For home run hitter, there’s no place like home
After winning new fans with a postseason power display, Washington Nationals slugger Bryce Harper made it clear he was happy to be back where it all began.
In a two-word tweet on Wednesday, he wrote: “Home! #Vegas.”
His three home runs against the San Francisco Giants in the National League Division Series had fans and critics jumping back on the bandwagon after his season of lingering injuries.
Harper’s four home runs in nine career postseason games put him in elite company. It tied him for most career homers before turning 22 with Mickey Mantle, Miguel Cabrera and Andruw Jones.
Harper, who turns 22 on Wednesday, also sent out a thank you tweet to Nationals fans and congratulations to Giants fans and players, calling them “classy and (an) unbelievable group of people!”
SHOW BIZ IN HIS BLOOD
Big crowds and big stages don’t faze David Weinreb, CEO of The Howard Hughes Corp.
Weinreb, who smoothly presided over Downtown Summerlin’s opening ceremonies Thursday night, has show business in his blood.
Last February, he was an impromptu singing sensation at the biggest Super Bowl party on the eve of the big game.
He was in the crowd of 6,000 at DirecTV’s SuperSaturday Night party that featured rap icon Jay-Z. The V.I.P. bash was held in a huge tent at Pier 40 on New York’s Hudson River.
Jay-Z was a few bars into his closing song, “Empire State of Mind,” when he stopped and asked the crowd, “Anybody know the Frank Sinatra version of ‘New York’ out there?”
Jay Z scanned the faces in front of the stage and “our eyes kind of met,” said Weinreb, who loves the stage. He spent his childhood in show business.
“My great-great-uncle Charlie Lowe was one of Milton Berle’s vaudeville partners,” Weinreb, 48, told me Thursday.
He said Jay-Z “had just been on tour with Justin Timberlake and needed somebody to start the song.”
Weinreb hopped onstage and Jay-Z handed him a mic.
Weinreb channeled Sinatra so well he had the crowd singing along and Jay-Z jumping up and down. Weinreb’s spontaneous moment is all over YouTube.
MALALA’S LEGACY
The Life is Beautiful Festival is celebrating a fortuitous tie-in with 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.
Among the festival’s invitees for The Learning Program lineup include Shiza Shahid, CEO and co-founder of the Malala Fund.
Shahid, 25, is one of the 40 global activists invited. She will share her thoughts on how the honor will help empower girls to reach their full potential, particularly in her home country of Pakistan, where Yousafzai stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban.
Yousafzai, 17, is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Shahid will be among 40 influencers and visionaries taking part in the sessions from 2-7 p.m. Oct. 24 at the old Western Hotel building, 899 Fremont St.
The lineup includes chef Jose Andres, Rio headliners Penn &Teller and TV personality Ricki Lake.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
The Mirage soon will be unveiling special plans for its 25th anniversary on Nov. 22. That was the beginning of a 20-year resort building boom on the Strip. ...
Red Rock Resort is going pink throughout this month to support breast cancer awareness. “Project Pink” will include pink blackjack and poker tables on Saturday and Sunday, along with pink pastries, fajitas and sopapillas and pink Bingo packs on Sundays. ...
Ne-Yo has canceled his Saturday birthday party and hosting appearance at Chateau Nightclub and Gardens at Paris Las Vegas.
SIGHTINGS
Shania Twain, backstage with Laugh Factory headliners Bob Zany and Felicia Michaels at the Tropicana on Thursday. Twain had rushed over to the Tropicana with her bodyguards after her show at Caesars Palace.
THE PUNCH LINE
“The speed limit here in New York City used to be 30 miles an hour. Now it is 25 miles an hour. I’ve gotten out of a cab moving 25 miles an hour. They’re now putting in speed bumps too. For years in New York City it was just pedestrians.” — David Letterman
Norm Clarke’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 702-383-0244 or email him at norm@reviewjournal.com. Find more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke.
