Welcome back to the Celebrity Rant! It’s finally March, and the celebrities are jumping around Vegas more than leprechauns on St. Patrick’s Day! So, let’s get right to it!

The month kicked off with a HUGE NASCAR event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway! NASCAR Nextel Cup Series hit the ground running in Vegas, where Carl Edwards flipped for joy (literally) after winning the event. He won $450,000 for the race, beating out long-time rivals Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne, Jimmy Johnson, and Kyle Busch. Robin Leach emceed the pre-race show and Vegas’ own Carol Linnae Johnson of Mamma Mia sang the National Anthem. Watching all of the festivities were Carrot Top, members of Smash Mouth, Robert Staubach and Troy Aikman of the NFL, Blake Shelton, Danielle Peck, and MORE.

Many others were celebrating through out Sin City for a variety of reasons. Priscilla Presley dined at N9NE Steakhouse for her son’s 21^st birthday. Later they went to see LOVE. Also in the audience were Regis Philbin and his wife Joy celebrating their 38^th Wedding Anniversary. To celebrate new beau Benji Madden’s birthday, Paris Hilton took her new love to none other than LOVE at the Mirage. After the show they met the cast and proceeded to leave the show in Madden’s $450,000 red Lamborghini. From the show they went to LAX where Paris surprised Madden with a complete birthday blowout! Celebrating the release of their new movie Tropic Thunder, Paramount Pictures, along with Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr., took over KOI restaurant! Another great thing to celebrate, that was just announced, is that Kanye West will kick off the Summer Concert Series at the Red Rock Resort April 25^th, with Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D. The tour will be GLOW-IN-THE-DARK (Absolutely ridiculous!! LOVE IT!).

Criss Angel is jumping for joy over his new open love life with hometown hottie Miss Nevada USA 2008, Veronica Grabowski. Carey Hart and magician Seigfried Fischbacher just announced that they are opening a new night club at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino called Wasted Space (let’s hope the club does not live up to its name…)! Rita Rudner’s comedy special will premiere on PBS. The show was taped Feb. 22 marking her 2,000^th Vegas performance! An absolutely unbelievable accomplishment in Vegas! Robert DeNiro opened his restaurant AGO at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. It’s rumored that he chose to open his own restaurant due to his experience with the food here in Vegas when filming Casino, 12-years-ago. He has partnered with Chef Agostino Sciandri. Those who have already dined at the restaurant include Bob Saget, Nathan Burton, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Jason Giambi, Vince Neil, Richie Sambora, John Mayer, and Lenny Kravitz. The restaurant serves Tuscan-style Italian food. So, as you can see LOTS to celebrate in Sin City!

Many congratulations to our local Vegas venues! PURE management swept all of the Club World Awards for the year. They got nine nominations and went on to win eight of them! Included were “Best Super Club,” “Best One-Off Performance,” and “Best Bottle Service” for PURE. LAX won “Best New Club” and “Best Resident DJ.” Other award winning Vegas locations include Hawaiian Tropic Zone, which was just named one of the city’s Top Ten New Restaurants by CitySearch! Also awarded for accomplishments in Vegas was Ken Langdon. He won an award for the Best Small Corporate Communications Team of the Year at PR Week in New York. He was acclaimed for his marketing of the Absolut Suite experience at Caesars and Bette Midler’s new show. Owner of the Palazzo, Sheldon Adelson, was awarded the “Distinguished Patriot Award” in D.C. for going above and beyond the call of duty to give to those in the military forces and their families. VERY exciting news, proving yet again that Vegas is rising to the competition of becoming one of the ultimate luxury destinations in the country!

In other news…the Hooters girls are losing the infamous orange shorts?!! Yes, you heard correct. Hooters Hotel and Casino will be re-branding their image within the next year into an “upscale modern luxury boutique property.” Celebrities are jumping at the chance to be a part of this re-branding opportunity. Already jumping on the bandwagon are Cindy Crawford and her husband who are already in negotiations about running the restaurant and nightclub operations at the facility. Of course in Sin City, not only do celebrities tend to lose their shorts, but they sometimes unfortunately have run-ins with the law. Steve-O of Jackass was arrested at RIO’s McFadden’s Irish Pub on drug charges. Steve-O had punched holes in and vandalized the walls of his hotel room. On top of that, he then went to the bar with no shirt on, jumped up on the bar, unhinged a light fixture while using it up on the bar, attempted to balance a chair on his chin, and threw a bar stool…Classy guy.

While Steve-O was acting like a “jackass” at the bars and hotels…other celebrities were semi-well-behaved and went on with their merry vacation get-away and partying. Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers was seen playing $8,000 hands of blackjack at the Playboy Club for THREE STRAIGHT NIGHTS (do the math…). As one of the NFL’s highest paid players, he can afford to lose a few thousand…so why not, right?! Others spending some serious cash included The Hills star Brody Jenner and Frankie Delgado, who partied for 48-Hours at LAX and PURE. Also at the clubs dropping some dough were Criss Angel, Carrot Top, Dave Navarro, and Frostee Rucker of the Cincinnati Bengals. Many of the stars dined at Company and Social House before heading to the club to get their drink on. Other celebrities that were seen at LAX included Smash Mouth’s lead singer Steve Harwell, Brandon Lloyd of the Washington Redskins, Arizona Cardinal Brandon Johnson, and Gary Payton of the NBA. Spending for a cause at PURE were celebrities playing to win the NBC-TV Heads-Up Poker Challenge. In attendance to the tournament, just to name a few, were Shannon Elizabeth, Doyle Brunson (the princess of poker), Bride of Chucky star Jennifer Tiley, Scotty Nguyen, and Annie Duke. At PURE nightclub later that night…it was packed with athletes! Mike Tyson, UFC favorite Rampage Jackson, and Robby Gordon & David Stremme of NASCAR. Kat Von D. of LA INK hosted a party at Prive, in attendance was Pittsburgh Steelers’ Jerome Bettis, and at Moon, son of Bob Marley, Rohan Marley spent some serious cash to have a good time.

Marley was not the only one “jammin’” at the Palms Hotel and Casino. Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones were all at the Palms. Couple Kimmel and Silverman were filming a video blog with the band, about their long run of success and their return to the music scene. The couple and the Bosstones met for dinner at Nove Italiano at the Palms and then the couple retired for the night while the Bosstones partied on at ghostbar with friends. Others in attendance at the Palms included Clark Haggans, Casey Hampton, and Willie Parker of the Pittsburgh Steelers, J.C. Chasez of N’SYNC, and Chace Crawford who were hopping around with the bunnies at the Playboy Club. J.C. busted out his boy band moves on the dance floor with three bunnies. Moon was packed with celebrities! All three Steelers moved on to Moon, as well as Jason Robert Hervey from the Wonder Years, David Arquette, and even DJ Paul Oakenfold who performed at the club for over two hours! At N9NE Steakhouse downstairs was Nigel Lythgoe, creator of American Idol and judge on So You Think You Can Dance; Palms co-owners the Maloofs who dined with Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins (Go Skins!), and Peter Berg of Chicago Hope. Never a dull moment at the Palms, that is for sure!

Maybe with the luck of the Irish, you’ll hit it big on the slots (7-7-7!) or you may even come across some of your favorite celebrities out on the Strip tonight! Where are the celebrities out and about in Vegas?! Read on to Part II to find out more…

The Ranting Redhead