VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Peterson is the truffle chief

Friday, Oct. 31, 2003 | 5:28 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION Nov. 1 - 2, 2003

VegasBeat appears Sunday through Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Timothy McDarrah can be reached at tim@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4096.

So what does Carl Peterson , the top executive of the Kansas City Chiefs, the NFL's lone undefeated team, do during his team's bye weekend?

He comes to Vegas, of course. So Al Roker can tape him eating fine fungus.

Last weekend, Piero Selvaggio, who owns Valentino restaurant at The Venetian, bid $30,000 on an Italian truffle at an auction.

The treasured truffle left Italy on Tuesday and arrived on the Las Vegas Strip Wednesday night. On Thursday it was feast time.

Selvaggio and Valentino Chef and partner Luciano Pellegrini prepared an eight-course feast for Peterson, Venetian honchos Rob Goldstein and Bill Weidner, Tom Kaplan and Joe Essa from the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, Roker and Robin Leach -- who had auctioned off the truffle in the first place.

Peterson is close friends with Weidner, which is how he wound up at the event.

The dinner will be featured on "Roker on the Road," the Food Network show that the "Today" personality does from various locations around the country.

No airdate has been set.

Tina Louise was in town the other day, recording dialogue for the new "Gilligan's Island"-themed "Welcome to the Island" slot machine.

Most of her lines ended with her purring the refrain, "Faster, faster, more, more," in her best Ginger voice.

The other surviving castaways, Dawn Wells, Russell Johnson and Bob Denver, also did bits for the machine, which should hit casino floors in the spring.

One of VegasBeat's favorite cult classics, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," is having a special 28th anniversary screening at midnight Saturday at the Huntridge Theater.

The 1975 movie -- and accompanying live performance by Divine Decadence -- caps an evening of related festivities, including a Bizarre Bazaar and a Dead Man's Party costumed ball.

Late-night showings of the film traditionally are attended by fans dressed as their favorite characters, such as the sweet transvestite Dr. Frank-N-Furter, immortalized on celluloid by Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon's Janet Weiss and Barry Bostwick's Brad Majors, and performing such hijinks as tossing actual toast at the screen when a character makes a toast.

More troubles for the embattled news department at KVVU Channel 5, the Las Vegas Fox affiliate.

The Canyon Ranch Spa, which had provided hair and makeup services for its on-air talent, along with sponsoring the popular "Monday Morning Makeover" segment, has severed its ties with the station.

Station GM Susan Lucas made a personal pilgrimage to see spa director Michael Boychuk on Wednesday to try to iron out their differences.

Neither side would talk for the record about the split.

Baltimore businessman Stephen Geppi, in town this weekend for the Las Vegas Comic-Con convention at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, seems to have a Superman fixation.

Geppi, a minority partner in the Baltimore Orioles and president of a comic book distribution company, has offered a reward of up to $1 million for a near-mint copy of the rare 1938 "Action Comics" #1 book where Superman made his debut.

"I hope this reward prompts people to check their basements, attics, garages and elsewhere," Geppi said. "You never know what Grandpa might have stashed away."

Ross Goodman is following in his father's footsteps, sort of.

His parents, Carolyn and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, were spotted Thursday night dining at Circo, the award-winning and pricey Bellagio eatery.

Seems they were celebrating a courtroom victory their son the lawyer had gained earlier in the day in an embezzlement case that no one had expected him to win.

Hizzonner gave us his son's cell phone number to get the details, but Ross didn't call us back before deadline.

While Ross is apparently following his father's lead as a formidable legal presence, he has a long way to go in the art of self-promotion.