Las Vegas Weekly

June 23, 2009 · 12:28 PM

Monday List: Ways in which the mayor has not been memorialized

By John Katsilometes

Mayor Oscar Goodman stands next to the newest addition of Madame Tussauds in The Venetian. The life-size wax figure of the mayor was introduced as the museum opens its newest exhibit, "Viva Las Vegas."

Photo: Justin M. Bowen

I’ve decided to start a regular feature on The Kats Report that I’ll call the Monday List, which will be a list of random people, places, things or quotes that I’ll post on Monday mornings. Of course, just because I’ve decided to do this doesn’t mean I’ve actually taken definitive action on this decision. We’ll start the Monday morning process next week. For today, it’ll be the Monday evening list, and we’ll start with a list inspired (if we can use that word in this instance) by Mayor Goodman’s ice portrait event Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the club Minus 5 Experience at The Shoppes at Mandalay Place.

The event is, in fact, an unveiling of the “first ever” ice visage of the mayor, which I expect discounts the artwork of any freezer hobbyists in the greater Las Vegas area.

This deep-chill Goodman is not the first sculpted mayor to be displayed in Las Vegas. In March, Madame Tussauds at The Venetian unveiled a life-size Mayor Goodman wax figure. But there are many other methods of sculpting the mayor that have not been realized, and today we deliver the Top 11 Substances Not Yet Used to Sculpt Mayor Goodman:

11. Bamboo.

10. Ghirardelli chocolate.

9. Snow.

8. Amazon River bed mud.

7. Pulverized Greek olives.

6. Lard.

5. Fusilli pasta.

4. Soap.

3. Tofu.

2. Damp beach sand.

1. Cheese.

More ice

The company hired to do this is Canadian, Ice Culture, and the process takes 32 hours and requires 10 tools (I would think a chisel and hammer would suffice, but my own art usually takes the form of interpretive dance). It is made from 550 pounds of Canadian ice, and this reminds me of the old Dean Martin line “I saw a sign the other day that said ‘Drink Canada Dry’ and I just started.” And we must have some really lousy ice in this area when we have to import it from Canada, which also reminds me that if you are ever in Canada, a good way to tweak a native is to say, “We Americans love Canada. We should make it a state.”

Live (or not) from the Hilton

It’s official: “Monster Circus” won’t be returning to the Las Vegas Hilton, so confirms Hilton executive, Vegas multimedia trailblazer and close personal friend of the Johnny, Ira David Sternberg. The May and June shows were canceled so the show could be retooled, though how much you need to retool what was essentially a concert show is something of a mystery. But the production is finished at the Hilton for the foreseeable future, though Sternberg says there is the faint possibility it could return in some form next year. If it ever happens, I hope that form includes Dee Snider but not that dreadful, demonic clown character. From what I glean, there was a change in investors in “Monster Circus,” leading to snags in the schedule at the Hilton Theater. So the Hilton hierarchy went off and signed a little rock band known as Cheap Trick to perform a live version of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” to satisfy rock fans, and you really can’t go wrong with that band and that album.

Sternberg, meanwhile, has moved his media operation temporarily back to radio, as his “Lunchtime With Ira” simulcast show is on a lingering hiatus. Over the summer, he’ll host the hourlong chat show “Summer With Ira” at 6 p.m. Thursdays on KUNV 91.5-FM (disclosure, I also host a radio show on KUNV, “Our Metropolis,” which airs at 6 p.m. Tuesdays). Sternberg’s show debuts this week with guests Bob Bailey, Earl Turner and Lani Misalucha.

VS. at the Museum

It seems I keep circling back (which is a new way of saying “returning”) to the Liberace Museum. There is some really cool under-the-radar stuff happening there, and Sunday it was the second performance of “VS.-A Rock Cabaret,” produced by Ali Spuck and Keely Vasquez. The format is rock meets cabaret, which is how members of Bette Midler’s backing band (under the helm of Barry Manilow’s music director, Joe Melotti) fit into the full-volume performance. The “VS.” concept is to take two competing song ideas/concepts/genres and play them back-to-back. Last night, it was A sides vs. B sides, and the lineup featured one of the Liberace Museum’s most active supporters, Erich Bergen of “Jersey Boys,” who sang a pair of George Michael songs (but did not succumb to the natural impulse to dig into that Wham! catalog). Bergen’s a great talent, a really funny guy, and he’s helped raise thousands of dollars for the museum in recent months with his own showcases and by contributing to “VS.”

Also taking the stage were Kristofer McNeeley and Leslie Goddard (both of “Jersey Boys”), Kristen Hertzenberg (“Phantom – Las Vegas Spectacular”), Pilita Danish (“Sin City Heat”) and the dynamite a cappella group Mosaic. (Something I learned is that John Gibson of Mosaic and Danish are married, and last night was the first time they’d performed onstage together). The theater at the Liberace theater seats only about 100, so the performers work in fairly close confines and tickets are scarce. The next “VS.” performance is Aug. 5, and the theme is 1967 vs. 1987. I’m hoping someone goes with Jefferson Airplane vs. Jefferson Starship. Old Rolling Stones vs. less-old Rolling Stones. Ike & Tina Turner Review vs. Tina Turner. The list goes on, but not right now …

Touring with Jacko

Noted on the news release announcing the arrival of “Smokey Robinson Presents Human Nature: The Ultimate Celebration of Motown” at Imperial Palace is that the Aussie foursome once toured with Michael Jackson. It was awhile back, of course, during Jackson’s 1996-’97 HIStory Tour, taking part in the ’97 swings through Australia and Europe. The guys met Jackson just once, for about 10 minutes, said Human Nature’s Michael Tierney, so they didn’t exactly bond as friends. But the group did play to about 100,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.

A line of my own

Hey, at least John Ensign wasn’t having an affair with one of his patients.

Natural Lon

Yet another great Vegas hang is Lon Bronson at Ovation at Green Valley Ranch. I had not seen Bronson in action for a very long time -- since his stint at the Golden Nugget about five years ago -- and it was a wildly entertaining experience boosted by Ginger Bruner’s tuba virtuosity on Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” (sorry to get that song going in your head). The frivolity starts at 9 p.m. each Thursday, ending at 11, and it’s a no-admission free-for-all.

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