Author Ellroy has no love for Sin City

Here's a novel approach to promoting your latest book: Badmouth the city on the next stop of your book tour.

Somewhere along the line, crime novelist James Ellroy has developed a raging case of bad blood when it comes to Las Vegas. He went off on Sin City during an interview with R-J writer Corey Levitan, whose story appears in the Thursday Neon section.

So if you're interested in hearing what a sicko, psycho city we inhabit, by all means show up for Ellroy's reading Sunday of "Blood's a Rover" at the Clark County Library, 1401 East Flamingo Road. The fun starts at 2 p.m.

A sampling: "It's not even hate in a good way," said Ellroy, referring to Las Vegas. "It's not a place I approve of. I don't want to go back. They told me to go there and sell books, I'll go there and sell books."

BERGEN EYES VEGAS

Las Vegas remains squarely in Erich Bergen's show business plans.

In one of the local shockers of the summer, Bergen, 25, was fired from the Las Vegas "Jersey Boys" in early September.

He's still not clear why it happened.

"It's never been fully explained to me, and I'm not sure it ever will be," said Bergen, who played Bob Gaudio, right-hand man for Frankie Valli of the Four Seasons.

Vegas Confidential caught up with Bergen on Sunday night at Zowie Bowie's Vintage Vegas show at the Monte Carlo.

Bergen attended the show with former castmate Travis Cloer, who made a guest appearance with Zowie Bowie.

The plan, for starters, said Bergen, is to "produce, shape and direct" a show for Cloer and shop it in the Las Vegas market.

"Then we'll do mine," said Bergen, who co-produced the Michael Jackson tribute at the Palms on Aug, 29.

Bergen's last appearance with the "Jersey Boys" was Sept. 9, when they performed on NBC's "America's Got Talent" as guest artists.

"I had asked for a vacation and very quickly it was not a vacation," he said. "The vacation that I asked for is a standard part of an equity contract. Each actor is entitled to one two-week vacation per six months of work. At the point that I was granted the vacation, that was my first one, ever. I had done 'Jersey Boys' for three years, the tour, then Vegas, without one vacation.

"I never once missed a rehearsal. I missed a chunk of shows," he said, because of "an extremely bad medical situation."

When he returned to the show, "my voice would go. Yes, I did miss a lot of shows, but that was a long time ago." His contract was renewed in March, for a year.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Sierra Boggess has jumped from "Phantom: A Las Vegas Spectacular" to "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway to the "Phantom" sequel in London. She's the handpicked choice of Andrew Lloyd Webber to star in "Love Never Dies," which opens March 9 on London's West End. She'll return to Broadway with the new show on Nov. 11, 2010. She'll be paired opposite British star Ramin Karimloo. Webber was quoted as saying, "The passion between the two of them is almost unbearable, it's so strong," according to the Denver Post. ...

"Dancing with the Stars" judge Carrie Ann Inaba is in town today to join volunteers from the work force at UnitedHealthcare to sort and package food at Three Square Food Bank. It's an invitation-only event...

Deal of the Day: Every Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Suncoast's showroom, Las Vegas talent shows up for the "Hit Parade." Admission is free.

SIGHTINGS

"CSI" stars Laurence Fishburne and George Eads, filming a scene Monday at the Fremont Street Experience. During a break, Eads interacted with the large crowd of fans by running a lap around a circle of metal barriers, high-fiving the onlookers. ... At Bette Midler's Monday show at Caesars Palace, fashion designer Betsey Johnson, actress Doris Roberts from "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, at 89 the longest sitting justice on the court. ... At the opening of The King's Ransom, an Elvis collection at the Imperial Palace on Tuesday: former Elvis girlfriend Linda Thompson and his former lieutenant, Joe Esposito. ... Poker bad boy Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, swearing up a storm at Lagasse's Stadium (Palazzo) on Monday during the Broncos-Chargers and Phillies-Dodgers games. He was grousing that he had $5,000 on the Dodgers to win the game and $50,000 to win the series. Los Angeles lost, 5-4, and trails three games to one. ... Correction: The name of Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin was transposed here on Monday.