Columnist Kate Maddox: Busy Joel claims his steak

Kate Maddox

Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2001 | 8:40 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 259-2309 or kmaddox@lasvegassun.com.

Billy Joel found a home away from home this weekend at Charlie Palmer Steak at the Four Seasons. Sure, most celebs have star-friendly Vegas hangouts they like to frequent during visits. But how many places will stay open 'til five in the ayem just to rock out with the Piano Man?

Joel visited the classy steak joint Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights for dinner. On Friday he treated diners to a two-hour performance from the restaurant's house piano. And on Saturday, following a whopping four-hour concert with Elton John at the MGM, Joel showed up for another late dinner.

But Sunday was the kicker.

After another long MGM performance, Joel still had enough in him to lead Charlie Palmer Steak sing-alongs with customers and staff until the sun came up. The packed restaurant crowd also had the benefit of hearing Joel's backup singers, who joined him by the piano for most of the tunes. Witnesses say Joel didn't quit until he'd played all of his greatest hits.

Nice to know the 51-year-old icon doesn't have a hint of diva-dom in his body. Makes you wonder about those stories out of New York that have his most recent girlfriend, TV newswoman Trish Bergin, dumping Joel for "Survivor" doc Sean Kenniff. Hello? Trish?? (Chin up. She got hers. Kenniff managed to wreck his romantic coup by going on Howard Stern last week and talking in detail about his romance with Bergin. Classy move. She dumped him posthaste.)

No word on whether John got around to local piano bars while in town. Most likely, he hightailed it to Los Angeles for Grammy rehearsals. John performs with unlikely duet partner Eminem on Wednesday night's awards telecast.

Seems like all the celebrities took their down-to-earth pills before hitting the Strip this weekend. On Sunday night Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, bought(!) their own tickets to see Melinda, First Lady of Magic at the Venetian, where they were staying for a quick Vegas visit. Russell and Hawn were in town to watch son Wyatt play in a local hockey tournament.

But the couple didn't know Jackie Chan was also in the audience that night, until Melinda chucked a teddy bear into the crowd. (She does this nightly to select a volunteer for one of her tricks. Whoever ends up with the bear gets to assist onstage.)

As a fluke, the flying teddy landed in Chan's lap. But the "Rush Hour" star didn't want to hog the spotlight, so he batted the teddy back several rows, right into the unsuspecting hands of Russell, who also got a case of stage fright and threw it back at Chan.

To the delight of the audience, the two actors laughed and played teddy tennis a few more times before hitting it to someone else.

When Melinda made intros backstage following the show, Chan and Russell finally met face to face for the first time. Hawn, a longtime idol of Melinda, congratulated her on the show and stayed on to chat for almost an hour.

Club Blue, the new late-night venture from Blue Note Las Vegas, may sink before it even gets off the ground. I hear the midnight to 6 a.m. dance club pulled in less than 200 people on Saturday night and barely cleared 50 on Sunday. Ouch.

Club Blue was launched less than two weeks ago, eagerly hoping to profit from nighttime foot traffic at the Aladdin's Desert Passage (that'd be the first mistake) and was opened by ousted managers from troubled C2K (mistake numero two). If attendance doesn't improve this weekend, insiders say the nightclub will close for good by mid-March.

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