VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Venetian chooses iconic approach

Friday, Feb. 21, 2003 | 4:31 a.m.

Now that Andy Warhol has come to town, he is getting comfortable -- and spreading out.

Another Warhol-heavy pop art show is coming to Las Vegas.

After the extended "Art Through the Ages" show closes in early May at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at The Venetian, a retrospective, tentatively titled "American Pop Icons," moves in.

The show features works by Warhol and his '60s colleagues Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Jim Dine, Claus Oldenburg, Donald Judd, Larry Rivers and Roy Lichtenstein.

The lineup is still fluid. Guggenheim Director Thomas Krens is still securing permission from a variety of galleries and private collectors, including Ileana Sonnabend, 87.

In 1957 Sonnabend married legendary dealer Leo Castelli and they started a gallery in their living room. They helped to establish the reputations of most of the famous pop artists.

After Castelli and Sonnabend divorced, she opened the first Sonnabend Gallery in Paris in 1962. She later opened a New York gallery.

The Guggenheim show is expected to open during Memorial Day weekend.

"Andy Warhol: The Celebrity Portraits" has been drawing large crowds at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art since it opened two weeks ago.

The Dixie Chicks are coming to Las Vegas. They hit the Mandalay Bay Events Center on July 27, VegasBeat has learned. Ticket information has not been announced.

The country trio's disc "Home" is up for Album of the Year at tonight's Grammy Awards.

Before they hit it big, the Dixie Chicks once performed at the Naughty Ladies Saloon at Arizona Charlie's.

Now that he has kicked those pesky addictions, Tony Orlando is poised for a big comeback.

In September he is returning to his post as host of the New York portion of "The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon."

Orlando has a long association with the marathon broadcast, and with Lewis.

"I am grateful to Jerry and to my fans for letting me back into their lives," Orlando told VegasBeat last week.

In the early 1990s Orlando and Lewis headlined a popular show at the Riviera and then at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Another impressive fund-raiser for Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is scheduled for Thursday evening at a private residence at The Ridges in Summerlin.

Palm Canyon President Chris Finlay is hosting the event along with Palm Canyon veep Ken Kite, Dr. Keith Boman, government consultant Bob Forbuss, Algiers Chairman Larry Kifer and the Howard Hughes Corp.'s Jeffrey Sipes.

Master Chef Gustav Mauler cooks. For the event, that is.

"Splash," the long-running revue at the Riviera, is having a special two-for-one admission price for Nevada residents.

The promotion starts March 1.

The unique show features ice skaters, four men on motorbikes who zoom around inside a big Thunderdome and entertaining impressionist riffs on Michael Jackson and Madonna.

And the requisite showgirls.

Pittsburgh Steeler running back Jerome "The Bus" Bettis had a party at Curve at the Aladdin on Friday night.

It was Part Two of a double Steeler event. On Thursday night receiver Joey Porter had a party in his hometown of Bakersfield, Calif., put together by Vegas promoter Scott E. Rodder.

Several Steelers, including James Farrior and Jason Gildon, made both events.

Vegas comic stalwart Bernie Allen turns 87 on Tuesday. He'll have a busy day.

He declares war against the homeless crisis.

"Not individually, but as a group. People should not be living on the streets in this day and age," Allen told VegasBeat.

His first event to help combat the problem is Tuesday afternoon at the Bootlegger. He's asking people to bring donations of old coats and canned food to his birthday party, instead of gifts for him.

He's sent out a cardboard cutout of an enema bag with some slogans on them ("No more starvation," "No more monstrous bombs for peace") to promote the 2 p.m. event.

"Why have a birthday party at 2 p.m.?" he asked himself. "Well, at my age I can't stay up much later."