Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2016 i Maxim

Isuppose it’s entirely possible that there is someone out there who doesn’t have a computer or a cell phone, who lives in a cabin or cave, and who hasn’t encountered the Gregory Brothers and their contribution to contemporary culture. If you are one of these digitally uninitiated, go find help. Borrow a computer now, go to YouTube, and look up Michael Gregory’s channel, which is called Schmoyoho, and watch/listen to their audiovisual tracks. The Gregorys are the actual brothers Evan, Michael, and Andrew, and Evan’s wife, Sarah. They are consummate musicians and cultural revolutionaries. I’m not exactly sure when I first started seeing/hearing their offerings, but I definitely recall being fascinated by the case of Antoine Dodson and the surrounding viral hoopla. Antoine was a guy from Huntsville, Alabama, who…

Wynn and Encore Steve Wynn has been fine-tuning the way people experience casinos since he first opened the Mirage in the late 1980s. The Wynn signature at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore is natural sunlight, which you’ll find in massive atriums along the shopping esplanades. The shopping is unparalleled. You’ll also find a very popular poker room and a sunlit, high-limit slot room where people drop $1,000 on a single machine. Discreet venues such as Andrea’s and Country Club draw politicians, Hollywood royalty, rock stars, and power brokers—sometimes dining together. But true to form, Wynn is making some significant changes this year: Tryst, one of the earliest nightclubs at Wynn, is out, making way for Intrigue. Encore Player’s Club, a new high-end poker room, just opened in December across from…

Floyd Mayweather may have left boxing, but his presence still looms large over Las Vegas. Parking valets covet the $100 bills he gives them to ensure they look after his $3.5 million Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse. Faces of casino bosses light up as Mayweather commandeers a craps table or places gargantuan sports wagers, which are often posted on Instagram when a winning slip yields a particularly outrageous six-figure sum. Auto dealer Josh “Chop” Towbin jumps out of bed at 3 a.m. when the call comes that the famously nocturnal Mayweather wants to do a little early morning Bentley shopping. And if the teetotaling boxing great wants to go club-hopping, last-minute texts ricochet out to his crew members and a posse as large as 20 convenes at hot spots like…

Las Vegas’ emergence as a major retail destination is relatively new in terms of the city’s evolution. Only a few years ago, shopping in Vegas was considered a diversion for the bored, mostly female, significant others of gamblers. Now the four-mile Strip is chock-full of the world’s highest-end retailers, many in multiples. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, of the 41 million annual travelers who visit Las Vegas, 61 per cent go shopping. And many international visitors come to Las Vegas exclusively to buy luxury items—a trend that doesn’t seem to be waning as the dollar strengthens. Indeed, Hedy Woodrow, SVP of Retail at Wynn, says that Loro Piana’s store on the Esplanade at Encore, which specializes in the brand’s coveted vicuña wool items plus made-to-measure services,…

Yardbird Southern Table & Bar runchickenrun.com It’s not dinner at Yardbird Southern Table & Bar—it’s supper. Fried chicken, biscuits, watermelon, deviled eggs, and shrimp and grits served up familystyle bring a more casual flair to the Venetian. Maple-glazed bacon doughnuts, a daily quiche, and chocolate-chip pancakes with banana compote, bourbon maple syrup, and peanut butter (an ode to Elvis) make up the brunch menu served Fridays through Sundays. Bourbon, naturally, is a must-order. Frequent diners may even want to snag one of the bourbon lockers in the private dining room to score deals on liquors that can await a return visit. Joël Robuchon joel-robuchon.com It’s hard to believe that this restaurant is just steps off the casino floor of the MGM Grand. It’s almost like walking into the dining room…

Years ago, before bespoke luggage maker Goyard was a brand wellknown in the U.S. (or anywhere outside of France, for that matter) and while a certain Louis was not just a former French king but the king of handbags everywhere, I strolled into the Goyard store on the slightly less-traveled end of the Rue Saint Honoré and saw, on top of an assortment of handsome trunks, an odd-looking one. It was long and narrow and opened in the middle, revealing two sections with long leather belts to se- cure the contents. The salesperson, spying a potential American with money, immediately sidled up to me in the empty store and asked if I “knew” Goyard. Oui, I did, and I also knew the repeating chevron pattern was a mark of understated…

“AT THE END OF THE DAY, I’M A PRODUCER, AN ARTIST, I MAKE MUSIC. BUT WHEN I DEEJAY I HAVE ALL THESE OTHER CHOICES I CAN MAKE. I’M THERE TO ENTERTAIN.” Giving credence to the notion that Sweden will somehow always produce the world’s best pop music, 24-year-old Alessandro Lindblad—better known as Alesso—has, over the course of the past four years, gone from playing small clubs in the U.K. to touring with Madonna, producing internationally game-changing hit singles like “Heroes (We Could Be),” and performing for crowds of more than 60,000 people. In addition to releasing an album in May of last year—the aptly titled Forever—and maintaining a rigorous global touring schedule, Alesso currently holds down a Vegas DJ residency at XS at the Wynn, one of the city’s biggest…

Competition for visitor loyalty is so fierce in Las Vegas, hotel casinos are always getting refreshed, revamped, and rebranded. The Bellagio completed a $165 million, resort-wide renovation that involved about 4,000 rooms over four years. And the new-new things of two years ago—the old Sahara becoming the SLS; super-chef Nobu Matsuhisa opening the first-ever Nobu Hotel within Caesars Palace; the Hotel at Mandalay Bay transforming into Delano— are all thriving now. A sprawling Chinese-themed hotel, Resorts World Las Vegas, is on the rise on the north end of the Strip, as is Alon Las Vegas, an $8 billion project from Australian company Crown Resorts that has already poached Jesse Waits, the former managing director of Encore’s XS nightclub— the highest-grossing nightclub in the United States—to run its nearly 57,000-square-foot day-…

Ghostbar Dayclub palms.com/nightlife/ghostbar Every Saturday in the winter, right until the outdoor pools open in March, GBDC (otherwise known as Ghostbar Dayclub) opens in the Palms, because, public servants that they are, “the day-drinking audience needs a new home base during the winter months,” says Palms marketing director Melanie DeLillo. You won’t find Wagyu meatballs at this party, which starts at 1 p.m., but you’ll likely find a bedazzled pink shopping cart filled with McDonald’s cheeseburgers, pushed by kindhearted go-go dancers who wouldn’t want you to end your flabongo race on an empty stomach. Tao Beach taolasvegas.com/Tao-Beach Sitting atop Tao Asian Bistro and Nightclub, Tao Beach was the first daytime pool party in Vegas. There wasn’t anything like it in 2007 when the 18,000-square-foot club first opened. Now entering its…

1968 Triumph Bonneville Air-cooled, overhead valve parallel twin. 750cc 71mm x 82mm bore and stroke 12:1 compression 65 horsepower 4-speed transmission 363 lbs. 1971 Norton Commando 850 Air-cooled, overhead valve parallel twin 850cc 77mm x 89mm bore and stroke 12:1 compression 60 horsepower 4-speed transmission 419 lbs. In between shops hawking vape devices and studded bras on Melrose Avenue, the discerning eye is drawn to Powerplant Motorcycles’ storefront, with for the love of motorcycles emblazoned over the entrance. A Norton Commando with a girder-style front end sits in the display window. The sprockets on the bike have been modified with lightning holes, and the primary covers are drilled out as well—this is a fast bike that’s been made lighter for flat-track racing. The modern, four-piston Brembo brakes on the rear…

Steve Wynn was the oldest child of Mike and Zelma Wynn. His father, a bingoparlor operator, took a 10-year-old Steve to Las Vegas to open a new venture above the Silver Slipper casino. The business failed quickly, muscled out by a heftier competitor called the Golden Nugget. The trip wasn’t lost on young Steve Wynn, though. Wynn went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania with aspirations of becoming a doctor, took business classes at Wharton, and worked in his father’s D.C. bingo parlor on Sundays. Mike Wynn’s sudden death devastated his son, who dropped his own plans and took over his father’s business. That’s when Vegas came calling. Wynn made his first investment in the Frontier, a new resort on the Strip, in 1967. By 1973, at the age…

The setting: Boston, on one of those cold, gray nights that make you wish you were anywhere else. Ten minutes to two in the morning, the dark back corner of an MIT dive bar, close enough to the Charles River you can smell that dirty water. A place just about the polar opposite of Las Vegas—no neon, glitz, or anything approximating showgirls, just a geek hangout filled with math majors and physics wonks. Yet this is where I found myself thrown into one of the greatest Vegas stories I’ve ever heard. And it all started with a hundred-dollar bill. More specifically, a lot of hundreds, from a pile of banded stacks totaling at least a quarter million, stuffed into an MIT kid’s laundry. I’d been introduced to the kid, Jeff…

Though every suite has its price, not every one exchanges hands for the night in the kind of straightforward transaction you’d expect from a hotel. Relationships, connections, your line of credit in the casino, the amount of time you play on average, and a fair dose of backroom calculating all go into deciding whether you get to enter the most gilded doors in Las Vegas. Every casino has its own formula for determining levels of comps, says Comp City author Max Rubin. But you’re likely only gaining access to the super suites when your credit line —the one you’re actively playing—tops $100,000. “If you already bet $2,000 or more on a hand, you know your host, know your casino, know the system, and know that no matter what you do…

Ever wonder how to get all those comps you hear about in Vegas—the private jets, the big-fight tickets, the bottle service at clubs whose lines part like the Red Sea for Moses? Steve Cyr, the notorious freelance gaming host turned VP of player development at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, can tell you. It’s simple: “Play like Larry Flynt.” Cyr’s ideal customer would be one who’s addicted to the thrill of gambling, or at least has enough money to treat mind-blowing amounts of money as recreational losses. Among his current estimated 70 high rollers (those who will play with a weekend minimum of $100,000) and 20 whales (between $500,000 and $3 million) are, “Larry, a couple of generals from outside the United States, and dot-commers.” To those who…