Paris Hilton carves niche at DJ console

Paris Hilton will not only party at Hyde Bellagio tonight, she will perform as the DJ. So she and I got on the phone to discuss some things.

First of all, I want to know why Hilton even works. I told her I would never lift a finger if I had her money.

“I could have easily just been another trust fund kid and not worked at all,” Hilton said.

“But I have chosen, in my life, to build an empire and be an independent woman. Success really drives me.”

DJing is good work, she said.

“I’m getting paid tons of money to do it. I’m having fun. I get to travel around.”

She will even do the nitty-gritty details of presenting a dance contest tonight.

“Whoever my favorite dancers are, I’m going to be giving out prizes to them, so they better have their dancing shoes on.”

On many occasions, I have seen Hilton clubbing in the wee-morning hours. It looks ideal. So I asked again, seriously, why does she want to trade in leisure for spinning music?

“I love being up on stage, making people happy and having fun,” she said.

“I love it, because I’m basically in charge of the whole party. I get to control the whole room, pick all of my favorite songs, and it’s a lot of fun just being able to be up there.”

So far, she has DJ’d from Los Angeles to Ibiza, Spain, where she says she played “for 10,000 people every single night.”

“Ibiza was just legendary. It was so amazing. The owner of the club is so happy that he has (booked) me for next year as well at all of his properties.”

Clubs here have asked about her doing a residency, she said.

“I’m friends with all the club owners. I don’t know if I want to be stuck at just one place. But if the deal was good enough, I’d think about it.”

Why hasn’t Hilton built her own club in Vegas?

“I have been offered a lot of those kinds of deals with different people in Vegas to open properties, clubs, everything.

“But everyone I met with, I really didn’t trust that much. I want to make sure who I partner up with is someone who is trustworthy. And I haven’t found the right person yet I would want to work with.”

Hilton isn’t winging a DJ career. She has worked with Afrojack and other DJs. But when I asked her to name her main mentor, she cited Dave Garnish, a British producer and engineer who runs Garnish Music Production schools in London and Hollywood.

“I have been training with him, like, four hours a day for the past two years. He’s really helped me and taught me all the different DJ software. I’m, like, a total pro at it. It’s awesome having such an amazing teacher.”

Hilton has a new album coming out soon. She has been working on her 16th fragrance. She is planning to open Paris Beach Club Azure real estate properties around the world.

I remember when Hilton made her first splash when she was just 20 and paid by the Palms to walk a red carpet in a dress made of $1 million in casino chips.

“That was really cool,” she said when I took her down memory lane. “People were trying to steal the chips off of my dress while I was walking.”

For years after that, clubs paid her mega bucks just to hang out.

“You were the queen of clubs,” I said.

“Ha,” she said. “Still am.”

Doug Elfman’s column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He also writes for Neon on Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.