LINE PASS: Jumpin’ Jack

Jack Lafleur goes from Tabú to Tao

Xania Woodman

Las Vegas promoter Jack Lafleur, best known for his Fusion Thursdays at Tabú, raucous Rehab Sundays at the Hard Rock's pool and Red Carpet Sundays at Body English, floored colleagues this week when he announced he would be joining the team at Venetian's soon-to-open Tao Nightclub to usher in the age of Worship Thursdays. Lafleur made his intentions known through a tantalizingly vague e-mail addressed to Vegas' nightlife "peeps," promising "music that touches your soul, friends who make you smile, and surroundings to warm you to the core," but leaving his future whereabouts unmentioned.


Rumors had been whipping up like a dust devil over what Lafleur's next move might be. Mainly, the word was that Lafleur would follow his Tabú compatriot Cy Waits to Wynn Las Vegas. Waits recently made the difficult decision to leave Tabú to join his twin brother, Jesse Waits, and restaurateur and after-hours king Victor Drai at Tryst, the reincarnation of La Bête. Drai's team has since accepted control over Lure, Wynn's ultralounge, as well. Lafleur's confidence in and admiration for the Waits brothers is obvious: "Cy is the best in-room host I've ever met," Lafleur says, before chuckling, "They don't need me."


Lafleur is confident that Tryst and Lure will get the same unwavering dedication from them that Tabú did. "Tabú is like family to me; they are my core. Jesse and Cy are incredibly important to me. This was not something easy for me to do. I'd like to see Tabú maintain the level of enthusiasm and success it has already attained." Lafleur felt it was better for him to carve his own path. "It was time for a new opportunity," he says.


But why call his new night Worship? "It just fell out of my mouth!" Lafleur says.


Talks with Tao began in early spring but never really went anywhere until recently, when Tao's Operating Partner Jason Strauss went directly to the Hard Rock's veep, Harry Morton, and asked for Lafleur's hand in Thursdays. "This would not have happened without the vision and creativity of Harry Morton," explains Lafleur.


With the Hard Rock's blessing, Lafleur and his Human Events company will continue its involvement in Rehab and Body English, as well as Thursdays at Simon with singer Chris Clouse, and Pink Taco's Yo Quiero Karaoke, all the while orchestrating the ultimate local industry gathering at Tao.


On September 29, prepare to Worship Thursdays, and someday maybe even Jack Lafleur himself. "If I'm gonna be mayor someday," Lafleur jokes, "I gotta start planting the seed somewhere!"

  • Get More Stories from Thu, Sep 22, 2005
Top of Story