Only the lonely.

Benji Madden, who’ll have to live forever with the shame of having been dumped by Paris Hilton, was in town to drown his sorrows at N9NE Steakhouse with a group of six that included Carey Hart, skater Greg Lutzka and Tal Cooperman, part owner of Madden’s cothing line, DCMA. They were filming a documentary for MTV about themselves.

From there, the crew went to home base — Wasted Space — which Madden and Hart co-own. Madden jumped behind the turntables before they left to go to Body English to catch KRS-One.

By Jason Scavone

Acoustic shenanigans can support a massive entourage, apparently. (Photo by Scott Harrison | Retna. Additional photos courtesy)

Before his concert at The Pearl Saturday, singer Jason Mraz stopped by Moon at The Palms where he turned up with a group of about 25 people Friday night. They started with a dance floor table before splitting up and getting a second table outside on the patio. Phillies slugger Ryan Howard was at Moon with two ladies and a dude, while free agent Jason Giambi also roamed the club.

Howard and Giambi were just two of the ballplayers at the Palms on Friday. They both ate at N9NE Steakhouse, which also saw Shawn Chacon, Mike Piazza and NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum dine. Joe Rogan, here for UFC 91, was there too. Piazza tossed him an extra Silver Slugger award just to make him feel like he was part of the crowd. Meanwhile, Dan Uggla of the Marlins, Dontrelle Willis of the Tigers and Scott Olsen of the Nationals all turned up at both Tryst at Wynn Las Vegas and Drai’s inside Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall on Saturday night.

Rogan and Giambi also turned up at Wasted Space inside the Hard Rock Hotel. Giambi, sporting a T-shirt for TheDirty, co-owns the club. They were joined by UFC head Dana White and singer Everlast. No word on whether Everlast brought everyone down with depressing songs about poverty.

By Jason Scavone

Too Short with one of the Fly Girls circa 1992.

Last night at the Palms, Moon saw rapper Too Short hang with BMX rider Rick Thorne; two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves at a table with six friends; and Braun Racing owner Todd Braun sharing a table with driver Denny Hamlin and more than 20 friends who stayed until 3:30 a.m. before going back to their sky villa. The SEMA convention is currently taking place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which explains the collection of gearheads. The auto equipment show isn’t open to the public, so if you needed one more spinner to complete your set, you’re out of luck until Pep Boys stocks up.

Dining at N9NE Steakhouse was angry slugger Gary Sheffield, who ate with a group of 10. Sheffield once admitted to deliberately tanking a plays when he was unhappy in Milwaukee to show his displeasure, which is the kind of selfish passive-aggressive shenanigan we can get behind.

By Jason Scavone

We can’t disapprove of anyone that dedicated to vodka.

Chelsea Handler of the E! network’s Chelsea Lately (as opposed to Living Lohan, which would just be weird) had a show Saturday night at The Pearl inside the Palms, but made a weekend of it at the hotel.

On Friday, she had dinner with boyfriend Ted Harbert and a group of 16 that included George Maloof at N9NE Steakhouse. Harbert is the CEO of Comcast, which owns E! He swears he had nothing to do with Handler getting her show. Good enough for us. No reason to suspect otherwise. By the way, our first job we got at the restaurant our grandmother happened to run? We were just the most qualified busboy of them all. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Handler, whose new book is Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea was drinking vodka on the rocks. From there they went to the Playboy Club for more vodka. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Michael Phelps: Stone cold hustler.

Lord High Emperor of all Olympic Waters Michael Phelps made a full weekend of it at the Palms. He was poolside for Ditch Friday where he was presented with a key to the Playboy Club. When he walked back to his cabana, he got a round of applause. Naturally, he had to celebrate with PJ Rose, Ketel One and a shot of Le Tourment Vert absinthe.

That night he was at N9NE Steakhouse for dinner where he ate with a crew of 44 at two tables of 20, arriving at 9 p.m. with the likes of poker pros Joe Awada, Doyle Bronson,Todd Bronson, Hoyt Corkins, Jennifer Harmon and husband Marco Tranielo. The notoriously big eater plowed his way through shellfish platters, chicken, shrimp, crab legs, lobster tails and lamb chops, mushroom mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, lobster mashed potatoes and creamed spinach as well as a Fat Tire, a Coors Light and wine. He drew a big reaction from the crowd when he pretended to take fries off the tray of a passing food runner, and stopped to throw down Tuaca shots with Gary Payton, who was dining at the bar. Phelps’ party left at midnight.

Saturday night saw Phelps and his 40-something strong crew hit up Nove Italiano for another three-hour meal, this time going family style with like pennette vodka, bone-in filet, chicken parm, Nove spaghetti and sides. Phelps drank espresso shots and Grey Goose cocktails. Basically, the moral of this story is that if you’re ever eating with Michael Phelps, try not to put your hands near his mouth lest you pull back stumps. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Well-coiffed baby mama not included. (Photo by Erik Kabik | Retna)

Before surprising the Panic at the Disco lads, Pete Wentz had dinner at N9NE Steakhouse inside the Palms last night with a group of six, in and out in an hour. Wentz had oysters, a Caesar salad and Ketel One with grapefruit soda.

All-Star Baron Davis of the Clippers, meanwhile ate with a friend at Social House inside Treasure Island on the patio. We kind of wish they had all dined together, as it’d be fantastic to see pro baller Davis standing next to all-of-5-foot-6 Wentz. They could go as Boris and Natasha for Halloween. It’d be great.

By Jason Scavone

Could we have cleaned up that guy’s red eye? Yes. Did we? No.

NBA Finals MVP and Boston Celtic Paul Pierce hit up N9NE Steakhouse in the Palms Saturday night.

Let’s craft a joke here: we’ll use Kobe beef not being the best player/steak and have Pierce assert as much.

Actually, let’s give him the day off – a little while after his meal, Pierce picked up some temporary wrist jewelry, so he probably doesn’t need more razzing.

By Michelle McKay

You don’t mess with the card sharp. (Photo by Erik Kabik)

Following yesterday’s poker tournament, the celebs scattered to the seven winds. Adam Sandler and a group of four wound up at N9NE Steakhouse at the Palms for dinner, before heading up to the Playboy Club. Sandler spent most of his time playing blackjack, and, we imagine, doing one of the three voices in his repertoire.

Charles Barkley was also at N9NE and ate with a friend at the bar, where he also asked the bartender if she’d marry him for a million bucks. For a million, we’d have guarded Dennis Rodman for Barkley.

Meanwhile, Don Cheadle, Annie Duke and Ben Affleck decamped for Sushi Roku at Caesars Palace, while Ray Romano ate with Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines at Tao inside The Venetian; and Jason Alexander was at Bellagio’s Fix. Michael Richards, meanwhile, still isn’t allowed out in public.

By Jason Scavone

WOOOOOOOOO! (Via WWE.com)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (OK, OK, we’ll stop now.) Ric Flair was spotted last night at N9NE Steakhouse inside The Palms wearing — oh God, this is almost too awesome to type — a T-shirt with an arrow pointing up and reading “Man,” and an arrow pointing down reading, “Legend.”

That’s how the Nature Boy does it. He was with a crew of 30 in the private dining room, and came back at the end of the night to sign Chef Barry Dakake’s door. We’re not saying at some point that a server who was a little slow with the bread was put in a figure-four leg-lock, but if it did happen, let’s just say this is why you don’t let a former champion’s rolls cool off, you know?

By Jason Scavone

His favorite Bond movie had better be Moonraker.

Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon dined at N9NE Steakhouse inside The Palms last night with five other guests. He later settled in at a table at Moon. If he sat at his table eating a Moons Over My Hammy and stopped to moon the crowd while the DJ put on Tommy Dorsey’s “Moonglow,” we’re pretty sure our head would’ve exploded.

By Jason Scavone