CES is so metal. (Photos by Erik Kabik | Retna)

Tommy Lee was at CES on Saturday for … something. We don’t know, maybe they just made significant leaps in rotating-drum-cage technology.

Actually, he was there to promote The Public Record, an interactive recording company that’s giving away a chance for fans to be on Lee’s next album. Probably rocking out on the triangle. Look, we’re just saying, you’re probably not going to get to fill in for Nikki Sixx. Because you really couldn’t pull off the hair.

That night, Lee was at XS inside Encore with some friends, where Jermaine Dupri, Jerome Bettis, the Niners’ Takeo Spikes, the Raiders’ Isaiah Ekejiuba and MMA fighter James McSweeney all had spots. It was Bettis’ second night in a row, where the night before Dancing with the Stars’ Maksim Chmerkovskiy celebrated his birthday early.

By Jason Scavone

Legend and legend. (Photos by Erik Kabik | Retna)

Monster did the Retailer Awards at Paris Las Vegas Friday as part of CES, breaking out the big guns with John Legend and Stevie Wonder teaming up for the encore after the award ceremony.

Monster CEO Noel Lee brought out Cheryl Davis and Vincent Wilburn Jr., the widow and nephew, respectively, of Miles Davis, in conjunction with Monster’s 50th anniversary Kind of Blue headphones. (They’re the only headphones on the market that’ll get you hooked on heroin and hating whitey.)

Legend came out and did his set, ending with The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” picked up a Lifetime Achievement Award, and then brought out Stevie Wonder to do “Ordinary People” and “My Cherie Amour.” At least they stayed away from “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” You can’t put out specialty headphones from Dr. Dre, Lady Gaga and Miles Davis and then end on a song our grandmother thought was charming 25 years ago.

By Jason Scavone

Look at him. You know he wants to be reunited with CC Sabathia. (Photo by Danny Mahoney)

Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain and future Yankees designated hitter Prince Fielder (just one more year left on that contract, Milwaukee fans) were at the Sharp Electronics Party for CES last night at XS inside Encore. Fielder was also at the 10 p.m. Blue Man Group performance, where he kept looking at the drummer and seeing a giant hot dog.

By Jason Scavone

If he had an app, would it be the iRoc? (Photos by Erik Kabik | Retna)

If there are two things that are traditionally missing from CES, it’s self-aggrandizement over being from Detroit and Lynyrd Skynyrd samples. And seeing as how it as easier than flying in both Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Insane Clown Posse, SWAGG hosted a Kid Rock concert at The Joint last night for a VIP crowd that included Khloe Kardashian, Kara DioGuardi, Mario Lopez, David Spade, Kevin Farley, brother of the late Chris, Carmen Electra and Jessica Tonder. There was an afterparty at the Paradise Penthouse. If they had gone with ICP, the afterparty would have been at a Denny’s just off the 93 in North Las Vegas.

By Jason Scavone

It’s like a halo of stupidity. (Photos by Erik Kabik | Retna)

Lady Gaga and, what appears to be a Japanese umbrella stuck to her head, were at the Monster booth at CES today to introduce her new HeartBeats headphones, flanked by Dr. Dre, who did CES last year for his Monster ‘phones; Interscop Chairman Jimmy Iovine; Monster CEO Noel Lee; and (RED) CEO Susam Smith Ellis. Each pair sold nets $5 toward the Global Fund to support AIDS programs in Africa.

What we don’t know is how good Eric Cartman’s version of “Poker Face” sounds on a pair of those babies. Keep going for more pics of Gaga’s continued fascination with making her hair into a deadly weapon. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

The lesson, as always, is to hire booth girls.

Here’s how AEE messes with your head: When you get to CES, you’re patiently waiting for all the girls in business suits to slip out of them and reveal their corsets. And you’re kind of freaked out when they don’t. Not even disappointed. You actually start to wonder what’s wrong. You’re concerned for their well-being. AEE jumped to an early lead on Thursday against CES in pure entertainment value, and after getting to the main event at the gadget convention, it isn’t even close.

First off, it’s overwhelmingly massive. Second, and most importantly, there just isn’t anything we found that was all that interesting over there. There’s all sorts of TVs. Lord knows, you can find an LCD TV for every occasion — including one 108 inch behemoth — but it seems like that’s all that the convention had to offer.

Now look, we’ll be honest. We didn’t explore every nook and cranny. We’re not tech reporters, but we do love gadgets. Still, all we saw were walls and walls of new TVs. Which is awesome, if you’re bored at a Best Buy on a Saturday, but it’s just plain taunting when there are two big playoff games and you can only find three screens with the Titans-Ravens game in roughly a small city’s worth of electronics. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Joba might not be that famous, but Jimmy Fallon can’t throw 99 mph fastballs against the Sox. (Photos by Erik Kabik | Retna)

Day 2 at the Consumer Electronics Show saw a few athletes turn up. Maybe EA needed to put those light bulb things on them for the next round of sports games. We don’t know.

Savior of the Yankee pitching staff Joba Chamberlain, the greatest thing to happen to the mound at Yankee Stadium since Mariano Rivera came up and a man who’s vulnerable only to midges in much the same way Amy Winehouse can only be felled by enormous amounts of cocaine, was at the show.

Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez was there, as was NBA great Robert Parrish. CNBC’s Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo broadcast from the show, and Nancy O’Dell from Access Holywood filmed a segment too.

Finally, Jimmy Fallon, who’s doing a show tonight at The Joint, doing some schtick for the cameras. Floppy-haired, goofball schtick.

By Jason Scavone

Tom Hanks, star of Oh God, They Made A Sequel To DaVinci Code? (Photos by Erik Kabik | Retna)

Sony had its day in the sun at CES today with a keynote address from CEO and Chairman Sir Howard Stringer. He held up a Reggie Bar, obtained through using the Sony Time-Mo-Tron 4000 (Industrial Division), stunning Reggie Jackson and slightly altering the time-space continuum so that President Polk will now be remembered throughout history as “Our 11th President, The One Who Liked To Wear Ladies Dresses.” Just like you learned in fourth grade.

He also chatted with Usher after the crooner got a room full of technocrats in, what passes for them as, “the mood.” Then it was on to DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and then the big guns, The Hanks.

Yes, Tom Hanks took time off from being stranded on a desert island and trapped in an airport to come poke fun at CES CEO Gary Shapiro. For this, he will likely be paid an exorbitant amount of money. Somewhere, Peter Scolari is fuming.

Also at CES, Stevie Wonder gave a press conference. It was not, as it should have been, about the dangers of abandoning your cherished funk roots for the easy money of soul-draining balladeering.

By Jason Scavone

Dre is wondering how fast he can get out of here and back to the ounce he has in his hotel room. (Photos by Erik Kabik | Retna)

Technological pioneer Dr. Dre was among the early CES crowd yesterday where he hit up the blogger event at Paris Las Vegas’ Emprie Suite. Dre was there to promote Monster’s Beats By Dr. Dre headphones. It’s long been rumored that Dre was in negotiations with Bill Gates to debut the Microsoft G-Thang, an MP3 player that will only accept rips of The Chronic, Straight Outta Compton, Doggystyle and Regulate.

Also floating around CES were Akon and Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em. Although we’re pretty sure Soulja Boy was just at the convention to get away from masked bandits.

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer delivered the pre-CES keynote, where he unveiled Windows 7 Beta, which will be available for download on Friday. And will be crashing and ruining your rig by Saturday.

By Jason Scavone

We took a break from porn stars, resort openings and fancy dinners yesterday to embrace our inner geeks and check out the goods at Day Three of the Consumer Electronics Show over at the Las Vegas Convention Center. What we found were a lot of cell phone accessories, giant plasma screens and scantily clad models overtly being used to lure tech nerds to exhibits that would otherwise be ignored.

Buzz words: Blu-Ray. HD. Going “green.”

Dolby had a significant presence in the South Hall, exhibiting Dolby surround-sound-equipped notebook computers – and a life-sized (is 20-feet-tall “life-sized?”) Transformer robot. Microsoft had, of course, a huge presence, especially with its Zune display, which in our opinion, isn’t such a bad alternative to the iPod, and the ability to remotely share and send songs with and to other Zune players is more than just frosting. Click for more words and pictures »

By Pj Perez