Garth Brooks begins five year run at Wynn Las Vegas

by Melanie Nayer on

Hold on to your 10-gallon hats – there’s a new cowboy in town.

Country-crooner Garth Brooks started his five-year run at Wynn Las Vegas Encore Theatre on Friday and news from Sin City reports a whole new kind of sexy hitting the Strip. Stilettos and short dresses are being replaced by silver belt buckles as country fans flock to Las Vegas for a chance to see the Grammy-Emmy-Country-Music-Award winning Brooks come out of his 10 year retirement.

Ticket sales have soared since the Wynn announced Brooks would be headlining at the hotel for the next five years. The first 20 shows sold out in seconds and according to the Wynn website, shows are sold out for the immediate future. (Read: If you want Garth Brooks tickets you’ll have to buy from a secondary source.)

The concert is being billed as an ‘intimate evening’ with Brooks (apparently, there isn’t enough intimacy happening late-night in Las Vegas), complete with a question-and-answer session (which rarely happens pre-intimacy session in Las Vegas), but Brooks has only one request for this audience: No YouTube videos (no video cameras for this Sin City rendezvous).

Photo credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Stripper truck stopped in Sin City

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Commercials don’t work any more, and print ads are all but dead. So, how do you get the word out? If you’re Larry Beard, you have a couple of girls grind in the back of a truck with clear plastic sides while driving around Las Vegas. This isn’t for everyone. After all, Beard is the marketing director at Deja Vu Showgirls — which is exactly what you’d think it is.

Now, he has to stop.

Sin City authorities made him stop toting the strippers around, but the club is ready to fight. His vehicle rolled up and down the strip from 10 PM to 2 AM. Strippers inside gave a taste of what goes on inside the club. And yes, in case you were wondering, the truck had poles for the ladies to work.

ABC News and Hotels.com list best US cities for hotel deals

by Katie Hammel on

On most trips, your two biggest expenses will be your transportation and your accommodation. You don’t have much control over the price of your flight, but you can balance out that cost by picking a destination where you are more likely to score a deal on your hotel. ABC News has put together a list of popular tourist destinations in the US where hotel rates are falling, including Las Vegas, Tuscon, Anchorage and Chicago.

In some cites, the savings can be as much as 30%. In New York, the average has dropped from $281 to $196 – nearly $100 per night. Stay 2-3 nights and that could cover your airfare. Miami’s average is down from $176 to $140 and the cost of a typical hotel room in San Francisco has decreased from $155 to $124. Even rates in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, are down 18% from $191 to $157.

The stats came from Hotels.com’s list of average hotel room rates around the world. Chicago, with a drop of 22% came in third place (tied with Anchorage) among major cities for the most significant drop in rates. Juneau, Alaska, was in second place. New York and Las Vegas tied for the top spot with a drop of 30%. Every state in the US experienced a drop in the average nightly rate, except for North Dakota. Rates there remained stable.

The lowest prices in the country were found in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Boise, Idaho; and Las Vegas.

The global average for hotel price drops was 17% with Moscow experiencing the most significant decrease of 52%.

The green fairy flies Virgin America

by Annie Scott on


The green fairy flies! Following the US re-legalization of absinthe (it was banned for 96 years), Le Tourment Vert has become the First Absinthe in the Sky on Virgin America.

To celebrate their collaboration, Le Tourment Vert and Virgin America have teamed up with the Palms Resort in Las Vegas to bring us the Suite Surrender Giveaway: the winner gets a round-trip flight to Vegas to kick it in the suite above (oh hey, private bowling alley).

To enter the giveaway, click here and spill the beans about your personal Sin City fantasy — be creative — and definitely check out the new “Mile High” cocktail on Virgin America (made with Le Tourment Vert and Sprite, garnished with a lemon or lime wedge). You probably won’t hallucinate like the French philosophers, but it will almost definitely give you some weird dreams.

Las Vegas restaurant week serving up the best food, for a great cause

by Scott Carmichael on

From August 31st till September 6th 2009, many of the finest restaurants in Las Vegas will be participating in a yearly charity event to raise money for the local food bank, Three Square.

If you happen to be in Vegas, this is your chance to eat some amazing food, and support Three Square. The list of participating restaurants is impressive, and they have all put together prix fixe menus for a tremendous value.

Even the more upscale establishments are taking part, which means you’ll be able to have a three course meal at Bradley Ogden or Fleur de Lys for just $50.09.

Check the gallery below for photos of some of the participating restaurants, with links to the review of their attached hotel. Many thanks to Oyster Hotel Reviews for providing the amazing photos.

%Gallery-71100%