John Katsilometes is stunned by the scene at Keep Memory Alive Foundation’s ‘Power of Love’ gala

kats@lasvegassun.com

Monday, Feb. 13, 2006 | 12:34 p.m.

As a dog house - Wait! Make that two dog houses! To go! - designed by master architect Frank Gehry rolled over for a total of $700,000, I thought, "This is a good night to be a cat person."

The twin $350,000 pooch palace bids were merely a segment of a rollicking evening that was equal parts frivolity and generosity Saturday at the Keep Memory Alive Foundation's "Power of Love" fundraiser gala at the MGM Grand Conference Center. The event, in its 10th year, was to raise money for research to battle Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's and ALS diseases.

Everything about this gig was big - the celebs (starting with Gehry and including co-honoree Maria Shriver and her husband, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger); the crowd (more than 900 in attendance); the dinner (prepared by star chefs Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse and Nobu Matsuhisa; the entertainment (the sizzling Vanessa Williams); and, most important, money raised from the live and silent auctions, table sponsorships and ticket sales, the sum of which was $18 million.

According to organizers, that total is the largest single-night fundraising figure, ever. The previous high was $14 million raised from the Robin Hood Foundation Dinner held last year in Naples, Fla. Adding to the "Power of Love" total was $2 million given at the end of the night by an anonymous bidder, but that figure is not being counted (officially) as part of the auction total.

"Beyond, way beyond, our expectations," an ebullient Keep Memory Alive founder Larry Ruvo said afterward. Organizers entered the evening with an ambitious goal to double last year's record-setting total of $5 million and wiped it out.

"This is what happens when friends who have been touched by this disease have friends, and they have friends, and everyone wants to help, it just keeps growing," Ruvo said.

Other memorable moments for this wide-eyed first-timer:

Said Lagasse: "I'm only doing two courses. I'm the rookie." Over at Dessert Preparation Central (which I found, a la Pepe Le Pew, by following the scent), Sherry Ward got off the best line of the night that wasn't heard by the audience. Ward was asked if it was difficult making dessert for 900 people and said, "Not when you're working with the MGM Grand. It's a cakewalk."

It's a lock: On Tuesday morning Lt. Gov. and gubernatorial candidate Lorraine Hunt will be campaigning in Lovelock (fittingly, on Valentine's Day) for the biggest event in Pershing County in quite some time: The official opening of Lovers Lock Plaza, a new tourism attraction where couples lock their love by hanging a lock over a chain (there have been no competing Valentine's Day events announced for Battle Mountain) ...

Praise of Enrico's: It's relatively cramped (45 seats in a none-to-large dining area) and a bit difficult to locate, tucked into the Von's shopping center on the northwest corner of Lone Mountain Road and Decatur Boulevard, but Enrico's Italian Bistro is worth the effort. The ambience is loud and brusque (shocker, for an Italian place), but the food is fantastic ...

Wax on, wax off: "Chippendales, The Show" celebrated its one-year anniversary Thursday in the 380-seat Chippendale Theater at the Rio; those two figures sitting far in the back, out of harm's way, were myself and Harrah's exec Debbie Munch. Added to the unique experience that is a "Chippendales" performance is the new Flirt Lounge, where female fans can mingle (I guess they call that "mingling") with their favorite dancers ...

Keys to the kingdom: The Piano Gallery of America opens Wednesday at 4245 S. Grand Canyon Drive (on the corner of Flamingo Road and Grand Canyon). Its co-owner is Jie Bu, who in a 15-year career in Las Vegas has trained more than 1,000 students as an instructor at UNLV and as co-founder of Music & Arts of Las Vegas, a music school on Spring Mountain Road ...

Dessert plate: Vanity license-plate sighting from a reader who saw it fastened to a Toyota Prius: LESSGAS.

Fabulous Las Vegas runs Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. John Katsilometes can be reached at 259-2327 or 812-9812, or at kats@lasvegassun.com.