One of the things that has always fascinated me about Las Vegas is the odd way that certain discrimination laws don't seem to impact us. For example, I have never seen a guy serving cocktails on a casino floor. Have any of you? The United States Constitution is another formidable document to get around. Las Vegas has tried and tried. Go protest in front of a resort on the Strip and you are likely to be approached by officers or casino security. Over the years, the Strip has tried to ban everyone from union protestors to political demonstrators, and the constitution has had to be enforced inch by inch by the local ACLU like trench warfare. The latest is two street preachers who are suing the county after being arrested in front of the Bellagio for the width of their "Don't Gamble with Your Soul" placard being in violation of a county ordinance. Though the ordinance is ostensibly to protect pedestrians the sign in question was being held 12 feet in the air. Of course, after being removed from the Strip and spending the night in jail the charges against the two were dropped before an arraignment. Typical.

(photo by Gary Freidman/LAT)

In one of the oddest examples of music criticism Sheriff Bill Young backed by Nevada gaming regulators has declared war on gangster rap in casinos and their nightclubs. "50 Cent is the worst," the sheriff told Las Vegas Sun, "His whole act is predicated on violence. He's a mentor for all the other gangster rappers in the making."

Meanwhile to make sure the warning has teeth, the Gaming Control Board has sent a note to remind casinos that they are responsible for anything that happens in nightclubs on premises including ones like Pure (Caesars) and Light (Bellagio) that are leased out by clubs independent of the casino. Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander told the Review-Journal: "Given the fact the Sherriff expressed some concern we felt it was important to remind the licensees to be diligent with these club."

The use of the word "licensee" is not innocent. Las Vegas casino operators all have privileged licenses that can be revoked for such vague reasons as tarnishing the reputation of Nevada's gaming industry. With billions at stake in these licenses this all but guarantees that no casino will risk holding a concert or after party by a big name rapper. And, if you think gangster rap is fine to single out, be aware that the Sheriff's view of what fits into the genre lacks nuance.

Among the small handful of incidents that led to this letter, the most serious, were two shootings that took place after a Nelly concert at the Aladdin last May. Everything else that has taken place over the past few years at a casino or their nightclubs involves no more than a few examples of fisticuffs and officers called to a disturbance.  Typical stuff for a place as wild as the Strip. The casinos could respond that this warning is nonsense and  amounts to censorship. This is especially the case since no one is talking about kids here: nightclub events cater only to those over 21.

But I predict there will be no fighting back by the casinos. Part of what makes this crusade odd, is that Las Vegas has so few hip-hop events at casinos in the first place considering how well the music sells. And, many of the biggest rap concerts already don't take place at the casino's venues or nightclubs. Even the dreaded 50 Cent's show here last year was at Thomas & Mack stadium. No shootings or violence after that, by the way. But the bottom line is casinos now know if they book Korn and a fan gets out of hand it's one thing but if the same thing happens at a Snoop concert it will be a far more serious incident, because they have been warned about that. So, the Sheriff will win this and these events will all happen at local venues that, by the way, probably  will have infinitely less security resources than a casino environment. 

(photo by Brian Bedder/Getty Images for Child Magazine)

I had some bum rap at Disney Hall because of glare. That was 2% of the building had reflective stuff, and some pissed off lady (complained). So the County had to respond. (It took) A couple guys with steel wool and in about an hour and a half they fixed it. But it did appear as one of the 10 engineering disasters in the last ten years---talk about exaggerating. The county did a study of downtown LA that found 5 other buildings that were more reflective, but no one complained about them. So, we got to get more pissed off ladies.