Columnist Kate Maddox: Metallica rehearses atop Rio for Billboard show

Kate Maddox

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1999 | 9:37 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, only in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach her at kmaddox@vegas.com.

Rock group Metallica will hold a private, closed-to-the-public dress rehearsal tonight with a 38-piece symphony orchestra. No big deal, right? Lots of bands will be rehearsing before the big Wednesday night live show at the "Billboard Music Awards." But Metallica and company will be atop the Rio hotel-casino.

The hotel has built an outdoor set surrounded by bright lights on one of the upper tiers of the building. And Metallica, whose new album "S&M" was released a couple of weeks ago, will do a very thorough run-through in the hopes that nothing goes wrong during the live show on Wednesday.

The San Francisco Symphony played a large part in the creation of Metallica's new album, collaborating on 20 songs. Renowned conductor Michael Kamen will battle the elements tonight to practice with the band, and if all goes well, the performance during Wednesday's show should be quite a spectacle.

The Billboard awards telecast is scheduled to feature live performances from Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Other artists who are expected to attend the awards include Celine Dion, the Backstreet Boys, Willie Nelson, Sugar Ray, 'N Sync and Aerosmith.

The contest to select the trophy escorts -- whose job it is to present the trophy to the award winners -- was held on Monday, and four lucky locals nabbed the slots after a quick judging session at the MGM.

Anna Chudoba and Nicole Petro were the lucky winners and will get to show off their trophy-presenting skills Wednesday night in front of the live audience. Reggie Young and Stacey Linde will present awards at the Billboards pre-party tonight at the House of Blues. Congratulations and good luck to the winners.

"Mr. Las Vegas," Wayne Newton, is scheduled to make an appearance with the ladies of TV's "The View" on Dec.14. The singer, who recently signed one of the biggest contracts in entertainment history with the Stardust, will join Barbara Walters and crew on the chatty talk show.

Newton's appearance will be on the heels of a trip to Washington, D.C., where he will be headlining a special Christmas performance at the "National Pageant of Peace" on Wednesday -- in conjunction with the White House Christmas-tree lighting ceremony.

Newton begins his 10-year run at the Stardust on New Year's Eve with a special millennium performance.

Look for Marilu Henner to return to the stage in Las Vegas when she resumes the role of Roxie Hart in the musical "Chicago" at Mandalay Bay from Dec. 21-Jan. 2. Henner will be filling in for the vacationing Jasmine Guy.

The former "Taxi" star will soon be seen on the big screen when she plays herself in "Man on the Moon," the new Jim Carrey movie due out Dec. 22. The film depicts the life of the late comedian Andy Kaufman, one of Henner's co-stars in "Taxi."

Henner also recently completed work on a TV movie about the history of one of America's most treasured pop culture icons -- the Playboy Bunny. Look for the movie sometime next year.

Kevin Sorbo and three friends hit the links at the Desert Inn on Saturday. Sorbo, who recently shot his last show as "Hercules," is an avid golfer, and he resides in Las Vegas.

Eddie Fisher, whose recent tell-all shocker gave readers the inside skinny on his marriages to Liz Taylor, Connie Stevens and Debbie Reynolds, was a big hit with the crowd at a local book signing on Saturday.

About 150 Fisher fans lined up at the Border's Books on Rainbow to have Fisher sign copies of his book, "Been There, Done That."

Most of those standing in line for an autograph recounted tales of seeing Fisher perform live at some point during his 40-odd year career. Riviera hotel marketing representative Judy Kanov recalled seeing Fisher perform 26 times back in 1955. A diehard fan of the singer, Kanov said that Fisher "looked well" and "joked with the crowd, taking pictures and telling one-liners."

He even sang a couple of songs, although he complained that he could no longer hit the high notes like he could back in his youth. Fisher then announced with a grin, "I sing only as a sideline these days. My main job is marriage counseling!"