"Hairspray" takes audiences to 1962 Baltimore, where 16-year old Tracy Turnbald, a big girl with a big heart and even bigger hair has only one passion, to dance. After winning a spot on the local TV dance program she becomes an irrepressible teen celebrity, but can a plus-size trendsetter vanquish the program's reigning princess, win the heart of the boy she loves and integrate a television show without denting her 'do?

The Red Hot Chili Peppers rock band will star in a free concert with Weezer as the opening act on July 2 to celebrate the Las Vegas centennial. The Grammy-winning band will play in the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority parking lot at Paradise and Convention Center Drive where the Landmark hotel once stood. About 50,000 tickets were distributed through a Web site and were sold out in 6 minutes.

The Go-Go's will perform at the Mandalay Bay for their fourth time on Friday, May 29 at 9 p.m. The female group will do an outdoor concert on the Mandalay Beach Stage set amidst the resort's 11-acre beach and lagoon.

Concert-goers are invited to bring blankets and sit on the sand or wade into the surf. Tickets are $41.25 in advance and $44 the day of the show, call 702-632-7580.

Jazz crooner Matt Dusk will return to the Golden Nugget with a five-piece band for an exclusive, one-month run from May 16-June 16. Shows are at 5:30 in the Theatre Ballroom except May 27-29 and June 10-11. Tickets are $45, plus tax, call 866-946-5336 or 702-386-8100.

Dusk made his Las Vegas debut in 2004 at the Golden Nugget's restaurant/lounge, ZAX. The native Canadian's struggle to move from ZAX to the main showroom was documented in FOX Television's 2004 series, "The Casino." Dusk's tune, "Two Shots," penned by U2 frontman, Bono, served as the series' opening theme.

After selling out tickets to a Nov. 4 concert in several minutes, rock band U2 has added a second MGM Grand Garden Arena show on Nov. 5. Tickets range from $52 to $183.75, call Ticketmaster at 702-474-4000.

"Downtown" Gordie Brown will end his one-year-run at the Golden Nugget downtown on May 24 and also drop his nickname.

The Amazing Johnathan's final show at the Riviera was this past week. He plans to open his 10 p.m. show at the Sahara on May 6.

The watermelon-smashing comedian Gallagher has set up shop at the Tuscany on Flamingo Road. Gallagher and producer Michael Rapport, who is also a stand-up comedian, are doing a time-share arrangement at the Tuscany's Stars Lounge Theatre, subleasing it from 9 p.m. until 10:15 p.m. daily and calling it the Gallagher Comedy Club.

Gallagher performs at the 150-seat venue a couple weeks a month, depending on his touring schedule. Tickets are $39.95. Rapport performs a week or more each month and other nights are a lineup of two or three comedians. Tickets are $24.95, call 702-893-8933.

"Forbidden Vegas" needs to vacate their space at the Westin on May 7 so the space can be used for a new convention center. The four-member musical comedy parody group is looking for new space.

Candyman: "From Russia With Love" is a new show at Fitzgeralds downtown. It's the first-ever appearance of eight talented Russian hunks in the United States. Candyman, which began in Russia in 1997, is led by former Russian Dance Champion Vasily Shepelin. This is definitely a very sexy show for the ladies. Tickets for the nightly except Wednesday shows are $34.95 or $39.95 with a buffet plus tax, call 702-453-1094.

The Aussie Angels, who opened at the Las Vegas Hilton last November, are leaving April 30 for Atlantic City.

SEAL will appear in concert at Whiskey Beach at Green Valley Ranch on Friday, May 20. Tickets are $49.50 plus tax, 702-547-5300.

Beginning, May 3, Tom Stevens, as Dean Martin, will be appearing at the Barbary Coast every Tuesday night from 8 to 11 p.m. in "Dean's Lounge."

A new comedy festival is planned by HBO for Nov. 17-20. The event will be titled The Comedy Festival and is suppose to feature more than 50 performances, events and film screenings using the 4,000-seat Colosseum at Caesars Palace, the Flamingo Showroom and The Second City venue as well as converting convention space into movie screening rooms and club settings. This new event will give the three-year-old Las Vegas Comedy Festival that focuses on a "how to" atmosphere for aspiring comedians direct competition.

The once a year event, the Las Vegas Home Improvement and Decorating Show, is the largest in Las Vegas and will take place April 29-May 1 at Cashman Center. There will be over 450 exhibitor booth spaces and lots of seminars. The show is a virtual information center with special interest exhibitors like Desert Steel featuring illuminated landscape art and Acme Elevator with the newest in home elevators and chair lifts. General admissions is $6, $5 for seniors 60 and older, and free to military or children under 18 with a paid adult.

The half-price ticket outlet Tix4Tonight has opened a third location in the Fashion Show mall.

TOP OF NEXT COLUMN

A VIP sneak preview party was held recently at the new Exotic Cars at Caesars Palace dealership at the Forum Shops. The dealership took over the vast space previous occupied by the Race for Atlantis ride making it now the largest retailer in the Forum Shops at 34,000 square feet of space. The more than 50 exotic cars on display are a sight to behold.

The "Today" show hosts Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and weatherman Al Roker will be broadcasting live from Las Vegas on April 29 for the Wynn Las Vegas opening.

The Strike Zone Bowling Center is new at Sunset Station in Henderson.

McCarran International Airport opened a $125 million addition to its D-gate concourse. It is an 11-gate northeast wing that will enable the nation's sixth-busiest airport to handle approximately 3.1 million more passengers per year.

Related Las Vegas held a party recently to debut the company's first high-rise condo project in the Las Vegas marketplace. ICON Las Vegas will be located at 205 Convention Center Drive, which is close to Wynn Las Vegas and The Fashion Show Mall. The 48-story, 248-unit tower will feature homes ranging from 950 square feet for a one-bedroom to 1,824 square feet for a three-bedroom with prices ranging from $450,000 to more than $2 million. The two-story lobby will be designed by the award-winning Rockwell Group.

Westgate Resorts, the Florida-based time share developer, plans to build a $400 million, 52-story time-share tower on Harmon Avenue that will be attached to the Desert Passage mall and performing arts center so people won't have to go outside to get into Planet Hollywood, which is currently the Aladdin. The blue glass Westgate tower will have 800 two-bedroom suites. Westgate will be building a 12,000-square-foot sales gallery inside Planet Hollywood.

Another major mixed-use project called Urban Village will be a $1 billion master-planned condominium community on a 50-acre site on Las Vegas Blvd. So. between the South Coast casino that's under construction and a planned Station Casino project. Construction is scheduled to start in June with the first 464 units expected to be ready in 18 to 24 months.

The Urban Village concept is five neighborhoods with 2,400 condominium homes, including brownstones, high-rises, live-work units and flats. One-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans will range from 1,000 to 3,000 square feet with prices from the upper $100,000s to $1 million. There will also be 65,000 square feet of retail space. Urban Village is being developed by Diversified Real Estate Group, which is also doing the Club Renaissance high-rise project downtown.

Houston architect and developer Larry S. Davis, whose nickname is "The Tin Man," is known for his signature loft townhouses sheathed in brightly colored corrugated steel. His progressive architecture has been a big hit in Houston, Dallas and Atlanta and he's building in Las Vegas next. He will be creating 101 of his patented live/work spaces in the downtown area beginning next month with 30 lofts that will be completed by year's end.

Davis' lofts will be located a dozen blocks from Fremont Street and have 19-foot ceilings. Affordable at about $259,000, you will be able to purchase a three-story, 2,000-square-foot house with two bedrooms, two baths, skylights, a two-car garage and a small yard.

The reincarnation of Led Zeppelin - starring the tribute band Heartbreaker will play in the Royal Street Theater at Jerry's Nugget Casino in North Las Vegas on Thursday, May 19. Tickets are $15, contact Jerry's Nugget at 702-399-3000.

Heartbreaker is a group of four talented and seasoned musicians from the San Francisco Bay area, who present a showcase of Led Zeppelin's mega-hits from the 70's and 80's.

Every Thursday night from June 2-Sept. 1, movies will be shown at the water's edge on the lawn at the MonteLago Village Events Plaza at 7:30 p.m.

Admission is free. Guests can bring blankets and low-back chairs but no pets or coolers. The weekly event hotline is 702-564-4766 and the movies range from "Finding Neverland" to "Harry Potter 3."

Wynn Las Vegas, the Strip's pre-eminent luxury $2.7 billion, 45-story, arc-shaped mega-resort will open on April 28. The chocolate-colored reflective glass building will have 2,698 hotel rooms and suites, an 111,000-square-foot casino, 16 restaurants, a three-acre pool, luxury spa, many brand-name high-end stores, the Strip's only 18-hole golf course and an art gallery. An eight-story, 100-foot mountain in the front of the property encloses a three-acre lake.

One of the restaurants specializing in high-end, contemporary Japanese food will be named Okada in honor of a major investor in the project. Another restaurant will be called Alex after the star chef, Alex Stratta, who closed his five-star restaurant, Renoir, in the Mirage to join Wynn in this project.

The water-based, $24 million production show "Le Reve" that will be like "O," will be housed in the 2,080-seat, $70-million Aqua Theater. Water will surround the audience - above, below and even around their seats. The farthest seat will be a mere 40 feet from the stage. Tickets will have a base price of $110 plus tax and service charge.

In another 1,200-seat, $40 million theater, the Tony-award winning, unorthodox, Broadway puppet play "Avenue Q" will be presented.

Four nightclubs will be in the project. One of them will be called "La Bete" (The Beast) which will be a restaurant that will turn into a nightclub after 11 p.m.

CONTINUE ON TO...:
>THIS WEEK'S LAUGHLIN SEGMENT
>LAST WEEK'S LAS VEGAS SEGMENT
>VEGAS VIEWS FULL ARCHIVES
>Return to "Heard Around Town"
>Return to Las Vegas Leisure Guide