Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003 | 10:36 a.m.
Personally, they are a duet in perfect harmony.
Professionally, married pop singers Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey (98 Degrees) have stayed pretty separate -- until now.
The hot young things will be at the Palms on Saturday to promote their new CDs, and plans are being made for them to perform together -- for the first time in public -- on the Rain in the Desert stage.
Their evening will start with a private party at the Skin Pool Lounge. The guest list includes scores of MTV set celebrities from Kelly Osbourne to Tom Green.
Simpson's third album, "In This Skin," is set for release Aug. 19. Lachey's solo effort, "Soulo," will be out Sept. 16.
The pair are in the video for "Sweetest Sin," the single that has already been released from Simpson's new album.
Noted songwriter Diane Warren, who wrote the song, might also attend Saturday's festivities.
Tickets to Rain will be on sale for $20 Saturday.
America will soon see a lot more of the couple: MTV cameras have been following the young marrieds around, and their new reality series, "Newlyweds," debuts Aug. 19.
Lachey, 29, and Simpson, 23, were married in October.
Goal!
By now the last of the 100 or so hockey players, celebs and high-rollers have left town after participating in Jerry Bruckheimer's ninth annual Bad Boys Hockey Tournament.
The diverse group -- including Cuba Gooding Jr., Chris Chelios, Mario Lemieux and Alan Thicke -- played a series of games at the Santa Fe Station rink. Everyone wore Sean "P. Diddy" Combs-designed Sean John uniforms.
Evenings were busy. Producer Bruckheimer ("Top Gun," "Beverly Hills Cop," "Armageddon," "Bad Boys") and his A-list group took over the back room Friday night at Simon Kitchen and Bar, there was an awards banquet at Ruth's Chris Steak House on Paradise Road on Saturday night and after that the posse partied at Baby's at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Sunday morning many in the group had breakfast at Mr. Lucky's. But Kiefer Sutherland didn't eat -- he went right back to the blackjack tables after his morning coffee.
Show up
Early reviews for the new NBC drama "Las Vegas" are positive. One VegasBeat reader who just returned from Los Angeles -- where most of the series is actually being filmed -- says the debut episode is "pretty steamy, and full of action, with some great shots inside Mandalay Bay."
In the episode, casino security chief James Caan stumbles across his on-screen daughter, Molly Sims, in the sack with his assistant, Josh Duhamel.
However, except on the West Coast, the show is expected to have a tough time of it in the ratings department -- it will air 9 p.m. Mondays, in direct competition across much of the country with "Monday Night Football."
Doin' good
The CAST Inc., an organization of Las Vegas entertainers, will present UNLV's College of Fine Arts with a $5,000 gift at the group's monthly luncheon Monday at Greek Isles.
"It only goes to show that a few gathered for a purpose can make a difference," CAST member Lezlie Anders said.
The CAST Inc. is a nonprofit organization that raises money for entertainers in the community who are in need, and for such projects as scholarships for performing arts programs.
Numbers game
We got lots of feedback disputing David Brenner's claim in Friday's VegasBeat that, at 158, he is the all-time leader in guest appearances on the "Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."
Simply, a lot of folks remember differently, insisting that guests ranging from Groucho Marx to the San Diego Zoo's Joan Embry were on more frequently than Brenner, who opens in the fall as the first headliner at the new Westin Casuarina (the former Maxim) on East Flamingo Avenue.
For example, reader James Block sent a fax saying he remembered a Las Vegas Sun article from 1992 stating Bob Hope was the record holder with 224 trips to Carson's couch.
We looked it up, and Hope appeared 132 times.
That is all not to be confused with guest host appearances -- Brenner is sixth in that category, behind Jay Leno, Joey Bishop, Joan Rivers, Bob Newhart and John Davidson.
Classic rocks
This week's Ad Age magazine features a reader poll asking which ads featuring celebrities appeal to them most.
The top vote-getter, appealing to 50 percent of respondents (the poll didn't specify how many), were the Cadillac ads featuring Led Zeppelin music.
At the bottom of the poll sit the Chrysler ads featuring Celine Dion, which appealed to a mere 15 percent of respondents.
VegasBits
Happy: Former "Melrose Place" co-stars Rob Estes and Josie Bisset -- who got married in real life after the show ended -- celebrated his 40th birthday by taking in "Mystere" at Treasure Island on Monday night ...
Gala: The Nevada Arts Advocates Arts Gala has been scheduled for Oct. 11 at The Mirage. Toni Tennille and Clint Holmes' wife, Brenda, are hosting, and Lou and Jerry Emmert are the dinner chairs ...
Vegas, baby: The Industrial Road gentleman's club Sapphire will host what is being billed as the world's largest lap dance Aug. 15. Several hundred dancers are expected to perform for British television personality Andy Goldstein, who is filming the activity for his show, "The Unofficial World Record of Sex." For $20, the public is invited to watch. Hard to believe Robin Leach didn't think of this first.
From Sun wires
Film critic Roger Ebert will soon undergo radiation treatment for cancer.
The treatment will be for a cancerous tumor in Ebert's salivary gland, the Chicago Sun-Times reported today.
The 61-year-old critic underwent surgery twice in February 2002 for cancer in his thyroid and salivary gland.
He said treatment for the malignant tumor will begin later this month after he returns from a family trip to France.
Walsh, wife reconcile: "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh and his wife of 32 years are "happily reconciled" and have jointly dismissed their divorce lawsuit.
A dismissal of all divorce actions has been filed in state court in Indian River County, Fla., where Reve Walsh filed for divorce in July 2002.
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