Sunday 02-24-08

IRS probe of clubs has some on edge

Details are emerging about the inner workings of the Las Vegas club scene, after last week's federal raid on the city's biggest nightspot left the industry rattled.

The Internal Revenue Service raid Wednesday at Pure Nightclub at Caesars Palace and Pure Management Group's headquarters served notice that the government is taking a hard look at the cash-bloated clubs.

Some doormen are making $400,000 to $500,000 a year, sources told me.

Shaken employees from several local clubs contacted me to say they participated in what they are convinced was questionable handling of cash night after night.

A club regular e-mailed me text messages that appear to show aggressive shakedown tactics by some doormen.

A longtime doorman at a major club said he pulled in $22,000 in tips in a single night from clubgoers. Of the $22,000, he took home only his $600 a night pay.

After the doormen's haul was counted out at 4 a.m. in a popular restaurant at the property, the rest went to the company, the source said.

"We were allowed to cut our own deals. There was no supervision whatsoever. We were making so much that the company finally got scared we were gouging people. It's that big," he said.

Some nightclubs, he said, have placed employees in restrooms outside the clubs and provided them with ink stamps for lucrative under-the-table deals with clubgoers who don't want to wait in line.

A club regular sent me a printout of angry text messages he and a friend received in December after a Pure doorman demanded an additional tip.

"No tip," texted the doorman, "and I just comped MORE people, I hope you make a trip to the front door and make this right."

When the patron objected, saying he had already tipped on the way in, the doorman responded:

"Bullshit, I am the host that walked you all in !!!!!!!!!"

After several more text message exchanges, the doorman wrote, "Get down here now!" before adding this ominous line: "Don't come around, this company and myself need you like I need a hole in my head, move on *nd stay AWAY, or u know the rest."

The longtime doorman I interviewed added, "This IRS thing is going to change how all the clubs operate. Gaming licenses are at stake."

Meanwhile, this clarification: In Saturday's column, I inadvertently omitted a word in a sentence about whether the probe had included LAX Nightclub at Luxor. The sentence should have read: "An IRS spokeswoman on Friday said she could not confirm" an IRS search at LAX on Thursday.

However, the IRS spokeswoman, Diana Neilson, on Saturday said, "During the normal course of business, we are contacting third party individuals for various information, and I'm sure that's what was going on. It wasn't like a formal operation."

Asked if it was likely that the investigation would widen, Neilson said, "No comment."

The Scene And Heard

Audience members who have attended Bette Midler's "The Showgirl Must Go On" at Caesars Palace are grousing that the giant LED screen is not showing closeups of Midler and her cast.

A Friday attendee who said she paid $189 for a second mezzanine seat was unhappy that she couldn't make out faces from that far up.

Show spokeswoman Kris Lingle said the LED screen, a fixture in Celine Dion and Elton John shows at the 4,000-seat Colosseum, "is not used as a live LED screen but rather as a constant background of video and show projections." Expect a chorus of dissatisfaction.

Tuesday  02-26-08

Larson, Clooney the royal couple

And the Oscar for the most envied woman in the world goes to ...?

We're guessing it would be Las Vegas model Sarah Larson by a landslide, after she shined as one of the golden girls of Oscar night.

Larson, 28, didn't win one of the coveted statuettes, but when you're parading down the red carpet with boyfriend George Clooney and sitting in the front row, you've hit the lottery of Hollywood royalty.

The former cocktail server at Moon nightclub at the Palms has been dating Clooney since things heated up in June at the Las Vegas premiere of "Ocean's Thirteen."

Larson, who grew up in Washington state and won NBC's "Fear Factor" in 2005, was stunning in a beaded ice blue, pale pink and gold Valentino provided by the designer.

Her hair was styled by Las Vegas stylist and makeup artist Melissa Conner, who said she went with "classic Hollywood glamour, a modern version of Veronica Lake or Rita Hayworth."

The floral dress "made such a statement," said Conner, "that we definitely wanted to go with a clean, fresh look."

Much is being made of the appearance being the first time Clooney, 46, has taken a girlfriend to the Oscars.

When Larson, 28, told red carpet reporters that the dress was "really heavy," Clooney made a gallant offer.

"I will carry her," he said.

GENNIFER SELLING TAPES

Gennifer Flowers tells me she is putting the tapes of her recorded conversations with Bill Clinton during their 12-year affair on the auction block.

Flowers, who came forward during Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign with details of the relationship, said she decided to part with the tapes after renewed interest surfaced. She was offered $5 million by a Japanese collector in the 1990s, she said.

Asked about the timing of her announcement coming out as Hillary Clinton continues to slide in her presidential bid, "I don't need to hurt Hillary. She is doing a fine job of that herself, along with her idiot husband. Karma is an interesting thing. If these two don't get elected, and they are a team, it will be karma coming back to visit them. It's about time."

When Bill Clinton denied the relationship during his campaign, Flowers called a news conference and played what she said were secretly recorded phone conversations.

"These are the tapes I brought forth as proof," she said.

Flowers, who lives in Las Vegas, sued Hillary Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, James Carville and others, accusing them of orchestrating a campaign to discredit her. Carville and Stephanopoulos alleged Flowers doctored the tapes.

Flowers, 58, said she has kept the tapes "very safe all these years, and when I just recently received more interest, I said, 'Why not?'

"I certainly would enjoy the money for my future security. I don't have any guarantee what might be coming."

Flowers is exploring a new book with "explosive story additions to the Clinton affair," publicist Bruce Merrin said in a release.

The Scene And Heard

Las Vegas will get a two-hour version of the "Jersey Boys" with not a single song cut from the Broadway version. The Tony Award-winning musical that tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons opens April 4 at the Palazzo. Tickets are on sale now at venetiantickets.com.

Stanley may be Vegas' Phantom

Is Paul Stanley, the vocalist for Kiss, about to become The Phantom of Las Vegas?

That's the rumor. Stanley, who twice starred as The Phantom in the Toronto production of "The Phantom of the Opera" in 1999, is in talks with "Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular," sources tell me.

Stanley, 56, is having a penthouse suite built atop Palms Place near suites owned by pop singer Jessica Simpson and pro wrestling icon Hulk Hogan.

Stanley has been out front as a fundraiser and supporter for AboutFace, an organization that helps raise awareness for individuals with facial differences. He was born with Microtia, a congenital deformity of the pinna (outer ear).

ANOTHER MOSAIC MOMENT

The good times keep rolling for Mosaic, six local boys seemingly on the brink.

The big year for the a cappella group continued Sunday when they were the opening act at Prince's Oscar after-party Sunday in Beverly Hills.

They were back at their regular job Tuesday as the opening act for Flamingo headliner George Wallace, but they were far from coming back down to earth.

They had befriended Prince during his headliner run at the Rio in 2005 and sang with him on New Year's Eve a year ago.

This time they were performing in front of many of Hollywood's big names, among them: Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker, Penelope Cruz, and Chris Tucker.

They performed three songs, "Shining Star" by Earth Wind & Fire, "Thank You" by Sly and the Family Stone and "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye.

Just last month they were on CBS' "The Early Show" as winners of the network's a cappella contest, which was judged by Boyz II Men.

Members of Mosaic are: founder/creator Josh Huslig, Sean Gerrity, Troy Dolendo, John Gibson, Corwyn Hodge and Heath Burgett. They don't use any instruments; their sound is vocally created.

It was a surreal experience, Huslig said.

"After we sang, we were all taken aback when Prince goes up and introduces Stevie Wonder, who came through the audience and joined Prince on stage. They really jammed."

The Scene And Heard

CatHouse Loungerie, the 2-month-old nightspot at Luxor, was closed early Tuesday after structural damage was discovered on the second floor in the ultralounge area, a spokeswoman confirmed. A crack appeared in the ceiling, and upon further investigation, the structural damage was found on the floor.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's use of two bodyguards during his long weekend in Las Vegas is raising eyebrows. Roethlisberger was back at the Playboy Club (Palms) on Monday, playing blackjack at up to $8,000 a hand. The bodyguards have been blending in with his friends.

Patron: CatHouse incident orderly

Luxor nightspot CatHouse Loungerie remained closed indefinitely Wednesday after structural concerns occurred during a Monday party in the second-floor ultralounge.

The floor in the ultralounge has slipped about eight inches since the club opened two months ago, several sources said.

It was not clear whether the damage occurred during the Monday party scene, which included Amani Toomer of the Super Bowl-winning New York Giants and Dhani Jones of the Cincinnati Bengals.

A CatHouse patron told me the first indication that something was amiss came when he saw security personnel shining flashlights on what appeared to be a 16-inch-long crack in the ceiling.

After the crack was detected, the crowd was moved in an orderly fashion over to the restaurant side of the nightclub, the source said.

"The crack was about an inch wide. Nothing fell from the ceiling from what I saw," he said.

Celebrity blogger Robin Leach had a more dramatic version. In his blog for Las Vegas Magazine, Leach quoted an anonymous source as saying, "There was no panic, just an orderly evacuation, and everybody got out safely without any injury. But it was rather surreal to watch chunks of the ceiling collapse and crash down."

The headline "CatHouse Loungerie's Ceiling Comes Down on Partygoers" appeared on a blog by Xania Woodman, Las Vegas Weekly nightlife columnist. However, there was no mention of a ceiling collapse in her blog, The CircuitLV.com.

New York liqueur purveyor Kirk Spahn, who was with the Bengals' Jones in the VIP section where the crack occurred, said he wasn't aware that anything had happened. Toomer had left the party before the 12:30 a.m. incident, he said.

"I was one of the hosts and I didn't even know something was wrong," said Spahn, who said he was one of the last to leave the section.

"They started asking people to go into the other room," said Spahn. "Whatever it was it didn't interrupt the flow of the party. They were superprofessional about how they handled it."

CatHouse spokeswoman Stephanie Wilson said Wednesday, "No part of the ceiling fell. The restaurant is expected to open in the very near future and the ultralounge shortly after that."

Friday 02-29-08

It might be 'Live from Las Vegas'

Finish this sentence: "Live from Las Vegas, it's. ..." If Lorne Michaels has his way, we'll be hearing "Live from Las Vegas, it's Saturday Night Live!"

According to the New York Daily News, Michaels is "in the early stage of talking" with a Las Vegas casino about moving a spinoff of NBC's long-time powerhouse program here.

Michaels, the show's co-creator, has been tossing around names such as Martin Short, Jon Lovitz and Julia Sweeney, according to the News.

He has discussed alum appearances by Chris Rock, Adam Sandler and Steve Martin, the newspaper said.

'21' TO PREMIERE HERE

The world premiere of "21," the Kevin Spacey-produced gambling film that's set in Las Vegas, will be at ShoWest here in March.

Planet Hollywood Resort has landed the after-party.

The March 12 screening will be part of ShoWest. The largest annual motion picture industry convention will be held at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas hotels March 10-13.

Joining Spacey in Las Vegas will be cast members Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess.

Many scenes of "21" were shot at Planet Hollywood last year. Spacey bought the rights to the book, "Bringing Down the House" by Ben Mezrich. It's a true story of a team of MIT students who came up with a card-counting system to beat Las Vegas out of millions.

The "21" cast also will be honored at ShoWest's awards ceremony. Anne Hathaway will be named the female star of the year and Emile Hirsch the top male star. Awards also will go to Robert Downey Jr., Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Seth Rogen, Abigail Breslin, Christopher Nolan and producer Charles Roven.

David Mamet, Alan Ball and Helen Hunt will be honored for their films. Mamet will receive the ShoWest excellence in filmmaking award. Ball, the screenwriter for Oscar-winning "American Beauty," will be honored for his directing debut, "Towelhead." Hunt will be named breakthrough director of the year for "Then She Found Me."

ShoWest organizers are expecting appearances by Hathaway, Hirsch, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Christina Ricci and filmmakers George Lucas and Nolan, among others.

The Scene And Heard

NASCAR's inaugural parade of haulers down the Strip "was a home run, one of the greatest things we've done in the community," said Jeff Motley, public relations director for Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Thousands cheered as the hauler for their favorite driver passed.

"To take some part of the race down to the Strip, it was just amazing," Motley said. ...

Veronica Grabowski, Miss Nevada USA 2008, climbs aboard an F-16 today for a 45-minute flight with the Air Force's Thunderbirds demonstration team. She has spent the week making stops at Centennial Hills Medical Center, Shade Tree Homeless Shelter and Ralph Cadwallader Middle School. ...

Michael Strahan, defensive star of the Super Bowl champion NewYork Giants, and some teammates are celebrating at Tao nightclub (Venetian) tonight. ...

A memorial/jam tribute for Jahna Steele begins at 9 p.m. today at The E String Grill & Poker Bar, 2031 W. Sunset Road in Henderson. Performers will include: The Lon Bronson Band, Michelle Rohl, Catte Adams, Jerry Halliday, Joelle Righetti, former members of the "Crazy Girls" revue, Rick Friedman and Tony Davich. Steele, who died Jan. 24, was a transgender legend in Las Vegas.

Pre Order Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales

Norm Clarke's newest book, Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales ($12.95, Stephens Press, February 2008), dishes up a feast from Sin City's Ace Insider on celeb's club hopping, spending sprees, outrageous behavior, feuds and meltdowns, and the best (and worst) tippers. Discounted pre-orders are $9.95 and include free shipping. Pre-order your copy now!