What do Yoko Ono, Kevin Costner and Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz have in common? All three will be in Las Vegas next week for the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, better known as CES. The mammoth technology conference always draws a number of famous folks to Sin City to either perform musical acts and/or promote and advertise various products. But this year, the group of “celebrities” scheduled to appear at CES is quite eclectic.
Yoko Ono and Sony recording artists Natasha Bedingfield, will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas and Pat Monahan of Train plan to unveil an all-new John Lennon Educational Tour Bus at an invitation-only event on Monday. I had never heard of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus before, but apparently it’s a non-profit group that uses a mobile, technologically advanced recording studio to promote music across the country in various schools, music festivals and other community events. I guess Yoko wasn’t able to convince Paul McCartney to join up.
Speaking of music, Slash will also make an appearance at the SpectronIQ 3-D party on Monday. The former Guns ‘N Roses guitarist has apparently made a habit of doing these kinds of engagements; Slash turned up at Comdex years ago, and he was also at E3 last summer promoting Guitar Hero III: The Legends of Rock. I’m not exactly sure what his involvement is with SpectronIQ, an HDTV maker, but hopefully he play a few songs at the party.
Also performing at CES will be Kevin Costner – yes, you read that right. Costner has a quasi-rock/country band called Kevin Costner and Modern West. And he sings. Costner’s band will be performing at the CEA’s Wireless Communications Division reception on Monday evening.
But one the weirdest music event lined up for CES has to be Monster Cable concert at the Paris Hotel. Mary J. Blige will be performing, which is great. But apparently, Monster Cable has also announced that Sheila E., formerly of Prince’s band, and Joe Jackson – as in Michael and Janet’s father! – are expected to be in attendance. Wow. I don’t even know what to write here.
Along with musical acts, there are some other big names that will be at CES to hock various products and brands. Michael Douglas will be at XStreamHD’s invitation only press conference on Tuesday; XStreamHD is a new company that’s created a full high-definition, 1080p video channel network.
There are also a few sports stars lined up for the show. David Ortiz will make an appearance at the Sharp booth Tuesday afternoon (and as a die-hard Red Sox fan, I’ll probably have to check that out). GoDaddy.com will bring have Indy 500 driver Danica Patrick and Olympic gold medalist and Playboy model Amanda Beard at its booth on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. There is a boatload more of “celebrities” scheduled to attend the show, but since I’m not really sure what these people are famous for – who the heck is Candace Michelle? – I guess I should just stop here.
Stay tuned for more from CES…
