Jay-Z, Jamie Foxx, LeBron James celebrate festive Fourth of July in Las Vegas

By Melissa Arseniuk (contact)

Published Monday, July 6, 2009 | 12:07 p.m.

Updated Monday, July 6, 2009 | 7:30 p.m.

The stars came out to play in Las Vegas as Independence Day parties overtook the city.

The party started early this year as pre-parties for World Series of Poker Event 57 were thrown in advance of the tournament, which got under way on Friday. Adding to the A-list talent in town was Don Cheadle’s charity poker tournament, Ante Up for Africa, which took place at the Rio on Thursday and attracted a dozen big-name stars.

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Sarah Silverman, Jason Alexander, Nelly, Charles Barkley, Brad Garrett, Dean Cain, Mike Tyson, Montel Williams, Herschel Walker, Cedric the Entertainer, and Kenny Smith all turned out for the event, which benefited humanitarian efforts in Darfur.

An assortment of less-famous but far-better poker players were at Blush later Friday night, as WSOP's cowboy-hat-wearing icon Doyle Brunson threw a private party for his card-savvy friends to mark his 40th year playing in the tournament.

Jack Binion, Todd Brunson, Jennifer Harmon, Daniel Negraneau, Johnny Chan, Antonio Esfandiari, and Marco Traniello all came out for the legend's party on the patio.

LeBron James got a little head start on his weekend and took to the VIP at the Tao on Thursday after enjoying dinner downstairs with 15 friends.

Matt Dillon was also there that night, first for dinner and then for drinks at the owners' table upstairs. The actor did double dinner-drink duty the following night, too, over at Lavo.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" actress Cheryl Hines, meanwhile, kept her Tao Group double-dipping strictly to dinner, and sampled the menu at Tao on Thursday before moving next door to Lavo on Friday.

Also spotted at Tao on Thursday was 2009 NBA champion and departing L.A. Laker Trevor Ariza, fresh off his verbal agreement to play for the Houston Rockets next season.

Meanwhile, another basketball player, Kenny Smith, dined at Lavo with several other Ante Up for Africa participants, including Cedric the Entertainer, Montel Williams, and Dean Cain.

While the weekend got an early start, things shifted into high gear on Friday as the Independence Day festivities officially got underway.

Lance Briggs and a handful of other NFL players, including Ray Maualuga of the Cincinnati Bengals and Kaluka Maiava of the Cleveland Browns, were all in town this weekend and seemed to have quite the time thanks to Thirty Three Group managing partner Alex Sardinia.

The footballers started things off with an afternoon of fun at the ever-popular work week send-off at the Palms pool, Ditch Fridays. (OK, Briggs technically began celebrating the Independence Day weekend on Thursday night, when he and a handful of friends hit Tao for the club’s go-to night to see and be seen, worship Thursdays.)

Leron McCoy, Steve Slaton, Marques Colston, and Jerry Azumah were all in town, as were freshly-signed rookies LeSean McCoy, Tyson Jackson and Travis Beckum.

Maualuga had dinner at N9NE Steakhouse later that night, as did famed fighter Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Amar’e Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns.

Stoudemire later took in the scene at Rain, as did Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks and Javon Walker of the Oakland Raiders.

Also dining at the Palms on Friday was Rihanna, who hosted a dinner for a dozen friends at Nove Italiano.

Over at the Venetian, meanwhile, LeBron James officially got his long weekend underway with a pair of parties, first at Tao Beach and later at Lavo nightclub.

As James was kicking in by the pool, Jamie Foxx was over at the Hard Rock Hotel broadcasting live from inside Wasted Space.

He took time away from the mic during "The Foxxhole" broadcast to perform a few MJ-inspired dance moves set to an assortment of the recently-fallen King of Pop's songs.

Later that evening, he gave his first of two consecutive nights of shows at The Joint.

Keyshia Cole joined him onstage on Friday, while MC Hammer and Too $hort surprised audiences, separately, on Saturday.

Fighter Floyd Mayweather and former "Beverly Hills 90210" star Ian Ziering both took in is show on Saturday.

While Ziering had a pre-concert dinner at Rare 120, Mayweather enjoyed a post-show part at Body English, which is where MC Hammer and his entourage headed after the show, too.

Meanwhile, Foxx kicked back at an unofficial afterparty at Tao. Jay-Z, Rihanna, Fabulous, and LeBron James also joined the fun, as did Foxx’s mother.

A well-known and longtime fan of the Asian-themed nightspot, Foxx took to the mic and treated clubgoers to a performance of “Blame It,” and yet another Michael Jackson tribute.

Once the star seemed satisfied that the party had been sufficiently started, he settled into his spot on the VIP stage where he drank champagne and celebrated the Fourth of July in grandiose style until the house lights nearly came on at 4 a.m.

Foxx picked up the party where he left off just a few hours later back at the Hard Rock. He treated poolside partiers to a few more songs and yet another MJ tribute at Rehab.

Floyd Mayweather was also there for a little fun in the sun.

Jay-Z and Ciara were in town this weekend becase they, too, gave a pair of Friday-Saturday night shows this weekend, over at the Pearl.

LeBron James and MVP joined Jay-Z onstage at the Palms on Friday, while Rihanna took both of this weekends' shows from one of the venue's VIP boxes.

Lance Briggs and his crew were at the show on Friday, mixing and mingling with on-field rivals in a skybox that served as the United Nations of the NFL.

After the show on Friday, Ciara headed over to Jet to host an official afterparty while Jay-Z, Rihanna, Amar'e Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns, Melody from the Pussycat Dolls and Fabulous partied it up with LeBron James at Lavo.

The group enjoyed a late-night dinner in the main floor dining room before moving the party upstairs to the nightclub. Once upstairs, the already-large group expanded even more to include more than 50 people, requiring the entire VIP section.

Also at the Palazzo that night was Palms owner George Maloof and film producer Lawrence Bender, who took in the scene from a separate table at the club’s marble bar after their much smaller group had dinner downstairs.

Back on Maloof's home turf at the Palms, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine had dinner at N9NE Steakhouse while Kevin Martin of the Sacramento Kings had dinner with his fiancé at Nove Italiano.

Mike Tyson was also at the Palms on Saturday, and was spotted at both Ghostbar and Rain. David Hernandez of "American Idol" fame was also seen at Ghostbar that night as he hung out with the hotel's resident lounge act, Zowie Bowie.

Meanwhile, perennial Privé guest DJ Jermaine Dupri was over at Planet Hollywood, and Warren G hosted over at Pure.

Also throwing a party on Friday was incoming E! reality show starlet and beautiful, “A Beautiful Life” actress, Audrina Patridge, who toasted the long weekend at the Bank.

There was no shortage of Independence Day laughs this weekend, either, as Kathy Griffin, who was spotted at Fix at the Bellagio this weekend, used her D-list humor to crack ‘em up at Mandalay Bay and Bill Maher, who was spotted at Blush on Saturday, took to the stage at the Orleans Showroom for the three nights of performances. Meanwhile, Susie Essman and Richard Lewis began a three-night engagement at the Venetian on Saturday. (Their final show is tonight.)

The city’s adults-only pools were the places to be Saturday afternoon, as MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice joined forces for a mini concert at Wet Republic and picture-perfect “Dancing With the Stars” couple Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy celebrated the Fourth of July at the Palazzo’s new pool party place, Azure.

Also on Saturday afternoon, Linkin’ Park frontman Chester Bennington signed autographs at his new tattoo shop inside the Miracle Mile Shops, Club Tattoo, in advance of his new band’s show later that night.

Dead by Sunrise performed at the Steve Wyrick Theatre after Bennington took part in a "Death Drop Escape" stunt the theater's namesake magician performed for audiences on Las Vegas Boulevard.

After his band's show, Bennington host continued his day-long Las Vegas appearance extravaganza and hosted a party at Privé.

Also taking to the stage on Saturday night were the Grammy-nominated rockers from the band Hoobastank, who played for partiers at the “Rock the Block” party on Fremont Street, then surprised fans over at the Hard Rock with an after-midnight set at Wasted Space.

Meanwhile, Grammy Award-winning performer the Dream performed a short-but-sweet, three-song set at Jet. The performer’s fiancé, Cristina Milian also joined him for the special, shortened Fourth of July show.

Over at Studio 54, the scene was extra-sexy as the lovely ladies of Vivid Entertainment lent their considerable talents to the MGM Grand nightspot.

A handful of adult film stars, including 2009 AVN Best New Starlet Nominee Nikki Jayne, Monique Alexander, Meggan Mallone and former Penthouse Pet Sunny Leone were there for the smokin' hot Saturday night party.

Another unabashed personality, onetime “American Idol” contestant Katrina “Bikini Girl” Darrell, was in town over the weekend for the so-called “Red, White and Bikinis Independence Day celebration” at Hawaiian Tropic Zone.

Also donning a bikini for a good cause this weekend was sexy “Peepshow” star Holly Madison, who yesterday hosted an afternoon by the pool at Tao Beach.

Over at Lavo, meanwhile, Marlon Wayans and

Others who put in appearances Sunday were DJ Dubfire from Deepdish, who spun at Privé, and DJ Steve Aoki, who treated fans to a set at the Bank.

Though the weekend may be officially over, the star-studded fun won't necessarily stop: Nelly will take to the stage at Jet for a brief, two-song set featuring his breakout single, "Country Grammar," this evening and Robb Patterson of KoRn will put the "rock" in Privé's Monday night staple, "We rock hip hop.”