A Woodland Hills Marriott hotel was packed to the gills with Cher memorabilia this weekend as hordes of fans and impersonators flocked to the fourth Cher Convention.

The star's jewelry and costumes were on display as revelers quizzed one another on Cher trivia and eyed Barbie dolls dressed to look like the actress-singer.

Javier Ozuna told the Los Angeles Daily News that "Cher has been my choice of drug."

Sounds like Promises, rehab center of choice for the rich and famous, may have a few hundred candidates for a new addiction program.

DEF LEPPARD GUITARIST SAYS GRUNGE IS SO LAST CENTURY: Two and a half weeks into a double-billed tour, Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell is convinced that rock is here to stay.

"The great thing about Def Leppard is that it never went away. ... They never packed it in," Campbell told the Palm Beach Post. The band plays tonight in West Palm Beach, Fla., and hits the Sleep Train Pavilion on Aug. 25.

The Irish rocker says that while some good music came out of the grunge era of the 1990s, those musicians took themselves too seriously and, well, pouring a little sugar on themselves never hurt anybody.

"It doesn't resonate long term. It doesn't endure," Campbell said of grunge artists. "Other than Pearl Jam, I can't think of one other of those bands that endured."

NIELSEN'S SURREAL NUPTIALS: People magazine reported Sunday that model and actress Brigitte Nielsen married her fifth husband, Mattia Dessi, on Saturday -- 17 months after a ceremony that wasn't legal because she hadn't finished divorcing No. 4, race car driver Raoul Meyer.

The couple officially tied the knot in Malta, People reported.

Nielsen has appeared in such movies as "Rocky IV" and "Beverly Hills Cop II." She was previously married to Sylvester Stallone and has a son with former NFL star Mark Gastineau.

DEPP MAKES 'SUPERMAN' WALK THE PLANK: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" producer Jerry Bruckheimer said that even he was surprised at the record-breaking weekend the adventure film had at the box office.

The sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Black Pearl" did nearly three times the business of its predecessor, taking in an estimated $132 million in its first three days in theaters, Disney reported Sunday.

"When people in the industry predicted these high numbers, I thought they were just trying to be mean. So no matter how good we did, if we did $100 million, we'd be failures," Bruckheimer told the Associated Press on Sunday.

The film, starring Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, bested "Superman Returns," which opened on top last week and fell to $21.85 million this weekend.

PLACIDO DOMINGO HOPES TO SING WITH PAVAROTTI AGAIN: Defying his thunderous singing voice, renowned opera star Placido Domingo became teary-eyed this weekend while singing before the World Cup final in a concert he has shared with Luciano Pavarotti four times in recent years. Pavarotti is battling pancreatic cancer in New York City.

"When I was singing the last aria, I couldn't help being quite sad, thinking that Luciano is in this moment suffering," Domingo said. "It was very, very emotional."

The Three Tenors -- Pavarotti, Domingo and Jose Carreras -- have performed in the lead-up to the World Cup finals four times in recent years.

Their 1990 concert came after Carreras recovered from leukemia.

"There has been some talking by Jose if we can get together again," Domingo said. "The most important thing is to get dates together. If that happens, it will be to my joy. Once we did it when Jose was feeling bad. It would be very nice to be able to do it for Luciano."

Today's People Column was compiled by Kate Lavin from staff, Associated Press and wire reports. Comments? Write to us c/o the Times, P.O. Box 8099, Walnut Creek, CA 94596-8099. Or call 925-943-8262, fax 925-943-8265, or e-mail spin@cctimes.com.