It was Motor City Madness as some of Hollywood’s hottest stars descended on Detroit to, ahem, kickoff Super Bowl weekend in style. Hollywood.com’s party profilers steered their way to some of the steamiest pre- and post-game soirees in the capital of the auto industry, and also took in the game with Macy Gray from the comfort of Beverly Hills.
First and Tens
Reading over the list of celebrity parties to RSVP for in Detroit for Super Bowl XL weekend, one thing was clear: though the focus was on football’s biggest clash of the year, sports were also being served with a healthy dose of sex appeal.
Men’s mags Maxim, Playboy and Penthouse all hosted Motown affairs, as did Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit edition, while Vivid Video’s vivacious vixen Jenna Jameson headlined her own “Jenna Bowl,” where tickets were going for up to $1,000. Scalpers selling tickets to Playboy’s aviation-themed “Eight Mile High” in a decked-out airplane hanger were getting asking about $2,000, close to the going rate to get into the big game.
It was hard to escape the power of professional athletes, though, no matter how distracting all the cleavage might be. Retired Detroit Lions phenom Barry Sanders was the guest of honor at a Saturday night soiree, it seemed most of the New York Giants were in town for the weekend, and boxers Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis and former Detroit Pistons great and Best Damn Sports Show Ever host John Salley enjoyed the spotlight at Maxim’s party at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. The awe-inspiring athletes were surrounded by a small army of the kinds of heavenly bodies familiar to Maxim’s readers, including current out-of-this-world cover girl, Veronica Mars’ Kristin Bell, as well as Jessica Alba, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Niki Taylor and Vanessa Minnillo, much to the eye-candy delight of manly celeb guests like Desperate House-husbands Mark Moses and Doug Savant.
Ubiquitous over the weekend was the Sin City-turned-Motor City hottie Alba; red carpet reporters waited breathlessly for her while it was announced she was five minutes away from arriving for about three hours, until she finally turned up at an ESPN-hosted party Friday night. The next day she tore up the track in a Cadillac charity go-cart race in the 4th Annual Cadillac Super Bowl Grand Prix, hitting the curves against the likes of Ludacris, Adrian Grenier, Master P, Lara Flynn Boyle, Josh Duhamel, Dylan McDermott, Leann Tweeden and Sarah Silvermanbefore turning up at the Maxim party, too.
Over at Playboy’s bash at a Detroit City Airport hangar, Hef was not in the house (we’ll assume his Girls Next Door provided good reason to stay at home) but Kanye West was kickin’ it, trading in that Dropout Bear for some even more cuddly Bunnies in electric-blue hot pants and matching floppy ears. Jenna Jameson was rocking out with the similarly initialed Joan Jett, and Jaime Pressly posed for photos, but it was–shocker–primarily male celebs who showed up to Bunny Hop, including Adrian Grenier, Matthew Lillard, Rick Fox, Tom Arnold, Jim Belushi and Ricardo Chivara, while Grey’s Anatomy’s Isaiah Washington and James Pickens were on hand to provide expert medical opinion on the many anatomical attributes on display. Meanwhile, SI’s soiree lured bikini-perfect model Bridget Hall, former Steeler great Lynn Swan and local rocker Uncle Cracker.
Motown Mojo
Detroit–long a bleak landscape plagued with abandoned buildings, crime, poverty and a reputation for danger after dark–came together, cleaned up and put on its best, most vibrant face for the throngs of visitors, with the help of some famous denizens. Hometown hero Eminem hosted his own Shady Bowl at the State Theater, and a billboard for his label Shady Records welcomed visitors to Detroit.
Another homegrown rock god, Kid Rock, played ambassador as well, getting fellow Michigander Bob Seager on stage with him to perform onstage at Joe Louis Arena, guesting on Jimmy Kimmel’s post-game show at the GEM Theater, and checking out PlayStation’s Game Over Party with Hank Williams, Jr., and Snoop Dogg, where men of the hour Jerome Bettis and Antwaan Randle El joined Kimmel, Usher, Kelly Monaco, Joe Torrey, Anthony Anderson, rocker Duff McKagan, the Black Eyed Peas’ will.I.am, Jaime Pressly and the ever-present Miss Alba. Out in the suburbs, Michigan State Unversity alum-turned-L.A. Laker legend Ervin “Magic” Johnson hosted parties Friday and Saturday night.
The New York Times style section was among the national news outlets endorsing the city’s gritty cool leading up to the big game, with downtown club Bleu Room getting prominent billing, and the out-of-town celebs seemed to be enjoying the city. “It’s been a great time here in Detroit,” Tom Arnold said, visiting at an ESPN event.
Bachelor number five Jesse Palmer excitedly said he’d been hanging out with the guys this week, including David Spade and Jay Mohr (who he remembered as Bob Sugar from the sports-minded Jerry Maguire), among others, in his travels.
Noticeably absent on the party scene was newly-single sports fan and sometimes commentator Nick Lachey, who was expected at several events over the weekend. Word was he canceled because he was too busy working on a pending album and just couldn’t get away. And the only Hilton in sight was the local Detroit hotel.
Though publicists weren’t touting him as an RSVP-ed guest, Josh Lucas was omnipresent, as well. He did an early shift at the Friday ESPN party at the long-vacant Colony Club before heading to the 10 Party, hosted by the Peas’ Fergie and Ja Rule at the Bleu Room (where a constantly hoodied Tommy Lee watched Fergie introduce “My Humps” to the crowd). Saturday night, Josh enjoyed the hospitality of a Bunny in the VIP room of the Playboy event and Sunday he hosted Spin magazine and Compuware’s post-Bowl party, where Queens of the Stone Age performed. “I grew up in Seattle. I went to high school in Seattle. No matter what, I’m saying Seattle,” said Josh. “I think it’s going to be a very close game.” Let’s hope he didn’t stop by one of the city’s lakeshore casinos to place any big bets.
The Drive on Rodeo
Meanwhile, back on the Left Coast, the stars who couldn’t make it to Motown also partied in style. Singer Macy Gray invited a passel of showbiz pals to her own Super Bowl Party in the lavish GM Penthouse Suite of the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, overlooking the luxe finery of Rodeo Drive (though most guests’ eyes–including those of Lance Bass, Sanaa Lathan, Ananda Lewis, director Penny Marshall and KISS’s Gene Simmons–were glued on the many plasma screens showing the game, many of the fashion-minded female guests were overheard plotting their escapes to nearby Gucci and Saks).
The fete, sponsored by HollywoodPoker.com, featured a gambling theme–with proceeds benefiting Gray’s Music Academy, which allows children of all backgrounds to explore the world of music–so stars Oliver Hudson and Shannon Elizabeth anted in for an amiable game with Shannon’s ex Joe Reitman and his new flame, poker champ Annie Duke.
“I love the Super Bowl,” said Gray. “The Super Bowl is like an American holiday.” The singer felt she knew how to pick a winning party, a winning charity and a winning team when she told Hollywood.com who she’d put her money on: “Pittsburgh! I’m from Ohio! Yellow and black! I love Sundays when football is on, and I’ve always liked the Steelers a lot, even when they weren’t winning.” And fortunately for Macy, that era continued to be long-gone for the Steelers that day.
Finally, bringing things full circle to cleavage outweighing championship sports, we bounced over to Bodog.com’s pay-per-view Lingerie Bowl at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the scantily-clad sirens of the New York Euphoria beat the lace-loving ladies of the Los Angeles Temptation in a contest even tighter than the player’s thongs, 13-12. The scene was something akin to a Super Bowl bash being held at the Surreal Life house: Bosom buddy bombshells Jenny McCarthy and Cindy Margolis hosted the shear showdown; American Idol’s midriff-baring Ryan Starr worked the sidelines; the Euphoria’s reality babe Trishelle Canatella (MTV’s Real World Las Vegas) took a literal tongue-lashing from an opposing Temptation player, curvy Playmate Katie Lohman, just to keep the competition friendly; three Super Bowl ring-wearing Bears from Chicago (William “The Refrigerator” Perry, Willie Gault and Jim McMahon) added a tiny bit of NFL cred and Kato Kaelin pulled himself off of whoever’s sofa he’s crashing on these days for the after-party.
But the even bigger showdown came at the 50 yard line when Joey Buttafucco and his one-time “Long Island Lolita” Amy Fisher squared off for the coin toss in their first meeting in 15 years. Fortunately, neither of the ex-paramours grabbed for the ref’s starter’s pistol.
Detroit reporting by Colleen Newvine; additional Los Angeles reporting by Kim Lansing.
