Opening T&T: tacos, Tila, and Criss Angel
Last night I went to the opening of T & T: Tacos and Tequila at the Luxor.
T &T doesn't exactly expand the culinary range of Luxor, as it replaces a La Salsa. But as with the rest of the redone Luxor, T &T makes the property more distinctive and appealing to adults, the drink being as much a feature as the food. I was not living in Vegas when La Salsa opened, but I doubt it had a red carpet and a celebrity host -- in this case, the appropriately named Tila Tequila. The usual collection of Luxor notables was also on hand, including Criss Angel and Carrot Top. Carrot Top takes press where he can get it. Angel mostly walked past the print media, but interestingly interacted quite a lot with one microphone-wielding young woman. He playfully mugged for her cameraman and took her microphone to address her audience directly. Otherwise, Angel mostly bypassed the microphones and tape recorders. He did, however, sign a few autographs for delighted fans.
So, who was the camera crew in the media area who got the great Criss Angel exclusive? She was an employee of the public relations firm staging the event, so it was an illusion of an interview.
Actually, Norm Clarke had an interview with Angel yesterday. Interestingly, they do not discuss their conflicted history. But Angel makes some interesting claims about ticket sales for "Believe": "we're now the No. 1 or No. 1 bestselling show in Vegas." But on his blog, Vegas Happens Here, Steve Friess rightly questions the ability of Angel to make that claim in light of how little information about ticket sales is actually public. Also, Angel's truthiness seems a little questionable even regarding his fellow Cirque du Soleil shows. In checking with Cirque myself on Angel's claim, the company would go no further than: " 'Believe' is averaging higher or equal to our other top-selling productions in Las Vegas." But equal to other shows means that Angel does not necessarily have the top position even in the Cirque universe. In fact, in addition to claiming the No. 1 spot for "Believe," Angel told Norm he did have the top-selling Cirque show in their interview: "I believe we're beating 'Love' and 'O' and every Cirque show." You can see why Angel was in no mood to talk with press.
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by T &T. It is such a vast improvement over La Salsa. T &T is offering a distinctive, well designed and carefully decorated original creation in place of a chain. Yet even beyond that basic improvement, a lot of creative energy has been put into T&T to make for an environment that will appeal on many levels. There are elements from the nightclub world that take advantage of the mezzanine view T & T has of the Luxor. There is a cozy section that has a sports bar feel (you could easily see T&T becoming one on Sunday afternoons).
(One question: anyone else there think that was Rick Rizzolo hanging out in from of T & T with a group of friends?)
This is all part of what has been a long-term project to reinvent the Luxor. Other examples of offerings include LAX nightclub, the CatHouse restaurant, Liquidity bar and the arrival of Bodies: The Exhibition. But somehow the transformation of this one negligible chain restaurant into a tempting destination seems to sum up just how far the Luxor has come to jettisoning the kitschy image that had it associated with Circus Circus and Excalibur.
This property may still be a pyramid on the outside, but inside the Luxor is much closer to an offering to stack alongside Mirage or Palms in terms dining options, celebrities passing through and more.
Photographs by Sarah Gerke
To all those in doubt of "Believe"....believe Criss will rock the Vegas strip with his show and all you doubters will look stupid
Posted by: *** Criss Rocks Vegas Strip *** | October 23, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Typical Criss stuff. Criss Angel can do no wrong. Stars in his eyes and looking at things only how he wants it interpreted, standing there in his glory garbage. Criss Angel is the best thing to happen to Las Vegas since the Stratosphere Tower. Criss Angel's head blown out so big he can barely fit through doors. Criss Angel doing his James Brown impression of jumping back and kissing himself all the time. And all of Criss Angel's fans all cheering him on. You go, Criss. Happy, happy, joy, joy in the Criss Angel universe.
He don't get it.
First, Criss Angel likes to stretch and/or bend the truth beyond all belief about ticket sales based on flawed statistics that only he wants to see and listens to only what his die hard fans and his nay sayers he surrounds himself with say, but continue to totally ignore all negative audience reactions to his preview shows. The ticket sales may be accurate, but that trend is probably turning around as I type this. If not now, soon. I can tell by blog entries that word of mouth is spreading around and people are deciding to cash in their tickets and not attend based on other fans' reactions to this show. The word is spreading already that this show is a bust. This may or may not even include the grand opening and beyond, but it does definitely mean for the previews. And you don't need a degree in rocket science to figure out that whatever your ticket sales are compared to other shows in Las Vegas are is a not a good barometer of success. The best thing to gauge that is to provide quality entertainment that ensures the show room is filled for EVERY show. This would be the ultimate goal. Then the ticket sales against other shows will happen. I would be willing to bet that he can't continue to fill the show room for his shows. Especially after all the displeased and disgruntled fans that are leaving his previews with more and more frequency and volume.
Second, Criss Angel thinks he is controlling press releases about him. And in doing this, he totally rejects reporters like Mr. Richard Abowitz, Mr. Steve Freiss and Mr. Norm Clarke. The ones that can do him good. Why does he reject them? Because they all report accurately. And it appears that this list of blackballed reporters increases all the time, mainly because Criss Angel spews out some anecdotal stuff that any good reporter spots as total garbage, then they report on it and call him out and he reacts like they're picking on him. Thereby he adds another few names of reporters to his list for avoidance. And it seems he levitates towards women reporters. We won't go into that, but it probably has to deal with self confidence issues he has. Pretty soon, the only reporters he'll have left to talk with is crack reporters Bubbles and Bambi, the bleach blonde brainless twins, fanatical fans from his web site (or something like that).
This all demonstrates bad things are going to happen. He has totally set himself up for it. Without any help from anyone else. Just him doing this to himself. With his fans encouraging him on towards this self destruction. There is no one else to blame for any of this. Except for Criss Angel.
Your article clearly shows how he is standing there on the railroad tracks in the dead of night, can't figure out what that train whistle means, and wonders what those engine sounds are supposed to mean, and on top of that, just can't figure out what that bright light is that's getting brighter, larger and bearing down on him. So, he just freezes. When he does have it all figured out, it will be too late. KA-BLOOOOEY! That is BeLIEve.
Posted by: ColinFromLasVegas | October 23, 2008 at 12:19 PM
Great pic! Criss looks wonderful. Relaxed w/ just the right amount of bling. Even on his day off he is working.
Colin...now your starting to scare me.
Posted by: Debbie | October 23, 2008 at 01:30 PM
hahahahaha Colin keep trying to knock Criss down, he ain't going anywhere for a very long long. Criss is the hottest magician on the strip and he has the hottest playboy to hang with. So it sounds like pure jealous and envy coming out of your mouth.
Posted by: *** Criss Rocks Vegas Strip *** | October 23, 2008 at 02:00 PM
criss is the best and most beautiful hottest man ever!so of course this man will rock the vegas whether the world!!and he is a real angel so he will never hang with the girls like playboy or those girls who around him and have plans to get him!!!! they will never get him!
because i know my criss angel! i love criss more than my life and my dream is meeting him and victimize my life for him! he is my everything and nobody can pull or knock him down!
go to hell jealouses of my angel!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: mona | October 24, 2008 at 03:53 AM
JUST the right amount of bling to make you gush over him?????...........YES,HIS DOGtags!!!
Posted by: chloe | October 24, 2008 at 03:18 PM
High ticket sales does NOT mean Believe is a quality show. The reveiws is what is going to determine if it is a good show or not and so far the reviews say "no".
Posted by: me | October 24, 2008 at 07:08 PM
Thanks to Colin, I respect his opinion. All of this makes sense to me. And after seeing this fiasco acouple of weeks ago, I contend that it is a trainwreck in the making.
Of course, ticket sales are great. The "loyals" have bought up most of them. Having seen this show, I "believe" that I saw many walk out the night before and the night of. His singing was awful, the illusions were okay and some a 10 year old could do. He has poor audience attention. In that I mean, he has no contact. He only looks at the middle row and thanks THEM for coming. What about the rest of us? Were we chopped liver?
And sorry but he is not the best on the strip. We have several others like Steve Wyrick, Dirk Arthur, etc. And they do meet and greet their fans each time after the show. Angel thinks his arrogance and his greatness is so wonderful, he skips out after it's been cleared through his posse. I know this. I talked to the guards.
In the beginning, you would at least think that he would meet and greet the fans because he needed feedback and comments. But, no! not the "king of Las Vegas." Afterall, in his mind, he's better than Copperfield.
Posted by: vanillasky | October 28, 2008 at 05:09 PM