Las Vegas Weekly

January 10, 2009 · 1:10 PM

Techies know how to party at LAX

By Andy Samuelson

Counting Crows plays the Intel/PC.com party that was held at LAX nightclub inside of the Luxor

Photo: Justin M. Bowen

Adult starlets were scattered across Sin City Friday night at various soirees and nightclubs for pre-AVN award fun, but the techies from the other convention in town seemed to have more substantial star power in their corner.

While Diana Ross was belting out tunes at the annual Monster Cable’s Retailer Awards (they could really use some help on these names), a handful of other celebs mingled with invite-only Consumer Electronics Show attendees at the PC.com/Intel party at LAX at the Luxor.

Even the scantily-clad adult performers would have a hard time competing with party host Brooke Burke in the beauty department.

“I certainly am happy in making her my No. 1,” said hubby, David Charvet, who actually didn’t know the Adult Entertainment Expo was sharing space at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in The Venetian this week.

“What the heck I’m doing here, then.”

Well, for starters, listening to the Counting Crows perform hit songs like “Mr. Jones" and "Round Here" while the few hundred guests snacked on beef sticks and mini sandwiches.

German transplant Oliver Baumann, who works for Sennheiser headphones in Miami, said he wasn’t sure was going on at other hot spots like, say, an AVN party at PURE inside Caesars Palace, but doubted that anything could top the excitement inside LAX.

“It would be hard for anything to be better than this,” Baumann said. “It’s a pretty special event.”

The function put on by PC.com — an online destination launched in July that helps consumers educate and entertain themselves in everything the world of personal computers has to offer — aimed to raise money and awareness for Intel’s Small Things Challenge, a year-long charity campaign to help support Kiva and Save the Children.

The celebration may have been heavier on the sports coats and sneakers than the party at its sister property, but the 37-year-old Burke wowed the crowd with her classic charm.

The recently crowned Dancing with the Stars winner is surprisingly techie, too.

“I spend a lot of time on the Internet. I have an online business, so I’m always doing things on the Web,” said Burke, who added that there is no shortage of electronic devices in the L.A. home she shares with Charvet and their four young children.

“I love being involved with the super important Small Things Challenge, but PC.com is actually a cool website that offers really user friendly help about technology.”

While Burke dazzled the audience, it was another actor who stole the show.

LeVar Burton.

Yeah, that LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow, Roots and, more importantly with the CES crowd, the role of Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

“I’ve been in this business for over 30 years and I’ve been really lucky to land some really landmark roles,” said Burton, who after several years behind the camera as a producer is starring in an upcoming Lifetime movie Taken in Broad Daylight.

An avid Xbox gamer and now religious Twitter updater (you can reach him at @levarburton), Burton said he was proud of all his roles, but said his long run on the children’s show was the most fulfilling.

“It’s been my desire throughout my career to be involved with programming that does more than just entertain. The ability to educate, to inform, to enlighten is always what I’m thinking about,” he said.

But don’t label Burton just by his role as a literacy hero. He certainly knows how to hang loose as he demonstrated when a group of fans begged him to take a photo with their scrolling word device, which resembled the trademark shades he wore on Star Trek.

He obliged, of course.

“I love technology, and these are those fans.”

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