Las Vegas Weekly

April 22, 2010 · 5:26 PM

Strip Scribbles: Encore Beach Club and Surrender to open May 28

By Robin Leach

DJ Kaskade will hold down the Sunday pool party residency at Encore Beach Club.

Photo: Wynn/Encore

Encore Beach Club and its adjoining nightclub Surrender, both at hotel tycoon Steve Wynn’s Encore, has set a May 28 opening date, and reservations are now being taken for Memorial Day Weekend and beyond. Encore Beach Club is aiming to be a premier destination for the trendsetter, offering a party atmosphere often found in European hotspots.

The 60,000-square-foot venue will feature a lush oasis with three tiered pools, day beds featuring private safes, 26 cabanas outfitted with refrigerators and flat-screen TVs and eight two-story bungalows with views of The Strip, hot tubs and other amenities. The cabanas and bungalows offer room temperature controls with air conditioning to manage the summer heat.

The 5,000-square-foot Surrender will open up to the surrounding outdoor oasis as the seasons allow. Chart-topping acts, including world-renowned DJs Kaskade and Steve Aoki, will be featured, as previously reported by Vegas DeLuxe.

*Disney’s The Lion King at Mandalay Bay is pleased to welcome Derrick Williams as wise patriarch Mufasa, and he made his debut on Monday. The singer, dancer and choreographer’s previous shows include Wicked, Aida and Smokey Joe’s Cafe.

*It’s set to be the largest swimsuit photo shoot in North America! Hundreds of bikini-clad and fun, fearless females will spell out C-O-S-M-O at Planet Hollywood during the photo shoot and pool party presented by Nivea on May 24. The aerial photograph will run in the August issue of Cosmopolitan.

*Congratulations to former Tao chef Josh Thomsen, who has been selected the only hotel chef from 90 San Francisco candidates for StarChefs.com’s 2010 San Francisco Bay Area Rising Star Awards. Josh is one of nine winning chefs, and the presentation will be in Ghirardelli Square on June 16.

*Congratulations to my friend female fight photographer MaryAnn Lurie Owen, who has written and photographed an incredible new book Extraordinary Women of the Ring being published first in France. The 12-year-veteran ringside photographer began in 1998 shooting Satin Storm, a televised all-women’s fight card for Lady Boxer magazine, and her photos have been seen by sports fans all over the world. For more information, go to Kiroed.com.

*Metal Elvis and its huge fan following returns to the Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip tomorrow night. The band’s last show was a sensation, and regular Strip appearances are now being planned. Insiders tell me that the act is so Las Vegas that they could easily become the next Steel Panther.

*Rock ’n’ Rita’s, a bar, restaurant and entertainment hotspot, is set to open in June at Circus Circus. The “Great American Party” at the 14,000-square-foot rock-inspired venue will feature flair bartenders juggling, spinning and balancing bottles, drinks and mixers. The team that created Kahunaville at Treasure Island is behind this venue, which will be open from breakfast to late night.

*Nevada’s 2009 Entertainer of the Year Greg London is moving from his two-year-plus run at Harrah’s in Reno to Las Vegas, kicking off his residency at Palace Station on May 27. Greg’s show Icons features his musical impressions of pop culture icons. The first 100 active members of the military, police, firefighters and first responders will be admitted free to each show over the premiere Memorial Day weekend with advance registration and ID.

*The Doors: Strange Days in Vegas has joined the lineup of light-and-sound spectacles nightly on Fremont Street Experience’s Viva Vision screen. Featuring the hits “Break on Through (To the Other Side),” “Roadhouse Blues” and “People Are Strange,” this original show is a symbolic and colorful montage of the greatness of Jim Morrison and The Doors. Live footage used in the show was provided by The Doors and comes from a rare performance at The Hollywood Bowl in 1968. Viva Vision shows run from 8 p.m. through midnight on weekdays and 8 p.m. through 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

*In this photo by Glenn Pinkerton of Las Vegas News Bureau, Senior Master Sgt. Darryl LeBouef of our Nellis Air Force Base is one of the first jumpers to take the plunge off the new Sky Jump at Stratosphere. The Guinness Book of World Records has designated the ride as the world’s highest commercial decelerated descent, which takes passengers down 855 feet at 40 mph. Mayor Oscar Goodman presided over the event, and Chris Rauschnot of 24k Media recorded the record jump.

STAR SURVEILLANCE

Actor John Stamos attended a performance of Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis at Aria in CityCenter and said that the live band rocked. John posed for a photograph with dancer Kelli Baker Herbert. … Peepshow star Holly Madison and friends had brunch at Hash House a Go Go in Imperial Palace. … Legendary radio DJ Rick Dees watched Human Nature at Imperial Palace. … Actress Tia Carrere enjoyed a little mother-daughter bonding time as they rode a gondola in The Grand Canal at The Venetian and then enjoyed treats from Sweet Surrender, home of the $750 cupcake, in the Palazzo. … VIP guests at the Hard Rock Hotel Skybar opening over the weekend, which we posted yesterday, also included Vince Vaughn and wife Kyla Weber, Peter Billingsley, Kenny Chesney, Matthew McConaughey and girlfriend Camila Alves and Morgan Freeman.

TONIGHT’S TIPS

It’s the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft, and former NFL players Seth Joyner and Jerry Porter will join scout Charles Fisher, agent Jack Bechta and current players Kenny Onatolu and A.J. Feeley in an experts’ roundtable discussion at Lagasse’s Stadium in the Palazzo. Fans will mingle with them afterward and meet 2009 Fantasy Football world champion Jason Conn. … Synchronicity performs at Carey Hart’s Wasted Space in the Hard Rock Hotel.

TOMORROW’S TEASES

Kim Kardashian and her sisters Khloe and Kourtney invade Las Vegas for the weekend to host the official opening celebration of Wet Republic at MGM Grand, and since it’s her first visit here after the breakup with Reggie Bush, you know I will ask her about the romance gone wrong. Plus, in a week that saw the huge Cirque du Soleil and Michael Jackson show announcements, we’ll reveal exclusive news about a triumphant spectacular being planned for this fall. The ink is now dry on the contract, and billboards are about to spring up, so we can breathe the first news as to which theater gets this major and massive production!

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.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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