VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Caesars raises Celine ceiling

Friday, Aug. 13, 2004 | 5:01 a.m.

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

WEEKEND EDITION

August 14 - 15, 2004

It appears that Celine Dion isn't going anywhere.

Diva Las Vegas and Caesars Entertainment are deep in negotiations for the chanteuse to extend her contract and stay as a headliner at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace until at least 2007.

Dion's current contract, a three-year agreement, was for a reported $100 million plus a percentage of the show's profits. Her show debuted March 25, 2003.

"Nothing has been signed," a source directly involved in the process told us. "But it looks like there will be a one-year extension with an option for another year."

The source said that the figure on the table is $40 million for the additional year, and $45 million for the option year, which would still be a pretty good deal for Caesars.

In 2003, Dion grossed $80 million from 146 sellouts, according to Billboard. And she grossed another $26.8 million from 48 sellouts as of this May, also according to Billboard.

Dion, who is on vacation, was unreachable for comment. She returns to the Caesars stage Aug. 25.

The only hitch to the deal would be if Dion were to become pregnant, the source said. The 36-year-old French-Canadian superstar has publicly said that she is interested in having another child.

She and her husband, Rene Angelil, are the parents of Rene-Charles, 3.

Monday is the 27th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. To perhaps ask him a few questions, Riviera illusionist and escape artist Dixie Dooley is holding a seance to contact the ghost of Elvis at 2:01 p.m. Monday.

The event is open to the public. It will take place at Greek Isles, because it was once owned by one of Elvis' friends, Debbie Reynolds, seance organizer Scott Lewis tells us.

Lewis adds that anniversaries of deaths always heighten supernatural activities and that 2:01 p.m. was chosen because 2, 0 and 1 were a few of Elvis' favorite numbers, and he was a great believer in numerology.

Dooley, who stars in his own show at the Le Bistro Theatre Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., also conducts an annual Houdini seance on Halloween.

Houdini died on Oct. 31, 1926.

Dooley has yet to make contact with the famed illusionist.

VegasBeat is off to recharge the gossip batteries for a brief spell, but for those interested in staying in the loop, there are plenty of things to look out for in the coming days.

Tonight at Caramel (Bellagio), Ruby Mazur, the guy who designed the famous Rolling Stones lips-and-tongue logo, is having an exhibition of his new work.

Also tonight, Rachel Hunter is one of the performers in the off-Broadway hit "Pieces (of A ...)" at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. Producers promise a star-studded crowd at the show, including "Simple Life" stars Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, Tim Allen and Lance Bass.

On Monday night the Queen musical "We Will Rock You" starts preview performances at Paris Las Vegas. The official opening with the celebrities and the "Access Hollywood" cameras happens Sept. 8.

On Wednesday KVBC Channel 3 anchor Kendall Tenney is the tourney director and emcee of a golf event benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation at Rhodes Ranch.

Participants will include entertainers Steve Rossi, Sandy Hackett and Eddie Mekka, best known for his role as Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa on "Laverne & Shirley."

Also signed up is former San Francisco 49ers kicker Mike Cofer.

On Friday night, Paul Sorvino welcomes a diverse collection of stars to The Venetian for a weekend-long charity billiards event benefiting the Asthma Foundation.

Expected participants include Sorvino's Oscar-winning daughter Mira Sorvino ("Mighty Aphrodite"), Yogi Berra, David Brenner, Pat Cooper, Hulk Hogan, Jerry Orbach, Joe Piscopo, Penn Jillette, Martin St. Louis, Dave Andreychuk and coach John Tortorella of the Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Finally, on Saturday night, Elite Model Management and Teen Vogue are having an event that will bring dozens of models and industry types to the Hard Rock Hotel.

We are quite disappointed to be missing that one.