Kimo’s Vegas
Mark Yamanaka and Billy V. Photo from Kimo Akane
IN TOWN FOR the Cal’s Mei Day Celebration, Hoku Award-winning Mark Yamanaka told Hawaiian105 KINE’s Billy V it was his first trip to Sin City, so his friends took him to do all the tourist things, including checking out a magic show.
He was randomly selected to be part of David Copperfield’s act, where they make members of the audience disappear. Billy said, “Great, I’ve always wanted to know how they do that trick …” Mark said, “Well, it was dark and it all happened so fast, I dunno …”
CONGRATS TO all the players and the big winners of the Cal’s Golden Arm Tournament – Johnnie T. Dodge finished third and won $2,000, Russell Castillo took second place and $5,000 in cash, and Benjamin Dalde won the tourney and $10,000.
AND CONGRATS TO Scott Singer, who has been promoted to Table Games manager. He replaces the recently retired Jeff Weiss. On May 28, 1989, Jeff was the shift manager when Stanley Fujitani had his epic three-hour-and-six-minute roll that started the Cal’s exclusive Golden Arm club and the tourney of like-minded rollers.
IF YOU build it, they will play … After three days’ existence, the first legal, state-sanctioned online poker site dealt 100,000 hands in Nevada. Players from all 50 states and more than 20 countries have registered with Ultimate Poker.
THE MOST-WANTED men in Vegas have added a 10:30 p.m. show Thursdays, bringing their total number of hot, sweaty performances each week to 10. You ever notice an abundance of single guys hangin’ out in the Rio’s casino after a Chippendales show?
UNTIL THE Michael Jackson show opens later this month, Zarkana is the newest resident Cirque du Soleil show. Like most shows from the Canadian troupe, it tells a tale that is highly interpretive by the audience. Zark is a magician who’s lost his love for magic and eventually finds it in an abandoned theater inhabited by surreal creatures. Don’t know how they do it, but by the end of the performance you feel like you understand the made-up language of “cirquelish” used exclusively throughout the show.
MOST FOLKS I know complain when they get the funny-looking money, but at the Golden Gate they give our brothers, sisters and rock ‘n’ roll radio cousins from the Great White North a 5 percent bonus for exchanging their Canadian money at the cage.
THE BIGGEST-grossing night club in the country is XS in Las Vegas. The $55 per dude and $25 per dudette cover charge and serious-as-a-heart-attack bottle service all add up to annual revenues in excess $90 million a year.
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