Revolution Lounge first nightlife venture for Cirque du Soleil.
Ruth Brown's father tried to discourage her from pursuing a singing career.
He was convinced she wouldn't survive in the music world.
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That changed when she brought home her opening act.
"(Heavyweight boxing champion) Joe Louis opened for me on the road, did comedy," she told me one night at the Bootlegger Bistro.
"That's when my father realized I was a star, when Joe Louis came to our house and sat down at the family table" in Portsmouth, Va., said the rhythm & blues icon Brown, who died Friday at age 78.
She had lived here in the 1950s, performing at the Moulin Rouge, the 1970s "when Redd Foxx brought me here" and for good in 1994, after the earthquake in Northridge, Calif.
BEACHER MAKES LIST
New York transplant Jeff Beacher made Variety's list of 50 individuals, teams and companies who most influenced comedy in 2006.
The 300-pound Beacher gets hefty praise for bringing the "Madhouse" to Las Vegas, with its army of little people and countless oh-my-gawd moments.
Of course, Sacha Baron Cohen, aka "Borat," is on the elite list. So is Steve Carell, Lewis Black, Jeremy Piven, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn.
However, I am shocked, shocked I say, by the notable and egregious absence of the champion of truthiness, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."
Clearly this blatant snub is a sure sign that Variety is part of the vast left-wing conspiracy.
Variety, you're on notice.
REVOLUTION'S A COMING
The rendering pictured below of the Revolution Lounge at The Mirage marks the first time it has been released for public viewing.
The club -- a spinoff of the groundbreaking relationship between The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil -- represents Cirque's first nightlife venture in Las Vegas.
The designers are promising a "psychedelic sensory environment and a contemporary interpretation of The Beatles era." The lounge will be open 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. It will be managed by INK, the premier nightclub operator in Toronto.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
Heidi Fleiss' publicist is irate over an Internet report that claims Mike Tyson was going to work as a prostitute at her Pahrump brothel. Charles Lago said the report is a ridiculous hoax. Fleiss is opening a brothel named Heidi's Stud Farm.
SIGHTINGS
At Pure (Caesars Palace) on Thursday: Bill Maher, Whoopi Goldberg, Dave Attell, Gabriel Iglesias, Jay Davis, Louis C.K., Daniel Tosh, Katt Williams and hip-hop star E-40. ... CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, in the audience for Maher's show on Thursday night. ... James Caan, delivering one of the best lines of the night at the Nevada Cancer Institute benefit "Bond for the Cure" at the MGM Grand Garden on Thursday. As he prepared to speak during the segment honoring longtime friend Don Soffer, the developer of Turnberry Place, Caan said, "I just want to let everyone know that George (the eternally tanned George Hamilton, who was in the audience) has just been named the fifth-best looking black man in America. So congratulations, George." The crowd of 1,100 helped raised $5.3 million for NVCI. ... Brent Barrett, who shares the phantom role in "Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular," backstage to see Olivia Newton-John after her show at the Luxor. ... Local attorney/KNPR commentator Dayvid Figler has been appearing on Nancy Grace's CNN show in recent weeks, with more to come. Figler and Ross Goodman, Mayor Oscar Goodman's son, were featured on Court TV on Friday in a first-degree murder case. ... At Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab (Forum Shops at Caesars): comedian Wayne Brady and later, Magic Johnson dining with his wife, Cookie.
THE PUNCH LINE
"A poll was taken about who would be a better parent: Britney Spears or Kevin Federline and only 3 percent said Federline. Eighty-seven percent said the kids should take their chances on the streets." -- Conan O'Brien.
