Paris Hilton says Lady Gaga ‘rocks’

Sounds like Paris Hilton has a new BFF.

I asked Hilton, who was in town over the weekend to catch her first look at Britney Spears' "Circus" tour, who she sees as the Next Big Thing on the music horizon.

"Lady Gaga," said Hilton, in a blink of her eyelashes.

"She rocks. Her future -- and I told her this -- she's definitely the next pop princess. I love her style and all her songs are hits. She's very unique. There's no artist out there like her.

"I find her very intriguing," Hilton said of the New York phenom.

She's still friends with Spears, although they hadn't talked for several months before they met backstage after Spears on Saturday.

"She looked really happy and proud," said Hilton. "She rocked the stage."

"I've been out of the country a lot, traveling," said Hilton, who just wrapped the second season of "My New BFF," which includes her new boyfriend, Doug Reinhardt.

Her BFF franchise is going global. "Paris Hilton's British Best Friend" was shot in London and aired earlier this year. She's just signed on for "BFF Dubai," which may present some challenges, given her party-girl rep in a region with delicate cultural sensibilities.

The contestants will be "from all around the (United Arab Emirates) area," she said.

"People all over the world" want her to take the BFF concept to their country, she added.

As far as her once-closer relationship with Spears, they are still pals, but not party pals.

A telling sign, perhaps, of where their relationship is now was how they celebrated after the show. While Spears went to a booze-free party in Phil Maloof's suite atop Palms Place, Hilton went club-hopping, with stops at Lavo (Palazzo), Tao (Venetian), XS (Encore) and the Beatles Revolution Lounge at The Mirage with sister Nikki, boyfriend Doug Reinhardt and pal Jeff Beacher.

Hilton is in the process of mixing the new album she just completed.

"I've got a few more songs left and then I start rehearsing and getting ready to go on tour."

She's not sure of the title but she's convinced her music career is about to take off.

I asked if she sees a Las Vegas showroom in her future.

"I'm friends with all the hotel presidents and they're always asking, 'when are coming to Vegas (to headline)?'"

That's going to happen, she said.

"It's going to be huge."

THE CATFIGHT OF CATFIGHTS

World Series of Poker commissioner Jeffrey Pollack wants an apology from Joan and Melissa Rivers.

Pollack is upset over comments the mother-daughter duo made during Sunday's superheated episode of Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice."

In what will be remembered as one of reality TV's legendary catfights, the Riverses raged at Las Vegas poker star Annie Duke and Playboy Playmate Brande Roderick after Trump fired Melissa.

Before storming out of the Trump Tower, Melissa called Duke and Roderick a "cabal" of "whore pit vipers."

Her mother, a longtime Las Vegas headliner, called Duke a "Nazi" and Roderick "a follower."

But that was just a warm-up for the potty-mouthed mama Rivers, who turns 76 in June.

"You are a piece of shit," she said to Duke, before calling Roderick "a stupid blonde."

When Roderick protested that she was playing for keeps so her charity would get $250,000, Joan Rivers snapped, "I don't want to hear this charity nonsense" and added "your people, you give money with blood on it."

Turning back to Duke, Joan Rivers said "and you're a poker player--a poker player! That's beyond white trash. Poker players are trash, darling, trash."

Duke held her ground and defended poker players.

So did Pollack, who told me he "resented the comments."

"I think Annie as a participant has played the game masterfully and strategically and is showing the world just how smart great poker players are."

Duke, who won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2004 in the $2,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-or Better event, is no stranger to cutthroat play and it's no secret that she's among the more unpopular players on the professional circuit.

SIGHTING

"Peepshow" co-star Kelly Monaco, at the tops-optional Bare pool lounge on Tuesday at The Mirage. She was covered.

THE PUNCH LINE

"Obama's approaching his first 100 days in office. He's had to deal with a financial crisis; pirates; swine flu; all that plus he's got a live-in mother-in-law." -- 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.