Mr. Pool Party

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

By David J. Spatz

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Feb. 29, 2012

Impeccably dressed in a tailored suit and a fashionably wide and colorful tie, Howard Weiss straddles the top two steps leading onto the small stage at The Pool at Harrah’s. 

The all-weather tropical hangout has been transformed from its daytime persona as a haven for the hotel’s middle-aged hotel guests into its pulse-pounding nightclub configuration.  

Thirty feet from the stage, hip hop star Wyclef Jean is chilling out in a comfortable cabana waiting for his cue. Weiss looks out at the crowd of several thousand people, most of them in their 20s and early 30s, and seems satisfied that everything looks and feels and sounds just right. He speaks into a Secret Service-style microphone hidden beneath the sleeve of his suit jacket. 

Suddenly, at the stroke of 1am, things begin to happen in a hurry. Jean, accompanied by DJ David Christian, makes his way to the stage, exchanges a few words with Weiss, and is introduced to the crowd. 

The Haitian-American singer and musician opens with a moment of silence and then a musical tribute to Whitney Houston, who died just hours earlier. Then Jean picks up a guitar and begins his mini-show. 

It’s just another night at the office for Weiss, who just might have the coolest job in A.C. It’s been a whirlwind nine-year ride for the 29-year-old Penn State graduate who thought his degree in hospitality management would lead to a career running restaurants. 

Weiss is director of nightlife operations for the eastern division of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. His job puts him in charge of about 20 venues, ranging from small lounges to the centerpiece of the gaming giant’s eastern operation, The Pool at Harrah’s Resort. More specifically, The Pool After Dark, which is what the unique facility is called several nights a week after the sun goes down. 

Weiss has helped refine the concept of bringing in celebrities, ranging from popular entertainers to reality show personalities, to host “pool parties.” The parties attract thousands of people who pay a cover charge to enter the facility and get to tell their friends they “hung out” with the likes of Hollywood naught girl Lindsay Lohan or Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi of MTV’s The Jersey Shore, even though they’ll never actually get close to the party’s host.  

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