VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Newton stages his own Iraqi operation

Thursday, June 19, 2003 | 10:43 a.m.

Wayne Newton might be losing his voice, but not his juice.

The famed Las Vegas headliner is in the Middle East this week, headlining Project Salute 2003 -- the first entertainment tour to the Persian Gulf region since Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched.

Recent reviews have noted that Newton, who regularly performs in the theater named for him at Stardust, seems to be losing his voice. But he maintains his worldwide appeal. The list of personalities that he has landed for the tour is astonishing.

Such beauties as Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Alyssa Milano, Brittany Murphy and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders are doing meet-and-greets with soldiers.

Country stars Neal McCoy, Lee Ann Womack and Chely Wright are performing in concert, as are rap rocker Kid Rock and Southern rappers Nappy Roots.

Spencer Haywood, Cherokee Parks and Bob Lanier are hosting basketball clinics.

Paul Rodriguez tells jokes and Gary Sinise hosts movie screenings.

"This is not a typical USO tour," USO spokeswoman Donna St. John told VegasBeat by phone from her Washington office Wednesday. "There is a heightened interest in entertaining the troops, and Wayne and the new co-sponsors (including MTV, the NBA, Vanity Fair magazine and the Tribeca Film Institute) have worked extremely hard to make the tour as spectacular as possible."

Newton, 61, replaced Bob Hope a few years ago as the USO's main military tour man.

The group returns to the United States on Friday.

In step

It is happening only in Las Vegas.

Russia's Kirov Ballet is making its only U.S. appearance -- at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts.

The famed troupe performs Sept. 6 and Sept. 7. The bankrupt hotel and casino will also host the "Blue Russian Festival" in celebration of St. Petersburg's 300th birthday.

Scores of Russian dignitaries will attend; since we have enough trouble spelling American names correctly, we ain't even gonna try with these other folks.

In tune

Again, it is only happening in Las Vegas.

On July 26 Mariah Carey is playing at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Dixie Chicks are at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and Neil Young and Crazy Horse are at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Also that evening, Meat Loaf and Cyndi Lauper are at Mandalay Bay and a metal show with Whitesnake, Warrant, Slaughter and Kip Winger (the tour used to include Great White) rocks The Orleans Arena.

Add to that impressive lineup the usual gang of nationally known performers from Penn & Teller to Rita Rudner to Gladys Knight to Blue Man Group to Clint Holmes, and you should find something that suits your entertainment tastes.

In business

Professionally, Tommy Rocker is known for music and restaurants.

Now, according to information culled by InBusiness Las Vegas Director of Research Ulf Buchholz, who pores over such things (InBiz is a sister publication of this newspaper), Rocker has applied for an adult entertainment cabaret license for his Industrial Road location.

"No, I am not opening a place called 'Tommy Knockers' -- it is some kind of zoning technicality," Rocker told VegasBeat on Wednesday. "Somebody once tried to buy the place from me to turn into a strip club because it is in an area zoned for that kind of use.

"So if I ever want to sell to someone who'll use the club for that purpose, I need to apply for the license. Anyway, my place would be way too small to compete with places like Sapphire or Cheetahs.

"Not that I've ever been to those places, but I have heard about them."

Private audience

Harrah's afternoon comic Mac King performed a private show Tuesday night for Las Vegas resident David Atkinson (who runs a home-theater company) at Atkinson's home in MacDonald Highlands.

When King appeared on the Children's Miracle Telethon on KVVU Channel 5 on June 1, Atkinson offered to donate $1,000 to the charity if King came over to perform.

VegasBits

Wedding guests: Pop singer Pink and her extreme motocross star boyfriend, Cary Hart, were part of a wedding party that had its reception at The Pasta Shop & Ristorante on Tropicana and Eastern avenues last weekend ...

Channel changes: KVVU Channel 5 morning producer Leesa Dillon is leaving the station to join the local ABC affiliate, KTNV Channel 13, as assistant news director ...

Stomp! The one-time London street performance group that evolved into an international stage phenomenon -- it has been playing off-Broadway for more than 10 years and there are several touring troupes -- comes to Las Vegas from Aug. 5 to Aug. 10. Tickets for the energetic, percussion-based show at the Aladdin go on sale Friday ...

TV time: The Final Fling, the local company run by Randy Swallow and Kevin Redden that arranges Las Vegas bachelorette parties for out-of-towners, will be featured on the Fox News Channel (Cox cable channel 21) magazine show, "The Pulse," tonight at 7 p.m. ...

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) today at 4 p.m. Call the studio line at (702) 735-6397 and we'll dish.

From Sun wires

It looks like Pamela Anderson's romance with Kid Rock is on the rocks.

The actress and the rock star got engaged in Las Vegas in April 2002, but never set a wedding date.

"The word that best describes me now is 'free,'" the 35-year-old told People magazine. "That's all I will say. I'm a mom, and that's where my life is at."