Wednesday, March 3, 1999 | 9:17 a.m.
A few weeks ago, Chris Stephenson sat at a table in a small coffee bar at the Luxor, just across the street from the under-construction Mandalay Bay, discussing the chances of success in Las Vegas for House of Blues.
The youthful Stephenson is an ideal spokesman for the trend-driven concert hall, sporting a goatee and black leather jacket and relating anecdotes from his days working for MTV Europe.
These days, Stephenson serves as the House of Blues' resident whiz kid and the corporation's vice president of sales and marketing. He was asked about the obvious challenges his property faces in Las Vegas -- specifically, heavy competition for entertainment dollars both on and off the Strip.
Stephenson seemed perplexed that such a subject would be broached. He admitted he knew little about the entertainment climate in Las Vegas, but confidently outlined the past success of the six House of Blues sprinkled throughout the country.
The tenor of Stephenson's comments echoed the pervading attitude and philosophy of this bastion of corporate chic: Competition? Bring it on.
"Everywhere we've built a House, there has been competition," Stephenson said. "And in every market, we've been successful. We can coexist and it's something we've already proven."
He's right. House of Blues has prospered in entertainment playgrounds such as Chicago, New Orleans and Los Angeles. Tuesday night, the newest House of Blues adjoining the 3,700-room Mandalay Bay trotted out Bob Dylan for the first concert at the ultra-hip 1,850-seat Las Vegas venue.
With House of Blues, the Mandalay Bay Theatre and Mandalay Bay Events Center, the $950-million Circus-Circus property can handle almost every conceivable entertainment production.
The 1,700-Mandalay Bay Theatre is home to the stirring Tony Award-winning Broadway musical "Chicago," starring Ben Vereen, Chita Rivera and Ute Lemper, and the 12,000-seat Events Center opens with a flourish when Luciano Pavarotti performs April 10.
There is already talk of enticing major sporting events such as championship boxing to the Events Center. And the Treasures of Mandalay Bay Museum, featuring rare gold pieces and bank notes, is open from 9 a.m.-midnight daily. Admission is $6.
A hot ticket
For the House of Blues, the professional bond with Mandalay Bay is the first such marriage in the company's history. Stressing live music (and not just the blues), House of Blues won't offer any gaming and the place has a decidedly anti-casino feel. The company's approach will be to mimic the success it has enjoyed since opening in Chicago in 1995 by creating a cool and cozy forum for contemporary musicians.
"Our sound, light and video capabilities are the best anywhere," House of Blues President Greg Trojan said. "You will always have a good time at an event at any House. A lot of acts that can fill bigger venues like to play ours just because it's conducive to good sound quality."
Anyone who has taken in a show at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, or visited the multileveled Drink or ventured up to the Rio's VooDoo Lounge will feel a familiar vibe when walking into House of Blues.
The concert hall features a rounded balcony with 500 fixed seats in 11 rows, placed a cozy 35 feet from the stage. The lower level, which will account for all of the general admission crowd, can accommodate the balance of the 1,850- capacity audience and features two bars and ample room to roam.
"In the balcony, you're literally on top of the performers," Trojan said. "It's like a mini-coliseum setting that the performers and customers really like."
Mr. Mojo in the House
After concerts each Friday and Saturday, House of Blues presents a characteristically quirky late-night party called, "Mr. Mojo's." The show will be run by various guest disc jockeys playing a wide sampling of dance music dating back to the '70s.
Mr. Mojo, a corporate-generated mascot and theme, is a human composite of various music styles and sensibilities. The white-bearded, pony-tailed caricature wears a leather hat emblazoned with a white star and has a House of Blues button pinned to his shirt.
(To be blunt, Mr. Mojo looks like what Santa Claus would resemble after spending two months touring with the Grateful Dead.)
Mr. Mojo doesn't require a dress code and charges $5 for men. Women are admitted free, because, as a company news release notes, "Mr. Mojo ... understands the wonderful and spiritual nature of women and desires that all women receive complimentary admission to all of his parties."
Those parties can run until 4 or 5 a.m., depending on the stamina and temerity of the assembled throng.
The House of Blues management team also has a long-term plan to book local bands for Mr. Mojo's, although General Manager Mark Dunkeson said no Las Vegas-area group has yet been contacted.
"If the deal's right, we'd even welcome having a standing local band and booking them once per week and offering discounts," Dunkeson said. "But right now, it's something that will have to evolve. We're so immersed in just getting the club up and running."
Also, in an effort to entice late-night local business, the club will hold a "Service Industry Night," each Sunday beginning at 11 p.m. Local service industry employees (casino personnel, mostly) will be admitted free to the weekly happening.
"We want to do something special specifically for local people," Dunkeson said. "We want to have nights that have a totally local feel, and our service industry nights seem the best way to get a somewhat regular crowd of local people who would come in after work."
Vaguely familiar
In addition to the concert hall, House of Blues has managed to incorporate the finest elements of many of the city's most popular entertainment halls and night spots (such as the intimacy and unobstructed sight lines of The Joint and the smoldering art deco look of VooDoo Lounge) while still maintaining its own identity.
One of the club's more distinctive high-end attractions are the 14,000-square-foot, members-only Foundation Rooms, which occupy the Mandalay Bay's 43rd floor.
Memberships for the exclusive club and meeting rooms cost $2,000 for individual memberships and $5,000 for corporate memberships, a portion of which will be donated to the International House of Blues Foundation, the company's charity arm that devotes funding to arts programs directed at grade school and high school students.
There has been talk within the organization of opening the Foundation Rooms and club to the general public on selected weekends or special events, charging $15 or $20 per person. However, Trojan said the policy has not been determined.
Nationwide, House of Blues has devoted ample money and space to its 5,000-piece art collection, which the company boasts is the most extensive collection of such artworks in the world. The collection is displayed throughout the club.
Also, each Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. is the adrenaline rush known as the Gospel Brunch, where for $32.60 guests eat from a wide selection of fired chicken, jambalaya, prime rib, smoked turkey, bacon, bagels, cornbread, cheese grits (a must), salad and fruit, boiled shrimp, bread pudding and an omelet bar.
And, while dining, guests take in a full-blown gospel revival that, if nothing else, is sure to aid in the digestive process. The restaurant normally seats 600 guests, but will seat 250 for the Gospel Brunch.
"People are always surprised by how much energy they expend at the Gospel Brunch," Dunkeson said. "Even (in Las Vegas), it will be a different experience."
Being different is a primary objective for House of Blues, which disdains the "cookie cutter" label even though it is a growing chain of lookalike clubs.
"It's too early to tell what kind of personality we'll have in Las Vegas, but it will be different and dictated by local tastes," Trojan said. "For us, the word 'chain' is not a good word. This is not a cookie-cutter operation and its primary focus will be on local people."
Which is why House of Blues is ambitiously planning on featuring live music five nights per week.
"Tourists alone won't be enough to fill four or five nights per week," Stephenson said. "We have to make this a viable option for people who live here, which means shows throughout the week and a lot of variety."
The spice of life
Bringing Dylan in for opening night sounds like a harbinger for House of Blues' early slate of acts, remarkable for their range in status and scope.
"Our name is House of Blues, but we don't want to mislead people," Trojan said. "There's a lot more going on that just the blues. We want to feature all kinds of music, and we have at our other Houses."
In the first month of operation, House of Blues serves up acts as varied as the Blues Brothers (Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi and John Goodman, with blues great Buddy Guy), grunge aces the Offspring, a reheated Blondie, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Chris Isaak.
Meanwhile, a veritable glut of theater and arena shows has developed at rival properties.
Over the next several weeks, The Joint gears up for its 300-room expansion (scheduled to be completed in May) by featuring John Lee Hooker, Ringo Starr, Motley Crue, Neil Young, Alanis Morrisette and Billy Joel. The MGM Grand has plucked the Steve Miller Band and the Rolling Stones for April shows, while Wynonna and Chicago grace the Circus Maximus Showroom at Caesars Palace this month. The Doobie Brothers are featured at The Orleans this week, and the Thomas & Mack Center showcases a Marilyn Manson-Hole-Monster Magnet moshfest this month, followed by a May show by Aerosmith.
It's a vast potpourri for music fans, no doubt, but with a catch: With similar-sized venues vying for the same acts, ticket prices can balloon. One example: One of pop's hottest female artists, Sheryl Crow, charging $75 to $150 for her March 13 appearance at House of Blues, 13 months after charging $27 to $62 to play at The Joint.
"I think one reason is Sheryl Crow is more popular now than a year ago, more in demand," Dunkeson said. "A lot of it is up to the two sides to keep it under control. Certainly, we're not interested in getting into a bidding war.
"There is an agreement, or an unspoken understanding, that we don't want to drive prices up for the consumer. It's just not good business."
Stephenson said: "We won't charge more than the market can bear, that's a promise."
Across the Strip, Thomas & Mack and Sam Boyd Stadium Director Pat Christenson said he doesn't see much -- if any -- negative impact for consumers with the advent of House of Blues.
"If anything, they bring positives," Christenson said. "The acts they're booking are a lot of familiar names, developed talent that has been here before. With all the different entertainment vehicles, there are going to be a lot of different forums for everyone to enjoy."
House of Blues Vice President of Tours and Talent Kevin Morrow, who will book all of the live House of Blues shows in Las Vegas, said ticket prices in smaller venues should level off soon. For example, the high prices for the Crow show have largely been attributed to the newness of the club.
"Our plan is to book on availability and try to avoid going directly up against someone for a Neil Young or Alanis Morrisette," he said. "There are a lot of acts and enough people to support the little places. We're competitive guys, but we're not going to do stuff to alienate the public."
Not at all. For a company that preaches "Unity Through Diversity," alienation is always checked at the door.
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