VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Q tip has Mayor Goodman all ears

Wednesday, April 14, 2004 | 10:21 a.m.

San Francisco has the Castro. New York City has Christopher Street and Chelsea.

Now a section of downtown Las Vegas might get the "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" makeover and become a gay neighborhood.

Developers behind a hotel tentatively named Q are planning to meet with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman to drum up support for their planned property, which would cater to a predominately homosexual clientele.

Goodman's spokeswoman, Elaine Sanchez, confirmed to VegasBeat that her boss was aware of the project, but said that a meeting with its backers had not yet been scheduled.

A source familiar with but not directly involved in the project told us: "It would completely anchor and bring to life all the Arts District plans. Cast it in context of 'Queer Eye' and you know the surrounding blight will start to vanish as soon as they build the hotel."

The exact location of the hotel was not known.

The source said that the Westin Hotel & Resort group would operate the hotel, though its financial backers are a local group.

Bruce Franche, a spokesman for the Columbia Sussex Corp. in Fort Mitchell, Ky., Westin's corporate parent, did not return a phone message Tuesday.

The backers of the project are moving ahead slowly and deliberately, mainly because of what happened to Donald Troxel.

The Ohio businessmen tried to rent space this year in Neonopolis for a gay cabaret-style nightclub that would have featured drag shows, but Neonopolis management at the time denied him a lease. That management team quit over the flap and was replaced last month by the local CB Richard Ellis office.

However, Goodman has been generally supportive of any downtown redevelopment projects and is regarded as a friend of the gay community.

Animated news

Two large articles have appeared over the last few days -- in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times -- about "Father of the Pride," the upcoming animated series about the lives of the animals that perform with Siegfried & Roy.

The theme of both articles was that DreamWorks and NBC are taking a big gamble with the program. The feeling here is that the show is as much of a sure thing as TV can offer.

The duo played to sold-out houses for decades and have international fan clubs. The outpouring of love for Roy Horn after the tiger attack at The Mirage last fall was truly breathtaking.

Most interesting was a comment to the Wall Street Journal by DreamWorks co-founder and show producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, who says he talks to Horn on practically a daily basis. That is as good a sign regarding Horn's progress as we've heard in months.

The Times said the show is set for a Monday or Tuesday prime-time slot on the network's fall lineup.

Rock on

Two classic rock acts are expected to touch down in Las Vegas late this summer.

Eric Clapton is starting a tour in Dallas in June. The closest announced locale is Aug. 2 at the Hollywood Bowl in L.A. Slowhand's tour is in support of his new disc, "Me and Mr. Johnson," which consists of 14 renditions of tunes written and recorded in the 1930s by mythical Mississippi blues master Robert Johnson.

No Vegas date or venue has been set, but there have been discussions to have a tour stop at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel around Labor Day.

Also, sources say The Who might come back to town. After a summer Asian tour, they have two California dates scheduled in August.

Bass player John Entwistle died in a Hard Rock Hotel room on the eve of the opening of the band's summer 2002 tour.

The band features original members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, along with Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey on drums. Pino Palladino played bass on the band's 2002 tour, but it is unclear who will be filling Entwistle's shoes this time.

Pool theft

A reliable source tells us there was a big commotion at the pool at Palms on Saturday afternoon.

Seems that while N9NE group boss Michael Morton was enjoying the cool water, someone snuck into his cabana and lifted his wallet.

Calls to Morton were not returned.

The N9NE group operates the Palms' N9NE restaurant as well as hotel hot spots Rain and ghostbar.

New show

The Sahara still has plans to bring in an adult show, although it remains unclear exactly what that show might be.

"X," which played last year at the Aladdin, had been scheduled to open in the Congo Room this month, but was derailed because of a lawsuit filed by two investors against show producers Angela Sampras and Bobby Boling.

Ed Fishman and Steven Meistrich claim they are entitled to a share of "X" bookings in perpetuity; Sampras and Boling maintain the investors were only entitled to a share of the profits from the Aladdin gig.

An arbitration hearing in the matter is scheduled for Monday morning.

"They are all nice people, and I hope they can straighten it all out for themselves," Sahara entertainment director Ron Garrett told us. "We have another big project in the works and one way or another, we are going to have a tremendous show, an adult-themed show, in here this summer."

VegasBits

Poolside: Fox's "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" -- with Tom Arnold, John Salley, Kevin Kennedy and host Chris Rose -- will broadcast from the Palms from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 26-30. The public is invited to attend, and are encouraged to wear revealing bathing suits, producers tell us ...

"Day" has come: On June 15, Sony will release a live CD of Celine Dion's Caesars Palace show, "A New Day... ." The disc's track list and title have not yet been announced ...

No illusion: Rob Lowe and sons Edward, 10, and John, 8, attended David Copperfield's 7:30 p.m. show at MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre on Tuesday ...

Move: Mandalay Bay scion Billy Richardson Jr. has been in New York City for much of the last month. He is planning to open a restaurant there with Jeffrey Chodorow. Chodorow was a financial backer of Rocco DiSpirito ("The Restaurant") and is now suing his former partner because "the restaurant has not been the financial or critical success" that had been expected ...

TV time: Las Vegas pawn shop owner Jim Reid, who is selling some rare Beatles footage on eBay (we wrote about it on Monday), was interviewed Tuesday by "Access Hollywood." The segment airs nationally on Thursday.

From Sun wires

Dole to write memoir: Former Sen. Bob Dole, 80, is writing a memoir about his military service during World War II. "A Veteran Remembers" will be published by HarperCollins in 2005, the 60th anniversary of the war's end.

"Last year, my sister discovered all of my World War II letters to my family and their responses. With these first-person accounts, I think now may be the right time to do such a project," Dole said.

Mancini on stamp: A postage stamp honoring composer Henry Mancini premiered Tuesday.

Mancini wrote the music for the movie "The Pink Panther," and the brightly colored feline lurks in a corner of the stamp, which carries an image of Mancini conducting.