04.29.10 · 7:53 PM

From the Riv to Ham Hall: Peters makes return to Vegas with show at UNLV

Long before such Las Vegas entertainment industry experts and local media were dubbing (hopefully and errantly, it turns out) Las Vegas as “Broadway West,” the Strip’s hotel-casinos did stage shortened Broadway-caliber productions. In 1961, one such production was Gypsy at Riviera. Starring in the lead role of Gypsy Rose Lee was Mitzi Green, whose given surname — Keno — already was splashed across the casino. And little Bernadette Peters, age 13, was listed as “ensemble” in the cast list. “They ... Read more...

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04.29.10 · 11:56 AM

Notes: Bergen eyes Vegas comeback; familiar exec joins Siegel Group

Time to deal the notes like so many playing cards … Bergen eyes Vegas return Former Jersey Boys cast member Erich Bergen has taken on Bob Gaudio. This week it’s Dean Martin. Soon it might be Michael Jackson, again. This week Bergen auditioned for the Broadway-targeted adaptation of the Rat Pack vehicle, Robin & The Seven Hoods, for the Dean Martin character Little John. The musical runs from July 14-Aug. 22 at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre. Bergen’s not exactly ... Read more...

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04.27.10 · 4 PM

Cheap Trick’s ‘Sgt. Pepper Live’ returns to Vegas — at Paris Las Vegas Theatre

Cheap Trick’s high-octane treatment of The Beatles’ classic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is returning to Las Vegas this summer, but is moving from the Las Vegas Hilton, where it was performed to warm reception in September, to Paris Las Vegas. Show dates are weekends in June and July, Specifically: June 11-12, June 15-16, June 18-19, June 22-23, June 25-26, June 29-30, July 20-21, July 23-24, July 27-28, and Juy 30-31. Show times are 8 p.m. The dates are ... Read more...

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04.27.10 · 1 PM

Newton turns to projects away from the stage as ‘Once Before I Go’ closes

Frances Lee always looks surprised at the moment when no one else is. A backup vocalist for Wayne Newton for more than 20 years, she certainly knows this moment is coming as Newton speaks of the song that was given to him by Bobby Darin. The one that has been featured in 22 films, including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The song for which he still receives royalty checks from Capital Records, the one he’s performed 100,000 times if he’s performed ... Read more...

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04.26.10 · 2:54 PM

‘Experiential entertainment’ to be a hallmark of Las Vegas Mob Experience

Tony Spilotro, the reputed mafia overlord who oversaw Las Vegas hotel-casinos for the Chicago mob, is forever known as “The Ant.” But to his family, Tony Spilotro was not “The Ant.” During the holidays, he was Tony the Santa. The Las Vegas Mob Experience at the Tropicana depicts both Tony Spilotros: The reputed crime boss depicted by Joe Pesci in Casino, and the man who donned a Santa Claus costume for his family during the holiday season. “Some of the ... Read more...

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04.21.10 · 8 PM

David Saxe finally takes over the theater ‘built for him’ at Miracle Mile Shops

Err and refer to the showroom as Wyrick Theatre, and David Saxe stops you and says, “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.” The theater in question is now called Saxe Theater, and it is to open June 1 with a new show called Vegas! The Show. The Wyrick in question is illusionist Steve Wyrick, the man whose greatest feat of magic might have been to entice investors to finance a $34 million theater build-out at ... Read more...

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04.21.10 · 2:30 PM

We know (about) when, but where will MGM Mirage put Cirque du Michael?

Michael Jackson will headline in Las Vegas after all, eh? After years of rampant, often inventive speculation that had Jackson partnering with such Vegas icons as Steve Wynn and performing in such venues as The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, the King of Pop will be onstage in legacy form in a Cirque du Soleil show at an MGM Mirage property. Announced yesterday morning, in an admirably out-of-left-field sort of way, was that Cirque du Soleil was going to take on ... Read more...

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04.19.10 · 2:20 PM

Weekend in Vegas: Them Crooked Vultures rock The Joint, a take on the ACMs, and bull riders at “Fantasy”

Notes on a Monday: • The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel put on a general-admission, hard-rock show Saturday night starring Them Crooked Vultures. For those of us who have jostled for a suitable standing location for these types of concerts, including those at the old Joint, this sold-out show was not uncomfortable. The metal rails separating sections, and the slightly tiered raking, of the floor of the hall keeps the masses in good order. It could have been, too, ... Read more...

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04.19.10 · 11:28 AM

International Celtic Festival in Las Vegas is no longer a pipe dream

The mayor of Las Vegas went kiltless Saturday night while appearing with his showgirls of magic on the Strip. This would not be news, except everyone nearby was wearing the famous Scottish skirts. It was the usual pinstripe suit for the mayor, but he was warm to the Scottish Highland spirit as 80 bagpipers and drummers strode a section of the Strip closed to vehicular traffic for the official announcement of the Las Vegas International Celtic Festival. This steeped-in-tradition event ... Read more...

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04.16.10 · 10:18 AM

‘Cool Thing’ at Tropicana remains in conflict with fair pay

It is becoming clear that, at Tropicana, “the cool thing” and “fair compensation for musicians” cannot peacefully co-exist. The cool thing, as Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns frontman Jerry Lopez has dubbed it, is the night of entertainment offered free of charge at Tiffany Theatre and Celebration Lounge — until Monday, at least. Santa Fe takes the stage at 10:30 p.m. and performs until midnight. Afterward, an orchestra of more than a dozen top Las Vegas musicians performs ... Read more...

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04.15.10 · 1:19 PM

Martin muses about Willie Nelson and a March 2012 opening for Smith Center

You might expect, say, a touring production such as Wicked to one day visit the Smith Center for the Performing Arts. Nor would it be a surprise to see Mary Poppins, umbrella aloft, floating daintily into the new entertainment center in Symphony Park. But Willie Nelson? Mr. “Whiskey River,” and inhabitant of the most notoriously smoke-filled tour buses in entertainment history? It shall be so, says Smith Center for the Performing Arts executive Myron Martin. Martin appeared on the most ... Read more...

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04.15.10 · 12:13 PM

Experiencing a case of the spins on a fake bull on Fremont Street

The cowboy on my right says of the riding machine to my left, “OK, hop on there.” Yes. Hopping on. There. Right now. Just give me a moment to contemplate the manner in which I will “hop” on “there.” Do I sneak up on this sucker from behind? Come at him sideways? Run up from the front, like a gymnast sprinting toward a springboard? Hmmm. I do not want to startle this beast, even if it is powered by a ... Read more...

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04.15.10 · 11:27 AM

PBR star Austin Meier: The toughest guy on the toughest sport on dirt

A bull once stomped Austin Meier’s face. It was six years ago, when he was just 17 years old, during an event in Minnesota. Meier was thrown to the dirt, and before he could roll out of harm’s way, harm happened. Both jaws were fractured, and he suffered a torn retina and several broken teeth. “I was an ugly son of a gun there, for a while,” he recalls. The incident kept him out of competition for what he deemed ... Read more...

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04.12.10 · 10:15 AM

‘Star Trek’ sale a study in pop culture, fandom … and medical influence

Some visuals are to be expected at a warehouse sale of Star Trek: The Experience memorabilia. A Borg alcove, for example. Racks of Romulan costumes. A giant, plastic Starship Voyager replica. A person wearing pointy, rubber ears and a polyester costume, dressed as a Vulcan ambassador to Earth. But a prominent Las Vegas physician from a celebrated Las Vegas family who has served on the state Athletic Commission and is currently a member of the Nevada Gaming Commission? He’s here, ... Read more...

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04.11.10 · 5 PM

Birthday boy Hugh Hefner: The oldest guy is also the king of the club

Playboy Club at the Palms sits sky-high, near the top of the resort’s Fantasy Tower. It is 52 stories up, one level for every card in the deck. At the far side of the club, a slick dude with hair to match is training his camera phone on a structure out the window. He’s focused on the colorfully arced Palms sign on the tower across the way, actually shooting down on that sign, and is clearly swayed by the experience. ... Read more...

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04.11.10 · 4:41 PM

AC/DC still bringing out the (flashing) devil in us all

The devils’ horns illuminate, they are battery powered, and the lights flash at variable speeds. There is a very fast speed, and a somewhat slower speed. And there is no speed, which allows for the glowing red light to beam without pause from your skull. These little headpieces cost $15 apiece, which was once the cost of an AC/DC concert ticket and thousands among the sellout crowd of 13,550 are wearing them to see the band at MGM Grand Garden ... Read more...

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04.7.10 · 5:49 PM

Joan Rivers talks of Vegas entertainment — and F-bombs before the Queen

Joan Rivers is a member of her apartment building’s resident association in Manhattan. She’s the president, actually, of this HOA-type organization, and on this day the group had to tell a tenant to either pay fees or move out. “It’s a small building, a fabulous building, and I’ve lived here 20 years,” she says during a midmorning phone call. “I’ve lived here 20 years, and after living here that long they came to me. I’m one of the longer tenants ... Read more...

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04.6.10 · 4:05 PM

Experience ‘Star Trek: The Experience’ pieces in your own home … or bridge

If you’re seeking that fourth Klingon Encounter ride chair you need to fill out your set, Saturday is indeed your lucky day. Unneeded, unwanted and/or unnecessary items and effects from the old “Star Trek Experience” at the Las Vegas Hilton are being put up for sale from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at a storage facility on 66 Spectrum Blvd., Las Vegas, 89101. A hat-tip for the first report of this from my colleague Anthony Pascale of TrekMovie.com, the Mr. Spock of ... Read more...

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04.5.10 · 12:40 PM

Notes: Beauty for sale, strong review for Holmes, Sammy Shore is back

Notes off the weekend, much of which was spent tucking firecrackers in decorated eggs for my annual Big-Bang-Boom Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt: Auction o’ babes We had Holly Madison and her omnipresent Holly’s World reality film crew, former Playboy fixture Laura “Glowstick” Croft, a former governor and a high concentration of up-for-bid local broadcast media types. Otherwise, it was a typical Friday night in Vegas, at ghostbar at the Palms. At least $9,000 was raised during the 3rd Annual Smokin’ ... Read more...

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Featured Cocktail

Cocktail of the Week May 23, 2012
by Sabrina Chapman

Rhumbar’s Scorpion Bowl stings so good

Ready to celebrate the official start of summer? Prepare for takeoff. Memorial Day Weekend picks up speed with the addition of Rhumbar’s Scorpion Bowl ($49) to the weekend’s party lineup. ...
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