What Happens in Vegas, Can Get Litigious
Who: Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, creator of the now famous, "What Happens Here, Stays Here" phrase vs. Pure Pleasure of Placerville, California, which sells racy clothing
What: LVCVA has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Pure Pleasure
When: Lawsuit filed last month
Where: The legal duel is being contested in a federal court in Reno
Why: LVCVA wants Pure Pleasure to stop selling items emblazoned with the phrase, "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas!" Since 2002, the tourism authority has spent $85 million branding the "What Happens Here, Stays Here" slogan and linking it with Vegas and claims it owns licensing rights to it and any variations. Aware of the potential millions to be had from clothing with similarly-styled slogan, Pure Pleasure is fighting back, arguing that What Happens Here, Stays Here" was used in a 1992 promotion by a now-closed tavern in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
If The Seats Deserve a Speech, Maybe The Floor Will Get an Award
This Just In!: UNLV's Performing Arts Center holds ribbon-cutting September 8 to celebrate installation of 1,800-plus new "Rebel Red" seats at Artemus Ham Concert Hall. Speeches by UNLV President Carol Harter, Dean of the College of Fine Arts Jeffrey Koep, and Arts Center co-directors Larry Henley and Lori James.
In a related story, the Weekly's bathrooms were recently re-tiled. No speeches. No ribbon-cutting. But the urinals were scrubbed.
Maxim-ized
The current issue of Maxim magazine is Vegas-centric, but not in the way you'd expect. The boy-zine, famous for its covers of barely clad, air-brushed models and B-girls, skips over Vegas' standard frat-boy attractions of strippers, nightclubs and all-you-can-eat buffets. Instead, it profiles two men, one an example of hyper-masculinity, the other, an example of the dangers of betting.
Bill Stojack is a retired firefighter here in town. You might have seen him. He's the one driving around in a 1959 Daimler Ferret, an armored scout car with a reportedly functional 30 mm Browning machine gun on its turret. Stojack's mini-tank is insured and has been registered with the DMV. That means all you folks in your Hummers had better start driving responsibly because that just might have been a real fighting vehicle you just cut off.
Proving there's balance in the universe, the same issue offers an interview of another eccentric Vegas resident: Brian Zembic. You might have noticed Zembic around town, too. He's the guy with the C-cup breasts. Zembic had the breasts implanted to win a $100,000 bet with some fellow high-rollers. But that was eight years ago and Zembic still has his two girls. The reasons vary minute by minute in the story. First he jokes its because he can't afford to have them removed. Then it's because he's afraid of surgery. Thanks to media appearances, he's earned over a quarter of a million dollars with them, too. He also says it helps him land women, especially those with some latent lesbian urges. "They play around with them, they suck them, they rub theirs on mine," Zembic says.
Now his friends have made more breast bets. One will give him $50,000 if he goes up to a D-cup, or $10,000 if he takes them out. If he keeps them, he has to pony up $20,000. Over the years, the 44-year-old has grown accustomed to his assets, though. "Is it really eight years? Shit. That's nearly a fifth of my life," says Zembic. "That's a long time to have boobs."
Detroit's Take on the Fabulous MGM. Oh, and Wynn
In a Knight-Ridder profile ostensibly celebrating Wynn Las Vegas published in The Detroit Free Press on September 4, a sidebar on the Skylofts at MGM Grand steals the show. The author writes of a place whose only drawback, he notes, is "you have to leave:"
"Easily the most luxurious digs in town, each two-floor loft at the MGM Grand property comes with a butler (he'll unpack your bags and mix you a drink before you can kick up your feet), 24-foot floor-to-ceiling windows and personal stationery. When you arrive, a Mercedes-Benz Maybach 62 (cost: $377,750) picks you up at the airport. Opened in December on the top two floors of the MGM Grand, the 51 lofts range in size from 1,400 to 6,000 square feet (with at least five Sony Plasma televisions in each loft). Rooms are stocked with the beverages of your choice and the entertainment system is by Bang & Olufsen."
Wynn who?
In that same story package, Norm! weighs in on Wynn:
"'I think he got locked into opening it too soon, and he's paying the price,' said Norm Clarke, entertainment columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 'They promised Bellagio times 10, and I think the jury is out on that.'"
Britney: No to Vegas. But She's Still Allowed to Reproduce
From Gigwise.com:
"Pregnant pop tart Britney Spears has reportedly turned down an offer to star in her own Las Vegas show ... rumours have been circulating for months that businessman Jack Wishna had hoped that Britney would perform regularly on the Strip.
"Britney herself told the media earlier this year: 'I think Celine Dion, the way she does it, with her show in Vegas, is the way to go. Everybody comes to her.
"'When I have kids, I'm so there. That's what I'm doing.'
"In other Britney news, the singer is having a new wedding ring made ...
"'It's totally a real diamond. I like this (one), but it catches onto everything.'
"'I want something that's not as pokey-outy ...'
"Britney is due to give birth to her first child in October."
From the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia:
"Police offered Vegas trips to boost morale ...
"September 7— New Orleans: City authorities have offered stressed policemen and firemen five-day holidays in Las Vegas after two policemen committed suicide and hundreds walked off the job ...
"Authorities chose Las Vegas because it has lots of hotel rooms available. Sergeant Villere, however, said he thought none would take up the offer.
'We're going to go where our families are.'"