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Erik Kabik/ErikKabik.com
The “CeeLo and Friends” Christmas show and Keep Memory Alive fundraiser featuring CeeLo Green (pictured here with Miss Piggy), Rod Stewart, the Muppets and “The Voice” contestants at Peepshow Theater in Planet Hollywood on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012.
Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 | 10:36 a.m.
CeeLo’s Loberace
Tickets for CeeLo Green’s new show “Loberace” opening Feb. 27 at Planet Hollywood are selling faster than expected, and now with this first-look video, they will really be snapped up.
“We couldn’t be happier at how far in advance we are getting sales,” a hotel insider told me over the weekend. “Even six weeks out, it’s way better than anybody thought, including CeeLo.”
MISS AMERICA RATINGS: Following up on Sunday’s preliminary Nielsen figures we posted, I’ve learned that the total 8 million-plus viewers the 92nd Miss America Pageant at Planet Hollywood attracted Saturday was the most watched since the 2004 pageant despite being clobbered by the double-header of the Baltimore Ravens-Denver Broncos overrun and the victorious San Francisco 49ers against the Green Bay Packers.
In hour-by-hour ratings, ABC was always ahead of NBC from the start of the night, but as the curtain went up on Miss America, the alphabet network also jumped ahead of CBS. By the final hour of Miss America, the audience had increased to 8 million, far ahead of NBC’s “Deception” with 1.9 million viewers and CBS’ “48 Hours” with 5 million (the NFL games were on Fox). These preliminary numbers are subject to change.
GORDON’S U.K. INVASION: Star TV chef Gordon Ramsay has rescheduled his British invasion celebration on The Strip for Jan. 27. He’ll host an official opening at Gordon Ramsay BurGR in Planet Hollywood and then commandeer a red double-decker London bus to drive -- with a British band -- to Caesars Palace for the red-ribbon cutting at Gordon Ramsay Gastro Pub and Grill.
He plans a traditional Sunday roast beef dinner for guests, plus, Scottish salmon flown from his birthplace for those who don’t eat meat. Meantime, his only problem is trying to keep enough of his favorite Scottish beer in stock. InnisNGunn is selling faster than anticipated, and the overseas brewery has started shipping extra here.
WICKED WHISPERS & RACY RUMORS:
I’m hearing rumblings of a show by U2 frontman Bono on The Strip this spring.
Ex-Venetian and Palazzo CEO Bill Weidner will open his first overseas casino in The Philippines in April and follows up fairly quickly after all that commuting between Las Vegas and overseas with two more deals set in Taiwan and then Vladivostok, Russia, on the sea at Golden Horn Bay near China and Korea. It’s the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean and President Vladimir Putin’s regular vacation getaway.
A dream dinner with George Clooney and his personal escorted tour of his movie set is his first-ever donated auction prize for the Keep Memory Alive gala celebrating the joint 80th birthdays of Quincy Jones and Sir Michael Caine at MGM Grand in April. The lineup of entertainers serenading the two icons is mind-blowing but for now remains secret -- but does include one female superstar you’d never dream would sing them “Happy Birthday.”
TV & FOOD NOTES
Watch for big news with “Believe” magic superstar Criss Angel in the next few days, and we’ll have new photos of his latest TV campaign.
I’m busy over the next 24 hours filming a Valentine’s Day edition of chef Michael Mina’s “Cook Taste Eat” series in San Francisco today, and then a red carpet docu-spoof at “Absinthe” in Caesars on Tuesday.
While with Michael on camera, we will cook “the perfect omelet” with caviar and smoked salmon and then off camera test and tackle his new 20-course $245 Gamut dinner production launched this month.(The three-hour-plus adventure works out to just $12 per course, so not that over the top!) Food critics in the Bay Area are doing somersaults and cartwheels in ecstasy. I’ll report my, ahem, gamut of emotions, and then tell you if he’s bringing it to his Bellagio restaurant this spring.
The tiny, taste-sized bites of each course are served kaiseki style and are from the days of ancient Zen temple meals. It includes caviar, oysters, his famous tuna tartare, geoduck, Kampachi sashimi, Monterey Bay abalone, squid ink, hen egg and truffles, plus, a trio of Tiramisu and chocolates. Heavenly!
NEW WEBSITE: Former self-confessed Las Vegas shopoholic Heather Marianna, who created her Beauty Kitchen concept to prove that the kitchen isn’t just for cooking, has a new website complete with an interactive guide and zero chemical product store. She’s running a contest for the winner to travel here for the Feb. 24 TV show filming in her home.
TONIGHT’S TIPS
Comedienne Roseanne Barr opens her standup run at The Laugh Factory in Tropicana.
Eddie Ifft and Kermit Apio have a week’s run at Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club in MGM Grand.
French DJ Joachim Garraud performs his Space Invaders EDM show at Marquee in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
And “Happy Birthday” to our friends at the World Design Center’s Mundo restaurant Downtown celebrating their third anniversary.
TOMORROW’S TEASE
It’s the start of our sizzling coverage of the annual porn stars invasion for the Adult Entertainment Expo and AVN Awards. We have a Royal Robin Rundown of the 130-plus sex starlets, their outrageous parties, the erotic exhibits and our insatiable interview with XXX headliner Asa Akira, who co-hosts the “Oscars of Porn” this year with Jesse Jane (our Q+A with her runs Wednesday).
Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.
Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.
Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.
Transport yourself to the opulent and excessive Roman Empire at Caesars Palace. But the ever-changing Caesars Palace is far from ancient. The hotel and casino is constantly raising the bar for what visitors can expect in a Vegas resort experience.
Caesars Palace features 3,348 rooms and suites in five towers, including the new luxury boutique Nobu Hotel and Restaurant, which opened Feb. 4, 2013, in the totally remodeled Centurian Tower. Caesars features 129,000 square feet of gaming space, including the Strip’s largest poker room and a 250-seat sports book. Other amenities include about two dozen restaurants, a four-level shopping mall, four pools, a spa, Pure and Poetry nightclubs and Pussycat Dolls.
Dining options include restaurants from world-renown chefs Guy Savoy, Wolfgang Puck, Bobby Flay, Gordon Ramsay and, on Feb. 4, 2013, Nobu Matsuhisa.
You never know what characters you’ll run into at Caesars with regular performers like Jerry Seinfeld, Bette Midler, Elton John and maybe even the emperor himself.
Catering to the young and modern crowd, Planet Hollywood is a one-stop shop for entertainment with its massive shopping mall, slew of restaurants, spacious casino and clubs.
The ambiance of the casino is retro-chic meets high-tech with black granite floors throughout and colorful LED lights throughout the space. The theme carries into the 100,000 square-foot casino with 250 flat screens topping off slot machines. The casino is also home to 87 tables, a sports book and a poker room.
There's also the Miracle Mile Shops, one Vegas' largest malls, with 140 stores including BCBG Max Azaria, bebe, Urban Outfitters and The Discovery Channel Store.
Following an afternoon of shopping, guests can satisfy their appetites at one of the gourmet restaurants in Planet Hollywood, like the non-traditional approach to steakhouses at Strip House or check out the exotic Far East motif at KOI restaurant and lounge. And if guests are still looking for more, they can spend the after hours at Privé, Triq or Krave nightclubs.
Perhaps one of the resorts biggest attractions came in March with the addition of "Peepshow." The naughty twist on the story of Little Bo Peep is modern-day spin on the run-of-the-mill Vegas topless review. The "Peepshow" stage has seen visiting celebs like Scary Spice Mel B, "Dancing with the Stars" Kelly Monaco and Playboy's Holly Madison.
Liberace has to be rolling over in his grave to see what they've done to his reputation by having "Loberace"!!!