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Two shows, two casinos in one night for Seinfeld
Ubercomic Jerry Seinfeld will add another notch to his show biz belt Oct. 7 when he becomes the first performer to headline public performances at two different casinos on the same night. The 800-pound gorilla of 1990s network television will perform at 8 p.m. at the Atlantic City Hilton, then head up the boardwalk for an 11 p.m. set at Resorts Atlantic City. Ticket information still is to be announced.
The Seinfeld gigs are booked a week before Barry Manilow's sold-out show at Boardwalk Hall, which is also a Resorts-Hilton presentation. Not coincidentally, the singer-songwriter's red-hot Vegas extravaganza, Manilow: Music and Passion, runs at the Colony Capital LLC-owned Las Vegas Hilton.
"It's the best use we can possibly get out of our (entertainment)," says Phil Juliano, executive vice president of the two Atlantic City properties owned by Colony. He says the idea is to offer tickets to premium players at both casinos, who, in turn, theoretically will lose the cost of the tickets -- and then some -- at the gaming tables and slot machines.
In this era of casino-sponsored high-end dining, shopping and spas, using free entertainment as a magnet for high rollers seems almost revolutionary. At the least, it's decidedly old school. That, Juliano insists, is exactly the point.
"We are focused on using entertainment to lure gamblers into our facilities," he says. "We're not telling gamblers what they're supposed to like. They tell us."
The company's retro strategy, which recent revenue numbers suggest is paying off, especially at the Hilton, follows the philosophy Juliano swears he got from '60s cartoon icons Rocky and Bullwinkle: "Be what you is," he proclaims, "not what you is not." "Never Dies' lives in A.C.
Rock music tribute shows have become a staple of casino entertainment, but generally they're about the artists of the classic-rock era of the late 1960s and '70s. But Wednesday (if the casinos are open), Trump Marina will turn back the clock to even earlier times, specifically to the early-1959 rock 'n' roll tour that ultimately claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and Texas disc jockey J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Die is a revue that recreates the Winter Dance Party road show the three were part of when their plane crashed outside Clear Lake, Iowa, on Feb. 3, 1959. Of the three singers portraying them, the most interesting is J.P. Richardson Jr., who was born about three months after his dad's death. He's joined by John Mueller as Holly and Ray Anthony as Valens.
Show time is 8 p.m. Wednesday through July 16. Admission is $20. For tickets and information, call (800) 777-8477. "Ego'-tistical
The "what's-old-is-new-again" wheel continues to turn down A.C. way.
Last weekend, Trump Taj Mahal unveiled Ego, the town's newest lounge. The contemporary-looking space featuring private, tentlike booths and live entertainment is on the site of what used to be Scheherazade, a high-end dining salon.
Because of where it's situated, the bar is considered part of the casino floor. As a result, smoking is permitted.
We old timers can't help but chuckle every time a gaming hall makes a big to-do about the opening of an entertainment facility on the casino floor. The fact is, most gambling dens had them for 15 years or so, until the mid-'90s, when they were all replaced by slot parlors.
Now, the saloons are helping drive the "new" Atlantic City. Go figure
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