Beckham coming to promote team

We won't have to wait long to see English soccer star David Beckham among the bright lights of Las Vegas.

But it's more likely to be all business, and not a club-hopping Beckhamania scene swarming with paparazzi.

Beckham, whose introductory Major League Soccer news conference drew 3,000 fans and 600-plus reporters from 10 nations, is coming to Las Vegas next month, I hear, to promote his new team, the Los Angeles Galaxy.

No word on whether his wife, Victoria, aka Posh Spice, is accompanying him, but the guess here is the visit will focus on firing up the Las Vegas soccer community, with photos of kids at a soccer field.

Word is the Galaxy wants to create more interest in Las Vegas as a feeder market.

Beckham, 32, signed a five-year contract with the Galaxy for $250 million, a $1 million a week payoff, the biggest contract in sports history.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Steve Wynn is starting over with another nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas. He's doing a full-out remodeling of Lure, a 400-capacity space which is renamed Blush. Opening night will be Aug. 31. "We blew out the walls and reconfigured it," said operating partner Sean Christie, former managing partner and vice president of Light Group. Look for hues of brown, gold and dark green, along with video projections on 300 silk lanterns. "It will be more of a personal experience than the megaclubs," Christie said. It will open at 5 p.m. daily as a lounge, with Asian appetizers from Red 8's kitchen. At 10 p.m., it converts into a nightclub on Tuesdays (industry night), Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. ...

Before she moves into the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in February as Celine Dion's replacement, Bette Midler is working on a PBS special about Sophie Tucker. One of the first big-name headliners on what would become the Strip, Tucker performed at the El Rancho not long after it opened in 1941. Midler, Joan Rivers and Roseanne Barr credited Tucker, known as the Last of the Red Hot Mamas, for influencing their careers with her comic style. Local residents from that era are being interviewed. ...

Big tipper: Jaleel White, better known as Steve Urkel, America's favorite nerd on TV's "Family Matters," took a cab from the Wynn to Bellagio and gave the cabbie $8 -- on a fare of $7.80.

SIGHTINGS

Actor Kiefer Sutherland, posing for photos with Nevada-based dominatrix Leola McConnell, better known as Mistress Lee, outside a third floor room about 3 a.m. Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel. ... In the crowd at "The Beauty of Magic" (Planet Hollywood Resort) on Friday: San Diego Chargers long snapper David Binn, who has been romantically linked to Pamela Anderson in recent years. Anderson was later spotted at Pure (Caesars Palace) with ex-hubbie Tommy Lee and illusionist Hans Klok. Also at Pure, in separate parties: "Transformers" star Rachael Taylor, Adrian Grenier ("Entourage"), and Denver Broncos tight end Daniel Graham. ... At Chris Webber's second annual Bada Bling charity event at OPM (Forum Shops at Caesars) on Friday: Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, rapper Nas, Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony, comedian Charlie Murphy, Charlotte Bobcats forward Emeka Okafor, Detroit Pistons Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace, former NBA guard Nick Van Exel, boxer Shane Mosley, Chicago Bulls No. 1 draft pick of 2007 Joakim Noah, Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade, radio personality Big Boi, rapper Bun B, Memphis Grizzlies guard Damon Stoudamire, St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson, boxer Zab Judah, actress Regina King and Detroit Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince. ... Former NFL stars Marcus Allen, Tim Brown, Ronnie Lott, Joe Montana, Michael Irvin, Lynn Swann, Ken Houston and Ted Hendricks, at the Yahoo! Sports All Stars Helping Kids charity event/fantasy football league draft party Friday at Light (Bellagio). ... NBA legend Magic Johnson, at Mix (Mandalay Bay) on Friday.

THE PUNCH LINE

"According to a new Zogby poll, the new Congress has hit another historic low -- 14 percent of people approve of Congress. And that's just the hookers who work for the D.C. madam." -- Jay Leno

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.