Swimsuit models stop Strip traffic
The 2010 Sports Illustrated swimsuit models literally stopped traffic Wednesday on the Strip for a re-creation of The Beatles' iconic Abbey Road pose.
Joining them in the southbound lane in front of The Mirage was Mayor Oscar Goodman, the Ringo Starr of mayors. There was no way Goodman was going to miss this opportunity to beat the drums for Las Vegas.
"We had to clear the road when a firetruck arrived," said cover girl Brooklyn Decker, who is in her fifth year as an S.I. swimsuit model.
The 18 models arrived in Las Vegas about 1:30 a.m. on a chartered jet with its nose featuring Decker in a Betty Page pinup pose.
Decker, who married tennis star Andy Roddick last April, was unveiled as the cover girl Tuesday night at the issue's launch party in New York City.
She met Roddick the, ummm, old-fashioned way: "He got his rep to call my rep."
They'll miss Valentine's Day together. She's going to be tied up on the swimsuit tour Sunday. He's in San Jose, Calif., for a tennis tournament.
On Decker's Las Vegas to-do list is to view the Dancing Fountains at Bellagio because she missed them in her two previous visits. Her first trip was a year ago, during the swimsuit models' visit when Bar Refaeli was the cover girl.
The 22-year-old, 5-foot-10 Decker shot down rumors that she's heading for "Dancing With the Stars."
"Absolutely not true. I'm way too uncoordinated. I'll leave that to the pros. Nobody wants to see me in dancing shoes."
She's not a clubber, but loves the energy of Las Vegas. "Everyone's so welcoming. I can't think of a more suitable place for us to visit. It's sexy ... a nice marriage for the magazine and the city."
R.I.P. CHARLIE WILSON
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid thought Hollywood had the wrong guy when Tom Hanks was named to play the late Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson.
"When I read his book, when I heard Tom Hanks was going to play him (in "Charlie Wilson's War"), I was so terribly disappointed," Reid said by phone Wednesday.
"They were not a matching pair. I reluctantly went to that movie," said Reid, who befriended Wilson while they were in the U.S. House.
"But Tom became Charlie Wilson. He talked like him. He walked like him. He was Charlie Wilson. I was so terribly impressed."
Wilson, who died Wednesday at 76, was instrumental in driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan. During the 1980s, Wilson, a Democrat, used his position on a military appropriations subcommittee to secure covert U.S. support for the victorious mujahedeen forces.
"He was my friend. Whenever I went to Texas, he always helped me. He'd come to my events," Reid said.
An epic snowstorm that brought the nation's capital to a standstill had Reid working from his home this week. I asked him if he's been stuck in the snow.
"Stuck like hell," he said. "I'm home in my pajamas, a very nice pair of pajamas, I might add. And I haven't combed my hair or shaved."
SIGHTINGS
Ruth Quinn, half of the Palms twins, and Jon Gray, a vice president at the Palms, exchanging vows Wednesday in a Palms Sky Villa. He was wearing his trademark tennis shoes, a pair of red-and-black Nikes, which reflected the wedding colors.
THE PUNCH LINE
"Huge snowstorms back East. Even people without Toyotas are having trouble stopping." -- Jay Leno
Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.
