THE SECOND CITY AT THE FLAMINGO OFFERS AN ALL-NEW REVUE

Now in its seventh year at the Flamingo, The Second City once again offers an all-new revue and some cast changes.

Rob Belushi, who has an extensive career in sketch comedy, is John Belushi's nephew and his dad is actor Jim Belushi.  Michael Lehrer and Robyn Norris are veterans of The Second City Touring Company and have come to Las Vegas to write and perform in their first original revue.  Katie Neff is now in her second show at the Flamingo.  Paul Mattingly is a graduate of The Second City Training Center in Las Vegas.

As always, the show features a variety of fast-paced scenes, songs and improvisation.  Shows are nightly except Wednesday at 8 p.m. with additional 10 p.m. shows on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.  The Saturday 10 p.m. performance is an all-improvised revue called The Second City Scriptless and is performed by a separate cast of five improvisers.

CUT IS NOW OPEN AT THE PALAZZO RESORT

Wolfgang Puck's critically acclaimed, award-winning restaurant CUT is now open at The Palazzo.  CUT marks the sixth fine dining restaurant in Las Vegas from the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group.

The critically acclaimed award-winning, Richard Meier-designed CUT in Beverly Hills at the Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel, has been widely acknowledged as one of the most popular spots in the United States.  The new CUT menu offers a contemporary twist on the classic steakhouse and a large selection of house-made sauces, including CUT's signature Argentinean Chimichurri.  To complement the menu, Beverage Director Tim Wilson has carefully crafted an extensive international wine list of more than 500 selections. 

For the design of the 160-seat eatery and 60-seat bar and lounge design, Las Vegas-based firm Avery Brooks & Associates (ABA) created an environment with rich textures such as a basket woven felt wall that provides a soft white architectural envelope high above bronzed mirror walls and acid-etched glass.  The flooring is comprised of honed, white limestone, walnut wood tiles and rich, custom-designed carpeting.  Old lamp-lit dining is accomplished through custom-designed lighting fixtures.  There's leather seating, leather table tops framed in brushed metal, and English Windsor wood-slab tables in the center of the

space.  The walls are adorned with a group of 12 paintings by Los Angeles-based artist John Millei titled the Maritime Paintings. 

A portion of the dining room can be utilized for private dining space, seating up to 50 guests, featuring a fully retractable bronze glass wall that opens to a contemporary wine wall located just outside the kitchen. 

MGM MIRAGE UNVEILS $40 MILLION FINE ART PROGRAM AT CITYCENTER

MGM Mirage has unveiled initial plans for CityCenter's $40 million Fine Art Program.  Opening in late 2009, CityCenter will feature works by acclaimed artists including Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer, Nancy Rubins, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Frank Stella, Henry Moore and Richard Long, among others. 

Validating CityCenter's status as a cultural destination of worldwide significance, the CityCenter Fine Art Program will feature numerous sculptures and fine art installations in both interior and exterior locations.  The program is designed to become a benchmark for enlightened corporate involvement with the arts on a global level and will be one of the world's largest and most ambitious corporate art programs.  Additional pieces will be announced at a later date.

The CityCenter Fine Art Program will encompass a multitude of styles and media - ranging from sculptures and paintings to large-scale installations.  Some will be existing pieces, carefully chosen for their artistic value and cultural significance; others will be site-specific installations for which the artist has been invited to command their vision over the space.  The contemporary masterpieces will transform CityCenter into a museum of iconic works of art throughout CityCenter's public spaces.

New York-based Maya Lin is creating her first work of art in Las Vegas: an approximately 120-foot silver cast of the Colorado River that will be suspended high above the reception area of CityCenter's gaming resort.

At CityCenter, Jerry Holzer's work will be seen as visitors approach the porte cochere at The Harmon Hotel, Spa & Residences.  They will be welcomed by one of the artist's LED signs spanning 387 feet wide.

Sculptor and artisan Nancy Rubins, famous for her grandiose works created from salvaged and industrial consumer goods, will create a larger scale version of her famous installation: Big  Pleasure Point.  Measuring 40 feet tall, 50 feet wide and 70 feet long, Rubins' work of art at CityCenter will be a colorful composition of numerous small river and ocean vessels that are finessed into a gravity-defying form that will be located on the exterior of Vdara Condo Hotel and will be one of Rubins' few works with a permanent home. 

Veer Towers will feature two large-scale commissioned works by Richard Long. Entitled Circle of Life and Earth, Long's two mud wall drawings will measure 80 feet high x 50 feet wide each and be displayed on Veer's west and east tower walls, respectively.  An English sculptor, photographer and painter, Long is one of the best-known British land and conceptual artists.

Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas will feature Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, 1998-1999, an iconic piece by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Designed with the pair's classic approach to creating large-scale outdoor sculptures of popular commercial objects, the five-ton, 19-foot stainless steel and fiberglass sculpture depicts a giant blue and red typewriter eraser with the bristles of the brush turned upward in a graceful, dynamic gesture. Oldenburg and van Bruggen have collaborated on more than 40 monumental projects throughout Europe, Asia and the United States.

For the reception desk at CityCenter's Vdara Condo Hotel, MGM Mirage has purchased one of artist Frank Stella's most prominent works. Damascus Gate I, originally created in 1969, features a design of interlaced semicircles made of fluorescent and alkyd resin on a 96 x 384 inch canvas affixed to a horizontal base. 

Henry Moore's Reclining Connected Forms, 1969-1974, is his sculpture inspired by the fundamentals of the human experience, which is the primary theme of his life's work.  Measuring 10.17 x 17 x 7.70 feet, the abstract work of art displays a baby wrapped in its mother's embrace.

MAGICIAN BRETT DANIELS PREMIERES NEW CONCEPT MAGIC SHOW AT THE SAHARA

After touring for 15 years, international award-winning illusionist Brett Daniels is setting up a new afternoon show at the Sahara: The Brett Daniels Show: Wohscigam (you need to spell it backwards) that will debut on April 1 for an indefinite run.  Six years in development, the multi-million dollar production (pronounced wo-shee-gahm) offers a brand-new concept in magical entertainment; a historical murder-mystery plot, world class sleight-of-hand, and an original whodunit - all wrapped up in a Broadway-style production.  The revolutionary theatrical encounter will utilize historical magician Lester Tiband's 1912 manuscript.  Wohscigam will be performed at 3 p.m. daily except Sunday.  Tickets are $39.95 and $49.95.   Tickets for children under 13 are $25.95 and are $29.95 for seniors over 65.

QUICK CLIPS

The Academy of Country Music Awards will take place on May 18 at the MGM Grand Garden and will be carried live on CBS.  This year for the first time, fans will choose the winner of the entertainer of the year category, with voting beginning on May 5.

Singing impressionist Gordie Brown, who recently closed his show at The Venetian, will move into a 10 p.m. time slot on March 21 at the V Theater at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood.

Ventriloquist Ronn Lucas is moving his afternoon show from the Luxor to the Excalibur on April 1.

Singing impressionist Larry G. Jones recently closed his show at Fitzgeralds downtown.

Brunette beauty Audrina Patridge of the hit MTV reality series The Hills will make an appearance at the Las Vegas Pussycat Dolls Lounge located inside the Pure Nightclub at Caesars Palace on Friday, March 28.  Patridge will "doll up" and perform with the sexy troupe.  Red carpet arrivals will take place at 10 p.m.    

The Mentalist Gerry McCambridge, who performs a regular gig at Hooters, has received official word that he is one of two finalists in the Las Vegas Review Journal's readers poll for "The Best of Las Vegas" award.  McCambridge is one of the two finalists in the "Best Magician" category alongside Lance Burton and he reflects on how Burton gave him encouragement to become a Las Vegas headliner.  In addition, McCambridge recently competed on NBC's reality show, Phenomenon, and starred in and executive-produced NBC's primetime network special, The Mentalist, in May 2004.

The last day for the cast of the free Show in the Sky at the Rio will be April 8 and the show will return with a new cast.

ICE- The Show from Russia at the Riviera will be dark April 7-20 and reopen on April 21. 

Strange Brew is playing Roxy's Lounge at Sam's Town on Boulder Highway every Friday and Saturday night from 10:30 p.m.-3 a.m.  This group of dynamic rock performers has a repertoire of nearly 80 songs and what makes them different and unique from all the rest is the fact that each of its members have been and still are major rock performers.  Each member has recorded and toured for many years with major rock acts and still do.

Studio 8 Ten "Dream Project" is opening in the redevelopment area of Downtown at 810 Las Vegas Boulevard in March.  The Studio is a 900-square-foot emporium studio sanctuary for 30 artists and crafts people.  The grand opening will be the First Friday in June.

The luxury Venus Pool Club at Caesars Palace in all its Romanesque splendor is opening on March 26. 

The Junior League of Las Vegas (JLLV) will welcome the public to tour its 1959 historic mid-century Morelli House located at 861 Bridger Avenue on May 17 from 1-4 p.m.  There is no charge for the tours, but reservations are required by calling 702-822-6536.   Junior League members conducting the tours will explain the architectural highlights, the history of the house and its preservation project.  The house was built by Antonio Morelli, the longtime orchestra leader at the old Sands Hotel.

Last month proved to be a very lucky month for one gambler at the Four Queens.  The player, who wishes to remain anonymous, hit for $916,030.73 on a WMS MONOPOLY® Money Super Money GrabTM machine.

JACK CANFIELD GIVES KEYNOTE SPEECH AT PASSION PARTIES CONVENTION

Jack Canfield will present the keynote address at the 14th Annual Passion Parties Convention on Tuesday, April 1 at 1:30 p.m. at Bally's.  He's known as the beloved originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and for his contribution to The Secret.  He's been featured on national television shows and networks, such as: Oprah, 20/20, Today, Larry King Live, etc.  Canfield currently holds the Guinness Book World Record for having seven books simultaneously on the New York Times Bestseller List.

In his latest book, The Success Principles™: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, Canfield presents a new self-improvement standard.  The Success Principles - and the entire empire of Principles books, products, coaching programs and branded retail merchandise - is Canfield's next offering to the more than 100 million readers he currently reaches worldwide.

Passion Parties is the world's premier direct sales company supplying a full range of sensual products that enhance relationships by promoting healthy communication and intimacy.  The convention will take place March 30-April 3.

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