Las Vegas Weekly

September 21, 2009 · 11:02 AM

Leaving ‘Fantasy,’ Stephanie Dianna turns to new CD

By John Katsilometes

Stephanie Dianna. She smiles, she sings.

Well, this is different, a new way to gauge when a recording session is over: the singer is splayed out on the living room carpet.

“I’m finished!” says Estafanita Stephanie Dianna Sanchez Rubin Jordan. To prove she is in fact done, she collapses on the floor like a kid about to make a snow angel, except, of course, no snow. This is the woman who for nine years has been the peel-the-paint-off-the-walls singer in the adult revue “Fantasy” at Luxor. She has been belting out the same snippet from the song “Storm,” from the upcoming CD, “Small Town Girl,” for two hours in a Green Valley apartment on a Friday night. The mix of volume and tedium has left her about dizzy, and to keep herself sharp, she’s resorted to tossing off comedic material. At one point, late in the session, she borrows a bit from “Electric Company” and sings into the filtered mic, “St-orm. Storm! B-ang. Bang!” Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo. …

She then calls over to her producer, the relentlessly patient Ryan Greene, who has made the trip from Scottsdale to navigate these sessions, “We there yet, honey? I’m talking about the song, of course.” Double entendres abound, like when the singer says, “I need to go down on this one, and it’s not what you’re thinking.” The producer just shakes his head and says, maybe to himself, “See what I have to work with?”

It is hard work to get these tracks just right, seriously. But it is also a good time for the many-named woman most recently known as Stephanie Jordan and now as Stephanie Dianna (preferring the Madonna-esque one-name title, “Stephanie,” for publication purposes), who is working under a detectable sense of urgency. This upcoming CD is no side project. In a startling piece of news, Stephanie, a single mother at age 41, will be leaving “Fantasy” in a couple of weeks, ending an era for one of the city’s top adult revues.

“I’m being replaced, yep,” she says during a break, kneeling on the cushions of a nearby couch while explaining that “Fantasy” producer Anita Mann wanted a fresh star for the show staged at the Atrium Theater, which is also home to Carrot Top. Who is this incoming star? “Her name rhymes with Angelica Bridges,” Stephanie says. So much for ambiguous references. Bridges is the shapely lead singer of Strawberry Blonde who takes over as vocalist for the production after Stephanie finishes her nine-year tenure in September.

“I have never met her,” Stephanie says, “but I’ll do whatever I can to get her into the show. It’s a good gig.”

For the foreseeable future, Stephanie is a singer in a band who wrote or co-wrote all 10 songs on “Small Town Girl.” Her songwriting partner is her brother Rico, one of her six siblings (Stephanie’s the youngest). She’s already found work at such venues as the House of Blues Courtyard. The objective of the new CD, the recording of which just ended this morning, will be (of course) to sell it wherever possible, including at live shows, but also to market it for background music in film and TV projects. She’s sought Mike Davenport, who heads a music licensing business out of Albuquerque, to help pitch the music.

And the music is top-notch. For those who are skeptical about Stephanie’s vocal quality during her performances in “Fantasy,” she is a genuinely gifted singer, one who can sing the demanding “Star Spangled Banner” with no lead time. Trust your own ears on this, or believe Greene, who has worked with some great vocalists, ranging from Robin Zander to Anita Baker. “She’s amazing, honestly,” he says. “These tracks are awesome. She is as good as it gets.”

The CD simply conveys the story of someone who remembers when her hometown -- in this case, Las Vegas -- was actually a small town. Stephanie has worked in casinos her entire life beginning when she was a payroll runner at the Horseshoe at 16. She’s performed at rustic Vegas haunts like Bob Stupak’s Vegas World, Westward Ho (when she appeared onstage in a G-string at six months' pregnant), Lady Luck, Imperial Palace and in “Enter the Night” at the Stardust. Few can spin old Vegas stories like Stephanie. “We had ‘Margarita Mondays’ at that show. It wasn’t like we had a blender onstage or anything, but every once in a while, you’d be onstage and you’d hear someone shout ‘brain freeze!’ from backstage. We had a really good time at the Stardust.”

There is a song on “Small Town Girl” that has nothing to do with casinos. It’s called “Rainbow,” written by Stephanie for her 14-year-old daughter, Shelby. Her son, Benjamin, is 20 years old and is autistic. Raising a daughter, classically in her own image, is Stephanie’s greatest challenge. “She’s just like me, but worse,” she says. On the song, Stephanie sings, “I don’t need a room full of gold. All I need at the end of the rainbow is you.” It is a sentiment shared by millions of moms, especially one who is proudly Las Vegas.

The high notes

Celebrating his 85th birthday tomorrow is a local legend, violinist Sasha Semenoff, who has performed in Vegas for 50 years (as long as The Wayner!). There’s a party scheduled for Carluccio's Tivoli Gardens at the Liberace Museum at 1 p.m. My colleague Jerry Fink wrote a fine story about this fine man back in January. My favorite Sasha moment: A couple of years ago, violinist Adrienne Lefebrve snapped an E string while performing with Killian’s Angels at Brenden’s Irish Pub at The Orleans. Beth Mullaney, leader of the band, called out, “Does anyone have an E string for a violin?” Semenoff happened to be at the bar and hustled out to his car to retrieve his instrument and save the gig. … Stopped in yet again to check on Frankie Moreno at the Golden Nugget’s Rush Lounge last night (my cousin happened to be hosting a bunch of guys from Idaho celebrating a bachelor party, and, wow, was the party on). Moreno and the band are heading off to tour the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam with Air Supply -- one of the stops is Ho Chi Minh. Moreno has written five songs on the upcoming Air Supply CD “Free Love.” … Amazing Johnathan is still big in Australia, as his recently concluded tour of that country verified. Three national TV shows had him as a guest. … Whiskey Pete’s at Primm is giving “Country Superstars” a shot -- a shot of Jack, I mean (ba-dum-bum)! It’s a pretty fun show considering most of the acts depicted are of those I wouldn’t want to see, for real. … I’m just guessing that my man Bobby Slayton (the Pitbull of Comedy Bobby Slayton, that one ) never imagined he would one day be sharing a hotel with Wayne Newton. He is, though, beginning soon, the grand Tropicana. … The lineup change at Luxor’s Atrium is not the only news happening at that venue. Stay on alert for another show coming to that hotel. … Anyone else who follows both of these celebs on Twitter get a perverse thrill out of how Holly Madison’s updates are far more fun than Criss Angel’s? ... Two songs to suggest for “Sgt. Pepper Live Featuring Cheap Trick” at the L.V. Hilton that aren’t in the show: “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields.” Both were originally recorded for the album but hastily released as a double-A side single and, thus, left off “Pepper.” … If this show doesn’t return, I’m going to register a stern complaint with Hilton consultant Ira David Sternberg. … Sighting I’d like to see before the news value finally wanes: Nina Radetich at Luv-It Custard. … Slightly fun fact about “America’s Got Talent”: Yellow Brick Road’s great lead singer, Brody Dolyniuk, auditioned for the show and was rejected. So, there’s no reason to watch that show now. … There was chatter, ever so briefly, that our governor was at “Peepshow” on Thursday night. “What a delicious turn of events!” I thought. This giddiness dissipated after about 20 minutes, when it was confirmed the governor was former Gov. Bob Miller and not current head man Jim Gibbons. On a related note, Madison is watching DVDs of the old “Mary Tyler Moore Show” (starring Ted Knight as Ted Baxter, the character who Gibbons greatly resembles, and seems to channel) because she has been told her upcoming reality show is reminiscent of the classic sitcom. Who’s Sue Ann Nivens? is my question. … Pink’s hot dogs, which just opened its first Vegas outlet at Planet Hollywood, are fine. But you can get an equally satisfying dog at the cart parked next to The Orleans sports book. … Rain DJ Paul Oakenfold is spending a lot of time at Cirque shows lately, “Love” last week, “Zumanity” tonight and “Believe” coming up Tuesday. His plus-one has been Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger. Is it me, or is this just a lot of Cirque action in a really short time span for two entertainers in these respective genres? Something’s up here, I’m feeling, like a video or some related collaboration.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.

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