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05/08/2003 Archived Entry: "Vegas flirts with racier image"

WHAT HAPPENS HERE, STAYS HERE: Las Vegas is beginning to shed its recently donned coat of respectability and embracing its racier past. You've seen it in the recent TV commercials announcing, "What happens here, stays here" and now the casinos and hotels are beginning figure out that what made Vegas cool before (besides the TV show Vega$) was Frank Sinatra and babes, not video game arcades and art galleries.

For years, the Treasure Island hotel-casino, with its pyrotechnic pirate show and skull-and-bones marquee, carried a reputation as a Disney-esque destination for families.

But the show, like Las Vegas, is sailing off into another, altogether naughtier direction.

Casino operators will replace the popular family attraction with the "Sirens of TI" -- sexy vamps who duel pirates in what Treasure Island calls a "sensual modern interpretation" of the old "Battle of Buccaneer Bay."

I'm not sure that "Sirens of TI" meets my standard of art but I'm sure Bill Bennett will agree with me that Las Vegas is a city for adults. I'll admit that I'm a bit libertarian in these matters -- not to mention a single 31-year old guy -- but I think even conservatives will agree that it's occasionally fun to have fun. Not that I've ever been to Vegas of course...