell, one time we had a three hour layover on the way to Park City for a ski trip and we caught a cab to Bouchon for a quick brunch before our next flight (pre Covid, not sure I’d try that now). 

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On 5/31/2022 at 7:58 PM, Francisco 2.0 said:

Siegfried and Roy's estate is having an auction.  Here's the catalog:

 

https://issuu.com/bonhams/docs/bonhams-auction-27447-en?mode=window&viewMode=doublePage

 

Chock full of photos, including I'm assuming their bedroom.  That mural is....something:

 

sigfried_roy_auction6.jpg

 

 

 

Screen Shot 2022-06-03 at 1.53.33 PM.png

 

I have been all over southern Germany/Bavaria. I ain't never seen no shit like that.

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Got really fucking high after hitting my fav dispensary. The dispensary NV if you care, off the strip but always the best specials to get enough for a few days on the low. I walked around with Tito's and topo Chico for about an hour then the munchies and looked to my left and saw nacho daddy. I've never been but they had Texas State game on so I kicked it there for a bit. Nothing special but not bad

20220606_215918.jpg

20220606_221619.jpg

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Just got back from a conference at the MGM this week.  4 days is too much Vegas for me especially in June when its 108 degrees.  Hit Craft Steakhouse a few times at the MGM which was pretty good.  The Wagyu skirt steak was pretty fantastic.  Best part was the group I was with threw a 90's party with Ton Loc, Young MC, Rob Base and Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray).  I enjoyed that which I guess shows how old I am.

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Posted about it on the inflation thread but if anyone has a trip planned this summer with a refundable room check prices.  We're going last weekend in June and prices down significantly pretty much across the board from where they were a month ago.

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2 hours ago, Skipper said:

Posted about it on the inflation thread but if anyone has a trip planned this summer with a refundable room check prices.  We're going last weekend in June and prices down significantly pretty much across the board from where they were a month ago.

How do you know if you do? I have a corner suite 6/19-6/22 at cosmo. Do I just call and say do I have a refundable room check? 

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1 hour ago, Bogeywon said:

How do you know if you do? I have a corner suite 6/19-6/22 at cosmo. Do I just call and say do I have a refundable room check? 

If you booked directly with Cosmo (or any other 3rd party site) I assume that's in your confirmation somewhere.  But can also probably just call if booked directly.

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