This week featuring: Om Ah Shay Houm, “Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular”, Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza, Matsuri at The Sahara, Mount  Qomolangma, “Defending the Caveman” at Golden Nugget, Artist Christopher “Kit” Green, and more…

Om Ah Shay Houm. I gathered six friends and we had a wonderful healing meditation session at the Five Buddha Shrine held every Sunday at 10:30AM at their center at 3043 Garnet Circle, Las Vegas, NV 89121. (702) 641-0522. Each attendee writes down their request and is personally prayed over.  There is also a wonderful meditation and group mantra chanting.

The abbot of The Five Buddha Shrine is Vajra Acharya Chanzhi Decheng (Dan Kendall). Decheng is available to perform Dharma Rites for any problem or to facilitate a blessing. A Dharma Rite is a Buddhist ritual prayer ceremony where a group of esoteric practitioners gather together and pray for a common goal. All are welcome to experience the Sunday services and I will be returning soon. (Photo of Stephanie Jonah and Harold at the Five Buddha Shrine by Mark Jonah.) Five Buddha Shrine.

 

Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular. Tuesday night was the first year anniversary of “Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular,” one of the great shows on The Strip. I started thinking about putting the music on my iPod. The music by Andrew Lloyd Webber is really fantastic and this Las Vegas production is considered one of the most extravagant.

 

Brent Barrett, who alternates with Anthony Crivello as the Phantom, performed last night. So I can say I’ve seen both terrific actors playing the Phantom! Following the 7:00 p.m. performance, the festivities will continued as the cast and crew celebrated their successful first year at David Burke Modern American Cuisine. These events were for invited guests only and are not open to the public. David Burke was graciously greeting guests and giving out his secret email address! If you have not visited David Burke Modern American Cuisine, the food is wonderful. This evening everyone

raved about the cheese egg rolls, chateaubriand, shitake mushrooms and wasabi shrimp on a hot river rock. No one could stop eating! David Burke Restaurant - Modern-American Cuisine and Fine Dining in The Venetian, Las Vegas Restaurants.

 

(Photo below, from left to right are Brent Barrett, Kristi Holden (who alternates playing Christine with Elizabeth Loyacano), restaurateur David Burke and Anthony Crivello.)		“Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular” now offers patrons the chance to see the magnificent Phantom Theatre Tuesday - Friday from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., free of charge. Fans can catch a glimpse of the infamous 1800-seat Paris Opera House complete with a $5 million chandelier. Also new to Phantom Las Vegas, fans can now have the ultimate Phantom VIP experience with a package that includes one Golden Circle ticket, an elite backstage tour and a personal meet and greet with Phantom cast members. This complete Phantom experience is only $250 per person. “Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular” performs at The Venetian Resort – Hotel – Casino on Monday at 7 & 9:30 pm; Tuesday - Friday at 7 p.m.; Saturday at
		7 & 9:30 pm and dark on Sunday.

Tickets for Phantom at The Venetian are available by calling the Venetian Box Office at 866-641-7469 or 702-414-9000, or online at www.Venetian.com.  

 

Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza Opens in Centennial Hills. One of my favorite neighborhood restaurants is Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza at 6500 West Sahara Avenue. We were thrilled to go to the VIP opening of Sammy’s newest valley location in Centennial Hills on June 22.The new restaurant is located in the northwest part of the valley at 7160 North Durango Drive in Montecito Marketplace at 215 and North Durango. With 3,500 square feet, a seating capacity of 170 and an upscale, casual design, the Centennial Hills location continues the Sammy’s tradition of a fresh and extensive menu. The evening’s highlights

were New Zealand Lamb Chops, Parmesan Crusted Artichokes, and Mediterranean Kafta Skewers. As far as the famous woodfired pizzas, we sampled the Goat Cheese, Prosciutto, and Five Cheese pizzas. Sammy’s has recently revised its menu adding more than 20 new tapas (the Mini Duck Tacos were terrific) and Kobe Beef Mini Burgers.  Sammy's Woodfired Pizza® !

 

“Defending the Caveman” at the Golden Nugget. The invigorated Golden Nugget held a VIP press evening for “Defending the Cavemen” on Thursday, June 21st.  This one-man show is sensational and I urge everyone to check “Defending the Caveman” out. It is brilliant. “Defending the Caveman" is a about the differences between the sexes written by stand-up comedian Rob Becker in the early 1990s.

Becker starred in the show until he retired and passed the role to Kevin Burke, who has really put his mark on the insightful, hilarious material.

It is as if Becker and Burke were snooping around my relationship with my husband John. These two guys understand the differences between men and women in a way that is more potent than Dr. Phil and Oprah. Men are “hunters” and women are “gatherers.” It was once foraying in the savanna for the bushes with the best berries – now I call it shopping at Nordstrom's for 75% off couture. Who doesn’t love to win the auction for new Escada couture on ebay for fire-sale prices?

“Defending the Caveman” is a worldwide blockbuster having been presented in more than 30 countries and translated into 15 languages.

Kevin (pictured) and his wife Karen were at the pool party and we exchanged stories – though, John was true to his “caveman” persona by not using up too many of his daily allotment of words (it was the end of the day so he was approaching his limit). Kevin understood and was borrowing some of Karen’s words for the party. Kevin says men have 2,000 words a day; women have 7,000 a day. Nightly at 8:00 P.M. (Dark Tuesday), Saturday and Sunday Matinee at 3:00 P.M. Ticket prices start at $34.95 plus applicable taxes and fees. Defending the Caveman.

		There was a pre-show reception outside the showroom and a party afterwards at Golden Nugget’s gorgeous pool. The Golden Nugget's newest attraction, The Tank, is a $30-million pool, complete with a 200,000-gallon shark tank, three-story waterslide and well-appointed cabanas. Guests can swim inches away from sharks and other marine life. Aquatic adventurers can take the plunge through the shark tank on the one-of-a-kind waterslide.

Matsuri at The Sahara Hotel & Casino. Since May 29^th, The Sahara has been presenting “Matsuri,” a sensational Japanese stage show featuring 28 Olympic medalists and world-class athletes. Since we were in New Jersey for the opening, I’m thrilled to have had another opportunity to see “Matsuri” on Saturday.

Matsuri, the number one musical production in Japan, features total high-energy performers in various inventive combinations of acrobatics, dance, stunts and athletics. Matsuri does not stop – I kept wondering how much weight each performer lost per performance. I lost 2 lbs just watching. Matsuri is what “Stomp Out Loud” should be, but isn’t. With more than 18 unusual acts, Matsuri incorporates extreme bike sports, daring gymnastics, shock-value jump roping, hula hooping, and vibrantly colored costumes.

Japanese earth and foot drum dances are also featured, but the Matsuri performers know how to get the audience involved and show off how much they are enjoying themselves. The cast of 28 performers includes a world champion German wheel gymnast, world champion mountain biker, world-class Yo-Yo champion, world record hula hoop champion, a karate expert specializing in sword fight action stunts and a world record bungee jumping act. My favorite acts were the Ju Jujitsu Tango dance and the sumo wrestlers dance number to New York, New York. Who knew the Japanese were so fond of the Can-Can?

I hope “Matsuri” has a permanent home at The Sahara. “Matsuri” is in the Sahara Theater, Mondays through Saturdays at 7 p.m. Tickets are $69.95 for general admission, $79.95 for VIP and $39.95 for children, plus tax and fees. Dinner upgrades are available. For advance reservations or ticket information please contact (702) 737-2515. Matsuri Sahara Hotel

A New Baltimore Artist. My dear friend Christopher “Kit” Green has eclipsed his illustrious academic career and stellar reputation by being hailed now as an important New Baltimore artist. (Photo of Kit’s painting “Tree from Serpo Harbor”).

After earning a Ph.D. in Neurophysiology in 1969, Kit worked for seven years in the CIA before returning to medical school to earn his M.D. He then went back to the CIA for another decade.

As an agent with the CIA, Green began traveling to China in the 1970s to work with Chinese government officials. Kit also served as Chief, Biomedical Sciences Department at General Motors. Kit is a member of the National Academies, Advisors to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Kit is currently adjunct assistant professor at Wayne State University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences.

On a more humorous note, Kit is now being tagged as one of the “Team of Five,” by Project Serpo’s Earth “ambassadors”. Someone, who refuses to publicly come forward, has been dumping releasing pounds of “confidential” documents purported to be highly secret – national security level - files pertaining to a secret exchange program of twelve US military personnel to Serpo, a planet of Zeta Reticuli, between the years 1965-78. See what happens when you’re not paying attention? Now we know who really brought us the microwave oven and cell phone technology.

My opinion? Some people, living on their monthly disability checks, have a lot of time on their hands. That said, the Serpo mythology has a lot of devotees. Serpo.org - The Zeta Reticuli Exchange Program. (Photo of Kit from my photo series called “The Men Who Stare at Stuffed Animals,” my response to Jon Ronson’s book “The Men Who Stare at Goats” featuring among his subjects, my husband.)

So, if we are not in collusion with aliens from the planet Serpo, what was seen by the crew and passengers of a jet airline over the UK’s Channel Islands?

 

 

An official air-miss report on the incident several weeks ago appears in Pilot magazine. Captain Ray Bowyer, 50, of Aurigny Airlines, spotted a "bright-yellow light" 10 miles west of Alderney at about 3pm during a flight from Southampton while his aircraft was 30 miles from the island at 4,000 feet on Monday, April 23, 2007.Captain Bowyer said: "It was a very sharp, thin yellow object with a green area. It was 2,000 ft up and stationary.”

 

Where are all the passengers cell phone photos?

 

Jody "Babydol" Gibson and Lana Clarkson. My best friend in Las Vegas knows former Hollywood madam Babydol very well – though not professionally! Gibson wanted to be a model, and since my friend was a Hollywood agent, they became friends. Gibson was just too short to be a model, so she took a different career path. My friend tells me that “Babydol” keeps emailing her about the Phil Spector case. The judge in Phil Spector's murder trial warned defense lawyers they should probably drop any plans they might have to "dirty up" slain actress Lana Clarkson. Outside the presence of jurors, prosecutors complained to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler that potential defense witnesses - most notably Hollywood madam Jody "Babydol" Gibson - were mouthing off in public, against court orders to shut up. Gibson has hinted in a tell-all book that Clarkson, a nightclub hostess and struggling actress whom Spector is accused of shooting to death inside his mansion on Feb. 3, 2003, worked for her under the name Alana.

Gibson, who served 22 months in prison for running an international prostitution ring, suggests in her memoir "Secrets of a Hollywood Super Madam," that she sent a tall, blond call girl named "Alana" to the Bel-Air Hotel to service a Texas politician. "Unfortunately, this gal would make headlines in the news years later after being found murdered in the home of a wealthy record producer," Gibson said in the book. A call girl named "Alana" and "Lana Cl" is listed in Gibson's "trick book" — a collection of handwritten phone books and payment logs used as evidence in her 2000 trial and later unsealed by the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

However, that page from Babydol’s “trick book” appears to be suspiciously altered. A documents expert will examine the page and see if someone added “Cl” and “Al” to the notation “Ana.” Looks like “Babydol” is trying to pay off her attorney’s fees with book sales.    CourtTV interviewed “He’s a Rebel” author Mark Ribowsky who bluntly said there is a “gorilla” in the [court] room no one is talking about yet. Just what kind of sex play went on the night Lana Clarkson died in Spector’s “castle”? DNA consistent with Phil Spector's genetic markers was found on Lana Clarkson's left breast and what appears to be Lana Clarkson's DNA was found on Phil Spector's genitals. Someone else's DNA was found on a different part of Phil Spector's genitals!   Criminalists testified that there is evidence that the gun used in Clarkson’s death had been wiped and a large amount of Clarkson's blood was in the left pocket of Spector's pants, which could indicate the gun was placed in the pocket.

 

Spector, who never called 911 even though the “castle” has 18 phones, had 45 minutes to clean up himself and the scene and stage the area before going outside and telling the limo driver, “I think I killed somebody.”

 

Let’s Go to Qomolangma! China will begin building a "highway" on Mount Qomolangma (known to Westerners as Mount Everest), the world's tallest peak, in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region so as to ease the path of those bearing the Olympic torch. Budgeted at 150 million yuan (19.7 million U.S. dollars), construction of the road will kick off at Qomolangma Base Camp 5,200 meters above sea level. The project aims to turn a 108-km rough road linking Tingri County of Xigaze Prefecture at the foot of the mountain to the Base Camp into a blacktop highway fenced by undulating guardrails. The project will take about four months.

On completion, the highway will become the major route for tourists and mountaineers who are crowding onto Mount Qomolangma in ever larger numbers. Organizers of the Beijing Games have revealed ambitious plans for the longest torch relay in Olympic history -- a 137,000-kilometer, 130-day route that would cross five continents and scale the world's summit, which straddles the border between China and Nepal.

While John promises never to return to Tibet (that’s a photo of us in front of Mount Everest), I’m planning on returning to Tibet to circumvent Mount Kailash and erasing all past and future karma by doing so.