Newly-crowned Miss America 2007, Lauren Nelson turns into an overnight TV star this week. She flew from Vegas directly to meet with Diane Sawyer and the Good Morning America team yesterday, followed immediately by appearing with Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa on 'Live with Regis and Kelly.'
With literally no time to breathe, Nelson was on another plane for last night's appearance on Larry King, while competing with herself on a taped interview on rival MSNBC's Scarborough Country. The media blitz continues today back in New York on Fox & Friends, followed again immediately on Fox's new 'Mike and Juliet Morning Show.' Tomorrow the frenzied pace continues with another national TV appearance on the CW morning News followed by a satellite cross-country radio tour. Whew, and that's only the first four days of her reign!
MISS AMERICA RATINGS
The 2007 Miss America Pageant, which premiered live on CMT Monday, drew a significantly younger audience, increasing its 18-24 audience by 257 percent. During that time period, CMT placed second in all of cable in the P18-24 demo. The median age for the 8PM telecast was 43 years old, down eight years from the 2006 Pageant. The 8PM premiere of Pageant averaged 2.4 million viewers, making it CMT's most-watched telecast since last year's airing. Cumulatively, the pageant reached 7.2 million total viewers in its two airings on Monday night.The two-hour contestant special, 'Pageant School: Becoming Miss America,' which aired over the weekend prior to the Pageant itself was seen by more than 16 million viewers across 10 total plays on CMT, VH1 and MTV. The special was part of an original programming blitz consisting of over nine hours of pageant-related programming designed to drive overall viewership and awareness of Miss America.
RADICAL CHEF
What do you get when you combine a South Philly boy and his wildly popular South Florida Italian restaurant and late-night hot spot with Sin City's Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino? Tattooed, sometime bare-chested Chef Steve Martorano promises a good time, great food with a little Philly attitude on the side. Cafe Martorano will be a one-of-a-kind restaurant/nightclub combo when it opens later this month and "definitely not for sissies and salad eaters," he says proudly. "Bring a hearty appetite and a "take no prisoners" state of mind because it starts with the food and then moves on to the "scene," so it's an all-in-one totally unique kind of evening." Steve boldly states at the bottom of his menu, "Absolutely no changes or substitutions -- This is the way I cook. Please enjoy and don't break my balls!" Steve's Fort Lauderdale Florida restaurant not only wins top ratings, but is as widely known for its celebrity clientele as its South Philadelphia-style Italian-American cuisine. On any given night regular customers include Shaquille O'Neil, Ludacris, Steven Van Zandt and Fat Joe. After dinner, it's time to work off the calories with some serious dancing. During dinner, the tunes are mellow -- Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin -- and old school Motown, but after 10:30PM., the house rocks while Martorano himself spins hip-hop and R & B hits. It's one of the hottest fixtures on the South Florida culinary and club scene. The new 150 seat, 7,000 sq.ft Rio restaurant will feature white walls, black granite, stainless steel and evocative lighting with wide screen plasma televisions surrounding the room playing scenes from gem mob movies, more than twice the size of his Florida venue. And the biggest stars of Sundays Super Bowl are already packing the Florida joint before the big game. On their first night in Florida, Indianapolis Colts quarterback and Martorano regular Peyton Manning (seen below with Steve's sons) treated his entire offensive line for dinner. Next night, in came 2005 NFL Defensive MVP Brian Urlacher of the Chicago Bears with Zach Thomas of the Miami Dolphins. So expect it to become a super sports star hangout when it arrives here at the Rio before the end of the month.
STRIP SCRIBBLES
Last week I told you about 'Jackass' star Steve-O raiding the Pussycat Dolls wardrobe room at PURE in Caesars Palace, stripping off his shirt and trying to get into a bra, corset and high heels. Now comes word that he failed to smash a glass display case at the Hard Rock. He'd been invited to pal Bam Margera's party after the dedication to the skateboarder and TV star. Despite the fact that Steve-O used one of those nightclub roped off metal stanchions he failed to shatter the glass. Thank goodness it didn't interrupt Justin Timberlake dining with friends nearby in the casino at Nobu.
Despite the ruckus a slew of celebrities took over the hotel's Body English nightclub on consecutive nights including UFC Champion Chuck Liddell, and his challenger rival Tito Ortiz, with ever present porn princess Jenna Jameson, Chris Noth, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and TV's talkmeister Montel Williams. Next up: Kevin Federline still holding onto his 15 minutes and watch for it to tick a little longer after Sunday's self-deprecating fun-filled Super Bowl commercial for an insurance company where he plays a short-order fast-food cook, Jason Giambi, Tony Gonzales of the Kansas City Chiefs, Brandi, Wyclef Jean and Usher all celebrating in style. Even Tito and Chuck returned for the 2nd consecutive party night! ... Comedy magician Mac King, who headlines here at Harrah's, has been named as spokesman for Optimist International's Reading program. Mac is a lifetime supporter of children's literacy programs and started volunteering to read in public schools several years ago Check out Mac King's Corner on the Optimist website which features cartoons and simple magic tricks that children can read and then learn to do. He will also incorporate into the program a list of favorite books, recommended by his 6-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.
TONIGHT'S TIP
Its time for laughter and comedy with Drew Carey and his Improv All Stars who start a run at MGM, thru Sunday's Super Bowl wrap-up party.
TOMORROW'S TEASE
It might well be the biggest betting weekend in the Sports Book around town, as nobody seems to pick one team over another as Chicago does battle with Indianapolis. Yes, it's Super Bowl and everything in Vegas is in a party mind set all weekend. Plus, John O'Hurley, who'll play King Arthur in the upcoming 'Spamalot' musical at the Wynn will wrap up our four-part salute to insanity!
Add Luxe Life to your main page via RSS feed by clicking on an appropriate button below or add the URL manually to your favorite RSS reader.
ADD URL Manually: http://www.vegaspopular.com/category/luxe-life/rss.xml
