Las Vegas Weekly

September 23, 2008 · 5:21 PM

Strip Scribbles: Star sightings and tonight’s tip

By Robin Leach

*Luxor comedy headliner Carrot Top is in New York for appearances with Regis and Kelly Lee and a late night stop with David Letterman this week. Before he left Vegas, Carrot Top offered to take every member of his audience one night to Starbucks afterward for coffee – including a female fan who refused to stop texting everything he was doing on stage to another fan back home.

*The prosecution in the OJ Simpson trial underway here built a complete mock-up of the Palace Station hotel room he broke into. The judge, however, instead decided the jury in the robbery case should go to the actual room itself. So the faux OJ crime scene remained in a courthouse basement without anybody knowing what the identical plywood recreation cost. My chronicling colleague Steve Freiss who writes a weekly column here at Las Vegas Weekly grabbed the exclusive photos of both the fake and the real thing for comparison purposes – and you can see from his Vegas Happens Here blog just what both versions looked like.

GOODIE GRAB-BAG: "Law & Order" program executives selected Vegas entertainer Brian Evans’ version of "Under My Skin" for an upcoming episode on NBC ... Side-by-side seatmates on a Southwest flight to Los Angeles: Monte Carlo's master magician Lance Burton en route to film the Head Case celebrity-based sitcom for the STRZ Network and America's favorite ventriloquist, new Mirage headliner Terry Fator, on his way to a TV appearance ... the Smith & Wollensky Strip restaurant presented its 43rd national wine week and it was such a success, featuring the wines from Southern Wine & Spirits portfolio, the management donated all the proceeds to the Frank Gehry-designed Lou Ruvo Brain Institute to be opened downtown next March.

*STAR SURVEILLANCE: Talk show host and supermodel Tyra Banks doesn’t go short on food fuel despite that spectacular figure. First it was lunch at Sushi Roku with five friends in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. Then dinner was at Restaurant Guy Savoy at the new tower at Caesars. She loved the tomato tartare, raved about the acclaimed artichoke soup and praised the delicious desserts. She told owner/manager Franck Savoy that she wants to bring a large group back when she returns to Caesars Palace in November to shoot the first episode of the new season of America's Next Top Model. Tyra grabbed another supper at my friend star chef Susan Feniger’s Border Grill mod-Mex restaurant in Mandalay Bay before attending Janet Jackson’s Rock Witchu show ... Ashley Olsen joined her new boyfriend, Justin Bartha, on the set of his new comedy movie The Hangover during the production shoot on the roof of Caesars Palace. Ashley listened in from behind the cameras shooting the Todd Phillips directed Warner Bros. movie set for theaters next summer ... Actor Laurence Fishburne, standing out in a burnt orange suit at the Tao Beach nightspot in the Venetian, partied with a group of 20 in a private cabana until the early hours. Laurence and birthday boy Columbus Short also dined at Tao’s new sister restaurant LAVO next door in the Palazzo on paella, bruschetta and twice-cooked roasted chicken ... Also in LAVO was National Treasure’s Justin Bartha and a group of friends enjoying the bistro salad, pizza, lamb shank quesadilla, crispy artichokes, filet rossini, spaghetti cacio e peppe, bread pudding, apple crisps and zippole ... Retired boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and BET’s “106 & Park” host Rocsi reveled in the sounds of DJ Reach at a table in the moat VIP section of Tao Nightclub, where they enjoyed Moet & Chandon Nectar Imperial Rose champagne, PJ Rose, Hennessy, Grey Goose and Patron Platinum .. Justin, of National Treasure, joined his Failure to Launch co-star Bradley Cooper for dinner by Tao’s signature 20-foot Buddha enjoying the Chilean sea bass, Kobe beef satay and lobster wontons. Bradley said he was in town filming the movie The Hangover with The Office actor Ed Helms ... CaCee Cobb was known for five years as Jessica Simpson’s BFF and personal assistant. Then she starred by herself partly as a result of her long on-going romance with Scrubs star Donald Faison. Now she’s at SONY Music launching her own career. She hit Caesars Palace Forum Shops for a shopping spree that proved so exhausting she wound-down with the Billecart Salmon rose champagne at the bar of Bradley Ogden’s restaurant. She sure has good but expensive taste! ... Actor Efren Ramirez, better known as Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite, enjoyed VIP service and Snow Queen vodka in Torrid at Hawaiian Tropic Zone.

*Harrah’s headliner magician Mac King entertained school kids at Sunrise Acres when one lucky student was chosen to receive the 1 millionth book in the Spread the Word children’s literacy nonprofit program. Kindergarten student Utahlieya White won a copy of author David Schwartz’s “How Much Is A Million” book and a package of Mac’s magic tricks. The magician also gave her family four free tickets to his Comedy Magic show. Kids to Kids is a flagship program of Spread the Word Nevada serving at-risk children and helps create home library collections. Since 2001 it has served more than 98,000 local children.

Photo: SCOTT ROEBEN

Kindergarten student Utahlieya White wins a copy of author David Schwartz's book.

*Women in Boxes won critics’ praise at our CineVegas Film Festival this summer – and now the first release edition on DVD is available for purchase at www.womeninboxes.com. While there, check out those rave reviews in the "press" section and see videos of the red carpet premiere and interviews on the making of the film. It is a rare documentary focusing on magicians' assistants who have to be contortionists to avoid being stabbed, set on fire and other humiliations for the sake of the art of magic!

*Finally, a personal note of congratulations to my producer pal Norbert Aleman on his weekend wedding. The Crazy Girls and La Cage producer from the Riviera married his beautiful dancer girlfriend, Jennifer, at a Desert Shores lakeside ceremony prior to a sit-down dinner for 50 friends at the Marche Bacchus restaurant.

Photo: TVT

Bride and mom.

Photo: TVT

Norbert says "I do."

Photo: TVT

Newlyweds

Tonight's tip

Hip-hop violinist, the beautiful Miri Ben-Ari, who has worked with Jay Z, Kanye West and Alicia Keyes, will perform a live intimate performance at the boutique Blush nightclub in the Wynn Las Vegas … Over at Carey Hart’s Wasted Space rock lounge in the Hard Rock, three groups make the music: Turboweekend has Weird Dreams and The Lawfords as their guests ... Comedy star Scott Record heads up a twice-nightly bill with fellow comics Don McEnery and Sean Kent kicking off a run through Sunday at the Improv Comedy Club inside Harrah's. Luxe Life photographer Erik Kabik has been capturing all the comics in this 45th year anniversary of the Improv club with 15 years on the Strip and here’s his latest album shot of Michael Pace in the blackshirt.

Photo: TVT

Michael Pace

Tomorrow's tease

It’s our exclusive interview with Donny Osmond just 24 hours in advance of the opening of the new Flamingo headliner “Donny & Marie Osmond Show" and Barry Manilow begins his all-new Hilton show of "nothing but the hits!" We’ll have our exclusive story of the fight by a Vegas artist to get recognition and maybe million$ from the Rolling Stones that I had to push back a day and we’ll also join star chef Susan Fenigar of the “Too Hot Tamales” for a look at her newly transformed Border Grill restaurant at Mandalay Bay.

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