Eclectic cast will share stage with Oscar Goodman at Life Is Beautiful

By John Katsilometes

Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014 | 2 a.m.

It’s happy hour at the VegasVille Lounge, and we have ordered up a round of notes at one of our favorite downtown haunts. Send a martini to my friend in the pinstriped suit, please:

• Oscar Goodman long envisioned that the Plaza restaurant named for him would be a place for high-minded deal making. But even he would have needed to stretch his imagination to foresee the meeting that took place in August at Oscar’s Beef, Booze & Broads.

Seated around the table were the former mayor, Life is Beautiful founder Rehan Choudhry, and festival official Lisa Shufro, curator of the Life is Beautiful learning program. The topic: How to convince Goodman to share a public forum with members of Pussy Riot; home and furniture designer Ed Gavagan, who once was stabbed in the chest by gang members in New York; and his public-defender wife, Sekeena, both of whom now are popular monologists.

“I got a phone call from Mr. Choudry, who asked me to participate, and I told him, ‘I certainly don’t sing,’ ” Goodman said. “But he had an idea, him and his very, very capable associate (Shufro), and we just sat down and talked about this. So now we’ve got the women from Pussy Riot, the man who was stabbed in the heart, his public-defender wife, and old Oscar.”

The forum is part of a session titled, “The Good, The Bad & The Gray” set for Oct. 24, the first day of the Life is Beautiful festival, at the Western.

Asked if he knew much about Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who were jailed after leading a protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin in a church in Moscow, Goodman said, “They did something that wasn’t to the liking of Mr. Putin and wound up in the hoosegow. They are activists. They have a message and a story that they need to tell.”

Goodman predicted it would be a significant moment not only for the festival, but also for the city.

“We are approaching it in a very different way than a normal panel, and the speeches will all be excellent,” Goodman said. “This is a whole different ballgame than what we have been used to in Las Vegas.”

Also participating in the series: David Peterson, who created languages used in “Game of Thrones;” Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh; Rio headliners Penn & Teller; and Amelia Rose Earhart, who shares the name if not the genetics of the legendary pilot.

Goodman agrees (of course) that he is an ideal fit in the lineup.

“I’ll have a great speech ready, too,” he said. “You can count on that.”

• Tucked into a story about Steve Wynn in the September issue of Success magazine are Wynn’s musings about the future of Wynn Golf and Country Club.

The 7,042-yard championship course designed by golf architect Tom Fazio was built on the site of the old Desert Inn Country Club and is one of the most famous golf courses in the country. It reportedly takes in $5 million to $6 million annually in green fees, but as Wynn said in the extensive profile piece, the parcel on the Strip could be more profitable as a massive convention center.

“So far we haven’t wanted to sacrifice this beautiful suburban environment, but it’s one of the options we have,” he said. “A hotel is $2 billion, but what I’m talking about could be $400 million to $500 million to build and earn an additional $60 million to $80 million annually in Las Vegas. I could have exhibit halls on the lake, and you could take a boat from this hotel.”

At 72, Wynn still is thinking long-term, and that golf course is apparently on his mind.

• A major renovation next year is planned for Delano restaurant and nightclub Mix, a brand that survived rebranding from The Hotel.

The restaurant will be renovated and renamed Rivea, which, like Mix, is managed by star chef Alain Ducasse. The nightclub will be remodeled, too, in time for the one-year anniversary of Delano, which opened the first week in September.

Unknown to most diners, there is a large unused space just off the outdoor dining deck of Mix that offers a fantastic view of the valley and to date has been used as a storage room. Plans are to take advantage of that space and the underutilized view when the remodel takes hold.