I had not seen Jason Egan, owner and creator of Fright Dome, since interviewing him in 2005. Since then, there has been a slow transformation of Fright Dome from what was primarily a locals event to one that  increasingly includes tourists, Egan told me as we rode in a hearse to the attraction's entrance at the side of Circus Circus. We were led there by clowns with chainsaws. As the sage in Ministry once sang,   "Everyday is Halloween" for Egan. He doesn't seem to mind. "I used to get three months off, but now I am at work again by early November."

Fright Dome continues through Halloween. Here are some more photos Sarah Gerke took, and I think she actually was scared, whereas I am told that I jumped in one of the "Saw" houses. But we are calling that sharp reflexes.

Photo credit: Sarah Gerke

Vegas needs tourists to come back and this weekend, for whatever reason, promises to be the most happening few days thus far in 2009. If you have the time and want some distraction, this is the weekend for a spontaneous Vegas vacation.

The biggest attractions are the debut shows for the Hard Rock's new Joint concert hall. Tonight the first show at the Joint is Vegas locals the Killers. Saturday is Avenged Sevenfold and then Sunday night Paul McCartney plays the venue, which has a maximum capacity of about 4,000.

On Saturday night, "Peepshow," the new topless production show at Planet Hollywood starring Mel B. and Kelly Monaco, holds its grand opening. I spent Friday at rehearsals for this show, and I profile one of the showgirls, a former "American Idol" contestant, in the current Las Vegas Weekly. You can read my review of the show on the Buffet on Monday.

Last but not least, this weekend seems the start of the dayclubbing pool season.  Dayclubbing has evolved over the last year or two as the resorts have attempted to get the nightclub crowd to their pools. So, dayclubbing features the sort of celebrity hosts who usually can be found at nightclubs, attached to a nightclub brand or some club sounding name, and instead of bottle/table service the pools are selling private cabanas. On Saturday at 2 p.m., you can go to the pool at Hard Rock for Rehab with guest Snoop Dogg, or you can go to the pool at MGM for Wet Republic with Lauren Conrad (pictured). Then a short time later, at 3:30 p.m., you can head over to the Venetian to Tao Beach, hosted by Mandy Moore.

Finally, on Sunday afternoon, back at Planet Hollywood, there is the taping of the Miss USA Pageant.  For the last couple of weeks, the contestants in their sashes have been a ubiquitous presence on the Strip promoting the event.

Do you think a weekend packed with events like these, combined with Vegas' lower room rates, is enough to bring back the tourists and stop the constant decline in visitor numbers? Much of this (dayclubbing, Paul McCartney in a relatively tiny venue, a new topless show with state-of-the-art production values) are the fulfillment of visions that date to 2006, the glory days of catering to the high-end tourist, with a special appeal to the young, rich and beautiful people of Los Angeles. Will it still do the trick in 2009? Or does Vegas need to work harder at putting together different kinds of bait to lure back the tourists?

Photo: Sarah Gerke

Wow, is Toby Keith going to be remembering his most recent Vegas trip.

At the ACM Awards at MGM this weekend, there was a widely reported obscenity-laced tirade against a reporter for the Tennessean who picked up and ran with a Rolling Stone article by actor Ethan Hawke alleging an argument among Keith, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson in 2003. (I bet the world was really concerned about that feud before.)

But Keith's fun in Vegas began before the ACM Awards.  The Las Vegas Sun  offered a first-hand account of a Jack Daniels-inflected, so-late-at-night-it's-early-morning performance at the singer's namesake bar on the Strip before the awards show at which he also chose to illustrate his dependence on a certain expletive as a primary vehicle of his verbal expression.

In addition to originals, he offered a few cover tunes, including J. J. Cale's "Cocaine." True class.

Well, these things sometimes happen on a  Vegas jag. All you can do is go home and hope not too much damage follows you back there. I think Keith's fans will be OK with his behavior, and Kristofferson and Nelson fans will too. I doubt even Ethan Hawke fans will care one way or the other. Still, if the man had a little humor about himself, highlights could make for a fantastic Vegas-vacation YouTube post.

Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

President Bill Clinton turns 62 today. And last night he was in Vegas celebrating. Yeah, there is a clean energy summit going on at UNLV that the former president addressed. But even the big name participants can't resist  the water wasting, electricity burning, carbon Bigfoot known as the Las Vegas Strip.

Last night, I am told, gathered for dinner at Craftsteak inside the MGM Grand were Sen. Harry Reid, T. Boone Pickens, Cher and Bill Clinton. I wonder who picked up the check?

It is amazing the importance of region to celebrity. I usually notice this when the Quebec press comes en masse to Vegas for anything involving Celine Dion or Cirque. And the appearance of singer Shakira last night for a charity event connected to the premier of "Love in the Time of Cholera" also attracted a large international press group that usually doesn't make it to Vegas. 

But even packed on to the red carpet at the Palms, I was determined to have real talk about one of my favorite books with the people who had spent so much time thinking about Marquez and working on bringing "Love in the Time of Cholera" to the screen.

Actor Benjamin Bratt is one of the stars of the movie, playing Dr. Juvenal Urbino, whose wife is loved by another man for half a century. I was curious what he made of the novel's view of love. "Marquez's understanding of love is probably superior to most of the rest of us, and that is why the novel is so good," Bratt said. "But the story in it he constructed is actually pretty familiar to anyone who goes to movies: It is a love triangle. It also has the familiar boy-meets-girl, boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl. But in between the last two phases there is a 50-year span. I think Marquez is really masterful at naming and describing all the variations of love: romantic, patriarchal, maternal, familial. It is all in the book, and I think they all share similar things. Love can drive you to madness and create a sickness that seems to have no recovery, but it is a sickness you really can't live without."

Finally, things went nutty as Shakira started down the red carpet. Press and fans screaming in two languages. This was my third interview with Shakira, and every time I am impressed by her poise and articulateness.  In truth, whenever the pressures on young celebrities come up, I think of Shakira, who is not only a famous pop star but carries the burden of being something of a national icon to the people of Colombia. It is a role our local pop stars, celebrities and socialites never have to consider. If only Britney, Paris and Lindsay had half this woman's strength and sense. Anyway, Shakira, who performs on the soundtrack, also had a sharp and personal take on Marquez's masterpiece.