Las Vegas Weekly

May 21, 2010 · 5:06 PM

Strip Scribbles: DWTS finalists are guests on Larry King tonight

By Robin Leach

Cheryl Burke and Chad Ochocinco are the eighth couple to be eliminated on Season 10 of Dancing With the Stars on May 18, 2010.

Photo: Adam Larkey/ABC TV

The final three Dancing With the Stars couples will join Larry King on his primetime CNN talk show tonight. Las Vegas professional dancers Derek Hough and Maksim Chmerkovskiy and their respective partners Nicole Scherzinger and Erin Andrews will be joined by Evan Lysacek and his partner Anna Trebunskaya.

Show hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke will appear with judges Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba to handicap the dancers in the homestretch! It’s all pre-hype for the big countdown to the DWTS finale with its monster three hours of programming Monday and Tuesday. All the other Season 10 stars will be returning to be part of the presentation of the prized mirror disco ball trophy, and we’ll have our preview here at Vegas DeLuxe on Monday.

WICKED WHISPERS & RACY RUMORS

My inside source swears it’s true that one of our Las Vegas VIPs was paid the astounding sum of $50,000 a month for more than two years for getting clearance for a major annual one-day sporting event to be held in Las Vegas. It only took a one-time meeting, but the money kept on being paid each month until the sponsors finally bowed out altogether, leaving lots of unpaid bills.

STAR SURVEILLANCE

Hometown R&B hero and Grammy winner Ne-Yo enjoyed dinner at N9NE Steakhouse in the Palms last night. … Retired NFL star Warren Sapp dined at Tao in The Venetian last night. … Jackie Jackson, the eldest brother of the late Michael Jackson, watched Cirque du Soleil’s Ka at MGM Grand last night. After the performance, Jackie and his wife went backstage to meet the cast. Last month, Cirque du Soleil and the Estate of Michael Jackson announced a partnership to create two shows featuring Michael’s music. Planned projects include a touring show, expected to launch in 2011, and a resident show in Las Vegas in partnership with MGM Mirage, expected to open in late 2012. … A.J. Harrington of the New York Knicks caught the debut show of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s J.B. Smoove’s weekend-long run at The Playboy Comedy in the Palms last night.

*In honor of seven-time World Series of Poker champion Phil Ivey, he’ll get his own poker room at Aria tomorrow. It’s an exclusive, one-table high-limit room that kicks off with a $1 million VIP player tournament. Shannon Elizabeth will emcee and welcome pro players Johnny Chan, Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak and Eric Lindgren and boxer Winky Wright and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer.

*The Wheel of Fortune Wheelmobile rolls into The Venetian tomorrow and Sunday in the hunt for new contestants to play the game with Pat Sajak and Vanna White when they tape six weeks of shows in July for broadcast throughout the new season starting in September.

*It’s a powerhouse music weekend with everybody from Carrie Underwood leading the parade at The Orleans Arena to Louis Prima Jr. at the Hard Rock Cafe, the Steve Miller Band at The M Resort, Styx and Foreigner at Mandalay Bay and Cypress Hill at Mandalay Beach.

We’ve gathered up all the musical sheets to hit the high notes and strike up the band in a hits package that we affectionately refer to around here as the ROYAL ROBIN RUNDOWN:

FRIDAY, May 21

*Don’t think he’ll wear the kilt, but it will still be outrageous fun when late-night TV talk show host Craig Ferguson brings his standup comedy to The Venetian Showroom for two nights. … Paul Rodriguez kicks off his comedy shows at the Tropicana. … Andrew Dice Clay is back at the Las Vegas Hilton through Monday and returns again Memorial Day weekend. … Cheech and Chong will get you high on laughter at The Mirage for two nights. … Veteran 50-year-plus comic Sammy Shore has two nights of his Barking Mad Comedy Jam at Eastside Cannery..

*Music legends Connie Francis and Dionne Warwick team up as the Grand Divas for three nights at the Hilton. It’s the first time they’ve sung together as a duo. Say a little prayer if that is lipstick on your collar!

*Singer and musician Louis Prima Jr. brings his big band sound to the Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip in a salute to his father’s 100th year. … De La Soul are at the Hard Rock Hotel Beach Club for a concert under the stars with complimentary Ambhar tequila cocktails. Will they play the 44-minute “Are You In” they designed for runners? … The Steve Miller Band plays outdoors under the stars at the Sun Village plaza at The M. … David Sanborn is at South Point’s Showroom for three nights.

*Country king Dwight Yoakam is at Silverton Casino Lodge. … Singer-songwriters Brian McComas and Aaron Benward welcome Kevin Denney to Nashville Unplugged in Ovation Lounge at Green Valley Ranch.

*A new comedy series debuts at The Orleans for two nights with comedy actor Tom Papa, who hosts NBC’s Marriage Ref. The Discovery Channel’s Cash Cab host Ben Bailey also is a guest artist.

*Peepshow star Holly Madison’s busy weekend includes the launch of her line of candy necklaces being unveiled at Sugar Factory in Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile from 4 to 7 p.m. Cameras from her new E! reality TV series Holly’s World will film the launch.

SATURDAY, MAY 22

*Carrie Underwood’s Play On Tour pulls into The Orleans Arena in support of her third album, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and country charts. The four-time Grammy winner was here in Las Vegas for the 2010 Academy of Country Music Awards, where she won Entertainer of the Year for the second year in a row.

*Cypress Hill is at Mandalay Bay Beach, Styx, Foreigner and Kansas headline United in Rock for their tour stop at Mandalay Bay Events Center, and As I Lay Dying, Demon Hunter, War of Ages, Destruction of a Rose and Bless the Fall are at House of Blues in Mandalay Bay.

*It’s going to be the busiest day in Kevin Burke’s life and proves that he’s the hardest-working man in Las Vegas. He has his two regular gigs at Excalibur on the Strip and Fitzgerald’s downtown and adds a performance for the Nevada Childhood Blind Foundation Gala at World Market Center. Yep, a one-day schedule that defies all definition of the word stamina!

*The Robert Cray Band inaugurates the new outdoor poolside concerts at Red Rock Resort. … Sawyer Brown and Bucky Covington team up for a show at Star of the Desert Arena in Primm. … And Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits, Micky Dolenz of the Monkees and Mark Lindsay from Paul Revere & the Raiders play The Club at the Cannery.

*Project Dinner Table celebrates its second of seven monthly outdoor dining experiences at Heritage Park of the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. The 160-plus guests will sit at one long table for the four-hour, six-course meal served by Monte Carlo chef Joe Koniski using only locally grown ingredients.

*Ticket sales start today for the Oct. 16 Black Diamond Sky Tour stop of Alice in Chains at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Melissa Etheridge’s concert Sept. 4 at The Pearl.

PARTY PATROL

It’s the Carrera sunglass escape weekend hosted by Wilmer Valderrama at Tao Beach in The Venetian for two days from 10 a.m. to sunset. The sunglasses are a celebrity hit, appearing in videos for Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” and Christina Aguilera’s “Not Myself Tonight.” … Sexy Playboy Playmates Heather Rae Young, Jamie Edmondson and Danielle Fornarelli host at Tabu Ultra Lounge in MGM Grand.

SUNDAY, MAY 23

*The 7th Annual Best in Show, the most famous dog show in Las Vegas, returns to The Orleans Arena with The Mirage headliner Terry Fator, Holly Madison and yours truly. Sixty wonderful, happy and healthy but abandoned pups will parade for adoption, and casts from Strip shows have decorated plaster dogs for auction.

*Jersey Boys phenomenon Travis Cloer, who stars as Frankie Valli, has his own headline show with his eight-piece Little Big Band at Clark County Library Theater on East Flamingo. Travis will sing tunes from his debut CD Setting the Standard and other classics, including a duet with Kristen Hertzenberg from Phantom -- Las Vegas Spectacular.

*Stuntman and tattoo salon owner Carey Hart presents Far, Dead Country, Normandie and Age for Reason at his Wasted Space in the Hard Rock Hotel.

MONDAY’S TEASES

There’s big news coming for the Miss America Pageant as officials arrive here, and Season 10 of Dancing With the Stars heads into the homestretch with our preview. Plus, a fabulous photo wrap-up of all the weekend highlights, galas, concerts and parties. And don’t forget that actor and Extra’s Mario Lopez and The Hills’ Lo Bosworth host the huge bikini challenge in the afternoon at Planet Hollywood, when hundreds of bikini-clad beauties gather to spell out C-O-S-M-O for a record-breaking aerial photograph to run in the August issue.

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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