Cisco and Shwayze along with Jason Smith kick off two days at Tao for Chris Young’s birthday tonight. They’re doubling down at Tao Beach tomorrow, when Dirt Nasty hosts. So that gives you options as to whether you prefer your chill-out identified pop bands indoors or outdoors. We love having options.

Pools

• Dip and Dance is at Encore Beach Club.
• Liquid at Aria holds Tequila and Turntables.
• The Palms as Reggae Fest for the Cruzan Campfire Concert series with Lady Reiko and the Sin City Prophets, ForTwentyDaze, HaleAmanO and One Pin Short.
  

  Clubs

• Vanity at the Hard Rock Hotel has DJ Trent Cantrelle for Godskitchen.
• Ghostbar does Soundbar featuring Nickodemus vs. Vikter Duplaix.
• Gold Lounge does Tempted Thursday.
• Haze has its Industry Thursdays with Hyper Crush.
• The Bank has Industry Thursdays.
• Brand at Monte Carlo holds On the Mic Karaoke.
• King Ink at The Mirage has Throwdown Thursday.
• The Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay has Original Sin Thursdays
• Lavo at Palazzo has Seduxion Latin Night.
• Krave does Thurstdaze with DJ Sobe.
• Crown at the Rio does its Latin night, Rumba.
• Wasted Space features Pato Banton.
• The SpyOnVegas.com Open Bar is at the Rio’s Voodoo Beach for Big Break from 7 to 9 p.m.
  

  Comedy

• Dov Davidoff is at the Playboy Comedy Club at the Palms.
• The Bunkhouse does its weekly Battle of the Comics.
  

  Music

• The House of Blues has Ernie Halter, Tony Lucca and Trent Hancock.
• The Sin City Sinners are at Crazy Horse III’s Rock Room.
  

  Bars

• Diablo’s Cantina at Monte Carlo does Rock the Roof.
• Blue Martini has Mundo Vacio.
• Freakin’ Frog puts Topher Koza, Last Night in Mexico and Emily Davis on stage.
• The Double Down has The Unruly Bangs, Tinglerz and Neighborhood Bullys.
• Cheyenne Saloon welcomes Fractured Cision, Somewhere in the Middle, Matthew Moran and Broken Threshold.
• The Freakin’ Frog brings in Shiny Boots, The Dulcet Darlings, Rebecca Williams and Kayla Brown.

We do so love a good mystery. Especially when it’s the mystery of the missing tequila style.

Casa Dragones is a newcomer to the ultra-premium market that blends pure agave platinum with a hint of extra anejo. It’s not going to come cheap — at $275 a bottle and $45 a glass at Mesa Grill — but then, mysteries usually don’t.

“Most tequila makers do a blanco, reposado, anejo, extra anejo. But there is one other style, joven, that’s the forgotten style of blue agave,” said Casa Dragones rep Robert T. Pittman.

Dragones has been around less than a year and is just starting to push into the Vegas market after initially setting up in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. It’s currently available at Vanity at the Hard Rock Hotel, B&B Ristorante and Carnevino at Venetian and Palazzo, and Mesa Grill.

It’s only the third tequila Mesa has added in the five years it’s been open, after Partida and Siete Leguas. It made enough an impression on management to make the cut, even in comparison to high-end stalwarts like Don Julio’s 1942.

Even with extra anejo in its pedigree, Dragones is as clear as water. It’s leggier, though, and holds the glass all the way to the top. You get vanilla notes even with your nose far away from the glass, but they give way to strong agave botanicals. It’s a tequila that clings to your mouth as the spice and heat builds. It has a very tactile sensation, and it finishes warm and bright. There’s a little bit of pear in the finish, which we’re going to go ahead and count as one of our fruit servings for the day on the food pyramid.

Now if only we can find more mysteries that end like this, we’d start traveling the country with a nerdy girl and a redhead in a van.

Skatemageddon explodes tonight. Between RollerCon and tonight’s Down & Derby at Rain, Vegas is Ground Zero for anyone who straps wheels to their feet. We’re looking at you, bear-riding-a-unicycle. Tonight, it’s the Pants-Off Dance-Off with DJ SHR3D as RollerCon attendees get in for free. Plus, they save on tips because you don’t have to valet a pair of skates.

Frosting, as it turns out, leads a pretty good life.

Of the times you could be leaving your laptop somewhere on the Strip, we wouldn’t recommend this weekend. The Black Hat Security Conference is going on at Caesars Palace right now, for legit computer security pros. While its cousin, Defcon, for all the hackers — er, H4Xz0rs — kicks off tomorrow at the Riviera. So how do you get this party started, nerd-style?

By making ATMs spit cash on command. Oh, Jesus. Hacker Barnaby Jack found a way to rig ATMs so he could make them jackpot out all the dough on command. Or just collect all your banking info. None of us are safe.

• Oksana says she has witnesses that saw Mel punch her and pull a gun. Maybe … maybe he was just re-enacting Lethal Weapon?
• Seven doctors cleared in Michael Jackson case, but not Dr. Conrad Murray.
• Lindsay Lohan’s dumbass friends staging protest to spring dumbass from jail.
  ]]> http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/29/computer-security-unsucure-on-strip/feed/ 0 http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/0728wed-the-roundup/ http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/0728wed-the-roundup/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:44:14 +0000 Jason Scavone http://dailyfiasco.com/?p=27623
  Fishnets, skirts and punching? Yes, please.

  Bruise season is open for business. RollerCon kicks off. The roller derby convention does its skating business at the Las Vegas Sport Center and has its first event tonight at the Double Down with DJ Rex Dart. They’re doing parties there every night, will be involved with tomorrow night’s Down & Derby at Rain, and put on the big show Friday night with the Black and Blue Ball, a costume affair at the Tropicana pool starting at 9 p.m.

  Clubs

  • It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time as Monica Pappas celebrates her birthday at Gold Lounge inside Aria.
  • The Bank at Bellagio does the Midsummer Lingerie Ball, with the hottest girl scoring $2,500.
  • Wasted Space at the Hard Rock Hotel has Wasted Wednesdays.
  • Crown at the Rio has The Movement with DJ QBert.
  • Ghostbar has Snitch with DJ 88.
  • Surrender Your Wednesday is at Encore.
  • Blush at Wynn Las Vegas does We Love House Music.
  • Haze at Aria has Industry Wednesdays.
  • King Ink at The Mirage does Fight Night Wednesdays.
  • The Deuce at Aria holds their Industry Wednesday.
  • Lavo at Palazzo has Label Junkie.
  • Foundation Room does Girls on Top with DJ Mika Gold, where ladies get free Champagne from 10 to 11 p.m.
  • Luxor’s CatHouse presents Vanity Wednesday at 1 a.m.

  Music

  • Club Madrid at Santa Fe Station has tribute band Metalhead.
  • The House of Blues does Nothing but the Blues.
  • Paris brings in Cheap Trick for Sgt. Pepper Live.
    

    Comedy

  • Aurora Snow is the guest of honor at Executive Monkeys inside the Palms Lougne.
    

    Bars

  • The SpyOnVegas.com Open Bar is at Santa Fe Station’s Revolver from 6 to 9 p.m.
  • Blue Martini has Envy with Ben Harris.
  • Rhumbar at Mirage does its LGBT night, Captiv8.
  • Cadillac Ranch at Town Square does the Locals Live Band Battle.
  • Cheyenne Saloon does the Pretty Things Peepshow.
  • Beauty Bar holds Le Metro Dance Party with DJs Allen and Grenadier.
  ]]> http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/0728wed-the-roundup/feed/ 0 http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/espns-lebron-non-controversy/ http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/espns-lebron-non-controversy/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:58:57 +0000 Jason Scavone http://dailyfiasco.com/?p=27605
  At least Jim Gray wasn’t following him around. (Photo by Jessica Blair. Additional photos by Tony Tran | SpyOnVegas.com)

  Earlier today, ESPN posted, and then spiked, a story about LeBron James’ weekend at Tao and Lavo. Deadspin, ever vigilant about the Worldwide Leader, caught it and posted a cached version of the story by Arash Markazi, who was among James’ crew Saturday night.

  Why the there-it-is, there-it’s-gone treatment? Well, Darren Rovell says it had nothing to do with anyone from James’ camp. Deadspin reports that ESPN gave a half-assed excuse about how it was never supposed to be published in the first place.

  While we’re certainly not ones to say a kiss-and-tell job is beyond the pale, anyone who’s spent more than 10 minutes in a club knows that the whitewash was about as overreacty as overreactions get.

  Markazi wrote:

  About a dozen security guards, moving their flash lights, direct us to a roped off section on
  the dance floor of Tao next to a couple of apparently nude women in a bathtub full of water and rose petals.

  Well, at least ‘Bron wasn’t musing about getting a face full of upskirt:

  James, who can hardly see the flying figure through his tinted glasses, almost gets kicked in the head on the waiter’s last trip down. He looks at the girls around him and says, “I wish they’d have one of these girls with no panties do that instead of the guy.”

  Oh. Well. What do we really have here? We have a writer who exaggerated the Tao bathtub girls’ level of undress — they basically wear bikinis — and an athlete who enjoys seeing naked ladies. He will likely not be the last baller, celeb or rank-and-file dude to express an interest in vag in a Vegas nightclub.

  Slightly more surprising, and probably to the mild annoyance of the powers on the north Strip, was that line about James going from Tao to XS, but leaving there when he decided it was dead. We weren’t there on Saturday, and we don’t know exactly what time James came in, but the pics from that night make the crowd look pretty healthy.

  James probably goes through a practice’s worth of shots as we walk from the XS nightclub at Encore (James left his poolside table when he saw the club was practically empty), through Wynn and over the bridge to the Palazzo.

  Throw in ESPN’s cozy relationship with James — whether it’s real, or just perceived after The Decision — and it looks like you’ve got a major media outlet trying to protect a business partner from the scandalous truth that he had a night in Vegas almost exactly like every other celebrity’s night in Vegas. Just with more phantom foul shots.

  UPDATE: ESPN put out a statement that they won’t run the story because Markazi failed to identify himself as a reporter or state his intentions to write a story. This seems suspect, but not, we suppose, outside the realm of possibility. Markazi was cagey in the story about how he landed in James’ inner circle that night. It’s possible he could’ve been presented as a friend of a friend or somesuch, but still, wasn’t he taking notes? If not, those direct quotes from a night on the town have a lot of stink on them if they’re just coming from memory. If he was, it’s dubious that no one in James’ camp noticed the guy scribbling in a notebook all night, or asked him what, exactly, he was documenting.

  

  ]]> http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/espns-lebron-non-controversy/feed/ 0 http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/louie-did-it-for-the-lulz/ http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/louie-did-it-for-the-lulz/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:40:39 +0000 Jason Scavone http://dailyfiasco.com/?p=27602
  Nope. We won’t ever get tired of Vampire Louie.. (Photo by Tony Tran | SpyOnVegas.com)

  When Louie Anderson takes over Bonkerz at Palace Station Sept. 7, he’ll be on stage doing Louie: Laughing Out Loud Semicolon Closed Parenthesis. Or, Louie: LOL ;) to its friends. It’s apparently the first show in Vegas history named by a 17-year-old girl via text message. We suppose Louie: My Mom Totally Said I Have To Get Off Facebook Now was a little verbose.

  Tickets for the Tuesday-through-Saturday show will be $49.95 with a $99.95 VIP package that includes souped-up seating, signed swag and a meet-and-greet. It’s a little cheaper for the basic billet than his Excalibur show, but the VIP experience is steeper — they were $54 and $79, respectively. Locals and hotel guests can nab a $15 discount.

  ]]> http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/louie-did-it-for-the-lulz/feed/ 0 http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/the-old-in-n-out-lowering-standards/ http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/the-old-in-n-out-lowering-standards/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:02:33 +0000 Stephanie Sims http://dailyfiasco.com/?p=27598
  Much like dating, you don’t have to just eat it already.

  Are you one of those people who knows what they want? When you crave a chicken parmesan sandwich for lunch, as specific as that is, do you have to have one, even if you have to drive 25 minutes down the road? Do you always get what you want because you know what you want and, hell, you deserve it? And when you don’t get it, do people think you’re picky? (Ed. note: They could also think you’re a pain in the ass. Let’s not rule that out.)

  Of course, I’d use a food example, but hey, if I don’t get animal-style fries from In-n-Out or a chorizo burrito from Roberto’s every week, you don’t want to be around me. I get cranky if I can’t satisfy my food cravings. Anyways, I can relate to Type A personalities who have to have what they want, and won’t settle for anything less. Food is easy, but when it comes to dating, getting exactly what you want in a person is a bit harder. (Ed. note: Actually, “animal style” is still appropriate in either case.)

  People know what they look for in someone they’d ideally like to date for a long time. But what if you’ve been doing the dating thing for a long time, and you still haven’t found someone you really like, and no one seems to live up to your standards? What do you do then? (Ed. note: Drive to Pahrump.) Do you need to loosen what you’re looking for? You might know what you want, but should you just start learning to take people as they come?

  Lowering your standards and changing your approach will widen your dating pool a bit, and maybe help you see what else is out there that you’ve been snubbing. But the catch with that is: If you find someone you can stand, are attracted to and don’t mind being around for the most part, will you feel as though you’ve settled?

  My current boyfriend is a good example of this (I know. Believe it or not, there is a guy out there who wants to spend time with me in places where clothing is required. And by “spend time with me,” I mean sit across from each other and text/@reply each other, which is perfect for me. I hate having actual conversations.). Before meeting me, he actually thought that his standards and approach might have something to do with why he hadn’t found a girl he wanted to date more than just a few months yet.

  No, he didn’t lower his standards for me, assholes.

  What happened was he lowered his standards a bit (I’m not making this up. He volunteered this information, and, being Type A, he doesn’t lie to spare anyone’s feelings.) and decided to not make any snap judgments. He tried dating the girl before me as long as he could. He thought maybe he was being too picky. I mean, it is really, really tough to find a girl who’s incredibly smart, witty and hilarious, resourceful, not a sociopath, fun, spontaneous, doesn’t have stupid drama and who isn’t focused on getting married by 26. (That’s from his actual checklist by the way. Yes, he has a checklist. He’s a bit feminine like that. He also cooks and bakes. But I like that part. I like food, remember?)

  He went out with a cute, not-his-physical-type short blonde who was entrepreneurial and liked to go out. Even though he said on their first date he had his doubts that they wouldn’t last because she seemed like an idiot (from the boyfriend’s mouth), he was “re-evaluating his strategy” and thus, lowering his standards.

  So he did – and then he found out she was supporting her business with unemployment checks more than sales, she thought clubs were a good place to network for business, she picked fights and she had drama with her ex. The worst thing? She actually wanted to see the movie Precious. (Ed. note: It won two Oscars. This doesn’t seem like a tragic misstep.) Oh, and that idiot thing, which actually is encompassed in all of the above. The final straw was when she picked yet another a fight and he tried to break up with her, she broke down in tears and begged for a few days to think things over. Then she broke up with him via text message and got back with her ex.

  That’s what he got for lowering his standards. He wanted to see if he was making decisions about girls too quickly and he got a lady baguette. But it was good that he did that, because he at least knew to trust his gut then.

  “Lowering standards does give chances to those whom never deserve a chance,” Anthony, the boyfriend, told me. (Did I mention he is grammatically correct? That’s hot to writer/editors like myself.) (Ed. note: Right. We meet girls all the time because of our renowned skill with a semicolon.) “But you wouldn’t know if it sucked unless you did compromise, so at least by lowering standards, you experience it and then never have to wonder. I think you should always stick to your gut and not compromise on shit.”

  Because then a few weeks later he met me, and I was my awesome, spontaneous, fun, resourceful, smart, witty, hilarious self. So it just proved to him that he should have stuck with his gut feelings all along — he wasn’t missing out on much.

  Got a question, problem or a rash you can’t get rid of? Let contributor Stephanie Sims help. Find her on Twitter at @_Sims, or write us, and maybe if you’re good and promise to stop chasing the cat around with that jar of peanut butter, it’ll find its way into the column.

  ]]> http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/the-old-in-n-out-lowering-standards/feed/ 0 http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/a-matrix-like-dodge/ http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/a-matrix-like-dodge/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:08:32 +0000 Jason Scavone http://dailyfiasco.com/?p=27595
  (Photo by Roman Mendez | SpyOnVegas.com)

  And now, another Great Moment in Dudes Almost Getting Kicked in the Face.

  ]]> http://dailyfiasco.com/2010/07/28/a-matrix-like-dodge/feed/ 0