The Backstreet Boys concert scheduled for Friday, Aug. 17 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena has been postponed until Friday, Oct. 19. Tickets that were purchased for the Aug. 17 show will be honored and don't need to be exchanged for the Oct. 19 event.

It's always sad when shows close in Las Vegas and especially when they had a rough go of it. The two most recent fatalities are "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" at the Flamingo Hilton, which closed last Sunday, Aug. 5, and "De la Guarda" at the Rio, which is closing tonight. The Brazilian-themed "De la Guarda" was under contract through October so it is an early closing.

Former soap opera star and rock singing sensation Rick Springfield fell over a week ago during a performance in "EFX Alive" at the MGM Grand. Suffering a broken arm, Springfield couldn't finish the show and his understudy took over. The accident occurred during "The Time Machine" segment when a 20-foot high beam was lowering him to the stage. He fell 10 to 15 feet as the audience watched.

A pair of museums by Russia's State Hermitage Museum and New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation will open at the Venetian on Sept. 16.

The $80 million project will consist of two separate museums. The 63,700-square-foot Guggenheim Las Vegas will feature "special large-scale exhibitions" and the 7,660-square-foot Hermitage Guggenheim Museum will host works of fine art from both the Hermitage and the Guggenheim.

The Guggenheim will open with "The Art of the Motorcycle," an exhibit featuring more than 130 motorcycles chronicling the most compelling moments in motorcycle design and technology from its humble beginnings as a steam-powered vehicle to the sophisticated state of motorcycle production today.

The first exhibit planned for the Hermitage Guggenheim will be "Masterpieces and Master Collectors: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings," and it will run from Sept. 16 through March 17, 2002. The show will feature 45 masterpieces from the 19th and early 20th centuries from both the Hermitage and Guggenheim. The exhibit has an appraised value of more than $2 billion. By comparison, it cost $1.5 billion to build the Venetian.

Tickets will cost $15, and will be sold separately for each museum. Student tickets will cost $11; tickets for children 6 to 12 will be $7. Members of the Guggenheim and children under 6 will be admitted for free.

The Venetian also recently announced it has tentative plans to finance a second project, the addition of a 1,000 -room hotel tower on top of its parking garage giving the Venetian just over 4,000 rooms. The new tower and an 800-space parking garage will cost $155 million. In addition, the Venetian will build 150,000 square feet of conference center space at a cost of $30 million.

The Beach Boys have been booked as the act inaugurating the new 3,606-seat Outdoor Events Center at the Stratosphere opening on Sept. 14 and 15. Tickets are $30 and $37.50.

Two more events are scheduled at the new venue in October. TopRank, in conjunction with Univision, will provide A Six-Bout Boxing Lineup, including one women's fight, one local matchup and a 10 round main event on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 11 a.m. Tickets are $12.50, $20 and $35. Country artist John Michael Montgomery will follow on Oct. 12. Tickets are $25 and $35.

The Outdoor Events Center marks the final phase of the Stratosphere's $75 million expansion. The resort recently opened Lucky's Cafe, The Courtyard Buffet, a new 1,000 room hotel tower, and a 67,000-square-foot pool and recreation deck.

Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band will perform in the Rio's Pavilion on Sept. 1. During previous tours, Starr didn't sing Beatle's songs that he penned. On this tour, he's featuring "Octopus's Garden" and "Don't Pass Me By."

True to its name, the All-Starr band is an impressive ensemble. The band includes Sheila E; Greg Lake from Emerson, Lake and Palmer; Roger Hodgson of Supertramp; Mark Rivera from Billy Joel's band; plus Ian Hunter and Howard Jones. Tickets are $70 and $100 call 702-777-7776.

The Elvis-A-Rama Museum is celebrating "Elvis Week 2001" with a drawing for an authentic Elvis Presley shirt valued at $1,000. The drawing will be held on Aug. 16 at 3 p.m. at the museum. Patrons must have purchased an admission pass in order to quality for the drawing.

In addition to the shirt drawing, patrons receive complimentary gourmet chocolate dice this week contain discounts to the Elvis-a-Rama Museum Gift Shop in the amounts of 20, 30, and 40 percent off, good for the day of admission purchase.

Admission to the "Elvis-A-Rama Museum is $9.95 per person and $7.95 for seniors. For information, call 702-309-7200 or visit www.elvisarama.com.

The Mirage will undergo a $38 million room redesign on all of its guestrooms beginning Sept. 30. Each of the 2,767 deluxe and tower deluxe rooms will be redesigned to provide guests all the comforts of home in a South Seas d‚cor. Rooms will be decorated in two color schemes: elegant shades of soft yellow with verdant accents, or shades of burnt cedar and cranberry.

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"Thunder from Down Under," which is Australia's answer to the Chippendales, has nestled into the makeshift 240-seat showroom at the New Frontier. The show is positively ideal for a "ladies night out." The male hunks are all well-trained athletes and acrobats. Each man takes a solo turn in the spotlight and accompanied by music and dance takes his clothes off. The outcome is predictable, everyone has fun! Tickets are $34.95, call 702-794-8200,

Serious blackjack players will be interested in the fact that Harrah's Las Vegas has converted 36 tables from offering six seats or "spots" to only five making it the only Strip property with this feature.

Harrah's has 86,664 square feet of casino space, which includes high-limit table and slot areas. The recently remodeled high limit table section consists of 13 blackjack tables, two roulette games and three mini-baccarat games.

Sharing a bill at the Aladdin on Aug. 18, will be James Ingram and Peabo Bryson. The music will overflow that night.

Female impersonator Frank Marino who stars in "An Evening at La Cage" at the Riviera is celebrating his 20th anniversary in heels. He first dressed up as Diana Ross 20 years ago for a Halloween party at a Long Island discotheque and won first prize.

"La Cage" first opened at the Riviera on Sept. 18, 1985. It was booked for a three-month run and never left. Marino, who had performed as Bette Midler, then Cher, settled on impersonating Joan Rivers who at the time was the number one female comic in the country. Tickets to see "La Cage" are $24.95 and going up to $29.95 on Aug. 30, call 702-794-9433.

Ray Romano, star of the television sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," will be making audiences laugh in the Danny Gans Theatre at The Mirage, Aug. 17-19. Tickets are $65 plus tax, call 702-792-7777. Impressionist Danny Gans will be taking a week off from Aug. 13-20.

Master magician and illusionist David Copperfield will return with his latest stage production show, "Portal" at the MGM Grand's intimate 740-seat Hollywood Theatre, Sept. 13-26. Always charting new territory, Copperfield, who has performed seven times for Presidents of the Untied States, has revolutionized magic. Tickets to see his shows are $97 inclusive for evening performances and $77.50 inclusive for 3 p.m. matinees, call 1-800-929-1111 or 702-891-7777.

Copperfield's astounding encore for his show is a groundbreaking illusion where 13 randomly chosen members of the audience vanish in a fiery blast. Some reappear miles away and some don't come back at all.

Renovation has been completed on the former Paradise Resort Inn at 4350 Paradise Road, across from the Hard Rock hotel. The property has been reopened at the Ambassador Inn. Each of the 202 rooms comes with a kitchenette and satellite TV with Internet access.

After experimenting with a 4 p.m. matinee at New York-New York, comedienne Rita Rudner is now trying 6 p.m. shows on Saturdays. The early show offers a price break at $35.

The international show "Beats of Passion" at the Showroom at The Venetian has picked up extra shows due to Robert Goulet's show closing. Instead of one 10:30 p.m. show on Mondays and Tuesdays, there is an 8:30 p.m. show both nights, as well as a 6:30 and 10:30 p.m. show on Wednesday and an 8:30 show on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tickets range from $48-$69, call 702-414-2001.

New York-New York has enlarged and enhanced its spa by adding three treatment rooms and accepting local and non-guest reservations Monday - Thursday. Treatments at The Spa include a 75-minute relaxation massage, aromatherapy massage, deep tissue massage, salt scrub that utilizes salts from the Great Salt Lake and many other pampering treatments, call 702-892-7267.

Cirque du Soleil, often credited with reinventing the circus without animals, is aiming to stamp its brand on other things: hotels, spas, and maybe even museums. In studying markets in which to develop new entertainment complexes, Las Vegas is a strong possibility and a potential partner is MGM Mirage. The cost of each complex could run from $324.3 million to $1.3 billion.

Two Cirque du Soleil shows currently play to sold out audiences in

Las Vegas. "Mystere" has been enjoying success at Treasure Island since 1993. The aquatic show "O" (a play on eau, the French word for water) is housed in a specially built $70 million theatre, complete with a1.5 million-gallon pool. "O" seats 1,800 customers per show and does 10 shows a week at an average ticket price of $110, yielding a weekly operating profit of $800,000 to $900,000.

Cirque now has an annual revenue of nearly $324.9 million and 2,100 employees from more than 40 countries. Its seven shows are expected to draw a total of six million spectators on four continents this year. Not bad when you consider Cirque began as a troupe of Quebec street performers. Cirque was co-founded in 1984 by Guy Laliberte, a former fire-eater.

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