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Friday, September 17, 1999
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
COLUMN: Norm Clarke
Wanted: Fascinating people in the ultimate city of entertainment
What an introduction.
The new guy was driving in from Denver at dusk on Sunday night, getting his first look at his new hometown, when there it was: the show of shows in the city of lights.
Above the Strip, lightning zig-zagged every which way, punching holes through a mountainous black cloud.
You guys think of everything to dazzle a newcomer.
Man-made electricity is what lured me here after 15 years at the Denver Rocky Mountain News as a sportswriter, sports columnist and the last three as the man-about-town columnist.
Finding and writing about fascinating people -- whether they're celebrities or the guy in Denver who caught his first foul ball at a major-league baseball game (by the way, he was blind) -- has been a 30-plus-year passion.
Which explains why I'm here: For over-the-top entertainment, big-time excitement and the offbeat, Las Vegas is the ultimate.
Today marks the launch of NORM! -- a man-about-town, three-dot column about people and places -- and I hope you'll participate.
You'll find me just about everywhere, gathering insider stuff.
It's going to be fun.
Bet on that.
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The Scene and Heard: Amid rumors that a love-love match has bloomed between Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, Agassi, fresh from his U.S. Open win, was spotted alone Wednesday at Baja Fresh (Sahara and Decatur). It's become a tradition: whenever he wins, he shows up for the fish tacos, a break from his strict dieting regimen. A spokeswoman for Agassi's management company, Agassi Enterprises, declined comment Thursday on the purported romance, saying, "We don't respond to rumors." ... The stars are out this weekend for the Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad fight. Leonardo DiCaprio and his posse of pals are reportedly staying at the Hard Rock; Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones are coming (no, not together!), as well as Shaquille O'Neal (his agent also represents De La Hoya), Michelle Pfeiffer, Al Pacino, and Oliver Stone. Kevin Costner, busy this week promoting his new baseball movie, "For Love of the Game," is a probable. My Aspen spies tell me he's planning a golf tournament there, with a special touch from his Tin Cup movie: participants can only play with one club. ... The drumbeat is getting louder: Bruce Springsteen will be playing Vegas soon. I'd love to tell you where, but I'm sworn to secrecy.
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Celebrity sightings: Mayor Oscar Goodman and ex-client Don King, seated next to each other at Wednesday night's tribute to Nevada Athletic Commission Chairman Dr. Elias Ghanem. And yes their improbable success stories -- ex-con to powerhouse boxing promoter and mob lawyer turned mayor -- wasn't lost on them. "We were saying, 'Only in America,' " Goodman told me. ... Gaming family scion Jack Binion, visiting from Mississippi, spotted Tuesday night at the House of Blues' ultra-exclusive Foundation Room atop Mandalay Bay (Small World Department: I told him my dad built livestock reservoirs for his dad, Benny, back in Montana). ... Cindy Margolis, the Internet's most downloaded babe, at Tuesday's WWF fights at Thomas & Mack. She found herself in a really painful (OK, it looked real to me) figure-four leglock administered by blond bad-guy Jeff Jarrett. ... Longtime tennis pro George Mack, still a handful at age 81, has this take on the key to Agassi's game: "He's so adept at taking the ball on the short hop. He's always gaining a little step. That's what beat (Todd) Martin,'' in the U.S. Open finals last week, said Mack, captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team from 1965 to 1967.
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The Punch Line: Mayor Goodman, on whether he would be willing to put $1 million on Trinidad, as Don King vowed to do this week: "I don't have 1 million. I did -- before the election.''
Call Norm! at (702) 383-2044 or e-mail him at Norm@lasvegas.com
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