Luxe Life Blog
Photo Galleries: Diana Ross, Pussycat Dolls and Jimmy Fallon entertain at CES
It may well have been the busiest day in the lives of the sexy Pussycat Dolls and funny Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon. Superstar Diana Ross was able to take it a little bit easier as the giant Consumer Electronics Show passed its halfway mark!
In fact, the Pussycat Dolls made a 24-hour, 15,000-mile round-trip flight from London just to perform a 45-minute set at the Hard Rock Hotel for one big-spending electronics company! The sexy singers are currently on tour in Europe and had to head right back to London to continue their concerts after taking the one-day break to zip in and out of Las Vegas! Lead singer Nicole Scherzinger did manage to chill out at the Bank in the Bellagio with Formula One champion boyfriend Lewis Hamilton before the return ride across the Atlantic.
Jimmy Fallon at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Comedian and soon-to-be late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon appeared everywhere during his 24-hour Vegas visit. Our contributing photographer Erik Kabik captured Jimmy all around town. Jimmy was at CES checking out a new mini Sony Vaio computer and demonstrating an unusual and unique electronic camera strap-on invention he had been booked to demonstrate to the worldwide media gathered at the convention.
Before his live performance at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel last night, Jimmy also did a promotional photo shoot by the sky-high rooftop rides of the Stratosphere. When Jay Leno moves to a 10 p.m. primetime NBC slot later this year, Conan O’Brien will take his place, and then Jimmy moves into Conan’s Late Show spot. Click HERE for NBC Universal’s interview with Jimmy at CES.
Superstar singer Diana Ross had a little more luxury built into her Vegas timetable. She had time to relax before her sound check at the Paris Las Vegas, where she performed in the main ballroom at the Monster 2009 retailer awards dinner. The Motown legend won a standing ovation for her string of hits, which included “Stop in the Name of Love,” “Baby Love,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “I Will Survive” -- she certainly has! Several of her friends turned up for the private show, including Stevie Wonder, Dr. Dre and LeVar Burton.
Also seen on the second full day of CES were basketball legend Robert Parrish, Florida Marlins star Hanley Ramirez and Joba Chamberlain of the New York Yankees. “Money Honey” Maria Bartiromo broadcast her financial show Closing Bell live from the Las Vegas Convention Center for CNBC, while another Peacock Network star, Nancy O’Dell, taped her host segments for Access Hollywood.
Today at the central hall of the Convention Center, sports fans will be able to get up close and personal for autographs with Clyde Drexler, Bill Walton and Robert Parish. Video game aficionados can try their skills all day long against Johnathan Wendel, known as ‘Fatal1ty,” the world’s first full-time professional video gamer!
Two of the standout attractions at CES that our photographer discovered were the 108-inch LCD Monitor from Sharp Electronics and an amazing, customized Bentley created by West Coast Customs for Monster cable products founder Noel Lee. The Toshiba booth was another attraction for convention delegates, where spokesman Eric Torres was kept busy displaying all the new products.
Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins.
Even with economic malaise washing across the world, the consumer electronics industry is still projecting more than $171 billion in U.S. sales in 2009! Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro told the 2,200 member companies that their “innovations will kick-start the troubled economy.” At this weekend’s CES, there are 20,000 new products for the industry and 300 new exhibitors fighting for their share of the electronics pie.
Final sales of U.S. electronics hit a record $172 billion in 2008, with digital TV displays accounting for 15 percent of that staggering figure. However, the CES experts say that this year, sales will remain flat or slip just a little. But now with the format war settled with Blu-Ray, they expect that alone to surpass the $1 billion mark for the first time. Although there are substantial revenues from digital TV and gaming software and video games, smart phones will still grow as the mobile phone of choice, dominating the cell phone business with more than 60 percent of the sales!
Click HERE to the CES videos on YouTube for floor reports and new gadgets and gizmos.
With so many products at so many exhibitor booths and so many miles of CES corridors to trek through for meetings and demonstrations, is it any wonder that a convention catnap might be in order? How could we resist this delightful shot of three delegates grabbing 40 winks in between convention duties, knowing there are still two more full days of exhaustion to go as of this morning!
It's time for a catnap.
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