Las Vegas Weekly

November 16, 2010 · 3:55 PM

Strip Scribbles: Primm race canceled due to concern for desert tortoises

By Robin Leach

Leigh Zimmerman stars as Velma Kelly in Chicago.

Photo: Jeremy Daniel

Officials at the U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife have ordered the SCORE International race for September to be relocated from Primm out of concern for the desert tortoises living there. Now SCORE officials are looking for alternative sites and dates for their 38th annual year of five races.

Las Vegas Events had signed on for the first time to sponsor all five races from the start, Jan. 14 in Laughlin, to the last race of the year, the 1,000 miles in Baja California on Nov. 17. Four of the five races are now set, but the desert tortoise concerns have shelved the fifth.

SCORE President Sal Fish explained: “We are no longer in a position now to announce final plans for what would have been the August/September dates. The Bureau of Land Management won’t permit desert races in the Primm area. We’re now in a tough situation because we’ve enjoyed that race in the Primm location the past 15 years.

“It’s not our first preference to move to August or to move to another venue for September. We can’t schedule our race to conflict with other promoters’ dates. The government restrictions forbid our go-ahead, so we are now exploring all options and will announce a decision as soon as we can.”

This year’s Baja 1000 race, which attracts many Las Vegas drivers, starts in Ensenada today for the brutal 4-day drive to La Paz at the tip of Baja California.

*She’s been dubbed “the hottest housewife in Las Vegas,” and leggy Leigh Zimmerman is enjoying a triumphant return to Broadway in the cast of Chicago. Leigh and husband Dominick Allen of Foreigner fame commute between Las Vegas and New York with their family on alternate weekends to ensure weekly get-togethers.

Leigh began the New York run Oct. 8 celebrating her role as Velma Kelly twice in the London West End production and in the original company on Broadway 14 years ago. Dominick continues with his own solo headline engagements here and partnering with Clint Holmes and Susan Anton for their shows.

*Punk rockers Deadly Seven split and went their separate ways, but lead singer and former Crazy Girls dancer Andrea promptly formed a new Las Vegas band known as Pride & The Vanities. Andrea, who was Deadly Seven’s founder, is being described as a modern-day Blondie with her revolutionary electro rock band and its sexy sci-fi performances. Think Barbarella meets Blade Runner, with Pride and her backup singers Princess Lilly on keyboard and Electra on guitar.

They reached No. 7 on the Reverberation Vegas Rock chart with their single “Galactic Plastic” and have just completed their debut album Laser Dreams for a Dec. 1 release with producer Dan Walker, the keyboard player for Chris Phillips of Zowie Bowie. After appearances at the House of Blues and Moon in the Palms, Pride & The Vanities departs tonight to start a tour of Northern Nevada, Utah, Detroit and Canada casinos.

*Celebrity Chef Todd English thinks the current craze for burger bars in place of fine dining is getting too much. “My P.U.B. at Crystals in MGM’s CityCenter is not a burger bar, but we did think about that as the economy began to turn. I knew we didn’t want to compete with all the fine dining, so it turned out exactly the way we planned it.”

Todd, who is now up to 24 U.S. restaurants, is taking his Las Vegas urban bar concept to Manhattan for his next venue at the former Limelight nightclub that was converted from a church and will now be converted into a mini-mall. He’s calling it the Cross Bar!

Photo: Kirvin Doak Communications

Sammy Hagar and Kari Karte at the 2010 Nevada Cancer Institute Rock for the Cure gala at Aria on Nov. 11, 2010.

*Based on the fact that Sammy Hagar can’t drive 55, his Cabo Wabo Cantina at Planet Hollywood has come up with one extreme dish. The colossal appetizer, which sells for $55, features tortilla chips with some 20 toppings. It’s everything in the kitchen, minus the sink! Sammy is so convinced that it would take an army to eat it, he is challenging any solo diner to finish the 8-pound dish within 55 minutes. If successful, not only does the winner get inducted into the Macho Nacho Hall of Fame, but Sammy also picks up the check and provides an autographed Cabo Wabo T-shirt.

The “Mount Everest of Nachos” is loaded with chipotle sauce, queso, mixed cheese, black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, olives, poblano peppers, pickled and fresh jalapenos, then loaded again with taco meat, carnitas, fajita chicken, carne asada and shrimp and topped with sour cream, salsa, guacamole and pico de gallo. Sammy, who performed at Nevada Cancer Institute’s Rock for the Cure benefit last week at Aria, tells me he won’t be eating it himself because he’s aging too well as a rocker. “I’m not even aging. I’m like a fine wine getting better with age.”

*Norwegian TV cameras are in Las Vegas filming a reality TV series for Scandinavian broadcast about the dating habits of the estimated 30,000 Norwegian Americans who live here. Producer Per Jorgen Ostby said they will follow couples here and in Norway. “It’s not just about dating but about the Norwegian- American experience,” he said. “Norwegian roots run deep in Minneapolis and North Dakota, but everybody prefers Vegas.”

Star surveillance

Gorgeous blond knockout singer Marley Taylor now teamed with trumpet titan Dave Perrico are winning raves for their live shows at The M Resort and getting big viewer numbers on YouTube. Boxer Zab “Super” Judah wore a Munchbar patch stitched on his trunks when he defeated now formerly undefeated boxer Lucas Matthysse over the weekend. So where did he go to celebrate? Obviously to Munchbar at Caesars Palace. Rapper Too Short dined at Munchbar shortly after Zab’s departure.

Tonight’s tips

It’s the 17th Annual Cactus Lighting of the 3-acre botanical gardens of our Ethel M Chocolates factory. Some 500,000 twinkling lights will be switched on to decorate 300 cactus varieties through New Year’s Day. Comedian Tommy Savitt takes time out of an expanded USO tour in Asia (including Afghanistan) and European military bases to headline at the Improv Comedy Club in Harrah’s with supporting acts Mike Burton and Avi Leiberman. The Third Annual Go-Go Cup for rival nightclub dancers is at Blush in the Wynn. Hometown author Sheila Z. Stirling launches her book Love & Illusion: Social Sociopaths Without Even Knowing It at Queensridge Court and celebrates it being named a finalist in the USA Book News’ Self Help Best Books.

Photo: SK+G

The Cactus Garden all lit up.

Tomorrow’s teases

Our city’s top chefs and restaurateurs are nervously awaiting the release of the book Eating Las Vegas: 50 Essential Restaurants by feared food critics John Curtas, Max Jacobson and Al Mancini. Vegas DeLuxe has an advance copy, and the book is certain to shake up our food industry. We’ll reveal who’s in and, worse, who’s out when I unveil the Top 10 Lists at L’Atelier by Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand tomorrow at 5 p.m. Plus, Kim Kardashian, who is hosting at Tao in The Venetian on New Year’s Eve, unveils the 2010 Sexiest Man Alive on an ABC special celebrating 25 years of People’s annual 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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