Madonna has announced her "Sticky and Sweet" tour for up to 60 concert dates around the world.

Madonna holds the title of having the highest grossing concert by a solo female artist, and this tour looks to be no different. At least, that's what Live Nation is hoping, which has Madonna under partnership for $120 million. Her last tour grossed $260 million, and this time she'll be in larger stadiums.

Her tour begins right after her 50th birthday. It begins Aug. 23 in Wales and different parts of Europe before landing in North America (New Jersey) on Oct. 3.

She performs at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Nov. 8. Tickets are not yet on sale, but check her website for advanced ticket information.

The Star Trek exhibit at the Las Vegas Hilton could end by the end of the year.

Since 1998, fans of the TV series have traveled to the Hilton from around the world to see "Star Trek: The Experience," which encompasses two shows (including "Borg Invasion 4D" since 2004), Quark's Bar themed bar/restaurant (home to our favorite warp core breech drink) with actors in character, a museum, and a store.

According to TrekMovie.com, owners CBS and Cedar Fair said there are no plans to renew the exhibit, which expires at the end of this year.

A final decision is expected at the end of May. If The Experience does indeed close, it would be in early fall in order to have time to remove everything from the Hilton and return to CBS.

Las Vegas Hilton is host to an annual Star Trek convention, largely because of The Experience. There's no word on whether the conventions will continue at the Hilton.

For a limited time, the Las Vegas Hilton has two of the only Star Trek-themed slot machines in existence, located right outside of The Experience and featuring "adaptive gaming," in which players can create logins and pick up where they left off. We suspect those machines may be all that is left of Star Trek at the Hilton by next year.

Our friends at CineVegas has a free pass for 2 to an advanced screening of the movie Son of Rambow.

Written and directed by Garth Jennings (who last directed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Son of Rambow is the coming-of-age story between two boys who get inspired by Rambo: First Blood.

The screening takes place May 13 at 7 p.m. at the Brenden Theatres at The Palms.

Download the pass at this link

Megabucks hit yesterday morning for $21 million, this time at The Palms.

Last time it hit was May 19, 2007 at the Fremont.

Connie Thiele, 58, said she played through $150 before switching machines, where she threw one more $20 bill in and hit it on the first pull. The cost per pull while being eligible for the progressive is $3.

The lucky Austin, Texas woman and her husband both were playing and had their player's cards inserted trying for points for a buffet.

We think they'll now be set for as many buffets as they can possibly eat.

As for Megabucks, it's already been reset to a paltry $10 million

Sixty dogs will be shown at The Animal Foundation's sixth annual "Best in Show" at the Orleans Arena on June 1.

Dogs will compete for the Best in Show title from American Kennel Club judges.

All dogs are from the Lied Animal Shelter, and each dog can be adopted after the show.

The show will be hosted by Spamalot star John O'Hurley who will be joined by guests Robin Leach, Louie Anderson, and Zowie Bowie.

Last year, the dog show raised over $25,000, and like this year's, all funds will go to helping the animals in the shelter.

The event is $12.50 and runs 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at this link.

In the what-will-they-think-of-next category, experimentation naturally goes hand in hand with Las Vegas.

On June 6 at 1 p.m., Assiter & Associates will auction off a unique industrial luxury house in Las Vegas (in Henderson, just south of 515).

And the auction will be online, with an opening bid of $500,000. Gather up your pocket change.

Pictured below is the gourmet kitchen (we're fond of kitchens), but the star of the house is the 6,500-square-foot garage and viewing mezzanine for prized automobile collectors. Or storing the mother-in-law.

Next weekend from 1 to 3 p.m., you can walk through the amazing 9,500-square-foot house on over 2 acres.

Other features of the house include a wine cellar with hidden spiral staircase and separate dining area, home theatre, granite staircase, stainless steel elevator (!), rooftop garden, and much more.

For more photos, visit this link.

The home is located at 320 East Paradise Hills Dr. in Henderson. Open house is May 18, May 25, and June 1 from 1 to 3 p.m.

First the news about Tropicana, now the sad news that the 99-cent shrimp cocktail is a goner.

For almost 50 years, Golden Gate in downtown Las Vegas had been holding steady its delicious shrimp cocktail at a cost of only 99 cents. We always enjoyed picking up two whenever visiting, both of which were cheaper than the higher priced jumbo shrimp cocktail (pictured above).

Not anymore. Our beloved shrimp cocktail is now $1.99.

We can't say we weren't warned. The first sign of a price increase came in reduced hours for the deli that's served over 30 million of the things. The next sign was part of the casino being purchased by the family who owns part of the Riviera and the Las Vegas 51s. And the last sign was no one playing the classy piano the past half-dozen times we've been there.

But we thought Golden Gate would keep the budgeted shrimp as a loss leader. It's a casino, after all, and enticing players with cheap shrimp gets 'em in the doors, then forces 'em to walk through the casino before reaching the deli.

Even us. We found ourselves playing a few hands of $5 blackjack after our bellies were stuffed with shrimp. Those "few" hands often resulted in ramping up our shrimp cost average to $100.

Fear not, there's still a bright side. If you flash your Golden Gate player's card, you'll save a buck and get the shrimp cocktail at the original 1959 price of $.99.

But heck. The shrimp is so delicious that it's a bargain even at twice that.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Las Vegas Tropicana casino owner, Kentucky-based Tropicana Entertainment LLC, missed a Friday interest payment on a $1.32 billion loan with lender Credit Suisse and the word in the street says the property will be in chapter 11 bankruptcy as early as today. What effect this will have on the day-to-day operation of the old Vegas property is unknown at this time.

Once the tropical jewel of the Las Vegas strip, the property has suffered the ravages of age in recent years as the new generation mega resorts have siphoned away the customer base resulting in the current financial woes. With $2.67 billion in debt this will be the largest corporate bankruptcy this year. The company has 11,000 employees at their small Mississippi River casinos and the Tropicana Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Complete details are available at the Wall Street Journal Online.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Las Vegan Steve Wynn, World Master Hotelier, talked about one of his current projects that promises to be the next quantum leap for Las Vegas resorts. During delivery of the 2008 1st quarter profit report on Friday, Wynn gave a brief synopsis of the non-gaming project slated for the 170 acres of the Wynn Golf. Strategically located behind the strip front Encore / Wynn Las Vegas, the properties neighbors include the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Sands Expo Center and the under construction Echelon. Wynn's newest creation is being designed to become the new world benchmark in convention and exposition destinations.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Attend tonight's advanced screening of Iron Man at the Galaxy Theatres at Cannery, and you'll receive free popcorn.

The Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas at Craig Road is one of our favorite places to go off-Strip, and we're not sure why. Maybe because of everything reminding us of a brewery, and cocktail waitresses dressed like bomber gals.

The Galaxy movie theater is relatively new at 3 years old or so, and it still looks new, with its all-digital screens in 14 theaters.

The advanced screening is at 8 p.m. tonight, then plays regularly beginning tomorrow. Of course, that's without the free popcorn.

I read an interesting article today in the Las Vegas Sun that spells doom for the future of the Vegoose music festival. Check out... Vegoose is one cooked goose.

According to the article, the folks at Thomas & Mack and the Silver Bowl are not hosting Vegoose this year.

There has been no word confirmed about the future of Vegoose from Superfly Productions and or A.C. Entertainment, the promoters who have put on this festival since 2005. Unless they can find a viable option to host the event, I'm afraid that the future of Vegoose looks bleak. With the abundance of musical festivals in the summer of 2008, you almost have to wonder if the market has become over saturated with festivals.

I went to the first Vegoose in 2005 and it was one of the better music festivals that I had experienced. They lineup consisted of a majority of jambands.The headliners that year included Beck, Widespread Panic, The Flaming Lips, Ween, Phil Lesh and Friends, Trey Anastasio Band, and Dave Matthews.

Attendance slipped in 2006 by almost 60%. I was there again and thought it was a fun festival, but it was obvious that less people were in attendance. The Silver Bowl wasn't even used as the main stage.

I skipped Vegoose in 2007, but it seemed obvious that the promoters were trying to boost attendance by adding mainstream acts and random indie bands such as Rage Against The Machine, Muse, The Shins, Cypress Hill, and Public Enemy. That seemed to work as attendance was over 46,000 an increase of almost 16,000 people from 2006.

Stay tuned for more info on the future of Vegoose.

We're sitting back with popcorn, watching live coverage of a house fire aftermath in downtown Las Vegas at Galveston and Montebello.

The fire's now been extinguished and there are no reports of injuries, so we're watching rescue crews mopping up what apparently was a gas explosion.

Courtesy of Channel 8's Skywitness helicopter (the above photos were pulled from them), we can also hear the pilot's one-way conversation with headquarters while awaiting his time to go live.

Some highlights from the pilot monologue:

"Look at all that stuff."

"They got a dog, can't see what kind of dog that is."

"By the way, my lips are chapped."

"This is the helo, how may I help you?"

To eavesdrop with us, click here.

Update: looks like they cut the feed, oh well.

Like Ben & Jerry's free scoop day today, Baskin-Robbins would like you to know that you can also get a scoop at their shops, albeit for 31 cents.

The event takes place April 30 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and some stores will be set up to accept donations for America's firefighters.

To find a location near you (we found 10), click here<

To find 31 cents (or $10,000 like Janet Jackson) in your couch cushions, click here.

Sk8r punks unite!

You still have time to see Avril Lavigne perform tonight at 7 p.m. at The Pearl (at The Palms).

Tickets run $35 to $75 but at this last-minute time, need to be purchased at the box office instead of Ticketmaster.

Then tonight at Moon (also at The Palms), check out the official Avril After Party (as opposed to the unofficial after party, which we aren't privy to) right after the concert.

HDR photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

A dozen High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos of Las Vegas from Flipchip. The smaller images for the blog cannot do justice to highly detailed large format photos. Click the photo or caption for the direct link to the larger (suitable for desktop) images in the gallery . All FlipChip HDR photos are provided for free download and use as outlined in our Creative Commons License. Publication quality images are available.

Flipchip will be adding images to the HDR Photo Gallery weekly. Browse through the thousands of images in the LasVegasVegas Flipchip Poker and Las Vegas Photo Galleries.

HDR photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

More photos after the jump...

A little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll have brought Donny and Marie Osmond to Las Vegas.

The dancing variety show reunites the brother-sister singers, who will be seen for 8 months at the Flamingo beginning Sept. 9.

This will be the first time in 29 years that the Osmonds will perform an extended residency in Las Vegas.

Tickets will run $85 to $115 and go on sale tomorrow at FlamingoLasVegas.com.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Flipchip went downtown last night and found heavy crowds, long lines at the casino eateries, and members of the Las Vegas Fire Department doing PR at the corner of Fremont and Casino Center. A few photos from the Saturday night scene in downtown Las Vegas.

More photos after the jump...

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) is using a tried and true sales pitch to lure potential tourist to the city. The 'sex sales' philosophy has been put into play during these trying times of disappearing disposable income. The LVCVA dispatched genuine Vegas showgirls to San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, and Denver to pose at selected photo ops locations. Show up with a camera, shoot some stuff and maybe see it published on the website.

Unfortunately, this happened yesterday; but, if the ad campaign is effective they'll be sending the girls out to other cities to provide potential tourist with a sample of what the town is all about. Hopefully these sequined, feathered skinny ladies will create the buzz that keeps tourist crowding into neon city in search of a good time. If all goes well, Las Vegas will once again buck the trends and avoid falling into the current national economic sinkhole. We'll try to get out a heads-up on any future cities and locations.