Friday, Dec. 27, 2002 | 4:07 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
December 28-29, 2002
VegasBeat appears Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the Sun. Timothy McDarrah can be reached at [email protected] or at (702) 259-4096.
Don't be alarmed if you see people scaling the pyramid at Luxor next weekend.
The NBC show "Fear Factor" is coming to town, and one of the stunts will be for contestants to scale the sleek 36-story hotel facade.
But since there is nothing more fearsome in Las Vegas than waiting to see if your card comes up, a $25,000 wager at a gaming table is mandatory. Thing is, it will come from the contestant's own winnings.
In order to win the show's top prize, one hurdle they must overcome is to risk all they have won up to that point, at blackjack.
The stunt we'd like to have seen is to have some of the contestants tossed into the shark tank at Mandalay Bay. Sadly, hotel personnel scotched the plan when it was first presented.
It was nixed out of concern for the sharks, apparently. Who knows where those game show contestants have been?
Some more national exposure for Palo Verde High School junior Ashley Vail.
The teen stunner appeared in the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize" video, which broke on MTV in September.
Now the video is featured on a Hewlett-Packard commercial starring Penn & Teller.
The commercial features the satirical illusionists -- who perform nightly at The Rio -- in a waiting room with a bunch of other characters, ranging from Abe Vigoda to Abe Lincoln (really!)
But before they are called into the doctor's office, the band Flaming Lips is escorted in.
Hard to explain exactly what transpires, but the whole things melds into their video, and young Vail is clearly seen for several seconds.
The Rolling Stones are coming back to Las Vegas for a Feb. 8 show at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
But if you can't wait that long -- and don't want to spend $350 for a ticket -- they are playing a free show two days earlier in California.
No, they aren't going back to Altamont. They'll be at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Feb. 6 to do a free concert to raise awareness about global warming. They are doing it in collaboration with the National Resources Defense Council.
"The Rolling Stones' commitment will help build unprecedented support for N.R.D.C. efforts to fight global warming," said the group's president, John H. Adams.
Keith Richards also said something, but we couldn't understand what he was mumbling about.
To win a free pair, log on to nrdcstonesconcert.org and fill out the entry form.
Now that the rumors have been confirmed about the troubles at the Guggenheim Las Vegas -- after the motorcycle show ends Jan. 5 the Rem Koolhaas-designed space inside The Venetian is going dark, at least temporarily -- the speculation about what happens next is revving up.
The two most repeated rumors involve David Copperfield and Michael Jackson.
VegasBeat spoke to Copperfield last week. He said that while he misses his old Vegas venue, the Circus Maximus in Caesars Palace, he is happy with his arrangement at the MGM Grand.
Circus Maximus was demolished in 2000 partly to make way for the Colisseum, the new 4,000-seat theater being built for Celine Dion.
"No discussion has taken place" regarding Copperfield and a new permanent Vegas base at The Venetian, he told me. "I like the MGM" Grand.
And we went looking for Jackson at the Sultan of Brunei's pad over on Pecos Road, which he has reportedly been making inquiries about buying, but we didn't see him.
Calls to his various reps were not returned, nor were calls to The Venetian and the Guggenheim.
Stay tuned. The saga of the Guggenheim Las Vegas is far from over.
Just in case there weren't enough people planning to clog the Strip Tuesday night for the New Year's Eve celebrations, The New York Times featured Las Vegas on Friday in their "Quick Escapes" column.
The piece touched on all the New Year's Eve events from the Fremont Street Experience to the "America's Party: Las Vegas New Year 2003" live Fox television broadcast to the various concerts (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Grandmaster Flash, Sheryl Crow, Huey Lewis, Hall & Oates, etc.).
The newspaper of record also mentioned Jackie Gaughan's Plaza Hotel and Caesars Palace as having available rooms for New Year's.
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