Las Vegas Weekly

March 22, 2010 · 6:17 PM

Strip Scribbles: Bobsledders find Love at The Mirage post-Olympics

By Robin Leach

Chef Kerry Simon is flanked by members of the gold medal-winning Canadian women's bobsled team at the Palms.

Photo: The Palms

The Winter Olympics gold medalists from Canada’s women’s bobsled team took over Las Vegas as their party playground this past weekend. It all began at The Beatles Love by Cirque du Soleil at The Mirage. Heather Moyse, Amanda Morley and Kaillie Humphries went backstage after the show, were greeted by many of the Canadian cast members and showed their gold medals to everybody.

The bobsled beauties had previously watched O and Ka for their Cirque fix before the weekend. The teammates also were seen at Lavo in the Palazzo and turned up for yesterday’s pajama brunch at Iron Chef winner Kerry Simon’s Simon in Palms Place.

*Lawyers for former Tao nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel, who has moved back to her MGM condo here, have threatened a lawsuit against Las Vegas showman Jeff Beacher ordering him to remove defamatory allegations about her from his Facebook pages.

*Congrats to CityCenter head honcho Bobby Baldwin’s son B.J. Baldwin in the second round of the five truck races through 248 arduous miles in the Baja desert in Mexico. He’s currently ninth overall but came in fifth in the 24th MasterCraft San Felipe 250 race with an average time of 51 mph for the 4 hours and 49 minutes of the race. Only 158 of 257 drivers finished the race. NASCAR star Robby Gordon finished second (53.88 mph and 4 hours 36 minutes), and Las Vegas drivers Rob MacCachren finished eighth, Kory Scheeler 11th and Cody Freeman 19th.

*The eagerly awaited Paramore tour with guest stars Tegan and Sara hits 31 U.S. cities and one in Canada starting July 23 in Raleigh, N.C. -- but not Las Vegas! That’s because Paramore will play The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel on May 16 and wouldn’t want to return so soon. Pre-sale tickets are up for grabs for fan club members today, advance tickets go on sale tomorrow, and general public tickets go on sale Saturday.

*The Casino City Times reported this morning that Steve Wynn and Elaine Wynn are still living at their resort casino since their January divorce under the same roof -- but in different villas. In Friday’s SEC filing in Washington, D.C., Elaine revealed that she pays $350,000 a year for her villa suite there, and Steve’s two fairway Villas are $508,831 a year.

*Can it possibly be true that Oscar winner Michael Douglas will play famed Strip entertainer Liberace, with rugged action hero and fellow Oscar winner Matt Damon as his younger lover? The Hollywood buzz is confirmed by both actors, but who knows if they’re joking. If true, doubtless they will be doing research at The Liberace Museum here, which celebrates its 31st anniversary now through April 15 with discount pricing.

Meantime, confusion reigns around the notice of foreclosure that Chase filed on one of Mr. Showmanship’s Las Vegas villas. My Las Vegas Weekly colleague Steve Friess has reported that its owner, real estate investor Terrance Dzvonick, is in default on the palatial home with antique Grecian marble pillars, Baccarat crystal chandeliers and a $1.5 million ceiling painting with Liberace’s likeness at the Sistine Chapel. Terrance reportedly purchased the estate for $3.7 million four years ago. The monthly mortgage is more than $20,000, and he admits not paying it for the past 12 months because it was with Washington Mutual and Chase can’t find the paperwork for the original loan, which it took over after WaMu collapsed.

STAR SURVEILLANCE

Music group Duran Duran came to Las Vegas for a private concert but managed to spend the weekend partying and soaking up the sun. The Brits were all at MGM’s Wet Republic, stretched out in the private bungalows and took a dip in the pool, with frontman Simon LeBon catching up on his reading while laying out in the sun. In the bungalow next door, funnyman and Last Comic Standing host Bill Bellamy partied with friends in between his standup comedy performances at South Point and watched the Texas A&M/Purdue NCAA basketball game. When DJ Vice played music by Journey and Jay-Z, the group danced atop a daybed. … Roger Taylor of Duran Duran enjoyed drinks at Ghostbar in the Palms, while John Taylor saw Love for the second time. Nick Rhodes had lunch in The Country Club at the Wynn.

*Comedian and actor Chris Rock hung out backstage with fellow comic Martin Lawrence after Martin’s sold-out performance at The Pearl in the Palms. Earlier, Chris had dinner with friends at Simon. After his show, Martin hit Rain with 15 friends and then went upstairs to The Playboy Club, where he was presented him with a key. On his second night, Martin also unwound at Moon. Chris, a friend and two bodyguards were at N9NE Steakhouse for a quick drink with executive chef Barry Dakake.

*Adult world entrepreneur and author Tera Patrick had gossips abuzz when she was with record producer Scott Storch at Ghostbar over the weekend. They enjoyed tequila shots, margaritas and beers. Later, Tera and six friends joined Scott’s table at Rain. … Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall celebrated his 26th birthday with 10 friends at N9NE Steakhouse. … Rapper Flavor Flav received a standing ovation at N9NE when he arrived in a neon green suit, green alligator skin shoes and of course the large clock dangling from his neck.

*ShoWest Comedy Star of the Year winner Zach Galifianakis of The Hangover treated his family to dinner at Tao in The Venetian. … Peepshow star Holly Madison had lunch at Society Cafe in the Encore for the second time in a week. … World-renowned London-born DJ Paul Oakenfold watched the new Matt Goss show at Caesars Palace in support of his English mate.

*Singer-songwriter and Matchbox 20 frontman Rob Thomas took his wife Marisol and her parents to see Love. They stuck to Fiji water during the show and went backstage to meet the cast after the performance.

TONIGHT’S TIPS

It’s a night when a zillionaire could meet the model of his dreams. It’s a night when a socialite who needs a sugar daddy could meet her ticket to ride. ZillionaireDate.com hosts a party at Prive in Planet Hollywood for single ladies who want to find the hunk who will fulfill all their needs and shopping sprees. The dot.com will be giving away three memberships to the site. Two ladies will receive a lifetime membership, and one gentleman will receive a membership equivalent to one month. … In England, we call it the cat’s pajamas, but here you call it the cat’s meow, and Felix da Housecat starts to purr pretty for his weekly run of industry parties at Jet in The Mirage. … Joe Yannetty, Chris Voth and Steve Marshall are the trio of comedy cutups at the Rivera twice nightly through Sunday.

TOMORROW’S TEASES

A lack of time forced us, unfortunately, to move our planned Vince Neil photo feature of his new private charter airline to tomorrow’s VegasDeLuxe.com. We also check in with Sandy Hackett’s The Rat Pack expansion to San Francisco while the Sahara show continues, plus we party with Yvonne Strahovski, who plays a sexy CIA agent on NBC’s Chuck.

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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