Archives
September 2006
9/29/06
PURE vs. TAO; Elton on Drugs, AIDS and Bobby Brown; Spago Redux; Plus, Robin Helps Plan Your Weekend
9/28/06
9/28/06
9/27/06
9/26/06
9/25/06
9/22/06
9/22/06
Cher, Bette Midler to Replace Celine; Prince's Flamingo Show?; Jay Leno Performs; Hot Weekend Events
9/21/06
9/20/06
9/20/06
9/19/06
9/18/06
9/15/06
BikeFest Invades Vegas; Andrea Lowell Takes It Off; Jon Secada and the Mexican Independence Festival
9/14/06
9/13/06
9/12/06
9/11/06
9/8/06
9/7/06
9/6/06
9/5/06
9/5/06
Friday, September 29, 2006
In This Issue:The showdown between Mariah Carey/PURE and
Janet Jackson/TAO is set for tomorrow
night.
New additions planned for Project City
Center, including an exclusive, high-roller condo-lifestyle
tower. And is the end near for Barbary Coast and Imperial
Palace? Elton John talks about drugs,
alcohol, AIDS and
rips Bobby Brown a new
one.
A look at Wolfgang Puck’s newly
redecorated
Spago at Caesar's Palace, and super chefs gather at The Venetian this
weekend for a good
cause.
Robin
helps you plan your weekend with his Royal
Rundown.
It’s the eagerly awaited showdown in the battle for nightclub supremacy we told you about at the beginning of the week. Tomorrow night, diva queen extraordinaire Mariah Carey showcases her 'Emancipation of Mimi' tour at the MGM Garden Arena. Then the singer hits PURE for her after-party. At the same hour, Janet Jackson debuts her brand new '20 Years Old' CD at the 1st anniversary celebration of TAO at The Venetian. (Click here for Monday’s Luxe Life coverage of the battle of the divas). Janet’s shindig is expected to last till 5am!!! If invitations are anything to go by, then TAO pulled out all the stops with its red-velvet and crocodile photo-frame typed boxed invitation to the 1st birthday blast, which also features electronic hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari performing tonight after the VIP dinner.
Views from inside TAO, which celebrates its 1st anniversary this weekend and has big plans for the future.
Business during the first year has boomed so big that owners Mark Packer and Richard Wolff are planning major expansions. Big buzz at TAO focuses on next year’s TAO topless pool opening finally at The Venetian -- now the staircase from the club to a rooftop deck has been completed -- and the high probability of a new 2nd entertainment restaurant complex on the Strip plus outposts in Miamiand the Bahamas with an entire TAO island in the Caribbean featuring its own hotel, restaurant and club complex!!!! Luxe Life will have the full photo rundown of the historic weekend right here on Monday morning.
EVERCHANGING STRIP SKYLINE
TAO isn’t the only pool-in-the-sky idea!!! MGM is going even higher at its $7 billion Project City Center. One component of that complex is The Harmon, to be operated by Andrew Sassoon’s Light Group (LIGHT, JET, FIX & STACK), as an ultra-exclusive, high-roller 240-unit condo-lifestyle tower. That party pool will be built 10 stories high, offering the highest pool-views of the Strip to date. Passengers in planes flying into McCarran will get an eyeful of bikini babes from the landing path!!!! My gossip guru pal Norm Clarke of the Review-Journal is also reporting that Harrah’s honchos are seriously mulling ideas to install a center Strip all-in-one pedestrian retail, restaurant and entertainment environment to run from the corner of Flamingo Road to the south end of The Venetian. If they pull that off, that means they will shell out very big bucks to acquire the Barbary Coast and property all the way to where its Harrah’s resort casino meets The Venetian. That probably means the ageing Imperial Palace property and the just-as-old Barbary Coast will come a-tumbling down for new luxury hotels to include a giant rock 'n' roll 3-story music emporium of entertainment (club, theater, restaurants etc) on the corner of the Strip at Flamingo.
THE BITCH IS COMING BACK
Elton John will return with his 'Red Piano' to Caesars Palace Oct. 10.
Caesars Palace headliner Elton John is likely to set off some sparks witha new, two-part interview that starts airing tonight on 'Access Hollywood.' First, he admits that he started his AIDS foundation, which has given away $60-million in global prevention efforts, because he, "got so lucky. I dodged so many bullets because of unsafe sex, the amount of drugs and alcohol I did." He also bashes Whitney Houston's separated husband, Bobby Brown, who was here in Vegas this week hanging out and nightclubbing with Mike Tyson. Says Elton: "Bobby is just not good for her and because of her addiction problems she keeps going back to him. The writing was on the wall many, many years ago with that." Elton will return to Caesars for another string of 'Red Piano' concerts starting Tuesday, Oct. 10.
ADVANCE WARNING
LEFT: Shawn Wayans is at The Venetian Nov. 3. RIGHT: 'Cavalia' premieres at the Rio Nov. 16.
There’s some extraordinary events coming up and I’ve set them outway in advance so you don’t miss any of the excitement. … First up is a one-night only comedy performance at The Venetian’s Blue Man Theater by entertainer Shawn Wayans on November 3. Shawn starred with brother Keenen Ivory Wayans in the Emmy-winning comedy series 'In Living Color' and in the 'Scary Movie' hits. His brother Marlan hit the TAO nightclub at the hotel earlier this week for a solid night of partying and dancing. … Twisted Sister singer Dee Snyder plans to remarry during his Hard Rock Hotel Halloween “Van Helsing’s Curse” concerts on October 20 & 21. He even popped out of a coffin carried on stage by 6 hooded Druids there to confirm he and wife Suzette, wearing a black gown, will renew their vows on their 25th wedding anniversary on Oct 21. His special horror show will feature an 18-piece gothic rock orchestra as he reads his version of the classic chiller flick. … That same weekend, Butterbean (Eric Esch) brings his 350 lb fighting weight into the Pride Fighting Championships for the first time, battling super-Samoan Mark Hunt at the Thomas & Mack Center. Butterbean beat down pro-prankster Johnny Knoxville in the MTV produced 'Jackass: The Movie.' Then, Nov 16, 'Cavalia' gallops in with 50 magnificent horses and 35 artists for its exclusive Vegas Big Top premiere at the Rio. Tickets went on sale this week. 'Cavalia,' is a multi-media special-effects spectacular and a lavish orchestration combining equestrian and performing arts in a spellbinding blend of music, acrobatics and horsemanship. The White Big Top -- the largest touring tent in the world -- is 110 ft high, seating 2000. It houses a 160-foot-long “playground” where the horses’ agility, power, instinct and grace are showcased in all their beauty and, at times, in total liberty. It's not Cirque du Soleil, but you’ll be forgiven for thinking so because Normand Latourelle, President and Artistic Director of 'Cavalia,' and the visionary behind the show, was a pioneer of Cirque until 1990 when he went off to create his own different spectaculars!
STRIP SCRIBBLES
Wolfgang Puck's newly redecorated Spago at Caesars Palace Forum Shops.
Check out the new supersized painting on the wall of Wolfgang Puck’s newly redecorated Spago restaurant at Caesars Palace Forum Shops. It might look like a bar-code at first, but study those lines closer and you’ll discover its actually the updated technological version of the Beatles hit 'Imagine' musical notes and painting. Spago, now 14 years old, was the first celebrity chef restaurant to open here and its arrival set off a decade-long tsunami wave invasion of star chefs that’s still continuing. (Click here for our AOL Video of Wolfgang Puck cooking during a personal tour of Spago.) New modern chandelier lighting, chocolate leather banquettes and seating have given it a whole new look for at least another 10-years!!!. …The world’s largest website for ghosts, hauntings and other wacky paranormal phenomena, HauntedAmericanTours, has just picked its Top 10 in time for Halloween and Vegas landed in the # 8 spot just above Salem, Massachusetts but below #1 ranked Gettysburg. If the desert had been included with all of its rubbed-out Mafia bodies of the historical past we’d have wound up in the top slot!!!
STAR CHEFS
LEFT: Wolfgang Puck serves lucky diners. RIGHT: Yours truly with the star chef.
Please support our annual March of Dimes fundraiser at The Venetian tomorrow, when all of our top chefshost the 9th annual Signature charity event. The kitchen kings of Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant empire will join with chefs from Valentino, Bouchon, RM Seafood, TAO, Fleur de Lys and numerous others for the best food and wine event of the year. But, should your mind need music and your soul require song, we’ve got a whole heaping of other taste treats to serve up in what we affectionately call around here ROBIN'S ROYAL RUNDOWN:
FRI SEPT 29
Electronic
pop-violinist Miri Ben-Ari plays the classics and
the chartbusters for the TAO
1st Anniversary party at The Venetian.
Behind
the comedy and acting there’s a rock ‘n’ roll musician in Jim
Belushi & he
brings his Sacred Hearts band to the Luxor
for 2 nights.
Lots
of laughter is guaranteed with funnyman DL
Hughley at The Orleans.
There’s
a trio of ‘old-timers’ resurrecting the classics of yesteryear’s top 40
charts
with Dr.
John at the Suncoast, Jeff
Beck at the House of Blues and Leon
Russell
at The Cannery.
Looking
for super bodies? Then by day it’s the fitness champion bodybuilders
attending
the Mr.
And Mrs. Olympia Finals at the Orleans
Arena and then the LaPerla sexy lingerie fashion show models at Tangerine
and MySpace.com’s
top 10 Scottsdale
beauties throw a party at PURE nightclub.
SAT SEPT 30
The
last Harrah’s show for Clint
Holmes who rings the curtain down on his
6-year-run there. Click
here for Wednesday’s Luxe Life for
the story of his plan to launch a new musical on the London stage.
If
pregnant supermodel Heidi Klum is still allowed to
travel,
she’ll be backstage to cheer on singing husband Seal
out at Lake Las Vegas.
Comedy
comes from Ray
Romano in the first of two consecutive nights at
the Mirage.
Snow
Patrol will send temperatures soaring with their rock bash at
the Hard Rock.
Spy
on Vegas narrows its model beauty finalists down to the Hot
100 at Tangerine in
TI..
MONDAY’S TEASE
Next week we’ll take a first look at the new Playboy bunnies as moguls Hugh Hefner and George Maloof celebrate the grand opening of America’s 1st new Playboy Club in 25 years atop the Palms Fantasy Tower. Plus, super-exclusive interviews with Rita Rudner as she opens in her new Harrah’s HQ’s and the world’s #1 chef, Joel Robuchon takes me to dinner on a special visit at his MGM restaurants.
CONTACT US
You can
treat us to a feast of food or playboy pulchritude with an email to
robinsvegas@aol.com. To ensure you don’t miss one daily “”popout”
edition, click
here or at the 'Alert Me' up
top if you’d like to know the
split-second we bust loose with the brand new Luxe
Life.
Go to AOL Vegas for much more on hotels, casinos, restaurants, nightlife, and everything Las Vegas! Check our travel section for great deals on hotels, airfare and much more! And whenvisiting Vegas, besure to seeLas Vegas Magazine in your hotel suite featuring a print edition of AOL Vegas Luxe Life, and an incredible directory of attractions, shows and restaurants.
robinsvegas at 10:41:00 AM PDT Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
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PURE vs. TAO; Elton on Drugs, AIDS and Bobby Brown; Spago Redux; Plus, Robin Helps Plan Your Weekend
In This Issue:
It’s the eagerly awaited showdown in the battle for nightclub supremacy we told you about at the beginning of the week. Tomorrow night, diva queen extraordinaire Mariah Carey showcases her 'Emancipation of Mimi' tour at the MGM Garden Arena. Then the singer hits PURE for her after-party. At the same hour, Janet Jackson debuts her brand new '20 Years Old' CD at the 1st anniversary celebration of TAO at The Venetian. (Click here for Monday’s Luxe Life coverage of the battle of the divas). Janet’s shindig is expected to last till 5am!!! If invitations are anything to go by, then TAO pulled out all the stops with its red-velvet and crocodile photo-frame typed boxed invitation to the 1st birthday blast, which also features electronic hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari performing tonight after the VIP dinner.
Views from inside TAO, which celebrates its 1st anniversary this weekend and has big plans for the future.
Business during the first year has boomed so big that owners Mark Packer and Richard Wolff are planning major expansions. Big buzz at TAO focuses on next year’s TAO topless pool opening finally at The Venetian -- now the staircase from the club to a rooftop deck has been completed -- and the high probability of a new 2nd entertainment restaurant complex on the Strip plus outposts in Miamiand the Bahamas with an entire TAO island in the Caribbean featuring its own hotel, restaurant and club complex!!!! Luxe Life will have the full photo rundown of the historic weekend right here on Monday morning.
EVERCHANGING STRIP SKYLINE
TAO isn’t the only pool-in-the-sky idea!!! MGM is going even higher at its $7 billion Project City Center. One component of that complex is The Harmon, to be operated by Andrew Sassoon’s Light Group (LIGHT, JET, FIX & STACK), as an ultra-exclusive, high-roller 240-unit condo-lifestyle tower. That party pool will be built 10 stories high, offering the highest pool-views of the Strip to date. Passengers in planes flying into McCarran will get an eyeful of bikini babes from the landing path!!!! My gossip guru pal Norm Clarke of the Review-Journal is also reporting that Harrah’s honchos are seriously mulling ideas to install a center Strip all-in-one pedestrian retail, restaurant and entertainment environment to run from the corner of Flamingo Road to the south end of The Venetian. If they pull that off, that means they will shell out very big bucks to acquire the Barbary Coast and property all the way to where its Harrah’s resort casino meets The Venetian. That probably means the ageing Imperial Palace property and the just-as-old Barbary Coast will come a-tumbling down for new luxury hotels to include a giant rock 'n' roll 3-story music emporium of entertainment (club, theater, restaurants etc) on the corner of the Strip at Flamingo.
THE BITCH IS COMING BACK
Elton John will return with his 'Red Piano' to Caesars Palace Oct. 10.
Caesars Palace headliner Elton John is likely to set off some sparks witha new, two-part interview that starts airing tonight on 'Access Hollywood.' First, he admits that he started his AIDS foundation, which has given away $60-million in global prevention efforts, because he, "got so lucky. I dodged so many bullets because of unsafe sex, the amount of drugs and alcohol I did." He also bashes Whitney Houston's separated husband, Bobby Brown, who was here in Vegas this week hanging out and nightclubbing with Mike Tyson. Says Elton: "Bobby is just not good for her and because of her addiction problems she keeps going back to him. The writing was on the wall many, many years ago with that." Elton will return to Caesars for another string of 'Red Piano' concerts starting Tuesday, Oct. 10.
ADVANCE WARNING
LEFT: Shawn Wayans is at The Venetian Nov. 3. RIGHT: 'Cavalia' premieres at the Rio Nov. 16.
There’s some extraordinary events coming up and I’ve set them outway in advance so you don’t miss any of the excitement. … First up is a one-night only comedy performance at The Venetian’s Blue Man Theater by entertainer Shawn Wayans on November 3. Shawn starred with brother Keenen Ivory Wayans in the Emmy-winning comedy series 'In Living Color' and in the 'Scary Movie' hits. His brother Marlan hit the TAO nightclub at the hotel earlier this week for a solid night of partying and dancing. … Twisted Sister singer Dee Snyder plans to remarry during his Hard Rock Hotel Halloween “Van Helsing’s Curse” concerts on October 20 & 21. He even popped out of a coffin carried on stage by 6 hooded Druids there to confirm he and wife Suzette, wearing a black gown, will renew their vows on their 25th wedding anniversary on Oct 21. His special horror show will feature an 18-piece gothic rock orchestra as he reads his version of the classic chiller flick. … That same weekend, Butterbean (Eric Esch) brings his 350 lb fighting weight into the Pride Fighting Championships for the first time, battling super-Samoan Mark Hunt at the Thomas & Mack Center. Butterbean beat down pro-prankster Johnny Knoxville in the MTV produced 'Jackass: The Movie.' Then, Nov 16, 'Cavalia' gallops in with 50 magnificent horses and 35 artists for its exclusive Vegas Big Top premiere at the Rio. Tickets went on sale this week. 'Cavalia,' is a multi-media special-effects spectacular and a lavish orchestration combining equestrian and performing arts in a spellbinding blend of music, acrobatics and horsemanship. The White Big Top -- the largest touring tent in the world -- is 110 ft high, seating 2000. It houses a 160-foot-long “playground” where the horses’ agility, power, instinct and grace are showcased in all their beauty and, at times, in total liberty. It's not Cirque du Soleil, but you’ll be forgiven for thinking so because Normand Latourelle, President and Artistic Director of 'Cavalia,' and the visionary behind the show, was a pioneer of Cirque until 1990 when he went off to create his own different spectaculars!
STRIP SCRIBBLES
Wolfgang Puck's newly redecorated Spago at Caesars Palace Forum Shops.
Check out the new supersized painting on the wall of Wolfgang Puck’s newly redecorated Spago restaurant at Caesars Palace Forum Shops. It might look like a bar-code at first, but study those lines closer and you’ll discover its actually the updated technological version of the Beatles hit 'Imagine' musical notes and painting. Spago, now 14 years old, was the first celebrity chef restaurant to open here and its arrival set off a decade-long tsunami wave invasion of star chefs that’s still continuing. (Click here for our AOL Video of Wolfgang Puck cooking during a personal tour of Spago.) New modern chandelier lighting, chocolate leather banquettes and seating have given it a whole new look for at least another 10-years!!!. …The world’s largest website for ghosts, hauntings and other wacky paranormal phenomena, HauntedAmericanTours, has just picked its Top 10 in time for Halloween and Vegas landed in the # 8 spot just above Salem, Massachusetts but below #1 ranked Gettysburg. If the desert had been included with all of its rubbed-out Mafia bodies of the historical past we’d have wound up in the top slot!!!
STAR CHEFS
LEFT: Wolfgang Puck serves lucky diners. RIGHT: Yours truly with the star chef.
Please support our annual March of Dimes fundraiser at The Venetian tomorrow, when all of our top chefshost the 9th annual Signature charity event. The kitchen kings of Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant empire will join with chefs from Valentino, Bouchon, RM Seafood, TAO, Fleur de Lys and numerous others for the best food and wine event of the year. But, should your mind need music and your soul require song, we’ve got a whole heaping of other taste treats to serve up in what we affectionately call around here ROBIN'S ROYAL RUNDOWN:
FRI SEPT 29
SAT SEPT 30
MONDAY’S TEASE
Next week we’ll take a first look at the new Playboy bunnies as moguls Hugh Hefner and George Maloof celebrate the grand opening of America’s 1st new Playboy Club in 25 years atop the Palms Fantasy Tower. Plus, super-exclusive interviews with Rita Rudner as she opens in her new Harrah’s HQ’s and the world’s #1 chef, Joel Robuchon takes me to dinner on a special visit at his MGM restaurants.
CONTACT US
You can
treat us to a feast of food or playboy pulchritude with an email to
robinsvegas@aol.com. To ensure you don’t miss one daily “”popout”
edition, click
here or at the 'Alert Me' up
top if you’d like to know the
split-second we bust loose with the brand new Luxe
Life.Go to AOL Vegas for much more on hotels, casinos, restaurants, nightlife, and everything Las Vegas! Check our travel section for great deals on hotels, airfare and much more! And whenvisiting Vegas, besure to seeLas Vegas Magazine in your hotel suite featuring a print edition of AOL Vegas Luxe Life, and an incredible directory of attractions, shows and restaurants.
robinsvegas at 10:41:00 AM PDT Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | digg this
