Vegas rolls with Jay-Z for the holidays
The Palms has just scored a coup, announcing today a Jay-Z concert Dec. 29. This concert is in addition to the New Year's Eve show at Palms from Kanye West.
As for Jay-Z, this concert makes efficient use of the man's time, since the night after his Palms show "Jigga" is already set to be at the Venetian's expansion to open his 40/40 Club.
(Photo by Sarah Gerke)
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Rap Ban Update
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Forget Gangsta Rap; Look out for Doo-Wop
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2Pac and Jim Morrison
Two music legends who had a legendarily bad time in Vegas: Tupak Shakur and Jim Morrison. Shakur, of course, was murdered in Las Vegas: a crime that remains unsolved. Now, Shakur is getting a permanent presence on the Strip. Madame Tussauds will be displaying a wax statue of the slain rapper at the Venetian starting April 5.| Bookmark it:
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Snoop Can Still Suck Gin And Juice at Hard Rock
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Snoop Keeps the Money and His Fans Hear a Harmonica Band
John Katsilometes reports in the Las Vegas Sun what may turn out to be the first result of the authorities' attempt to ban gangster rap in Las Vegas nightclubs. Snoop Dogg was listed to play a private bash, Coors Light Elevation Party, at Club Rio, but Blues Traveler performed instead. According to Katsilometes: "Snoop, under contract by Coors, did get paid but was nowhere to be found (except in the program) after the company swapped artists." Katsilometes suspects the rap ban is the culprit. Club Rio and the Rio are owned by Harrah's which has kept quiet about its response to the request by the sheriff for a ban. | Bookmark it:
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Rap Ban May End in Less Regulation
After, speaking to Allen Lichtenstein and Garry Peck of the ACLU, I have a new theory as to why the casinos have been so willing to challenge gaming regulators over their right to host events and concerts featuring gangster rappers at resorts despite the fact that they almost never do. More than anything else, this relative boldness (note MGM/Mirage's Alan Feldman's comments to the Buffet when this story broke) may be the first sign of changing times in Vegas. Traditionally the regulators in Nevada, thanks to broad and vaguely written statues, held unlimited power and discretion to protect the good name of gambling. Insert smirk. But in 2004, the Hard Rock successfully fought the Gaming Control Board's attempt to punish it for racy and suggestive billboards. The state Gaming Commission overruled the Board (which is the Commission's enforcement arm), thus conveniently avoiding the First Amendment challenge of their regulations in the courts.
The ACLU clearly sees the link. According to Peck, "We are right back where we were when we were fighting over the Hard Rock's billboard advertising, and the regulators claimed the authority as regards to that advertising." If the sheriff and regulators meant to throw down the gauntlet, the ACLU seems more than ready to pick it up. "The law has changed," Lichtenstein says. "While there may have been some ambiguity as whether the regulators might have some censorship powers within the last 10 years, it has become abundantly clear now that the answer is no." Peck adds, "The time is long overdue for someone to insist upon a thorough reform of the gaming regulations." So, we shall see.
(One important caveat: MGM/Mirage's love affair with the First Amendment probably does not extend past the doors of their nightclubs all the way out to those protestors carrying signs on Las Vegas Boulevard in front of the Bellagio.)
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Sheriff on 50 Cent and Eminem
As promised here are more excerpts from my conversation with Sheriff Bill Young about his attempt to get gangster rap banned from Las Vegas resorts as what he calls "a crime prevention" strategy: Q: Someone like Snoop, in Vegas, is likely to attract a bunch of tourists from the California suburbs who want to see the concert.
A: That may be true. But do we really want to sell that as the way we make our money in this town? We really only have one business, and that is entertaining people here and showing them a good time. If we have a reputation for entertainment that is going to cause negative consequences like violence and shootings, what is it we are trying to accomplish here?
Q: How do you define gangster rap?
A: I am not the proper person to define it in particular. I kind of leave that up to the promoters and the people that stage these types of events what the content of it is. I know—I raised three kids who listen to this—there is a big difference between rap and hip-hop and what I call gangster rap. I know Will Smith. He is a fine guy. He is a funny guy. He is a rapper. He doesn't go around making albums called 'Cop Killer' or promoting putting his wife on the street to work her as a prostitute, or selling drugs as the right thing to do. So, while my knowledge of that particular genre is somewhat limited I know there is a difference. I would start with 50 Cent—
Q: Who played House of Blues at Mandalay Bay about three years ago—
A: —and we had a near riot there and fight there that we couldn't control. Define it any way you want, my friend. I am not going to argue with you. I am responsible for the safety of this community, and if I know that in the aftermath of these concerts we are going to have shootings, murders and killings: Why are we having them here? I don't think we should be selling violence here in our tourist corridor. That's not Vegas. We are not a town that sells violence. It is the inability of us to prevent violent acts that are occurring around these folks. I am linking A to B.
Q: Does someone like Eminem concern you, too?
A:Well, Eminem's product, from what I've heard, has a combination of a lot of these things. Correct me if I am wrong; I am not an expert on these things.
Q: Well, I'd say he is not a gangster but on one typical song he talks about killing his wife.
A: Yeah, well, personally, I don't think we have a place selling that as a product here.
Q: Do you have any objection to the music being played here like a club spinning "In Da Club" by 50 Cent, or is it just the concerts and events featuring the rappers?
A: I am worried about the aftermath of events. This is America, and I love that people can listen to whatever they want.
Like I said before, I like the Sheriff and he seems far more open minded in conversation than this may read. But, despite his earlier claims, what he says here, I think, shows clearly his reaction has more to do with the content of the music than any crimes being caused at these events in the tourist areas. While the local rap scene has been plaugued by violence, there has never been a shooting death inside a casino resort related to a rap event. And, as noted before on the Buffet, there are very few of these events in the first place especially considering the massive commerical success of the genre. Rap shows by top artists on the charts are almost never held in any casino resort. For example, 50 Cent and Eminem have done their last two public concerts at a local stadium. But I did see Eminem perform at the Venetian a couple years ago; he was doing a private concert at a convention to convince clothes buyers to order his line of sweats, caps and shirts. There was no violence just commerce. Reminder: Tupac Shakur was killed after a boxing match. No one is talking about banning boxing.
photo by Fred Prouser/Reuters
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Las Vegas Sheriff on Rap Ban
Yesterday I spoke to sheriff Bill Young for a feature on the rap controversy that will appear in "Las Vegas Weekly" on Thursday. During our interview I asked Young about the various interpretations of his letter written on June 5, 2005 to the Gaming Control Board. As previously written about on the Buffet, in that letter, Sheriff Young asked the Gaming Enforcement Division of the Gaming Control Board to help ponder "if we can influence the gaming industry to not book gangster rap here in Las Vegas."
The ACLU clamed that this (combined with a recent note sent to casinos by gaming authorities reminding them that they are responsible for any incidents that happened at their nightclubs) amounts to censorship. But Alan Feldman of MGM/Mirage told the Buffet the other day that his company interpreted Young's letter more as a head's up about having proper security in place. So, I began by asking the Sheriff whose interpretation was right.
Q: The ACLU says you are calling for casinos to ban gangster rap and Alan Feldman of MGM/Mirage told me he interprets your letter to mean that you only want to make sure casinos have proper security for those events, which he says they do. Which did you mean?
A: "My job is risk management; I'm more worried about safety and security than content. This isn't a First Amendment issue. If you know in advance that A is going to cause B ---and B is shootings, murders, bad publicity for the community and people hurt--- I think anyone with any sense would say maybe you want to prevent A from happening in the first place. If it was an occasional thing or one time thing I don't think it would be advantageous to us to take a position that we should not book these acts. But I based my letter on a lot of fact and history that is undisputable. You can go back to Las Vegas’ first incident when the number one gangster rap artist in America, Tupac Shakur, was killed here at the MGM. So, Mr. Feldman can have his position, but that company was unable to prevent the murder of the guy on their property."
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Casinos and ACLU parse Sheriff's Letter on Gangsta Rap
Yesterday Senior VP of Public Affairs Alan Feldman of MGM/Mirage called the Buffet to clarify that the Nelly appearance at rumjungle at Mandalay Bay was neither something that slipped through the cracks nor an attempt to stand against authorities who have requested a ban on gangsta rap (we are leaving aside that only the sheriff considers Nelly to be gangsta).| Bookmark it:
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