VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Neil down for appearance on ‘Sports Show’

Friday, April 30, 2004 | 10:28 a.m.

Love that Vince Neil. The Las Vegas resident and former Motley Crue frontman made a brief but hilarious appearance on "The Best Damn Sports Show Period."

During a trivia segment, show host Tom Arnold went from lounge chair to lounge chair (the show is being broadcast this week from the Skin Pool Lounge at the Palms) asking occupants questions he thought they could answer.

First, he asked a woman to name four U.S. presidents -- any four, in any order. She passed.

Next chair was Neil. Arnold asked him to name any two members of the band 'N Sync.

You could have been asking Neil to explain the Pythagorean theorem from the baffled look on his face.

And when someone off-camera yelled out "Justin Timberlake! Lance Bass!" Neil still looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

A quick-thinking Arnold then asked the rocker to name his five favorite Las Vegas strip clubs.

Neil lit up like a Christmas tree and promptly reeled off six -- Cheetah's, Jaguar's, Spearmint Rhino, Sapphire, Crazy Horse Too and Club Paradise -- without even pausing to take a breath.

For the record, 'N Sync features JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, Bass and Timberlake.

Maloof deal

The Maloof brothers, not busy enough with the Palms, the Sacramento Kings and other business interests, have signed a production deal with MGM Television Entertainment.

The first project with MGM TV and the newly formed entity Maloof Television may be a reality show that looks into the "entrepreneurial arena in which the Maloofs operate," according to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news Thursday.

"The Restaurant" producer Ben Silverman has been brought in to create and supervise the show.

Roy speaks

Roy Horn will be doing several interviews in the coming months for a 90-minute TV special with Maria Shriver that will likely air in September on NBC, Siegfried & Roy spokesman David Kirvin said Thursday.

The special will be all about Siegfried & Roy, what happened the night the white tiger Montecore bit Horn and dragged him off stage, and the future of the magical duo, Kirvin said.

The network garnered the first media interview with Horn since the attack thanks to their special relationship. NBC is launching a new animated series "Father of the Pride," which is based on the lives of the animals that performed with the dynamic duo.

Kirvin and Siegfried & Roy's longtime manager Bernie Yuman said Horn continues to improve, spending at least six hours a day in rehabilitation.

"He's got the will of a thousand men," Yuman said. "And Siegfried is there to challenge him all the way."

While neither would divulge exactly how Horn is doing, Yuman said reports that Horn could walk without assistance were "erroneous."

Pricey painting

Friends of Steve Wynn say he is considering bidding next week on a painting that could bring the highest price ever paid for a single work of art.

Pablo Picasso's 1905 painting "Garcon a la Pipe" ("Boy With a Pipe") is expected to fetch as much as $100 million. (See story, Page 10E.)

The painting goes on sale next Wednesday at Sotheby's, a New York-based auction house and dealer.

Its acquisition would really be a "perfect centerpiece to his collection -- and it would be a terrific Vegas attraction: 'The World's Most Expensive Painting.' He is definitely thinking about it," a source told us.

Wynn's collection, which includes works by Gauguin, Manet, Matisse, Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt and Warhol, among others, is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Garcon a la Pipe" is part of a collection owned by the Greentree Foundation, which was created by heiress Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney in 1982. She and husband John Hay Whitney bought the painting, of a boy holding a pipe and wearing a garland of flowers, in 1950. They paid $30,000.

The previous record for a painting is $82.5 million for Van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Paul Gachet," which was purchased by a Japanese businessman in 1990.

On one weekend in May 2002, Wynn spent $45 million (including $23 million on a Renoir) at auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's in New York.

Wynn's office said he was traveling Thursday and unable to return calls.

VegasBits

Mentor: Recording kingpin Clive Davis attended Gladys Knight's performance at Flamingo Las Vegas on Friday night. The pair go back a long time together. Knight and the Pips left Motown in 1973 for Buddha Records, a subsidiary of Davis' Arista label. He guided the group to several gold records, including the Grammy-winning No. 1 hit "Midnight Train to Georgia" (1974) ...

Shop: French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier was window shopping along Via Bellagio on Wednesday. He ended up at the Hermes store there; he is the new creative director and chief designer for the House of Hermes ...

Cards: Daily updates on the 35th annual World Series of Poker are available at CardPlayer.com. Tobey Maguire was playing Thursday. The tourney takes place at Binion's through May 28 ...

Move: We said the other day, in an item about Jay Leno's Vegas guests, that Dana Carvey is a Paris Las Vegas headliner. Now that the Queen musical "We Will Rock You" is coming, there are no more Paris Las Vegas headliners. Carvey, however, is still around. He performs at the Danny Gans Theatre at The Mirage tonight and Saturday ...

Farewell: Thursday was the last day for Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's chief spokeswoman, Elaine Sanchez, one of the most delightful people at City Hall. She starts next month as public affairs manager at McCarran International Airport. No replacement has been announced for her City Hall slot ...

Correction: Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group associate partner Kimberly Gora has never lived in Chicago. She began her two-year relationship with Bill Rancic ("The Apprentice") when she met him in Las Vegas at the center bar at the Hard Rock Hotel, not in Chicago, as we earlier reported ...

Canceled: Because of the cancellation of Christina Aguilera's North American tour, her May 21 Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts performance has been canceled, the hotel announced Thursday. Refunds are available at the point of purchase ...

Swarms: The Monet show at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art admitted its 100,000th visitor this week, a record for an exhibit there. Gallery spokeswoman Jessica Berlin said it expects to draw more than 250,000 visitors by the time the show closes Sept. 13. Who says culture has no place in Las Vegas?

From Sun wires

Affleck supports raise: "Jersey Girl" star Ben Affleck is still getting political mileage out of last year's box-office bomb "Gigli."

At the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, the former dishwasher and waiter joked with lawmakers that he might have landed in another dead-end job after the movie tanked last fall.

Affleck was promoting an increase in the federal hourly minimum wage from $5.15 to $7 proposed by his home state senator, Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.