Luxe Life Blog

Strip Scribbles: Global Ducati rider arrives in Las Vegas today

Posted November 8, 2010 • 4:02 p.m.

Paolo Pirozzi.

Photo: Courtesy

As part of a 90,000-kilometer ride around the world on his prized Ducati Multistrada 1200 motorbike, Paolo Pirozzi of Naples, Italy, roars into Las Vegas today. His Nevada pit stop is just 24 hours, and he is scheduled to arrive in Primm at noon after a 4-hour journey across the desert from San Diego. A merry mob of Ducati club members will then escort him to the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign for photos, followed by a lap around Las Vegas Boulevard, including a stop downtown.

At 7 p.m., Paolo will be presented with a proclamation from Mayor Oscar Goodman and dinner at Ferraro’s opposite the Hard Rock Hotel. He departs Las Vegas tomorrow from Pat Clark Motor Sports at 9 a.m. to ride across the new bridge at Hoover Dam for Arizona.

Paola began his solo, non-GPS adventure Around the World With 80 Ducati Clubs in June and has gone from Europe to Russia, Asia to Australia and now on to America, then North Africa, before returning to Italy. He previously rode solo from Paris to Beijing, racking up 300,000 kilometers. Paolo is the chairman of the Ducati Dreams Club in Italy. His daily blog with videos is PaoloPirozzi.com/it.

*Caesars Palace celebrity chef Bobby Flay cooked up a $500,000 winner when his chestnut filly More Than Real won the Breeders Cup by two lengths at Churchill Downs in Kentucky. For every $1 bet, it paid $29.20 to win! Bobby’s horse held off favorite Winter Memories and Katmandu covering the mile on turf in 1 min 36 sec. After the race, Bobby was kept anxiously awaiting a steward’s inquiry after the 2nd-place rider filed a complaint over alleged infractions. They ruled that there were none, and Bobby and his actress wife Stephanie March celebrated. Stephanie said: “For Bobby, it was the ultimate throwdown. He’s on cloud nine.”

Bobby flew back to New York to take part in the New York City Marathon yesterday running alongside celebs including Robin Quivers, Meredith Vieira, Al Roker and Anthony Edwards, plus Chilean miner Edison Pena. Next stop for the Chilean is reportedly Disney World and Las Vegas!

*Performers from Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity at New York-New York took part in the Hollywood Walk of Fame 50th Anniversary celebration. They mingled with Walk of Fame honorees and special guests, including Rip Taylor, David Hasselhoff, Bob Barker, Arsenio Hall and Della Reese at The Kodak Theater, where Cirque’s newest production, Iris, opens next summer. David was with his two daughters Taylor Ann and Hayley Amber.

Wicked whispers & racy rumors

All those gossip site reports about Shania Twain coming to Caesars Palace simply aren’t correct -- or at best they’re a step ahead of themselves. I asked The Colosseum execs about the rumors, and they simply said, “Not true. No contract, no negotiations.” They added that they’d love to welcome her if she wants to perform here, but at the moment, absolutely nothing is set in cement. In culinary circles, they always say it was Italian food that took over the world. I can reliably tell you to expect several shakeups in our Strip’s Italian restaurant world early in the New Year. Some favorites will exit, others will switch locations, and others will debut. Did Lil Wayne record tracks for a new rap album he wants to rush out on his private jet from a NYC prison here to Las Vegas for Saturday’s appearance with Drake at The Joint in the Hard Rock that we featured in an amazing Erik Kabik photo gallery yesterday? Joe Jackson is promising a slew of celebs and performers for the Legacy of the Legend Concert presented by the Jackson Family Foundation in Atlanta on Saturday, but already rumbles indicate that many on the guest list won’t be showing, and it doesn’t seem that many members of the Jackson family are, either. Cirque du Soleil is quietly letting a limited number of guests in on an exclusive backstage experience at Love in The Mirage and O at the Bellagio. The $260 per person ticket from Entertainment Benefits Group includes a backstage tour, premium seating and at The Mirage a front-of-the-line VIP pass afterward at Jet, and at Bellagio, a similar red carpet treatment to The Bank. Patrons also receive a Cirque bag with merchandise.

*Chart-topping artist Lil Jon has signed an exclusive contract to appear monthly at Surrender in Steve Wynn’s Encore as a new resident DJ. Today’s announcement says he’ll start Nov. 24. In other music news, The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers has been tapped to perform on Cosmopolitan’s opening night Dec. 15.

*I met the two World Series of Poker finalists yesterday when they posed for photographs at the $9 million prize purse they’ll start playing for tonight at 8 in the Penn & Teller Theater at The Rio. They built the stack of $9 million from 180 bricks of $50,000 each. Only one can be champion, but the runner-up receives $5.5 million. John Racener, 24, of Florida, told me that he’ll spend the win on a new home and help his family, while Jonathan Duhamel, 22, of Quebec said he wants to fly around the world for a year playing poker at every place he stops and then return to Las Vegas this time next year to win it all over again. Our correspondent Emily Jillette will file our Vegas DeLuxe reports via my Twitter account @Robin_Leach.

*The first three Las Vegas meet-and-greet sessions for Playboy Playmate and Holly’s World star Laura Croft to unveil her hotter-than-hot calendar have been scheduled. She’ll be at Aurora Lounge in the Luxor on Saturday, the Mandalay Bay Logo Shop on Nov. 19 and the MGM Grand & Co. retail lobby store Nov. 20.

Star surveillance

Singer Lionel Richie attended the debut of Rod Stewart’s eight-show run at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace on Saturday, and sitting four seats from me was Rod’s pregnant wife, Penny Lancaster. Ron White and his wife Margo toured Siegfried & Roy’s Dolphin Habitat in The Mirage for the first time and took a photo with dolphins Margo and Duchess. Holly Madison enjoyed lunch at Society Cafe in Encore. MLB legend Roger Clemens had dinner at Strip House in Planet Hollywood. Far East Movement donned colored helmets to perform “Girls on the Dance Floor” and their hit “Like a G6” at Surrender in Encore. Joba Chamberlain of the New York Yankees partied at Vanity in the Hard Rock Hotel two consecutive nights. He bounced from owner Jason Giambi’s VIP booth to the DJ booth with resident DJ Eric D-Lux. Jason and his wife dropped by after Drake and Lil Wayne’s performance at The Joint with Bill Goldberg, David Ortiz, Josh Barnett and Aric Nelson. Bill hit Mr. Lucky’s 24/7 the next day, while Jabbawockeez dancer Chris Gatdula hung out at Vanity where Filippo Candio celebrated his WSOP 4th-place win. Patrick Willis of the San Francisco 49ers had lunch at Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Cantina. Hip-hop mogul Jermaine Dupri dined at Lavo in the Palazzo last night.

Tonight’s tips

Congratulations to everybody at the Hard Rock Cafe at Paradise and Harmon on the grounds of the Hard Rock Hotel on its 20th anniversary. To celebrate, there’s a red carpet party and music by Sin City Sinners and Bonafide. Standup comic Dennis Blair, an opening act of the late George Carlin, is the headliner this week at Sin City Comedy at V Theater in Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile.

Tomorrow’s teases

We’ve got the inside scoop of the new Michael Jackson musical show from Cirque du Soleil that arrives at Mandalay Bay in December 2011 in our interview with creator and director Jamie King, who says that the King of Pop himself has an uncanny spiritual presence and is very much his co-director. Plus, a recap of performance night on ABC’s top-rated Dancing With the Stars.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

Link Share This