Las Vegas Weekly

September 14, 2009 · 12:32 PM

Photo Gallery: Vince Neil opens Ink; Zowie Bowie debuts Vintage Vegas

By Robin Leach

Vince Neil performs with his Vince Neil Band at The Rio.

Photo: Scott Harrison/Retna/www.harrisonphotos.com

Three hometown heroes packed a 1-2-3 knockout punch with their weekend openings: Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil performed a six-song set on a specially built stage at Masquerade Village in The Rio before opening his Vince Neil Ink tattoo parlor, and Zowie Bowie won standing ovations at their debut preview Zowie Bowie Presents the Vintage Vegas Show at the Monte Carlo.

We’ll have my full candid chat with Vince this week, but we didn’t want to delay our photo coverage of his wild opening. Vince told me he plans to open 25 more Vince Neil Ink parlors and Dr. Feelgood’s Rock Bar & Grills in tandem over the next three years! San Diego, Phoenix and New York City sites are already in the works. He also told me that Motley Crue will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year with a new CD and prepare for the Crue Fest 3 world tour.

“It’s feeling a little like Groundhog Day already,” laughed Vince when he commented on their 10-year contract, which runs until 2018. “By then, we will really be the old men of rock!”

Contributing photographer Scott Harrison was on duty at the mini-concert and Ink’s opening for our photo gallery, and Vegas DeLuxe reader Richard Corey posted four videos on YouTube:

Zowie Bowie at the Monte Carlo

Meantime, back on the Strip, Brittany Mason, America’s Miss World Pageant contestant this December in South Africa, was in the crowd along with Frankie Scinta from the Scintas and female impersonator Frank Marino leading the deafening applause for the dynamic duo of Marley Taylor and Chris Phillips, who make up Zowie Bowie. Frankie even went up onstage for an impromptu duet of “Luck Be a Lady Tonight.”

Zowie Bowie performs every Friday and Saturday with a live dance party at The Pub and on Sunday nights in the Lance Burton Theater with the Vintage Vegas show. Their potent 15-piece Zowie Bowie band is led by trumpet player David Perrico, who is one of the musical directors for Cirque du Soleil’s new Elvis show debuting in December at MGM’s adjoining CityCenter.

Altogether, they make music with a swagger and flare that captures the essence of Vegas’ Golden Era with great glamour and powerful pizzazz. When blonde bombshell Marley took to the stage in a white gown for “Diamonds Are Forever,” I got chills because it was as if Marilyn Monroe had returned! Talk about gorgeous glitz! When the couple sings “World on a String,” she wears a see-through netting dress barely held together by two pieces of … string!

Forget about today’s outfits of shredded jeans, wife-beaters and grills of fake bling! Zowie Bowie is all about true jewels and stylish fashion. Nobody does it better as they evoke the memories of Bobby Darin, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme on the Strip. The music and mayhem that put Las Vegas on the map is back in full force!

At this coming Sunday’s official premiere, Vince Neil will fulfill a life-long dream to sing Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon” with Zowie Bowie, plus there’s a second special surprise with Mirage headliner Terry Fator and his Cougar ventriloquist doll. Zowie Bowie has given an open invitation to all Strip entertainers to drop by any Sunday night for surprise sing-alongs!

With her mane mountain of hair and his year-round tan, Marley and Chris are truly a perfect glowing and striking couple together, and it’s a laugh a-minute funfest as they lovingly snipe at each other’s secrets! Every Sunday night, they’ll go directly from the stage to host a Cufflinks & Cocktail party at Brand Steakhouse and meet audience members and fans. Go join their party and step back to the exciting era when champagne wishes and caviar dreams always came true.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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