Sinsational Celebrity Tales

A great inside look at the life of Sin City’s very own Ace Insider, Norm Clarke.

In a recent interview with Forbes.com Vegas gossip guru Norm Clarke dished on everything from his take in the Tiger Woods scandal, to the state of today’s media, his AP days and much more!

Forbes.com, 3.1.10
Writing up gossip in Sin City is the Wild West of entertainment beats. Norm Clarke is the sheriff.

How has Tiger Woods handled the gossip media?
His press conference made it clear that Tiger still thinks he’s calling the shots on this story. What we learned is that he’s a control freak. Two-and-a-half years ago I got a tip that Tiger had a girlfriend. My reaction was: Is she blond? If you can’t tell me with certainty it’s not his wife, I can’t run it.
What probably foreshadowed all this was Tiger hanging out with Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. The chicks were lined up 10-deep around those guys. That’s a lot of temptation to give up. But when you have a wife and two kids, the fact he did this for so long, having unprotected sex with all these skanky women, is incredible even to us hardened gossip columnists.

Read the rest of Norm’s Forbes interview here.

The Outpost ~ by Les Gapay
It’s Vegas, baby!
There’s something about the town. The feel, the buzz, the energy, the celebrities, the shows, the people watching, the buffets, the slots, the volcano at the Mirage, the lions at MGM Grand, the shark tank at Mandalay Bay, the fountains at the Bellagio, the Elvis impersonators and the Liberace museum …
Every day, to find out what’s going on in town I check out Norm Clarke’s Vegas Confidential column in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. It gives the latest buzz and gossip about celebrities from Paris Hilton and Britney Spears to Pete Rose and Charles Barkley, where to go to eat, what shows are hot and even breaking news about Sin City …
I found it’s best to find out about goings on about town by reading Norm’s column and now his latest book, the light-hearted Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales, published by Stephens Press.
Norm has the credentials for the book and column. Alan Feldman, head public relations executive for MGM Mirage, says: “Norm’s is the must-read column every morning.”
In a town overflowing with buzz every day, Norm has great access and owns the inside track on what makes the town tick.

Read more here.

Norm always finds the juiciest stories in the City of Sin. This time, he’s spotted details about a potential duel between Las Vegas mayor, Oscar Goodman, and Antoinette “Mafia Princess” Giancana.

Ms. Giancana and Goodman plan to open competing crime syndicate museums on the Strip, Clarke reports.

The “Mafia Princess” may have authentic material from mob families for her museum’s exhibits, but Goodman does not seem to be backing down anytime soon. Oscar Goodman was once a defense lawyer who handled criminal cases for Chicagoan Anthony “Ant” Spilotro – the man rumored to have killed Ms. Giancana’s father.

Click here  to read more! (ABC 7 news article by Chuck Goudie & Ann Pistone, “Momo’s daughter will fight mayor in museum battle”)

The venerable Tattered Cover in Denver (one of the finest indie bookstores in America) recently hosted a signing for our own Norm Clarke and his newest title, Sinsational Celebrity Tales. Authors on Tour recorded his comments and you can listen to him HERE. Norm shares the background on his biggest stories including crashing the Review-Journal servers on the $200 steaks in Vegas story; Britney’s wedding/annulment dinner at N9NE Steakhouse at the Palms, and the infamous bitch-slap from Pete Rose objecting to Norm adding him to the top ten worst tippers list in his first book. A fun look at the world of celebrity gossip from the inside — and according to Norm, the celebs never fail to deliver story leads, day after day in Sin City.

From Norm’s Column March 18, 2008
THE SCENE AND HEARD
Vera Goulet, widow of the late singing star Robert Goulet, is flying to Los Angeles today to attend the funeral of Altovise Davis, the widow of Sammy Davis Jr. She died Saturday in Los Angeles after suffering a stroke. She was 65. The Davises and Goulets were close friends for years and often traveled together. During one of their trips, a 1975 visit to rainy Paris, Vera Goulet said their limo pulled up to a stoplight. “Sammy got out of the limo and did his ‘Singing In the Rain’” (song and dance routine) in front of a disbelieving crowd. “It was spontaneous. This was his personality. Altovise just laughed and laughed.” When Robert died in October 2007, “the second call I got was Altovise. The first was Julie Andrews,” Robert’s Broadway co-star in “Camelot.”

SIGHTINGS
Steve Wynn and his girlfriend, Andrea Hissom, attending a birthday party for the wife of South African hotel and gambling magnate Sol Kerzner at The Dorchester in London on Saturday night. Also in attendance: Sarah Ferguson, Simon Le Bon and Geri Halliwell. … Famous sisters Joan and Jackie Collins, meeting with Cher backstage after her show Tuesday at Caesars Palace.

From Norm’s Column March 18, 2008
THE SCENE AND HEARD
Vera Goulet, widow of the late singing star Robert Goulet, is flying to Los Angeles today to attend the funeral of Altovise Davis, the widow of Sammy Davis Jr. She died Saturday in Los Angeles after suffering a stroke. She was 65. The Davises and Goulets were close friends for years and often traveled together. During one of their trips, a 1975 visit to rainy Paris, Vera Goulet said their limo pulled up to a stoplight. “Sammy got out of the limo and did his ‘Singing In the Rain’” (song and dance routine) in front of a disbelieving crowd. “It was spontaneous. This was his personality. Altovise just laughed and laughed.” When Robert died in October 2007, “the second call I got was Altovise. The first was Julie Andrews,” Robert’s Broadway co-star in “Camelot.”

SIGHTINGS
Steve Wynn and his girlfriend, Andrea Hissom, attending a birthday party for the wife of South African hotel and gambling magnate Sol Kerzner at The Dorchester in London on Saturday night. Also in attendance: Sarah Ferguson, Simon Le Bon and Geri Halliwell. … Famous sisters Joan and Jackie Collins, meeting with Cher backstage after her show Tuesday at Caesars Palace.

Mark Wolf of the Rocky Mountain News and his readers interviewed Norm this morning “live”. Here’s a transcript  link with some interesting tidbits of “dish” for lovers of all things “sinsational”.

Which celebrities get the perks in Las Vegas? And which ones demand them? Who are the cheapest celebs and the most generous? Who are the best and worst tippers? And who is likely to have a public meltdown whenever they venture out?

Norm Clarke, a former columnist at the Rocky, reports on the Vegas celebrity culture for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. When celebs behave badly, Norm gets the scoop.

Norm chatted online Monday and shared the Barack Obama/Las Vegas connection. Read the transcript here.

He will discuss and sign copies of Sinsational Celebrity Tales at 7:30 p.m. at Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th Street at Wynkoop.