WELCOME TO Kimo’s Vegas ... The Player’s Edge!

AMERICAN IDOL Jennifer Hudson has won a Golden Globe, an Oscar, and her debut studio album got a Grammy. See the Dream Girl in her first solo tour that includes a stop in Vegas… Did anyone else think they forgot to remove the dinner napkin from the dress she wore at the Grammys?

IN VEGAS, a “deadbeat” is someone who doesn’t pay his gambling debts, but Ryan Clark of Colorado actually became one. He took out markers and wrote bad checks to Caesars and the Hard Rock for $715,000 just before he passed away. Now the casinos are suing his estate, saying that it was unjustly enriched because he died before he paid them back ... Something to consider before you add “stiffing a Vegas casino” to your bucket list.

TERRANCE WATANABE, the Omaha philanthropist, reportedly lost more than $100 million and still owes the Rio and Caesars Palace more than $15 million.

ON THE STRIP, the cast of Evening at La Cage was caught drawing dead when they were notified that show had crapped out. The Riviera show featuring the longest-running headliner in Vegas, Frank Marino, and a cast of female impersonators debuted almost 24 years ago.

 

DAVID MILLER, Carlos MarÌn, Urs Buhler and Sébastien Izambard, collectively known as Il Divo (Italian for “star”), shine at the Mandalay Bay Events Center July 17. The brainchild of Simon Cowell (American Idol), opera’s first and only “boy band” has sold more than 22 million albums worldwide.

KIMO’S VEGAS TIP: Stop by the visitors service booth on the first floor of Macy’s in the Fashion Show Mall, flash your out-of-state ID and get a seven-day shopping pass that’ll save you 11 percent on all your purchases ... Even on vacation, ladies no can stay away from da store for more than five days without displaying symptoms of withdrawal.

SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY will open the brand new Joint in April. The Hard Rock’s $800 million expansion is twice the size of the old Joint (does that make it a roach?) and is complete with state-of-the-art lights, sound and seven VIP suites.

LAST WEEK, Wells Fargo was in a world of public relations hurt when we learned that it had a 12-day executive retreat planned in Las Vegas after it accepted $25 billion in bailout money (and lost billions the quarter before). This week, Goldman Sachs, the recipient of a $10 billion handout, cancels its Vegas conference only to change the locale to San Francisco. The bill for this last-minute discretionary move? About $600,000 in cancellation fees, not including charges for airfare and hotel room changes ... So that’s what fiduciary responsibility means.

VINCE PATERSON, the guy who put the Vogue in Madonna and Bad in Michael Jackson, will be the director/choreographer for Cirque Du Soleil’s new Elvis show at Aria.

MORE WINNERS at the Cal ... Joey Kahala of Pearl City hit three jackpots for a total of $10,000, Ruth Scheidt of Waianae caught three for $12,205, and James Fukuda of Honolulu hit nine jackpots for $13,430!

AS OF SEPTEMBER (2008), there were 11,970 slot machines downtown. The penny machines held about 12 percent, and quarter slots kept 4 percent of the players’ money ... Which would you rather play?

IN DECEMBER, the number of cab trips dropped 20.9 percent, prompting many drivers to take customers the long way ...

CONGRATS TO everyone at Hawaiian Airlines for being the nation’s No. 1 on-time airline, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

GET MORE Kimo’s Vegas on your cell phone (text OCEANIC VEGAS to 32862) or visit us online at www.KimosVegas.com, www.AroundHawaii.com and right here in MidWeek.

 

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