Last weekend was a history making time in Las Vegas when the $1.4 billion development located on the site of the original Aladdin opened. Included in the project are the new 2,567 room Aladdin Resort, the city's first European casino - the London Club, Desert Passage - an exotic 130-store shopping experience set in a Moroccan-style desert themed environment with cobble stone streets and a changing sky, the 7,000-seat Theater for the Performing Arts and the Blue Note jazz club.

Over the weeks to come, space will be used to highlight the Aladdin Hotel, the London Club and the Theater for the Performing Arts. This week, the focus will be on the Blue Note and Dessert Passage.

The Vegas Blue Note, which is the second one in America, is built into the Dessert Passage but the front entrance is accessed from Harmon Avenue with valet service, not from inside the shopping center. In total, there are five Blues Notes worldwide. Three are in Japan and the first one opened in New York City in 1981.

The artists who inaugurated the 450-seat, $5 million Las Vegas Blue Note were Nancy Wilson and Lou Rawls. Scheduled concerts through December include such top-name acts as Cassandra Wilson , Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, David Sanborn, Greg Allman, Dr. John, Roberta Flack and Chuck Mangione. Most concerts have a price range between $30 to $70.

By the end of September, a house band will be set to play in the early morning hours in order to entice sit-in performances by musicians who happen to be in town.

Two rooms make up the mahogany-accented club. The main room, which is very blue in color, is both a dining room with booths and tables and a nightclub built around an expensive sound system. Dinner is served from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily, with regular show times at 8 and 10:30 p.m., Monday-Saturday.

The other room is the 150-seat Blue Note Cafe which serves lunch and dinner starting at 11 a.m. Music is piped in and when there's a concert going on in the nightclub, it will at times be projected in the Cafe on a video monitor system that stretches 150 feet diagonally.

There's also a retail shop area with Blue Note apparel, authentic Jazz memorabilia and art, and a rare compilation of CD's and videos from classic performances at Blue Notes clubs around the world. For more information visit www.bluenotejazz.com. Reservations are recommended call 702-836-8404.

Desert Passage has many unique features starting with its themed recreation of tracing the great market cites of the ancient spice routes from Marrakech and Tangier to Bombay. The 500,000-square-foot retail outlet managed by TrizecHahn Development Corp. asked tenants to substitute traditional store fronts with looks that fit the mall's theme. Currently, Desert Passage is about 95 percent leased with about 75 percent of the stores opening their doors, which numbers 104 properties.

Desert Passage is close to the same size as its two main competitors on the Strip. The Forum Shops at Caesars, which opened in 1992, has an estimated 500,000 square feet with 107 stores open. The mall is eyeing a 250,000-square-foot expansion by 2002. The Canal Shoppes at the Venetian opened in May 1999 with about 500,000 square feet and about 75 stores and restaurants.

When you look at a map of Dessert Passage, you'll discover that the shopping experience has access to the Aladdin Hotel/Casino and the Theatre for the Performing Arts, which the mall literally encircles with stores. Access to the mall is 24 hours daily, with the stores maintaining the hours of 10 a.m. to midnight.

Desert Passage also has performers who will be on display about every 1 « hours throughout the day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The mall's general manager found 32 authentic performers from such places a Egypt, India, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Three times a day, the entertainers will make a procession, a la Disneyland, and parade around the circular mall. Costumed characters create faux animals like a giraffe, monkey and camel.

Another atmospheric touch is a thunderstorm erupting every 20 minutes in the Harbor Gate area. Plus there are pedicabs, sort of rickshaws on bicycles, that can take shoppers from one store to another. The drivers work for tips.

Jerry Lewis will be coming off his 50th annual MDA Telethon when he returns by popular demand to headline at The Orleans, Sept. 7-10. A recent press conference announced Lewis' multi-year deal to perform four-night engagements at The Orleans five times a year for the next 20 years. Seventy-four-year-old Lewis said his plan is to beat George Burns and kidded that at 94 there's a provision so he can work with a walker.

Entertaining audiences of every age, Lewis' two hour one-man show is complete with his recital of the tongue-twisting Announcer's test, an Al Jolson medley backed with a 30-piece orchestra, intermixed with comic routines and film footage featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Totie Fields.

After some 64 years in show business, Lewis has managed to keep the nine year old child inside him alive. In Europe, Lewis is hailed as one of the greatest comedians of the 20th Century. Tickets are $59.95, $64.95 and $69.95 plus tax.

TOP OF NEXT COLUMN

The O'Jays, rhythm and blues recording artists for nearly four decades, will headline at the Stardust, Sept. 7-9. Comedian Tony Rock, brother of comedy star Chris Rock, will open the show.

Original members Eddie Levert and Walter Williams still perform with the group. As teenage schoolmates in Canton, Oho, they formed a quintet destined for fame. In the 1960s, they reeled off a string of minor hits. As stars of Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia-based record label, they broke out of the pack in 1972 with "Back Stabbers," which exceeded the million mark in sales. Eventually the group registered more than 50 hit singles, six platinum albums and eight gold ones. Tickets are $39.95 per person, including tax, tip and one beverage, call 702-732-6325.

Comedian Judy Gold will headline the Improv Comedy Club at Harrah's, Sept. 5-10. Since her last appearance in Las Vegas, Gold won two Emmy Awards for producing and writing the hit daytime talk show, "The Rosie O'Donnell Show."

Gold is currently playing Ryan Styles' new girlfriend, Leslie, on the hit ABC series, "The Drew Carrey Show." She also guest-starred on NBC's Emmy award winner "Law and Order," playing District Attorney Peterson. Every other week she's on "Hollywood Squares" with Whoopi Goldberg.

Her latest venture is "Multiplex with Judy Gold," her own HBO movie review show on the streets of America. Gold will be shooting a special on location episode of "At the Multiplex" on Saturday, Sept. 9, while in town.

Gold will appear at the Improv with two more comedians. Tickets are $24.95 plus tax.

China's Shaolin Monks will make their second appearance in Las Vegas at the MGM's 650-seat Hollywood Theatre, presenting the ancient and mystical art of Kung Fu, during a week-long engagement, Sept. 20-28. The Shaolin Monks have been a part of the Chinese culture and tradition for more 1,500 years and are looked upon as one of the "treasured jewels of China."

Known internationally for their physical undertakings, the Shaolin Monks rarely leave their secluded monastery in China. During their previous visit to the U.S. and Las Vegas in February, they achieved critical acclaim and international media attention through many television appearances. Tickets are $42.50 plus tax, call 800-929-1111 or 7002-891-7777, or go online at www.mgmgrand.com.

Two additional acts have been added to the Bay Rock beach concert series line up at the Mandalay Bay Beach Stage set in an 11-acre lush beach environment with a 1.6-million-gallon wave pool. Classic American rockers Little Feat will perform on Sept. 22, followed by the swinging sounds of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on Sept. 29.

Little Feat have been creating their own multi-blended sound for nearly 30 years. The band Voodoo Daddy has been together since 1992. They gathered their inspiration from the swing era. Tickets for both shows are $25 and $28.50, call 702-474-4000.

The "Lance Burton: Master Magician" show at Monte Carlo has added an extra show for Labor Day weekend on Sunday, Sept 3, at 7 p.m. His show will be on hiatus from Sept. 4-18. When Burton returns on Sept. 19, there will be new show prices: $54.95 including tax for the main floor and mezzanine; and $49.95 for the balcony.

"Splash" at the Riviera will return to an all-adult entertainment format of two topless shows nightly at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. as of Monday, Sept. 4. No one under 18 years of age will be admitted. The new schedule will be in effect through Saturday, Dec. 9, when the show will close for its annual production overhaul through Dec. 24.

Johnny Seaton and his Band perform at the MGM Grand's Entertainment Dome from 11 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays. The performances are complimentary.

Seaton is best known for his role as Pharaoh, the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." His performances range from performing on Broadway as the lead in the American touring company of "Elvis An American Musical" to starring in the Las Vegas production of "Legends in Concert."

Labor Day weekend usually means an additional day of big name entertainment on Sunday. The Stardust's special holiday attraction "Soul Jam II," will showcase Harold Melvin's Blue Notes, Cuba Gooding & the Main Ingredient, the Dramatics and Ray, Goodman & Brown on Sept. 2 & 3. The multi-headliner revue is a sequel to the highly successful "Soul Jam" show held last April. Tickets are $39.95 per person, including tax, tip and beverage, call 702-732-6325.

Grammy Award winning comedian Tommy Chong, best known as part of the counterculture comedy team Cheech and Chong, will team with multi-octive voice Bob "Bobcat" Goldthwait and appear at the Top of the Riv, Sept. 1-3. Chong's wife, Shelby Chong will open for the zany twosome. Tickets are $29.50 plus applicable fees and taxes, call 702-794-9433 or click on www.theriviera.com.

Australia's prominent musical exports the Little River Band (LRB) rock group will invade The Orleans showroom, Sept. 1-3. Throughout the 70's, 80's and 90's, LRB sold over 25 million records and charted over 12 top-20 hits. Tickets are $29.95, $34.95 and $39.95 plus tax, call 702-365-7075.

The country music band Lonestar will headline Sunset Station's outdoor amphitheater on Friday, Sept. 8. Lonestar burst onto the charts in 1996. Their third popular album released in June 1999, "Lonely Grill," sold 47,000 copies in its first week, and was certified platinum ten weeks after its release. "Amazed," a single from the album, held the No. 1 spot on the country charts for six weeks. It was the first single by a group or trio to spend more than four weeks in that position in 40 years. Tickets are $22.50, $32.50 and $38.50, call 702-547-7777.

CONTINUE ON TO...:
>THIS WEEK'S LAUGHLIN SEGMENT
>LAST WEEK'S LAS VEGAS SEGMENT
>VEGAS VIEWS FULL ARCHIVES
>Return to "Heard Around Town"
>Return to Las Vegas Leisure Guide