VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Vegas celebs welcome training

Friday, July 9, 2004 | 4:11 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

July 10 - 11, 2004

It ain't the A train, but plenty of entertainers will be humming along on it.

The inaugural run of the much-anticipated and oft-delayed Las Vegas Monorail is slated for Wednesday morning. The first trip will be star-studded.

The monorail will leave the MGM Grand just before 10 a.m. and proceed behind the Strip to the Sahara. Stops along the four-mile path are to include Ballys/Paris, Flamingo/Caesars Palace (behind the Flamingo Las Vegas), Harrah's/Imperial Palace, the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Las Vegas Hilton.

At each casino stop, headliners from that particular property will board the sleek ride.

It might be the last time any of them will ever ride the monorail, which is designed for tourists traveling between hotels.

Nonetheless, it is shaping up as an unprecedented gathering of local talent.

Among the personalities who organizers are hoping to rouse for the early excursion are Celine Dion, Clint Holmes, Siegfried Fischbacher, Gladys Knight, Frank Marino, Mac King, Penn & Teller, Trent Carlini, the cast of "Saturday Night Fever," the guys from "Chippendales" and the gals from "Sirens of TI."

First riders are also expected to include Gov. Kenny Guinn, Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, Las Vegas Monorail Company Chairman John Haycock, and the two men whose companies built the privately funded $650 million transportation system, Laurent Beaudoin of Bombardier Inc. and William G. Dorey of Granite Construction.

The monorail opens to the public at 8 a.m. Thursday.

Jon Provost, who played Timmy on the classic TV show "Lassie," is in town this weekend.

He is appearing at a collectibles and autograph show today at the Galleria at Sunset from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Little Timmy is 54.

"The Pursuit of Pleasure," the new show at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum inside The Venetian, was supposed to open to the public Thursday. Wednesday night was supposed to be the requisite private fete for museum patrons, high-rollers and society types.

But several pieces of art coming from their sister museum, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, are going to be late in arriving, so the show is now scheduled to open July 19, and the party has been postponed indefinitely, museum spokesman Dan Shewman said.

The exhibit, which could also be called "Hedonism Through the Ages," is a survey show of work depicting people enjoying themselves in a variety of fashions, from picnics to parties to, uh, other activities.

Among the artists represented are Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Max Beckmann, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Umberto Boccioni and Edgar Degas.

The show runs through January.

Today, July 11, is the 77th birthday of -- what else? -- the 7-Eleven convenience store chain.

To celebrate, most Las Vegas 7-Eleven locations will today be offering free 7.11-ounce Slurpee drinks to 1,000 customers at each store.

The new version of the wildly popular video game Grand Theft Auto, which is set for an October launch, is set in Las Vegas, reports Martin Stein in Las Vegas Weekly.

The game is noted for being more bloody, violent, and sadistic than perhaps any other video game. It offers up a 3-D city in which nearly any criminal act is possible. Players are free to steal cars, beat up the local population, make time with prostitutes, run over children, or simply go marauding to their heart's content.

The game's shocking over-the-top violence has been criticized by politicians and parents alike as being violent and inhumane. Which, of course, led to greater sales.

Not everyone seems to disapprove. Voiceovers for the current edition were done by some of Hollywood's best, including Joe Pantoliano, Robert Loggia and Michael Madsen.

Whatever happened to Tinker Toys?