Strip performer sued; Earth Hour leaves power grid unharmed

Where's the money?

That's what Las Vegas attorneys are asking illusionist Steve Wyrick.

Click to enlarge photo

Steve Wyrick takes a seat on the custom SW-1000 that the OCC crew of TLC's "American Chopper" built for him.

A marketing company last month sued Wyrick, two performers and several businesses associated with him, alleging they failed to pay for advertising expenses for shows at Wyrick's theater.

The Marketing Factor LLC filed suit in Clark County District Court claiming it's owed money by Wyrick, Las Vegas Theatre Ltd., Wyrick Magical Productions Inc., Lemme Out Productions Inc., ventriloquist Ronn Lucas, E-Talents LLC, Filipino singer Martin Nievera and producer Gene Gamalinda.

The suit, fled by attorneys James Jimmerson and Soraya Veiga, alleges the defendants contracted for marketing and advertising services to promote shows at the Steve Wyrick Theater at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood, specifically with the placement of ads in the publication "24/7" and on taxi trucks.

Marketing Factor LLC alleges it performed marketing duties and placed the ads, but the defendants have failed to pay all that's due for its services and the advertising.

A similar suit filed against Wyrick and the Marketing Factor over fees for billboard advertising by Lamar Central Outdoor was settled by the defendants separately for undisclosed terms, with Wyrick settling in January.

Attempts to learn the Steve Wyrick Theatre's side of the Marketing Factor dispute -- by contacting Wyrick's publicist and his attorney in the Lamar case -- were not successful.

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An executive at NV Energy has an idea for improving the next Earth Hour event.

"Earth Hour" in Las Vegas

A view looking north on the Strip during Launch slideshow »

Earth Hour Time Lapse

Time lapse of the Strip during Earth Hour 2009.

Las Vegas was among the cities that participated in Earth Hour 2009 on March 28 when numerous casino-resorts on and off the Las Vegas Strip, and other businesses, turned off or dimmed their exterior lights to raise awareness of climate change.

Greg Kern, director of customer renewable generation and energy efficiency at NV Energy, had correctly predicted the event wouldn't disrupt the power grid as the lighting was turned off and on.

He said NV Energy that evening was delivering 2,200 megawatts of electricity, far shy of the 6,000 megawatts needed on the hottest day of the summer when air conditioners are running full-blast. So the power grid was not stressed to begin with and engineers on duty saw very little fluctuation in demand. Casinos use far more energy for interior systems such as gaming devices, heating, cooling, cooking and refrigeration equipment.

"It did raise awareness" of conservation, Kern said. "We're for anything that saves energy."

Next year, he suggests people spend the hour replacing old incandescent light bulbs with newer more efficient fluorescent bulbs that can be picked up at a subsidized cost of $1 at numerous local stores.

Information on the new light bulbs and other energy conservation programs for homes and businesses is available at nvenergy.com.

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The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation will benefit from the Ride Around the World Dinner April 17 at Cafe Bleu at the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Summerlin.

For details about the foundation and its Ride Around the World events, see www.lvrideforkids.com/2009-events.html.

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The 10th Annual Woman-to-Woman Luncheon is set for May 8 at Wynn Las Vegas and includes speaker Kelly Corrigan, author of "The Middle Space." There will also be a raffle benefiting Three Square and Opportunity Village. For information, e-mail [email protected].

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Automotive legend Carroll Shelby, chairman and founder of Carroll Shelby International Inc., has formed a company to make and sell food items under the "Shelby Signature Foods" name. In Las Vegas, there's a Shelby factory near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a Shelby Corner Cafe where Shelby has been known to show off his cooking.

His new company will focus on healthy comfort foods, as well as regional specialties such as salad dressing mixes, cornbread, salsa and fried chicken batter mix.

"I’ve always loved to cook and people really seem to enjoy my creations," Shelby said in a statement. "Shelby Signature Foods gives me a chance to have fun in the food business again by feeding the demand for my recipes, while also raising some money for my charitable foundations."

Shelby said he was involved with creating the first World Chili cook-offs in Terlingua, Texas, in 1968 and helped create the Chili's restaurant chain.

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Colliers International is out with its first-quarter report for commercial real estate in Las Vegas, and the numbers aren't pretty.

Some highlights:

--Office: Rents fell as the vacancy increased for the 10th straight quarter, reaching 20.9 percent. There's now an estimated six-and-one-half year supply of space that needs to be absorbed.

--Industrial: Mostly small deals were done in the first quarter as the vacancy rate of 11.1 percent was up 0.8 of a percentage point from the end of 2008. "These small leases were overwhelmed by the large number of new availabilities that entered the market in the first quarter of 2009, keeping industrial vacancy on the rise."

--Retail: "Vacancy rose steadily through 2008, and continued to rise in the first quarter of 2009 to a 10-year high of 7.5 percent (vs. 5.8 percent at the end of the year)."

The bottom line, said Colliers:

"We are seeing the imposition of business fundamentals in our economy. Businesses that want to stay in business will need to show a profit. Lenders who want to stay in business will have to lend money only to people who can pay it back. For genuine recovery, American citizens, businesses and governments will need to pay down their debts, which will require both time and discipline. In the meantime, growth, when it comes, could be slower than we have become accustomed. We think that if there is an end to the recession in the last quarter of 2009, we will see gains in employment in 2010 and increases in the occupancy of commercial real estate in 2011.''

For the full report, see www.lvcolliers.com.

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