Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003 | 10:24 a.m.
Rock 'n' roll karaoke. Sword swallowers. A rotating cast of up-and-coming comedians. Scantily clad dancers. Hip-hop DJs. Racy audience participation segments.
The host is a former Wall Street guy. Well, he sold furniture on Wall Street.
No, it is not another David Saxe variety show.
It is "Beacher's Comedy Madhouse," an "extreme" variety show, and it is coming to the Hard Rock Hotel. Yes, the Hard Rock.
The show, hosted by corpulent comic Jeff Beacher, has been a hit in New York City, and has attracted Hard Rock-type celebs such as Julia Stiles, Rose McGowan, David Blaine, Fred Durst, Carmen Kass and Nicky Hilton.
Now the Paradise Road property is importing the cutting-edge show to The Joint on Dec. 30 because "it is the right show and the right demographic," explained the hotel's new marketing vice president, Phil Shalala.
"I have lived the lifestyle of the Hard Rock customer and I understand the vibe -- both from the entertainment end and the business end," explained Shalala, who is in his first week on the job.
"So, we feel that this show is a perfect match for the Hard Rock."
Shalala, 31 -- a cousin of former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala -- comes to Las Vegas from San Diego, where he was a partner in a management company that, among other things, represented extreme athletes and paired them with big corporations looking for a more hip image.
Not that the Hard Rock needs to burnish its image, he quickly said.
Shalala said the high-energy comedy show is also booked for Jan. 30, when Howard Stern sidekick Arte Lange will also perform.
"After that, we'll see how it went and how the show -- or a show like that -- may fit into the Hard Rock's long-range plans," Shalala said.
Beacher told us he hopes that the show will be an ongoing production, but not a daily performance.
He described the show as "the anti-Jerry Seinfeld."
"There is nothing observational here," Beacher said. "We're in-your-face funny."
Show party
Here's a new excuse for a party: having to go back to work.
The cast of the top-rated television show "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" is returning to Vegas for a week or two of local filming. So, the stars are going to kick off their stay with a private party at Light (Bellagio) on Sunday night, sponsored by Turi vodka and Vanity Fair magazine.
Stars William Peterson, Marg Helgenberger, Gary Dourdan, George Eads, Jorja Fox, Paul Guilfoyle, Eric Szmanda and Robert David Hall and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are expected to walk the red carpet.
Still King
For a guy who has been dead since Jimmy Carter was president, Elvis Presley continues to make news.
It was just announced that "All Shook Up," a musical featuring Presley's hits and commissioned by the King's estate, is scheduled to open on Broadway in spring 2005.
Jack Soden, chief executive of Elvis Presley Enterprises, said the idea sprouted from the success of "Mamma Mia!" -- the pop musical based on the songs of ABBA. Like that show, the goal would be to mount multiple productions, including, eventually, a Vegas version.
Celeb wave
A car transporting a celebrity very familiar to Vegas was chased down by fans the other day. Eventually the vehicle slowed and the window was cracked, allowing out the genteel hand of the singing star in the back seat.
No, it wasn't Michael Jackson -- it was Celine Dion, who was in a limo, leaving her father's funeral in Canada last week.
People magazine reports that nearly 250 family members arrived at the service in 15 limos and five tour buses at St. Simone and Jude Church about 20 miles north of Montreal.
How popular is Dion in her native country? The town of Charlemagne, where the service was held, has about 6,000 residents. Officials estimated that 1,000 people (some from out of town, of course) caught a glimpse of Diva Las Vegas.
VegasBits
Here she comes: Mayoral daughter Cara Goodman is getting married on Saturday. She and Adam Schwartz tie the knot at Four Seasons ...
Ante: Vince Vaughn and a buddy were cleaning up early Sunday at a $25 minimum blackjack table at Bellagio, witnesses report. Later they spent some of their winnings on beverages at Caramel ...
Off air: KVBC Channel 3 anchor Jim Snyder and weather forecaster Dana Wagner had some appetizers at Bahama Breeze on Flamingo Road between the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts on Friday ...
Meet: Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada exec Rino Armeni was chatting up new WB Las Vegas news anchor Rachel Smith after they had lunch (separately) at Spago (Forum Shops at Caesars) on Monday ...
Over: They seemed like a perfect couple when VegasBeat met them at a TI wine auction two weeks ago, but now "Bachelor" Andrew Firestone and fiancee Jen Schefft have broken up. The official announcement was made in a statement to "Extra," the syndicated tabloid entertainment show.
From Sun wires
Ozzy Osbourne fractured several bones including a neck vertebra in an all-terrain vehicle accident on his Buckinghamshire, England, property but the injuries are "not a major problem," a doctor said today.
Osbourne, 55, was "stable and comfortable" after emergency surgery that restored the flow to a blood vessel damaged in Monday's accident, said Dr. Dick Jack, the medical director at Wexham Park Hospital, west of London.
Morrison remembered: Jim Morrison's former band mates burned candles, a rose and a poem at his grave in Paris on Monday, a tribute to the "Light My Fire" singer and cult figure on what would have been his 60th birthday.
"We're trying to evoke the spirit of Jim," Robby Krieger, former guitarist for The Doors, told dozens of fans kept behind police barriers. Many held white candles and old album covers.
Filmmakers break up: Filmmakers Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze are splitting after four years of marriage.
Coppola, daughter of Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola, filed divorce papers Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. She said the couple separated in May. They have no children.
Eminem cleared: The U.S. Secret Service has looked into reports that rapper Eminem wrote lyrics that said "I'd rather see the president dead," but it doesn't plan a formal investigation, a Secret Service spokesman said.
John Gill, the spokesman, cautioned such lyrics can have unintended consequences on others.
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