Thursday, July 3, 2003 | 10:56 a.m.
Great Partiers Through History: Caligula, Catherine the Great, Keith Richards , John Belushi'sJohn "Bluto" Blutarsky, Sean Penn's Jeff Spicoli, and the Hilton Sisters .
Add Celine Dion to the list. Really.
Diva Las Vegas tossed a spectacular cotillion for more than 300 members of her "A New Day ..." cast and crew in a private ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas on Monday night -- and gave VegasBeat an inside peek.
The swank affair featured dancing, a live band, prizes, games and a breathtaking, mountainous buffet featuring everything from grilled shrimp to beef Wellington prepared by Chef Stephen Marshall.
"Everyone in the show works very, very hard," Dion said. "So it is OK to play hard once in a while as well. I am so happy to be able to do something for them after all they do for me every night onstage."
A popular game entertainers play, often while on tour, is collecting marbles from each other (if we fully understood it, we'd be happy to explain).
The point is, dancer Jacinthe Pauze ended up with 88 marbles -- and Dion presented her with a $5,000 prize out of her own pocket.
Candy Olsen won a $1,000 prize when Dion's husband, Rene Angelil, deemed her skit "the best of the worst" -- she was one of five folks with the fewest marbles and had to put on a brief performance. She played a wacked-out cheerleader.
Most of the guests ended up spending the night at the opulent hotel and recapping the festivities around the pool the next afternoon.
Dion was also amused to hear Mariah Carey lost her shoes during a show in Fukuoka, Japan, on Saturday night.
Of course, Dion famously lost her shoes on the opening night of her Vegas engagement at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in March.
Carey takes over Celine's stage July 26 to open the U.S. leg of her "Charmbracelet" world tour.
Country star Tim McGraw plays two shows at The Colosseum a weekend earlier, on July 18 and July 19.
"Tim McGraw wears cowboy boots, yes? Hopefully it will be hard for him to lose them," Dion said with a smile.
Party hearty
Speaking of parties -- and that is one of the things we do in Vegas -- the behemoth Clear Channel Entertainment started taking entries from around the nation this week for its Vegas Summer Party promotion.
The winner spends the last week in August in Vegas hitting all the hot spots with Brooke Burke as a tour guide. Afterward, maybe she'll sign one of her new calendars or give the winner something from her new Barely Brooke swimwear line.
Clear Channel is relentlessly promoting Vegas and the contest on its radio stations in the nation's top markets -- New York, Chicago, Houston, Boston, St. Louis, Los Angeles -- and on a special website, Vegassummerparty.com.
Shake it
The ABC Family Network (Cox cable channel 37) summer series, "Dance Fever," launches with a two-hour premiere July 13. Most of the show was shot inside Studio 54 at MGM Grand.
The show's finale was taped Tuesday night, with creator Merv Griffin, host Eric Nies (MTV's "The Grind") and judges Hammer, Carmen Electra and Jamie King in the house.
The dance contest winner gets a $100,000 prize.
Weigh out
In anticipation of the August opening of the new film, "Freddy vs. Jason," producers will have a "pre-fight" weigh-in and press conference at Bally's on July 15.
Freddy Krueger of "Nightmare on Elm Street" fame and Jason Voorhees ("Friday the 13th") will stare each other down and take audience questions at an event hosted by famed announcer Michael Buffer ("Let's get ready to rrrruuuummmble ...").
Also, oddsmaker Johnny Avello will be on hand to post pretend odds on the fight.
Ten HUT!
A few weeks ago, VegasBeat wrote about a military discount being offered by the Moonlight BunnyRanch for certain adult services.
"It has become the biggest thing for us, ever, bar nothing," proprietor Dennis Hof said.
Next up at the ranch is an Independence Day party Friday, with free admission for everyone with a military ID.
"We'll have a barbecue, lawn games and everything else a good ol' American July 4 party ought to have -- a game of horseshoes, girls taking showers and a few songs from our special guest, Vince Neil."
Neil, the former Motley Crue vocalist, also has a Saturday date at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel with tour mates Skid Row and Poison.
VegasBits
Super Mario: Pittsburgh Penguins star Mario Lemieux was gliding around Rain in the Desert at the Palms on Tuesday night ...
Farewell: There's a goodbye party tonight at new downtown bar Icehouse for Simon Kitchen and Bar Chef Josh Thomsen, who is going to the Inn at Pebble Beach next month. Thomsen expects pals -- and Simon patrons -- ranging from Neil to child star Gary Coleman and the "X" girls from the show at the Aladdin to help send him off.
Call me: VegasBeat is back for its weekly radio call-in bit with "Las Vegas Today" host Andy Vierra on KNUU 970 AM (K-NEWS) at 4 p.m. today Call the studio line at (702) 735-6397 and we'll dish.
From Sun wires
The breakup of Andrew Cuomo and Kerry Kennedy Cuomo's 13-year-old marriage took an unseemly turn Wednesday with tabloid newspapers reporting that he discovered she was having an affair.
An unidentified friend of Andrew Cuomo friend told the New York Daily News that Cuomo discovered the affair when he walked in on his wife and another man who was one of Cuomo's "closest friends."
Lopez in dispute: Jennifer Lopez has filed a petition with California's labor commission that accuses her former representative, Benny Medina, of failing to have a valid talent agent's license while managing her career.
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