Las Vegas Weekly

December 2, 2008 · 1:39 PM

Strip Scribbles: Rosie O’Donnell’s variety show gets the ax despite accolades for Ne-Yo

By Robin Leach

Andrew Ragone and Kristi Holden of Phantom -- Las Vegas Spectacular with members of Jersey Boys Rick Faugno, Jeff Leibow and Erich Bergen.

Photo: Kirvin Doak Communications

It was an impressive lineup of superstar talent for Rosie O’Donnell’s live, 1-hour variety show debut, but it was a Las Vegas R&B singer who stole the headlines. Ne-Yo, who has written and recorded for everybody from Beyonce to Whitney Houston to Jennifer Hudson, won all the raves and praise for his live, unadorned performance to promote his new album Year of the Gentleman. The first-night crowd said he even seemed genuinely surprised to have won such an incredible reception. Our hometown hero Ne-Yo (real name Shaffer Smith) was hailed as the true star of the night at the Schubert Theater on Broadway -- overshadowing the likes of Liza Minnelli, Gloria Estefan, Alanis Morissette, Alec Baldwin, Clay Aiken and Conan O’Brien. Despite Ne-Yo’s rave song set, he couldn’t save the production -- less than two days later, Rosie announced dreadful ratings and that NBC wouldn’t continue onwards with it as a regular weekly series. Fox News reported that Ne-Yo was charming, articulate and knowledgeable -- “a star isn’t born, maybe, but found!”

*Cast members from both Jersey Boys at the Palazzo and Phantom -- Las Vegas Spectacular at The Venetian teamed up to do kitchen duty and act as celebrity servers at the annual Le Cordon Bleu Thanksgiving Day meal for senior citizens and at-risk children. Then the cast of Planet Hollywood’s Stomp Out Loud joined the charitable event and raided the kitchen of all the pots, pans and utensils to provide the entertainment with one of their exhilarating routines. Kristi Holden and Andrew Ragone represented Phantom, Rick Faugno, Jeff Leibow and Erich Bergen represented Jersey Boys -- and the Stomp stars are just too numerous to salute individually!

*No trifling with this truffle! Last month I told you about the downturn in the prized market for Italian white truffles, but now comes word that the largest one of the new season has just sold at auction for a whopping $200,000! The 2.37-pound fungus sold on a closed-circuit TV satellite hookup from London to Abu Dhabi and Macau casino mogul Stanley Ho. Stanley held a monopoly on Macau before Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn and our MGM executives won government approval to open their Vegas casinos there, too. Stanley’s daughter Pansy is partnered with MGM on several international gaming projects! It’s the second consecutive year that he has purchased the biggest tuber of the past 50 years: A year ago, he paid $330,000 for a 3-pound treasure unearthed from below an oak tree. Normal-sized truffles on sale this month at high-roller Strip restaurants have been priced at more than $5,000 apiece because of high demand and scarce supplies.

*Iron Chef Kerry Simon welcomed one of President George Bush’s Cabinet members to his Cathouse restaurant at the Luxor last night. I was there when U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings had dinner among the lingerie-clad servers in the French bordello-themed restaurant. She didn’t even bat an eyelash when the ambiance model stripped down to her skivvies in the one-way-mirrored open dressing room to change into a sexy bedroom number. I guess in some ways that’s an education, too! And she didn't even raise an eyebrow when the bra-baring, stockinged servers brought her a cake to celebrate her weekend birthday! “I just want to follow the same diet when we get a long vacation in January,” she laughed. My friend Baywatch beauty Traci Bingham hosted the party with Hollywood agent Mike Esterman, and we’ll have that photo report later!

*Thankfully that old rule of not playing poker with your beloved didn’t apply to dating couple actress Jennifer Tilly and her poker prince boyfriend Phil Laak. They were teamed as the onstage pros at the interactive Real Deal! show at The Venetian. Jennifer, known for not holding back on her remarks, needled Phil and jabbed him about his playing skills. Phil eventually beat her and won the game, so being the gallant gentleman he is, he whisked Jennifer off for a romantic dinner at the new Lavo restaurant in the adjoining Palazzo.

*Star surveillance: Bond beauty Maud Adams, the Swedish-born actress who appeared in both Octopussy and The Man With the Golden Gun, posed for photos and signed autographs at the Gallery of Legends in Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile for three consecutive afternoons over the holiday weekend. She was joined by villain Jaws actor Richard Keil, who also appeared in two 007 spy thrillers, Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me. The gallery is filled with celebrity and sports memorabilia, and fans thronged the twosome during their meet and greet sessions. … Rapper E-40 was a guest at the Billionaire Mafia studio party near the airport and palled up with designer Lana Fuchs for our contributing celebrity photographer Denise Truscello, just back from Paris herself. … Hometown UFC fighter Frank Mir helped celebrate a friend’s birthday at Sushi Roku in the Forum Shops of Caesars Palace.

*Thanks to Donald Trump’s luxury spa at his Trump International Hotel on the Strip, several lucky local kids are going to have a happy holiday season. The mogul has created a wonderful tie-in promotion with the Toys for Tots Foundation. Through Dec. 20, The Donald’s spa is offering a special 30-minute aromatherapy massage, a 30-minute gingerbread body scrub, a pedicure and image consulting. That’s a $369 package, but make a $30 donation to the Foundation and the price is dropped to $199! And they throw in the facility usage fee, give you a holiday gift collection box and deduct 15 percent off the retail products on treatment day. Additionally, any toys dropped off at the spa through Dec. 20 gets you a 20 percent discount off any spa service! So go help the kids and relax, restore and rejuvenate at the same time!

As a side note, some of you will remember that I was a guest this past April 12 at the wedding of The Donald’s ex-wife, Ivana, at his Mar-a-lago club home in Palm Beach, Fla. She married on-and-off boyfriend of five years Rossano Rubicondi. He was 36 and she was 59. It was Ivana’s fourth march down the aisle, and this was given zero chance of success by even guests at the ceremony who included my friends George Hamilton, Brigitte Nielsen and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. The ugly whispers proved correct when Ivana confirmed yesterday that the marriage had lasted only four months, and they’d officially separated three months ago but kept it quiet because he was appearing on an Italian reality TV series. The bouncing Czech says the breakup was due to him wanting to live in Miami and Milan and her need to live in New York for her family and business. Personally, I think she’s better off without him anyway, so I’m not shedding tears but looking forward to the fifth! Thankfully, he signed the pre-nup before the exchange of vows, but only after many threats to walk out then.

*The only two female tiger sharks (no, this item doesn’t deliberately follow the previous one -- just coincidence!) to be seen anywhere in America have just gone on show at the Shark Reef Aquarium in Mandalay Bay. The powerful predators are easily identified in the 90,000-square-feet, 1.6 million-gallon tank because of their distinctive tiger-striped markings. Although now just a little more than 6 feet in length, they will eventually grow to about 14 feet! Tiger sharks are ranked the second deadliest to the Great White Shark. They have an insatiable, non-discriminating appetite, which happily includes garbage in the sea such as tires, baseballs, license plates and other dumped debris!

Tonight’s tip

Carey Hart has put together another triple music KO punch at his Wasted Space in the Hard Rock with Zerofingers and their guests The Vermin and Guilty by Association. … Standup comic Mark Cohen kicks off a six-night run at the Improv at Harrah’s with Doug Starks and Chris Mancini as his opening acts. Last week, former Laverne & Shirley and Welcome Back Kotter actor Charles Fleischer was the headliner. He’s also well-known for being the voice of Roger Rabbit, and his voice also has turned up in The Polar Express and A Dinosaur’s Story. Our contributing celebrity photographer Erik Kabik still managed to capture some great photos even though he laughed the entire night!

Tomorrow’s tease

To plan your New Year’s Eve visit to the Strip, we’ve got the full rundown of all the stars heading to Vegas to play in the ultimate platinum playground. It looks set to be one of the best and biggest blowouts of the decade! We have the full nightclub listing of countdown kings and queens, plus show headliners and all the other outrageous activities and stunts planned for Dec. 31. The superstars of country are arriving in town as the National Finals Rodeo bucks up a storm with Lady Antebellum and the gorgeous, now solo Heidi Newfield of Trick Pony in the starting lineup.

— From Vegas Deluxe

Link Share This