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NORM: Nightclubs rain gifts on toy drive
How do you measure Las Vegas' holiday spirit of giving?
For about 300 employees at Tryst and XS nightclubs at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, it was a Walmart receipt more than 100 feet long.
After a three-hour shopping spree that filled two 18-wheelers, nightclub managers and employees delivered more than $106,000 worth of Christmas toys and gifts to the KLUC-FM, 98.5, collection site manned by Chet Buchanan & the Morning Zoo on Wednesday.
The staffers have been chipping in every night for a year, determined to break their 2009 donation mark of $62,428.
"They're amazing," said Jesse Waits, general partner of the two clubs, referring to the generosity of director of Wynn nightclubs John Wood and his staffers.
The nightclubs raised $32,000 in 2008, the first year. Their 2010 efforts helped boost the total number of loaded trucks to eight, including 495 bikes, plus $105,000 worth in gift cards.
Buchanan promotes the drive every year by spending 12 days atop scaffolding next to NV Energy on West Sahara Avenue.
Also caught up in the spirit of giving:
¦ About 500 Make-a-Wish kids meet Santa today at the Rio, thanks to the generosity of Luxor headliner Criss Angel and Bank of America.
¦ Earlier this week, the Walmart Foundation provided a $55,000 grant to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Southern Nevada, one of the largest ever received by the society.
'IDOL,' CIRQUE JOIN HANDS
A marriage of megabrands -- "American Idol" and Cirque du Soleil -- will reportedly continue for the upcoming 10th season of "Idol."
EonLine.com reported Wednesday that the season of change includes a working relationship with "Love," Cirque's partnership with the Beatles.
Last April, the nine "Idol" finalists made a trip to Las Vegas to soak up Cirque's "Viva Elvis" show at Aria and received critique from mentor Adam Lambert, Season 8 runner-up.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
An out-of-town woman hit Megabucks at Green Valley Ranch on Tuesday. She won $10,000 after playing at the $1 level. She'll be kicking herself for years for not putting in $3. That would have paid $12.1 million. ...
Phil Shalala, vice president of marketing at the Hard Rock Hotel, is out after seven years. He was behind the launch of the pool party Rehab six years ago. ...
Jenny McCarthy has split from her Vegas boyfriend, Jason Toohey. ...
Michael Grimm, the winner of "America's Got Talent" 2010, returns to Green Valley Ranch on Dec. 19 to perform at Ovation with a 12-piece orchestra. He was a regular performer at GVR before landing on the talent show. ...
Loop Rawlins and Will Roberts, who perform the flaming rope trick in "Viva Elvis," will perform a rope contest at the MGM Resorts International's NFR tent tonight from 5 to 6 p.m.
SIGHTINGS
That was some hoedown at Mandalay Bay on Monday after the American Country Awards. Blake Shelton's after-party at the House of Blues included performances by Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson; Miranda Lambert and Clarkson; Jason Aldean, Charles Kelley (from Lady Antebellum) and Luke Bryan; Lambert and Shelton; Lambert and Jerrod Niemann; Lambert and Laura Bell Bundy; Bell Bundy and Andy Davis; and Shelton and Nan Kelley.
THE PUNCH LINE
"Sarah Palin shot a reindeer on the last episode of her show. You don't typically see politicians shooting reindeer to death two weeks before Christmas." -- Jimmy Kimmel
Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.
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