Last night I went to the opening of Kerry Simon's new restaurant at Palms Place; the layout of the place sets it exquisitely close to the outdoor pool and cabanas, all aloft on the sixth floor.
One of the charms and challenges of Las Vegas is that we are such a small city to house a colossal international playground. As I have mentioned before, this results in only a handful of local writers who cover entertainment in the Entertainment Capitol of the World. And, so after years covering events and openings at the Palms and its expansions, George Maloof and I know each other by name and sight. But we live in different worlds. Of course, as among the most eligible bachelors in Vegas, Maloof has more models, actresses and beauty pageant winners in his world than I have in mine. I qualify merely as single in Vegas. And, Maloof is fabulously rich, whereas I have no complaints about money unless my car starts making noises.
But when it come to Vegas, the real difference between us is what we are paying attention to most days.
As someone so focused on his own projects (which have in the past couple years included The Palms Fantasy Tower, the Pearl concert venue, and now the condo/hotel Palms Place), Maloof can appear a bit oblivious about the rest of the Strip. While I cover all of Vegas, not wanting to miss a thing, Maloof must rule almost myopically over a kingdom of construction and operational details at Palms. Of course, added to this is the reality that it is also to his advantage to not share with the media opinions about his competitors. Anyway, last night I was left to interview Maloof (right, in photo) while we awaited the arrival of Kerry Simon (left). I asked Maloof about Boyd Gaming's Echelon, he shrugged. I tried to ask about construction delays and cost overruns at other properties being built on the Strip, and he spoke about how happy he was with how all the timing had worked out on Palms Place construction. I asked about his thoughts on Cher's show, and he responded by requesting my own opinion of the Diva.
So, I tried to bring things closer to home by asking Maloof what his next big project will be. This was a sort of leading question, because I assume there is a project. I believe there never comes a point where Maloof finishes building and then spends his time leisurely cashing checks and rearranging the slots on the floor of Palms. "I have a few ideas." Maloof admitted. He pointed out he still had plenty of land to build on and that he did not like to let land go to waste. But it was obvious with Palms Place about to open that those ideas were not going to be shared in any more detail.
Then Maloof's demeanor changed: "I want to show you something." And, all of a sudden I am wandering and wondering my way through the back passages of Palms Place, following Maloof. "I think you are going to enjoy this," he said.
As a side note: I always feel "backstage" when I am in the employees-only parts of a resort. The luxury and extravagance is for tourists. Behind the scenes, pragmatism is everything in design. It seems no matter where you walk, employees are passing you on the concrete floors with a big vat of laundry, garbage or catering. It is truly incredible to consider the planning that goes into allowing every available inch of a building to be open for tourists while containing a "backstage" capable of simultaneously serving the huge variety of needs of thousands of guests.
After a few minutes of winding about, we ended up in a small office. Maloof
pulled up a paper bag filled with compact discs and began placing them in front
of me. There was Celine Dion's new disc. Maloof told me: "She recorded that
here." There was Paris Hilton's disc. We smiled at each other. I know Hilton and
Maloof are friends, so I decided not to ask how often he gives that disc a spin
on his sound system. Another disc was by John Fogerty; another by Bone
Thugs-N-Harmony; another disc by Chevelle. In fact, there were dozens of discs
in every genre imaginable.
"They weren't all recorded here, but some work was done on all of them
here." As I flipped through them, Maloof smiled: "Do you want to take them home
and play them? Check them out?" And, I suddenly remembered
an item I recently
wrote on the Buffet calling the Palms studio a Bermuda Triangle for lost
masterpieces. Oops! My point: long out-of-action artists such as Michael Jackson
and Axl Rose recording at Palms studio still meant music unlikely to see release anytime soon. In fact, even
in today's Las Vegas Sun, there is the most
recent rumor: Jackson's new music, in which the gloved one is collaborating with
producer RedOne, is currently being worked on at Palms studio. Of course,
Jackson and Rose aside, I did not mean to imply that the studio has not recorded
a lot of music during its brief existence. I only meant that for a rock star
spending years dallying on completing a release, a casino resort studio does
seem like a perfect location.
One thing I noticed looking down at
Maloof's discs was that neither of the hottest discs to emerge from Palms Studio
was even in his collection. I wondered: "You don't seem to have the new Killers
or Panic at the Disco discs here?"
"I guess not," George said. He smiled. "I haven't had a chance to update
the collection in a few months. I've had these other projects."
(Photo by
Sarah Gerke)
There have been reported cutbacks for 20% of the staff at Trump Las Vegas. And I was curious how things are going for the other major condo/hotel to open recently: Palms Place. But I did not expect to hear back from George Maloof himself as the word is that he is off on some exotic vacation right now with a famous pop singer. 
