Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: Anderson aims to comfort creatures

President Clinton dines at Spago. Harrison Ford gets takeout. Rapper Eminem makes the rounds.

Pamela Anderson's first nightclub venture in Las Vegas will reflect her personal tastes: a vegetarian menu, soy milk cocktails, no leather or fur on the staff.

The club will be called Lachapamela, a marriage of the last name of fashion photographer David LaChapelle and Anderson's first. The concept, created by local financier Joey Battig, has been shopped to Caesars Palace and the Hard Rock Hotel, according to local buzz.

"It's going to be totally magic. You're going to have to let your imagination go with that one," said Anderson, who hinted the entrance will be patterned after her legs. Anyone who's seen LaChapelle's use of sexy inflatables in Elton John's show at Caesars Palace will get the picture.

"The only wildlife will be human," chimed in Dan Mathews, director of campaigns for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Anderson met Tuesday with the media at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where she launched her cruelty-free clothing line during the Men's Apparel Guild in California (MAGIC) convention.

Eminem tour

Rap superstar Eminem cut a wide and memorable swath through Las Vegas on Monday.

During a meeting at the V Bar at The Venetian on Monday afternoon, he gave an impromptu mini-concert, including new songs, that was aired over the casino's sound system, attracting a huge crowd to the bar.

Later, he performed at a ballroom in The Venetian to promote his Slim Shady clothing line as part of the MAGIC convention this week.

Then it was off

to the Palms, where he was greeted by 500 fans and employees when he stepped out of the limo

at 2:45 a.m.

With his entourage and an MTV documentary camera crew, the rapper tried his hand at bartending at ghostbar, climbing on the bar at one point to announce, "Free drinks on the house!"

Maloof got stuck with a sizeable tab, "but it was well worth it. This was right up there with the Britney (Spears) concert," he said.

Telltale tattoo

Palms owner George Maloof has painted, errr, inked himself into a corner.

He's agreed to be among the first wave of VIPs to get a tattoo at the grand opening today of the Hart & Huntington Tattoo Salon at the Palms, the first tattoo parlor in a major casino.

He's hinted he's going to go for the logo of the Sacramento Kings, the NBA team he co-owns with his family.

When I asked Maloof the other day if the tattoo would include Sacramento, he chuckled and said, "That's a good question. I figure if I put Kings it might not be enough.

"There's already a huge insecurity issue of us leaving Sacramento. Maybe we can put it to rest."

Maloof said he will be joined by New York Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey and 'N Sync members Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick.

The Scene and Heard

I'm hearing rumblings that Roy Horn could be leaving the Jungle Palace temporarily today. And there's word that one of the Siegfried & Roy marquees at the back entrance of the Mirage has come down and been replaced with a sign for Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden. ... Tony Bennett and Jewel will perform together at the Golden Nugget on March 5-7. It's invitation-only.

Sightings

President Clinton, lunching at Spago on Tuesday with Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi in a party of 12 and two dozen Secret Service agents. ... Harrison Ford and a couple of movie execs, popping in Panevino Gourmet Deli on Tuesday for to-go orders. ... Former heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes, dining with friends at Charlie Palmer Steak (Four Seasons at Mandalay Bay) and later at Caesars Palace (where he won the crown in June 1978). ... At MAGIC: Tom Selleck, who starred in Hawaii-based "Magnum P.I." from 1980 to 1988, checking out Hawaiian shirts; former boxing champ Sugar Ray Leonard; pro wrestling star Sable.

The Punch Line

"Live by publicity, you'll probably die by publicity." -- Russell Baker.

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.