Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Guggenheim is pleasure palace

VegasBeat appears Sunday through Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Timothy McDarrah can be reached at [email protected] or at (702) 259-4096.

WEEKEND EDITION

April 10 - 11, 2004

What better place to have an art show about pleasure than Las Vegas?

On July 16 the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at The Venetian opens "The Pursuit of Pleasure."

The thematic exhibition will illustrate pleasure as shown in paintings through the ages with scenes of feasts, country picnics and, not surprisingly, various types of gaming.

The show will be a collaboration with the museum's partners, the Hermitage State Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection museum in Vienna.

The current show at the Guggenheim, "A Century of Painting: From Renoir to Rothko," will be extended past its scheduled May 2 closing as the new show is completed.

Rob Lowe seems to love Mexican food.

Three separate mealtime sightings of him eating at Rubio's on Green Valley Parkway in Henderson came in to Gossip Central last week.

He has been filming his CBS pilot, "Dr. Vegas," at the Green Valley Ranch Station Casino. It wraps, so to speak, this week.

It's not so unusual for a guy to be part of a "Divas" show. Stevie Wonder did it last year.

For this year's "VH1 Divas" broadcast, which airs live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena one week from today, Tom Jones is the star male attraction. Also on the bill is pop star Usher.

The benefit concert for the cable station's Save The Music Foundation, which funds music education in public schools, also includes appearances by Mary J. Blige, Chaka Khan, Tyra Banks, Daryl Hannah, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Carly Simon, Jessica Alba, Marg Helgenberger, Sheila E., Vanessa Williams, Nia Vardalos and The Pussycat Dolls, featuring Carmen Electra.

Previously announced performers include Patti LaBelle, Jessica Simpson, Debbie Harry, Cyndi Lauper, Joss Stone, Ashanti, Eve and Flamingo Las Vegas headliner Gladys Knight.

Deal brewing? Dining at the Palm (Forum Shops at Caesars) on Thursday night: VEGAS Magazine Publisher and Advertising Director Michael Carr and Josef Vann, respectively, and New York City real estate developers and moguls David Edelstein and Robert Futterman.

The latter pair are also the new owners of Desert Passage mall at Aladdin.

When Rod Stewart played The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel last month, tickets topped out at $753.

The room was full when he performed, but hotel sources said that not every person in the audience had paid their way in.

When Stewart plays the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Aug. 7, tickets range from $75 to $125.

Why such a discrepancy?

"There is much more of a demand to see him at an intimate venue like ours," Hard Rock marketing veep Phil Shalala told us. He said the show at The Joint, which he confirmed did not sell out, was priced based on what promoter Andrew Hewitt thought the market would bear.

MGM Grand officials declined comment.

Pro golfer Grace Park -- ranked No. 3 on the LPGA list and No. 2 on its money list -- is making a Las Vegas appearance Monday.

She'll sign autographs, analyze your swing and show off some new duds at Nike Golf inside Mandalay Place.

The festivities start at 6:30 p.m., and are all free and open to the public.

The "Neon Nights" show that plays Tuesday and Wednesday nights this month at the Railhead at Boulder Station features six talented local performers, all looking for that big break.

The show has a "Tonight Show" theme, helped along by the fact that host Marcel Forestieri is a Jay Leno impersonator.

The performers include crooner Steven David; Laurence T, who has been Lon Bronson's vocalist for years; R&B singer Paull Casas; Rusty, a country singer; and outstanding vocalist Michael Cagle.

Also on the bill is chanteuse Genevieve, who came to town last year and started as a Rio bevertainer.

See her before she becomes famous.

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