Even world leaders get star-struck.
Seems that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was likely availing himself of some pretty Western entertainment options when he was not presiding over the land once known as "The Evil Empire."
Gorby once sought out former "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" star -- and current Las Vegas resident Kevin Sorbo -- when both were in New Zealand.
Sorbo, who now stars in "Andromeda," was in the Land Down Under to film the "Hercules" TV series; Gorby, apparently a fan of the "Hercules" franchise, went to the set and asked for a meeting. The two, along with Sorbo's wife, Sam, had a long political discussion, according to Las Vegas Sun business reporter Rick Velotta.
Velotta spoke to both men separately when he attended a private Sunday night event at Lake Las Vegas, where Gorbachev outlined the concept of the Russian Heritage Highway Foundation, benefiting a road connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg that was home to such Russian cultural icons as Peter Tchaikovsky, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Sergei Rachmaninov, Alexander Pushkin, Anton Chekhov, Igor Stravinsky and Leo Tolstoy.
This time it was Sorbo who came to see Gorbachev, and this time Sorbo was prepared. He brought along a signed photo of himself as Hercules to present to the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
This time, however, Sorbo's wife was not in attendance. Nearly nine months pregnant, she stayed home, just in case.
The Sorbos are also parents of a 2-year-old boy, Braeden.
Busy busy
Multiple Las Vegas sightings Tuesday of Nicole Kidman, Glenn Close and Bette Midler.
All three were scheduled to end up tonight at Bally's/Paris Las Vegas for a ShoWest (the big movie-theater owners convention) appearance to preview scenes from their upcoming movie "The Stepford Wives."
Also scheduled at ShoWest tonight to screen scenes from upcoming Paramount movies: Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep ("The Manchurian Candidate"), Samuel L. Jackson ("Coach Carter"), Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine ("The Weather Man"), Tina Fey ("Mean Girls"), Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow ("Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"), and Jim Carrey ("Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unofortunate Events").
Kidman was scheduled to take a red-eye to New York tonight, where she is filming the new Sydney Pollack film, "The Interpreter." In it, political intrigue and deception unfold inside the United Nations, where an interpreter overhears an assassination plot.
Sunday night Kidman attended the New York premiere of her movie "Dogville." The three-hour film has been described as an allegory for life -- she spends significant chunks of the film with a strange sort of makeshift bear trap around her neck.
The film co-stars James Caan ("Las Vegas") as her father.
Band boys
Vegas entertainment fixture Lon Bronson has been keeping busy since his long Riviera run ended last month.
On Saturday night he and pal Steve Schirripa -- the former Riv entertainment director and current "Sopranos" star -- performed at a "Sopranos"-themed high-roller event at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City.
"We performed as the 'Ba Da Bing' band, and brought in Lena Prima -- Louis' daughter -- to sing," Bronson told us. "It is a full big-band thing, and we do all the old Italian goombah-type songs."
Bronson said the show's entire cast was there, and he was fortunate enough to spend much of the evening sitting in conversation with "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini.
"I gotta tell you," Bronson said, "there really is a lot of Tony Soprano in the guy. But he could not have been nicer."
Art start
A new show featuring the works of 23 local artists opens this evening at the Old Town Gallery on West Pacific Street in downtown Henderson.
A "Meet the Artists" reception will be at the gallery at 5 p.m. Thursday.
The panel that picked the show includes UNLV prof and Guggenheim Hermitage Museum boss Elizabeth Herridge; Joanne E. Vuillemot, chairwoman of the Community College of Southern Nevada Art and Art History departments; "Studio of Dreams" gallery founder Robin Stark; and Sharon King, a past president of Las Vegas Art Museum.
Diplomatic
Flamingo Las Vegas headliner George Wallace has a small but important role in the new Tom Hanks film, "The Ladykillers." Wallace should be grateful that he is on screen for only 10 or so minutes.
The Hollywood Reporter diplomatically said Monday that Hanks delivers "his most perplexing performance" and that the movie feels "out of kilter."
Our feeling is that they should have left well enough alone. The film is not at all an improvement over the 1955 original, which starred Sir Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers.
When VegasBeat saw a screening of the movie the other night, the best part of the experience was watching the Disney agents patrolling the theater for people using cellphone cameras or other devices to make bootleg copies of the movie.
As if.
VegasBits
Good egg: The Easter Bunny will be doing a special meet-and-greet with fans after his (her?) starring role in a musical production of "Easter in Never Never Land" at Galleria at Sunset mall on Saturday morning. The show is free. Call (702) 434-0202 for details ...
Par: Golf legend Jack Nicklaus and a party of 10 had dinner Monday at Charlie Palmer Steak (Four Seasons) ...
Celebrate: Celine Dion, Rene Angelil, their son, Rene-Charles, and other family members feted Dion's mom, Therese Dion, at a birthday dinner at Spago (Forum Shops at Caesars) on Monday night. Mom's birthday was Friday. They were also celebrating the first year of "A New Day ...," which opened a year ago Thursday ...
Cook: The 15th annual Bon Appetit Wine & Spirits Weekend, a series of benefits for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, hits Vegas May 7. All kinds of cooking and tasting events and celebrity chef appearances are scheduled ...
Love: Several hundred Caesars Palace employees have signed a giant birthday card for headliner Elton John. They will present it to him on Thursday -- his 57th birthday -- before his "Red Piano" show at The Colosseum.
From Sun wires
'Frasier' wraps: Hugs, champagne toasts and snippets of poetry marked the filming of the last episode of NBC's "Frasier" after an 11-year run.
The series, which started as a spinoff of "Cheers," will end with an hourlong finale airing May 13. The six-hour filming went late into Tuesday evening.
Pianist falls: Pianist George Shearing, who wrote the jazz standard "Lullaby of Birdland," was hospitalized Tuesday after falling at home in New York, his publicist said.
The 84-year-old blind jazz icon was under observation, his publicist said. He has canceled upcoming tour dates in Las Vegas (Saturday and Sunday at the Suncoast) and Los Angeles.
Rapper gets probation: Rapper Busta Rhymes received six months' probation after pleading no contest Tuesday to a charge that he assaulted a woman during a concert in Fall River, Mass.
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