Las Vegas Weekly

March 11, 2009 · 10:59 AM

Strip Scribbles: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’s new generation

By Robin Leach

Brittany Curran and Ryan Malgarini on the green carpet.

Photo: Denise Truscello

Most of us remember howling in laughter at actor Jim Carrey when he played the original movie version! Now there’s a junior spin-off, but it’s not likely to turn up in your neighborhood cinema. Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective has gone straight to DVD, and the stars turned up for its world premiere at our Springs Preserve. Our contributing photographer Denise Truscello was on the environmentally sound green carpet for the pint-sized stars’ arrivals, including Brittany Curran and Ryan Malgarini. In keeping with the socially conscious event, it was a daylight premiere to save on spotlights and searchlights -- and it was free admission to kids and parents supporting the preserve’s attractions.

Photo: Denise Truscello

Ryan Malgarini, Emma Lockhart, Austin Rogers, Josh Flitter, Reed Alexander, Hunter Clay and Brittany Curran on the green carpet.

Photo: TVT

An aerial view of CityCenter.

*Headlines scream how the downward-spiral world economy is affecting visitor counts to our city. Radio and TV reports cite dire warnings about the recession. That gloom and doom talk has impacted our city. Personally, I wish everybody would cease the bleak forecasting because it just becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Let’s start talking about all the great things Las Vegas has to offer as the world’s ultimate playground. Let’s talk about the incredible new hotels and condo towers lined up this year and next to keep Vegas on top.

Photo: TVT

An aerial view of CityCenter.

Photo: TVT

An aerial view of CityCenter.

Therefore, I couldn’t resist posting a few photos I snapped on my helicopter ride above the new MGM CityCenter complex. These are the latest aerials, which show just how far along the massive project has come. The first tower has an October opening date, and the second tower will be ready in December for the holidays. Cirque du Soleil is scheduled to open its new Elvis Presley spectacular there shortly before New Year’s, too!

*We have it on the best of authority that rocker Dee Snider of Twisted Sister fame will be the special guest at the March 19-21 and March 26-28 performances of the new Monster Circus rock shows at the Hilton.

Photo: LAX

DJ AM at LAX in the Luxor.

*DJ AM is back and better than ever twisting the turntables at LAX in the Luxor. Poker stars David Williams and Jean Robert Bellande were in the VIP stage section on two consecutive nights. Their first night was Belvedere cocktails, and Night 2 was Cristal. NFL receiver Mark Jackson reserved a VIP table on the dance floor! At sister nightclub Christian Audigier in T.I., singer-songwriter Ryan Cabrera and Secondhand Serenade’s John Vesley partied with their entourage alongside Oakland Raiders wide receiver Armani Shields with his own group of friends.

Photo: Christian Audigier

Ryan Cabrera and Secondhand Serenade's John Vesley at Christian Audigier.

Photo: Christian Audigier

Armani Shields at Christian Audigier.

Wicked whispers & racy rumors

Looks like what we reported a month ago is now coming true with hotel mogul Steve Wynn and his wife Elaine. Steve has filed for divorce, and the papers were sealed in the Clark County Courthouse six days ago. They were first married in 1963 and divorced the first time in 1986 and remarried in 1991. Steve has been linked with an English socialite, and they were first spotted together on his yacht in the Caribbean. … Is it true that a new reality TV series to be filmed here in Vegas got yanked by one resort hotel because the cast was caught partying at another property and thus violating the production contract? … Is it true that two fabulous Strip resort hotels have just dropped their room rates to $109 per night, and they’ll give you a $100 dining credit in the restaurants there? … Is it true that for college coeds coming here for Spring Break that the Monte Carlo and New York-New York have come up with an incomparable rate for rooms at just $59 a night through April 12 and with 2 for 1 reductions on breakfast, buffets, roller coaster and inner-tube rides, plus two comped drinks and half-price tickets for Lance Burton’s magic show? … Is it true that one condo-tel project is abandoning apartment sales and going strictly hotel only, and that another troubled condo-tel building will be shrink wrapped and mothballed until the economy turns to be completed? … Is it true that the manager of one Vegas star confiscated a photographer’s camera memory card at a photo shoot in a censorship move to delete the shots of the client they didn’t like -- and then returned it after deleting?

Photo: Preferred PR

Mac King drinks from a fish bowl.

*Comedy magician Mac King has teamed up with Borders to host local events for National Reading Month. It’s a fundraising benefit for Child Haven’s Through the Eyes of a Child Foundation. It begins today and continues through April 24, with every Borders store in the valley collecting new books. Mac will host a reading and magic event at Storytime in the Square today at Town Square. The foundation provides scholarships to abused, abandoned and neglected children at the emergency shelter Child Haven.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

2009 Miss America Katie Stam of Indiana.

*On her first visit home to Indiana after winning the 2009 Miss America crown at Planet Hollywood here in January, Katie Stam found a weeklong to-do list. It culminated with her crowning her successor, Megan Meadors. Several of Katie's pageant sisters flew in for the homecoming celebrations, including Miss Michigan Ashlee Baracy, Miss Utah Kayla Barclay, Miss Oklahoma Kelsey Cartwright, Miss Illinois Katie Lorenz, Miss Kentucky Emily Cox, Miss Arkansas Ashlen Batson, Miss Tennessee Ellen Carrington, Miss California Jackie Geist, Miss Florida Sierra Minott, Miss New York Leigh-Taylor Smith and Miss Iowa Olivia Myers.

*When it comes to music, our contributing photographers are always up front and stage center! Here are the latest photos -- of the Pretenders and Les Claypool -- for your enjoyment! Chrissie Hynde has been blogging about the Pretenders tour, which promotes their album Break Up the Concrete. They flew stateside from my hometown of London straight to snowed-in Albany in upstate New York! Then the group hit Tulsa, Okla., Denver and Aspen, Colo., before moving on to Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego and then the House of Blues here in Mandalay Bay. They are in Reno on Friday and then play the famed Fillmore on Saturday in San Francisco. The eccentric Mr. Claypool is promoting his new CD Of Fungi and Foe, being released next Tuesday, on his Oddity Faire Tour, which he describes as a “mutated mini-fest.” He, too, was at the House of Blues with the Yard Dogs Road Show, and Friday night he hits Salt Lake City and follows with a stop in Denver on Saturday.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Scotty Nguyen and Antonio Esfandiari.

Star surveillance

Supermodel Janice Dickinson was escorted by two handsome male friends to dinner at Koi in Planet Hollywood before going downstairs to Krave in the Miracle Mile to host a sexy show. … Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine was a guest at owner Victor Drai’s VIP booth at his XS nightclub inside the Encore, where poker stars Antonio Esfandiari, David Williams and Nenad Medic were partying, too.

Photo: Juice Newton

Juice Newton.

Tonight’s tips

It’s the first of two nights of midweek concerts with singer Juice Newton at the Star of the Desert Arena in Primm Valley. The tickets are free, so it makes the 25-minute hop to the state line really worthwhile -- and Juice is definitely “The Sweetest Thing I’ve Ever Known”! … The trench coat and lingerie cover-up party at The Beatles Revolution lounge in The Mirage promises to be an erotic affair with a $2,500 prize to the torrid temptress in the most unbelievable underwear!

Photo: Matt Stabile

The Men of X.

Tomorrow’s teases

The Men of X strip off in a hot, steamy photo session as they prepare for the ladies at Friday’s premiere in Hooters, plus an advance look at the worldwide release of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s highly anticipated new Disney film Race to Witch Mountain, which was filmed on the Strip and in the outskirts of Vegas. … We’ve also got two unique looks at our Merry Mayor of Mirth Oscar Goodman’s sexy showgirls that prove they’re just as gorgeous without the flamboyant costumes!

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