Club legend Victor Drai to be honored
Vhas slugged it out long enough in the nightlife industry. He’s satisfied watching the action from his seat atop The Cromwell, while other clubs scramble for survival elsewhere on the Strip.
“I have done what I can to create a different atmosphere for live entertainment inside a nightclub, Drai says. “That hopefully will go on for a while, and I’ll let the others fight each other to see who will survive.”
The nightlife icon is to be honored with a Casino Legend Entertainment Award on Wednesday at the Global Gaming Expo’s Casino Entertainment Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Drai is being honored at the event at Vinyl music club, joining Righteous Brothers co-founder Bill Medley in receiving the prestigious Casino Legend award. Medley will accept on behalf of his late partner, Bobby Hatfield, and also Bucky Heard, who now partners with him in the duo’s residency at Harrah’s Showroom.
Previous Legend Award recipients include Wayne Newton, Jerry Lewis and Tony Orlando.
The event also honors performers and entertainment officials in nine categories.
Drai is the mastermind of underground Drai’s After
Dark and the rooftop Drai’s Beachclub and Drai’s Nightclub, all at The Cromwell. Drai’s After Dark, the latenight complement to Drai’s high-end restaurant, opened in 1997 when the hotel-casino was known as Barbary Coast.
The club soon gained mythic status for its early morning hours, elegant design and a novel concept known as “bottle service” at VIP tables.
After Dark would become the model for Tryst and XS in Drai’s three-year partnership with Steve Wynn at Wynn/ Encore, which ended in 2010.
Having achieved an exalted status in his field, Drai has recently shredded the high fees paid to industry-leading DJS. He’s specifically targeted the upwards of $450,000 that superstar DJS command for a single night of knob-turning at competing Strip clubs.
Those outlays, inevitably, eat into club profits and make life rough for competitors on the Strip.
“It’s like everything else that is copied too much, and you overdo it,” Drai says. “It’s happening now in Vegas. The DJS have become overpaid, and that has kind of destroyed the business. We ran at 69 percent profits when I was with Steve. Today at Wynn, if they have 10 percent profits, they are lucky. But they don’t care about it so much because the clubs bring in so many people.”
Drai’s has certainly contributed to the proliferation of high-priced live entertainment in clubs. The Drai’s Live series has showcased Chris Brown, Trey Songz, G-eazy, Jeremih, Migos, Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa and Rae Sremmurd.
“We have changed the way live acts performed in the nightclub,” Drai says. “All of our acts today play at least 45 minutes per show, not just two songs in a set. It is more like a concert than a DJ set.”
Drai has turned over much of his club’s operations to his son, Dustin. He says After Hours, his “bread and butter,” will be around another 20 years, and plans to continue to contribute his flair for design.
“I know nightclubs. I have hung out at the clubs since I was 16, and I’m 71 now,” the Moroccan-born Drai says. “If I can create and add something new to it, it will still be fun for me.”
Tyson weighs in
Mike Tyson has witnessed plenty of combat-sports melees over the years. He’s helped ignite a few, actually, especially “The Bite Fight” debacle after gnawing on Evander Holyfield’s ear at MGM Grand Garden Arena on June 27, 1997.
Tyson tweeted his thoughts about the chaos at UFC 229 Saturday night, as Khabib Nurmagomedov leaped the cage to fight Conor Mcgregor’s corner men (my colleague Adam Hill reports Khabib appeared to charge after Dillon Danis, a Bellator MMA fighter and Mcgregor’s jiu-jitsu coach).
As the donnybrook unfolded at T-mobile Arena, Tyson posted that he was watching the fight. “Unimaginable. Never thought it would go down like this. Crazier than my fight riot.”
Wow. As someone who was at both events, I still say “The Bite Fight” wins that prize. It was bedlam, everywhere, including the MGM Grand lobby and into the hotel valet. The insanity at T-mobile was snuffed out effectively by Metro officers and on-site security. Fans, too, managed to keep comparatively cool. Saturday’s fracas was an ugly thing, but it could have been far worse.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @ johnnykats on Twitter, @Johnnykats1 on Instagram. As of 9 p.m. Sunday:
1. Khabib Nurmagomedov beats Conor Mcgregor at UFC 229; chaos ensues
Undefeated lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor Mcgregor in the main event of UFC 229 before Nurmagomedov jumped over the fence and sparked a wild brawl and chaotic scene.
2. Mormons reduce
Sunday church time from threee hours to two
Mormons will start spending less time at church each Sunday — two hours instead of three — after a change announced Saturday aimed at making worship more manageable for members around the globe. 3. Pomeranian stolen from Las Vegas Petland returned with pink fur
A 2-month-old
Pomeranian stolen in a smash-and-grab burglary last month has been found in good health — and pretty in pink.
4. Man dragged by car after chasing alleged female thief on Las Vegas Strip
A man is hospitalized in critical condition after he was dragged by a car near the SLS Sunday morning, according to Las Vegas police.
5. Las Vegas woman mauled to death by family dog
A Las Vegas man came home from work Monday night to find his wife of 26 years mauled to death by the family’s newly adopted dog. As of 9 p.m. Sunday:
1. Covering The Cage: Khabib Remains Champion; Post Fight Brawl Ensues
Heidi Fang, Gilbert Manzano and Adam Hill go over the post fight chaos that ensued after Khabib Nurmagomedov beat Conor Mcgregor at UFC 229.
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov walks out of postfight news conference
UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov walked out of the postfight news conference after apologizing for his actions to the Nevada commission.
3. UFC president Dana White ‘disappointed’ with melee at UFC 229
After Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Conor Mcgregor at UFC
229, he jumped out of the cage and went after Mcgregor’s teammates. Dana White explains what happened and why he’s disappointed.