Las Vegas

[scot]

Las Vegas

[Todd]

Dont bother. I grew up there and still get back often, so I'm pretty familiar with the scene. The streets there have always been closed. There are tons of variety performers there, but the work is all hire in stuff by hotels (Excalibur, Circus Circus, Ceaser's to name a few) or through agents in town to do convention work, but the streets are closed. If you get by the Exclaibur, ask to meet Bob Anderson, I beleive he is the guy who runs in house entertainment there, and could give you the run down on getting hired there. Last I heard, the contracts were 6months at a time.
Good luck!

[Rich Potter]

Las Vegas:
As far as getting booked goes, last I heard, the Osama Project has curtailed a lot of tourist spending, which includes LV gambling.

Gambling pays the entertainment. Many have been layed off or had income/workload reduced in recent weeks.

Dunno about the street scene, but there are plenty of shows -- many free -- to be seen in casinos.

--Rich

[Steven Ragatz]

If the health of the big showroom productions are any indication of the Vegas economy, then things are looking up. “O”, whose average sales have been over %100 for the past few years, and Mystere, whose sales have been in the upper nineties, both cut back shows the weeks following the attack. It is my understanding that both productions are back to their original schedules. Lots of folk have been laid off and the overall traffic is way down, but there are a couple of big conventions coming up and things seem to be gearing up for that.

As for street performing, I couldn’t think of a worse place to try to pass the hat. With all the porno being handed out on the streets, the image of a sidewalk artist is somewhat tarnished. Once you get off of the strip or away from the downtown area, there is nothing but shopping centers and beige housing developments. There is work to be had there as an entertainer, both in the casinos and in the surrounding communities, but there is a zero tolerance for anything that doesn’t comply with the casinos vision. The police have to deal with so much crap there and I doubt if they would take kindly to busking.

No, I think if one wants to get into the Vegas scene, one has to go through the corporate paths and get sponsored to perform.

Steven Ragatz