Celeb recap: Panic, Gossip and Playboy

The stars were quick out of the gate this weekend and wasted no time hitting Las Vegas in full force.

Things got started at the Palms on Friday as multiple AVN award-winner Kirsten Price hosted Ditch Fridays at the Palms. The brunette beauty sipped Ketel One vodka and lemonade cocktails by the pool, then continued the party later that night at Moon.

Later that night Vegas Magazine threw a party for its cover boy, Usher, at Playboy Club. The R&B star, who is in the process of wrapping recording his fifth studio album at the Palms, hung out in the VIP and was presented with a highly-coveted key to the club during the party.

Afterward, Usher moved upstairs to Moon, where fellow partiers included poker pro Michael “the Mouth” Matusow.

As a Playboy Club key holder, Usher joins an exclusive group of A-listers who have been given the privilege. Other stars who have been given the precious Playboy hardware include George Clooney, Matt Damon, Paris Hilton, Brad Pitt and Gwen Stefani.

Stefani didn’t use her Playboy Club key this weekend but she was in town, first spotted on Thursday as she and hubby Gavin Rossdale checked out the Hard Rock Hotel’s new Paradise Tower. The couple and their two children, Kingston and Zuma, were in town for the No Doubt show that went down at The Joint on Friday.

Panic at The Disco and The Sounds served as openers for Friday night’s show, while fellow rockers A. Jay Popoff and Jeremy Popoff of Lit watched from the crowd.

The two Popoffs took to the stage the following night as their ‘90s pop-punk group, Lit, played at Green Valley Ranch.

Other stars enjoying the Friday night spotlight included rapper Busta Rhymes, who hosted at LAX; Gladys Knight, who kicked off a three-night stint at the Orleans; and Tom Jones, who performs at MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theater through Aug. 12.

Also on Friday, recently engaged Bachelor couple Jillian Harris and Ed Swiderski were spotted having dinner on the terrace at Lavo.

The couple had been in town all week but had been keeping a relatively low profile prior to Friday night’s very conspicuous night on the town.

Witnesses report the couple shared a bottle of wine while they sampled a few dishes from the restaurant’s Italian menu, including scallops, sea bass and some pasta.

Natasha Henstridge and Francia Riasa also had dinner at Lavo that night. The actresses dined separately, though, and Riasa was the only one of the two who didn’t let her Sicilian sun specialty cocktails (or Kobe meatballs or lobster) stop her from heading upstairs to the club after her meal.

Meanwhile, actress and former Miss USA Ali Landry had dinner nearby, at Tao.

Landry and Henstridge reappeared at the Palazzo on Saturday as they sunned themselves by the pool at Azure.

Landry had dinner at Lavo later that night, followed by an after dinner drink in the club. Another famous face who was seen consuming cocktails in the nightspot that night was Star Trek actor John Cho. The sci-fi star was reportedly in town for a bachelor party and enjoyed bottle service at a table just off the dancefloor.

Also at Lavo on Saturday was Justin Timberlake’s good friend and partner in William Rast clothing label, Tracy Ayala.

While Ayala started the night off at Lavo, she was said to have moved across property to Tao later that night.

She was spotted at Tao Beach the following afternoon as she hit the hookahs during Sunday Sessions.

Gossip Girl star Jessica Szohr was at Tao Beach the day before, on Saturday, where she heated things up with rounds of mojitos and celebrated her brother’s 21st birthday.

Notably absent from the beachy birthday party was her co-star and off-screen love-interest, Ed Westwick. The actor was said to have had last-minute work-related scheduling conflicts that required him to be in front of the camera this weekend instead of behind the velvet rope with his girlfriend.

Not one to let her lack of a man keep her from having fun, Szohr and her sib moved the party indoors to Tao’s bistro later that night and proceeded to feast upon sea bass and sushi before returning their focus to the libation-filled menu in the upper-level nightclub.

She returned to Tao Beach on Sunday, however, and caught a few rays before catching her flight back to L.A.

Estelle also ate at Tao on Saturday after sunning herself by the pool at the Palazzo. Henstridge was at the restaurant that night, too, along with hubby Darius Campbell. The couple had an early birthday dinner at the restaurant followed by a night of dancing at the club in advance of their fetes on Aug. 15.

Meanwhile, Kirsten Price reassumed hostess duty at the Palms, where she oversaw the Saturday night party at Ghostbar.

Also on property that night was songbird Diana Krall, who entertained audiences at the Pearl.

Rock Star INXS finalist Suzie McNeil also put on a show on Saturday at LAX; Country bad girl Gretchen Wilson dazzled the Star of the Desert arena out in Primm; Alan Jackson sang at M Resort; and hard-rocking classic rockers Judas Priest and Whitesnake turned it up to 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul was among also spotted at the Thomas & Mack Center that night, and in true rock ‘n’ roll fashion went backstage after the show to hang with his fellow musicians.

Rashard Lewis was also in town this weekend to celebrate his 30th birthday despite his recent steroid scandal. (The NBA suspended the Orlando Magic power forward for 10 games on Thursday after it was revealed that he tested positive for elevated testosterone.)

Further north on the Strip, at Caesars Palace, 1994 Playmate of the Year-turned-autism advocate Jenny McCarthy hosted at Pure. The former Singled Out co-host was single for the night, as boyfriend Jim Carrey did not join her at the club.

She brought an all-female, mostly-mother entourage of over a dozen with her, however, so she was in constant company throughout the evening.

The next morning, Holly Madison turned up, unsurprisingly and as if right on cue, at her favorite and frequent Sunday brunch spot, Simon. The Peepshow star, who lives at Planet Hollywood, was spotted at three casinos yesterday: First at brunch at Palms Place, then at Encore where she partied at XS before (probably) returning home to PH.

Madison apparently got quite a kick out of a fellow XS partygoer’s Hugh Hefner-themed shirt while she was at the club last night.

The bleached-blonde first gained notoriety several years ago as one of Hefner’s live-in girlfriends. She went on to launch her career in showbiz as a personality on the Playboy Mansion-based reality show, The Girls Next Door, but has recently been distancing herself from the Playboy brand.

In fact, she is in the process of getting her Playboy bunny tattoo removed.

Just because the weekend is over (and the one-time home of “We Rock Hip Hop” Mondays, Privé, is closed) doesn’t mean the star sightings will stop. Instead, Mr. “Birthday Sex” himself, Jeremih Felton, will be out and about in Las Vegas this evening, as he’s set to perform a short set at Jet.

Those interested in getting a closer look at the star might want to keep an eye out at Stack, which has developed a reputation for being a popular pre-Jet hotspot for the stars.