VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Snipes shares old school snippets

Monday, Nov. 18, 2002 | 9:17 a.m.

VegasBeat appears Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the Sun. Timothy McDarrah can be reached at tim@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4096.

Caught up with an old college buddy of mine at the Palms' one-year anniversary festivities over the weekend -- Wesley Snipes.

Back in the day I was editor and an occasional drama critic at the newspaper. Snipes was in the theater department, and I gave him his first good review -- and his first bad one.

Snipes was standing on the glass ghostbar outdoor floor Friday night, looking toward the Strip.

He first told me to mention his new video release, "Liberty Stands Still," where he plays a man whose daughter has been killed and he decides to track down the arms dealer who sold the killer his gun.

"I memorized like 140 pages of script in two days for that one," Snipes told me.

Big deal, I politely said, reminding him that some of his action hits, such as "Blade," "Passenger 57" or "Demolition Man" (with Sylvester Stallone) were not exactly heavy on dialogue.

He laughed, and then reeled off a string of his films that were a lot more text-driven, such as "White Men Can't Jump," Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" and "King of New York."

Then he filled me in on some of his other acting department brethren from our alma mater, Purchase College, part of the State University of New York system.

Snipes was pretty excited about some of his old school pals.

"I just saw Stanley (Tucci) and Edie (Falco) on Broadway (in "Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune"), and they were great," he said. "I also saw Steve (Weber) in "The Producers." Nick Gomez directed a couple of episodes of "The Sopranos." (Director) Hal (Hartley) is busy, Parker Posey is all over the place ..."

We were interrupted by Judd Nelson, one of Snipes' co-stars in "New Jack City."

They exchanged a complicated handshake and embrace that only Hollywood stars must be able to remember or understand.

Nelson said he loves Las Vegas. He had visited his former "Suddenly Susan" co-star Brooke Shields in Vegas when she was married to Andre Agassi. Cris Judd (Jennifer Lopez's soon-to-be ex-husband) walked over and the discussion promptly turned to, uh, booty.

At one point, Judd said he thought it was weird that he and Ben Affleck shared the same birthday (Aug. 15). Affleck and Lopez are of course the hottest celebrity couple in the known universe.

I spotted Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean drinking -- a soda. He has worked hard to maintain his newfound sobriety. The megasuccessful boy band postponed a 2001 tour so McLean could compete a rehab stint.

McLean asked me to introduce him to Robin Leach, so I did. McLean told Leach he should lay off the champagne, which was in a silver bucket on the table in front of him.

"It is for them," Leach said, grandly gesturing toward the four ex-Playboy Playmates splayed on a couch around him.

MGM Grand publicity czar Scott Ghertner, Canyon Ranch Spa Salon Director Michael Boychuck and Marklen Kennedy from the club Light were among those looking longingly at Leach's young lovelies.

Meanwhile, "American Pie" actress Tara Reid seemed to be drinking something somewhat more potent before she disappeared in the bathroom with several members of 'N Sync.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire also were in a position to see Reid disappear, but they had other plans: They were headed off to the "Real World" suite for a party they were going to have with the "X" girls from the show at Aladdin.

Neither DiCaprio nor Maguire recognized Frankie Avalon when he bumped into them. But everyone recognized heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis.

Many of the same celebs re-appeared on Saturday at Rain, where there were elbows a-flying in the rush by men to get to the buffet; it literally featured several serving "dishes." Yes, naked young women were spread out on serving tables covered in sushi for guests to enjoy. Other hired women were lolling about in oversized martini glasses.

VegasBeat sat at a table between DiCaprio's posse and Macy Gray and watched a beaming George Maloof, the owner of the Palms, go from table to table greeting his numerous celebrity guests.

"This is so much fun. I should have an anniversary every year," Maloof gushed to me as he left DiCaprio and headed over toward where Tiffany Thiessen, Jamie Foxx, John Stamos and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Keenan Ivory Wayans and Naomi Campbell were standing.

After the Palms action ended, many of the guests ambled over to Light at the Bellagio, for the Zino Platinum Cigar event hosted by Campbell, and to mingle with a whole new flock of famous faces.

Among those in the Light crowd: Elaine and Steve Wynn, Jane and Mark Schorr, Mark, Jeff and Jonathan Fine, the ubiquitous Michael Shulman, Mark Weinberg, Adeana Shendal and her husband, KVBC Channel 3 anchor Jim Snyder, Meital and Josh Grantz, comedian Steve Harvey, uber-model Estella Warren and Wilmer Valderrama from "That '70s Show."

Late arrival: Mick Jagger, fresh from The Rolling Stones' and John Mellencamp's performances at billionaire David Bonderman's birthday party at the Hard Rock Hotel. But almost nobody cared.

Instead, the real buzz was that Lopez was in the house -- along with Judd.

Their parting was said to be less than amicable, and there are reports she paid him a substantial amount not to discuss their relationship with the media.

But there were no fireworks, as Judd and Lopez stayed in separate parts of the club, and everyone acted like a grown up -- except for Reid, who was dancing suggestively on a speaker in the swanky night spot.

Just another fabulous night in Las Vegas.

Tainted love

Here is another reason why the behemoth media conglomerate AOL-Time Warner is a favorite target of, well, lots of people. The online guide AOL Digital City is advertising for free-lance entertainment writers in Las Vegas.

For the dining slot, it is looking for a person who can pen "lively descriptions of all types of restaurants, from take out joints to the hottest five-star culinary oases."

Last line: "No critical reviews."

Nothing like homogenized, corporate-ownership journalism for you. The pay is a breathtaking $20 per restaurant.

Radio (canned) ham

Starting today and continuing all week, KKLZ 96.3-FM is holding its second annual Marathon for Meals.

The station is broadcasting live from The Chicago Brewing Co. (on Fort Apache Road and Sahara Avenue) for 12 hours daily, every day this week.

Morning man Garry O'Neal started the event at 6 a.m. today (he stays on air until 6 tonight) inviting listeners to bring down nonperishable food items for Catholic Charities and the Community Food Bank.

"We don't think anybody in this town should have to go hungry during the holidays -- but if anybody donates a can of garbanzo beans, I'm keeping it," O'Neal said.00