Thursday, May 13, 2004 | 10:31 a.m.
The Wednesday taping (for national broadcast this morning) of Howard Stern's bawdy radio show from The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel was the vintage Stern that the Federal Communications Commission knows and fines.
A few notable moments:
Sidekick Artie Lange drank Jack Daniels for the entire broadcast and was carried out of the building.
Using fairly explicit language, Stern relentlessly quizzed "Survivor" TV show winner Amber Brkich and the show's runner-up (and her fiance), "Boston" Rob Mariano about their sexual activities and proclivities.
During a "Buttaface" contest ("She has a hot body -- but her face!"), the show's crew repeatedly made degrading comments about the contestants.
But Stern was far more sedate off the air. After the show, at a private party on the patio of Simon Kitchen and Bar overlooking the Hard Rock Hotel pool, he was gracious and even jovial, posing for photos with virtually every attendee, and was praising in his comments about his surroundings.
"We're having a lot of fun in Las Vegas," Stern, casually dressed in an open-collared orange shirt, black cargo pants and worn combat boots, told VegasBeat. "Look at this hotel, this weather. I mean, how could you not love it?
"And I bet you didn't know I could sing that well, did you?"
On the air, Stern belted out "Stairway to Heaven" while backed by the band Train.
When we asked Stern about his battles with the FCC, he waved his hand dismissively.
"Who knows what will happen?" he said. "But I don't plan to change a thing."
Stern was joined at the intimate party by girlfriend Beth Ostrovsky; power agent Don Buchwald; show sidekicks Robin Quivers and Fred Norris; producer Gary DellAbate; Tom Chiasano, the general manager of Stern's home station, KXRK 92.3-FM in New York; Hard Rock honchos Kevin Kelley, Phil Shalala, Dallas Orchard and Alissa Kelly; and Simon restaurant partners Elizabeth Blau and Kerry Simon.
Easy money
The Paris Las Vegas audience Wednesday for "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" was a little bit richer for the experience -- literally.
During the show announcer "Stuttering" John Melendez placed a $1,200 bet on the roulette wheel. The audience chose red -- and won. Melendez let it ride, and promptly lost.
But Leno coughed up another $1,200 on red for Melendez to wager, and won.
They split the $2,400 take among the 1,200 audience members, and everyone was handed two $1 bills as they left the taping, where Jerry Seinfeld, Wayne Newton and the aforementioned "Survivor" couple were the guests.
Most ironic was that while the late-afternoon Leno audience was watching a taped segment of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman making merry around town with comic Harland Williams, Goodman himself was before a state Ethics Commission hearing.
The taped segment included Goodman attending a recent groundbreaking ceremony at The Meadows School, whose president is his wife, Carolyn.
The Ethics Commission hearing also had a segment on The Meadows School, which was the recipient of $50,000 negotiated by Goodman as part of a liquor endorsement deal.
VEGAS wins
VEGAS.com President Howard Lefkowitz got a big laugh from the audience at the 2004 EPpy Awards, which honor the best new work by media companies.
"What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas, anymore!" he quipped while picking up top honors in the Best Internet Shopping Service category. VEGAS.com beat out NYNewsday.com for the prize.
The ceremony, sponsored by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek magazines, took place in Atlanta on Wednesday at the Interactive Media Conference & Trade Show.
Big wheel
A new "Wheel of Fortune" slot machine record was set Wednesday when an Las Vegas woman who chose to remain anonymous hit for $11.2 million at the Golden Nugget.
Hotel owners Tim Poster and Tom Breitling were on hand to inspect the three "Wheel" logos lined up on the record-setting machine.
"This proves the Golden Nugget is the home of big jackpots," Poster said.
In January a Las Vegas cab driver won $3.2 million at the Golden Nugget on a 5-cent Elvira video slot machine. That jackpot was the largest ever hit on a nickel slot machine and set a world record for the denomination.
Big hit
Check out the cover photo and story in the latest TV Guide.
"Loving Las Vegas -- A show like the city: flashy, sexy and fun" reads the cover line of the nation's No. 3 magazine in terms of circulation (9 million). The photo is of "Las Vegas" co-stars Josh Duhamel and Nikki Cox.
The story inside begins, "NBC bet on a veteran movie star and a streak of beautiful faces. Looks like it paid off."
Alongside is a photo inside of the entire cast -- James Caan, Vanessa Marcil, James Lesure, Marsha Thomasen, Molly Sims, Duhamel and Cox.
A sidebar headlined, "Believing Las Vegas" details 12 other current TV shows either set in Vegas or that use Las Vegas as a ratings-grabbing backdrop.
VegasBit
Greet: Hard Rock Hotel owner Peter Morton offered a personal greeting to adult film star Tabitha Stevens when she walked into Simon Kitchen and Bar after the Stern show taping Tuesday at The Joint ...
From Sun wires
Concert to aid military families: A concert featuring country stars such as Hank Williams Jr. and Rebecca Lynn Howard is planned Labor Day weekend to raise money for families of military reservists who were called to active duty.
Organizers say they hope "HomefrontAid-2004" in Buffalo, N.Y., will draw between 50,000 and 100,000 people and raise $7 million to $8 million.
Powell applies for coat: In Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's long and distinguished career, he has served among the eagles and the lions of international statecraft. In Britain, he would have been dubbed Sir Colin by now.
Powell has arranged for the next best thing: a coat of arms, in memory of his late father, Luther Theophilus Powell, who was born in Jamaica and thus a subject of the British Commonwealth, and his mother, Maud Ariel McKoy, whose family hailed from Scotland.
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