We've got some updates on the Halloween Happenings around Las Vegas this weekend and want to share them with you so you have time to make plans, adjust plans or just plan to have a good time.  Okay, enough with the plans.

John Waters and his One-Man Show at the Palms this weekend:

"Well, I think this year it should be called “This Horrible World,” since it’s a horror convention. It’s everything about my life. It’s sort of like a “feel good if you’re insane” lecture to inspire people who might feel left out of society ... I’ll talk about horror movies. My mother thinks all my movies are horror movies, even though none of them are technically horror movies." (excerpt from his interview with the  Las Vegas Sun)

Fangoria Halloween Weekend at The Palms: The Palms Casino Resort will be the home base for all things creepy and spooky as Fangoria's Trinity of Terrors comes to town during Halloween weekend. Get tickets for concerts, movies and lectures from all your favorite horror film actors and creators plus musicians like Slipknot and Rob Zombie as well as John Waters' show.  Click on the link for more details.

The Blacklist Art & Film Festival at The Griffin: The Griffin will host The Blacklist Art & Film Festival, an event which celebrates creativity outside the mainstream arts scene. Check out a Halloween-inspired event with an art gallery featuring works by local and visiting artists plus a horror film showcase with screenings of award-winning short films that are a must for any horror fan. Click on the link for more details.

Rocky Horror Picture Show at Texas Station: Viva Rawk Vegas at South Padre at Texas Station presents a live performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show featuring the cast of Divine Decadence. Dress as your favorite character and win a share of $500 available to the best costume. Dance to the sounds of DJ Pierre while you enjoy $15 all you can drink draft beer, $4 Jack and Pepsi and 2-for-1 Patron and Jagermeister shots.  Click on the link for more details.

Want something a bit more traditional:

Nevada Pops' Halloween concert at Artemus Ham Hall at UNLV:Get a little culture this Halloween with the Nevada Pops' Halloween concert at Artemus Ham Hall at UNLV. Music from the movie Twilight and selections from Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked will be played. Click on the link for more details.

For more information on other Halloween Haunts around the Las Vegas Valley, click HERE for our extensive listings.

Don't forget, tomorrow is Nevada Day, with many State and Government Offices being closed.

Or if you are planning on staying in:

Turner Classic Movies is offering a 24 hour Scary Movie Marathon  beginning EARLY Saturday morning (note: all times PST):

3:00 AM	Woman In White, The (1948)
5:00 AM	Dead of Night (1945)
7:00 AM	Haunting, The (1963)
9:00 AM	Abominable Dr. Phibes, The (1971)
10:45 AM	Diary of a Madman (1963)
12:30 PM	Martin Scorsese Presents, Val Lewton: The Man In The Shadows (2007)
2:00 PM	Cat People (1942)
3:30 PM	Curse of the Cat People, The (1944)
5:00 PM	Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1941)
7:00 PM	Murders in the Zoo (1933)
8:15 PM	Body Snatcher, The (1945)
9:45 PM	Circus of Horrors (1960)
11:30 PM	Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932)
1:15 AM	Son of Dr. Jekyll, The (1951)

 

Also, TCM and Universal have partnered up on the Universal Cult Horror Collection.

http://tinyurl.com/yhjmfce

 

HAVE A SAFE AND FUN HALLOWEEN!

  

 

For Halloween Happenings around the Las Vegas Valley, click here.

Ah, the Stardust, we remember you well.  Maybe not the grandest of places on the new Las Vegas Strip but still a fun, comfy place if you were looking for that classic Las Vegas vibe.  The Stardust was torn down back in 2007 to make room for Boyd Gaming new mega-resort, Echelon.

But then the economy cratered, taking Bill Boyd's dreams of a luxury resort along with it.  To stop hemorrhaging money on the project, he dialed construction back to the bare bones in hopes that he could ride out the crisis.

Early this morning he announced that it will be a tad longer for those waiting for Echelon to be finished.  Another three to five years longer before construction resumes.  That's an eternity in Las Vegas. 

From Howard Stutz at the R-J:

"We continue to believe in the long-term viability of the Las Vegas market," Boyd Gaming Chief Executive Officer Keith Smith said. "But given the ongoing weak economic conditions, the significant new supply coming online and a difficult capital-market environment for projects of this nature, resuming construction in the near term is not an option."

The recession reduced Boyd Gaming’s third quarter profits. The casino operator said its net income fell about 27 percent in period that ended Sept. 30.

Boyd Gaming said its net income was $6.3 million in quarter, or 7 cents per share, compared with $8.7 million, or 10 cents a share for the same period a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet Research estimated, on average, the company would report earnings per share of 12 cents.

Boyd said revenue fell 6.6 percent in the quarter to $398.2 million. The company blamed the slump on reduced consumer spending, especially in Las Vegas.

“Improved results in our Downtown Las Vegas, Borgata and Midwest and South regions helped offset softness in the Las Vegas Locals market,” Smith said in a statement. “While visitation levels remained fairly constant, spend per visitor continues to be down significantly year-over-year, as consumers are still being cautious with their spending.”

For Halloween Happenings around the Las Vegas Valley, click here.

Jackie Gaughan turned 88 earlier this week.  Our buddy John L. Smith has plenty to say about one of the men who helped shape Fremont Street in the 1960s and 1970s:

Outside, the Las Vegas he knew and helped create has grown and changed, gone corporate and strange.

In here, the world still makes pretty good sense to Mr. John D. Gaughan.

His many friends call him Jackie, but to me he'll always be the ebullient, baggy-pants king of downtown.

And he's the last king left in the old Vegas deck. Benny Binion died in 1989, Sam Boyd in 1993, and Mel Exber in 2002. That leaves Jackie.

Legend has it Jackie goes so far back in the gambling racket he watched Palamedes put dots on the first dice, but I trace his wagering roots to the storefront bookmaking shops of Omaha, Neb., in the sunny days before World War II. Those who think Omaha was a sleepy crossroads don't know it once was considered the gambling capital of the Midwest. Those who perceive Jackie as a simple old-schooler should know the World War II veteran earned a degree from Creighton University.

At one time or another, Jackie has owned or had a hand in operating most of the buildings of Fremont Street. An incomplete list: Jackie Gaughan's Plaza, and a partnership with Exber in the Las Vegas Club, the Pioneer and Sundance; he was a major stockholder and board member of the Golden Nugget, and he owned the Gold Spike and Western Bingo, and the Bingo Club and Boulder Club.

Jackie also owned several points in the Showboat and the Flamingo, but as son Michael Gaughan says, "Dad was a downtown guy. He never understood why people would build neighborhood casinos. He liked downtown. And my dad always did well with the local citizens. Even the El Cortez does well today. He's probably had more gaming licenses than anybody else."

And the thing is, Jackie knew his places intimately, visited them daily wearing his plaid sport coats and a sunny disposition. Jackie was never too big to pick up an empty glass or clean an ashtray.

Talk about a hands-on operator. He was a one-man welcoming committee. Years after he could afford to delegate the grind work to a gaggle of assistants, Jackie insisted on making the rounds and distributing his kitschy but profitable "fun books" filled with food discounts and gambling specials.

Big or small, for many years his casinos made money. The coins rolled, the cash flowed, and the net profits made Jackie the envy of some corporate casino titans who strained under elephantine overheads.

"When he was healthy he would walk his places every day," Michael Gaughan recalls. "He always knew the names of all his employees. He cared about his customers and he cared about his employees."

That familiarity, impossible at a mega-resort, endeared him with his workers. That, and a generous pension plan that enabled porters and waitresses to retire in dignity.

Jackie sold his downtown casino interests a few years ago, and today his beloved El Cortez is owned by a group of family friends that includes Kenny Epstein, Mike Nolan, Lawrence Epstein, and Joe Woody. The son of gambler Ike Epstein, Kenny first met happy, hard-working Jackie in Lake Tahoe in the 1950s.

Although Jackie sold the El Cortez, he still lives there as he has for decades. He still eats his meals with Kenny and Co. Epstein wouldn't have it any other way.

"I've met a lot of people in my life, but I've never met anybody like him," he says. "Jackie treats everyone alike, from a porter to the chairman of the board of one of these big corporations. He's just a regular guy. There's nobody like him. He's just a Midwesterner."

Casino impresario Steve Wynn knows Gaughan as a mentor who played an integral role in his career when he took over the Golden Nugget in 1973.

"What I remember and am most grateful for is, as green as I was in that position, Jackie treated me with great respect," Wynn recalls. "He treated me as a young guy that should be helped. He did nothing but help me. If I called him six times a day, he'd be nothing but warm and supportive."

Wynn has met his share of characters, but few match Gaughan. Mention those sport coats, and you can't help but smile.

"He's one of the most colorful, delightful, warm, and sincere men I've ever known," Wynn says. "And he was a real category breaker. No one dressed like him except him."

But unpretentious doesn't mean simple.

When Wynn made the acquaintance of billionaire Warren Buffett, who was the first person the financial wizard of Berkshire Hathaway inquired about?

His old friend Jackie Gaughan.

Gaughan was a gifted businessman, but he could also be a soft touch. He kept the Western open long after it was no longer profitable. He didn't have the heart to tell the employees they would have to look for a new job.

Michael Gaughan laughs at the memory of a late-night phone call a few years ago from his father. Jackie was worried about the homely little Western.

"I said, 'It loses money. Not making money causes problems,'" Michael says. "He took the loss. Until we sold it two or three years later, he took the loss. You don't have people like this any more.

"He sincerely cared about his people. There are some people who talk about it. My dad always cared about his employees, and he had a fabulous pension plan."

I asked the son about his father's generation of royal casino characters who managed to trade notoriety for secular salvation in the land where gambling was legal.

"Everyone else is gone," Michael Gaughan says, wistfully. "Even people you don't know about. He's the last one."

Here's to the town that had such kings in it.