Thursday, June 28, 2001
Knip's Eye View
Carmen Electra currently very busy
Lord have mercy, but isn't Carmen Electra just about everywhere nowadays? The Princeton High grad, Prince protege and Baywatch star is all over Mademoiselle, Wall Street Journal, hostess of a new MTV dance party and, oddly, in a hot tub full of 30 New Yorkers. To wit ...
The baby sitter: Forget her reputation as a wild child, Substitute baby sitter for friends needing a night out.
At one point, it was all about going out everything had to be over the top, she tells Mademoiselle in a story next to a photo of her bouncing a baby on her lap.
That was an empty place to be. Now, it's all about balance ... I know now isn't the right time to have kids, but baby-sitting really does fill the emptiness.
She's been thinking a lot about babies lately, ever since the death of her mother three years ago: I've always wanted a big family but realistically, I'll maybe have two. A girl and a boy.
The live show: Meanwhile, off in the far more sedate Wall Street Journal, producer David Tumaroff says he's working on a new concept for Las Vegas' Aladdin Hotel. Madame Electra will be one of the centerpieces.
It's a showclub, this, that Tumaroff describes as a combo theater and nightclub.
Current plans call for an early show staring Electra she's a respectable dancer in a format to be determined. Second show is one of those topless acts Hollywood Blondes Vegas loves so much.
Then the joint morphs into a nightclub: Seats retract for a dance floor and a DJ's booth slithers from the rafters.
It's an $18 million project lots of confidence in this former Cincinnatian, 'eh? due at a date to be named.
Hot tubs: Off in the middle of New York, Union Square Park no less, Big Red Gum (that cinnamon stuff) built a 24-foot hot tub, filled it with 13,000 gallons of water and invited 30 New Yorkers, many in business suits, to jump in with Electra.
The idea, says Big Red rep Terri Shank, was to kick off a contest where Big Red will give away 150 trips to Puerto Vallarta with, you guessed it, Electra.
Thirty trips have been given away, 120 to go. Check it out at www.clubbigred.com.
Oh yeah, the stunt will probably also get Electra her first Guinness record: Turns out it's the world's largest hot tub.
Seen around town: So look who we found knocking around the Quality Inn RV Park Tuesdayout on Glendale Milford Road. The guy who jumped up and did what everyone threatens to do but never does.
Right, Brad Herzog, the corporate exec who chucked it all, bought an RV and hit the road with wife Amy. Then wrote a book about it.
States of Mind (Pocket Books, $13.95) is the result of a year on the road, visiting towns named after virtues Love, Va., Wisdom, Mont., Honor, Mich. and writing about the people he met. He was here promoting the paperback version and meeting other RVers for his next book.
And no, he doesn't regret the decision to chuck it all: It was the best year of my life, he says.
Contact Jim Knippenberg by phone: 768-8513; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: knipenquirer@yahoo.com.
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