Celebrities

Superstar party takes it to the max

Maxim bash draws actors, athletes to Fisher Center

Susan Whitall / The Detroit News

The Maxim party at the MaxM.FisherMusicCenter got off to great start Saturday night despite the weather.

The red carpet featured celebrities such as actor Jim Belushi ; boxer Mike Tyson , who showed off a South Pacific-looking tattoo that partly encircled his eye; Doug Savant and Mark Moses of ABC’s “Desperate Houswives;” actress and Metro Detroiter Kristen Bell , star of UPN’s “Veronica Mars”; “The Sopranos” co-star Jamie-Lyn Sigler ; and porn star Tara Patrick .

“This city is on fire,” Savant said. “Detroit has done itself proud.”

Inside, the Maxim party featured a vast array of pinball machines, girls gyrating on bars, acrobatic acts on ropes hanging from the ceiling, and roller babes on roller skates.

Fans attending the Shady Bowl Super Party down the street at the State Theatre on Saturday were subjected to the most thorough pat-down of the weekend.

Eminem made a 30-second appearance in the State Theatre lobby, posing against a Shady Records backdrop. Sporting a red and black Nike Michael Jordan sweatsuit, Eminem turned around and mooned the crowd. He was quickly ushered backstage.

An hour later, Eminem appeared on stage and performed "Welcome 2 Detroit" with Detroit rapper Trick Trick .

By 11 p.m. Saturday, there were more snowflakes than famous people at the Sport Illustrated party in Mount Clemens.

The first celebrities to arrive at the Emerald Theatre were Detroit Shock players Swin Cash and Ruth Riley , and Sport Illustrated swimsuit models Marissa Miller , Brooklyn Decker and Bridget Hall .

The less famous of the 2,000 guests snaked around the theater as the heavy snow fell upon them. Kid Rock was expected to provide late-night entertainment after his sold-out concert at Joe Louis Arena.

About 20,000 fans attended rapper Snoop Dogg ’s “Snooper Bowl” Saturday at the Pontiac Silverdome. Snoop’s Snoop Youth All-Stars kids’ team played the Detroit Police Athletic League All-Star kids’ team, and fashizzle, Snoop was a hands-on coach, walking around the field and getting up close and personal with his pee-wee players, who were aged 7 to 9. Snoop’s tykes prevailed and won, 39-6.

After the game, the scene turned wild a minute into rapper B ow Wow ’s first song when dozens of kids ran onto the field and rushed the stage. Snoop threatened to stop the concert if the pushing didn’t stop.

“I don’t want any kids to get hurt!” Snoop shouted. “Parents, come claim your kids or I’m gonna take them home with me!” The kids were even giving attitude to Snoop, one yelling “Oh, shut up old man!” The kids eventually calmed down and the concert resumed.

Some A-listers were strutting down the fashion runway Saturday afternoon at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Dearborn for Holly Robinson Peete and husband Rodney Peete ’sannual Gridiron Glamour, a fund-raiser for the HollyRod Foundation to fight Parkinson’s Disease and Detroit’s Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute.

The Peetes recruited their actor and athlete friends, including former Los Angeles Laker Rick Fox , Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen , supermodel Niki Taylor , ABC’s “The View” co-host Star Jones Reynolds , “America’s Next Top Model” winner Eva Pigford , ESPN sportscaster Kenny Mayne , New York Giant Michael Strahan , former Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner and actor Terry Crews from UPN’s “Everybody Hates Chris.”

Dishy actresses Jessica Alba, Vivica A. Fox and Jaime Pressly took part in the fourth annual Cadillac Super Bowl Grand Prix out at the Michigan State Fairgrounds on Friday. Alba, who played the hot dancer in “Honey,” and the hot dancer in “SinCity,” joined other celebrities to race high performance Go-Karts at an indoor facility.

During Friday’s Super Bowl Gospel Celebration at the MasonicTemple, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his wife, Carlita , honored the late John H. Johnson , founder, chairman and CEO of Johnson Publishing, which publishes Ebony and Jet magazines, and owns Fashion Fair cosmetics. They presented a posthumous award to Johnson’s daughter, Linda Johnson Rice , who was escorted by her husband, businessman and former Detroit Lion Mel Farr . Homegirl and Grammy winner Anita Baker introduced headliner Patti LaBelle by recalling the generosity LaBelle showed early in her career.

Over at the Emerald Theatre’s WRIF 101.1-sponsored party Friday night there were go-go dancers, smoke machines and shot girls in schoolgirl outfits trolling the balcony, giving the east-side hotties a run for their money. Around 11:30 p.m. the main attraction Pressly rolled in. Pressley is Earl’s somewhat slatternly ex-wife on the NBC hit show “My Name is Earl.” As she got situated and put her headphones on, Pressly exclaimed “God! There’s 800 people around me and I don’t know what’s going on!” Um, you’re getting paid thousands of dollars to hang out at a suburban Detroit club for two hours and you get free drinks all night, that’s what’s going on.

Hundreds of ticketholders who paid $200 for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs ’ Cashmere Party at Elysium Lounge stood out in the rain instead of partying inside with Diddy and Tommy Lee because the Detroit fire marshal declared the club over capacity at about midnight Friday.

Detroit police, who said the club was oversold by about 1,000 people, worked frantically to bring order to the angry throngs out on Shelby, shouting for them to clear the street. Both locals and tourists were seething about losing their money. Most couldn’t afford to shell out upwards of $200 or more in cover charges to get into any of the nearby downtown clubs. One who did get in was Kilpatrick, who left shortly after 1 a.m. to cheers of "Kwame, Kwame.” Asked what he thought about the ticketholders left outside, the mayor said, “I don’t think nothing about it. It ain’t my issue,” as his security detail whisked him away.

The Detroit News chatted up boxer Tyson outside of Diddy’s party and like seemingly everybody else in the free world, Iron Mike is rooting for the Steelers in today’s Super Bowl. “I’d love to see Jerome Bettis get a ring,” murmured Tyson in his soft baby voice.

Auburn Hills wasn’t nearly as busy as downtown Detroit. The Rap Bowl concert at The Palace of Auburn Hills featuring Young Jeezy , Juelz Santana, Ludacris and Twista among others was less than half full. The crowd roared when Twista rapped a line from a Notorious B.I.G.’ssong “Hypnotize” that gave a shout out to “Detroit playas” wearing alligator shoes.

Friday night’s Vivid/Club Jenna Bowl at the Zoo Bar was a bit of an, um, bust because although some paid as much as $1,000 (for a VIP ticket) to see the promised porn star exxxtraordinaire Jenna Jameson , she appeared for no more than 20 minutes. It was just after 1 a.m. when the heavens opened up and Jameson appeared, wearing a revealing, barely-there gold top and skintight blue jeans. She leaned over a second-floor balcony near the front of the club, waved to the crowd and blew kisses, dancing to Motley Crue’s "Girls Girls Girls" and AC/DC’s "Back in Black," before again disappearing into the night.

With all the bloated ticket parties around town this weekend — $1,000 for a VIP ticket into the Vivid Club Jenna Bowl! — and all people left out of gigs they bought tickets for, Kid Rock gave good value for the $39 ticket price at his Friday and Saturday concerts at Joe Louis Arena. Everybody who bought a ticket, got in.

Detroit News Staff Writers Melody Baetens, Santiago Esparza, Adam Graham, Kimberly Hayes Taylor, Kara Morrison, Michael H. Hodges, Frances X. Donnelly and Mekeisha Madden Toby contributed to this report. You can reach Susan Whitall at (313) 222-2156 or swhitall@detnews.com.