I [Victoria] am in Africa and will return on Monday, November 5th. Yes, the rumors are true: I’m adopting. I’m besting Angelina. I’m adopting a baby gorilla.

THIS WEEK FEATURING: ARTV Awards, ¿Qué pasa? Vegas Magazine, Artist Jennifer Main, Movies This Week, DuBarry Fashions Sunday Jazz, Phil Spector’s Prosecutor Writes Me, Uri Geller’s “Phenomenon,” PSI Spies: The True Story of America’s Psychic Warfare Program, “Mesmerized” at Planet Hollywood, The Sundance Channel’s Sin City Law, and more…

Movies This Week. With 2 screenings cancelled (one with no notice, the other dis-invited the press), I only saw Rendition (YES) and Gone, Baby, Gone (YES). A slow movie week for me!

DuBarry Fashions Sunday Jazz. Publicist and columnist Bobbie Katz invited the press to DuBarry Fashions last Sunday. Bobbie, who knows how to lure the press, said in her Media Invite: “Press members will also get a special gift.” What a gift bag! Bobbie, you out-did yourself! This special press event was for the official start of “It Don’t Mean a Thing If Your Bling Ain’t Got Swing Sundays” at DuBarry Fashions.

While shopping for high-end, extravagant merchandise (I brought 3 bags full of stuff), we were entertained by Bling, Du Barry’s owner Derek David’s band. The band plays from 1 to 5 p.m. every Sunday, and each set lasts about half an hour. Entertainer Derek David sings nightly at The Sahara as part of The Platters, as well as managing the retail store and performing with Bling. We enjoyed champagne, hors d’oeuvres and 50 percent off everything in the store! DuBarry Fashions is at Pioneer Square Shopping Center, 3375 S. Decatur (between Spring Mt. and Desert Inn) in Las Vegas. Thanks Bobbie! (Photo of Bobbie on left with Derek’s wife Rita.)

¿Qué pasa? Vegas Magazine. In celebrating its success and in expanding its distribution, ¿Qué pasa? Vegas Magazine (QPV) hosted its third anniversary party on Sept. 27, 2007 at the V Theater located in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino Las Vegas.

Dignitaries gathered at the party and discussed the role of the Latin tourist and the importance of the local Hispanic community in Las Vegas.

Photo of Edgardo Iorio, President and publisher, Ivo Cutzarida, Marketing Manager, Doug Ingram, Sales Director and America Salinas, Executive Editor.

Throughout its three years, ¿Qué pasa? Vegas Magazine has featured exclusive and insightful interviews with Hispanic icons as well as coverage of international events. QPV Executive Editor America Salinas has set the tone of the magazine through her experience and knowledge of the Latin entertainment industry. For more information about ¿Qué pasa? Vegas Publishing Company, contact America Salinas at 702.723.9508 or america@quepasavegas.com.

“I want a fatwa. I used to see Salman Rushdie in the Sky Bar in L.A. He wasn’t in hiding; he became world-renowned for his fatwa. So why can’t I get a fatwa? Don’t they read my stuff?” —Ann Coulter in British Esquire.

Alan Jackson Letter to Me. The Judge declared a mistrial. Phil Spector (photo below of Spector pre-facelift with clown wig) is a free man! He beat it and can continue living in his rundown castle with his decades younger wife though he is a lot poorer! The second trial is going to cost Spector another million dollars. CourtTV ran the Phil Spector trial daily until 3 p.m. Unfortunately for us CourtTV fanatics, the network stops live trial coverage to air the new Star Jones show. I believe Spector intentionally shot Lana Clarkson in the mouth with his own gun and then spent 45 minutes cleaning up the crime scene of evidence. I did not believe any of the phony forensic evidence presented by the rotating “checkbook defense” experts.

I was appalled by defense pathologist Dr. Michael Baden’s (one of Spector’s lawyer’s husband!) sudden bombshell theory—his hopefully career-ending “ah ha! moment”—that violated California’s discovery laws. D.A. Jackson asked why Baden never turned over his new theory to the D.A.’s Office and why the doctor never mentioned his “ah ha!” theory to anyone in the four and a half years since Clarkson’s death, let alone in the post-postmortem findings he gave to Spector’s lawyers.

I wrote the brilliant prosecutor, Alan Jackson, a postcard (I didn’t want a letter opened by his staff and just put in a pile), just to remark that I thought he should play a 3-year-old child making a 911 call in his closing summation. There were 18 phones in Phil Spector’s house, but he never bothered to call 911. The limo driver had to make the call. Mr. Jackson did not send a form letter or standard response, but thanked me and said he did reference lack of 911 calls in his closing.

Jackson’s closing—without notes—was riveting. He expressed true disgust that Spector (photo post-facelift) didn’t even value Clarkson by using her name, he just went outside to the limo driver and said, “I think I just killed somebody.”

My husband John was so impressed that he has sent Mr. Jackson a letter thanking him (noting he need not respond) for taking the time to write me and how impressed we were to receive a handwritten reply.

A spokeswoman for the District Attorney told the L.A. Times, “We will try Phil Spector again” and said her office was disappointed with the outcome of the trial. All parties will be back in court on October 3rd.

Lana Clarkson’s death scene photos are already on the Internet.

2007 ARTV Awards. Thanks to the hard work of founder and curator Audrey Roberts, the 2nd annual ARTV Awards were presented on Saturday, September 29th at Sapphire Las Vegas, 3025 So. Industrial Road. The Bravo Channel will be airing the ARTV Awards show including 10 one-hour segments featuring the artists honored by ARTV. Before the awards, on Friday, September 28th, ARTV held a documentary screening in the Brenden Imax theatre at the Palms Hotel & Casino.

[Read my expanded ARTV Awards article with photos]
Artist Jennifer Main. At the Brendan Theaters table, Brendan Theaters is an ARTV Awards sponsor, I was introduced to one of Las Vegas’ most prominent artists, Jennifer Main. On November 8th, from 6 to 9 p.m., the ghostbar at The Palms Casino Resort will host the First Annual Boys & Girls Clubs Auction & Reception Arts Fundraiser. Jennifer will be the featured artist. Brendan Theaters has nominated Jennifer for the Governor’s Art Award. If you would like to attend the fundraiser, contact Heather Estus at 702-367-2582 ext 223. jennifermaingallery.com. Photo of Jennifer and her husband Jason Steiner of ChromeFusion.net. Aren’t they a beautiful couple! Jason does custom motorcycle engraving. www.sanjoyengraving.com/home.html.

Uri Geller’s “Phenomenon.” W Magazine’s October 2007 issue has a profile of “young, brash prince” of NBC Entertainment, Ben Silverman. As the youngest co-chair, Silverman is bringing a Colombia hit telenovela, “whose title translates to “Without Breasts There is No Paradise,” about a flat-chested girl who becomes a prostitute to pay for a boob job” and our friend Uri Geller’s hit TV show “Phenomenon.” On NBC’s fall schedule, “Phenomenon” is described as “a version of the Israeli show hosted by spoon-bending mentalist Uri Geller.”

NBC’s Media Village Web site announced that Uri will be joined by Las Vegas magician Criss Angel (Criss Angel’s “Mindfreak”). Uri and Criss will conduct an intensive search for the next great mentalist. Ten hopeful mentalists must compete each week to demonstrate a wide spectrum of mystifying talents on a panel of weekly celebrity guests who participate along with a studio audience. Geller and Angel will assess the contestants and offer their unfiltered opinions. Ultimately, the winner’s fate will be determined by the viewers at home.

A few years ago I was a guest on Uri’s UK radio show being interviewed about my UFO and Religion Survey and the anorexia questionnaire I conducted online. Uri has talked openly about his past, long struggle with bulimia.

“PSI Spies: The True Story of America’s Psychic Warfare Program” is the newest book by our friend Jim Marrs. The book prominently features interviews Jim had with John at our home in 1993. Also visiting us was Mel Riley, described by Jim “one of America’s original psi spies.” Jim has been researching the “PSI Spies” for many years. The book examines the U.S. Army’s formerly top-secret remote viewing unit to discover how the military has used this psychic ability as a tool and a weapon.

Remote viewing was developed by various government agencies, including the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. Army. However, it is Ingo Swann who coined the term “Remote Viewing” and is acknowledged as “the father of Remote Viewing.” Ingo was a research subject at Stanford Research Institute in the 1970s and developed the protocols and structure for what is now Remote Viewing. In June we spent the afternoon at Ingo’s New York Bowery townhouse where he has “officially left” the field of Remote Viewing and is devoting himself to his life as an artist.

In the 1970s, with the support of Congress, the Army formed a small unit of remote viewers to spy for America. These soldiers/psychic spies gained penetrating knowledge about a wide variety of subjects. They were consulted to stop a Soviet plot to kill President Ronald Reagan. They mentally prowled the halls of the Kremlin. They probed Iraq’s hidden weapons sites in preparation for the 1991 Gulf War. According to Jim, no subject has been immune to the military remote viewers—America’s Psi Spies. (Photo of controversial remote viewer Ed Dames (left) and Jim Marrs (right) on August 16, 1993 at our home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.) www.amazon.com/PSI-Spies-Americas-Psychic-Warfare/dp/1564149609

The Sundance Channel’s Sin City Law. Last week it was reported that police in southern Nevada traced a spike in violent crime last year to the rise in the methamphetamine trade. Las Vegas police reported a 32.2 percent rise in violent crimes in the city and unincorporated Clark County in 2006, according to FBI statistics released last Monday. Henderson had a 31.9 percent increase in the categories of murder, rape, robbery and assault, and North Las Vegas police reported a 12.4 percent rise. The numbers far exceeded the 1 percent national increase in violent crime rate per 100,000 residents, and showed crime rates continuing a two-year upward trend since 2004.

So it is interesting to watch the new, original 8-part documentary series that goes inside four recent criminal trials in Las Vegas that premiered on Sundance Channel on September 10th. Back to back episodes of “Sin City Law” will air each Monday night at 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

“Sin City Law” opens a window onto a world rarely seen by tourists or the public: A brutally honest look at the world of drugs, gangs, depleted gamblers, and wayward club owners. The series is an insider’s look of the public defenders’ and district attorney’s offices as the filmmaker’s track four separate criminal cases, each of which is covered in two one-hour episodes.

Tonight’s episode is “Within Reach.” Part 1 airs at 9:00 p.m. In July, 2005, Wei Liu was shot and killed in a parking lot outside a Las Vegas strip club; also injured was Kristian Wong Wui, Liu’s fellow passenger in an SUV driven by Amir Mogadam, who was not injured. The next day, Jesus Vega turned himself in as the shooter, accompanied by his friend Brian Baker, a witness to the event. Vega and Baker were both charged with murder, and both assert that Vega fired in self-defense. The shooting was caught on a grainy surveillance videotape. After 17 months of delays, the trial gets under way; however, Mogadam fails to turn up for a second day of testimony. Part 2 airs at 10:00 p.m. with Mogadam’s absence raising the possibility of a mistrial.

Mesmerized at Planet Hollywood. My friend Lynne Morris (pictured below) is taking courses at UNLV. One of Lynne’s classes this seminar is called Hotel Entertainment (TCA 373) and is taught by David Saxe (pictured) of Saxe Entertainment. Mr. Saxe has many productions on The Strip and is a professor at UNLV in the Entertainment department. The course requires students to see more than 20 shows and evaluate them. Here is Lynne’s critique of David Savard’s “Mesmerized” currently at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.

“This production is performed at the V Theater in the Miracle Mile Passage at Planet Hollywood. It is within easy access of valet and self parking with a sign large enough for people to identify the show quickly. The tickets are $49.99 for general admission and $59.99 for VIP seating. Capacity is 450 and this night the showroom was half full. The Mesmerized show is performed nightly, except Sunday, at 10:30 p.m. The large video screens on either side of the stage were utilized with sayings and information about David Savard to familiarize the audience with his background in hypnotism. When he does appear, people are comfortable with him on stage.

“When the curtain goes up for the start of the show, the audience sees a large swinging clock upstage, with a leggy blonde assistant in a skimpy costume, helping to push it back and forth. David Savard steps on stage and the clock and blonde leave. Savard is not outlandishly costumed, nor does he behave in any way but in control. He explains at length what the audience should expect from the evening and does some exercises with them to prepare for the show. He asks for 30 volunteers from the audience to join him on stage. People file up and chairs and a bench are brought out for them to sit on.

“Savard, his assistant and the ushers continue to encourage more people to join the group. They managed to get 25 people on stage and then he began instructing them with more advanced mental exercises. He took them through radical temperature changes where they got very hot, then very cold and then had them play instruments doing both classical and rock music. While this is happening Savard was observing which of the volunteer audience members would be good subjects for deeper hypnosis.

“This was entertaining seeing how Savard decided who would leave the group. Finally, he is down to 13 volunteers: 3 women and 10 men. They are of varying size and shape, personality and appearance. He puts the remaining volunteers into deeper hypnosis, talking quickly and suggestively to them, guiding them into a deep hypnotic state. Savard is now capable of giving commands and having the group, singly or together, respond to his touch or word.

“He has a man become Michael Flattery in Riverdance and then has the rest of the volunteers join him as backup line dancers. Another man is told that his name is E-I-E-I-O and he will get angry when he is called anything else. A small, funny man is given “crotch itch.” The men become models for an erotic magazine and the women become photographers.

“A small elevated stage, with a pole in the center is brought out and the group is convinced they are erotic dancers. A tall, well-built black man, who Savard has been bantering with throughout the show, is brought on stage while the volunteers are in sleep trance. The volunteers are told that they are going to see the most beautiful, exotic woman come out before them. She will be irresistible to the men and the women will instantly dislike her. The black man then re-appears in a funny, pig-tailed blonde wig. The men fall all over themselves reacting to this so-called gorgeous female, while the women withdraw in disgust.

“In the final presentation of hypnotism the men are told that they are porn stars in a XXX film and they needed to do their best work tonight. The men were given life-sized, naked rubber dolls to use and turned loose for too long a time. The show over, Savard thanked the audience and pitched the sale of his CD’s outside.

“Mesmerized is typical of stage hypnotism shows. They are entertaining and educational at the same time. What our subconscious is capable of is always amazing; also, how easily we are influenced by suggestion, in a normal state or hypnotized. David Savard is a very talented man. He might consider being more creative with his subjects and little less crass. The ending goes on too long. The point is made in half the time without letting the volunteers overly embarrass themselves or anyone else. He might have thanked his volunteers more. In all, the show is an enjoyable one hour twenty minutes, causing later discussions of mind control, values and humor.” http://www.planethollywood.com/