It seems like only yesterday (because it was yesterday) we were peeking our head in at The Quad’s new casino area, and there was so much to be done! The dealertainer tables were being assembled. The shelves at the new “Q” Wine & Spirits store were yet to be filled. The roulette wheels were being leveled. And the shiny, new Catalyst Bar at The Quad was still dry. (Insert retroactive sad face here.)

Today, seemingly miraculously, The Quad’s casino floor is bustling with guests, the liquor store has opened, hooch is flowing at the Catalyst Bar and there are two new entrances into the joint. What a difference a day makes!

One of the two new ways to access the fun, just across from Margaritaville at Flamingo.

The hotel’s dealertainers (blackjack dealers who also perform onstage) are already settled into their new digs.

The dealertainers didn't skip a beat. See what we did there?

The two new entrances should make getting into The Quad easier than it’s been for the last few months due to renovations. Now, guests can enter adjacent to the hotel’s porte-cochère (see below), as well as on the other end of the casino (across from Margaritaville at the Flamingo, mentioned previously).

This work-in-progress entrance is near the porte-cochère, and not too far from Carnaval Court at Harrah's Las Vegas.

Here’s a video highlighting some of the changes to The Quad.

For guests who frequented O’Sheas back in the day, these will be familiar stomping grounds, as much of the expanded casino sits where O’Sheas used to be.

Tons of new tables and machines. These are happy times for this blog.

There’s a lot to take in, but all of it’s good!

We're pretty sure this is new, too. Who can keep track?

And perhaps the crown jewel of the newly-unveiled casino at The Quad is the Catalyst Bar, sure to be a popular launching pad for any number of Vegas adventures as word spreads about this dramatic new addition to the Vegas nightlife scene.

For the foreseeable future, if you can't easily reach this blog, this is where we are.

Oh, and let’s not forget one of the more miraculous aspects of today’s new offerings. Yesterday, the “Q” Wine & Spirits store was looking a wee light on the actual wines and spirits.

There's a chance this blog wept openly upon seeing this.

Fear not, however. There are some things Vegas does very, very well.

Here’s the same store today!

This Las Vegas blog does not use the term "miracle" lightly.

According to the hotel’s Director of Retail, Keith Burns, the overnight transformation of the “Q” Wine & Spirits store (which sits just across from the dealertainer area, and just inside the porte-cochère-adjacent entrance) was months in the making. Each area of the store’s space was mapped out, down to the smallest detail, so once the space was ready to be filled, the glorious bottles of liquid joy could be stocked quickly and with precision.

Even the treats are part of the plan (see below). One side salty. One side sweet. We have no idea why we’re so fascinated by all of this other than to say a blog cannot live by craps alone.

One of each of anything edible, thanks.

So, you may want to check out the newly-expanded casino at The Quad for yourself. From the liquor store to the new dealertainer pit and the Catalyst Bar, there’s sure to be something to catch your fancy. Whatever a fancy might actually be.

We may never leave our chair. They sort of caught our fancy, too.

Find out more about The Quad.

Although a number of tenants have been announced for The Linq, the first-of-its-kind F.A.M.E. has made us especially curious.

The venue’s name stands for “Food. Art. Music. Entertainment.” But we still weren’t getting it. So, we decided to track down Chul Park, who works with HIG Management, the group bringing F.A.M.E. to The Linq. The Linq, of course, is the new, multi-million dollar shopping, dining and entertainment complex coming to the heart of the Las Vegas Strip (between Flamingo Las Vegas and The Quad).

You can't spell "F.A.M.E." without "M.E." Or "F.A." for that matter.

Park explains that the overall concept for F.A.M.E. is that it’s an “Asian Night Market & Lounge.” Which would be great if this blog knew what that was. We don’t get out much. Thankfully, Park was up for telling us more.

“On the first floor, we’re re-creating an Asian night market. Night markets in Asia are known to offer a variety of street food within a busy, loud and exciting atmosphere. They’re great places to stroll around with your friends and family, to eat, drink and people-watch,” says Park.

Now we’re getting somewhere.

Oh, all right, we'll eat a vegetable if we have to.

“We’ll have stalls and food trucks offering popular street food from different cities in Asia. Once you step into the first floor of F.A.M.E., you’ll feel like you’re standing in the middle of a night market in Taipei. The second floor will be a lounge with sushi bar and robatayaki (Japanese slow-grilled skewers). It’ll give off a vibe that you can only feel at a lounge in Tokyo or Seoul. It’ll be very hip and sexy.”

Given that this Las Vegas is both hip and sexy, we’re now completely onboard. Along with being hip and sexy, however, this blog is also often hungry, so we asked Park for more scoop about the food.

Sure to be one of the more aromatic offerings at The Linq.

Park adds, “There’s going to be an array of authentic street food you’d find at night markets in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Singapore, Taipei and more. We’ll have noodles, dim sum and satay, but also food that can only be found at night markets in those cities.”

We’re definitely in.

Of course, another component of F.A.M.E. will be the entertainment. Among the offerings will be a Japanese Taiko drum show, Chinese lion dances, live cooking, DJs and street performers.

This video might provide a feel for what’s coming at F.A.M.E.

As far as the art, Park says, “F.A.M.E., as a whole, will be a very artsy space with a lot of attention to detail. Also, in order to portray the authentic street feel, we’ll have a space dedicated to street art where we’ll invite different artists to ‘tag’ every month.”

We were curious about a couple of other things, like who’s behind F.A.M.E., and Park said, “Many of us were born and raised in Asia. Others have multiple, first-hand experiences at Asian night markets and lounges. Each of us brings something to the table and we’re going to make F.A.M.E. as authentic as possible for people who have yet to experience an Asian night market or lounge, or for those who want to experience it again.”

Fact: You will never see a cook at an Asian street market with a wrinkled shirt.

Thanks to Chul Park for sending along some photos, too! They were taken by the F.A.M.E. team during visits to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Taipei.

We were also curious about the fact “Gangnam Style” was mentioned in describing F.A.M.E. Park already knew what we were going to ask next.

“It’s funny the song ‘Gangnam Style’ became popular while we were coming up with the concept for F.A.M.E. Gangnam is an area in Seoul that’s known to have some of the best street food and trendiest lounges and clubs. The atmosphere in Gangnam is fun, energetic, passionate and vibrant and it’s that style, ‘Gangnam Style,’ that we’re bringing to F.A.M.E.”

Don't hate us because we're mainly sharing the food photos.

We had to ask Park what he’s personally most excited about when it comes to The Linq. He said, “The Linq is going to be a place where you can come back every night and experience something new, different and exciting. And the High Roller (observation wheel). How can you not get excited about the world’s tallest observation wheel?”

We can’t wait to get a taste of F.A.M.E. when it opens later this year.

Every day seems to bring changes to the center of the Las Vegas Strip, and The Linq project, a multi-million dollar shopping and entertainment district, is taking shape in dramatic fashion.

Seemingly overnight, the site of the now-closed O’Sheas casino has an eye-catching new facade.

Can we have loved O'Sheas and still love this? We're thinking "yes."

As you get closer, you can see some of the design flourishes, including glass and other features. This area will be the new threshold to The Linq, full of dining, shopping and entertainment options. See some initial tenants of The Linq.

When did all this happen? Possibly yesterday. It's Las Vegas magic.

Not far away, there’s more huge news from the construction site of The Linq’s record-breaking High Roller observation wheel.

The final leg segment of the High Roller (the sixth) was recently put into place, at a mind-boggling 250 feet up, or nearly half the wheel’s ultimate height of 550 feet. We are a Las Vegas blog, not a mathematician.

See the speck atop the leg at the right? That's a dude. Seriously.

This blog was there to grab some exclusive video at the exact moment the final leg segment was being hoisted into place. Oh, yes, there was some hoisting. We would’ve helped, but we’re nursing a craps injury.

Yes, the little “ants” at the top of the legs are human beings. Getting up to the connection point involved climbing ladders inside the legs. Please add this to the list of jobs this blog will never do in a bajillion years. Workers will use a construction elevator from this point on.

Soon after the installation of the final leg segment was complete, the High Roller’s “pants” were put into place. The so-called “pants” connect the legs.

If you don't like that we call them "pants," get your own blog.

The blue scaffolding is temporary. And those slabs of wood hanging from ropes are temporary work platforms. See why we don’t want that job?

This photo makes us woozy. Excited, but woozy.

Next, the wheel’s support leg (we call it the “kickstand”) goes up. Then the wheel itself will start taking shape, including its passenger “pods,” which will each hold 40 riders.

We would like to take a moment to thank all the smart people involved in making this miracle of engineering a reality because this blog's brain hurts just thinking about it.

There’s more fun to come! This is going to be the best 2013 ever.

The Quad’s getting a fancy new sign, and the first letter has just been installed. It’s the “t.” Which is the first letter in “The Quad.” Please try and keep up.

Please put up the "A" next, please! It's Las Vegas!

No, we’re not going to write a new blog post every time a new letter is installed. Probably.

If you don’t follow Las Vegas news all that closely (shame on you), and you’ve never heard of The Quad, it’s the new name of a popular hotel we can’t mention, exactly. Read more.

We’re very excited about the “Q.” Why? Well, for one thing, the letter “q” with a “hook tail” was was first created by missionaries in Papua New Guinea for use in the Numanggang language, and honestly, this Las Vegas blog thinks it’s about time the Numanggang language received a little time in the spotlight.

We were pretty impressed when The Quad unveiled its fancy new porte-cochère (French for “the car drive-up entrance thingy”).

You ain't seen nothing yet.

But to really appreciate the hotel’s new entrance, you have to hang out for a minute or two.

Every few minutes, the colors change. They undulate. No, not undulate. They morph. It’s not really morphing. Sort of a throbbing. Look, we are a Las Vegas blog, not a porte-cochère describer.

Take a look at some video of the lights, sped up 400-ish times, because you don’t have all day.

The ever-boisterous Carnaval Court at Harrah’s Las Vegas has closed temporarily for some sprucing up.

Carnaval Court takes a moment.

Carnaval Court will open again on March 1, 2013, according to this blog’s exhaustive research. (Specifically, we asked someone when Carnaval Court would open again.)

Oh, like we weren't going to open that door.

All the kiosks outside Harrah’s Vegas (the ones selling sunglasses, those dresses you can wear 264 ways, giant Mardi Gras beads) are now gone to make room for some additional awesome.

The former home of kiosks. "Kiosk" is an Aramaic word meaning, "Place where people sometimes create wall hangings with spray paint."

Several feet south of Carnaval Court, The (newly re-named) Quad has closed off its labyrinthine Strip-side entrance, and opened its fancy new porte-cochère.

We like to visit at night because the colors change.

To better illustrate the route guests now take to enter The Quad (at least for the time being), we spent untold hours (and/or 24 seconds) walking the route, capturing our epic journey with a new technology, called “video,” just for you. Remember, this is all a work in progress!

Your sense of underwhelm about this blog’s videography skills is duly noted.

Drop by The Quad to check out all the recent changes and upgrades, including a snazzy new restroom across from Fat Tuesday (see below). No, we’re not kidding. It’s snazzy.

Exclusive!

This blog loves it some Vegas newness. Even if we occasionally have to hang out in a men’s restroom to see it.

With two successful years on The Las Vegas Strip already under its belt, “Recycled Percussion” is coming to The Quad starting Jan. 26, 2013.

“Recycled Percussion” is touted as a mixture of “extreme percussion, engaging humor and extraordinary athleticism,” which includes using everyday items like buckets, ladders and sinks as musical instruments.

This blog is a big fan eating drumsticks.

One of the things for which “Recycled Percussion” is known is audience interaction. Guests are given a drumstick and instrument on their way into the theater, and are encouraged to play along during the show.

“Recycled Percussion” was born at a high school talent show in 1994 in New Hampshire. The group’s leader, Justin Spencer, has been called the world’s “fastest extreme drummer,” and the show also features drummer Ryan Vezina, guitarist Matt Bowman and DJ Todd Griffin. The group got its big break with an appearance on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”

Before you attend the show, let’s take a moment to brush up on our drumming jargon!

In drumming, a “diddle” is a double stroke. A “paradiddle” is two single strokes followed by a double stroke. (Don’t even get us started about the “paradiddle-diddle.” A “flam” is two single strokes played by alternating hands. Yes, there’s a lot of stroking in drumming, and yes, there will be a quiz.

Let’s see the “Recycled Percussion” guys crank up the paradiddles to 11, a phrase this blog should totally trademark.

“Recycled Percussion” will perform nightly at 7:00 p.m., dark Fridays, in The Showroom at The Quad. Tickets are $65.98 and $76.98. Find out more about this show that dances to the beat of its own, well, you know.

There are few things that spark as much excitement in the hearts of Las Vegas casino chip collectors as new chips to collect. Well, The Quad (formerly the Imperial Palace) just rolled out its new chips, and we couldn’t wait to get our hands, and lens, on some.

When cashing in your chips, remember, that's not always a metaphor for something bad.

The shiny new chips at The Quad are just waiting to be broken in, so what are you waiting for?

We love when chips are new and crispy.

We are especially fond of the green, $25 chip, because this is the color we want our blue and red chips to turn into as we play.

Extra crispy.

The Quad name and logo are everywhere now, including on the table games.

Excited? That's how we felt. (See what we did there?)

The Quad has also made its way to the slot machine tickets. We thought this $1 ticket was a clever way to tip our bartender, but then again, we think everything we do is clever.

Cha-ching! Well, maybe more "cha" than "ching," but you know what we mean.

The hotel has a fancy new registration desk, and very recently got some fancy new “Hotel Registration” signs that kind of made us feel like we should register, even though we didn’t entirely have a reservation.

We want one of these for our den. We would also like a den.

The casino has already changed pretty dramatically, and the new porte-cochère is looking pretty spectacular.

Thank you, Sun, for adding some additional flair and/or flare.

So, it’s time to check out The Quad.

That character in the Bond movies should totally charge a royalty.

One last item. If you still have Imperial Palace chips you’d like to cash in, the casino at The Quad will take them until April 21, 2013. After that, you have some great IP collectibles!

One more thing: The first 100 people who play with the new chips are guaranteed to win big.

Related: Do you really believe everything you read in blogs?

The Imperial Palace, one of the more iconic hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, is rapidly transforming into The Quad, and a very visible sign of that transition has to do with, well, the signs. Specifically, they’re coming down.

A number of signs have been removed recently, including more than a few IPs.

Farewell, inappropriate bathroom humor.

Yesterday, removal of the hotel’s largest sign began.

It's all fun and games until somebody loses an "i."

The gigantic undertaking of removing the Imperial Palace’s signs is being done by intrepid workers from YESCO (Young Electric Sign Company), whose jobs this blog absolutely doesn’t want because we have a thing about heights.

May we just say, "Aieeee!"

Because of the size and weight of the letters, each is prepared and lowered individually. From what we could see, it takes about an hour for each letter to be removed.

The neon tubing has to be removed from inside the metal letters. Lines are attached to the tops of the letters to support them on the way down, and others are used to keep the letters from bumping into the building on the way down. Safety first, of course.

Oh, all right, you're allowed one final, "p"-related joke, for old times' sake. We can wait.

All traces of the Imperial Palace name will be removed by Dec. 21, 2012. Everything. From the chips to the napkins to the door handles, everything. Next, we all get to practice calling it The Quad. You’ll live.

This is definitely the end of an era on The Strip, mainly because it sounds super dramatic, and Vegas is all about drama.

Popular singing group Human Nature has ended a three-year run at Imperial Palace (The Quad), performing a final show on Nov. 25, 2012.

The show, “Smokey Robinson Presents Human Nature: The Ultimate Celebration of Motown,” has entertained thousands of Las Vegas visitors since it opened on May 23, 2009. The Nov. 25 show marked the group’s 776th performance at the former IP.

Thanks to Erik Kabik for the great pic from the evening of Human Nature's final show at Imperial Palace.

The members of Human Nature are Andrew Tierney, Toby Allen, Michael Tierney and Phil Burton.

A slew of celebs stopped by to see the harmonizing quartet during its stint at the Imperial Palace, including Susan Lucci, Shania Twain (beginning her residency at Caesars Palace on Dec. 1, 2012), Jennifer Love Hewitt and Berry Gordy, among others.

In the near term, the group has tour dates in Florida, followed by a national tour of their native country, Australia.

Some of our memories of Human Nature include their performance on Dancing With the Stars, their appearance at the annual cactus lighting ceremony at Ethel M Chocolates, their memorable photo spread in Las Vegas magazine (see below) and the group’s charitable and community involvement.

Collector's item!

No replacement for Human Nature’s show at the Imperial Palace (now known as The Quad) has been officially announced. We wish the guys all the best, and expect the Las Vegas Strip hasn’t seen the last of these exceptionally talented performers.

While wandering the gift shop at Imperial Palace, we stumbled (it’s just a figure of speech, probably) upon this clever Las Vegas keepsake and just had to share.

This blog loves it some bar gadgets.

This James Bondesque set has five wine accessory thingys, and costs $24.99.

Remember, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Even in Vegas.

We were giddy to receive news yesterday that massive parts of the High Roller observation wheel, the crown jewel of the even-more-massive Linq project, had arrived at the construction site behind the former O’Shea’s casino.

The last time we saw legs this thick, we are totally censoring the second half of this photo caption.

The outsized segments, complete with inner scaffolding and ladders, will be assembled to form the support legs of the 550-foot (world’s tallest) High Roller observation wheel, expected to open in the latter part of 2013.

We suspect this is the way people, very brave people, will climb the wheel for cleaning and maintenance.

While at the construction site, we also noted a new “plinth” (below), the adorably-named outcropping to which a brace leg will be connected. This brace leg will go west-to-east, perpendicular to the Las Vegas Strip.

If you want to impress friends at your next dinner party, whip this out: “Actually, it’s a tubular steel, variable diameter transverse brace.” Somebody’s getting lucky with that line, guaranteed.

The word "sturdy" comes to mind.

This blog is endlessly fascinated by the incredible engineering feat involved in making the High Roller a reality, especially the names of the parts: Hubs. Spindles. Bearings. Cable spoke systems.

And just wait until the rim of the wheel is installed: “The tubular steel rim will be erected in segments with the assistance of radial erection struts.” This blog is fairly sure it’s never heard a phrase it has liked saying more than “radial erection struts.” But maybe that’s just us.

We can’t wait to see what’s delivered next! Learn more about The Linq, and stay in the loop by liking The Linq Facebook page, and following The Linq and its “mayor,” Jon Gray, on Twitter.

It was looking, for a minute, like an epic battle between two competing Las Vegas observation wheels, the High Roller in The Linq and another called SkyVue at the south end of The Strip.

Now, it’s looking like the battle might be on hold.

SkyVue has taken some hits in the media in recent weeks, and this blog is nothing if not completely objective in its sharing of news related to giant Las Vegas observations wheels that may or may not come into existence. Read more here and here.

On a happier note, the High Roller, currently being erected (yes, we said it) behind Flamingo Las Vegas and The Quad (formerly the Imperial Palace), is moving along, right on schedule.

This massive platform is where passengers will get on and off the High Roller. A full rotation will take about 30 minutes.

Massive structural pieces of the High Roller are being constructed at several factories around the world at the moment, and rest assured this blog will be sharing photos as they arrive.

As a small sampling, the wheel’s platform steel is coming from Utah, the cabins are being made in Colorado and Arizona, the wheel’s drive system is coming from Holland, glass for the cabins is being made in Italy, the cables are coming from France, the wheel fabrication is being done in China and more work is being done in Japan.

Those giant objects are called "support leg plinths." Possibly because it's just fun to say "plinths."

A slew of geniuses are working diligently to make the High Roller a reality.

The General Contractor is W.A. Richardson Builders (they’re doing the foundations, platform, electrical and wheel building), the wheel contractor is American Bridge Company (handling the legs, hub and spindle, rim and cables), the cabin contractor is Leitner Poma of America, the wheel’s drive systems are in the capable hands of Schwager Davis, Inc. and the control system is to be the work of Heywood Engineering.

The technical name for these critical pieces of the High Roller is "things this blog doesn't entirely recognize."

To build the world’s largest wheel, it takes a community. Of really, really smart people who use words that require an industrial-strength dictionary.

On a related note, the High Roller construction site has the most adorable portable restrooms ever.

Ultimately, we wish our friends at the south end of The Strip well, of course, because a rising tide raises all boats. The trick is to try and stay afloat.

When comedian-juggler Jeff Civillico felt his show, “Comedy in Action” at Imperial Palace, could benefit from a new set, he did something extraordinary. He offered his fans the chance to help pay for it. To say they rose to the occasion would be a hefty understatement.

Within a week of Civillico sharing his idea for crowd-funding a massive, inflatable “People’s Arch” to give his energetic show some additional flair, 321 of his fans (including this Las Vegas blog) had contributed more than $10,500 to get it built.

On Sep. 26, 2012, Civillico inflated his new arch for audiences for the first time, set to a tongue-in-cheek ditty called “Also Sprach Zarathustra” from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Take a look.

The colorful, 20-foot tall, 40-foot wide arch was designed by acclaimed set designer Andy Walmsley, who has designed sets for shows like “American Idol” and others. Walmsley even donated $25,000 of his services to make the arch happen.

Next, we should crowd-fund having that ladder-shaped growth removed from Jeff Civillico's face.

Now, audiences will not only be able to enjoy Civillico’s rat-a-tat comedy and dumbfounding juggling, but they’ll also get to feast their eyes on the impressive “People’s Arch,” made possible by Jeff Civillico’s fans. And the Internet. And this blog. But mostly those first two things.

Love juggling? Join the club.

Catch Jeff Civillico at the Imperial Palace (soon to be The Quad). He hangs out with fans after his 2:00 p.m. show, so let him know we sent you.

And ask him to autograph your bosom. Jeff Civillico’s thoughtful like that.

The Flamingo Las Vegas and soon-to-be-renamed Imperial Palace have introduced six new LGBT commitment ceremony packages at their chapels.

Same-sex couples can make their commitment ceremony dreams a reality (although Nevada’s constitution still bans same-sex marriage, don’t shoot the messenger) at any of  seven venues, including the Imperial Palace’s new Silver Sky chapel (which boasts two newly-renovated chapels, the Skyline, pictured below, and the Sierra), and five locations at Flamingo, including the Crescendo pool and the hotel’s garden chapel.

Thought you knew what a chapel at Imperial Palace would look like? Think again.

These LGBT Commitment ceremony packages start at $349.

The packages offer a variety of inclusions like wedding planners, aisle decor, dinner for two, a couple’s massage, portrait photography, video and other options.

On a related note, it’s worth mentioning that Caesars Entertainment, parent company of Flamingo and Imperial Palace, and whose Las Vegas blog this is, was the first casino company in the industry to receive a perfect rating from the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index (and has achieved a perfect score for five consecutive years). The Corporate Equality Index rates businesses based on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workplace policies.

That’s how we roll, baby. Learn more about your chapel options for the Flamingo and Imperial Palace.