Wallace happily working for free
When Flamingo headliner George Wallace heard his friend Diana Ross was returning to Las Vegas, he made an offer she couldn't refuse.
"I called to say welcome back and that I'd open for free," Wallace said Friday, before Ross opened her two-night stand at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Wallace not only opened for Ross 31 years ago, "but she was the first one to bring me to Las Vegas."
He was just three years into his career and still sharing a New York City apartment with rising comedian Jerry Seinfeld.
"I worked with Miss Ross for a year and a half," Wallace said. "It's one of the only shows I've gone to where I'd get chills before she came out."
His big break in show business came about the time he appeared on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," he said. He was opening for George Benson and Natalie Cole and they all shared the same agent. One day he got a call: "Miss Ross would like you to open for her."
Wallace said that first gig in Las Vegas was his introduction to room service sticker shock.
He was fresh from college and on the $1.99 Whopper diet. One morning he ordered raisin toast at Caesars Palace and was charged $7.25.
"I asked the lady to take $6 worth of raisins off," he said.
They did two shows a night back then, a dinner performance and a midnight cocktail show.
He's doing double duty again: After opening for Ross at 8 p.m., he'll dash across the Strip for his 10 p.m. show at Flamingo Las Vegas.
MADE IN VEGAS
The first official single from Michael Jackson's next release -- titled "Michael" -- is being celebrated at the Palms.
A duet with Akon, the single, "Hold My Hand," was recorded at the Palms recording studio during the summer of 2008. It comes out Monday.
"We're real excited," said Palms owner George Maloof. Jackson was staying at the Palms while recording the music and his children have returned to stay at the hotel since his death in June 2009.
Maloof said hundreds of recording artists have done studio work over the past five years, including Britney Spears, Celine Dion, The Killers, Kid Rock, Elton John and Eminem.
RISING STAR
CNN talk-show host Larry King and wife Shawn have a budding baseball star in the family.
King, who emceed the Nevada Cancer Institute's Rock for the Cure for the ninth year on Thursday, told me their oldest son, Chance, 11, has gained the attention of scouts. He's a pitcher and shortstop for a Beverly Hills all-star team.
The Kings will be back in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving weekend for a top invitational baseball tournament. The Rock for the Cure at Aria raised about $2 million through auction and ticket sales and another $4 million through gifts.
The scene and heard
Donny and Marie Osmond have reached a settlement with former producer Chip Lightman, it was announced late Friday. A statement said the dispute was "resolved confidentially and in a mutually satisfactory manner." In addition, the Osmonds have a new agreement with Flamingo Las Vegas.
SIGHTINGS
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, at "KA" (MGM Grand) on Thursday after the Latin Grammys. ... NASCAR star Denny Hamlin, currently in first place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, drinking water at Tao (Venetian) on Thursday. ... Urijah Faber, at Moon (Palms) on Thursday celebrating his World Extreme Cagefighting win over Takeya Mizugaki at the Palms. Also at the Palms: the UFC's Clay Guida, at N9NE Steakhouse downing a brownie cheesecake and carrot cake after ordering lamb chops with macaroni and cheese and asparagus. ... Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, at a table at Lavo nightlclub (Palazzo) on Tuesday with a party that included three men and two ladies. Jones, who reportedly had one drink and left, was in Las Vegas a day after firing the Cowboys' head coach Wade Phillips.
THE PUNCH LINE
"They finally found a place to put the inmates from Guantanamo Bay: a Carnival cruise ship." -- 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.
