Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Week promises great Las Vegas fetes

Calling all party crashers: Some good ones are coming up.

Aside from a break on Thursday -- much of social Las Vegas is taking a respectful and quiet break on the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks -- Vegas will keep its usual frenetic party pace.

On Friday night a pair of society bashes are taking place. There is a black-tie affair with some British royals to introduce a show of crown jewels at Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art. And, at the same time, Mrs. Corinne Sidney is inviting some noted local folks -- from Judge Gilbert Yarchever to "CSI" creator Anthony Zuiker -- into her home for cocktails.

The Sidney party is to celebrate the induction of the late Academy Award-winning director George Sidney ("Showboat," "Kiss Me Kate") into the Nevada Entertainer/Artist Hall of Fame at UNLV.

On Saturday there are several post-fight parties scheduled for after the Oscar De La Hoya-"Sugar" Shane Mosley bout. The best might be at Fiamma Trattoria at MGM Grand (where HBO has rented the entire restaurant) and at Crustacean, where another celebrity bash is being tossed.

Lisa Marie Presley, who is playing at House of Blues that evening, is expected at the Crustacean bash.

Also Saturday the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce presents its Community Achievement Awards at a black-tie affair hosted by Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt at the MGM Grand Conference Center.

Finalists (in different categories) include KLAS Channel 8's Kevin Janison, producer Jaki Baskow, Las Vegas Philharmonic music director Harold Weller, Mountain View Hospital Chief Executive Mark Howard and Nathan Adelson Hospice President Susan Drongowski.

The Palms is the site of an event Sept. 17 to introduce some "Saturday Night Live"-themed slot machines. The invitation for the Dan Aykroyd-hosted bash promises a spread of "Alaskan king crab, Maine lobster and Atlantic salmon, plus a generous menu ... an array of meats carved to order, a variety of delectable desserts and plentiful libations."

All paid for 25 cents at a time.

No anarchy

Being at the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday night was a little like walking into 1979 and into "Sex," Malcolm McLaren's trend-setting King's Road boutique of cultural terrorism -- the shop sold clothes to punk rockers.

That's because the Sex Pistols were playing The Joint. The crowd was a pretty even mix of post-punks -- people who remembered Johnny Rotten et al. from their first pass through pop culture and who no longer have enough hair to sport a mohawk -- and kids in mohawks and "God Save the Queen" T-shirts sporting safety pins through their earlobes.

A big difference between a vintage Pistols show and last weekend was the mosh pit, or lack thereof. Anytime people would start jumping up and down and bouncing off one another, security would drag them out of the facility. The presence of two uniformed Metro cops also kept a lid on things. (See Spencer Patterson's concert review in today's Accent section, page 6E).

Dance-ski

Anywhere else, you shake your head and say, "How did all these people end up in the same room?"

But it was just another Saturday night gathering in Las Vegas at the gala Kirov Ballet performance and black-tie dinner at Aladdin.

Among the personalities making the scene was former Russian army general, St. Petersburg governor and current Russian Federation Vice Premiere Vladimir Yakovlev. Also on hand were underrated "Sex and the City" cast member David Eigenberg -- he plays Steve Brady, Miranda's (Cynthia Nixon) bartender pal -- Jill and Tony Curtis, Vera and Robert Goulet, composer Maxim Dunaevsky, Viacheslav Pavlovsky (Russia's consul general based in New York) and Phyllis McGuire.

Magic name

Illusionist Dirk Arthur moves downtown to the Plaza starting Sept. 24. Today he was scheduled to be welcomed to the neighborhood by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman at a 1 p.m. ceremony at the hotel.

In return, Arthur will introduce a 12-week-old black spotted leopard he has named Oscar, who will soon be part of Arthur's act.

That's the leopard joining the act, not the mayor. As he will be the first to tell you, he has his own act.

VegasBits

Playa: Luke Walton, son of Bill Walton and a 2003 Los Angeles Lakers draft pick, hit the craps tables at the Hard Rock Hotel on Saturday night. He was with former University of Arizona teammate and current NBA player Richard Jefferson ...

Joker: Former "X" show comic and Emmy Award-winner John Padon headlines this week at the Riviera ...

Smoking: Julius "Dr. J" Erving was spotted buying four boxes of Padio Anniversario maduro-wrapped torpedoes at the cigar shop at Caesars Palace over the weekend ...

Pay Attention: The current Time magazine -- and the Arkansas-owned paper across town -- both now report that Leonardo DiCaprio will star in "Aviator," the upcoming Martin Scorsese biopic about one-time Las Vegas iconoclast Howard Hughes. VegasBeat first reported that news way back on Nov. 29.

From Sun wires

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura and his family have moved into a $1.9 million lakeside estate in Dellwood, Minn., one of the state's wealthiest communities.

Real estate agent Karla Blomberg said the Venturas bought a 10-year-old lakeshore home featuring five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, an exercise room, hot tub, home theater and six-car garage.

According to the real estate listing, the Venturas' new home has 8,212 finished square feet and about 1,000 feet of shoreline.

Dellwood is about 20 miles northeast of Minneapolis.

Bruce almighty: Boston's Fenway Park echoed with the chords of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" Boss-style as Bruce Springsteen took the field for the first rock concert of the baseball park's 91-year history.

"What this park needs is a rock 'n' roll baptism, a rock 'n' roll Bar Mitzvah ... a rock 'n' roll exorcism," Springsteen told the capacity crowd of more than 36,000 as he and his E Street Band launched into standards including "The Rising" and "Lonesome Day" Saturday night.

Springsteen and Fenway, both legends in their own spheres, came together as part of the New Jersey rocker's worldwide tour, which began last summer and will wrap up Oct. 3.

No concerts have been held at the fabled ballpark since 1973, when 15,000 came to see the Newport Jazz Festival.

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