Rita Rudner is a howling success in her new 425-seat Cabaret Theatre digs at New York-New York. She recently performed for an elite VIP crowd that included front row center MGM Mirage Chairman Terri Lanni and New York-New York President Felix Rappaport. Rudner was totally at ease in front of them and had the men in hysterics.

Rudner is experimenting with a 4 p.m. matinee show on Saturdays instead of a late night show, which she concluded were her worst counts at the MGM Grand where she worked prior this opportunity.

Aerosmith is set to perform their Just Push Play Tour at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, Aug. 18. The group recently released a new album "Just Push Play," which was their first full-length studio venture since the multi-platinum, best-selling album "Nine Lives" in 1997.

Aerosmith was recently inducted into he Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The band sold almost 100 million albums worldwide over the course of a career spanning more than 25 years. Tickets are $45, $65, and $100 plus applicable service charges, call Ticketmaster at 702-474-4000.

Scottish singer Sheena Easton will be spending her summer at the Las Vegas Hilton opening at the hotel's 350-seat NightClub on June 5 and closing on Sept. 2. If she does well on her own after having spent a year at the Rio co-headlining in "At The Copa" with David Cassidy, she could be extended. Ironically, she is taking over the room that launched the Scintas, who have in turn taken over the Rio's Copacabana Showroom where Cassidy and Easton headlined.

Paris Las Vegas will open the area's newest nightspot on May 11 inside Napoleons. "Vamp" will feature DJ music in a sexy lounge and dance atmosphere with upscale and trendy d‚cor. The lounge will showcase a combination of visually stimulating fashion forward visuals on video screens and a high tech pulsating laser light spectrum to complement the lounge dancers.

Napoleons will continue to operate a rich, clubby atmosphere in the "Empire-style" featuring live entertainment, a cigar and pipe lounge, French wines and beers as well as other imported beers and microbrews. Napoleons is open every day from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. except for Fridays and Saturdays when it will close at 9 p.m. and reopen as "Vamp" from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. with a $15 cover charge.

Don Rickles will return to the Stardust for four nights of revelry, May 17-20. The veteran comic is enjoying his 42nd consecutive year as a Las Vegas entertainer, the last 36 as a showroom headliner. He now has an exclusive two-year contract with the Stardust and made his debut there in February. For ticket information, call 702-732-6325. Wayne Newton, who headlines at the Stardust 40 weeks a year, will return May 21.

The off-Strip Palace Station will have the comedy club "Laugh Trax" debut on May 23 in the casino's Sound Trax. It will take the place of the rock tribute bands. While the Strip has four full-time comedy rooms, Palace Station will offer parking and competitive pricing at $12.95 plus tax. Each week will host two touring stand-up comedians and a local house band Epstein's Mother to warm up the crowd and introduce the laugh-makers.

The city's largest jazz festival will take place June 1-3 at the Fremont Street Experience. The Las Vegas Jazz Festival will feature 25 bands performing on ten stages downtown. Bands will perform on five indoor and five outdoor stages from 3:00 to 11:30 p.m. on June 1, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on June 2, and from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on June 3.

Outdoor stages will be at three locations on Fremont Street, in the Main Street Station's south parking lot, and at the Golden Nugget pool. Indoor venues will include the Lady Luck Pavilion, the Fremont's Gold Ballroom, the Four Queens' King's Pavilion, Fitzgeralds' Vincenzo's Restaurant and the Golden Nugget Theatre Ballroom.

Participants will be able to celebrate the first 50 years of jazz, from 1895 to 1945, with bands from around the world. Daily admission tickets provide access to all the concerts. Single-day tickets are $10, or a three-day festival pass is $25, call 1-800-249-3559 or visit www.lasvegasjazzfestival.com. The events will include an outdoor food festival.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Liberace Museum expansion is set for Saturday, May 12, at 11 a.m. and comedian Rip Taylor will host it. The showgirls for the Tropicana's renowned "Folies Bergere" will also be on hand. A sterling silver shovel that Liberace purchased from Tiffany & CO. will be used for the ground breaking. The museum has tripled in size after Liberace's death in 1987 to 15,000 square feet. The new expansion will bring the total square footage to 21,000.

The hard hats for the participants will be covered in Austrian rhinestones. Las Vegas artisan John Hancock who mirrored and bejeweled Liberace's cars and pianos is designing them. The occasion will also mark Liberace's 82nd birthday with free cake for everyone attending. The ceremony being held at the Liberace Museum at the entrance area in front of the Costume Gallery is free and open to the public. For information, call 702-798-5595 or visit www.librace.org.

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Many folks may not remember that the Tropicana has Swim-Up Blackjack located in the mail pool surrounded by five acres of tropical grounds. The aquatic card game opens for the season on Saturday, May 26. The area includes two separate blackjack tables that each accommodates up to seven players.

Swim-Up Blackjack is available from 10:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. daily. For convenience, towels are on-hand to keep the players' hands and chips dry. Plus, the dealers have money dryers.

Guests can enjoy exotic beverages like traditional "tropical" drinks or sip on Green Parrots in souvenir "cut-glass" mugs. Another option is a favorite drink, in either a souvenir showgirl yardstick or a Tropicana football.

The 12,000 square foot, free-form main pool is heated and open from 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. during the season, April 1-Oct. 31. The adult Lagoon Pool is open 24-hours a day through the same dates. Visitors can rent rafts, tubes or a water volleyball net. Other amenities are three separate jacuzzis, the coconut Grove Bar, the Pool Snack Bar, the Topics Pool Party gift shop, and private cabanas which rent by the day for $75 on weekdays and $95 on weekends.

A note to Bruce Springsteen's fans, The Reserve in Henderson is opening a new Nil Lofgren Guitar Bar in early May. The Springsteen guitarist, whose solo career dates to the early '70s, will decorate a former taco bar with some of his memorabilia. He'll drop by to christen the new venue that will be an open bar rather than an enclosed club. It will have a small stage to highlight acoustic musicians or Tommy Rocker-style acts.

The World Series of Poker, the premier annual poker tournament, expects more than 4,100 people to participate, with an estimated $15 million in prize money being awarded to this year's winner. A total of 26 tournaments make up the World Series, now in its 32nd year. The tournament will conclude May 18 with its world championship game, a $10,000 buy-in, no limit Texas hold 'em tournament that takes place over five days.

The Riviera completely renovated and refurbished its World's Fare Buffet. The entire room was gutted to make way for brand new carpeting, earth tone tiles, wood paneling with wood-beams crossing the room revealing a high-vaulted ceiling and new furniture. There are five themed stations featured: Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Bar-B-Que and ""Made in America."

"De La Guarda," the ultra avant-garde show at the Rio, is having its creators visit and change the show's finale with new music and lighting effects. The 70-minute audience participation production currently ends by repeating a wall-climb to flashing strobe lights.

National Tourism Week 2001 will be celebrated by a Wheel to Vegas Car Rally from Barstow, CA to Las Vegas. The event will kick off at 3 p.m. in Barstow today. The second rally point will be at Nevada Landing/Gold Strike Hotel and Casinos tomorrow, May 7 at 8:30 a.m. Between 10 and 10:30 a.m., an official welcome and photo opportunity will take place at the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.

The classic cars participating in this event will be on display between 2-4 p.m. on May 7 at various staging areas including the Imperial Palace, Stardust, Nellis Air Force Base and Fremont Street Experience. For event information, call 702-794-3114.

The MGM Grand was named North America's leading conference hotel during the 8th Annual World Travel Awards held in Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia on April 10. Travel agents from over 25,000 travel agencies in 182 countries voted. The resorts $100 million Conference Center was opened in 1998.

The Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower has released numbered commemorative five-year anniversary gaming chips in the denominations of $5 and $25. In-house graphic artist Roger Redford designed the two chips with the front side of both featuring a close up shot of the Tower, and the backs showing a distant shot of the Stratosphere and other Strip properties. There are 2,000 - $5 chips and 1,000 - $25 chips. The chips are available for purchase on a first-come, first-serve basis at the casino cage.

Bill Acosta "Man of 1001 Voices" will be the featured performer on the television show "Entertainment Las Vegas Style" that will air on Sunday, May 6 on UPN - Cable 14. The entire half-hour show takes an in-depth look at Acosta's Las Vegas production show "Lasting Impressions," currently in the main showroom at the Flamingo. Acosta's show opened at the Flamingo last November after a successful two-year run at the Luxor.

"Party till the cows come home" is the motto at OXO Lounge on Thursday and Friday nights when the cocktail bar features live entertainment beginning at 9:30 p.m. The vibrant decor features a cow-lined entrance into the OXO steak and seafood restaurant and lounge in The Regent Las Vegas in Summerlin, call 702-869-2335.

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