John Katsilometes talks with Jeff Beacher about ‘bartainment’ project

Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 | 7:27 a.m.

Jeff Beacher is expanding.

On Tuesday the larger-than-life multimedia kingpin (how's that for a handle?) opens Beacher's Rockhouse Bar at the Imperial Palace with a street festival that will celebrate Paris Hilton's new CD, conveniently titled "Paris." The party begins at 7 p.m. and will include a proclamation from Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman (to be read by Beacher) making Tuesday "Paris Hilton Day." Emcee Peter Giovine and Tiny Kiss will be joined by Beacher's usual collection of misfits, oddballs and possible felons.

At 10:30 the party will spill across the street to Pure at Caesars Palace for more bass-driven frivolity, and Beacher's new venture will be open to the public at midnight (scuttled were plans for Beacher to be swathed in dough and lowered from a crane into a giant pool of ketchup in an attempt to be the World's Heaviest Pig in a Blanket - something about combining 100-degree heat with several hundred gallons of condiment didn't seem like a good idea).

Beacher said Friday that the scene at Rockhouse would be "bartainment," a rowdy all-hours festival pulling the best moments of his "Madhouse" production, late of the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. The club will be open daily from 4 p.m. to 6 a.m. and will be staffed with some of the highest-paid bartenders in the city.

In describing Rockhouse, Beacher says, "It will be sensory overload. We'll have 11 booths with bottle service, three stages around the room, dancers, a mechanical for bikini bull riding, air guitar contests that we'll call "Air-oke' and old carnival machines like the one in 'Big.' "

Beacher is awaiting word from Fox to see if a series based on his misadventures will ever be launched. The idea is for Beacher to be the focus of a series similar to the old "Larry Sanders Show," rather than be the subject of a true reality project. Beacher says he will find out in about a month if Fox is ready to move forward (the network filmed his final show at the Joint last month) with the series, which would focus on the Rockhouse and Beacher's show - which is still looking for a home. I'm hearing (and also expecting) that "Madhouse" will settle into the 2,200-seat Palms showroom, part of the hotel's $600 million expansion project. "I have no comment on where the show will go," Beacher said. For him, it was a rare moment of caution.

NoteMart

The revamping of Treasure Island continues Thursday with the opening of Social House, the first restaurant venture by Pure Management Group. Most of the restaurant-club will be a connected two-level venue that will also encompass Tangerine, which sits on the casino floor level, and will draw hipsters seeking a nightlife environment for great food up to 4 a.m., but hardcore "foodies" will also find a lot to like - the executive chef is Joe Elevado, formerly of Nobu. Social House overlooks the "Sirens of TI" performance and a good section of the Strip. And as Pure Management Group Assistant Director of Operations Frank Tucker detailed, Social House plans to be Sake Headquarters of Las Vegas - the current menu of 38 varieties will be broadened to include at least 150 (an idea inspired by the innumerable niche rums at rumjungle and vodkas at Red Square). ...

More from my interview last week with "Phantom: Las Vegas Spectacular" executive producer Scott Zeiger, who said the trend of scaling back the length of Broadway-styled productions is not limited to Las Vegas. Zeiger's company is producing Martin Short's one-man Broadway musical, "Fame Becomes Me," which is a single act running 100 minutes. As Zeiger said, "The trend is that shows will be shortened. People's tastes have changed, and they have a more focused attention span." Zeiger also said that many tourists who see "Phantom" in Vegas might not even be aware the show has been trimmed back to 95 minutes until entering the theater at the Venetian. "We did not advertise show length nationally," he said. "I think it would be peculiar to do that." Also, while speaking of "Phantom," I used an unfair term - "sea of empty seats" - in describing the unsold seats for the show's 10 p.m. performances. That was a bit strident and has not been the case; a few hundred seats in an 1,800-seat theater is not, in fact, a sea. ...

Good line from Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen on Thursday night after the band played an acoustic set at Simon Kitchen & Bar at the Hard Rock Hotel. "You don't need a hit record to tour," he said during dinner at the restaurant. "If that was the case, we'd never tour." The band visited Kerry Simon's Vegas haunt to celebrate the release of its latest album, "Rockford." ...

Wait a second: The head manager of Tryst, the nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas where clubgoers often stand in an interminably long line just to enter, the person who is always at the door, whom you meet at the end of that long line, is named ... Jesse Waits. He runs the club (which is co-owned by Steve Wynn and Victor Drai) with his twin brother, Cy Waits ...

Adjust TiVo accordingly: In Friday's column about Miss America returning to Las Vegas, I erred in writing that the reality series "Finding Miss America" was still a go on CMT. The network has dropped plans for the program. ...

A license plate reported by "The Rat Pack is Back" music director Jeff Greenberg, on a Porsche Boxter: LIV2GIG. He says it apparently belongs to a successful musician, and I agree.