Las Vegas Weekly

March 1, 2010 · 5:28 PM

Photos: Keep Memory Alive’s $27 million night filled with firsts, miracles

By Robin Leach

Holly Madison at the Keep Memory Alive 14th Annual Power of Love Gala at the Bellagio on Feb. 27, 2010.

Photo: Scott Harrison/Retna/www.harrisonphotos.com

It was a glamorous and glittering night of magic and miracles -- and an extraordinary series of firsts. It was the first time in the 14 years of the Keep Memory Alive: Power of Love Gala that funds the new Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health downtown that we topped $20 million.

We raised $23 million from donations, ticket sales and the live and silent auction -- and incredibly at the last moment, former International Game Technology head honcho Chuck Mathewson and his wife Stacie generously gave $4.4 million to round off the night to a recording-breaking $27 million, which pays off the bond put up by the City of Las Vegas to the clinic. A truly remarkable achievement!

Top donor for the night with an $8 million gift was Stan Fulton, owner of Anchor Gaming who made the unbelievable gift to honor his wife now sadly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. A second miracle!

It also was the first time that superstar singer Barry Manilow in his long and legendary career invited dinner guests onstage to join him for his closing number “Copacabana.” Barry danced, posed for photos and even held iPhones to take pictures. Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck and founder Larry Ruvo’s wife Camille went up onstage to dance. Now that’s magical!

Barry told me: “I was just having so much fun. It was such an important night. I was so proud to be invited, and the supporters were all such wonderful people, it felt like I was singing at my own bar mitzvah! It was so great to meet new friends as I move to Las Vegas. What a way to be welcomed into your city.”

Barry opens his first-ever Strip show this Friday at the Paris, and I predict that it will be a monster hit. I’ve learned that the lavish $10 million production is an intricate and massive concert showcasing his new Romantic Love songs that will overnight be the Strip’s newest sensation.

I’ve known Barry since the 1960s when we were in New York City and invited him to entertain the high rollers who support the Lou Ruvo center. I’ve never seen him in such a relaxed state onstage as he encouraged guests to sing along with his hits. His voice is the best I’ve ever heard it, and Elaine Wynn, who came backstage afterward with me to meet him, told me: “He is simply the best, the ultimate consummate showman. This is the best gala show we’ve had for the Power of Love.”

Photo: Kirvin Doak Communications

Barry Manilow performs at the Keep Memory Alive 14th Annual Power of Love Gala at the Bellagio on Feb. 27, 2010.

Photo: TVT

Barry Manilow is joined by Wolfgang Puck, second from right, and fans on stage at the Keep Memory Alive 14th Annual Power of Love Gala at the Bellagio on Feb. 27, 2010.

Barry followed in the giant footsteps of last year’s one-night-only Siegfried & Roy reunion magic show, and just when you thought that couldn’t be topped, Barry pulled out all the stops for his own sensational night.

It also was the first time that celebrity chefs Thomas Keller and Wolfgang Puck teamed up for the extraordinary four-course dinner served with vintage Dom Perignon and phenomenal wines. They all donated their services and the liquid refreshments as part of the gift giving. My dinner guest Peepshow star Holly Madison even tweeted a photograph of Wolf’s sea urchin shell that was the first appetizer -- and the first she’d ever eaten.

Other celebrities there and who walked the red carpet included Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, Siegfried & Roy, David Brenner, Brad Garrett, Leeza Gibbons, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, plus an incredible turnout of Las Vegas hotel owners and top CEOs including Gary Selesner from Caesars Palace, Felix Rappaport from the Luxor and Sheldon Adelson from The Venetian/Palazzo. Contributing photographer Scott Harrison and VDLX reader and videographer Richard Corey had red carpet duty for the evening.

Diminutive Danny started the head-spinning bidding and auctioned off a surprise visit for lunch on the set of his new TV series for $60,000. He even took off his shoes to photograph his bare feet on an iPhone to get the bid that high! Andre and Steffi’s tennis lesson and luncheon raised $130,000. Two chefs’ dinners in the privacy of your home with Wolfgang and Thomas kicked off the night raising $230,000. Brad did an impromptu comedy routine and then sold a poker package to join Ray Romano and him in Los Angeles for $100,000.

We started out with only one of the new Mercedes speed machines to sell. Just 200 of the gull-wing beauties are being made, with 20 coming here to the United States. Even as I conducted the auction with my good pal Christian Kohlberg, I was thunderstruck that we had three bids totaling $720,000, and they let us sell all three of the cars destined for Nevada!

Teri Hatcher, Steve Schirripa and Buzz Aldrin had all wanted to attend but were grounded in canceled flights in the snowed-in New York area. Barry’s record producer Ron Dante, who worked with him on such hits as “Mandy” from 1973 to 1981, did attend and sat with Holly, which wound up with them plotting to record a new CD. Top Rank boxing boss and Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum and wife Lovee also were in the star-studded crowd.

Photo: Scott Harrison/Retna/www.harrisonphotos.com

Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi at the Keep Memory Alive 14th Annual Power of Love Gala at the Bellagio on Feb. 27, 2010.

It was a monumentally memorable night, and it’s been gratifying to get messages all day yesterday and today from everybody who attended that “it was the best gala yet.” The clinic will have its gala opening on April 1 and is already seeing patients. Not one penny of government money or taxes was used to build this amazing facility -- all the funds came from donations. The Cleveland Clinic specialists led by Dr. Toby Cosgrove, who flew in with 40 of his doctors, all agreed that their presence will continue to grow in Las Vegas, and a feasibility study is underway to ascertain what new medical facilities can be provided here.

The Power of Love is really extraordinary -- and what it can achieve even more so. No time, though, to rest because now we start planning how to make it even more memorable this time next year. Our Senior Editor John Katsilometes reported the exemplary evening in his The Kats Report on the Las Vegas Sun.

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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