Jacobs, friends walk red carpet
Usually TV reporter Alicia Jacobs is working the red carpet, not walking it. Sunday was a first: her first time on the red carpet for the Academy Awards.
She was on the arm of "America Idol" executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, taking in the pomp and parties with a Star on her other arm.
Well, in an elegant, customized dog carrier to be more precise. She took Star, her 11-week-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel to the Oscars.
This pampered pup is no slumdog.
Lythgoe, who has a home at Lake Las Vegas, gave Star to Jacobs last month at the Nevada Ballet Theatre's Black & White Ball after a winning auction bid of $10,000.
At Friday's party at the new SLS Hotel, near the Beverly Center, their table mates included an Oscar nominee, Taraji P. Henson, and British TV personality Jordan, a former glamour model.
Henson was nominated for best supporting actress for her role as the adoptive mother of Brad Pitt's character in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
Jordan, one of Europe's most popular cover girls, was there with her husband, British singer Peter Andre, whom she met on Britain's version of "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here."
When introduced to Jacobs, Jordan and her husband said they were coming to Las Vegas soon. When Jacobs asked whether there was a specific headliner they would like to meet, Jordan's husband blurted out, "Donny and Marie!" Jacobs assured them she thought she could arrange that.
At a private party Jacobs and Lythgoe attended on Saturday, Candy Spelling, widow of producer Aaron Spelling, confessed to Jacobs that she loves slot machines.
"She said she's like the No. 1 most-winning slot player," Jacobs said. Spelling said she's always winning and even hit a $100,000 jackpot at Bellagio.
Spelling has a book signing coming up in Las Vegas for "Stories from Candyland."
Oh, and Candy's in love. At one point during the evening, her beau, songwriter Jerry Goldstein, who co-wrote the No. 1 hit "My Boyfriend's Back," sang two songs to Spelling.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
Emeril Lagasse chefs have been seen around the Sportsbook Bar & Grill at the Palazzo. Word has it Lagasse plans to delay the takeover of the former 40/40 space until after March Madness. ...
Gary Anderson of Vegas Oasis Studio created the theme and wraparound for the Oscars red carpet show. A music director, producer, composer and arranger, he is a Grammy winner and three-time Emmy nominee. ...
CORRECTION: The first name of Gerard Ramalho, anchor/reporter at KVBC-TV, Channel 3, was misspelled in Saturday's column.
SIGHTINGS
Drew Barrymore, celebrating her 34th birthday Saturday at the Palazzo with a group of friends including fellow birthday girl Ellen Page of "Juno" and Kristen Wiig of "Saturday Night Live." Page and Wiig are starring in "Whip It," Barrymore's directorial debut. Barrymore's group strolled through the Palazzo casino singing and dancing to old-school jams on her boom box while walking up to their rooms. They dined at Lavo and had birthday cakes on the hookah patio. Page was celebrating her 22nd birthday. ... Adler's Appetite, featuring Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler, performed at Wasted Space in the Hard Rock Hotel on Saturday. Adler, the band's original drummer from 1985 to 1990, recently appeared on the VH1 reality show "Sober House."... At "Tony N' Tina's Wedding" at Planet Hollywood Resort on Friday: "Twilight" actress Ashley Greene and "The Closer" co-stars Raymond Cruz and Michael Paul Chan. They cheered on pro wrestling legend "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, who appears in the show through March 5.
THE PUNCH LINE
"How did he do it? How did Sean Penn get all those roles playing a straight man?" -- Robert De Niro, during the Academy Awards on Sunday.
Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.
