Las Vegas Weekly

October 20, 2008 · 4:57 PM

Strip Scribbles: Upcoming events and tonight’s tips

By Robin Leach

-- The event a lot of people have been waiting for -- the 26th annual AVN awards, are all set for Saturday, Jan. 10 at Mandalay Bay with hot-adult actresses Jenna Haze and Belladonna co-hosting the annual porn star invasion.

-- Singer Rihanna went shopping at the Miracle Mile in the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino before the Justin Timberlake Shriners Childrens Hospital charity concert. She hit several stores including Landau, Ultra Diamonds, Urban Outfitters and finally charged her credit card for a spree at European designer Herve Leger.

-- Nevada has truly become a battleground state because the politicos are all over town. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin jets in from her Saturday Night Live comedy spots to appear at the Henderson Pavilion at 11 a.m. tomorrow after a rally up in Reno. Last night former President Bill Clinton hosted a Barack Obama rally here and spent the night at our fearless leader, Danny Greenspun’s home before heading up to Reno this afternoon. Democratic veep hopeful Joe Biden was also in this weekend -- at our Morrell Park in Henderson.

COUNTER INTELLIGENCE: Stars of the Food Network were bumping into each other while in Vegas this weekend. It was the first time that Everyday Italian chef Giada De Laurentiis, who also appears on the NBC Today show, came in for a book signing. “I was here earlier this year to film -- and eat -- at RAO’s in Caesars Palace,” she told me, “but this was a quick overnight visit to sign my new cookbook Giada’s Kitchen - New Italian Favorites. Fans lined up for two hours at the Sur La Table kitchen store in the Miracle Mile at Planet Hollywood to get their autographed copy. She signed non-stop six copies a minute for two straight hours!

Photo: TVT

Giada De Laurentiis

Giada, who is on a 20-city book tour, told me: “I love Vegas. You’ve got great Italian restaurants and I know I’m going to eat well.”

-- Former Vegas-raised chef Guy Fieri returned home for a quick visit and checked into the Hard Rock hotel, where he went shopping for King Baby Studio merchandise. The Food Network TV personality and winner of the second season of the Next Food Network Star visited with Iron Chef winner Kerry Simon for drinks at his Cathouse restaurant in the Luxor.

Reigning Iron Chef Bobby Flay, who has been with the Food Network since I helped launch it back in the mid 90s checked out his Mesa Grill restaurant at Caesars Palace and then went off to the new LAVO nightclub in the Palazzo where he enjoyed Dom Perignon champagne and Patron tequila. It’s the 2nd time in less than a month since it opened that the ‘ Hot Off the Grill’ star has returned to LAVO on his regular visits in from New York.

Photo: TVT

Killers

STAR SURVEILLANCE: Our hometown rockers The Killers are set for an upcoming cover story in Rolling Stone magazine and they picked the out of the way Hugos Cellar restaurant at the downtown Four Queens for the dinner interview location ... Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, who only learned to play poker a month ago, cut down his calorie intake dining on just a shrimp cocktail and 10 ounce filet steak at Nero’s in Caesars Palace so he could race back to the Classic Poker Tournament where he wound up in the Final Table ... golfers Pat Perez, Tommy Armour and Sandy Armour will be sticking to raspberry mojitas from now on. That’s the only drink they ordered at the hot new hip Sushi Samba restaurant in the Palazzo the night before their first tee at Justin Timberlake’s charity golf tournament – and sans hangovers, they placed ‘top group’ on the first day of play ... Stephen Colletti of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County had 10 guys in tow for their "boys' only" Vegas visit when they met up at Lavo restaurant and nightclub in the Palazzo, and Jack Daniels and Belvedere Vodka were their drinks of choice ... Boxer Antonio Tarver watched himself on the plasma screens of Steve Martorano’s restaurant in the Rio. The former Olympic medalist portrayed Sylvester Stallone’s ring rival in the Rocky film and when Café Martorano’s owner spotted him during dinner he racked up the movie to play throughout the restaurant -- accompanied by his trademark dj spins … "American Idol" executive producer and So You Think You Can Dance judge Nigel Lythgoe returned to Tao nightclub in the Venetian with eight guests and took his usual spot in the VIP skybox stocked with Grey Goose vodka … also there was another frequent customer, Floyd Mayweather Jr., who picked a dance floor VIP table for his 12 guests. "The Champ" ordered champagne as usual with a sparkler presentation by Tao’s beautiful cocktail servers ... Apl.de.ap from the Black Eyed Peas was at Tao’s sister nightspot, Lavo, in the adjoining Palazzo sipping Grey Goose and tonic at a dance floor banquette.

Photo: Harrah's

Tarver

TONIGHTS TIP:: There’s an extraordinary selection of events to select from:

*Caesars Palace headliner Bette Midler will host Krave for Change in support of Barack Obama on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender community at the Krave nightclub in Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley will be on hand with four female DJs turning the wheels of steel.

*For the first time locally our hometown rockers The Killers will debut cuts from their new Day & Age album including the first single "Human." In keeping with their own legacy of playing small intimate Vegas clubs to launch their new releases tonight they take over the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay for an explosive and pounding rock ‘n’ roll dance-flavored flawless set. Their new video for "Human" features the tigers and cubs of Siegfried & Roy’s jungle gardens at the Mirage.

*Cast members of the Beatles “LOVE” musical from Cirque du Soleil will attend the special Vegas premieres of the feature-length documentary “All Together Now" playing for one night only at Brendan Theaters in the Palms and at Rave’s 18 in Town Square. The movie shows the unique partnership between The Beatles and Cirque that led to the creation of the musical playing at the Mirage and the behind the scenes dramas with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison during the ever evolving process.

Photo: Scott Doctor

Love

Photo: Scott Doctor

LOVE

*Emmy- and Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist and actor Mos Def hosts at the Prive nightclub in the Planet Hollywood resort casino. The Italian Job star will shoot the midnight cannon of money and dermatologist Dr. H.L. Greenberg will give away a $3,000 prize of Botox, filler and laser therapies to one lucky clubgoer.

TOMORROW'S TEASE:

Mindfreak magician Criss Angel’s dices with death at every performance and his miracle escape from a "hanging" stunt as our 10-day countdown to the world premiere of his new Cirque du Soleil show Believe gets underway … Hundreds of valuable collector cars sell at the rate of $100,000 every five minutes in the debut Barrett-Jackson auction ... Siegfried & Roy “go to the dogs” for our Metro Police officers and our exclusive interview with Latin comic Paul Rodriguez as the new Real Deal interactive poker show premieres on the Strip.

COMING NOVEMBER 1: Our brand-new multimedia Web site, Vegas DeLuxe, is on its way with daily 24/7 breaking news updates for all the luxury lifestyle secrets of Vegas plus all the latest celebrity happenings all over the Strip.

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