Las Vegas Weekly

July 21, 2008 · 8 PM

Strip Scribbles: SushiSamba and Strip sightings

By Robin Leach

* The first celebrities to try the new SushiSamba Asian-Latin American dining palace in the Palazzo were John O’Hurley and his wife, relaxing after the closing of Spamalot, and Rick Faugno, who plays Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys at the Palazzo, with his actress wife, Joyce Chittick. In the first four days of opening, owner Matt Johnson reports they are up to 500 dinners nightly -- proving the long-awaited and much-anticipated unique, fun cuisine.

* Basketball stars are everywhere you turn … NBA Finals MVP Paul Pierce, of the Boston Celtics, chatted with fans and high-fived them, posing for photos while politely waiting with his group to enter Tryst nightclub at the Wynn … also there were NBA players Corey Maggette, of Golden State; Eddy Curry, of the New York Knicks; and Brad Miller, of the Sacramento Kings ... Hall-of-Famer Walt "Clyde" Frazier, who played 10 years for the Knicks and was a seven-time All-Star, visited Symbolic Gallery to check out the sports and pop memorabilia. He’s in town handling announcing duties at the NBA events at the Thomas & Mack Center.

* Star Surveillance: Actress Michelle Pfeiffer enjoyed a mini-vacation on the Strip and her first stop was the ooh-la-la Crazy Horse Paris topless cabaret revue at the MGM Grand. Maybe it was a treat for her hubby, famed TV producer David E. Kelley? The couple enjoyed champagne with her actress sister, Dedee Pfeiffer, and four friends during the sexy show and promised they’d be back next time because they enjoyed it so much! Michelle, who wore a long-sleeved, belted flowery summer dress and black high heels, was also spotted with her family and friends at improv comedian Wayne Brady’s Making It Up show at the Venetian ... enjoying lunch with friends was The Hills star Whitney Port at Hawaiian Tropic Zone inside Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile ... and the rumor mill grapevine had Christina Aguilera and Kim Kardashian partying at Red Rock Casino's Cherry nightclub.

* Scandalous headlines about Hilton headliner Barry Manilow being ill are absolutely and totally untrue, according to his public relations representative. The tabloids speculated his apparently "sudden thin state" was due to a illness that caused the singer-songwriter to lose 100 pounds! "Barry is well, working on a new album and going out on a new arena show in addition to continuing his Hilton gigs here," his spokeswoman said.

* The stopwatch cannot lie. It was exactly 1 minute and 1 second from start to finish for reigning UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva to dispose of challenger James Irvine in the one-up light-heavyweight division over the weekend. Anderson, who said he’d only fight once at the 'up weight,' says now he may do it again!

* Sadly, I was a little quick in pointing out only five of our local Starbucks coffee stores were closing in the first announced round of the massive shutdowns. On the next session, I saw another 12 stores were shuttered! None are on the Strip.

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