Flirtatious Fergie makes debut of Mirage’s 1 Oak nightclub memorable

So Fergie flirted with me on the red carpet at the grand opening of 1 Oak nightclub. Which made me like her even more.

At 15 minutes until midnight, she and her husband, Josh Duhamel, posed for fun photos on the carpet.

Then Fergie came over to me by herself, after Duhamel walked into the club. She started playing with my scarf and smiled. I gave her the ol' Russell Brand eyebrows-rising.

I've always dug Fergie. The last time we caught up in 2008, we talked about our therapists for 10 minutes.

And here she was looking hot in her New Year's Eve dress -- a mirror ball outfit (gold, silver and bronze).

I was thinking, "How can she sit in that?" I've had enough girlfriends to know it was the kind of stiff dress you have to take off in the loo.

Anyway, she was playing with my scarf (by Sir Alistair Rai).

"You look fabulous," she said.

"Thanks," I said. "I was talking to an ex-girlfriend today, and she said your husband is a 12" -- on a scale of attractiveness from 1 to 10. "So maybe you can tell me something about him that will make me feel better about myself."

"Well look, I'm already flirting with you on the carpet ..." Fergie said.

Before I could ask for a midnight kiss, she was whisked away into the club to announce the New Year's Eve countdown with her sex symbol-actor husband. Oh well. I'll take what I can get.

My comrade and I followed her into 1 Oak. The walls are black. The club is a big rectangle. The dance floor is in the middle, surrounded by tons of VIP booths, costing hundreds or thousands in rent for one night.

My comrade and I walked up to Fergie and Duhamel's VIP booth. People screamed with delight at seeing them. She counted down the last few seconds of 2011, although my Blackberry claimed it was already midnight.

There was a surprise guest DJ: Kanye West. He began spinning snippets of songs by the Jackson 5, Cameo and Diana Ross, in addition to his own classic "Gold Digger."

I am a fan of Kanye's music. However, I wasn't sure about this DJ gig. A few times, there was a pause between his song changes. He started some tunes from the beginning, instead of remixing them.

I thought, "DJ Kanye makes Pauly D look like Deadmau5."

Most everyone on the dance floor pointed their mobile phones at him to take photos or videos.

My comrade and I were having trouble standing behind Fergie's VIP booth. Security guards kept telling us to move along.

But we had almost nowhere to move along to. Everywhere we looked was a VIP booth or the packed dance floor. All we had left was the walking aisle.

I'm not clear on what the music will normally be at 1 Oak. The club hasn't lined up celebrity DJs -- no Kaskade, no Skrillex, no Calvin Harris.

I went to 1 Oak the night before New Year's Eve (a "soft" grand opening on Dec. 30), and the music was Pandora mainstream -- straight cuts of LMFAO's "Party Rock" and hip-hop hits.

The DJ on Dec. 30 played a montage of Aerosmith's "Walk this Way," House of Pain's "Jump Around," DMX's "Party Up" and DJ Kool's "Let Me Clear My Throat."

If that's going to be the musical direction of 1 Oak, I can't imagine it will steal many electronic-dance clubbers away from XS, Surrender or Marquee -- where the celeb DJs go.

But 1 Oak has a good location for mainstream tourist clubbers. It will also get walk-by traffic inside The Mirage, just like Jet did in this same space before it closed a few months ago.

To solidify its mainstream appeal, 1 Oak is planning more celebs. Last night's agenda was for Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes to perform.

Pitbull raps there tonight.

Adam Levine of Maroon 5 will sing there Jan. 13.

I'll certainly always remember 1 Oak for Fergie and even her husband, kind of, because a few minutes after midnight, he looked over at me, smiled and raised his glass.

That's the appeal of celebrity appearances -- not just seeing them, but feeling as if you're sharing something with them, including an affinity for their awesome wives.

Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.