It was the $22 million night of miracles, and thanks to giant generosity from celebrities and superstar chefs, our annual Keep Memory Alive gala set yet another record.

It began with a $1.4 million bang when chefs Wolfgang Puck, Mario Batali and Joel Robuchon (seen below) sold off six unique, celebrity chef dinner packages and it ended with Brad Garrett and Kevin Spacey selling a private poker game and a walk-on movie role for another $200,000!


For Mayor Oscar Goodman, the memorable 48-hour weekend began with what he described as, "The most important day in Vegas history." We had all gathered downtown on the 61-acre downtown Union Park , where not only will there be our Lou Ruvo Brain Institute to find a cure and provide treatment from the best brain and mind scientific doctors in the world, but also a long-awaited Performing Arts Center.


"We are no longer waiting for hope to be on the way," said Keep memory Alive founder Larry Ruvo (seen below with Laurence Fishburne and Kevin Spacey). "It has arrived." Along with architect Frank Gehry, the Mayor and his KMA Board members all donned hard hats and picked up shovels for the official "first dig" of dirt. The two-acre site will include 67,000 sq.ft. of diagnostic, Neuroimaging and clinical research and treatment with a 7,000 sq.ft Museum of the Mind, the world's first interactive facility, along with Wolfgang Puck's own restaurant with all profits going back into the Institute.


The one-time condemned railroad yard will become America's #1 research medical treatment center for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and other brain dysfunctions. It will be opened late next year and thus complete the dream Larry had 11-years ago when he started the annual fundraiser which has grown from less than 50 supporters to 1,000 this weekend.

"Eighty million Baby Boomers are coming of age and are living longer than all previous generations," said Dr. Zaven Khachaturian, a leading medical scientist and president of the Institute. "As a result we are seeing more and more people needing medical help for a greater part of their lives. This project is all about improving and sustaining a quality of life for millions of people." Mayor Goodman added: "Vegas is known as number one for entertainment, fine dining and retail experiences and now Vegas will become number one with the medical community dealing with brain dysfunctions."

It all takes significant, private-sector money to bring this miracle into existence, and every year since I became involved with the annual fund-raising of Keep Memory Alive, we've shattered the previous year's final figures. And early yesterday morning, when the ticket sales, the live and silent auction, the generous spirited donations and the advertising sponsorships were tallied WE DID IT AGAIN WITH A RECORD $22 MILLION!

Here are just some of the mind-blowing celebrity items we auctioned:

- A "kick it up a notch" dinner with star chef Emeril LaGasse and super comedy star Robin Williams hauled in an amazing $400,000.


- A Vegas shopping trip with 'Desperate Housewives' star Teri Hatcher (seen above) went for $150,000, but I begged her to do it twice and we wound up with $300,000.

- My pal, hotel mogul Steve Wynn bid $300,000 for a recording studio session with 'Sound of Music' superstar Julie Andrews and famed film director Sidney Pollack (seen below with Frank Gehry), who promised he'd create a DVD masterpiece of the meeting.


- A New York trip that included dinner at famed RAO's restaurant with Jon Bon Jovi and a lunch with sex-therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer raised $175,000.

- A weekend of tennis with Andre Agassi and Stefi Graff brought in an additional $150,000.


- My friends, haircare king John Paul DeJoria (with beautiful wife Eloise) (seen above with yours truly) and his partner in Patron tequilas, Ed Brown, donated their private rail cars for a tour of California wine country and again it sold not once but twice for a total of $550,000.


- Lovely pop princess Hilary Duff (seen above), who flew in from New York just to help us, came on stage and let us sell a day in Hollywood with her, and she raised another $80,000 before racing back to continue her journey home to Los Angeles.

- The evening rounded out with trips to Italy and Australia selling for $300,000 and topping it all off were three custom cruises on the Sea Dream for a whopping $1.8 million.


- Two last minute auction item surprises from comic Brad Garrett (seen above) to play poker at home with he and Ray Romano, and a walk-on part in Oscar winner Kevin Spacey's new Blackjack movie he's filming her, brought in another $200,000.


Then it was time for the entertainment with Brad's side-splitting savagery and Kevin's fine voice. Backed by a 16-piece orchestra, Kevin debuted three Dean Martin hits including "Ain't That a Kick in the Head," which he performed as a duet to Dino's original tracks. Kevin told me, "The Martin estate asked me to be part of a Father's Day album of duets they are releasing with different stars and Dean. They wanted me to do "Kick in the Head," which happens to be my favorite anyway. So I went into the same studio, used the same mike and sat on Frank Sinatra's stool at Capitol to record it. Tonight though we did it for the first time live anywhere in the world with Dean's original tracks." He revealed that British pop hero Robbie Williams is another of the duet stars who will appear in concert in Vegas this August. Kevin also won a standing ovation for his dynamic and impressive 10 old Bobby Darin favorites to close the glittering night on a very special high note.


We got to hangout backstage afterwards with actor Laurence Fishburne, who plays the security chief in Kevin's new movie about the MIT students who ripped off the Vegas casinos in a card-counting caper. Kevin plays the college professor fine tuning the financial shenanigans. Luxe Life will have that full, on-location story later this week, so keep checking with Luxe Life for the up-close and personal interview about his acting successes and his decision to be a part-time lounge singer. After the gala, guests then went off to Wolfgang Puck's Bar and Grill for the after-party celebration.

In between on-stage emcee and co-auctioneering duties I still managed to fill my notebook with juicy jottings from the extravagant event:


Surprise dating couple of the night was the arm-in-arm Palms owner, George Maloof with dethroned Miss Nevada USA Katie Rees (seen above). They almost had me for a moment that she was now a Palms girl and George was seeking to get her reinstalled as the beauty queen of his home state of New Mexico!! But the lip-locked twosome did say they'd met after she was auditioned for an 'ExtraTV' guest host slot and her first assignment was to chronicle a "day in the life" feature on him. Katie told me its still not set in cement yet for her to be a regular host at Beachers Madhouse starting next month. "I'm hoping that out of everything that's happened it will lead to something positive in Hollywood in television."

Good news from Tony Curtis' beautiful wife Jill, who told my fellow gossip guru Norm Clarke of the Review-Journal, that he was angered over German reports that he was battling cancer. "Not true at all," she said. "And he'll be up and about fully rested after recuperating from bronchitis and pneumonia."


With a dinner that started out with vintage 98 Dom Perignon champagne and ended with rare 95 Château d'Yquem dessert wine, you know everything in between had to be just as deliciously decadent and first-class. And the trio of super chefs didn't disappoint with three main courses and eight different wines. Joel Robuchon served a Cream of Foie Gras with Gold Leaf under a Fine Gelee with Shaved Black Truffles, Mario served a chestnut cannelloni stuffed with veal, duck and a winter pesto and Wolfgang's masterpiece was roasted medallions of Sonoma lamb with stir-fried eggplant, snap peas and mint vinaigrette, and the MGM pastry chefs took architect Frank Gehry's renderings of the Brain Institute building and created their own whimsical inspired towering sugarcane desserts.

Ironically, this was all on the same night a world gourmet society gave a $25,000 per person dinner of the decade in Bangkok, Thailand promising the best food, the best wines and the best chefs. I am proud to say we had better food, better chefs and better beverages, and all our money went to our favorite Vegas charity to fulfill our promise that we will never forget so that others will always remember. We will Keep Memory Alive.

We'll be back a little later this afternoon with our regular journal posting that kicks off as we attend Motley Crue headliner Vince Neil's surprise birthday party with NBA bad-boy Dennis Rodman and 'Mindfreak' Criss Angel.

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