Burton vanishes; group steps up
A farewell salute to Lance Burton. Say hello to Jabbawockeez.
That's the word along the Strip as Burton wrapped up his 14-year run at Monte Carlo on Saturday.
Sources say the announcement will come Tuesday, with the white-masked dance crew moving into the weeknight 9:30 p.m. time slot starting Oct. 7.
Jabbawockeez was the inaugural winner earlier this year of Randy Jackson's "America's Best Dance Crew" on MTV.
The group has been building fan momentum since solid runs at the MGM Grand and a performance at the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, in which the dancers tore it up with Shaquille O'Neal.
Comedian Frank Caliendo, who shared the theater with Burton, will continue with a permanent showtime of 7:30 p.m.
UP IN SMOKE
It was a tough week for Cy Waits and Matt Leinart, whose careers may have gone up in smoke after getting entangled with Paris Hilton.
Waits and Leinart got sacked days apart. Waits was a top-tier Las Vegas nightclub executive who might have lost millions of dollars because of his association with Hilton; Leinart was a highly regarded quarterback whose Sin City fling with Hilton put him in the doghouse early with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals.
Waits, 34, had just been promoted to run Steve Wynn's nightclubs XS and Tryst with twin brother Jesse.
Wynn fired Cy Waits on Wednesday, five days after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
With Waits in his SUV was Hilton, who was charged with felony cocaine possession.
Waits was pulled over after a motorcycle cop smelled marijuana smoke coming from Waits' vehicle.
Leinart, who struggled from the start after being drafted 10th overall by the Cardinals in 2006, was released by the Cardinals on Saturday.
Leinart's judgment came under fire from the Cardinals media before he put on the uniform.
He was criticized for his trip to Las Vegas, where Hilton joined him to host his post-NFL draft party at Pure nightclub at Caesars Palace.
It didn't help his cause when reports surfaced that he was dating Hilton and photos of his partying got splashed across the Internet.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
Fans of rising Las Vegas-based magician Murray are floating a conspiracy theory that his departure from "America's Got Talent" last week, after a 4½-month run, might have had something to do with David Copperfield's appearance on the show this week.
SIGHTINGS
At Tao, in The Venetian, on Saturday: Nicky Hilton and David Katzenberg; Will.i.am and Apl.de.ap from the Black Eyed Peas and Chelsea Handler in a group that included Chuy Bravo and Brad Wollack from "Chelsea Lately."... Hustler Magazine founder Larry Flynt, at the opening of his Hustler Club on Dean Martin Drive on Saturday. ... Mike Tyson, dining at Nove Italiano, in the Palms, on Saturday with friends. At Moon nightclub Saturday: actor Verne Troyer, best known as Mini-Me in the "Austin Powers" series.
THE PUNCH LINE
"It's already autumn. Summer went by faster than Lindsay Lohan's rehab." -- David Letterman
Norm Clarke can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.
