Wynn-Drai tryst comes to an end
The sometimes rocky marriage is over between casino developer Steve Wynn and nightclub baron Victor Drai.
Sources said Drai's contract with Wynn was terminated this week, ending one of the most lucrative nightclub partnerships in the city's history. A statement from Wynn was not forthcoming until today, but the parting was said to be amicable.
There have been rumblings that Drai wanted to spend more time in California, where he opened Drai's Hollywood in the W Hotel in March. There also have been rumors that Drai is in talks with Harrah's about a makeover of Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon.
Taking over for Drai are twins Jesse and Cy Waits, managing partners with Drai in Tryst nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas and XS nightclub and Botero restaurant at Encore.
Wynn and Drai teamed up about five years ago shortly after Wynn Las Vegas opened. Unhappy with his main nightclub, La Bete (French for the beast), Wynn fired Frank Tucker as director of nightclub operations one week after the opening and turned to Drai.
The Moroccan-born Frenchman had moved from Hollywood, where he was a restaurateur and film producer, to open Drai's Afterhours below the Barbary Coast, now Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon.
La Bete was renamed Tryst, which turned such an immediate profit that Wynn, no fan of featuring nightclubs at his early properties, was a quick convert.
Drai's plans for Encore, which opened in December 2008, included XS, which grossed $70 million in its first year, more than doubling Tryst's revenue.
Wynn and Drai, strong-willed personalities, were involved in several public spats in the past year but made peace.
DJ DRAMA
Another drama erupted early Thursday at Wynn's Surrender nightclub at Encore. DJ Jazzy Jeff had his 90-minute turntable gig cut off after an hour during a tribute to the late DJ AM.
Leaving the booth at 2 a.m., Jazzy Jeff tweeted, "Funny when people r having a good time but management isn't..can you say...The Right Party at the Wrong Place...(Bleep) it...AM lives....ah yeah."
Sean Christie, the venue's managing partner, said he replaced Jazzy Jeff because the crowd of 2,500 "wasn't digging the music. I think it was a miscommunication on our part. It was like going into a country bar and the DJ is playing classical rock. We play higher energy music on Wednesdays."
Christie said reports he had the DJ escorted off the property "are categorically 100 percent false." There's always a security presence when VIPs leave the venue, he said, and that was misconstrued.
MAY I RECOMMEND ...
Dozens of top Las Vegas restaurants are again participating in Restaurant Week, a partnership with Three Square, the county's largest food bank. The restaurants feature three-course meals at three price points: $20.10, $30.10 and $50.10 per person. For more information and the restaurant list, go to:
www.threesquare.org
THE SCENE AND HEARD
The youngest son of NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan isn't saying much about the tweet heard around the Twitterverse. But Marcus Jordan, 19, acknowledged "I didn't mean it the way it came across." Never mind that it came across as flaunting wealth. Still to be determined is whether the under-21 college student was in Haze nightclub at CityCenter last week, as he tweeted. That's where he hinted of a party tab of "35k." Even if it was someone's else's comp, he shouldn't have been there.
THE PUNCH LINE
"I'll offer Osama bin Laden a meet-and-greet. When he shows up, bam! We grab him." -- From David Letterman's Top Ten Ways Miss Universe Plans To Make The World A Better Place
Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.
