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Gonna party like it's 1999 in SoFla? - Not! December 03, 1999 Forget the millennium bug. Here comes the millennium bust. Less than a month away from bubbly time, some SoFla stars are finding out Y2K isn't what it was made out to be. The Bee Gees may end up singing to huge clusters of empty seats at the Nat Center on New Year's Eve. So far, slightly more than 7,000 tickets with face values between $50 and $600 have been sold. Concert capacity is 15,000. "I don't think anybody is going to make any money out of this," chapeau-wearing Bee Gee Maurice Gibb told our Sean Piccoli. "We don't expect anyone who's not a fan to pay $600." Nat Center officials are re-launching an aggressive ad campaign for the show, with 10,000 posters being distributed and stacks of fliers placed inside National Car Rental offices. Elsewhere, it doesn't look better. Sean "Puffy" Combs' hip-hop extravaganza at Miami Arena? Canceled, before printing tickets. Gloria Estefan's gig at the brand spanking new American Airlines Arena? Lukewarm, at best. Twelve thousand ducats were put on the market last May, at prices ranging from $150 to $1,500. Sold so far: fewer than 8,000. Even scalpers can't move them. "Gloria is a bust," said Todd Rubin, of Todd's Tickets. "We're selling at face value. We're phoning people who bought Gloria in the past to see if they want tickets." Miami '80s sound king Harry Wayne Casey, frontman of KC and the Sunshine Band, also got caught in the hype, and spit out. This week, he learned -- in the tabloids, no less! -- that his Y2K show in NYC was canceled. But he's making out like a bandit: He gets to keep an $80,000 advance. "I'm staying home," he said, "like just about everybody else." Judge Bonds out Broward's top traffic enforcer, Judge Peter Skolnik, learned the meaning of careless driving. In SoBe one recent evening, Skolnik, 55, was hit by a car while walking across West Avenue near 12th Street to join his date. In true James Bond fashion, he escaped serious boo-boos. "The driver gunned it," Skolnik said. "I expected to get hit so I jumped up, rolled over the hood and the rest of the car, and ended up on the ground." Forget romance in a chichi eatery. Skolnik wound up at Mount Sinai Medical Center, accompanied by his gal-pal. He was treated for bumps and bruises. What really ticked off the judge, who supervises traffic-hearing magistrates, is that the driver came out of the ordeal with nothing more than a ticket for not having an insurance card. "The cop at the scene didn't even cite her for failure to yield or improper turn," Skolnik said. Moral of the tale? "Date north of the county line," Skolnik said. Sightings ... ... Supermodel mom Cindy Crawford, spending a quiet Thanksgiving weekend at the Sheraton Bal Harbor beach with 4-month-old baby and hubby, fancy gin-joint owner Rande Gerber. Crawford spent quality time surfside, but the peanut gallery was left wanting more. She never took off her super-wide, multicolored muumuu ... former NBA Finals coaches Billy Cunningham and Chuck Daly, partying at restaurateur Dennis Max's new Boca joint, Addison's, with former Philly 76ers owner Harold Katz ... pencil-thin Celine Dion, chowing down on French fries and fried chicken at Nickels in Pompano, which she owns. Singing sweethearts Country music heartthrob Vince Gill took a backstage to sweetheart Amy Grant at her Nat Center Christmas show last weekend -- but his presence was felt. Desperately attempting to be discreet, Gill attended to his Southern belle the way a teenage boy attends to his Mustang. At one costume change, a spy says, Gill carried the tail of the Christian songstress's huge gown from her dressing room to the stage, briefly dancing with her along the way. "They were sooooo lovey-dovey," one observer said. "He kissed her every time she passed by him on her way to the dressing room." Grant and Gill have been an item since recently getting divorced from their respective spouses. A Beamer with dinner The Ritz-Carlton. Rolls-Royces. Diamonds. Gold. Heavy makeup. Deep tans. Lois Pope in a designer gown the same color as the dicor. It was the start of the new social season in Palm Beach Saturday, with Pope's hard-to-get-in gala for her LIFE foundation. The result: $458,000 raised, a big chunk of it from two cars auctioned during dinner. Pope, the widow of National Enquirer boss Generoso Pope, bought herself a Beamer for 50 G's. Socialite Dan Manella got a Porsche for the same price. South Florida Insider appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Got a news tip for Jose? Call 954-356-4529, or e-mail jlambiet@sun-sentinel.com.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 03, 1999