Friday, June 4, 2004 | 10:35 a.m.
VegasBeat appears Sunday through Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Timothy McDarrah can be reached at [email protected] or at (702) 259-4096.
How much can it cost to sit in a nice comfy both at a trendy Las Vegas club you have joined and drink a bottle of booze?
Well, Body English, the new destination at the Hard Rock Hotel, is charging $25,000 for annual memberships.
But you don't get use of a booth on Fridays and Saturdays. And that only includes one bottle of booze per month.
The membership amenities break down as follows:
You receive four admission passes, good anytime, which the hotel values at $4,160 per.
You also get the one bottle of liquor per month, which club officials value at $4,200 -- or $350 per bottle. Unless we're talking about a bottle of 1961 Lafite-Rothschild, that is a lot of jingle for a liter of liquor. And trust us, we're not talking about '61 Lafite here. Instead, it is a bottle of gin or vodka that would cost maybe $30 in a store.
A booth is available to members Sunday to Thursday only.
Also included is a poolside cabana on Mondays through Thursdays (value $3,600), a 10 percent discount at Hard Rock restaurants (limited to two guests) and access to the hotel spa, again only Mondays through Thursdays.
A hotel flier puts the minimum actual retail value of the membership at $40,860, but the hotel is proud to offer "for a limited time at the low price of $25,000."
Hoops voice
Marv Albert, Hubie Brown, Charles Barkley, Robin Leach.
Which one doesn't belong? Turns out they all do. The first three are familiar NBA broadcasters. Now, Leach has been dubbed "The Official Voice of the NBA Finals on ABC."
He recently taped a series of promos and other spots to be aired during the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons, which kick off this weekend.
Leach was at Studio Center on South Jones Boulevard the other day taping a variety of broadcast bits.
Green fun
Best party in town tonight will likely be at Green Valley Ranch Station Casino.
It is tossing a double shindig. First, it is celebrating tonight's Discovery Channel premiere of the 13-week series "American Casino," which was filmed entirely at the property, by screening the show on TVs throughout the casino.
That is followed by a party for the rap trio De La Soul, who will then perform at Whiskey Beach, the hotel's spectacular pool patio with a killer view of the Strip.
Incidentally, check out the front page of today's Los Angeles Times -- it dedicated quite a bit of editorial space for reality television in Las Vegas, with the focus on "American Casino."
VegasBits
Plan: Former Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera, casually dressed, had lunch Wednesday at Smith & Wollensky on the Strip with several men in suits who could have passed for political operatives ...
More plan: Van Heffner, president of the powerful Nevada Restaurant Association, was at the Wednesday groundbreaking of The Rio's new convention center. He was telling people he is contemplating leaving the trade group for a political run ...
Coming: Actresses Sean Young ("No Way Out," "Blade Runner") and Kathleen Robertson (Clare Arnold on "Beverly Hills 90210") will be at CineVegas on June 12 for the premiere of their new film, "Until the Night" ...
Croon: KTNV Channel 13 weatherman Nate Tannenbaum took the stage for a few numbers during Lon Bronson's Saturday night show at the Golden Nugget ...
Dinner: Turnberry Place developer Jeffrey Sofer and a party of eight had dinner Sunday night at Charlie Palmer Steak (Four Seasons) ...
Change: A Caesars Entertainment exec says that the scheduled June 27 news conference with Robert De Niro about the Queen musical at Paris Las Vegas has been postponed, and the starting date for "We Will Rock You" previews has been knocked back to Aug. 16 at the earliest.
From Sun wires
A civil action: Producer David E. Kelley, who dramatized the law in "The Practice" and "Ally McBeal," has teamed up to create an NBC reality television show about lawyers.
Although his ABC drama "The Practice" once satirized reality TV, Kelley is joining with producers David Garfinkle and Jay Renfroe on the new series.
"It's a documentary meets a drama," Kelley told Daily Variety. "We'll have our own (team) of lawyers and they'll become our main characters."
The attorneys will try civil cases through binding legal arbitration that occurs outside a courtroom, with current or former judges and some sort of jury involved.
The network has ordered eight episodes. No air date was announced.
Dog gone: Juliette Lewis has movie stardom and a burgeoning career as a rock musician, but what she really wants is to find out what happened to her little dog, Chowie.
Lewis' Chihuahua died seven years ago, the victim of coyotes that snatched him from the back yard. The "Cape Fear" star is considering seeing a pet psychic for more information -- and peace of mind.
"As crazy as that is," she tells Entertainment Weekly magazine, "I want to go to her (the pet psychic) and say, 'Where is my Chowie? Is he reincarnated? And how can I find him?' "
The 30-year-old is performing at the Warped Tour with her band, The Licks, starting June 25.
Marrying kind: Dennis Quaid battles the forces of nature in his new movie, "The Day After Tomorrow," but he's surrendering to them in real life.
Quaid, 50, has proposed to his girlfriend, 33-year-old Texas real estate agent Kimberly Buffington, his spokeswoman, Cara Tripicchio, said. No wedding date has been set.
The TV show "Extra" reported Wednesday the couple met in March 2003.
This will be Quaid's third marriage. He was married to actress P.J. Soles from 1978 to 1983 and to actress Meg Ryan from 1991 to 2001. Quaid and Ryan have a 12-year-old son, Jack Henry Quaid.
Write wing: Bill Clinton is back.
The former president kicked off his first book tour on Thursday with a wide-ranging speech in Chicago that touched on his great-uncle Buddy, the National Rifle Association, William Butler Yeats and political attacks "that would have blistered the hair off a dog's back."
Clinton spoke to a hall packed with more than 2,000 booksellers just weeks before the release of his memoir, "My Life," which is due in bookstores on June 22.
If the Chicago speech was any indication, Americans are in for another round of Clinton's storytelling, homespun philosophy and political insights. But President Bush-bashers may be disappointed.
Clinton was remarkably conciliatory toward the Bush administration, portraying it as trying to find a new political paradigm in a swiftly changing world and gently chiding those who are horrified by the nation's course.
"You shouldn't worry about this," he said. "What's going on has happened before in America, and it should be no particular cause for concern to you."
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