U.S. Open to serve Agassi with honor

Andre Agassi returns to the U.S. Open today for another monumental day in front of fans who never stopped loving him.

A day after two tornadoes shut down the Open, he'll be honored today as the 22nd member named to the Court of Champions, the tournament's Hall of Fame equivalent.

Agassi is one of tennis's greatest ambassadors. His speech will be aired live on CBS about 1 p.m. (KLAS-TV, Channel 8) before the women's finals. The bad weather moved the men's finals to Monday.

His induction comes with a permanent monument, placing him among the Open's greatest champions. His eight Grand Slam wins (60 overall titles) included two Open conquests, the last in 1999, when his romance with Steffi Graf went public. That's the definition of win-win.

She won't be at Arthur Ashe Stadium today due to son Jayden's baseball commitments.

Agassi left the stadium on Saturday about 30 minutes before the tornado scare forced tournament officials to call for an evacuation.

Agassi was spotted Friday at his favorite Manhattan restaurant, Campagnola, in the company of billionaire philanthropists Dennis Washington and Chuck Mathewson and other friends.

Mathewson, a Reno resident, was instrumental in transforming International Game Technology (IGT) into the nation's most dominant slot machine company.

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER

An emotional Earl Turner fell to his knees in appreciation on Friday.

Turner, a Las Vegas lounge favorite, wanted to celebrate his birthday with an evening of cabaret featuring old friend Clint Holmes and four-time Grammy winner DeNiece Williams on Friday at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

Williams surprised him with a birthday serenade in front of a big crowd at the Cabaret Jazz venue.

Turner was so grateful he got down on his knees and was heard saying "best birthday ever."

Williams is best known for her No. 1 hits "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late," a duet with Johnny Mathis and "Let's Hear It for the Boy," which was featured in the 1984 box office hit "Footloose."

And speaking of birthdays, Holmes and his wife, Kelly Clinton, will be celebrating hers (Sept. 18) on a 12-day sea cruise from Iceland to Montreal. It will be a working vacation. They'll team up in the showroom.

Holmes is being honored Thursday with the inaugural Big Man Humanitarian Award for his support of Las Vegas charities.

The event is being held at Charlie Palmer's Aureole at Mandalay Bay.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Washington Nationals rookie Bryce Harper's Twitter followers soared from 1,000 to 19,000 from Thursday to Saturday, after he returned to the social media site. That Twitter handle is @BHarper3407.

SIGHTINGS

The heavy metal band King Kobra wrapped up a video shoot on Friday at Count's Vamp'd, the biker bar owned by car restorer Danny "The Count" Koker of the new reality show "Counting Cars." A number of local celebrities were recruited for Friday's shoot and others, including Koker, Carrot Top, Gordie Brown, Frankie Moreno, Sally Steele and rocker Vinnie Paul. The song is titled "Have a Good Time."... Comedy legend Joan Rivers had a surprise for the Pride Parade crowd on Friday: She opened her gold lame cape and revealed a rainbow of colors. ... Reigning Miss America Laura Kaeppeler is back in Las Vegas for the first time since she won the title in January. ... At the VIP opening of chef Enzo Febbraro's Allegro (Wynn Las Vegas) on Thursday: Steve and Andrea Wynn held court at a table that included Irwin Molasky, Frank Schreck, "Tiger" Mike Davis, Jody Ghanem and Janie Schorr. Also at the event: Marc Schorr, Elizabeth Blau, Clint Holmes and Kelly Clinton, Dennis Bono and Lorraine Hunt, Roger Thomas, George Harris, Pia Zadora, Sandy Peltyn, former Gov. Bob Miller with his son, Secretary of State Ross Miller, Annee Nounna, Corey and Craig Nyman, Mike Severino and Bruce Spotleson.

THE PUNCH LINE

"It's autumn in New York. The colors are changing - yellow, the browns, the greens, the oranges. And that's just the tap water." - 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. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke.