Celebrity couples ringing in 2011
The royalty of celebrity couples will be heating up a frigid New Year's Eve crowd on the Strip.
Music icons Jay-Z and Beyonce, baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez and "What Happens in Vegas" star Cameron Diaz and Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband, Chris Martin, front man of megaband Coldplay, are in town.
Jay-z, Beyonce, Paltrow and Martin are here for the star-studded grand opening of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Jay-Z is teaming up with Coldplay for a show that will be shown on The Cosmopolitan's giant LED screen in view of thousands on the Strip.
Has a band name ever been more appropriate, considering one the coldest New Year's Eves on record is predicted.
Also expected on The Cosmopolitan's red carpet: Grammy winner Mary J. Blige, actors Mark Wahlberg, Kristin Davis ("Sex and the City"), Mark Salling ("Glee"), Ellen Pompeo ("Grey's Anatomy"), Jamie-Lynn Sigler ("The Sopranos"), Kellan Lutz ("Twilight"), filmmaker Tyler Perry and James Marsden of "X-Men."
THE SCENE AND HEARD
Fox affiliate KDOX-AM, 1280, is switching from talk format to oldies starting at 3 p.m. today, five years after switching from Spanish music.
"Too many talk shows in the market," said Scott Gentry, owner, operator and general manager. "We decided to give up the fight." ...
Correction: Police believe the first heist by the "Chip Bandit" took place at the Suncoast.
'SUCH A NIGHTMARE'
Beth Bartolini, Light Group public relations director, feels like she just experienced a 2010 sequel of the film "Planes, Trains and Automobiles."
Her Christmas break was to end last Monday with a flight from New York to Las Vegas. Mother Nature had other plans.
"Such a nightmare," she said Thursday, exhausted from blizzard-related issues that included cancellation of five of seven flights over three days.
Bartolini racked up more than $1,000 in expenses after renting six cars, two hotel rooms, numerous cab rides and two trains, including a three-hour ride from Westport, Conn., to New York City, usually a one-hour run.
She sold her backup Blackberry charger for $80, shared a cab with strangers from Spain and "borrowed" a luggage cart from someone who was sleeping.
"Probably the most humbling experience I've ever been through. I think I cried six times," she said.
On the bright side, "I met tons of amazing people" and gave out over 100 cards promoting Light Group venues.
SIGHTINGS
A-Rod and Diaz, hand in hand on an escalator at The Cosmopolitan. Also spotted there: John Mayer, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn and Forrest Whitaker. ... Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, at "Criss Angel Believe" (Luxor) on Tuesday. ... Alicia Taylor, a Las Vegas mortgage company founder who was in Playboy's "Women of Wall Street," among 10 contestants on "Your OWN Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star." ... Rapper Nelly, playing poker in the Bellagio poker room on Thursday.
THE PUNCH LINE
"Everyone has to be back in their own cells by 10 p.m. sharp." -- From David Letterman's Top Ten Signs You're at a Bad New Year's Eve Party
Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.
