If it weren't for all the gadgets and gizmos, you'd swear CES stood for Celebrity Exhibition Showcase.
What the commercials are to the Super Bowl and the red carpet is to the Academy Awards, celebrity sightings at the Consumer Electronics Show are becoming a spectacle within a spectacle. Oscar, Emmy and Grammy award winners, NBA players, Olympic champions and countless others among the rich and famous will grace the Consumer Electronics Show that officially gets underway Thursday in Las Vegas.
Music superstar Lady Gaga is scheduled to make her second straight CES appearance for Polaroid.
Tweeters should limber up their digits now because the 2011 show promises to be prime for celebrity gawking. You can already hear the collective sound of imitation camera clicks from all the mobile phones.
While many A-list celebrities don't make their CES presence known in advance, and some being kept a secret until a keynote or when word gets out organically, we have some confirmations and buzz on who will be in the house. For those attending the show, check the
CES website for specific program information.
Lady Gaga is expected at the Polaroid booth for a second straight year to reveal the next-generation instant photography experience. Rapper 50 Cent will help introduce the Sleek by 50 Cent headphones at the Sleek Audio booth. Alternative rock band Bare Naked Ladies will make music for AT&T Wireless at a private reception at Palms, and legendary R&B group Earth, Wind & Fire will headline the annual Monster Retailer Awards and Concert at Paris.
Other artists worthy of noting but perhaps not as well known include cellist and composer Zoe Keating and the man dubbed the one of the world's fastest guitarists, Tiago della Vega. Both will perform at Intel's booth. Members of the R&B/pop group Full Force will be in the Gulpfish booth while hip hop artist and actor Common help attract crowds at BlackBerry's booth. Popular New York radio personality and "mixtape master" DJ Envy will make his own brand of music at the NOX Audio exhibition space.
Rapper 50 Cent will help introduce the Sleek by 50 Cent headphones at the Sleek Audio booth.
From the TV world, Jeff Probst, the three-time Emmy-winning host of "Survivor," reportedly will walk the show floor, as will Aubrey O'Day, star of the Oxygen doc-reality series "All About Aubrey." Appearances by a King and his heir apparent, of sorts, will be in the form of Larry King making a scheduled CES visit fresh off retirement from his long-running CNN talk show, and Piers Morgan, the man taking over that interview slot, waxing about life at the BlackBerry booth.
A-list movie stars will no doubt make the scene, but as for the Hollywood types known more for work behind-the-scenes, or more accurately behind the camera, you've got three-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone ("Platoon"), Michael Mann ("Ali") and Baz Luhrmann ("Moulin Rouge!") participating in a panel on Blu-ray Disc's influence on the home theater industry. Director Barry Sonnenfeld ("Men in Black") also is confirmed as a CES attendee.
The sports world will have two-time snowboard cross gold medalist Seth Wescott signing autographs at the DeLorne booth before discussing the role technology has played in his career at the Sports and Fitness Tech Summit. NBA superstars Bill Walton and Rick Fox will make separate appearances at Haier America's booth, and NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice will promote the new "Jerry Rice & Nitrus' Dog Football" game in Nintendo's exhibition space. No word whether Fox will challenge fellow "Dancing with the Stars" alum Rice to a friendly rumba competition.