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It was another typical weekend in Vegas, as people gambled, danced, dined and, oh yeah, Pamela Anderson got married.

Yes, the former 'Baywatch' beauty, and current star of Hans Klok's The Beauty of Magic at Planet Hollywood resort, married Rick Salomon Saturday night, in between performances of the magic show. Salomon, as you might recall, is best known for co-starring in the famous Paris Hilton sex tape, '1 Night in Paris.'

So, let's review: Pamela was once married to Tommy Lee, with whom she made a famous sex tape. Then she married Kid Rock, who recently got into a fight with Lee. Now she has married a guy who is famous for being in a sex tape with Paris Hilton and who was once married to Shannen Doherty, who once got in a fight with Tara Reid, who once got in a fight with a plastic surgeon's knife (and lost.) It's like playing "Six Degrees of Sex, Fights and Videotape."

Given Pamela's hubby history, and the history of celebrity marriages in general, there's a good chance she and Salomon will be divorced in a few months, leaving her on the lookout for hubby number four. I'm holding out hope that when/if that happens, she'll finally marry someone stable. Maybe someone like, say, Owen Wilson.

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Yes, you read the headline correctly; Cameron Diaz is going to marry Ashton Kutcher in Las Vegas. But, unlike Britney Spears, Scary Spice and all the quickie Vegas marriages, this one is strictly for the big screen.

Diaz and Kutcher are slated to star in the upcoming 20th Century Fox comedy 'What Happens in Vegas ...' According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie is about two strangers,(Diaz, Kutcher), who discover they have gotten married after a night of Vegas-style debauchery. Oh yeah, and one of them has won a jackpot with the other's quarter. This begins a "series of plots to undermine each other,' and, guess what? They fall in love along the way.

Yes, it sounds like another typical romantic comedy, which will probably feature at least one of the All-Time Worst Romantic Movie Cliches of All Time. It is, however, set in Las Vegas, and co-stars 'The Daily Show' alum Rob Corddry, so there's we're not writing it off just yet -- keyword being yet.

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PARTY WAS OFFICIALLY CANCELED.

They say fame has a price and while that observation is usually intended to reflect the personal sacrifices a celebrity makes to be famous, it takes on a different meaning when it comes to celebrity birthday parties.

Let's say you wanted to throw Lindsay Lohan a birthday party, the price of fame is a cool $1 million. That's the price tag for Vegas nightclubs interested in hosting her next birthday party. To be fair, it is her 21st birthday so she can legally drink and given her off-screen , out-of-studio mishaps, there is a direct correlation between the public's fascination with her alcohol intake and the seven-figure asking price. I assume, unlike Paris Hilton who loves to sing in public, the $1 million doesn't include any songs off of her albums.

Did PURE win the LiLo birthday sweepstakes? Seen here with Cindy Crawford last week at AURA, PURE's sister new luxury club in the Bahamas, Lindsay was shopping her party around as far back as December with a starting bid of $250,000. Even though Lindsay told Ellen that she was going to milk this party for all it's worth because it's a milestone, club execs have gone on record saying they wouldn't pay $1-million, but I've spotted PURE ad banners (see extract below) popping up around Vegas sites proclaiming "the biggest birthday bash of the decade." The party will certainly attract media crews from all over the world and kick off 4th of July festivities here in Vegas and bring an endless supply of publicity for PURE. So wharver the cost, it is money well spent.

STARS GET PAID TO PLAY?
"Wait a second," you may interrupt. "Stars get paid to celebrate their birthday on top of regular presents?" The answer is yes and in Vegas, it's a significant amount of cash. Just as stars walk out of awards shows and galas with hefty goodie bags that hold enough loot to finance a professionally made YouTube video, so to do they get paid to attend their own birthday party. And the benefits package usually includes a private jet, a limo with free suites, food and drink.

Where for your birthday you or your friends might pay for your trip to Vegas, a limo, cover at a nightclub and drop $2000 on bottle service, a celebrity will get it all for free in most cases and even take home a paycheck. Of course the right celeb's name on a marquee will bring in hundreds, if not thousands of people wanting to party with the star so the investment is worth it. I suspect, your name on the marquee, will not have the same effect on the club's bottom line which is why the star gets paid to play and you do not.

SHE'S IN PARTIES
A popular celebrity birthday girl in Vegas is Paris Hilton. She reportedly earned a six-figure salary to celebrate her 25th birthday at PURE last year and just before her birthday party this year at Body English inside the Hard Rock, she got a cool $1 million to attend a party in Austria. Her party at Body English (sexy flyer and cake below) was smack dab in the middle of NBA All-Star Weekend and to fans that braved the crowds and traffic jams, they were treated to an impromptu performance from Ludacris while Paris danced jumped on stage.

Stars don't have to celebrate a birthday to get paid for showing up at a party. The figure for Britney Spears' now-classic fainting performance at PURE on New Year's Eve was $240,000. To count down from 10 to one and wish the crowd a Happy New Year, she was paid $16,000 a syllable. Of course that was the beginning of the downward spiral that left her wigged out and eventually in wigs. But, spending the first few seconds of 2007 in the same room as Brit was a treat for fans.

IT'S ALL RELATIVE
Star parties have become such the norm here that B-Listers (and in a one or two cases, no listers) are walking their own red carpets to the bank. The paydays may be considerably lower than one of the "big three" (LiLo, Brit or Paris), but the perks and party favors are the same from the fancy cakes by Jean-Philippe to the big, glossy ads in Las Vegas Weekly. And that's one of the great equalizing qualities of Vegas.

Even Kevin Federline, who, barring a sex tape or taking over for Rosie on 'The View,' is on the waning end of his 15 minutes, gets the package. The actual paycheck for his PURE party was rumored to be in the lowest five-digit range, but the perks could easily double the compensation. He unfortunately celebrated his birthday the same night as Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Club so it was hard to play 'Spot-the-Celebrity' as most of the stars were at Hef's. He had planned a second party in Los Angeles, but canceled it after the major magazines balked at the $25,000 price for exclusive media rights.

Regardless of the price of the party, the best thing about these celebrity birthday soirees is that they allow the fans to get into cell phone camera range of their favorite celebrities which is a unique proposition for most of America where a birthday perk is a free meal at a diner and maybe a discounted beer at the local pub.

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Recent Vegas visitor and Former President Bill Clinton teamed with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg in welcoming Sir Elton John to the 60-Club at last night's Madison Square Garden birthday bash in NYC for the Red Piano man. The Caesars Palace headliner was also feted by A-list stars Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Sir Michael Caine, Kid Rock and k.d. lang. Fashion designer Donna Karan and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein were also among the VIP guests.

In a tribute to the British born entertainer, the number 60 was raised to the rafters of the Garden alongside all of the great sports stars who have played in the arena. The number 60 is of course Sir Elton's age, but also the number of times he has performed at The Garden. Robin roasted Elton joking about his same-sex marriage to David Furnish.

The finale of 'Surreal Life Fame Games' will go down as one of the top five most outrageous TV moments and depending on how you classify the series, the last episode of the inaugural season should definitely garner the top spot the next time Bob Eubanks and Chuck Woolery put together another 'Most Outrageous Game Show Moments.'

What's the hot fuss? Rob 'Vanilla Ice' Van Winkle trashed the set. For those of you familiar with his previous set-trashing antics, I'm sure you're thinking 'been there, done that.' After all, he did smack the set around a little bit even the week before. However, this is train wreck television and as such, the set trashing on the season finale was epic. So epic in fact, the name of the episode is not 'Finale' or something synonymic. VH1 titled the episode 'Ice Ice Storm.'

The outburst was 100% real as viewers saw host Robin Leach duck when Rob threw his drum kit cymbals over his head.

"Thank goodness I ducked because the cymbals could have decapitated me like Oddjob's bowler hat in the Bond movie. Vanilla Ice really broke the set to pieces," said Robin. "Nobody's ever quite seen TV like that where crew and a producer had to restrain him. Now, that's reality."

Viewers saw Rob's hand bleeding while producers and crew tried to subdue him from hurting anyone else, but they were unsuccessful. Mark, a producer, had two of his fingers broken in the tirade that also saw the Vegas sign and the aforementioned drum kit take the majority of the blunt-force drama.

What caused the 'Ice, Ice Storm?'

HOLY SIXTIETH
The supposedly secret Sir Elton John 60th birthday celebration in New York party for 300 carefully selected A-list friends tonight is to be held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in uptown Manhattan. The invite for cocktails, dinner and dancing at the world's largest Gothic cathedral in Morningside Heights specifies "elegant black tie." The hosts are Elton's spouse David Furnish, and Ingrid Sischy and Sandy Brant of Interview magazine. Expect a full turnout of vips and celebrities turned out in flamboyant sartorial splendor.

It follows the London bash that LUXE LIFE reported earlier this month. The celebration continues tomorrow at Madison Square Garden, where Elton performs his 60th sold-out concert at the arena and then the third and final birthday bash will be when he returns to headline his Red Piano concerts at Caesars Palace later this coming week.

Porn-queen Jenna Jameson has hit back at critics who have blasted her sudden dramatic weight loss as drug related! The Vegas-born beauty who lives here with UFC star Tito Ortiz posted the following message on her myspace page and blames her sudden thin-ness on the messy breakup and ugly divorce proceedings with ex-husband, Jay Grdina (above left with Club Jenna Girls).

With only two episodes remaining and five celebrities left in the Las Vegas mansion, 'Surreal Life: Fame Games' is heating up for next week's season finale.

In this episode, 'non-accusations of subconscience cheating' were flying about in a shouting match with Sandy 'Pepa' Denton in one corner and Rob 'Vanilla Ice' Van Winkle in the other and neither one of them were getting kicked off the show.

It was American Badass, Verne Troyer that lost this edition of 'Back to Reality' and got booted out of 'Fame Games.' With Verne out, Pep, Rob, Traci Bingham and Ron Jeremy are the remaining Surreal stars heading into the finale where the winner will take the $100,000 grand prize.

Verne will be missed and he almost made it to the finale which isn't too shabby for the guy that was supposed to just be Robin's sidekick. You may remember he filled in when Jordan Knight unexpectedly and suspiciously left the show in the first episode.

The challenge for this episode involved each celeb's No. 1 fan being tethered to them for as log as possible with the first three duos who 'lost touch' with each other in jeopardy of getting kicked off of the show. To ensure the fan and star stayed in contact, a touch-sensitive buzzer was placed between the couple. If the buzzer alarm went off, it means that there had been a gap in physical contact. and the first three buzzers would be bad news.

Congratulation go to celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck this afternoon on
the private announcement to friends that he'll marry longtime
companion Gelila Assefa in a three-day celebration on the Italian island
of Capri over Independence weekend of July 6-8 of this year.

Wolf met the hotel public relations executive when he moved into the
Peninsula Hotel in Beverley Hills following the breakup of his long
marriage to designer Barbara Lazaroff. Wolf and Barbara are the
parents of two teenage sons and he and Gelila are parents also of
two younger infants.

A large group of Las Vegas friends and Hollywood stars are expected
for the ceremony on the Italian jet-set hideaway island.

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Less than one week since LUXE LIFE posted its exclusive interview with Bellagio Chef Jeff Henderson, just hours before he went on the Oprah Winfrey show to discuss his extraordinary life story for the first time, Oscar winning actor Will Smith has signed to make a major motion picture of the ex-drug dealer's tale of redemption. Jeff became a chef while serving time for being a crack cocaine dealer. His book 'Cooked' was only published two weeks ago by William Morrow!

'American Idol' host Ryan Seacrest had his co-stars Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson turn out to cheer him on at the Hollywood premiere of his new E! TV series 'Paradise City.' It's the new reality show about the lives of aspiring entertainers here in Vegas and shows, under the subtext of "risk everything, regret nothing,'" what its like to live, love and work in Glitter Gulch! While the Idol cast was in Tinseltown for Sunday's debut episode all the single and sexy Vegas cast members turned up for their screening and celebration party at the weekend in the Hard Rock Hotel.

It was a midnight arrival for smartly-dressed buzz-cut Kevin Federline (suspiciously looking almost as bald as Britney Spears) at Beatles Revolution Lounge in the Mirage. He promptly had the privacy curtains of his VIP interactive table booth drawn closed in an attempt to enjoy a little privacy and respite from fans and their flashbulbs! His party group included brother, Chris, heavyweight comic Jeff Beacher and Weeman Jason Acuna from 'Jackass.' K-Fed's drink of choice was Gentleman's Jack and Coca Cola, although he was spotted taking a few sips directly from the Grey Goose vodka bottle! Despite several females jockeying for a hallowed spot inside his entourage, Kevin remained solo right until 3:30AM when he called it a night. Thankfully, unlike Britney during her New Year's Eve bash, K-Fed was able to get through the night without passing out.

I popped my head in on the Princes and Princesses of Poker at the weekend as the who's who of the poker world was playing in the NBC Heads Up Poker Championship at Caesars Palace and all the excitement will be televised for seven consecutive Sundays in April and May.


The 64 poker players gathered at PURE where they sipped champagne and dined on sliders, egg rolls and shrimp as they learned who they would face off against in the third national event. Among those competing were actor Don Cheadle, actresses Jennifer Tilly and Shannon Elizabeth; plus defending heads up champion Ted Forrest; 2005 champion Phil Hellmuth; and 2005 and 2006 runner-up Chris Ferguson.

The prince of pop Michael Jackson, who now calls Vegas home, is becoming increasingly visible as he gets more and more comfortable here.

Recently he even took his children back to his favorite Wing Lei Chinese restaurant at the Wynn to show them Chinese New Year celebrations. Then it was a return visit to the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace before watching the near two-hour magic show which was the highlight ending of the World Magic Seminar at the Orleans. Siegfried & Roy actually spotted him and told the other magicians at the convention.

LUXE LIFE readers will know from our exclusive Michael Jackson interview a month ago that he is absolutely fascinated with illusions and magic tricks. Today, Michael is in meetings with movie theater executives for business discussions as he still plots and plans the next steps of his major show business return. His dad, Joe Jackson, who has now become involved again in Michael's future, is helping set up exploratory business negotiations and developments.

Two respected sources in recent days have indicated that Joe's return validates rumors of a "family summit" held a week ago to jump start plans for a new world tour with both Janet and Michael singing separately, then in duets and closing the show together with all the Jackson siblings! My NYC pal, Fox News gossip guru Roger Friedman reported that Atlanta concert promoter Leonard Rowe, who worked with the family during its heyday, wanted a new Jackson family tour with all its members -- Janet, Rebbie, Jermaine, Randy, Marion and Tito -- and Michael apparently agreed to it.


LUXE LIFE readers will again remember that the Jackson patriarch was reunited with his daughter at the Venetian's TAO Nightclub during last fall's birthday celebrations, as seen in the right photo above. Insiders have already polled selected worldwide promoters who have given the plan an enthusiastic thumbs up, saying it could start overseas where their fan base is still incredibly loyal and strong and then returning as heroes to the U.S., winding back up on the Strip where, ironically in the '70s, the Jackson Five were regular headliners! Fox News gossip reported that Michael recently refinanced new mortgages on his parent's home and Neverland Ranch and that if everything came together with the tour would help pay down all of the family's current financial obligations.

Michael is also "reviewing and evaluating," several offers for Vegas productions, according to his spokeswoman Raymone K. Bain. She's even issued a statement to refute rumors that he can't find work in Las Vegas and that he will appear or perform on 'American Idol.'

"Mr. Jackson has been presented numerous proposals -- proposals which he has not solicited, but were presented to him, several of which include performing in Las Vegas," Bain said in her press statement.
"Mr. Jackson is currently reviewing and evaluating each proposal. He does not believe that he is under any time constraint for making his decisions."

And for the first time she explained why Michael decided to move to Vegas last Christmas Eve: "Mr. Jackson did not move to Las Vegas to shop a Vegas show. Mr. Jackson is in Las Vegas because he likes the city and found it a convenient location to record with the artists, songwriters and producers who are working with him in the studio."

CRISS ANGEL'S CSI DEBUT
It was just three weeks ago that CBS show 'CSI: NY' shot a magic-themed episode here in Vegas with 'Mindfreak' Criss Angel. Network officials wasted no time in racing it right through editing to broadcast it tonight. The popular series stars Gary Sinise as detective Mac Taylor, a former Marine Corps officer who conducts investigations according to Veneziano's everything-is-connected theory of quantum physics, and Melina Kanakaredes as detective Stella Bonaserra. Criss plays magician, Luke Blade who becomes a prime suspect as his assistants die off! Criss who is currently filming the third season of his own A&E TV series at the Luxor will be guest of honor tonight at a 10PM screening party the hotel executives and staff are throwing for him inside the resort's theater lobby . "I almost wasn't around to watch the completed show," Criss told LUXE LIFE after he almost drowned doing a Houdini escape stunt in the Luxor's pool. (Click here for our exclusive LUXE LIFE interview yesterday about his near drowning death).

GOLD DIGGER DOLLARS

Twice a year, the Bellagio's Light Nightclub throws a unique "gold diggers" party. Dancers from the club and female guests are able to collect "gold dollars" by performing legal, but wild, requests from customers and this time around even Grandmaster Flash and members of the alternative rock band Stone Temple Pilots were handing out super-sized tips. Naturally, this being Vegas, the girls who collect the most amount of money are able to cash in the coin for a little cosmetic help from a plastic surgeon!

EXPENSIVE REAL ESTATE
One of the most expensive homes in America has just had a "For Sale" affixed to it. It's a 210-acre property north of here on Lake Tahoe. A mere $100-million will make you the new owner of "Tranquility" with its 20,000 square feet of living space and a 35,000-bottle wine cellar and 19-seat movie theater! It's owned by Tommy Hilfiger co-founder Joel Horowitz.



Just a little too steep for your budget? Well, ask singer Smokey Robinson for help. He's been quite a real estate wheeler-dealer since moving to Vegas and his Opai Valley, Henderson home (seen above) has just gone on the market for $1.9 million. He's also selling a luxurious $10-million mansion in California in order to develop nearby land in Chatsworth he acquired last year! Smokey's three-bedroom house in the gated Seven Hills golf club community is a one story, 4,420 square feet, nine room, three baths estate complete with a pool, spa, and three-car garage. Smokey bought the house in 2003 for $1.2 million.

ROCK THE RABBIT

Actor Dennis Hopper introduced the Whitestarr rockers at a special hour-long concert in Rain at the Palms. It was all to promote Playboy's new magazine music salutes 'Rock the Rabbit' and Rhymefest followed with another performance. All the commotion brought out the Playboy bunnies and Whitestarr's Cisco Adler (seen above) proposed at first sight and almost married Miss March 2007, Tyran Richard right on the spot! After their shows, the groups partied up at the Fantasy Towers rooftop Playboy Club with a bevy of beauties including Monica Leigh (Miss Mar 06) Amanda Paige (Miss Oct 05) Shallan Meira (Miss Sept 02) and Jordan Monroe (Miss Oct 06)

STRIP SCRIBBLES
Some diary dates not to miss out on: the unique Lucky Strike Lanes that PURE nightclub group is launching as a sports ultra-lounge at the Rio is set for March 15, with comedy heavyweight Jeff Beacher starting his own celebrity bowling league tournament. ... Four days later, on March 19, Wolfgang Puck opens his new RIVA poolside restaurant serving from 8AM to 4PM daily at The Venetian and then TAO opens up the same pool-deck for nightlife adventures with access right from the nightclub's dance floor. The wild, outrageous Rehab pool parties will resume as of April 29 at the Hard Rock.


My friend Stephen Sorrentino (seen above) is the new headliner at the Imperial Palace Legends in Concert show and his comedy impression of Sir Elton John, who appears in real-life directly across the Strip at Caesars Palace, is a total laugh-a-minute sensation. ... Amazing Johnathan has had to change his night off at his Sahara showroom so he can work on developing a new TV project in Los Angeles. So he will now "go dark" each Wednesday and Thursday to give him 48-hours of round-the-clock work in Hollywood.

TONIGHT'S TIP
Extraordinary hit-maker Neil Sedaka plays the piano and sings his chart toppers at the Orleans starting tonight thru Sunday. ... Musiq Soulchild is Prince's special guests at his 3121 Club in the Rio. ... Twenty of America's top pole-dancing schools perform at Rockhouse and the Miss Strip Las Vegas 2007 contest is underway at the Men's Club. ... The Tennis Channel Tournament continues at Darling Stadium.

TOMORROW'S TEASE
LUXE LIFE has an extraordinary interview with the Bellagio chef who went from the mean streets of the ghetto to a Strip stove. It really is a journey from dealing drugs to serving up gourmet delicacies. Jeff Henderson will appear on Oprah Winfrey's show tomorrow with his emotional turnaround life story but LUXE LIFE has it all first right here! Plus in an all-chef special edition we'll meet the Four Seasons miracle workers who flew to Hawaii for the Food network's carving showdown!

Also Pop-ular in Vegas Right Now:
- LUXE LIFE: Elizabeth Taylor's Celebrates Her Diamond Jubilee
- LUXE LIFE: Michael Jackson Talks Vegas
- AOL Vegas: The Hoff in Vegas

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Congratulations to Barry Manilow on the second anniversary of his residency at the Las Vegas Hilton.


Hard to believe it was back on February 23, 2005 that Barry (seen above with Hilton CEO and general manager Rudy Prieto) opened Music and Passion at the resort. But it's not hard to believe it has been nothing but sold-out performances ever since! The irony in all this is that his 2004 tour 'One Night Live One Last Time' played to 250,000 fans in 23 British and American arenas signaling the end of his concert career. But, then came the surprise Vegas show and an even bigger surprise in winning an Emmy Award for his PBS TV special filmed there. Also, his 'The Greatest Songs of the Fifties' not only debuted at #1 on the charts but went platinum selling over one million units. The Hilton promptly extended his contract through to 2008 to celebrate the achievements! Barry's follow-up album 'The Greatest Songs of the Sixties' won him the biggest sales week of his career when it debuted in the #2 spot of Billboard's Top 200!


"We congratulate Barry Manilow on a great year of success," said Ken Ciancimino, Hilton executive vice president. "Barry's phenomenal appeal and his staying power as our long-term headliner make him an enduring symbol in this erratic Las Vegas entertainment market." (Click here to see the enormous, hand-painted mural of Barry, which hangs outside of the Hilton!)

Also Pop-ular in Vegas Right Now:
- LUXE LIFE: Michael Jackson Talks Vegas
- LUXE LIFE: Paula Abdul Sets Record Straight
- AOL Vegas: The Hoff in Vegas

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