Palazzo Casino And Resort Seeks To Evict The Act Nightclub
I don’t know about you, but the story below makes me want to go there and see what the fuss is about. As the AP reported below, the Palazzo hotel isn’t very happy with the what’s going on at the Act Nightclub. As far as the club mentioned in Planet Hollywood (Prive Nightclub), there wasn’t anything happening inside Prive nightclub that doesn’t happen in any other nightclub. I was actually affiliated as a manager at Prive and I never saw anything out of the ordinary there that I don’t recognize from time to time at some other venues. Prostitutes are everywhere, drugs are everywhere, fights happen.
The real story behind Prive nightclub wasn’t only about the wrongful doings in the club, but about politics and a political war going on among 2 powerful people in Vegas. Yes, Prive was violated for doing things that they shouldn’t have, which they were fined for, but don’t let anyone tell you different from it being only because of the wrongful doings. The nightclub world is one big party, getting wasted and having fun. We don’t work in a library. I’ll leave it at that. Speaking of Prive, I wish I had a dollar for every time someone said they wish Prive was still open. It was one of the best parties ever in Vegas history.
Back to the original story…The Act nightclub although not a favorite club of mine is actually not bad if you’re looking for something different other than a full scale nightclub. Going there and popping 10k at a VIP table to watch guys put coke bottles in their butts, freak shows and other madness that goes on there doesn’t seem like the ideal time if I come to Vegas wanting to see Tiesto or Skrillex, but I will say it is a cool spot for me and the boys to go out, pop a bottle and have some fun and watch some out of-the-box shows (minus the coke bottles in a man’s anus). If you do go, make sure you ask for VIP Host, Brandi Rose and buy her a shot. Tell her Joe Vargas sent you.
Read the Full AP Story below:
The Palazzo hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip is trying to evict a 10-month-old nightclub for shows it says are so raunchy that they violate obscenity laws. It says actors — some nearly naked — toss condoms into the crowd and simulate sex acts and bestiality on stage.
The club is seeking a restraining order to halt the closure, arguing that simulated sex acts don’t constitute obscenity.
Casino officials “were well aware of our brand,” said Sean Dunn, special events director at The Act, in an email statement, adding that representatives of the hotel-casino have frequently attended shows and did not complain.
Las Vegas Sands, which owns the casino, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Act remains open for business while a district judge considers its fate, but the fight over its future has exposed an underlying reality in Vegas: While the city sells itself as a racy, no-holds-barred destination, there are limits.
“I think there’s the perception that anything goes in Vegas — there’s no boundaries, no lines,” said Lynn Comella, a professor of sexuality and women’s studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.”
That perception, in part, is fueled by what tourists see.
Trucks roll down Las Vegas Boulevard advertising “hot babes” delivered directly to hotel rooms, the phone book is full of come-ons for escorts and private dancers, and taxis and billboards feature scantily clad women who leave little to the imagination.
While Las Vegas is also rife with strip clubs, tourists won’t find them along the Strip or in the city’s hotel-casinos. They can take in a topless stage show or lounge at a European-style topless pool, but they have to catch a ride to a side street to see strippers.
“The goal for Las Vegas was to be naughty enough to attract you but not naughty enough to repel you,” said Michael Green, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada.
The city — which rises and falls on the pocketbooks of its 40 million annual visitors — must balance the sexiness with the sensibilities of foreign tourists and large, multinational casinos.
“It’s highly sexualized and gets a lot of mileage out of that, but it’s a very particular version of that,” Comella said.
In The Act’s case, Sands executives notified club officials on April 26 that they’d crossed a line with the show and were no longer welcome in the $15 million space. The casino giant wants to evict it, ending a 10-year lease.
The casino notified club officials after undercover security officers went into the venue in March. The details of the show were laid bare this week in court, when an investigator apologized for getting graphic and looked pained while describing some kinky scenes.
The club contends Sands “manufactured this ‘breach’ in an attempt to improperly evict” it.
“We believe we are on the leading edge of the next evolution of nightlife in Las Vegas and that The Act fills a niche for patrons looking for an alternative to the typical Las Vegas big-box club scene,” Dunn said.
Those who stray outside the limits of what is considered acceptable in the city risk invoking the wrath of the state’s powerful Gaming Control Board and losing their lucrative gambling permits.
The board smacked the Planet Hollywood casino with a $750,000 fine in 2009 amid accusations that employees at the independently owned Prive nightclub allowed toplessness, turned a blind eye to prostitution and physically and sexually assaulted patrons.
The board isn’t investigating The Act and is waiting for the lawsuit to play out, according to chairman A.G. Burnett.
There’s no doubt that Las Vegas markets itself as an adult playground, said Oscar Goodman, the larger-than-life former Las Vegas mayor who’s often flanked by scantily clad showgirls, martini in hand.
“We have standards and we’re not going to advocate illegal activity,” he said. “Unless the sex goes out of the line, we embrace it.”
