It wasn't so long ago that Las Vegas entertainment seemed to be heading toward a renaissance. And I don't mean Elton John (though I do love "Red Piano") and Celine Dion or even Cirque.

Rather there seemed to be a sharper and more artistically ambitious and sophisticated level of entertainment creeping into Vegas.

Prince had a residency at the Rio that offered concerts of musical exploration rather than a carefully staged hits package. There was the Broadway-Vegas nexus that had shows like "Avenue Q," "Hairspray" and "Spamalot" lined up into Vegas theaters.

And, of course, John Stagliano opened the acclaimed "Fashionistas" show, a fetish-driven Modernist ballet based on a pornographic film of the same name.

Anyway, that  brief sense of experimentation and possibility  seems to have totally vanished from Vegas in 2008. "Hairspray" and "Avenue Q" closed with brutal speed. Prince moved on as mysteriously as he'd arrived. Stagliano closed shop on "The Fashionistas" in February. And yesterday Wynn announced that "Spamalot" will be closing on July 13.

Actually, the Wynn did not really announce that "Spamalot" was closing but "for the members of the media who have specifically asked, we have prepared a statement." And that statement said "Spamalot" was closing. The actual press release was only about Wynn's replacement for "Spamalot."

And that also is depressing: Beyond the entertainment that is vanishing from Vegas is what is staying.

I've written before about how lame, wretched, dated and torturous and once again unbelievably dated (yes, that means lots of George Burns impressions) the Danny Gans show at Mirage is to experience.

And I am not alone in my disdain. The Las Vegas Adviser once named Danny Gans as having one the easiest jobs in Las Vegas, joking: "$50 million deal and the show hasn't changed in 50 years."  But now there finally is a change with Gans, and that is what Wynn's press release mentioned.

When "Spamalot" departs (a fact again omitted from the release) going into that theater as a replacement is none other than Danny Gans. Local journalist Steve Friess spoke to Steve Wynn and reports:

"Steve Wynn told me yesterday that he felt he'd gotten lucky to land Danny because MGM Mirage reopened negotiations on Gans' contract to extend it, a notion that elicited very loud laughter from many I spoke with over there."

I join the laughter. The Gans show is the tackiest part of Mirage and will soon be the tackiest part of Wynn's Encore.

The best that can be said about Wynn's choice of Gans is that it is totally unimaginative. And that is the bigger point. Obvious is also the case of Harrah's newest headliners at Caesars: Bette Middler and the soon to open Cher show. Meanwhile, over at MGM-Mirage properties, Cirque has gone from refreshing to ubiquitous and will soon have seven shows on the Strip: "Mystere" (TI), "O" (Bellagio), "KA" (MGM), "Zumanity" (New York New York), "Love" (Mirage), "Criss Angel Believe" (Luxor) and an as-yet-unnamed Elvis show going into City Center.

Sigh, it seems these days when it comes to entertainment, Vegas is all about playing it safe. 

Photo by Sarah Gerke

Last weekend magician Criss Angel was allegedly giving the finger on television and threatening the eyesight of a Vegas columnist.

And today, as if none of this had happened, Cirque du Soleil, in a press release, revealed the name of their collaboration with Angel that is to open at the Luxor in September: Criss Angel Believe. Explaining this obvious name for a magic show there is a long pontification involving, ta-da, Houdini, of course.

I can't verify this YouTube video, claiming to be shot on April Fool's Day. But what the video shows is not new to me. There are always little fights and odd altercations on the Strip. But this attack on a tourist (not to mention chasing him down) looks like it includes and is being instigated by the smut card workers who hang on the Strip, constantly trying to get tourists to take cards advertising, as the shirts say, "Girls Direct." Anyway, the Strip is usually a fairly safe place. But as this video shows, the forces of chaos can and do break out, and far more often than most people realize. Just watch:

 

 

Reporter Norm Clarke is becoming the Salman Rushdie of Las Vegas.

On Friday Criss Angel, whose freakishly dedicated fans are called The Loyal, allegedly threatened Review-Journal writer Norm Clarke.

 

Angel was apparently upset by Clarke's coverage of the Miss USA beauty pageant at Planet Hollywood in which Angel's girlfriend did not even make the finals.

None of this had anything to do with Clarke beyond a column reporting Angel's attempt to talk up his girlfriend to one of the judges. But that judge had already voted.

Angel, though, was so furious that, according to Clarke, after the contest, Angel charged him with a posse and threatened that the reporter would need another eye patch should he dare write about Angel again. (Clarke had one of his eyes surgically removed and wears a patch over the missing organ.)

 

It is unheard of for a headliner not named Sinatra to physically threaten anyone in Vegas. Vegas likes its headliners user-friendly. Even the snarky Penn & Teller finish each show standing outside their theater at the Rio talking to any fan who approaches them and posing for pictures.

 

But Cirque, which is currently in rehearsals for a $100-million show starring Angel at Luxor, amazingly has taken a neutral approach to Angel's outrageous behavior. A Cirque spokesperson told me that Cirque sees the issue as one between Angel and Clarke.

So, now Clarke has to be worried about Angel, Angel's circle (two brothers and a bodyguard, according to Clarke, were with Angel during the encounter) and, most of all, Angel's unpredictable fans, "The Loyal," who live to please Angel. Scary.

 

I tried to get Angel to at least clarify his threat to Clarke. I asked Angel's representatives repeatedly for a comment or interview with Angel. Yesterday, I wrote again worried because now Clarke has violated the illusionist's injunction and written about Angel again. Could Angel at least confirm that he intends no violence to Norm Clarke? In addition to Angel's representative, I also sent the same question to Cirque. Total silence.

 

It appears no one at this time will guarantee that Criss Angel has no intention of following through on his alleged threat to harm Clarke's one remaining eye. This is disgraceful. I personally think that both Angel and Cirque should apologize to Clarke. For better and worse, Angel is now a representative of Cirque in public. I think I understand that words spoken in the heat of the moment are one thing (even if the moment is as trivial as a beauty pagent). But going days without retracting a threat of violence is a scary precedent and should not be acceptable to anyone in Las Vegas.

 

This year Van Halen headlines the annual charity concert Tiger Jam on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay.

Tickets are still available to see the rock legends who last did two packed shows in Vegas over New Year's weekend.

As is usually the case at Tiger Jam, Irving Azoff is the man at the center making the show happen.

If for no other reason than his decades of dedication to bringing Warren Zevon's music to the world, Irving Azoff would be on my short list of heroes.

Also, giving him a serious place on the honor role was Azoff's involvement in returning Steely Dan to the road and studio, culminating in their Grammy-winning masterpiece: "Two Against Nature." As an agent, label executive and manager, Azoff was a player in the music industry when there still was a music industry and he was running with the pack that included David Geffen and Mo Ostin.

And even as the music industry has disintegrated, Azoff has continued to keep his artists working and successful and giving back to the community. One example of this is Tiger Jam. This annual charity event hosted by Tiger Woods for his foundation and other causes hits Vegas every year with a big concert. This year Azoff landed Van Halen.

I was really so pleased at a chance to talk to Azoff, I discarded my elitist impulses and never asked him if he really liked REO Speedwagon or if that was just a money thing.

Anyway, the other reason I wanted to speak to Azoff is that in the past I have had a series of dull to uncomfortable interviews with Tiger Woods about Tiger Jam that proved that despite lending his name to a concert, the brilliant golfer is not particularly fluent with popular music. Woods told me his favorite song is "Eye of the Tiger," by Survivor. He likes the title, and he told me he likes the song because it is played a lot at his golf camp.

Azoff's history with Tiger Jam is much more focused on the music.

Richard Abowitz: How did you get involved in Tiger Jam?

Irving Azoff: Tiger Woods was good friends with Glenn Frey of the Eagles. And Glenn came to me and asked me to help Tiger. We did the first one, and Tiger and I became friends. Now, there is a group of us in the music industry who do what we can to help him with his event.

Richard Abowitz: I remember at one Tiger Jam a few years ago, Christina Aguilera performed. But there were a lot of rumors that she had just split with her manager before the show and hired you, and there was a lot of backstage stuff. Can you fill us in on what happened?

Irving Azoff: That bill had her, Seal and LeAnn Rimes. I met her just before that. I went to Denver the night before and met up with her. We flew together to Las Vegas and we had our first meal together at In 'N Out Burger and then we went to the Mandalay. It was a very traumatic time in her life. Her parents were there. The show was an odd combination and there was some LeAnn Rimes drama about who was going on first and who was using pyro and other crap. But it was fun. And I think that was the year a very drunk Charles Barkley challenged me to a game of golf. Tiger was going to place a large wager that I would beat Charles provided we went and played at once on that golf course down the Strip that was lighted. It was a very, very large wager, and luckily for Charles who was so drunk he was cross-eyed he chickened out at the last minute. Lucky for him, because we would have taken a lot of money.

Abowitz: Is there any back story you can tell us about Christina Aguilera's appearance in "Shine a Light" (the Rolling Stones film directed by Martin Scorsese)?

Azoff: A magical moment. You need to see it on the big screen. They filmed it on two days, but did not really rehearse it. The show was very spontaneous. The first day was good. But everything about it worked the second day. The way she interacted with Mick and the way she nailed the song. She may be the greatest female singer alive. It was a great event.

Abowitz: What is your favorite thing about Tiger Jam?

Azoff: Not to get serious, but it is all the great things he does with the money. A lot of it goes to a learning center that is a beautiful facility. The work that is done with this money is great. This event became fun for Tiger and now he is inspired to keep it going. But his father Earl was the guy who got it started.

Abowitz: Do you know how Tiger Jam became a Vegas institution?

Azoff: They took it there once and it never left. I think the corporate guys love to party in Vegas and Tiger and his buddies love Vegas. It becomes a rest point for everyone but especially the corporate guys who have long supported us. The event is wonderful at Mandalay Bay.

Abowitz: Do you have a favorite musical moment from past Tiger Jams?

Azoff: Musical moments usually involve interesting collaborations. And there haven't been a lot of those. But I don't really have favorite musical moments; I am too old. I just love to hang out with all those guys.

I've written before about the peculiar and insider nature of covering Vegas. For example, only a few of us are paid to cover Vegas production shows as part of our everyday job.

And unlike most other cities where a headliner does a show and goes on to the next city, Las Vegas famously keeps the headliners (and critics) and imports new audiences.

So when Vegas headliners leave the neon Strip, they return home to their gated communities about town and often read what the local media are writing about them.

This has resulted in some epic feuds. And some silly ones. But certainly one of the ugliest -- with threats of violence -- happened on Friday night after the Miss USA contest between Criss Angel and the Review-Journal's Norm Clarke.

Angel's girlfriend, Veronica Grabowski, the reigning Miss Nevada, did not win the Miss USA contest (making her one of 50 other contestants who weren't Miss Texas -- the final winner this year).

As silly as it seems to take a beauty pageant owned by Donald Trump and hosted by Donny and Marie Osmond, with Paul McCartney's ex-wife as a judge, at all seriously, this apparently makes for pretty high emotional stakes in the world of Criss Angel. According to Clarke, Angel flashed an obscene gesture on the NBC telecast after his girlfriend was out of the competition.

But that was just the beginning of Angel's tantrum. His real eruption apparently happened after the pageant. Angel presumably was upset by coverage Clarke wrote earlier about how Angel had urged a judge to give "my girl" high marks. Clarke also reported that Trump was disturbed by Angel's talk with the judge. All of this was moot, as it turned out the judge in question had already turned in her vote.

Anyway, Clarke reports that after the pageant, Angel, along with his brothers and a bodyguard, charged over to him, with Angel yelling obscenities. Clarke has battled serious medical issues and wears an eye patch because his eye was removed. Angel, according to Clarke, didn't shy away from tasteless threatening: "Don't ever write another word about me, or you'll need an eyepatch over your other eye." Real clever.

A few months ago I got a call from an administrator at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Va.

She had a class of 11 students and four professors heading to Vegas to study the various ways of American consumption.

Las Vegas, of course, is an ideal place for that. The class had read an article I wrote in 2005 about the week I lived at the Chicken Ranch brothel. The administrator wanted to know if I would talk to the class about my experience there.

Instead, I put her in touch with the brothel, and Thursday the students traveled to the Chicken Ranch to meet two of the working girls and receive an unprecedented all-access tour.

 

I was surprised when I got there to observe the exchange that the meeting was as packed with press as it was with students. A press release had gone out, and everyone from the AP to the local television news was there to report on the meeting. I think that probably changed the dynamic a little. But in general, as when I visited a few years ago, the ladies who work at the Chicken Ranch felt  misunderstood and had a strong desire to be open about their lives with the students and the press.

Two workers, Alicia and Alexis, spoke to the students. Alexis seemed a little nervous and spoke from note cards. Alicia was more vivacious and spoke from the hip. The students were respectful. And I think both sides found the experience fascinating.

It is interesting the way questions from a Women's Studies perspective are responded to by people who work far from academic feminism. One student asked: "We have read a lot of books and journals about body image. Do you find that is really important here, and there is a certain look for this career choice?"

 

Alicia responded: "I think everyone has a certain image that they are looking for. That is why there are so many different girls that come here. There is a wide variety of women here. It is about self-confidence. If you project yourself well, people will gravitate to that."

Alexis responded: "I agree. It is amazing. One of the interesting things I learned about being here is body image is about what you feel about yourself. I have seen girls who are absolutely beautiful and all you expect a model to be and society to love, and they don't get picked at all. I have seen heavier women who get picked all the time. It all depends on your confidence in yourself."

Does Andrea Dworkin offer any explanation for this? My point is that one thing I learned about the legal brothels is that everything about the psychology and practice of them is too complicated for the sort of pat answers on prostitution that essays and textbooks provide.

Students also learned that the prostitutes have the right to refuse any customer and sometimes for the most arbitrary reasons. Alicia told students that she will turn down a customer if the moment does not feel right: "If you can't communicate with someone when you are walking down to the room, then you are probably not going to have a good sexual experience. For me that is a discriminating factor if you can't talk."Randolph College junior Johna Strickland, 21, told me after the visit: "This was the highlight of the trip. I am all for legal prostitution now, once you learn the reality of how it is here without the danger of drugs and violence. But in general it is not an issue people discuss." Her conclusion: "These are real women with an unusual job."

 

Photo: Alicia poses with students, by Richard Abowitz.

This morning, I had a brief phone interview with John Stagliano, who Tuesday was charged by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., with multiple counts related to "operating an obscenity distribution business."

Stagliano spoke to me against the advice of his attorney.

A little background: Stagliano is among the best-known pornographers in that industry. He is considered the founder of a genre of adult entertainment known as gonzo porn.

In recent years, his films have won him a reputation as an auteur for his epic series "The Fashionistas." The first "Fashionistas" movie, a 4 1/2-hour epic shot on film rather than video, won Stagliano more AVN awards (the adult Oscar) than any other adult film in history before.

Stagliano was so smitten with the success of  "Fashionistas" that he created a modernist dance interpretation as a Vegas production show. The Vegas show was not even topless, yet ran for more than three years and generated worshipful reviews. That is how I met Stagliano. I went behind the scenes to document the show's creation.

"Fashionistas" was a labor of love for Stagliano, mixing his lifelong dedication to modern dance, erotica and the stage into an amazing Vegas experience. But without casino support or a good location (the heterosexually oriented show performed in the gay nightclub Krave, which had no Strip access), "Fashionistas" lost a lot of money; and earlier this year Stagliano closed the show to focus on his day job.

But "Fashionistas" did have a permanent impact on the Strip. Stagliano's eye for talent proved prescient. Many of his techniques and stars were incorporated into other shows after "Fashionistas" closed. One of his leads became the star of "Le Reve" at Wynn and the other was selected by Dita Von Teese recently to be in the "Crazy Horse" show at MGM. Meanwhile, the "Fashionistas" original choreographer went on to create the "X Girls" show at the Flamingo.

But though Stagliano returned to his real job in California, he has also been planning his next Vegas show. He has learned the ropes and is planning to produce another show. This time he will match his creativity with star power to bring customers in the door that "Fashionistas" had a hard time reaching.

So we stay in touch. He is one of the most creative people I have met while covering Vegas, and I am eager for his return. But I also knew that his temporary departure from Vegas was because of challenges in his own industry, where DVD sales were vanishing in the face of downloadable adult content. Now Stagliano's challenges have grown substantially.

In addition to his own films, Stagliano's company Evil Angel is one of the largest distributors in the nation of adult titles by other directors. It is those films that form the heart of the indictment.

As long as I have known him, Stagliano has been prepared for the day the police come for him. His libertarian world view sees the government as always out to get him. I kind of always figured he was being grandiose. "The People vs. Larry Flynt" was a long time ago. For example, Stagliano also was originally worried that Las Vegas authorities would find "Fashionistas" too racy, and instead, the positive buzz meant that even family Vegas proponent Steve Wynn came down to Krave to enjoy the show.

Stagliano, though, has always felt like an outlaw no matter how successful he became. With alarming prescience at January's adult awards show, the AVN Awards at Mandalay Bay, Stagliano had his "Fashionistas" cast perform a routine he created based around the premise of the government going for people who watch naughty movies. And now, just months later, Stagliano's fear of the government turned out to be justified.

So the moment Stagliano has been expecting has suddenly arrived. Though he says he was totally unaware of any investigation of him by a grand jury, he now is facing criminal charges. The indictment's punishment: "If convicted, Stagliano faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each of the obscenity counts." That would be decades of prison time he is facing.

But when I reached Stagliano this morning he seemed upbeat: "The charges are real, and something bad could happen. But I look at the world with wonder and amusement, especially when it comes to the government. I am hoping this will result in a bump in sales for the films. It is all films I distribute and not a single one I directed. I wish my 'Fashionistas' had been chosen. The films are hard, but I have real artistic ambition. I wonder how closely they watched? I am surprised the government, with the war and the economy, has time for this."

(Photo by Sarah Gerke)