Robin Leach

Tue, Oct 21, 2008 (5:23 p.m.)

Almost $30 million raised from debut car collector car auction

Moments ago it was officially announced that the debut famed Barrett-Jackson collector car auction exceeded $29 million in winning bids.

Luxe Life will have the full details and roundup tomorrow of the three-day Mandalay Bay event that drew auto-afficionados from all across America.

The event was televised live in hi-def on the Speed cable network - and owner Craig Barrett says Vegas will now be an annual home of his world renowned auctions.

"We achieved in Vegas in our premiere year what it took us 10 years to achieve in Scottsdale and Palm Beach. That's a remarkable response" he said.

* It's now official that the Stomp Out Loud cast will be moving its show out from the Planet Hollywood casino resort. Dancers and drummers told me they’ll be staying on in Vegas though at a new Strip location. Expect news on Nov. 18 of the racy details of the new Peep Show adult-cabaret that will open there in February after the theater has been re-configured for more intimacy and re-decorated for more sexual ambiance!

A star choreographer is already working on the erotic routines and a headline name beauty will star in the sexy show!

*A major Internet travel site, Virtual Tourist, has just ranked the world’s Top 10 good luck monuments around the world from Germany to Peru from Sweden to Tokyo – and our bronzed kick lineup of the Crazy Girls showgirls at the Riviera on our Strip came in No. 2! Tourists have literally worn out their backsides with a ‘good luck’ pat! Surprisingly, the Crazy Girls beat out Ireland's famed Blarney Stone, which came in No. 4, and Lincoln's Tomb in Springfield, Ill., at No. 9. VirtualTourist scored the Victor Noir Grave in Paris as the No. 1 fortune monument despite the fact it's in a cemetery. No. 10 was a copy of the famous Florence, Italy, boar statue in Sydney Hospital in Australia.

*Fastest star on the Blush red carpet at Wynn was actress Mena Suvari.

The American Pie beauty high-heeled it at high-speed past waiting videographers and cameramen at the first anniversary party so she wouldn’t have to answer any questions about her role in Sex & Lives in Sin City airing this coming weekend on Lifetime. She plays murder suspect Sandy Murphy in the story of the Ted Binion slaying, which made headlines here for many months. Mena also didn’t want to answer questions about her new sudden surprise engagement to Italian-Canadian concert promoter Simone Sestito while on vacation a few weeks ago in Jamaica after a long romance with Mike "Murda" Carrasco of the ‘SuperCr3w’ dance team. Simone was on Mena’s arm at the Blush party.

*Desperate Housewives star Josh Henderson, also now appearing on the new “90210” TV series, did linger on the Blush red carpet -- but after the first anniversary party he went off on a non-stop nightclub spree. He turned up at The Bank in the Bellagio sitting on the patio with Iron Chef Bobby Flay from the Food Network and then skipped across the Strip to Drais After Hours club in the bowels of Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall, where he ran into former hit boyband N'SYNC member Chris Kirkpatrick partying into the dawn hours for the third consecutive night. Meantime, Arizona Diamondbacks outfielders Justin Upton and Chris Young, with first baseman teammate Conor Jackson shared a VIP table with Cleveland Indians second baseman Josh Barfield and Cincinnati Reds outfielder Chris Dickerson at Victor Drai’s other nightclub, Tryst inside the Wynn.

*Congratulations to the lovely ladies and handsome hunks at Sirens of T.I. as they celebrate their fifth anniversary this week. The celebrations all start this morning when the Buccaneer Boulevard street-sign leading into the T.I. resort is swapped out to be renamed Sirens Cove Boulevad. If all goes as planned the sexy femme fatales were due to be safely lifted high above the Strip to reveal the new sign at 9 a.m. this morning. Our fifth anniversary highlights interview with lead pirate girl, Sin, will run right here on Luxe Life this Friday – complete with all new photos!

Congratulations also to the executives and employees of Caesars Palace this morning as they celebrate the “topping off" of the sixth high-rise tower as the high-point of the $1 billion expansion set to open next summer. The topping-off beam, signed by employees, was set to be hoisted high at 10 a.m. after a brief ceremony conducted by Caesars President, Gary Selesner. The new 23-story, 665-room Octavius Tower will feature 71 of the most luxurious suites ever built in Vegas, I am told. The tower sits alongside the newly expanded convention center and revamped Garden of the Gods pool complex.

*Updating yesterday’s story of poker-playing Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps. Less than 40 days ago the swimming champion learned to play poker and yet wound up coming in ninth from the 187 entrants. He was so pleased with the debut results that he’s planning to play in the next World Series of Poker. He was also presented with yet another gold medal to go with his 14 strong Olympic collections. This time it was a gold Caesars Palace medallion from poker room manager Jim Pedulla. He then moved over yesterday to the Bellagio’s Poker Room to play Texas Hold ’Em in the Festa al Lago World Poker Tour event. The tournament, which runs thru Sunday, features top players including Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, Erik Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, Carlos Mortensen, Gavin Smith, Jennifer Harman and Jennifer Tilly and Michael chatted with all of them. Michael stayed in a penthouse at the Palms Place condo-hotel and spa where he hung out with owner George Maloof and Hugh Hefner’s ex girlfriend, Holly Madison, at Iron Chef Kerry Simon’s new restaurant and also at the N9NE Steakhouse where he enjoyed a bone in filet. The Girls Next Door blonde bombshell along with a galpal also showed up at LAVO in the Palazzo over the weekend. Without Hef or Criss Angel on her arm she held onto a stuffed animal puppy and sipped Grey Goose until 3 a.m. dancing to DJ Vice in their VIP table area.

*After playing the greens in Justin Timberlake’s PGA tournament, actor Luke Wilson put down the clubs long enough to go partying at the LAX nightclub in the Luxor with his pro-golf partner Dustin Johnson. Luke didn’t win but still celebrated with Dom Perignon champagne and Belvedere Vodka cocktails.

*Giant chocolate and mocha cakes have suddenly become the dessert dining rage at restaurants all over town. Now celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is pleasing the palate at his Chinois hotspot in Caesars Palace with a mouth-watering 15-layer flourless chocolate cake priced at $15 representing $1 per layer!!. It's so thick and big that the candied hazelnuts and chocolate have to be served sideways rather than standing on its end!!! Another monster competing for title of "15-layer cake" is served up at the Strip House restaurant in Planet Hollywood’s casino resort. Can a 20-layer, a 25-layer or maybe even a 30-layer cake be far behind? Once you start something like this its hard to think where the rivalry in size might end!

TONIGHT'S TIP:

Star chef Wolfgang Puck, who single-handedly launched the Vegas fine-dining scene with Spago at Caesars Palace back in 1991, reopens his Postrio restaurant in St. Mark’s Square at the Venetian. It’s the first multi-million-dollar major renovation and redecoration makeover in its nine-year successful run -- and Wolf brought the bar right in one dramatic continuous sweep from the restaurant right into the plaza ... tattooed stuntman and motor-cross champ Carey Hart throws a triple-header rock-fest at his Wasted Space nightclub in the Hard Rock casino hotel with Cherry Hill and their guests Theory of Flight and Slow to Surface ... at the world-famous Improv Comedy Club at Harrah’s Joe Starr headlines a six-night run with fellow comics Shayla Rivera and Mickey Joseph ... our friends at Internet retail giant Zappos here in Vegas will give away over $3,000 worth of purses to lucky ladies attending the Zappos party at the Blush boutique club in Wynn with guest DJ Ikon.

TOMORROW'S TEASE:

What Wall Street economic meltdown? Maybe a strip down? There will be four days of opening parties for the new Rick’s adult cabaret as the Houston-based public company takes over the Scores and Penthouse clubs here. Stockholders and investors get the first eyeful at a "due diligence" ball before Howard Stern’s cast shows up to cut the red bra! Even the aerial acrobats go topless! More than 40 of our city’s top chefs team up for ‘the best eating event’ and we may just have found the largest bottle of red wine in the world right here in Vegas. They’re inventing a Rube Goldberg contraption just to hold it and pour! Our Criss Angel countdown continues with just nine days to go! Tila Tequila opens a new Mod-Mex restaurant and high-heeled designer Guiseppe Zanotti arrives to thrill the ladies.

COMING NOVEMBER 1: Our brand-new multimedia Web site, Vegas DeLuxe, is on its way with daily 24/7 breaking news updates for all the luxury lifestyle secrets of Vegas plus all the latest celebrity happenings all over the Strip.