STRIP SCRIBBLES
*The Maloof family owners of the Palms Resort here and the Sacramento Kings NBA team have put up the $100,000 grand prize for the new National Championship of Skateboarding. Joe and Gavin Maloof said it would be held at the Orange County Fair arena in Costa Mesa from July 11-13 as part of a 21-day Action Sports festival complete with Mixed Martial Arts fights and WaveRunner water-speed races. Skaters from as far away as Brazil and Denmark will compete on the mirrored standalone ramp and also on a “street-level” skateboard plaza park course with five levels of judging in straight runs. Current No. 1 world champion Rob Dyrdek who attended the Palms announcement along with pro-skaters Danny Way, Bob Burnquist, Lauren Perkins and skateboard announcer David Duncan, told us “This takes skateboarding to a whole new level of professionalism and this event is a whole different animal in itself.” Joe Maloof promised their event, which will be taped by CBS in HD for broadcast one week later, would feature the 24 best world skaters. The Maloofs have also launched the Skateboarding Support Foundation to support catastrophically injured skateboarders who “lay their lives on the line and injure themselves without any health insurance.” The Maloofs will also introduce their new rock group Theory at the arena sports event.
*Congratulations to legendary pop icons Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply who were surprised with an official Mayor Oscar Goodman proclamation for Air Supply Day in Las Vegas.
They performed on our local NBC Channel 3 noon news and conducted an interview to promote their Orleans casino hotel run of shows. Right after their appearance the anchors delivered the Mayor’s proclamation and upon returning to their dressing room at the Orleans discovered the staff had decorated it with a huge congratulatory banner.
*Talk about Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous. The new Piaget jewelry and high-fashion store in The Shoppes at The Palazzo has a diamond crusted watch bracelet selling at $1.1 million but if that’s not pricy enough for you the ruby version is also available for $1.4 million! Nearby in the men’s clothing store Billionaire expect to pay $10,000 for a new suit and $2,000 for a new shirt! C’est la bon vie!
*Over 150 premium sake and brewmasters from Japan turned out for Nevada’s largest ever sake tasting. Sake Fever drew some 300 rice-wine fans to the Palms poolside event and I was asked to perform the traditional “opening’ ceremony.
We used wooden mallets to crack open the box around the container and then scoop it out with wooden squared boxes on the end of long wooden handles. There were sakes of every description from sparkling to elegant, from clear to cloudy unfiltered and all the experts told me sake has become the fastest rising seller in new brands here at Asian styled restaurants in Vegas. The event organized by the N9ne Group and Southern Wines & Spirits was a fund-raiser for our Keep Memory Alive Lou Ruvo Brain Institute now under construction downtown. Ichi Ni San!
*From the Surveillance File: A tremendously generous and kind Colin Powell, the 65th United States Secretary of State, and his wife Alma had dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Lupo trattoria at Mandalay Bay enjoying wine, lasagna, pasta and dessert sorbet. … Entertainer Terry Fator celebrated his birthday with family and friends at the Café Nicola Italian restaurant in the Hilton after his singing, impression, ventriloquist show, which was attended by the sexy gorgeous Fantasy dancers from the Luxor. Michael Jackson took his children to see the hit movie box office sensation Kung Fu Panda at Brenden Theaters in the Palms sneaking in and out through a special private entrance. … Top PGA golfer Ernie Els selected an expensive Opus One red wine to go with his Mod Mex meal at the new Dos Caminos restaurant in The Palazzo…. Luxor zany comic headliner Carrot Top feasted on tuna tataki and assorted sushi rolls for his dinner with four guests at the Asian-themed Social House eatery in Treasure Island.