Alex Fees: I’m Alex Fees on Small Business Television. We are to coming to you from SEMA 2008, that’s Specialty Equipment Market Association here on Las Vegas. I’m talking to a gentleman named Pete Allman. Pete, good to meet you, sir.
Pete Allman: Good to meet you, Alex.
Alex Fees: Pete is with Celebrity Scene News. Now is that your company?
Pete Allman: That is.
Alex Fees: All right. Are you just here in Vegas?
Pete Allman: I traveled all around. We’re based on Las Vegas.
Alex Fees: Really? And I’m guessing you have plenty of work at a city like Vegas huh?
Pete Allman: Well, yes.
Alex Fees: What do you do?
Pete Allman: Well basically Celebrity Scene News is a multi-faceted agency. The most important thing is do inspirational interviews whether it’s a celebrity, whether you’re promoting their product and do a positive interview. The other thing of course is producing television commercials.
Alex Fees: Really?
Pete Allman: Handling events during public relations, things along that line.
Alex Fees: Well Pete, I saw you came out to the SBTV.com booth here with a video camera. What are you doing here on the floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center?
Pete Allman: I’m glad you asked that Alex. I’m interviewing people but I’m also seeing what’s new on the automotive field. What really impressed me is a company called Myers who has a revolutionary tire machine. That machine shows you how to change your tire without even touching them with your hands.
Alex Fees: Really?
Pete Allman: And those big tires that the rap artists and the guys who like loud music with the big rims, you know. They weigh sometimes 140 pounds. It only takes about a minute and then a half of Myers to take that tire off the rim. It was revolutionary and I think they do a very good job. At the same time, I find a lot of other interesting people that I could talk to about, you know, the UFC and MMA martial arts.
Alex Fees: Why?
Pete Allman: Because this is something that attracts all kinds of people especially those people.
Alex Fees: Certainly.
Pete Allman: In the fight game if you will.
Alex Fees: Because people who are attracted to things like that might also be attracted to the automotive industry.
Pete Allman: Yes.
Alex Fees: Now go back to the tire example you’re getting, you say you shout a story on that.
Pete Allman: Yes, I did. Basically what I did was a voice over. I saw them changing the tire and it took exactly about a minute and 10 seconds to change that tire.
Alex Fees: Okay.
Pete Allman: If it was a core of that tire, it would take about 50 seconds. So that’s pretty impressive and obviously Myers wants to sell their new machines.
Alex Fees: Right.
Pete Allman: To put in these gas stations, auto centers and why not.
Alex Fees: But now Pete, what does that mean to you? What are you going to do with that story?
Pete Allman: Well, what I’d do with those stories? I write about it. Get it out all over the country to my media outlets which are internet and print publications and at the same time, put it up on the internet and put it on television in Los Angeles on Time Warner.
Alex Fees: Really? Okay so then you write at both of print version and a video version.
Pete Allman: I do and sometimes I do a lot of radio like I’m cable radio network which is radio at cable at the audio with channel of your television sets.
Alex Fees: Sure, yeah. There are a lot of ways to divide it up these days, isn’t there?
Pete Allman: There is but most importantly, I think, you know Las Vegas, being based here is called the live entertainment capital of the world where Hollywood is called the movie capital of the world and so we parallel with two and worked together with them in both ways and I think you’ll see a lot of celebrities coming to Vegas, coming to these shows because it’s something that interest them but it’s also a way for them to promote products.
Alex Fees: Okay, well Pete, talk to me about the changes, how long have you been operating in Vegas like this?
Pete Allman: I came to Las Vegas in 1978.
Alex Fees: ’78. Holy cow!
Pete Allman: Strange enough as it seems as an entertainer.
Alex Fees: Really?
Pete Allman: Bumped in a James Brown, The Godfather of Soul. Entertained for a while in the main show rooms like the Marina where the MGM is now and decided to go into producing commercials, doing talk shows, produce about 300 television shows.
Alex Fees: Wow!
Pete Allman: I now produce television commercials to products, celebrity endorsements for those products and what not. And what I learn from Mr. Brown was to keep an even kill and not to get on an eagle trip to appreciate what you’ve got, to balance your life. He was a great influence in my life and of course he was the hardest man working in show business.
Alex Fees: Absolutely. Well Pete, what about this? We talked about this a bit before the camera started rolling here.
Pete Allman: Sure.
Alex Fees: What kind of changes have you seen in Las Vegas in 30 years?
Pete Allman: In 30 years, Las Vegas is not just about entertainment anymore but Las Vegas is about shopping where you have shopping centers in the hotels. Las Vegas is about food. So now we are a Mecca in some of the finest restaurants in the world, the finest shopping in the world, wonderful world class art galleries that are available and at the same time, Las Vegas itself is where people come to look at the hotels, the architecture.
Alex Fees: Oh, yeah.
Pete Allman: And the person who really was responsible for that, if we go way back to, you know, Bugsy Siegel, that was the start with the other the hotels but the real change in Las Vegas came about when Steve Wynn created the Mirage the Volcano.
Alex Fees: Right.
Pete Allman: And things of that nature to create, shall we say, people watching entertainment but then going into the hotel and gambling, he did that with the Mirage. They have a new volcano which is at the Grateful Dead is creating the sounds and of course with the Treasure Island, they have the sirens if you will, the pirate show.
Alex Fees: Absolutely. I recall seeing that a year ago when I was here at SBTV.com for SEMA 2007.
Pete Allman: Yes.
Alex Fees: And you know, mention with the hotels and such, I know in St. Louis there was a new hotel which is modeled after Las Vegas hotels. I’m sure that is the case in cities around the country.
Pete Allman: Oh yes, but what we have is different that nobody else has and that is the CityCenter. If you pay in $1250.00 a square foot, they’ll probably go up to $1500.00 a square foot but most importantly is we have the Dubai money coming in and the recession that we’re in and we have the biggest multi-city structure, the latest architecture on the planet right here in Las Vegas.
And it comes with the ideas of architects from Dubai. You’ve got that aired money that have come here and now all really was responsibly the part of Terry Lanni who is the CEO of the Mirage Groups where he loves the Arabian horses, the sheik did. They come together and they put together something that was very vital for our community here in Las Vegas and the world.
Alex Fees: Pete talked to me about the evolution shows here on Vegas. Right now it’s a Las Vegas Hilton, Barry Manilow makes his home there.
Pete Allman: Yes.
Alex Fees: I saw Gino Vannelli is currently performing here. You mentioned Cirque Du Soleil which has been here for at least a year. What is happening in that regard, where do you see that going?
Pete Allman: Well, I see entertainment going is no t just about headliners anymore from the days of the Red Pack but it has changed to where you have more production shows, more tactical shows. One of those shows that will be a good example which is an auto search show but it’s called La Rev at the Wynn which is Steve Wynn.
Alex Fees: Right.
Pete Allman: And it’s a show that encompasses climate changes, acrobats, tactical, feet or no arm in the water which is unlike any show I’ve seen although all with the Bellagio is one of those shows too so Las Vegas is more than just headline “X”. It is now production shows very tactical shows if you will and they are so good, just to let people, of course, have about five or six shows here. So you see that, you see here, a more hypnotist shows like Michael Johns and Terry Stokes. One of the longest running shows here, Anthony Cools and along with that, here at the same time, I have a lot of comedy shows.
Alex Fees: Absolutely.
Pete Allman: A lot of magic shows so it has really evolved.
Alex Fees: Then ventriloquist, I saw some guy in the hotels, something faithful, I believe it is.
Pete Allman: Yes.
Alex Fees: Yes, very good.
Pete Allman: Terry Fator.
Alex Fees: Terry Fator, right.
Pete Allman: Great.
Alex Fees: All over the place.
Pete Allman: Yeah.
Alex Fees: In every major network, Oprah Winfrey.
Pete Allman: Truly good.
Alex Fees: Yeah, absolutely.
Pete Allman: And of course the stars come here and we’ve got the comedy festive coming here on November. Of course we’ve got the Rodeo. We’ve got this show where they bring in a lot of revenue like $30,000,000 at least.
Alex Fees: Oh I see. Yeah, more than a 100,000 people turn out to SEMA.
Pete Allman: Yes.
Alex Fees: Last year and this year. Well Pete what about this, where can people go to see Celebrity Scene News?
Pete Allman: All you have to do is go to the YouTube and put in Pete and put in a space, Allman and you could all find all sorts of goodies but if you want to go to my website, it’s CelebrityScene.com and you’ll find some interesting things there and we have a lot of media outlets because Celebrity Scene is my corporate site.
Alex Fees: That’s very impressive frankly.
Pete Allman: Thank you.
Alex Fees: That you’re able to you know reach out and establish yourself, sort of it. I mean you’re kind of the local provider in town to some major outlets, it sound like that.
Pete Allman: Yeah, I do that but also I go to Hollywood a lot and actually back and forth. The movie capital’s Hollywood.
Alex Fees: Yeah.
Pete Allman: The entertainment capital’s here. Put them together and you got a number one win.
Alex Fees: Oh, you got it all here Pete. Thank you very much.
Pete Allman: Thank you.
Alex Fees: In CelebrityScene.com, right?
Pete Allman: Yes.
Alex Fees: He is Pete Allman with Celebrity Scene News. I’m Alex Fees. We’re at SEMA 2008. You’re watching Small Business Television, SBTV.com.
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