Here she comes -- Miss USA
Planet Hollywood has hit the “over” on sashes.
The hotel is likely, probably, going to be the home of the 2008 Miss USA pageant, which is the kid sister (the kid sister who usually winds up in Juvenile Hall) of the Miss America Pageant, which is also set for Planet Hollywood’s Theatre for the Performing Arts. Miss America is scheduled for January 26; Miss USA sashays to town April 11.
The difference in the Miss America and Miss USA pageants is reflected in their respective title-holders. Current Miss America Laurel Nelson is a pure-as-driven-snow campaigner for Internet safety and keeping children safe against online pornography. The 2006 Miss USA, Tara Conner, wound up in rehab after coverage of her stumbling through nightclubs was posted on the Internet and in gossip columns. She was permitted to keep her crown, though, thanks to an act of compassion by Miss USA owner Donald Trump, who made the announcement during a widely broadcast news conference.
Even with all the controversy -- and probably as a result – Miss USA is the more popular pageant, and reaches a far larger TV audience than does Miss America. Miss USA has signed an exclusive TV contract with NBC that runs through 2011. Miss America is bound to the cable channel TLC through 2010. By landing both shows, Planet Hollywood is the country’s beauty pageant headquarters, and has a tie-in to Donald Trump to boot. The hotel’s next move should be to set betting lines on both pageants (hint: bet on Miss Oklahoma).
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Trivia time! In which Vegas publication would you find the bumping headlines "Slot surge coming!" and "Variations on Guaranteed BJ"? Answer can be found in the item above the PL8 in my head.
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The appropriate message on the Christmas card from R&R Partners: “What happens under the mistletoe, stays under the mistletoe.” R&R devised the enormously successful and indefatigable “What happens here, stays here” Vegas PR campaign.
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Laughlin is either playing a great hand or bluffing for New Year’s Eve: the rate offered for NYE at Harrah’s Laughlin is $304. Most places are offering multiple-night minimums from $120 per night up to $170.
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Two sensibilities that do not mix: Harrah’s executive Don Marrandino’s rock ’n’ roll personality, and the show “Hats,” scheduled to open Jan. 12 at Harrah’s. Marrandino, who is president of both Harrah’s and Flamingo Las Vegas, has no interest in the musical tribute to the travel-in-droves Red Hat Society, other than reports of heavy slot play when the show was staged at Harrah’s in New Orleans.
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Vegas moment: The BYU pep band, reveling in the Cougars’ appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium (where they play UCLA) breaking into “When the Saints Go Marching In” on the mezzanine level of Planet Hollywood on Tuesday night.
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In Slots Today, the flip side of Gaming Today.
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PL8 in my head: FOODSNB on a red Toyota Tundra.
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Fabulous Las Vegas appears at this Web site. John Katsilometes, who also hosts Our Metropolis, a weekly issues and affairs show, each Tuesday at 6 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM, can be reached at 990-7720, 812-9812 or at [email protected].