Las Vegas Weekly

September 18, 2009 · 2:30 PM

Strip Scribbles: Tattoo convention to be world record-breaking

By Robin Leach

For the first time, Las Vegas will host the Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth at Mandalay Bay starting Oct. 2. More than 50,000 attendees and tattoo artists are expected. It is the seventh annual show and is regarded as the most powerful educational forum in the world for the tattoo industry. Mario Barth, owner of Starlight Tattoo at Mandalay Bay, will host the convention.

Over the three days, expect showcases of live tattooing and piercing, charity events, tattoo contests, seminars and one-on-one training sessions. Celebrities will be attending, including Tommy Lee, who also will play guest DJ. Convention organizers plan to break 10 records with the Guinness Book of World Records, including the greatest number of simultaneous tattoos. For more information, go to TattooExpo09.com.

Mario, who owns six high-end studios around the world and plans to open several more in Europe and Asia next year, says it will be a very wild rock ’n’ roll event but also deal sensibly with business aspects of the art. A charity slot tournament will benefit PETA on opening night, followed by the first Inked True Colors awards at the Hard Rock Hotel on Oct. 3. Mario hopes to announce his Vegas expansion plans during the expo.

*Start your engines … for a second time! NASCAR champion and Pole Position Raceway shareholder Kurt Busch has announced that the company will open a second indoor facility here this fall. Their giant 47,000-square-foot electric karting venture will be located in Summerlin and become the company’s fifth location. “Everyone at Pole Position Raceway appreciates how well the Las Vegas community has embraced the indoor karting experience,” Kurt said. “To be able to expand to a second location in Las Vegas in our current economy is an incredible achievement!”

Managing partner Brad Park, who signed a 10-year lease on the new building, added: “We are incredibly excited to be expanding in the Las Vegas Valley and look forward to increasing the reach of indoor karting.” The first PPR opened opposite Palms Place in December 2007. In addition to Kurt, Supercross champion Jeremy McGrath and ESPN/ABC personality Jamie Little are among the celebrity investors of the tracks, which also are located in Corona and Murrieta in California and Oklahoma City.

*When Cher returns tomorrow night to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, locals will get a special seating upgrade in performances through Oct. 7. Locals who purchase tickets in the second mezzanine level will receive an upgrade to first mezzanine seating, and those who purchase tickets in the first mezzanine will receive a complimentary upgrade to rear orchestra seating. The keyword is “CHER,” and the secret password is “ JUPGRADE” at Ticketmaster or The Colosseum box office!

Star surveillance

Stunning Vanessa Minnillo dined at Dos Caminos in the Palazzo. She ordered the asada and carnitas tacos and chipotle ribs and a couple Mexican Independence Day specialty cocktails. … Comedians Jon Lovitz, Bobby Slayton and Anthony Cools competed against one another at Pole Position Raceway and had the pit staff there in hysterics with their antics.

*Vegas residents appearing on tonight’s last show of Week 1 of Wheel of Fortune taped here this summer at The Venetian with Pat Sajak and Vanna White will be poker player and floral designer Brian Levine, recently engaged CPA Irene Sereno and retired special education teacher Christy Moore. Week 2 of the Las Vegas shows with all hometown folks gets underway on Monday.

Now it’s time for us to spin the wheel and spell out for you the highlights of this weekend’s pleasure-packed schedule of winners that we affectionately put on camera every week here as the ROYAL ROBIN RUNDOWN:

Friday, Sept. 18

*Former Peepshow Peep Diva and Spice Girl Mel B returns to Planet Hollywood tonight and joins Peepshow star Holly Madison and reality TV beauty Kim Kardashian for the grand opening of Pink’s Hot Dogs in the Miracle Mile. All three beauties are fans of the celebrity hotspot in Hollywood now opening its first proper Vegas outlet!

*Peter Frampton is still going strong after years atop the charts and plays The Pearl at the Palms.

*John Legend, who sang gospel and played piano perfectly by age 5, stars at the Red Rock Resort.

*Nashville recording artist and country rocker Jason Aldean performs his hits on the beach at Mandalay Bay under the stars as you splash in the water!

*DJ AM is remembered in a special tribute to his music and DJ skills at Rain in the Palms, with proceeds benefiting his favorite charities.

*Paulina Rubio brings her Gran City Pop Tour to the Star of the Desert Arena in Primm.

*Scottish-born Sheena Easton thrills with a 007 touch for your eyes only on two nights at the South Point.

*Taj Mahal joins Bonnie Raitt alone and together in their BonTaj concert at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay.

*TV comedy favorite David Spade returns to The Venetian for three nights of his sidesplitting observations of life’s comedy, while across the Strip, Ron White brings his blue-collar comedy to the Terry Fator Theatre for two evenings of late-night laughs at The Mirage.

*Alternative New York City rockers The Bravery believe in the sun and the moon for a poolside Hard Rock Hotel concert, while nearby it’s the Five Finger Death Punch CD release party at Carey Hart’s Wasted Space with Otherwise as special guests.

*Mexican Independence weeklong celebrations wind down with the Brothers Cazimero at Sam’s Town.

*Nashville Unplugged has a free concert at Green Valley Ranch with a team of tribute country artists.

Party patrol

Rapper and hip-hop mogul Jermaine Dupri takes on the DJ duties at Prive in Planet Hollywood.

Saturday, Sept. 19

There are a lot of nightlife alternatives if you aren’t a fan of boxing and riveted by the showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand. We’ll have the result on our Twitter as fast as the judges hand in their scorecards -- if Floyd hasn’t won by a knockout!

*Our hometown rockers The Killers, riding higher than ever with their new third album Day and Age, bring their new wave-influenced sounds to the Mandalay Bay Events Center, and expect them to hit their favorite local spots after the show. Phoenix opens the concert.

*Siegfried & Roy kick off Oktoberfest celebrations by tapping the first keg at Hofbrauhaus.

*To mark the 100th show by Human Nature on the Strip, singing legend and hometown favorite Mary Wilson will join the four boys from Down Under, who thrill nightly at the Imperial Palace with their renditions of Motown’s super hits. Mary’s special appearance includes a performance of the classic “River Deep, Mountain High,” a song she recently recorded with Human Nature for their first U.S. album Reach Out, released this month.

*Lynyrd Skynyrd perform their Southern rock skills at Red Rock Resort.

*It’s a jazz attack with Jonathan Butler, Richard Elliot and smooth jazz trumpet soloist Rick Braun at the Boulder Station.

*The B-52’s fly in to shock and awe fans at the House of Blues, but take note of the co-headliners. New band the 88 is led by our Vegas PR friend Bruce Merrin’s son, Adam, and have been touring with the B-52s. The 88 was named best pop/rock band in Los Angeles, capturing their first music award. More than 20 TV shows use 88 original songs as their themes. Proud poppa Bruce recalls appearing on Hollywood Squares years ago when he won a Kimball piano, which is how at just 5 years of age, Adam began his music career!

*Phil Vassar rocks country style at the Silverton Casino Lodge.

*Rick Springfield shows he can still play guitar and sing like a superstar in concert at the Star of the Desert Arena.

*Say yeah three times because the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will blitz out with their show at The Pearl Concert Theater in the Palms.

*For something completely different, you can go out of this world on the weightless flights by Zero Gravity that return for one-day of lift-offs from our McCarran International Airport. Fly the identical G Force 1 weightless flight experience NASA uses to train astronauts that were used by Ron Howard and Tom Hanks in Apollo 13.

*Tickets go on sale today for The Steve Miller Band on Oct. 24 at the Hard Rock Hotel -- the gangster is back!

*The Association joins Gary Lewis and the Playboys for a night of golden oldies at the Club in the Cannery.

Party patrol

Actor Wilmer Valderrama of That ’70s Show, and now due to be seen as the motor-riding cop hero of the film adaptation of CHiPs, will host at LAX in the Luxor after watching The Big Fight. … The Lindsay Lohan saga continues on as tabloid fodder, and whether or not she flies here, her ex-gal pal DJ Samantha Ronson will be behind the wheels of steel at Prive. … The official record release party for Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon End of Day spins out at Tao in The Venetian.

Sunday, Sept. 20

*It’s the official premiere of Zowie Bowie Presents the Vintage Vegas Show at the Monte Carlo, and Vince Neil will guest with his first-ever version of Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon.” Singing ventriloquist Terry Fator was pulled away for an appearance on the Emmys, so he will guest next Sunday. Filling in for him will be at least one of the Jersey Boys from the Palazzo. The theater will be crowded with celebrities as the Rat Pack era starts all over again!

*Don’t be confused, but Pearl featuring Scott Ian from Anthrax plays Carey Hart’s Wasted Space with special guests Robinson Jonas and Pegasus. Next door in The Joint is the Australian Pink Floyd tribute show, and these Down Under guys are right on target with their uncanny accuracy!

*Pink Martini will be both shaken and stirred while performing their cosmopolitan music at the Henderson Pavilion.

*The plea is that “Every Time I Die, Bring Me the Horizon,” which, when you think of it, is a nice way to pass on after the Every Time I Die show at the House of Blues.

Monday’s teases

We have photographers stationed up and down the Strip for the full photo reports of the shows, the openings, the Phantom celebrations and the parties in town after The Big Fight. We’ve also got our full preview and inside secrets of who’s good, who’s bad and who’s ugly in the lineup of stars on Dancing With the Stars’ Season 9 premiere show featuring Vegas favorites Kelly Osbourne, Donny Osmond and Chuck Liddell, who is now being tipped as a dark horse after his brutal and intense five- to six-hour rehearsals seven days a week.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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