Las Vegas Life: Steaks Now Cost More Than Some Adopted Children

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One-eyed gossip hound Norm Clarke dishes about the latest trend in Vegas dining: very, very expensive steaks. According to Norm, the days of the $20 steak “have gone the way of the $1.99 buffet” thanks to an influx of Kobe beef. At Shintaro, the Japanese eatery at Bellagio, where the 10-ounce Washugyu Kobe tenderloin is going for $190. Shintaro’s 12-ounce sirloin commands $170. At Bradley Ogden, the high-end restaurant at Caesars Palace, the 8-ounce Kobe steak goes for $175. Also, Craftsteak at the MGM Grand, offers a 10-ounce Kobe filet mignon price at $100. But they do offer one for people used to more sensible prices: a 14-ounce Kobe ribeye for $98.

Yen For Fish Steak? Dish Out Top Dollar [LasVegasReviewJournal]

Vegas Insider: George Carlin Gives Norm a Moth Fart Jab

READ MORE: George Carlin, Gossip, Las Vegas, Norm Clarke, Vegas Insider

The joys of being a gossip columnist in Las Vegas. One of the perks is that when a comedian the status of George Carlin calls you out in a Playboy interview, well, we’re pretty sure you know who you are. Because we all know nobody else matters in Vegas except Norm Clarke when it comes to shrug-your-shoulders-and-groan-style gossip from the blinking Bacchnal. Carlin’s brief, powder-puff verbal poke in the October interview in regards to his then drug-induced mania was “The trouble is, a local gossip columnist was in the audience, and he used some sensational language to make a story out of it.” Our pen-wielding Vegas Cyclops bit back a bit harder however:

Umm. Au contraire, mi amigo. If your final night after a long, successful run at a Las Vegas hotel consists of lambasting the hotel and the “moronic … limited intellects” of people who come to Las Vegas, along with inviting a disgusted female audience member to perform oral sex on you is “sensational language,” then I’m guilty as charged.

Is that two snaps or three? We can never tell.

Norm: Carlin Lets Loose in Playboy Interview [Las Vegas Review]
Previously: Ruth Buzzi Is Not Dead, As Previously Reported [Oddjack]

Vegas Insider: Ruth Buzzi Is Not Dead, As Previously Reported

READ MORE: Norm Clarke, Vegas Insider

We can always depend on our Vegas Insider Norm Clarke to not turn a blind eye (dammit, why do we keep doing that?) to celebrity sightings of any sort at all. Here’s today’s lead items from the potpourri portion of the program:

Sightings

Dan Aykroyd and Richard Kind (“Mad About You” and “Spin City”), checking out Tangerine (Treasure Island) on Wednesday night. … Ruth Buzzi and Jo Anne Worley of “Laugh-In” fame, cracking up at the 10 p.m. performance of “Avenue Q” (Wynn) on Wednesday night.

Akyroyd aside, we’ll put the over/under of “other shit you can name that these celebrities have done besides what was mentioned” at a total of three credits among them. No fair checking IMDB.

NORM: ‘Hello,’ goodbye after four months [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

Vegas Insider: Siegfried Is The Buergermeister

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Our Vegas Insider Norm Clarke has been keeping a pretty close eye (sorry) on the comings and goings and comings of Vegas’ First Couple of Fabulousness, Siegfried and Roy.

“Siegfried Fischbacher will serve as “buergermeister,” German for “mayor,” during Saturday’s Oktoberfest kickoff keg-tapping ceremonies at the Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas.”

Buergermeister? What, was “Sausage King of Las Vegas” already taken?

NORM: KVBC’s Escalante has skin cancer [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

Vegas Insider: Anyone Seen Morgan Fairchild?

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Norm’s back, and we’re patching (oops) him in so you don’t miss an instant of the good stuff happening on the Vegas scene. Today’s gossip? Celebrity sightings.

“Morgan Fairchild, spotted in The Venezia Tower of The Venetian. … (Roy) Horn, walking with a cane at Mimmo Ferraro’s Italian restaurant on Sunday. … NBC’s “Three Wishes” came through town on Monday to grant three wishes at Albertson’s at 10250 W. Charleston Blvd., Smith’s at 5564 Camino Al Norte and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The series, starring Grammy winner Amy Grant, airs Sept. 23 (9-10 p.m., KVBC-TV, Channel 3). … Dan Haggerty of “Grizzly Adams” fame, with pals at the Rainbow Bar & Grill. … At “Avenue Q” (Wynn): songwriter Paul Williams and actress Jenna Elfman.”

Paul Williams and Jenna Elfman? Grizzly Fucking Adams? Screw Ted Casablanca, we got your celebrities right here.

NORM: Specialist who treated Roy dies [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

Our New Vegas Insider: Meet Norm Clarke

READ MORE: Norm Clarke, Vegas Insider

Okay, so he’s not really our Vegas Insider, but if you really have to know who ate dinner with Don and Mrs. Rickles at Bobby Flay’s restaurant at Caesars’ on a Tuesday, or what’s on Steve Wynn’s nightly agenda, there’s only The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Norm Clarke to tell it to you straight. Take this item from today, in which he name-drops a respected Shakespearean actor alongside a poof who plays with kitty cats:

A Siegfried and Roy-inspired show is opening at a London’s Albery Theatre.

Instead of big cats, the Kenneth Branagh-directed “Ducktastic!” features, well, ducks.

The storyline, according to a London newspaper, involves “world famous illusionist Christopher Ursula Sassoon who, after an accident with an emu, loses his license to perform in Las Vegas. He teams up with Roy de La Rue, a pet shop proprietor from Portsmouth, to form Sassoon and Roy and put on a new West End show.”

We’ve had plenty of accidents involving emus, but none with the wacky potential this show obviously has. We’ll keep an eye on Norm, while he keeps an eye (sorry) on Vegas.

NORM: Woman had ties to killer, Web site says [Las Vegas Review-Journal]