Background
Before becoming mayor, Oscar Goodman
was one of Rizzolo's lawyers.
From 1984 until 2006, Rick Rizzolo was involved in an ongoing dispute over parking with Buffalo Jim Barrier, a well-known Las Vegas personality and a commercial tenant of Mr. Rizzolo. According to numerous newspaper and television reports, for 22 years Mr. Rizzolo engaged in an unsuccessful pattern of harassment in attempts to drive Buffalo Jim and his automotive repair business off the Crazy Horse Too property so the club could expand.
On February 20, 2003, 80 FBI, DEA and IRS agents removed files, video surveillance equipment, computers, cash registers, and other materials and documents as part of a lengthy criminal investigation. One of the items under investigation was the $20,000 monthly consulting fee from the Crazy Horse Too bar in Chicago that was being paid to Rizzo. The investigation reportedly was under way for 10 years. As part of that investigation George Clooney, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci were interviewed. Locally, the investigation became known as the "G-Sting." The case ended in 2006 when 17 defendants pleaded guilty to various offenses. As a part of the plea bargain Rizzolo was ordered to sell the Crazy Horse within one year.
On January 19, 2005, Robert D'Apice was arrested for alleged activities he participated in at the club including federal racketeering charges, assault from a 2001 crime, aided and abetted in prostitution or illegal sexual activity, and distribution of narcotics.
On September 6, 2006, the Crazy Horse lost its liquor license following Rick Rizzolo's guilty plea for tax evasion. The Crazy Horse closed its doors on September 7. Another local business owner was expected to apply for a new license, with the hearing scheduled for early October.
On October 17, 2007, a Houston owner of gentlemen's clubs will buy a controlling stake in the Crazy Horse Too Cabaret in South Philadelphia, it said Wednesday.
Rick's
Cabaret International Inc. (NASDAQ:RICK) will take over a 51 percent interest
in the End Zone Inc., which owns and operates the Crazy Horse Too. The Club will
be renamed as Rick's Cabaret.
The venue has been described as "genuine and authentic in a world of neon and plastic" and is a popular site for both locals and tourists that has hosted blues legends such as BB King, George Thorogood, and Jeff Healey. Celebrities often stop in to hear the live blues jams. Rock legend Ted Nugent recently performed an impromptu guitar duet with blues great Joe Bonamassa in front of a VH1 film crew. Billionaire founder of Electronic Arts Trip Hawkins hosted a bachelor party there. Pop star Taylor Dayne is among its recent guests, where she asked to perform a song for the crowd.
The club originally opened in 1976 as an ocean-themed restaurant in a small office complex about a mile from the Strip. The venue evolved into a popular blues scene receiving numerous awards, including a "Five Star" rating from Las Vegas Today magazine, the Review Journals' "Best of Las Vegas", and two years in a row, 2006 and 2007, AOL Cityguide' "Best Live Music", beating out the Hard Rock's Joint and the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.
The club has been the subject of articles in Playboy magazine and featured in shows on the Discovery Channel, The Travel Channel and VH1. America Online chose the Sand Dollar as one of the 10 Best Bars in the country.
The club is owned
by attorney and real estate developer Pat McKnight.
The club was visited on opening night by Elton John, one of the most frequent guests at the original location. Celebrity visitors have included Cher, Michael Jackson, Bruce Willis, Magic Johnson, Colin Farrell, Carmen Electra, Flavor Flav, Kim Kardashian, Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton.
It has since become one of Las Vegas' most popular dance clubs, with a reputation for a strict door policy, but not as strict as the originals. However, the newer site is cause for contention amongst fans of the original location, who have charged that the Las Vegas venue is nothing more than Studio 54 in name only.
The
venue is mentioned in the song Vegas Two Times by the Stereophonics.
The club was opened in 1962 by Steve Miller and Keith Austin, both 19 at the time and Las Vegas High School graduates, where they were members of the 1962 Las Vegas High School Broadcasting Club. The Teenbeat Club ceased operation in 1968.
The club grew out of the dance concerts Miller and Austin promoted, featuring live KLAS Radio broadcasts from the Knights of Columbus Hall and the National Guard Armory in Downtown Las Vegas. The broadcasts featured The Teenbeats, a local Las Vegas surf music-influenced band. When the Teenbeat Club opened, The Teenbeats were the house band featuring vocalist and rhythm guitarist Don Frassa, lead guitarist Larry Chernoff, bassist Lyle Smith, drummer Gary Karr and Jim Logue on tenor sax. The Lords, a local rock band, featuring Fred Cole, sharing lead vocals with electric organist Hans Grebner (Johnny The German), played the Teenbeat Club frequently from 1963 through 1964 as did The Coachmen featuring pianist Michael Dean Wesley.
Miller and Austin co-produced 45 RPM singles from 1962 to 1966. The first, by The Teenbeats titled Surf Bound, was written by Larry Chernoff and recorded on Teenbeat Records. In the mid-1960's, three LP albums were recorded live at the Teenbeat Club on La Brea/Sutton Records: The Goldtones, Live! At The Teenbeat Club In Las Vegas, (LS 8011), featuring Randy Seol, Wayne Purvis, Ken Naylor, Al Doss, Mike Peters, Steve Green and Cindy Mac; The Starfires, Teenbeat A Go Go, (LS 8018), featuring Chuck Butler, Dave Anderson, Jack Emerick, Freddy Fields and Sonny Lathrop; and The Sentinals Vegas Go Go, (SSU 338). Southern California surf rock bands which played the Teenbeat Club in the early 1960's included the Marketts, Surfer's Stomp and Out of Limits, The Lively Ones, Surf Rider, The Routers, Let's Go (Pony), The Challengers Surf Beat, and The Chevell's, Let There Be Surf. . The Templars appeared in two International Scout advertisements taken in front of the YESCO designed Teenbeat Club marquee.
Teenbeat Club's 1940 Ford Pickup Truck from Publicity Brochure, 1964.In 1966, Miller and Austin co-produced two other 45 RPM singles, on Teenbeat Club Records, It's Your Time, and Little Girl on the B-side, (TB 1006), by The Weeds, a local Las Vegas band, and a cover of the Rolling Stones, Get Off My Cloud, backed with Red Roses For A Blue Lady, featuring Charlie White Eagle, (TB 1004), with musical accompaniment and background vocals by The Weeds.
The Weeds were frequent performers at the Teenbeat Club from 1965 through 1966, featuring Fred Cole, a vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, who later gained success in the groups The Zipper, The Rats, and Dead Moon. Other members of The Weeds were lead guitarist Ed Bowen, rhythm guitarist Ron Buzzell, bassist Bob Atkins, and drummer Tim Rockson.
The Weeds and Scatter
Blues Together, Las Vegas, 1966. Weeds' 18 year lead vocalist Fred Cole, second
row, far left, standing next to Weeds' Ed Bowen, guitarist. Scatter Blues' Bill
Rosevear, lead vocalist and guitarist, arms folded center; Scatter Blues' Piers
Munro, vocals and harmonica, seated to his immediate right
The Present Tense
and Nobody's Children, 1966 promotional handbill.The years 1966 and 1967 saw a
renaissance of local Las Vegas electric rock, folk rock and blues bands in the
Las Vegas Valley. The Scatter Blues played the Teenbeat Club regularly which featured
vocalist and blues harpist Piers Munro, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Bill Rosevear,
lead guitarist Dennis Wynne, bassist Scott Devitt and drummer Rich Lowrey. Other
frequently appearing local bands appearing at the Teenbeat Club in the mid-1960's
were the Present Tense featuring vocalist Christopher Michael Hallman, bassist
Michael Selinsky, lead guitarist Bob Lilley , rhythm guitarist John McDonnell,
electric pianist Dennis Prell, and drummer John Baker. The Sioux Uprising, featuring
lead vocalist and guitarist Gregory A. Waller, bassist Steve Armstead and guitarist
Michael Murray; Nobody's Children and the Misty Souls were other Las Vegas regulars
to play the Teenbeat Club during this time period. Notable Hollywood, CA area
bands which played the TC included Love with Arthur Lee My Little Black Book,
Orange Skies, and 7 and 7 Is (with the Scatter Blues as their opening act). The
Outsiders, Time Won't Let Me and Hamilton Street Car. The Standells Dirty Water,
from San Luis Obispo, CA were also frequent performers.
From 1962 through 1966, Miller and Austin hosted the Teenbeat Club Television Show on KLAS-TV, Channel 8, that included live weekly interviews and dancing, patterned after Dick Clark's American Bandstand . The live broadcasts featured such guest artists as The Beach Boys, Dorsey Burnette, Vic Dana, Dick and Dee Dee, Trini Lopez, Wayne Newton, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Keely Smith, Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton and Timi Yuro.
From 1963 through 1968, Miller and Austin also promoted dance concerts held at the Las Vegas Convention Center that featured The Beach Boys, Sonny Charles and The Checkmates Ltd., Dick and Dee Dee, Jackie DeShannon, Tom Jones, Lou Rawls, Bobby Rydell, Neil Sedaka, Surfaris, Three Dog Night and Bobby Vinton. They also co-promoted the first Las Vegas appearances of the Grateful Dead and Santana at the Las Vegas Ice Palace in 1969.
The original Teenbeat Club building still stands, but it is now an adult topless cabaret, Club Paradise, located across the street and just east of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Steve Miller later served as a Las Vegas City Council member from 1987 to 1991. He was inducted by the Nevada Broadcasters Association into the Nevada Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998.
Keith Austin relocated to Santa Barbara, California, where he
continues his career in the recording industry as Executive Producer and Host
of The Rock Files.
Overview
On
June 18, 2003, the first 40/40 Club opened in New York City; the Atlantic City
location opened on October 25, 2005. The third 40/40 Club located inside Palazzo,
an extension of the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas; the grand opening
was held December 30, 2007. Locations in Tokyo and Macau are scheduled to open
in 2008.
The club is known for its live music, celebrity patrons, and sports
memorabilia. The club rose to notoriety when Jay-Z referenced his investment in
his 2003 song "Dirt off Your Shoulder" with the line "Now you chillin
with a boss bitch of course, SC on the sleeve at the 40/40 club ESPN on the screen".
The video for the Swizz Beatz produced Memphis Bleek single "Like That"
was filmed at the club's New York location.
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The facts in this page on Nevada were updated in December 2007