Las Vegas Weekly

May 16, 2009 · 2:56 PM

Original song is Gordie Brown’s tribute to Danny Gans

By John Katsilometes

Gordie Brown at the Golden Nugget.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

The moment arrives without warning, and it surfaces whenever the mood strikes Gordie Brown. But there is a point in his show at the Golden Nugget when he speaks of the late Danny Gans, softly saying that Gans will be terribly missed and was one of the true pioneers among Las Vegas entertainers. Then Brown’s voice shifts to its power gear and sings the Louis Armstrong favored by Gans, “What a Wonderful World.”

Brown sang the song during a show last week, dropping it suddenly into his fast-paced repertoire just after a quickie Elvis Presley medley.

“I’m just doing it out of respect for Danny,” Brown says. “He really was a great entertainer and showman. I’ve done it only when the mood strikes me in the show, in different spots.”

There is no pattern, and the improv-embracing Brown had actually lopped the number from his routine until returning it to the stage on May 1, the day Gans died.

Also on that day, Brown crafted a song he plans to dedicate to Gans titled “Live Today.” He’s working on the tune on an acoustic guitar now and plans to teach it to his backing band at Golden Nugget. Brown isn’t sure when he’ll be confident enough to unveil the song, which he describes as a positive message of what can be learned through tragedy, in public. “I can’t get through it without crying,” he says.

Such a heartfelt tribute comes from a man who, admittedly, was not a close friend of Gans. Gans had once curtly commented about Brown’s act when the latter opened at The Venetian in 2006, and Brown didn’t return messages left through the Golden Nugget PR office seeking comment following Gans’ death. During a phone conversation this week, Brown initially said he didn’t get the messages asking for his thoughts about Gans the day Gans died, but regardless was not going to comment about the tragedy so soon after his death.

“When this happened, I felt it was the family’s place, and I didn’t want media publicity or anything like that,” Brown said. “It’s the saddest thing in the world. I just wanted to have him, his family, manager and friends start to get through it.”

Brown said that, out of “deep respect,” he’d kept a distance from Gans’ show until Gans was about to vacate The Mirage, where Gans spent nearly a decade performing in the Danny Gans Theater.

“My career is patterned after my own thoughts and my own mind, so we never invited each other to our shows, and I kind of regret that,” Brown said. “I was never jealous or envious, but I aspired to have that kind of success. I respected him and kept the distance, but I did go to his second-to-last show at The Mirage. He was just fantastic, a commanding presence. Everything just made sense to me why he was so beloved. It was awesome. I laughed and really enjoyed it.”

Brown didn’t stay to meet with Gans post-show, but did leave a message inviting Gans to lunch. “I was on the road then, with Celine, in and out a lot, waiting for the right moment. I regret that now, that we didn’t do that. Danny helped open the doors for so many of us. He was a true showman who made many people happy.”

Note medley

A celebration of Gans’ life is set for the Encore Theater on Thursday but is invitation-only and not open to the public. Many of the Strip’s top headliners are expected to attend. … During Wednesday night’s Gordie Brown show, a guy with an apparently encyclopedic knowledge of audio levels told Brown, “You’re just as funny in 2 DB as 5 DB.” Brown didn’t know exactly how to respond to such praise. “Two DB or not 2 DB, that is the question,” he said. … After attending two performances of “The Lion King” at Mandalay Bay, audiences are already asking the types of questions hardly ever leveled during “Mamma Mia!” at the same theater: How long is the second act? When does this end? I expect producers are going to have to consider how to cut this one, but in this case, I hope they stick with the full production: two acts and an intermission, even if it’s only to force a full-length Broadway show on Vegas audiences. … The official seating capacity of the Mandalay Bay Theatre is 1,734, case you’re wondering. … Sitting across the aisle at “The Lion King’s” official premiere last night: Brandon Flowers of The Killers, who leaned forward during the more challenging vocal sequences. I wanted to ask him about the show (I wanted to ask him about a lot of issues, actually), but when the crowd rose for a show-ending standing ovation, he beat the audience to the exit. … Twice-in-week run-ins with former Siegfried & Roy assistant Lynnette Chappell, who caught the premiere of “The Lion King.” Big cats are her thing. … How my man Robin Leach rolls: Thomas Schumacher walked glasses of champagne to his seat just before the start of last night’s show. Schumacher is the longtime producer of “The Lion King.” … The strangest thing anyone has ever said to Michael Firestone, the Michael Jackson character among the Imperial Palace’s Dealertainers: “Someone offered me their room key once,” said Firestone, who was one of the Dealertainers who were in the audience for the press conference/debut of “Smokey Robinson’s Human Nature” on Wednesday at the Imperial Palace Theater. “I went into character, ‘You know, I’m really shy, I shouldn’t.’ ” The fan skirted away. … Stray note on Sen. Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democratic Party: Mayor Oscar Goodman worked part time in then-District Attorney Specter’s law office in Philadelphia while Goodman was going to law school. What that means, among other things, is Specter is very old. … The Star Trek universe is a-Twitter with rumors of a Trekkies convention coming to the Las Vegas Hilton this summer. Nothing official yet to report about that. … Shecky Greene is on the scant list of octogenarians who can sell out a Vegas showroom over three nights, which he has accomplished at the Suncoast. Don Rickles is on that list, too. … I have to say, I thought “Peepshow” at Planet Hollywood was already topless. … Anyone else notice, or care, that the Paris Las Vegas’ Le Theatre des Arts has been vacant for more than a year? “Peepshow,” which has not been topless, as it turns out, was shopped there before signing with Planet Holly. I mean, Planet Hollywood.

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