The Jeff Does Vegas Podcast

After becoming the first ever magician to win America's Got Talent back in 2014, Mat Franco hit the Vegas strip with his show, Magic Reinvented Nightly at The Linq where he's been performing for almost 8 years.

On my last trip to Las Vegas, I had a chance to sit down backstage with Mat for a conversation.  We talked about what got him into magic & his family's support through his career, his AGT experience, the recent re-vamp of his Vegas show, and much more!

For tickets & showtimes, you can visit MatFranco.com and be sure to follow Mat on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Become a Jeff Does Vegas Insider today for only $5 USD/month & enjoy all kinds of cool perks like early access to new episodes, commercial-free versions of EVERY episode, invites to exclusive live streams & videos, insider-only virtual hangouts and even real-life in-person hangouts IN Las Vegas!

Sign up NOW at patreon.com/jeffdoesvegas

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Jeff Does Vegas is an official Vegas.com affiliate! 

Help support the podcast & get exclusive deals by booking your hotel stays, shows, attractions, tours, clubs and even complete vacation packages (including air & hotel) with our special link!

It's time for another World Famous Jeff Does Vegas Trip Report!

This time around, we're re-capping my most recent trip to Vegas, from March 4-11, 2023.  This was trip #2 of 2023 and was easily one of the busiest trips to Las Vegas that I've ever had!

I combined work and play for this trip; my wife joined me for a mini-vacation for the first few days of the trip, then I attended the Podcast Movement Evolutions conference at the Westgate Las Vegas Hotel & Casino for the last half of the trip.

Take a listen for reviews of my hotel experience at Luxor Las Vegas, our amazing meal at Mayfair Supper Club at the Bellagio, the time we spent seeing Mat Franco - Magic Reinvented Nightly at the Linq, and much more!  I've also got tips & tricks for anyone planning on attending a conference/convention in Las Vegas, as well as some thoughts & opinions about what's happening in the city.

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Become a Jeff Does Vegas Insider today for only $5 USD/month & enjoy all kinds of cool perks like early access to new episodes, commercial-free versions of EVERY episode, invites to exclusive live streams & videos, insider-only virtual hangouts and even real-life in-person hangouts IN Las Vegas!

Sign up NOW at patreon.com/jeffdoesvegas

__________________________________________________________________________

Jeff Does Vegas is an official Vegas.com affiliate! 

Help support the podcast & get exclusive deals by booking your hotel stays, shows, attractions, tours, clubs and even complete vacation packages (including air & hotel) with our special link!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Spiegelworld's Atomic Saloon Show is easily one of the best shows - if not THE BEST show - currently running on the Vegas Strip...and I'm very happy to be joined for this episode of the podcast by one of the incredibly talented cast members.

On my most recent trip to Las Vegas, I headed out to the super-secret Spiegelworld HQ for a chat with Petra Massey, better known as Boozy Skunkton, the proprietor of the Atomic Saloon & Brothel who also serves as the MC for the show.

Petra and I chatted about what got her into performing, her career before joining Spiegelworld, the early days workshopping Atomic Saloon, and much more!

Atomic Saloon runs 5 nights a week (2 shows each night) inside the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas.  Visit the Spiegelworld website to get your tickets and be sure to follow Atomic Saloon on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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Become a Jeff Does Vegas Insider today for only $5 USD/month & enjoy all kinds of cool perks like early access to new episodes, commercial-free versions of EVERY episode, invites to exclusive live streams & videos, insider-only virtual hangouts and even real-life in-person hangouts IN Las Vegas!

Sign up NOW at patreon.com/jeffdoesvegas

__________________________________________________________________________

Jeff Does Vegas is an official Vegas.com affiliate! 

Help support the podcast & get exclusive deals by booking your hotel stays, shows, attractions, tours, clubs and even complete vacation packages (including air & hotel) with our special link!

I always LOVE having other Vegas fanatics on the podcast to chat about the latest happenings in "Sin City".  Back in Spring of 2021, I was joined on the show by Adam Bauer aka "Travel Fanboy" to talk about some of the big changes coming to Las Vegas.  We discussed the sale of the Cosmopolitan to MGM, the sale of the Mirage to Hard Rock, and the impending re-branding of Bally's to Horseshoe.

A year has passed and all of those changes are either complete or well underway, so I decided to reconnect with Adam so we could share our thoughts on those projects as well as some of the upcoming openings and big events coming to the Vegas Strip.

Check out the official Travel Fanboy website for lots of great travel tips & tricks, as well as Adam's latest venture, Cheapskate Vegas, where you can learn to live like a high-roller on a low-roller budget.

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Become a Jeff Does Vegas Insider today for only $5 USD/month & enjoy all kinds of cool perks like early access to new episodes, commercial-free versions of EVERY episode, invites to exclusive live streams & videos, insider-only virtual hangouts and even real-life in-person hangouts IN Las Vegas!

Sign up NOW at patreon.com/jeffdoesvegas

__________________________________________________________________________

Jeff Does Vegas is an official Vegas.com affiliate! 

Help support the podcast & get exclusive deals by booking your hotel stays, shows, attractions, tours, clubs and even complete vacation packages (including air & hotel) with our special link!

Did you know that approximately 2% of the world's population uses a wheelchair AND that nearly 20% of people have a disability that limits one or more activities of daily living?

If you applied that math to Las Vegas, that means that roughly 840,000 wheelchair users and almost 8.5 million people with different levels of accessibility requirements travel to Vegas every single year.

In the various Vegas-related Facebook groups I'm a part of, I often see questions from people who are apprehensive about visiting the city due to the perception that Vegas isn't very wheelchair friendly.

I wanted to break that perception...so I've called in an expert on the subject of wheelchair travel.

John Morris is the founder & creator of WheelchairTravel.org, a website & blog where he shares his own experiences of travelling as a wheelchair user.  And, like me, John is also a frequent Vegas visitor.

If you want to learn more about John & get all the info you need when it comes to travelling to Las Vegas with a disability, visit WheelchairTravel.org and be sure to follow John on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.

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Become a Jeff Does Vegas Insider today for only $5 USD/month & enjoy all kinds of cool perks like early access to new episodes, commercial-free versions of EVERY episode, invites to exclusive live streams & videos, insider-only virtual hangouts and even real-life in-person hangouts IN Las Vegas!

Sign up NOW at patreon.com/jeffdoesvegas

__________________________________________________________________________

Jeff Does Vegas is an official Vegas.com affiliate! 

Help support the podcast & get exclusive deals by booking your hotel stays, shows, attractions, tours, clubs and even complete vacation packages (including air & hotel) with our special link!

Get ready for another World Famous Jeff Does Vegas Trip Report!  This time, we're recapping mine & my wife's most recent trip to Vegas from December 11th-16th, 2022.

This episode includes reviews of our stay at Paris Las Vegas as well as meals at Roy Choi's Best Friend in Park MGM, Yellowtail Restaurant & Lounge at the Bellagio, The Steakhouse at Circus Circus, and others.  Plus, I share our experiences at Cirque Du Soleil's Mad Apple, Reckless In Vegas and Bat Out Of Hell - The Musical.

I also discuss the latest at The Mob Museum (including drinks & food at The Underground) and share a few thoughts & observations on recent goings-on in Las Vegas.

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Become a Jeff Does Vegas Insider today for only $5 USD/month & enjoy all kinds of cool perks like early access to new episodes, commercial-free versions of EVERY episode, invites to exclusive live streams & videos, insider-only virtual hangouts and even real-life in-person hangouts IN Las Vegas!

Sign up NOW at patreon.com/jeffdoesvegas

__________________________________________________________________________

Jeff Does Vegas is an official Vegas.com affiliate! 

Help support the podcast & get exclusive deals by booking your hotel stays, shows, attractions, tours, clubs and even complete vacation packages (including air & hotel) with our special link!

The Las Vegas Strip attracts all types of people.

Vacationers, gamblers, foodies, partiers...and daredevils.  And there's one specific spot on the strip that's been particularly appealing to those who make their living defying death:

The Fountains at Caesars Palace

Since Caesars Palace opened back in 1966, the usually serene spot along Las Vegas Boulevard has played host to multiple brave - and possibly crazy - people who've attempted to jump their motorcycles over the famed fountains.  Some have succeeded but many others have failed...spectacularly.

As we mark 55 years since the very first attempt on December 31, 1967, I invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy this specially re-mastered version of Sin City Stories: A Cunning Display Of Stunts.

If you want to learn more about these daredevils, check out the shownotes for Volume 4 of Sin City Stories featuring articles, photos, videos and more!

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Become a Jeff Does Vegas Insider today for only $5 USD/month & enjoy all kinds of cool perks like early access to new episodes, commercial-free versions of EVERY episode, invites to exclusive live streams & videos, insider-only virtual hangouts and even real-life in-person hangouts IN Las Vegas!

Sign up NOW at patreon.com/jeffdoesvegas

__________________________________________________________________________

Jeff Does Vegas is an official Vegas.com affiliate! 

Help support the podcast & get exclusive deals by booking your hotel stays, shows, attractions, tours, clubs and even complete vacation packages (including air & hotel) with our special link!

Back a few weeks ago, I decided it might be fun to step outside of my comfort zone and host an official Jeff Does Vegas Ask Me Anything session.

I put it out to you, the amazing listeners of this podcast, to ask me questions about anything you wanted to know - whether it was about Las Vegas, podcasting, my radio career, my personal life...literally ANYTHING.

And you guys didn't disappoint!  You asked some really great questions - both in advance and during the session - and it was a blast to engage with everyone and answer them.

I hosted the original live stream on October 21, 2022 and, as promised, I'm now releasing it as a podcast episode.  I've cleaned it up and done a bit of editing but, for the most part, it's presented here exactly as it happened.

If you'd like to check out the original video version of the Jeff Does Vegas Ask Me Anything live stream, you can find on the Jeff Does Vegas YouTube Channel.

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Become a Jeff Does Vegas Insider today for only $5 USD/month & enjoy all kinds of cool perks like early access to new episodes, commercial-free versions of EVERY episode, invites to exclusive live streams & videos, insider-only virtual hangouts and even real-life in-person hangouts IN Las Vegas!

Sign up NOW at patreon.com/jeffdoesvegas

__________________________________________________________________________

Jeff Does Vegas is an official Vegas.com affiliate! 

Help support the podcast & get exclusive deals by booking your hotel stays, shows, attractions, tours, clubs and even complete vacation packages (including air & hotel) with our special link!

On November 21, 1980, the Las Vegas Strip was the site of what would become the third-worst hotel fire in modern U.S. history and what to this day remains the biggest disaster in the history of the state of Nevada.

Early that morning, a small fire broke out in a restaurant on the ground floor of what was - at the time - the MGM Grand Hotel.  The fire quickly spread, engulfing the casino level and sending thick black smoke & toxic fumes to the upper floors of the hotel.  In the end, 85 people were killed and hundreds more were injured.

But what exactly caused the fire and led to such widespread fatalities & injuries?  And what changes were made to ensure that something like this could ever happen again?

As we mark 42 years since this horrific event, these are the questions we aim to answer with this specially re-mastered edition of Sin City Stories: Inferno At The MGM Grand.

If you want to learn more about the history of the original MGM Grand Hotel, the fire that claimed the lives of 85 innocent victims, or any of the other incidents covered in this episode, check out the shownotes for Volume 2 of Sin City Stories featuring photos, videos, articles and more!

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Become a Jeff Does Vegas Insider today for only $5 USD/month & enjoy all kinds of cool perks like early access to new episodes, commercial-free versions of EVERY episode, invites to exclusive live streams & videos, insider-only virtual hangouts and even real-life in-person hangouts IN Las Vegas!

Sign up NOW at patreon.com/jeffdoesvegas

__________________________________________________________________________

Jeff Does Vegas is an official Vegas.com affiliate! 

Help support the podcast & get exclusive deals by booking your hotel stays, shows, attractions, tours, clubs and even complete vacation packages (including air & hotel) with our special link!

October 21, 1977 saw the release of what would eventually become one of the best selling albums of all time: 

Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell

The idea for the album came from a musical that writer/composer Jim Steinman had conceived back in 1974.  Meat Loaf & Jim spent most of 1975 re-writing & recording the album, then close to 2 years auditioning the record - and getting rejected by every single record company they presented it to.

After a concert video of the title track aired on BBC Television in the UK, the album gained A LOT of traction...and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bat Out Hell has sold 43 million copies worldwide, it's certified 14x Platinum in the US, and it's spent a record 530 weeks on the UK Album Charts.

Flash forward to the late 90's, when word of a new musical based on the album (and it's sequel, "Bat Out Of Hell II") begins to surface.  The show was officially announced in 2008, workshopped in New York City in 2015, and finally hit the stage in the UK in 2017.  After spending time in London's West End, Toronto, and touring around the world, it was revealed in early 2022 that the Paris Theater in the Paris Hotel & Casino would be home to a new resident production of Bat Out Hell: The Musical.

Joining me for this episode of the podcast is veteran Vegas performer, Anne Martinez, who plays the role of "Sloane" in the show.

Anne & I chatted about what initially brought her to Las Vegas a decade ago, we talked about her love for the music of Jim Steinman & Meat Loaf, and what makes Bat Out Of Hell such a special show.

For more info on Bat Out Of Hell: The Musical at the Paris Hotel & Casino, visit the show's website for showtimes/days & ticket info.  For exclusive pics & videos, be sure to follow Bat Out Of Hell on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.

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Become a Jeff Does Vegas Insider today for only $5 USD/month & enjoy all kinds of cool perks like early access to new episodes, commercial-free versions of EVERY episode, invites to exclusive live streams & videos, insider-only virtual hangouts and even real-life in-person hangouts IN Las Vegas!

Sign up NOW at patreon.com/jeffdoesvegas

__________________________________________________________________________

Jeff Does Vegas is an official Vegas.com affiliate! 

Help support the podcast & get exclusive deals by booking your hotel stays, shows, attractions, tours, clubs and even complete vacation packages (including air & hotel) with our special link!