Las Vegas Podcasts

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Sazzy’s first ever Video Interview was with Vegas’ icon “The Amazing Johnathan.”  Can you believe it?  I got Sazzy in front of the camera!  Of course they talk cars, that was the deal.  It was an interesting interview and one that will be chopped up and edited over the next week or so.

We wanted to first focus on the cars.  Sazzy’s favorite topic.  Specifically they wanted to talk about Johnathan’s car auction to benefit Make-a-Wish this weekend. At least that’s what I tried to keep this clip to…

Watch the video and you will understand…

About the Auction…

Are you wondering what gift to give the person who has everything? Famed comic magician and auto enthusiast Amazing Johnathan is scheduled to hold his first-ever classic car show and sale on Saturday, Dec. 15 at his warehouse located at 6290 Harrison Drive from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This auction provides the perfect chance to buy that special someone a unique, high-end gift. Entertainment will include a live radio remote with 97.1 The Point from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and sideshow acts featuring 1950’s style performers, as well as food trucks including Sausagefest, famous for its gourmet sausages and sandwiches, Roamin’ Dough serving pocket pies and gourmet French fries, and Bad Ass Coffee, known for its coffee, hot chocolate, shaved ice and smoothie specialties.

An avid car collector, Amazing Johnathan will showcase numerous classic vehicles and offer several cars for sale from his prized collection at this free event open to the public. To show his holiday spirit, Amazing Johnathan will donate 10 percent of the proceeds from the sale of each vehicle to Make-A-Wish® Southern Nevada.

“Buying and restoring classic cars has always been a hobby of mine and I’ve had a great time building a massive collection over the years,” stated Amazing Johnathan. “Sharing this pastime and my love of classic cars with the public will be an exciting adventure and a fun way for me to give back to the community.”

The vehicles for sale will include a four door, 1955 aqua-colored Cadillac Model Sixty Two and a yellow 1959 Cadillac Model Sixty Two two-door coupe. Amazing Johnathan will also be selling his 1964 Lincoln Continental, a four-door sedan in a classic crème color, as well as several other vintage autos. All vehicles are priced at current market value, have been thoroughly detailed and are in good, working condition. To view images of Amazing Johnathan’s vehicles that will be on display at the car show, please visit http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.77605980250.158802.662795250&type=3.

Amazing Johnathan’s car collection has been covered by various media outlets over the past several years as the collection has grown. What once began as a collection of two classic cars has taken on a life of its own and become a massive fleet of 27 rare vehicles including a 1932 Pierce Arrow, 1967 Pontiac GTO and a 1972 Dodge Challenger. Amazing Johnathan takes his high-end collection seriously and even employs a full-time mechanic to ensure that all vehicles are street-legal and in pristine condition. When the vehicles are not being driven, the collection is housed in Amazing Johnathan’s 10,000 square foot, climate-controlled warehouse, which is modeled after a drive-in movie theater. Amazing Johnathan is among several other celebrity comedians famous for car collecting including Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld and Tim Allen.

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• NASCAR Burnouts!!
• Classic Car Weekend
• Vegas Summer Closing – The Phantom

NFR week doesn’t just mean cowboys, tight Wranglers and horses.  It also means shopping.  I mean shopping on steroids!!  Four different convention centers filled with “Western Lifestyle” shopping.  That equals to over one million square feet of shopping nirvana!

For me, the highlight of wandering the 100′s of exhibitors at Cowboy Christmas was finding that wonderful childhood memory for many of us…  Our first horse!

Now that memory, so I found out, can be yours again at home.   Faren, from Ride Guys hunts down the original amusement rides from the back warehouses of closed stores and amusement companies, takes them all apart and restores them with tender loving care…  All so that you, your kids or your grand-kids can put your spare to good use!

What do you think of that??

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• Micheal Mack Talks NFR Vega$ with Mark Anthony
• What the NFR Means to Las Vegas?
• A visit to the Pinball Hall of Fame

The media Room at Thomas and Mack Center was a little lite on top-tier photogs and reporters last night.  They were over at the MGM watching a Congressman get his lights turned off by an old rival.

Translation:  Many media people were skipping the NFR to go to the MGM and watch Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico knock out Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines in the sixth round of the 4th rematch between the two boxers.

Here is how it all went down in three pictures… 

The stars are starting to rise……

Tweety Bird is watching the stars circle overhead…

Filipino boxer and Congressman Manny Pacquiao reportedly earned $26 million for the fight.

Photo Credits go to the man of the Nikon World: Tom Donoghue!

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Mark:  Mark Anthony thevegastourist.com podcast and I am here with:

Micheal:  Micheal Mack, Vice President of Marketing, Las Vegas Events

Mark:  And Las Vegas Events does what?

Micheal:  Las Vegas Events is the official events agency for the City.  So we work closely with the convention authority.  They’re the marketing arm, we’re the special events arm of the city.

Mark:  And that special event includes the NFR?

Micheal:  The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo is one of the pre-eminent events that we do here.  It’s a December tradition.  We are in our 28^th year.  It gets bigger and better every year.

Mark:   It’s been in Vegas for 28 years now?

Micheal:  Since 1985 when it moved from Oklahoma City, the NFR has sold out 200 consecutive performances and like I said it continues to grow.

Mark:  We always talk about how in Vegas we can handle any kind of event but this is different, this is 10 solid days and the city, everybody gets involved, there’s really not many people that don’t get involved and it’s kind of a one-of-a-kind event isn’t it?

Micheal:  Yea, I agree with you 100%.  I think when you look at what the Wrangler NFR does best and the way the city embraces it, I think that’s the most important piece.  It’s all the hotel properties up and down the strip embrace the rodeo, it’s a December tradition, it’s something we look forward to every year and the way the activate around it is much more important because it gives the fans that much more to do when they arrive.

(Edit time – someone walked through the video)

Mark:  Edit time.  Now ok, we are here at the 2012 WNFR, when do you start planning for NFR 2013?

Micheal:  Probably the day after this one ends.  Literally, you look at what went right, what went wrong and you start to evaluate, you put your criteria together for next year.  But this is a year-long process and the partnership with the PRCA, the partnership with the city and the hotel properties, that evaluation will start immediately.

Mark:  How many people come to the table to start putting this together? How many different agencies, companies, people?

Micheal:  The number of agencies and people is just overwhelming because if you look at the fact that you need the arena, you need the PRCA obviously, you need the wonderful contestants, the 120 best cowboys, you need the stock contractors, you need the city to embrace it, you need the fans of course you need the hotel properties, let’s put it at tens of thousands.

Mark:  Wow! Now as far as what this does for the city because it’s economic development.  What does this do to the city?

Micheal:  According to an LVCA report from 2011, the non-gaming impact was $60.1 million, so when you look at that, that’s the total spend of all visitors who came specifically for the NFR.  That’s significant.

Mark:  That’s huge especially at the end of the year when there really isn’t much going on.  Now speaking of that, because, um, when you say that this comes at a dead time of the year,  but yet now we’ve got Miss Universe is in town, Ultimate Fighting, got the Pacquiao fight, a lot of different events are now coming in to tap off of that.  Is that what’s happening?

Micheal:  Well I think when you look traditionally, just like you said, December had been a very slow month and it is off compared to some of the other months, but when you couple the NFR with the marathon the week before, the Pacquiao fight this same weekend – actually tonight, and going forward with the Las Vegas bowl leading into New Years, December becomes a very strong event month and that’s significant for the destination also.

Mark:  Now, the one thing that’s on everybody’s mind, Jerry Jones? (referring to the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium)

Micheal:  The way I’ve always commented on that is that I’ve always said that it’s hard to duplicate what Las Vegas has to offer.  You can’t do this anywhere else.  NFR is very special here.  The way this city embraces it is very special.  So I would just always say it’s very duplicate for any other city in the world to have what we have here with the NFR.

Mark:  Right because we have everything so close, we have all of the transportation, all of the entertainment, and all that.  Now, are you guys helping to push for the new arena that they want to build here?

Micheal:  That is not on our agenda as Las Vegas Events but for supporting the city we would always like to see new infrastructure built to support potential new events.

Mark:  Wonderful.  So ladies and gentlemen this is our big event and then we down for what 10 days and then we hit Christmas?

Micheal:  That is correct and the Las Vegas Bowl and then New Year’s Eve.

Mark:  And then New Year’s Eve which is just party central so appreciate your time.  Thank you very much.  Mark Anthony, TheVegasTourist.com podcast

Related Posts:

• The Turkey is Gone, Bring on the NASCAR and NFR
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The official name of the event is Wrangler National Finals Rodeo but we all call it the NFR or National Finals Rodeo.  The better name is “Godsend”.  December is a dead month for any business in Las Vegas.  The one month when tourism pretty well dies save for the NFR.

For ten days we fill the Thomas and Mack Center at the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus with 17,000 fans.  Then we pack another few thousand fans into the casinos as they watch the events on closed circuit television.

Add to that the two “western lifestyle” gift shows that fill the two largest convention centers along with all the country acts that fill the showrooms and stages around town.  In short, it’s a massive shot in the arm when Vegas needs it the most.

Put it this way, if it were not for NFR, starting after Black Friday, you would be able to shoot a cannon ball down the strip and probably not hit a single tourist or panhandler until the Christmas rush followed by the New Year’s drunk-fest.

That’s what the NFR means to Las Vegas.  Jobs and money to tide us over until the new year.

If you want more info, I will be posting NFR updates on The Vegas Tourist Twitter feed as well as on RodeoRoundup.net

Related Posts:

• Finding Your Inner Child at Cowboy Christmas
• Micheal Mack Talks NFR Vega$ with Mark Anthony
• Rodeo Up Boys, Its Vegas’ Time

Who needs real snow for Christmas when you have the magic of the Las Vegas Strip??  The Winter in Venice theme for the Venetian Resort has outside ice skating, a live cooking show and the magic of live strolling carolers to entertain.  Not to mention a catchy, color changing  Christmas tree.

Inside you have the larger than life snow flakes and other festive holiday displays around a floral garden.    All without having to get bundled up or get frost bite!!

I Love Vegas!!

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Not often do we pimp another Vegas Tourist related website.  But Scott Whitney from Vegas Video Network, has pimped us a few times and so we feel honored to do the same back.

One of Scott’s newest shows is called FSE Live (Fremont Street Experience) and is hosted by Fremont Street Experience president Jeff Victor.  It’s a live format look at the various Fremont Street Experience casinos, restaurants and attractions.  An authentic behind-the-curtain look at the people and places that draw over 17 million visitors annually.

The most recent episode and the one I wanted to highlight, hits on two of my favorite attractions downtown: The Mob Museum and Carl “Safe Sax” Ferris.

The show is also important to tourists, because it talks about Fremont Street’s newest scam, “Slotzilla”.  Where the people who run FSE stole the idea of a zip-line from one of their successful tenants and then kicked the tenant out of the Experience, to create their own version of the attraction.  Success never goes unrewarded??

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My one wish would be to have a way to capture the smell of NASCAR.  It’s an addictive, one of a kind smell that just lights up the fans of the sport. And today that smell filled the Las Vegas Strip!

The 2012 NASCAR Fan week start and today was when the top 12 drivers of the season got to strut their stuff on the Strip and have an “authorized” burnout session at the end of the lap.

In previous years, the county has tried to maintain the order and keep it to a burnout by the Champion.  But these are NASCAR kids!! They never really got that memo.

This year, they also displayed the new body styles and cars for the 2013 season.  At the end of the video, you will see the Ford Ecobooster, the Toyota 2013 and first public viewing of the new Chevrolet SS NASCAR Sprint Cup Racer for 2013 (Think Impala, without the nameplate) …

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While most of this weeks action is taking place at the Thomas and Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus; just down the street a little ways is a fun family place called The Pinball Hall of Fame.

Where else in Vegas can you take a bag of quarters and spend the day playing??  Here!!

What is The Pinball Hall of Fame?

From Wikipedia: The Pinball Hall of Fame opened in Paradise, Nevada in January 2006. It is a project of the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club, and it features pinball machines from all eras, including some very rare machines such as Williams’ Black Gold, Bally’s Pinball Circus and Recreativos Franco’s Impacto. It features approximately 400 different pinball games, including some classic video arcade games and other novelty machines of the past and present.

The museum is a nonprofit venture and its creation came about in part due to donations, which are still accepted. The museum is run by Tim Arnold, a veteran arcade operator who ran “Pinball Pete’s” in East Lansing, Michigan. Fully staffed by volunteers, excess revenues are donated to the Salvation Army.[2]

Since 1990, Tim Arnold has been busy with this project, raising money selling DVDs (and VHS tapes) about pinball repair and organizing pinball ‘fun nights’ at his own house. There he also has a very large personal collection of pinball machines.

Just Pinball??

Not “just” pinball, Tim also has a growing collection of classic video games.  Like the pinball machines, each machine comes with its own little tag that shows the machine/game history.  Giving you information about the manufacturer, designer and the machine itself.  Plus THEY WORK!!

Family Fun in Vegas

Yes, adults can now relive their own youth by bringing the kids down and playing the games we played in our younger days when Mom and Dad would dump us off and go have their own little fun elsewhere!!  No Alcohol, No ladies wanting dates and No gambling.  Just clean fun in a basic environment and you help support the cause!

Pinball Hall of Fame:
1610 E Tropicana Ave
Paradise, Nevada

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Not making much of an excuse for a bad looking video, we are working on about 6 hours of sleep over a 48 hour period.  These guys are wanting a lot of video and giving Jason Hetland and myself some amazing access and interviews.  So we do what we can, when we can!!

Rough or not, it is a nice start to a new future and a great PBR experience!

Round one is the Rank Pen, These are the bad bulls.  Bad as in not like to be ridden and will try their best to get free.  Only 6 riders out of 40 rode the full 8 seconds.  Most never made it past 3 seconds.

It was a tight race going into the world finals, and nothing has changed.  The top 2 best bulls are still tied for first place as well as the top two riders are only 146 point apart.  Anything can happen, and it will!!

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Please do not adjust your computer monitor.  That is not Sazzy standing next to me.  That’s our friend Jason Hetland.  We told you we were doing something different this year for PBR!!  We are doing a tag team approach to the PBR this year. Do not worry,   Sazzy will join us later in the week!!

I will be co-hosting some videos with Jason for another website called www4theride.com – So if you see some twitter or facebook posting from me, but not with the TVT logo, that is why.  I will try to do some cross posts with The Vegas Tourist, pending editing time.  But we have a lot to cover and a lot of things happening.  SO hang on, keep up and enjoy the ride.

The first thing we noticed today was that the energy level at the Pro Bull Riders World Finals 2012 is extremely high this year and the first ride hasn’t even happened yet.  So we are expecting a fast-paced week with lots of news, updates and changes to come as everything starts to happen.

With the help of Jason and the other website, we have unparallelled access to riders and contractors.  So if you have any questions you want answered from any of the riders, now is your time.  So please post them here or send us an email and we will try to get them answered.

I welcome Jason back to Las Vegas, look forward to a lot more collaboration and a lot of fun over the next 5 days!!

As always, we will do a wrap up podcast after its all finished and we get a chance to recuperate!

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Looking like it was a good day to do a podcast.  Catching up on so much yet so little time to capture what we wanted…  But We Have returned!!

Vegas is seriously changing.  Small changes but changes that will have great impact for The Vegas Tourist.  Plenty of future things to gab about, try and report back to you all….

• Another jumper at Hoover Dam
• NASCAR Truck Series
• Phantom goes away for Tim & Faith
• The Blue Man Group goes south
• Coco replaces Holly Madison
• Sazzy has her own little spot on the web Sewing Sazzy
• Photo Credit:  Tom Donoghue

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Went for a little Strip Update walk last week.  To see whats new on the Vegas Strip.  (And its really changing)  I stopped into  Harrah’s and found Pete “Big Elvis” Vallee packing them in at his new digs in the piano bar.  He is now in the daylight, front and center.  Right next to Carnival Court and a big window that faces the Strip.  You can’t miss him! (could you ever??)

Dancing in the Wind!

Yes, watch the video and you will see that is Big Elvis getting up and dancing a little.  He can do that now after losing close to 400 pounds naturally.  Do the math and you will understand why he is called “Big Elvis”.  He used to be over at Bills/Barbary Coast, in a dark and dank little corner where he held court most afternoons.  Joined by his growing legion of fans and people following “that voice”.  Only to find something other than what they were expecting.

I think that was part of the entertainment of his show;  The newbies finding him and not believing what they saw.  That voice and That Body…. it just didn’t match.  And the look was like their eyes were having a battle with their ears on what is real.  It sounds like Elvis, but He doesn’t look like the Elvis we knew??  Maybe after 20 years of grilled cheese and banana sandwiches??

But you always left saying “he is The best”  and he still is!

It’s a free show….

Big Elvis on Facebook

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The Mob Museum just keeps getting better and better each month.  This Wednesday they have a great speaker as part of their lecture series.  DR. MARK GALEOTTI – NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR his topic is  “Organized Crime in Russia & its Global Impact”

So now you are asking “What the world does this man have to say about the Russian Mob and what does it have to do with Las Vegas?” Good question.  And after reading up about the man and the topic, I would have to say “PLENTY”…  So if you are a fan of Vegas Mob history or just love Vegas history, this is the lecture series to be at….  It won’t be like any you ever been to.

Figure it this way:  if you were just given the proverbial keys to the candy store, where would you go to learn how to get the most out of the new candy store? You would go to the place that made the candy store famous.  In this case, its the Russian Mafia about to be handed the keys to the new casinos in Eastern Europe.  So where should they go to learn how to skim and to learn from those who tried it and see how NOT to get caught doing it?  You go to Las Vegas. Not to run the skim here.  But to learn how it was done.

• The Mob Museum Lecture Series Info and Tickets
• Great article about the Russian Mob and Las Vegas

Unfortunately I have a prior engagement I am not getting out of.  So if you go, take notes and let me know how it went.  Ok??

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Yes Sir!!  It’s Official.  Again….  Las Vegas will have a new water park in 2013.  And its name will be Wet ‘n’ Wild.  The original name of the park was Splash Canyon and it was to open this past summer.  But things changed and it got pushed to 2013.  The money bags behind the project has since purchased the Wet ‘n’ Wild company and will bring the name back. But not on the Strip.

• Check their YouTube Video for the new park
• Las Vegas Sun News Update

Rock-a-Hoola Update

The original water park for this area was called Rock-a-Hoola or Lake Delores, depending your age and how long you lived in southern Nevada. Its actually credited with being the world’s first water park.

The remains of the park are located about 100 miles west of Las Vegas.  Almost in the middle between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  It started in the late 50′s/early 60′s.  Went thru various ownerships until it finally went totally defunct in 2004 after an employee sued the park for his stupidity and won.  The park never reopened.

At one point, I did get to talk to the park maintenance man.  A nice, friendly and a bit reserved chap.  He was hired near the end of the park’s life and was kept on after closing to keep the park in “near open condition” in case things changed. He did an admirable job considering the size and location of the park!  He was later released when new owners came up with the brilliant idea of  tearing it all down and build high end condos and estates on the property.  That never happened…  It still sits abandoned minus the slides.

The Sazzy Effect

In September, I had an opportunity on my way out to California to stop and shoot some video of the park that people had requested.   I wanted to shoot more, but the black SUV  with its motor running, I spotted parked in an abandoned water park – in the middle of the Mojave desert.. Kind of put a damper on my enthusiasm to explore the park further.

That’s called the “Sazzy Effect”.  The term was coined when right before we interviewed Mobster Frank Cullotta, Sazzy started to get nervous and worried.  She thought she was being profiled, followed or stalked.  Everywhere she looked, she swore she saw a black SUV with dark tinted windows, following her or parked near her…  She still does get that way on occasions, but she and Frank are good friends now .

Video History of Abandonment

To show you the history and deterioration of the park, I found some great YouTube clips.

• My video here, was shot in September of 2012.  Just under a year a go, someone drove their Honda car thru the park. Yes!  He Drove Thru the Park!!  Notice the changes and amount of vandalism. Rock-A-Hoola Tour 11/28/2011

• This one is from 2009.  Not long after the maintenance man was gone.  Most buildings are still in repairable condition. Rock-a-Hoola

• Lake Dolores / Rock A Hoola Water Park 1998 Commercial

Anyone have memories of either water parks??  Let us know.

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