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Annex The Partridge Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree By Bobbie Katz
Today, some 41 years later, Cassidy, is not only still showing the world that there IS life after TV but that there are many different channels that an artist can explore. Besides continuing to be a sold-out global performer, he has kept his hand in songwriting, acting, producing and directing and was also a contestant on the 2011 Celebrity Apprentice. And when he appears at the Orleans May7-8, it will just be one more indication of how strong his network of loyal followers remains and how much he and they will always be, well, birds of a feather, so to speak. “I’ve been going on the road and playing my hits again, which I’ve only done twice in 15 years,” says Cassidy, who, when he last appeared long-term in Las Vegas, performed more than 2,000 shows in two different Las Vegas large-scale productions. My fans have supported me over time. In my show, I take the audience on a musical journey of my life, including my top songs and those of the Partridge Family.” Over the last 10 years, since the conclusion of his gigs in EFX at the MGM Grand and his own show, Copacabana, in which he co-starred with Sheena Easton at the Rio, Cassidy has been living in Florida. Married to singer/songwriter Sue Shifrin since 1991, the move, he notes, was for his son, Beau, who is now 20, is preparing for college and was just in the recording studio with his band called The Fates. But, in large part, being away from the hustle and bustle of show business was also able to give Cassidy the one thing he had long been searching for in his own life – balance. “I did 1,500 EFX shows alone, 10 shows a week,” Cassidy, who is also the father of Gossip Girl Katie Cassidy, recalls. “At the same time, I had created a TV show on Fox Network called Ask Harriet, which ended up only running one season. Plus, I started a recording company and also became the executive producer and co-producer of a TV movie of the week. So I was performing six days a week and flying into L.A. and back every Monday. My son missed me. “Moving to Florida helped me create a great relationship with Beau and helped me to heal where the issues I had with my father,” he continues. “I have become a much more balanced person and much more of a husband and a father. Now I work as much as I want to – I do 30-50 shows a year. I have already done 20 this year and will take the summer off.”
“My life made Elvis’ and the Beatles’ look calm,” he recalls.“My life was so insulated that I couldn’t go anywhere. I had a small group of people around me that I could trust. People followed me everywhere – I couldn’t stay in a hotel. The second time I went to London to perform, I had to stay on a boat in the Thames River. When I played Madison Square Garden, fans flipped over and destroyed five limos. I was hidden in the trunk of a Toyota while the limos were decoys. “During the third season of The Partridge Family, I received a legitimate kidnapping threat that the LAPD and the FBI took seriously,” he adds. “I had to move out of the house and since there were fans sleeping outside the house, I had to move at night. I became very paranoid and a recluse. Emotionally, I was pretty stunted and I had a lot of very unsuccessful relationships. I’m still very private and there are still people who follow me around everywhere. I am credited with being the first artist to be globally marketed and I became a global phenomenon, playing big stadiums of more than 30,000 people – my very first concert was to 9,000 people. I realized that I wanted to find balance so five years into the TV show, at 25, I quit.” Saying that one never comes out of fame the same way he goes into it, Cassidy admits that he missed the tumult when he left it behind but that he knew his creative juices weren’t being satisfied. He needed to take a step back and decide what he wanted to do. He ultimately became the lead actor in an Emmy-winning police story TV series called A Chance to Live, for which he was nominated for Best Actor. He went on to do another TV series that lasted for one season called Man Undercover; wrote songs, two TV show themes, and commercials; produced and recorded a couple of his own albums, and went back to the theater, doing shows such as Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and Blood Brothers on Broadway. Now, still following the tenets of something he learned from his father, the late actor Jack Cassidy, Cassidy trusts his instincts and never does anything for the money but rather follows his heart. To that avail, he is very excited about a new project he is working on that he hopes to bring to Las Vegas. “It’s young, hip, and kitsch and is targeted for the 18-24 audience but will appeal to people in their 60s and 70s as well,” he says. “It is satirical, in-your-face funny and interactive. I would be in it and also produce it. It’s a big concept with great music. We just have to find the right room for it.” It’s obvious that this one-time Partridge is far from being ready to nest.
Mystifier Lior Suchard “minds” your business By Bobbie Katz It’s much more than just the nickel that is curled up like a piece of paper in my hand. Mentalist/mystifier Lior Suchard is truly a mind-bending experience. I saw Suchard’s show, Supernatural Entertainment, on media night for his first five-week engagement at the Palms last year and was duly impressed. But interviewing him was a totally different thing. As we sat there in a booth in The Lounge inside the hotel, where Suchard will be beginning his new Thursday and Friday night residency that will run from April 28-June 17, I bore witness to him reading my mind, both with numbers and unusual names; watched him bend a nickel with our initials written on each side, and saw my untouched sunglasses jump two feet off the table into the air from just the energy emanating from his hands. It was all truly thought-provoking—but then, that’s what Suchard is all about. “Everything I do is with positive energy,” he says. “It’s all about believing in self, using my gift, and to keep thinking happy thoughts. I want people to laugh and enjoy. I love the skeptics because I’m making them think. I use no plants in the audience at all – I always say that I will give $100,000 if you can find someone who gave me information before the show. My message is to always think happy thoughts because you don’t know who’s reading them.” Suchard, who hails from Israel, says that his talent is a gift, combined with knowledge of psychological elements, NLP (Suggestion), and human abilities. All that makes up Supernatural Entertainment. He says that the great thing about his show is that he has the 100 percent involvement of his audiences. And he loves leaving them with questions such as “How did he do that?” and “Can it be real?” “I’ve known since I was 6 that I have a special intuition,” Suchard reveals. “I started to know things abut people and was able to guess a number they were thinking of between 1 and 10. I then began exploring doing tests on people, such as guessing which hand they were hiding money in. Before the age of 10, I was wrong most of the time. But I believed in myself and started to develop. Legend has it that my mom almost fainted when she saw me bending a spoon. At 14, I was performing at birthday patties and other parties. I loved the laughter, power, and energy of the audience. At 18, I entered the Israeli Army and spent three years there, using my skills. At 21, I began to market myself worldwide via an infomercial.” Suchard began doing TV specials in countries such as Japan and Italy and subsequently built himself an office and began networking, networking, networking. Then four years ago, famed mentalist Uri ‘Geller chose Suchard as his official successor when Suchard was unanimously voted the winner of the highly rated international TV show The Successor. Geller and Suchard have since become good friends and Suchard has gathered a team of management, agents and lawyers around him to work with him in helping him achieve his goals, which are to be known to the public all over the world through bigger shows and to spread positive thinking. Last summer, he appeared on the Tonight Show starring Jay Leno and astounded everyone when he correctly named the first love of actor Zac Efron – from when Efron was 6 years old. “People are more powerful than we give ourselves credit for,” Suchard maintains. “Everyone has ESP – some just have more natural ability than others. You cannot fight with free will; however, you can change people’s perspective. Again, what I do is deliver positive thought. I am a very curious person, which may sometimes bother someone because I will stare at a person. I can tell if someone is lying by his or her body language and eyes. But I really respect people. “I transfer energy into business,” he continues. “I do a lot of conventions and corporate shows and I create an analysis of a company’s products and do something based on that to get their message across. For example, for Hewlett Packard’s show, I literally read and printed out people’s thoughts. For BMW, I drove blindfolded to enhance the message that you can count on BMW with your eyes closed.” “As I felt when I did my own show for the first time at the Palms last year, the sky is the limit,” Suchard sums up. “The key is not to try and make people believe –whether they do or not is their own choice. My goal is to make the audience enjoy themselves – and I promise they will.” One thing’s for certain—Suchard’s show is one that will definitely go to your head. Playboy is a Horse of a Different Color
By Bobbie Katz Claire Sinclair is a young woman who is “posed” for success. She was not only the October 2010 Playmate of the Month, as well as the August, September-October 2010 Playboy Pin-Up of the Month, but she also made her first-ever guest appearance in MGM Grand's Crazy Horse Paris last October as well. Now she’ll take the guest reins once again in the show from April 20-27, where audiences will have the opportunity to see her in numerous burlesque stances “There's a lot of ballet in Crazy Horse and I've nevr performed dance before,” the 19-year-old Sinclair says. “The girls in the show are all classically trained and have been doing ballet since they were kids. Posing is a series of poses – it’s something that has always come naturally to me so they're letting me focus on that in the show rather than dancing. “'Crazy Horse is burlesque and very vintage,” she continues. “Even my Playboy shoot was vintage-inspired. The 40s-60s eras are of particular interest to me but even if I'm thrust into a dress from the art deco era or from the turn of the century or surrounded by 1920's architecture, it's almost like deja vu for me. Those feelings bring me back to that vintage era, as in my Playboy shoot, and it's a lot more fun and interesting for me.” Sinclair is truly excited about appearing again in the show, which focuses on “l'art de nude” and on the raw beauty and talent of the girls, and says that she has always wanted to do cabaret. She says she has no reservations about appearing topless in the revue, calling it “the art of the tease,” and says that doing it appealed to her because it's not “in-your-face nudity.” She finds the show classic and classy in every way and will appear in the same four vignettes she performed in last time. Admittedly, she was very nervous the first night of her debut last October because her family, Hugh Hefner and some of her Playmate friends, including ex-Playmate Holly Madison, were in the audience and she didn’t want to let anyone down. But the evening – and her whole engagement – went off without a hitch. “I was always surrounded by pin-up,” says Sinclair. “I have always loved the paintings of Olivia, who took over for Vargas and paints the pin-up artist every month for Playboy. It was my dream to be painted by her. My dad knew her husband and he had a meeting at her house and wanted me to come. He told me to dress up like a pin-up doll and see if she would be interested in painting me. “So I did, even though I felt ridiculous,” she continues. “I was dressed like I was going to the prom, with the hair and makeup, too. Olivia and her husband answered the door in their pajamas and were looking at me like, what the hell? I was embarrassed and the two hours we were there were excruciating for me. Before we left, Olivia asked my dad how old I was. He said 18 and she responded that she had never painted anybody that young because a girl that age wouldn't know how to pose in front of a camera.” “All I have to worry about is my body and how it looks,” she explains. ”It's an aspect that makes modeling easier because I don't have to worry about the clothes and how they look.” Sinclair, who makes her home in the Bunny House across the street from the Playboy Mansion, says that her parents support her in whatever she does. She also notes that she and the other Playmates at the house are all friends but that they are not girlfriends of Hugh Hefner. Sinclair has a boyfriend who is part of the Playboy family and Hef has a girlfriend living at the mansion with him, a Playboy Playmate named Crystal Harris. “Hef is sweet and funny and every good adjective you can think of,” Sinclair expresses. “He's still incredibly sharp. You would never know he's 84. He's incredibly protective of us and doesn't want anything bad for any of us girls. He's even a little more protective of me because I'm so young. I'm the youngest Playmate right now.” Sinclair says that Hef is helping to open doors for her and that she wants to be a big name in pin-up, desiring it to lead her into other areas of entertainment as well. “I have some dreams,” she admits. “Maybe I'll be the voice of a cartoon character or the host of a show like Access Hollywood. Or maybe I'll act. I would like to do a PETA ad or an ad for MAC makeup or for Guess jeans. Hopefully, I can do at least one of those. I have a lot of interests and I don't know where they're going to take me.” Perhaps to a different stage of her career, just like the one at MGM Grand Crazy Horse Paris. Secrets of a Happily Bloated Life
By Bobbie Katz For Richel Kompst, going through Menopause is truly a song. “I learned the roles of the Soap Star and Iowa Housewife simultaneously in (Kompst 4th from left with Menopause cast celebrating 10-year anniversary) “While I probably relate more to the Iowa Housewife, being from Minnesota, I’ll probably play the Soap Star more because I’m physically and visually more of a Soap Star,” she continues. “I’m very tall—5-foot-8-inches—taller than anyone else in the show, and with heels on, I’m nearly 6 feet tall.” Although she learned her first two roles in record time, Kompst calls Menopause ”thebiggest little show” she’s ever done and says that the most difficult part of it is all the synchronized movements involved. “It’s not an easy show,” she says. “It has a lot of intricacies. Even when the lights go out, it’s choreographed. In learning the roles, my age has begun to show—the dance steps I’ve had to learn would have been easy 20 years ago but now that’s where the challenge comes in. Aside from Menopause, I do my own one-woman show, A Musical Journey through the Neurotic Mind of a Norwegian Blonde, a tribute to my upbringing, in which I do free movement. It’s a miracle if I do the same show twice. Although I sing, do impressions and act, I bill myself as a ‘move-weller’ not a dancer.” A Las Vegas resident for the past seven years, in addition to appearing in Menopause and her other vehicle, Kompst is not only married with children, a son, Oliver 14, and a daughter, Abigayle11, but also is the director of music ministry for Unity Church in Las Vegas. For the latter, every week, she produces a little production called The God Show and wraps music around the lesson of a scripture. So how does she juggle it all? “I’ve put in for a 36-hour day but no one is listening,” Kompst, the co-owner of Soul Sings Productions, quips. “I have an amazingly supportive husband, Steve, whom I’ve been married to for 22 years. He used to be a bass player for Caesars Entertainment but now he’s a corporate dude. My kids are finally at an age where they can step up, so they are on board, too. It took a while to get into the rhythm and I still have moments where I feel terrible, but I stayed home religiously for 10 years, taking little jobs just to keep the juices flowing. “Fitting it all in and getting it all done are the challenges. Menopause goes on at 5:30 p.m. every evening so I can get the kids home, go to the theater and do the show and be home by 8 p.m. But if the opportunity came up for a fulltime role, I wouldn’t decline. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to be in the show—the producers, Alan and Kathy Glist, are wonderful to work for.” Kompst has been in show business for over 25 years and has performed in such shows as Les Miserables, Beach Blanket Babylon, Forbidden Broadway, Forbidden Hollywood and Forbidden Vegas as well as a lot of other musical revues. “The best part of it all is that it feels like everything is finally coming together in my 40s,” Kompst enthuses. “Before it was bits and pieces but now I get to share my heart with people. The tagline of my production company is opening hearts and expanding through music, bringing enlightenment. Now I get to do it all.” Call it life on hormones.
Luxor exhibition gets down to the bare bones By Bobbie Katz With all the stories about the Las Vegas desert, there’s one place where everyone knows the bodies aren’t buried. That is at the Luxor where BODIES … The Exhibition will celebrate its third year of a 10-year residency at the hotel this summer. Described as a “life-changing experience,” the exhibition, which opened on August 2, 2008, gives people the opportunity to learn about their own bodies and ultimately how to take better care of their health and make positive life choices via more than 275 real human full body, organ and partial body specimens. Having been meticulously dissected, preserved through an innovative process called polymer preservation and respectfully presented, they give visitors the opportunity to view the beauty and complexity of their own organs and systems like never before. Through these authentic human bodies, via detailed signage, knowledgeable docents, and/or an audio tour available in five different languages (there is one for children, too), visitors can get an up-close-and-personal look inside the skeletal, muscular, respiratory, circulatory, and digestive systems and more. There are 10 rooms in the exhibit—each depicting a different system. BODIES … The Exhibition also illustrates the damage caused to organs by smoking, overeating and lack of exercise. For example, in the respiratory room, a black lung is displayed next to a healthy lung. Next to these specimens depicting lung cancer and emphysema, there is a Plexiglas case into which smokers who decide to quit right then and there after viewing the vivid comparisons can throw away their cigarette packs. In the past two years, more than 30,000 packs of cigarettes from all over the world have been discarded in that case. Additionally, the exhibition allows people to view and better understand medical concerns such as obesity, breast and colon cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, ectopic pregnancy, arthritis, kidney stones, osteoporosis and bone fractures. Dr. Roy Glover, chief medical director for BODIES … The Exhibition states, “Seeing promotes understanding, and understanding promotes the most practical kind of body education possible. The body doesn’t lie!” That’s why real bodies are used in the exhibit as opposed to idealized models that don’t allow for any variations in structure from one person to another. People get to see bodies and their parts as they really exist. During polymer preservation, a revolutionary technique, human tissue is permanently preserved using liquid silicone rubber that is treated and hardened. The end result is a rubberized specimen, preserved to the deepest cellular level, showcasing the complexity of the body’s many organs, nerves, muscles, bones, and blood vessels. All bodies were obtained through the Dalian Medical University Plastination Laboratories in the People’s Republic of China. The specimens all died of natural causes and they are all donated or unidentified bodies. It is important to note that the law prohibits the disclosure of any information regarding the specimen’s identity and/or cause of death. BODIES…The Exhibition is nothing less than fascinating. People can spend anywhere from an hour to three or four in the exhibit learning about the human body and its intricacies. My experience was greatly enhanced by the presence of docent Randy Dale, an instructor in Advanced Cardio Life Support (ACLS), who was a warehouse of knowledge and answered questions visitors had. Docents are recognizable by their white lab coats and name badges. Through Randy, I learned amazing facts about the body that I never knew. Here are a few of the many fun facts I gleaned from the exhibition:
Everybody loves their body sometime. Now is a good time to start loving – and understanding – yours via BODIES…The Exhibition. Get Ready—Here Comes the Legendary “Mr. Warmth”
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a “loco” motive, able to leap tall theater seats in a single bound, it’s Supermouth—better known to all you hockey pucks as the irascible Don Rickles. The beloved comedian will be flying (by plane, not cape) into the Orleans March 19-20 to save the day for anyone who needs a good laugh. With razor-sharp wit and nerve of steel, he will dare to fight injustice. Everyone—male, female, thin, fat, tall short, white, black, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Latino, Arab or Chinese—will have the same opportunity to be turned into French toast, without even the remotest chance of any butter or syrup. Yes, by the time he’s through, his full plate will have only mere morsels left to tell the tale—but the sweet smell of success will still fill his nostrils: If you’ve been wondering what has changed for the comedian over the years, the answer is absolutely nothing. He is still garnering new audiences, and it seems that he has struck a nerve with the younger generation and they have begun following him. While to the younger set he is probably known best as Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story movies and even did the voice of the character for the attraction at Disney’s California Adventure, Rickles’ career also received exposure on HBO a couple of years back, thanks to John Landis’ Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project. The comedian has always been and probably always will be one-of-a-kind, which, while presenting some hardships in the past, has given him cause to feel very proud today. “I understand that some people are trying to do what Don Rickles does, but I think they’re foolish because this is not something that I’ve rehearsed, practiced or learned,“ Rickles notes.“It was always part of my personality. It goes with my personality to always be sarcastic and a little on the biting edge in fun. It’s not an easy thing to do and I’ve never heard of anyone being successful with my attitude. “I’ve never doubted that what I do is funny,” he adds. “Once you let that kind of insecurity enter your head, you’re not going to go anyplace and you’d better hang it up. When I first started, it was very difficult because when you’re different, everyone’s out there to criticize you. Making fun of people was not too popular when I first got into the business, but when you’re different, that eventually makes you somebody. So you have to keep at it and have the courage to believe that what you’re doing is funny.” “I never sat down and wrote my act or had a writer write anything for me,” Rickles maintains. “I’ve always done everything on the stage. In the early days, we didn’t have tape, so I would write down on a little piece of paper whatever I said that I thought was funny. Today I just listen to the tapes of the shows I do and I still create a lot of stuff when I get on stage. Sometimes I do a show that’s five percent new and that’s great. But everything I’ve ever done on the stage has been made up by yours truly.” According to Rickles, his act changes every night because his attitude changes every night. “I’m always the fun, angry man,” he explains. “But it comes out differently every time I perform.” “I was a bad act and never could tell a joke,” he reveals. “My performance came about by standing on stage and doing bad jokes and impressions. And out of the frustration of an audience not responding, I started to talk to the crowd and to develop the style of making fun of the people I was looking at…and myself. In the early days, when I was a young man starting out, it was touch-and-go for a while because of the places I worked and the caliber of the people who came there. Sometimes there was a little bit of a duel with the audience—which I always won, by the way. “I’m not a comedian who has to be cerebral and do a lot of thinking about what I do,” he sums up. “I lay it on the table—politically incorrect—and make fun of everybody and everything. Comedy is a matter of taste. Some people like chocolate and some like vanilla. I like to think of myself as chocolate and if you like chocolate, I’ve got it made.” Supermouth is on the way—and how sweet it is.
The Coolest Show in Town
By Bobbie Katz It’s 9 p.m.—do you know where Grandma is? “I have about 10 hours of different material,” explains Cools. “Every show is different. Each is also 100 percent interactive because I use volunteers from the audience. It’s an uncensored, very adult-oriented show; there are no guidelines and no rules. I write the show on the fly every night. I start the show with a three-minute orchestra piece in which the participants are hypnotized into thinking they are playing certain instruments. What I see in their personalities and how they are reacting during this bit determines what is going to happen in the entire show. “There are still things that happen during the evening that shock me,” Cools continues. “One of my signature skits is that I tell the people on stage that they are auditioning for a porno movie and that their chairs are the people they’re auditioning with. Two months ago, a 65-70-year-old woman removed her teeth and put them on the stage so that she could give the chair oral sex. I have another trademark bit in which people shake my hand and a have an orgasm on stage right in front of their family and friends. People you wouldn’t expect to be doing certain things are doing them and I never know what’s going to happen until it happens. When they become hypnotized, all their inhibitions have been lifted. When I tell them something, it is the truth and it makes sense, irrelevant to what it is.” Cools notes that everyone of sound mind (meaning not drunk or high and willing to give hypnosis a shot) is hypnotizable and that, in about 50 percent of his shows, someone in the audience falls asleep as he is doing the induction with the people on stage. “As long as a person is focusing, I’m going to win, whether he or she is a believer or a skeptic,” the comedy hypnotist maintains. “I can’t tell who is going to be a good subject and who isn’t until about 10 minutes into the show. The Alpha state is the lightest state of hypnosis. I push people much deeper, into the Theta state. It shuts off a part of the brain that says, ‘This is the wrong thing to do.’ But there is no danger. Ultimately, the only people that hurt themselves are the ones with sore stomachs and jaws just from laughing. My show is outrageous.” At the end of the show, Cools gives all the volunteers a post-hypnotic suggestion that they will remember everything they did but that they will be free of embarrassment and remorse. His other post-hypnotic suggestions that, depending upon how he words them, can last the rest of a person’s life, include feeling positive, sleeping well, no drinking and driving, no texting and driving, and no hangover. “One of the things that makes me different from other hypnotists is that my subjects remember everything,” Cools notes. “That’s because the primary reason for my show is entertainment and the look on their faces when they remember what they did is priceless—that’s one of my favorite parts of the show. I guarantee that people have never seen anything like this before. “You cannot force anyone into a hypnotic state,” he emphasizes. “Hypnosis is an extension of focus and you can’t force someone to focus. You also cannot force someone to relax. Anyone who is willing to be hypnotized is a great subject—you can guide a willing participant. Part of the relaxation technique I use is creative visualization. Cools says that his act went into the X-rated mode because the more adult he got, the more his audiences loved it. He says that something will happen at each and every show that sticks in his head and gives him a genuine laugh. However, no one is more aware than Cool is of the power hypnosis can have in everyday life. He does not do any kind of therapeutic practice but he has been practicing self-hypnosis for years. He says he does it almost every day, giving himself suggestions to counteract lack of sleep, to prevent hangovers when he’s been out partying with his friends, and to increase motivation. He says that he quit smoking after 18 years and lost 40 pounds, thanks to hypnosis. “Everybody can learn hypnosis,” he adds. “My talent and niche is to be able to pull it off on stage the way I do.” You may be getting very sleepy but Cools guarantees that you’ll wake up to some great fun—and still be able to look at yourself in the mirror in the morning.
There Is Life after TV Bill Engvall brings gems of humor to Treasure Island
Bill Engvall remembers the first time that he ever played Las Vegas. “I got less billing than the Roast Beef Buffet,” he quips. It may have taken a few years, but these days Engvall is getting right to the meat of the situation. On March 3-4, April 8, and June 10, the comic, who was the first headliner to ever appear in the showroom at Treasure Island (T.I.), will return to the property. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg lettuce when it comes to his having a full career plate. After more than 20 years of plugging away at his comedy, Engvall has experienced his comeuppance over the last seven years or so. He is well-known to fans of The Bill Engvall Show, his family-themed sitcom that aired on TBS, which debuted on July 17, 2009, with the second highest ratings in cable history and ran until September 5, 2009. Engvall has also starred in movies, including The Blue Collar Comedy Tour, The Movie, Delta Farce, with Larry the Cable Guy and D.J. Qualls, and Bait Shop with Billy Ray Cyrus. He wrote and produced the latter with his management and Parallel Pictures. Along with that, Engvall’s comedy CDs, Here’s Your Sign (1996), Dorkfish (1998) and 15° Off Cool (2007) all ranked No. 1 on Billboard's Comedy Chart, with the former earning platinum status and reaching the Top 50 on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart. Still, with it all, Engvall says that he truly loves live performance and the immediate gratification it provides. “I love making people laugh,” says Engvall. “Because of the four-year Blue Collar Tour that I did with Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and Ron White, I was perceived to be a country or redneck comedian. But my humor is across the board—it’s very Cosby-esque in the sense that I tell stories and talk about subjects like being married for 25 years. I put my own twist on things you see in everyday life. My show appeals to people from 12 to 88. “I perform in jeans and a nice shirt,” he continues. “I’m never going to be perceived as hip and edgy. I’m a clean and middle-of-the-road guy. But I like being a middle-of-the-road comedian because those are the ones that work longer. I do humor like the clean- clothes/dirty-clothes game. For example, ‘My wife always asks me if my clothes are clean. I used to say yes but then I’d have to hang them up.’ Or I’ll joke about the fact that I just turned 50 and I’ll tell the audience that one of the side effects is that I now make noises getting into bed.” Stating that his comedy is based on observation, Engvall says that one of the most important things is talking about things that everyone can relate to. The other important thing to him is keeping his humor on a clean level. “I try to make people feel like I am there sitting in their living rooms and I’m the guy doing the talking,” he reveals. “I’m very casual and laid back and my act is like a long conversation in which I wind in and out of different subjects for an hour and a half.” While Engvall notes that he always has an outline in his head of where the show is supposed to go, he admits that the beauty of live performance is that he can go where it takes him and that he never knows where it’s going to go. “It’s like you’re driving down the freeway,” he explains, “and you get off at an exit for no reason. You’re going to get back on eventually—you just have to stay with me. It’s like my wife said when she was interviewed— ‘Ninety-five percent of the time, Bill leads a completely normal life. The other five percent, he’ll get random thoughts that other people don’t and he’ll interject them into conversation. You know you’ll get back to the conversation; you just have to stay with him.’” To illustrate his random thought process, Engvall tells a story about buzzards, those carnivorous big birds that circle overhead when an animal is dying so that they can be the first to feed on the remains. “The other day I was driving and saw a dead buzzard on the side of the road,” he laughs, “I remember thinking, I wonder what eats that!” Engvall says that he stays away from political and religious humor and topics that might be offensive to his audiences. The object is for everyone to have a great time. By the same token, he says that it’s hard to find things that appeal to the masses and that comedy is a lot harder than people give credit for. “Comedy is weird,” he states, “For example, there might be a girl or guy who is funny at the office. Try taking that in front of 2,000 people who don’t know you. Try doing it at midnight in a nightclub on a Saturday night. If you can make people laugh, then you’ve earned your chops.” Interestingly, the comedian acknowledges that he is as relaxed offstage as he is onstage and that he is pretty much the same person. About his wife, with whom he has two children, 23 and 18, he says that without her, there is no him, and that she keeps him in line when he gets “goofy.” He debunks the theory that it’s hard to maintain a relationship when one of the partners is in show business, citing that people create their own world. He says that he still drives a ’77 Volkswagen bus and that he’s just an average guy who is getting a chance to live his dream. “My glass is completely full,” says Engvall. “Overall I’m a happy guy who is a homebody and sensitive and loves to laugh. I love outdoor activities like fishing, hunting and skiing. My wife and kids keep me grounded. They’re real life and I know that one day all this will go away and I’m going to have to be a normal Joe again. I also give credit to my parents and grandparents for raising me with family values. “I would someday like to do a western, though,” he sums up. “I love acting and I grew up watching movies like Rio Bravo, Sons of Katie Elder and High Noon. I’d like to do a dramatic role, something people don’t expect from me.” It’s just another item to add to Engvall’s buffet of talents. Review by Vegas Insider Daily Better Than Chocolate Engelbert gets to the heart of Valentine’s Day
Call it a Valentine’s Day “massacre” of the most delightful and extraordinary kind. “The King of Romance,” Engelbert Humperdinck, hit town February 11-13 and handily “killed” the crowds with his performances the entire weekend at the Orleans, with loud screams and cries of enthusiasm after every number echoing throughout the packed showroom nightly in testimony to that fact. As he shot straight from the heart with romance, emotion, and excitement, all in the room stood for him time and time again. And, in the end, they were more than 10-deep at the foot of the stage, rushing it to get closer to and display their reverence for this living legend who could take them away from the ordinary and lift them up and send them spiraling into “another time, another place.” Like the name of a song he sings and co-wrote, to call Engelbert anything less than “totally amazing” would be a misnomer. He may be celebrating his 45th year in show business but time has only served to enhance the beautiful and powerful 3 ½-octave voice that the London Times called “the premier voice of the century,” his ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand, his mesmerizing “X- Factor” presence, his cross-generational appeal, and his movie-star handsome looks. He is a true master at the top of his game, a dynamic performer who keeps things moving with a well-paced show that takes the audience through an emotional journey encompassing different eras of music. The thespian of song sings from his soul and with his entire being, getting the essence of the lyrics and music across in a way that goes right to the core of those in attendance. But that’s the thing about an Engelbert performance—you don’t just merely From that song, Engelbert moved into one of his hits, “Am I That Easy to Forget?” He then sang the beautiful theme from “Love Story,” before doing two more of his classics, “A Man Without Love” and “After The Lovin’.” A fun up tempo number called “I Could Used to This” followed before he changed the pace and did his heart-rendering version of “I Wish You Love” that had me, and numerous others in the audience, wiping tears from our eyes. Having recently released a country album, Engelbert then donned a cowboy hat and sang his favorite song from that CD, an upbeat tune called “I’m On Fire.” Next, he performed two original contemporary ballads from his new CD called RELEASED, “Someday Tonight” and “Take Me Back Again.” Both were beautiful and the latter, written by Grammy-Award winner Rudy Perez, deserves to be s hit single. Engelbert’s wonderful sense of humor came through on the next number in which he brought a lady up from the audience and sang “You Don’t Know Me” to her on stage (one of those “you had to be there” moments). He had the audience in hysterics with the bit. Afterwards, he sang “Quando, Quando, Quando,” enlisting the help of his backup singers Dawn Bishop and Alexx Daye, who sang and danced with him, as well as his saxophone player, Tom Luer, who performed a mean solo during the song. The international star sang “The Hungry Years” (another reason to bring a hanky) and “Honky Tonk World” (a Brooks and Dunn song that actually mentions Engelbert in it) before leaving the stage to change into a black velvet shirt. He came back to perform a spectacular version of the Bryan Adams song “Really Love a Woman,” bringing his superb guitar player, Yohan Frank, to the fore. He then sang another one of his hits, “The Last Waltz,” and as he finished, women and men alike flew out of their seats and ran to the stage. They stood there with rapt attention, many taking pictures of the icon, as he sang a medley of his classics that included “Release Me,” “Spanish Eyes,” ”Another Time, Another Place,” “The Way It Used to Be” and others, finishing with an incredible version of “My Way,” which, with the beauty and power of his voice, eclipsed any renditions of those who may have sung it before him. Engelbert closed the show with the spiritual “I Believe” before throwing his signature red scarves out into the audience—and, yes, his fans still trample each other to get them. All I can say is that, like the comments from his audiences leaving the showroom, I believe that this is the best show I’ve ever seen. Not since another “king,” Elvis Presley, appeared in Vegas has a showroom experienced this kind of excitement. What a breath of fresh air in this world of entertainment! Engelbert may have left the building but his magical persona remains. (Photos by Lindsay Hebberd) Gee, That’s Funny! Rita Rudner does The Venetian just for laughs By Bobbie Katz “I always think of my act as a constant work in progress,” It’s potentially crowded, for one thing. It seems that everyone is always trying to get into the act—literally. That’s because the popular comedienne, who recently opened her new gig at The Venetian, focuses on commonality of experience and the human everyday things we all can relate to, such as relationships, marriage, dating, parents, the economic crisis, and, of course, shopping. Terming her comedy “comfort humor,” Rudner expresses the fact that it is unifying because it depicts that we’re all in the same boat—one with a good “sale,” as the case may be. “I think all the time on stage,” she adds. “While I’m telling one joke, I’m thinking of the next three. I have to be thinking of what’s next—I always need to know where I’m going. As I tell my daughter, Molly, focus is so important in life. If you’re not fully focused on what you’re doing, someone else will do it better. Most people think that comedians are lazy and lackadaisical but it’s a discipline. To be a good comedian, you have to put one foot in front of the other and know where you’re going.” Quipping that her best sense of direction is in a mall (she always knows where Saks Fifth Avenue is), Rudner states that everything is harder for a woman and comedy is no exception. She expresses that it is especially difficult for a woman over 40 because we’re living in a youth-oriented society. Conversely, she maintains that, in a way, being older is good for comedy because she’s had a chance to develop herself and to see things through an eye that’s more experienced. “Like actress Helen Mirren said, ‘Hollywood focuses on 18 to 25-year-olds’,” Rudner cites. “So I’m not fashionable. But you can’t be a different person. Luckily, Las Vegas has given me a fantastic outlet. Most women over 40 have to engineer their own vehicles, like Madonna, Cher and Bette Midler, because they’re not on TV. Sally Field said that when you’re over 40, you’re only in show business because you want to be. I’m lucky because I get people in my audiences who bring their kids, mothers and extended families.” Rudner might not be fashionable but she certainly is that other f-word—funny. While she acknowledges that women in comedy now are dirtier than men and that is the trend in female comedy today—going even one step further than Andrew Dice clay used to go—Rudner works, and has always worked, clean. She relates that this is a harsher culture than the gentler one she came out of but that she has always stayed true to who she is. The comedienne calls her comedy an integration of punch lines, absurdist humor and observational comedy. She says that she never wants to say everything one way because comedy is keeping people off balance. Rudner culls her act from everyday life. She lives with her husband, Martin Bergman, who is a writer, producer and director, and their 8-year-old daughter, Molly, whom the couple adopted at birth. And, oh, there is also their French poodle that, Rudner cajoles, has a very unique talent—the dog can sniff out fake Louis Vuitton purses. “You have to focus your priorities,” Rudner expresses. “Sometimes you get caught up in show business and become too focused on things that don’t matter. My list of priorities is as follows: Molly is number one, my marriage is number two, my dog is number three, and my career is number four. They all come before the hamsters and the frog. We had to say no to the Alpaca. We have a menagerie but it teaches me responsibility.” As for her longtime marriage to Bergman, Rudner reveals that it has been a happy and successful union because they both have exactly the same taste in everything, they laugh at the same things, and they have the same political views and opinions on things—except when it comes to David Bowie. Bergman loves him and Rudner doesn’t. However, she chuckles, if their only disagreement is about Bowie, it’s a good marriage. Insofar as their careers are concerned, Rudner and Bergman have often collaborated on movie scripts and plays, including the acclaimed films Peter’s Friends and A Weekend in the Country. The couple, who is buying a home in Laguna, CA, is also turning Rudner’s book Tickled Pink into a play. In addition, Bergman produced and directed a movie called Thanks, which is currently making the film festival circuit, and Rudner has written a sitcom. “I don’t know what will happen with it,” she admits, talking about the sitcom. “I just wanted to see if I could write one. Martin pushed me, although neither one of us needs pushing—we’re both pushing people. We both have to have a lot of things going on. That’s the way our lives have always been. I want to write another play or book or movie—I get a lot of satisfaction from that.” Still, the bottom line for Rudner is that she totally enjoys the independence of what she does. “What I love about stand-up,” she says, “is that it’s like being the Avon lady. I don’t have to go through any corporate sensibility. It’s not like making a movie where someone is risking $6 million. It’s just me and a dress and a microphone and a mind. It’s so wonderfully low-tech.” Laying a New Foundation
By Bobbie Katz Tim Allen may have come to prominence in the TV series Home Improvement, but it will be his 10 weekends of appearances at The Venetian that will prove that you can handily judge a man by his tools. In this case, those assets, which include a great sense of humor and comedic timing, are being used to give rise to a new phase of his career for the talented actor—one in standup comedy in a casino forum. For the past two years, Allen has been building his repertoire and honing it to Vegas standards and now he’s ready to hammer his humorous perspective on life home. “Doing this was a big decision that I made with my family,” he relates. “I have a baby girl who is 1.8 years old. But this started two years ago when I hosted a charity event with Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight. It was so much fun. I had forgotten about doing standup and couldn’t remember my own material. So I went back to my old stuff and began updating and adjusting it and adding fresh material. I then did a concert tour to establish my act and played comedy clubs and some casinos on the East Coast. My wife kept talking about Vegas, saying that it was the best of all possible worlds because I can get back and forth in an hour and she can come and stay here. “I’m not one to shock and I’m not offensive,” Allen, who will make his first appearance at the hotel on February 5, adds about his act. “I grew up in a family of seven children and I’ve always been a mischievous kid. I can take care of your house, kids and car but the kids will be doing arm farts when I’m through. I’ll teach them some mischievous tricks. In the movies I’ve done, I’ve always been the perfect straight man for other people. I’ve never really been this funny guy although in Santa Claus 2, I got to let go. But whether with my family, on movie or TV sets or in public, I’m just a smart ass.” Allen notes that his act is just his point of view on everything from cars, women, men, and politics to farting, presented in his own style. With creativity being his driving force, Allen says that he is the type of person who can’t stay still. “I love making something new out of nothing,” he says. “I recently challenged myself by being the producer, director, and financial person behind the movie Crazy on the Outside. It was a great film with big laughs and although it premiered on the day of the big financial crash, it still did very well. It’s still on Blockbuster, too. I have more guts than I sometimes give myself credit for.” The comedian states that his goal is to make people laugh as hard as his idols Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce made him laugh. He claims that Pryor was “funny in his heart in the best of ways.” Allen does have someone who writes for him and with him—her name is Kim Flagg and he always runs things by her. “I make her crazy,” he laughs. ”Sometimes she comes up with the ideas and sometimes I’ll call her at midnight with ideas. I am in my heart a little more serious person than I used to be—I’m not so flippant about myself anymore. I really do care about this world and particularly about what is going on in the Middle East. There’s just so much in my life that isn’t funny. But I can still joke about it.” While Allen says that his comedy is observational, he takes it one step further by following an observation to its source. He maintains that it is somewhat in line with Lenny Bruce’s comedy, which Bruce termed “code-ification.” Allen explains that with this joke: Since 2003, it’s been against the law to defecate in the streets of New Delhi. That means for thousands of years it was okay—what was the tipping point? “I was a philosophy major and I love searching for paradoxes,” Allen smiles. “I’m kind of a comedy reductionist. I take complex ideas and try to make sense of them and bring them to an absolutely ridiculous level. As I said, I’m still that mischievous, misbehaving boy. I haven’t changed that much. Tim Taylor of Home Improvement, Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story and Santa Claus all come from me. I am the Tim Taylor of my family. In Santa Claus 2, I let out the Bad Santa—and there is a lot of me in that Bad Santa. I love giving kids a hard time. Adults are really just large children.” Allen is currently in the midst of negotiations for a movie that he says is a “really big, big idea.” But being a really superstitious guy, he won’t say anymore about the project until it’s a signed deal. But he acknowledges that he’s also looking at TV scripts, heralding the fact that both TV and sitcoms are back. In regard to Home Improvement, he expresses that it was so successful because it displayed love and affection between the husband and wife as opposed to constant barbs and cynicism. In addition, he says, it celebrated men’s skills and the art of being able to fix and repair things. In his personal life, Allen has been happily married to his wife, June, since 2006 (all told, they have been together 10 years) and family comes first. He reveals that he is funny and loud around the house and that his wife always tells him that he’s very patient, which he never thought about himself. Still, it’s evident that with all the various aspects to his life and career, he has plenty of sources from which to draw his comedy act. “I’m really looking forward to being in Vegas,” he sums up. “It’s not financially driven. I’m there to make people laugh.” Obviously, it’s time to throw a wrench into everyday life—one that will have audiences splitting their sides with laugher. Tickling Your Funny Bones It’s a Dog’s Life for Sammy Shore By Bobbie Katz
But, now, celebrating his 60th year in show business this week, it appears that the entertainer is, well, going to the dogs. The good news is that everyone feels that he’s barking up the right tree. Having founded the Funny Bones Foundation with his business partner, veterinarian Matthew Brooks and his wife, Suzanne, this coming Sunday, January 30, Shore will once again be presenting Funny Bones Live at the Palms, sponsored by the Maloof Family. There will be plenty of fun “biting” as well, thanks to guest comedians Pauly Shore, Bobby Slayton, George Wallace, Vinnie Favorito, Geechy Guy, Dennis Blair, James P. Connolly, Doug Starks and Kenny Kerr. Singers Domenick Allen and Catherine Hickland and DJ Ben Harris will also be performing. “Animals are so close to my heart and I’ve always had two,” Shore explains. “They’re waiting at the door for you and are all over you when you come home—dogs are better than most people. This foundation exists for animals that are really in need—ill animals that need treatment or surgery that no one wants to adopt. We only deal with rescue groups. We stay away from shelters and euthanasia. We saved four or five dogs last year. We’re a regular charitable corporation that meets at the Palms once a month. The Maloofs are animal lovers and are just wonderful.” When he’s not doing the animal thing, Shore, who will be 84 on February 7, is still performing, opening for the likes of Tony Orlando (whom he has worked with for 30 years and whom he calls the kindest and greatest person of all the stars he’s opened for) and touring with son, Pauly. “I’ve worked with Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Tom Jones, Sammy Davis Jr. and others,” Shore says. “I was Elvis’ opening act for five years and he took me everywhere with him—we’d hang out. Sometimes he would come into my dressing room and close the door and we would talk. He loved my Brother Sam preacher joke. The International hotel casino where we performed, which became the Las Vegas Hilton, had a 500-seat balcony in the showroom and I’d look up and shout, ‘Do you people want to be saved?’ They would scream ‘Yes!’ I’d say, ‘Then jump!’ One night, when I said that, Elvis dropped a fully dressed dummy with a rope around its neck off the balcony. Everyone was screaming and I freaked out because we thought a real person had jumped. But Elvis was always playing practical jokes on me. “I was opening for Tom Jones when Elvis and Colonel Parker came to see the show,” he recalls. “Elvis and Tom were good friends. Afterwards, they asked me if I wanted to open for Elvis at the International. It was Elvis’ comeback in Vegas, his first appearance there in 12 years. That one engagement turned into five years.” Shore was a 20-year-old, working as a salesman in a men’s store in Chicago, when he made his foray into comedy. His boss couldn’t help but notice that the customers walked out without buying anything because they left laughing instead from Sammy’s jokes. So the man called the owner of the Oakton Manor Resort in Wisconsin and got Shore a job. Shore, who ad-libbed his act, went on from there. When he was about 23 or 24, he met Mitzi at another resort at which he was performing. They married, had four children, and, in 1972, Shore opened the Comedy Store in L.A. In 1975, when Shore and Mitzi got divorced, the Comedy Store went to Mitzi. She turned it into an empire that still exists today and in which Shore, who is still friends with Mitzi, still performs, most recently with Pauly. “I fell off the stage a little while ago when I was performing with Pauly in Montana,” Shore relates. “Luckily, I fell on a 21-year-old girl—and it took me five minutes to get off of her. People thought it was part of the act and they were laughing. I fractured my hip and shoulder but I finished the performance hanging onto a stool—the show must go on. But I performed the next two nights in a wheelchair.” So what’s it like to be Pauly Shore’s father? “I feel great about it,” he responds. “Pauly’s kind of picking up where I left off. He just filmed a Showtime special at the Palms. He’s always had a natural talent for comedy. Growing up, he spent as much time as he could at the Comedy Store, so when he was 12 or 13, he was learning from comics like Sam Kinison and Richard Pryor. When he was 17 or 18, he started working with Kinison. I’ve never been worried about him being in this business—he had his shit together. He had his own show on MTV for three years and he was the talk of the country. They called him ‘The Weasel.” He also had a sitcom called Minding the Store on MTV in which I appeared as his father. “I’ve always worked clean,” Shore continues.” When I’m touring with Pauly and working for his crowd, maybe a word comes out here and there but that’s it. The crowd doesn’t believe Pauly even has a father. They think he was hatched.” Both Shores’ talents and love for animals will be at the fore in Funny Bones. “Working with animals is my first love,” Shore claims. ‘I have an older dog and I gave him Viagra—and now he can’t roll over.” Guaranteed there will be no growls on Sunday, only laughter. Who Let the Dog Out? Bobby Slayton’s Bark is in tandem with his bite By Bobbie Katz
Often referred to as “a hipper Don Rickles,” Slayton righteously rips into marriage, relationships, airport security, homosexuals and lots more with gusto. But when it comes to making people roar with laughter, the standup comedian has no regrets about showing his teeth. “Most reviews call me caustic or brutal and say my comedy is an assault on the senses but they always say I’m funny along with it,” Slayton explains. “I’m just brutally honest and everything I say is funny to me. Of course, I embellish things. I’ve been married 23 years and my wife is not nearly the monster I make her out to be. And I even do jokes about my 22-year-old daughter who is dating a black guy. But my act is not one-dimensional. “I’ve been doing this for 35 years now,” he adds. “It was actually a New York radio personality, Alex Bennett, who gave me the nickname ‘The Pitbull of Comedy.’ I was on his show in the early ‘80s when pitbulls came into vogue and were biting mailmen and scaring children, even though underneath, they could be very gentle creatures. I did a joke about MacDonald’s and the advertising executive at the station came running in screaming that I had cost them a $50,000 contract. That’s when Alex said to me, ‘You bite the hand that feeds you—you’re like a pitbull.’ I didn’t have any TV credits at the time so the pitbull moniker kind of stuck.” Slayton actually became the darling of morning radio, paving the way for other comics to follow suit. He used to hit the airwaves on morning talk in cities such as Philadelphia and Detroit and became really popular. After that, Alex Bennett actually turned promoting comics into a successful side business. Slayton, who writes his own material, has written a whole new hour of comedy since doing a recent Showtime special called Born to Be Bobby, which opened with him getting those words tattooed in large letters on his back. “I write my own act entirely,” Slayton notes. “A lot of guys have writers and there are also certain comics who do nothing but sit around and write all day—George Carlin was like that. But I like to read a lot and get up and go out. I like to go to museums. I like jokes to come naturally to me but I don’t know what actually sparks them. I walk around all day like a mental patient talking to myself. Jokes can come to me from anywhere: someone walking a dog, two fat people eating a sandwich, my going to a museum. Sometimes people will give me a joke but 95 percent of them are mine. For example, my wife will come up with something funny on occasion.” The comic admits that sometimes it’s hard to know the difference between offensive and funny. Slayton states that anything is up for laughs as long as a victim is not being made fun of. “The Holocaust can be funny as long as you’re making fun of the Nazis and not the people who died,” Slayton claims. “I’ll do jokes about what happened in Haiti but they’re about the situation. It’s all in the presentation of a joke. What’s important is what has come before it. People get into your groove.” Insofar as the comparisons to Don Rickles, whom he calls a groundbreaker, Slayton maintains that he doesn’t compare himself to the comic icon and that there is a huge difference in their acts. “The pitbull thing sometimes scares people away,” he acknowledges. “On the other hand, other people get upset if I’m not offensive or dirty enough. I don’t like XXX-rated humor. You can’t please everyone. It’s like playing guitar or doing Martial Arts—you’re always getting better and can take it one step further. I believe in giving people a real bang for their buck and I do as many jokes as I can do in a given period of time. “Vegas has a lot of entertainment opportunities for the people who come here,” Slayton sums up. “So if you want to pay three times too much to watch some schmuck make white tigers disappear, be my guest.” No arguing that this dog is on a very long leash. Passionately Yours Julio gives all of him, body and soul, to his performance By Bobbie Katz
On August 24, 2010, pop music’s reigning romantic caballero, Julio Iglesias, created his most harmonious duet yet. After a 20-year relationship that has borne five children, he married the “love of his life,” Miranda Rijnsburger, in a religious ceremony in a chapel on the property the couple owns in Marbella, Spain. Still, the first thing people will notice when Iglesias plays Green Valley Ranch this coming Saturday, January 15, is that he has not lost any of the passion for another primary relationship in his life—the one with his audiences. “Miranda and I have been engaged for 20 years and, one day, I said, ‘Let’s get married,’” Iglesias explains as to how the wedding came about. “I’m very happy and the kids are very happy. But anytime I have free time, I go to the studio. I release energy there. I’m currently re-recording 250 songs I recorded from 1958 to 1995 and I’m re-doing them in five languages—Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and English—for an album called Number One. The Spanish and Portuguese albums will each have 12 songs in English. It is a big job.” There is no disputing that a task of this size requires one of the main tenets of Iglesias’ life—discipline. “I live a very disciplined life so nothing can bother me physically or psychically,” the self-proclaimed workaholic notes. “My philosophy of life is to be grateful to everything that happens to me and to the people who still come to my concerts all over the world.” In his 42-year career, Julio Iglesias has sold 300 million copies of his 79 albums released worldwide, including original versions in various languages, compilations, and live albums, making him the Spanish-speaking artist who has sold the most albums in history. In live concerts in more than 500 cities around the globe, he has played to more than 60 million people. In addition, as recognized by the Guinness Book of Records in 1983 when they gave Iglesias its only Diamond Disc award, he is the artist who has sung and recorded in the most languages in the history of music—20 in total. But it is his discipline that has contributed most to the singer’s success and way of thinking. Born in 1943 to a prominent Madrid gynecologist and the daughter of a famous writer, Iglesias studied law at Cambridge University, though his ambition lay on the soccer field. He became a pro goalie for the Real Madrid soccer team, but a 1963 car accident severely injured his spine and left him paralyzed from the waist down. Though his doctors told him that he would never walk again, the determined Iglesias rejected a wheelchair and crawled around his parents’ house while they were asleep. After a year, he was able to walk with two canes. Because of his accident, he doesn’t believe in destiny or pre-destination but rather in fact, strength, learning and circumstance. “I believe that circumstances change life and that you have to use those circumstances in a very positive way,” he states. “Destiny is a very comfortable way to accept things and when I was young and studying, I thought that the theory of everyone being programmed to have a destiny was too easy. There are reasons for circumstances. If I hadn’t had the accident, I wouldn’t be a singer. If I wouldn’t be in that place at that moment, I wouldn’t marry somebody. I also believe that you can change your circumstances completely.” Admitting to still being hungry as an artist, no matter how many records he has sold before, Iglesias still wants to sell more. In his live performance, he reveals that now he is much more consistent in his placing his “brain and heart together.” While he says that his connection with the audience was instantaneous, the above scenario was one that was a process. “When the brain and the heart get in that perfect position, you feel the relationship with the audience that much stronger,” he acknowledges. “When you take nothing for granted and capitalize on your thoughts that people have to pay money for tickets to see you, have to drive or fly to you and then return home, and have to take time from their lives and give it to you, that’s when you really understand how lucky you are. Before you get to the stage is the meaning of life.” In tandem with that, he believes, above all, that one always has to continue learning and developing his gifts, pushing to the limits. The philosophy that he lives by is to think long-term because nothing happens in the short-term, especially if one’s professional aspects need work. He feels that there is never an excuse to give up. “You can’t make everything happen in one day,” Iglesias says. “Everything takes time. Time is a friend. If you are open to the work, you will find many more opportunities. As for fame, Iglesias says that it is the most beautiful thing that can happen to a person, even if it is just to be able to leave it to one’s family and children. As for being able to trust people, he says that while he makes mistakes like everyone else, the best thing to do is move on. “I’m at an age where I’ve been in many situations,” he admits. “Fame is a card you have to play and something you have to understand. But if you think that it’s the reason that people want to be with you, if you worry about that, you’ll get crazy. You can’t lose time worrying about that stuff. Life is too short. You have to give that up and feel that there is truth in relationships with human beings. It’s best not to judge others and to have a good conscience.” For Iglesias, it is still love that makes the world go round. Everything Old is New Again Australia’s hottest group brings new life to Motown in Human Nature By Bobbie Katz
These four young men—Andrew Tierney, Michael Tierney, Toby Allen and Phil Burton, —offer distinctive and dynamic harmonies, both with a six-piece band and acappella, as they perform Motown’s greatest hits in the newly renamed Human Nature Showroom. With multi-platinum albums, 17 Top 40 hits and 5 Top 10 hits in Australia since 1996, this group has no match where their unique blend is concerned. “In their area of the world, these guys are like the Beatles,” says Robinson. “They are getting ready to take the U.S. by storm. I had heard about them because they were recording Motown music. They were doing another album and were looking to have some of the originals duet with them. They “We’ve been together 21 years, ever since high school,” adds Andrew Tierney, speaking of the group’s inception. “We always listened to and loved Motown music and wanted to become as good as the Four Tops, the Miracles and the Temptations. We started out singing acappella. We loved the sound we created together and loved singing together. When we first joined forces we called ourselves the Four Tracks, then changed our name to Human Nature when we started recording. We’re really excited about being in Las Vegas—this is a dream come true for us. Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world.” Phil Burton, the bass singer of the group, explains that the four were in school choir together and knew that they had a special blend fight from the start. He remarks that it was that spark that kept them going. According to Robinson, even back when he was the lead singer of the Miracles, the groups whose members knew each other from the beginning and started off as friends lasted, but the ones that came from different places and didn’t know each other didn’t. “It’s the ones who would go into the bathroom and sing because the sound was so good that stayed around,” he smiles. “I have a philosophy – there are no real artists. You just have to keep on doing what you’re doing, keep on improving, keep your head on straight and feel blessed doing the thing that you love. Don’t take show business personally and don’t ruin it by taking yourself too seriously.” As for four white-bread lads from Australia singing the music by the black groups of this era with such soul, Burton makes the point that Motown Music has always been infectious and international and that it was never black music but rather music for the entire world. “You can feel the joy in the music,” he states. Robinson notes that, as a songwriter, it’s a great joy to hear people singing his songs. He says that he feels that the reason his music has lasted so many years is because when he sits down to write, he really tries to write a song and doesn’t focus on it being a hit. He says that he’s heard many variations of his hits sung by others and that he likes and appreciates each and every one. “Of course, I want a song to be successful but I’ve always really just tried to write a good song , something that could have been around 50 years before today, today, or 50 years from today,” he explains. “If you do that, the song will live on and on. These four guys are totally professional and I’m very proud that they’re singing Motown music. They can sing anything; they can sing the phone book. It’s a matter of pride for me to endorse Human Nature and present them.” Insofar as where he gets his inspiration from, Robinson reveals that he is not a specialized songwriter but that almost every day of his life something comes to him—an idea, a melody, a phrase, a structure—and he feels that it’s a blessing from God. “I don’t need to isolate myself and go to the mountains or go to the beach and grow a beard,” he laughs. “It just happens. I’ve had a thought in mind to write a song for Human Nature but I had been working on two albums at the same time. One, “Timeless Love,” is an album of standards that came out and then I released an album of all original songs. So outside projects left me no time. I would still like to write one for the group, though.” In the meantime, Human Nature will continue to sing all those fabulous Motown hits that they’ve always loved and felt a connection to, including Robinson’s. All four agree that the lasting quality of Motown music has been the great melodies, harmonies, the energy and the nature of the great songs themselves. They say that they like to think that their version is what Motown would look and sound like today and that they are doing a modern take on a Motown revue. “We love performing this music so much,” sums up Toby Allen. “This show is basically us being inspired by that music.” By the way, makes a surprise appearance in the show from time to time. But then, what else would you expect from a star who has taken four talented young men under his wing? Once again, it’s Human Nature.
Should Auld Lang Syne Never Be Forgot For Tony Orlando, the past meets the future on New Year’s Eve By Bobbie Katz It was nearly 50 years ago that Tony Orlando found himself “Halfway to Paradise.” But it wasn’t until 1973, when he tied one round the ole oak tree, that he began the journey that had him truly seeing stars. For the dynamic performer, who is not just sold out but is oversold for his New Year’s Eve performance at the South Point and who will be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame on March 21, 2011 in honor of his five decades in show business, memories are made of this. And for those lucky enough to have their reservations for his show this coming weekend, big fun tinged with nostalgia is just the ticket. “It was on March 21, 1961 that my first record, ‘Halfway to Paradise,’ was released,” Orlando recalls. “It was Carole King’s first hit as a songwriter and mine as a singer. The Grammy Hall of Fame induction is happening 50 years later to the day. Two months ago, I was honored for my 50 years in TV at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills. It was an amazing night. “Looking back over my career, I wouldn’t change anything, even with the downsides,” he continues. “I have a few regrets, such as not taking a talk show on ABC that was offered to me, but no disappointments. What is there to be disappointed about? With every down, there’s an up. Every time I made a mistake, it empowered me to make the right move the next time. I’m 66 years old and I’ve never been out of work. I don’t take anything for granted and I don’t take myself seriously—I just go out on stage and have a good time. But I take the audience seriously and I owe them the best New Year’s Eve they’ve ever had. They are my boss—they’re the ones who have given me my work.” Orlando still remembers the enormous thrill of being 16 years old, lying on his bed listening to his transistor radio, when ‘Halfway to Paradise’ came on a 50,000-watt station out of Chicago and the DJ called it “the next major record.” But for those who don’t know Orlando’s back story, it wasn’t until he found himself behind the desk of CBS Records as a vice president for the Music Division 10 years later, “discovering,” signing and producing the likes of Barry Manilow and James Taylor, that he got his real break. As a favor to a producer he knew, Orlando recorded a song called “Candida.” Because he was working for CBS and the record was cut on the Bell label, Orlando recorded the song under the name Dawn so that no one knew it was he singing. As fate would have it, the record shot to Number 1. Then he recorded “Knock Three Times,” again under the name of Dawn, and that record became the biggest selling record of 1971. Though both records together had sold an amazing six million copies, the problem was that since no one knew who Dawn was, 14 other groups popped up and claimed that they were Dawn. Orlando soon found himself with an expensive battle on his hands to prove who he was and decided to start a group so that they could make public appearances. He found Telma Hopkins and her cousin, Joyce Vincent Wilson, while he was looking for background singers for a Manilow record and together they became Dawn, then later Tony Orlando and Dawn. “For me, there have been so many highlights in my career,” Orlando acknowledges. “There was the summer of ’73 when Telma, Joyce and I did the first taping of our TV show with Jackie Gleason as our first guest. ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon’ had come out earlier that year, which is what led to the TV show with that song as the theme song. Then, in 1976, at the Republican Convention, I danced with the First Lady, Betty Ford, to ‘Yellow Ribbon’ and Walter Cronkite announced it on TV. I sat between Cary Grant and Sonny Bono at the event. That was quite a thing for a kid from Hell’s Kitchen.” Orlando feels that his life was destined. Growing up in New York, he would walk to Broadway to dream. He would look at all the records on the walls of the record stores and felt like he was “walking in a bubble.” He says that he never had a doubt that he was going to perform on Broadway or have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame or have his own TV show. “It’s not egotistical—I just always knew,” he relates.” I have more doubt now than when I was a kid. I was 9 when I first knew. That was when I saw Singing In the Rain and saw Gene Kelly dancing around that lamp post. It had rained that day and as I left the theater, I was kicking puddles, like he did, with my left foot. Years later, Frank Sinatra asked me to be part of a tribute to Gene Kelly. I told Gene, with Sinatra to my right, my left foot story. It’s been a wonderful life, and as Bobby Darin said, hopefully to be continued.” As for the future, Orlando says that one thing he wants to do is perform Zorba the Greek on Broadway. “I was having dinner in Honolulu and Anthony Quinn was in the restaurant,” Orlando says. “He was actually half Mexican and half Irish; I’m half Greek and half Puerto Rican—my dad was Greek. So I asked Anthony to bless me to play Zorba for my father. He said to me, ‘My boy, when Anthony Quinn goes to the pearly gates, you can be Zorba.’” About all those rumors that Jerry Lewis will be retiring from his MDA telethon and turning the reins over to Orlando, who has been hosting the event from New York for the last several years, they’re just that—rumors. “I’m Jerry’s helper, like Santa’s helper,” Orlando laughs. “If Jerry was not doing the telethon, I would never take it over. There isn’t anyone who could replace Jerry Lewis. It will always be the Jerry Lewis Telethon.” Ok, so Orlando must have a New Year’s resolution or two. “It’s about my weight,” he sighs, noting that he lost 103 pounds on NutriSystem a couple of years ago. “I go back and forth about 10 pounds but, to me, it feels like 100 pounds.” For this New Year’s Eve, he’ll be content to take the weight of the world off his audience’s shoulders With Your Eyes Wide Open, You’re Dreaming Anita Mann continues to turn FANTASY into reality By Bobbie Katz What happens when you combine a legendary choreographer with every red-blooded man’s sweetest dream? No, you don’t get visions of sugarplums dancing in your head but rather a FANTASY twirling in front of your very eyes in the form of sensuous dancers, live music and steamy vignettes nightly in the intimate Atrium Showroom at Luxor. Produced by Anita Mann, who has been honored by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as one of America’s top five contemporary choreographers (she is also the recipient of six Emmy nominations and two Emmys), FANTASY is currently celebrating its 11th anniversary at the hotel. In honor of that milestone, this fall, the show welcomed new numbers and a sexy, powerhouse lead singer, Lorena Peril. “I always try to keep the show fresh by continually redoing it,” says Mann, noting that FANTASY has a lot of repeat business. “I think that every day is the first day of this show. It’s important to keep up with what’s going on with the times and to keep the show user-friendly. We like the audience to meet the girls so we have a free meet-and-greet after each performance at which people can bring their cameras or cell phones and take pictures with the cast.. Our formula for success is making the audience number one and ensuring that they get the most for their money. Our object is to please them. The girls do a great job in FANTASY—no one phones it in.” Mann explains that the show, which she initially put together in six weeks for the Luxor, is a constant evolvement and that there is a rehearsal once a week at which she always takes dance notes. She feels that every show has to be better than the show before and she takes advantage of the opportunity of having another day to fix what might have gone wrong the day before. “When we first opened, there were less adult shows,” she recalls. “Now we have to compete against bigger shows, such as PEEPSHOW. But I’m excited to be part of the Las Vegas entertainment scene and excited that FANTASY has been renewed for another year. I’m really proud of this show and I owe so much to the cast. The girls sincerely love dancing and coming to work and they truly love the audience. Lorena Peril is so special and so professional. And the Atrium Showroom makes for a more intimate experience in which we can break the fourth wall and talk to the audience and be up close and personal with them. Plus, the cast is beautiful, both inside and out.” Mann, who choreographed the Minsky revue that was so much a part of Las Vegas’ golden past, has always felt that showgirls were a beautiful part of that history. She acknowledges, however, that there is fine line between art and lewdness when doing an adult revue and that not crossing that line is a matter of taste. “I always ask myself, ‘What would my mother expect?’” she expresses. “What would make her and others upset? Where do you stop? My upbringing was very conservative. I’m from the Midwest and I’m actually kind of straight-laced. I would never ask the cast to do anything that makes them uncomfortable. I want to make sure that they’re happy; they’re concerned with doing their best job. I’m not going to go with the trend; I’m going to stick with what’s acceptable to the talent. Content is king and I’m proud of the fact that this show is fun and entertaining. I won’t ever embarrass myself or the girls. “When I choreographed Solid Gold on TV, I pushed the envelope,” she adds. “I remember getting letters from some people stating, ‘You’re going to burn in hell.’ The costumes were sexy for the ‘80s. But the girls danced beautifully. Everything was body movement and dancers’ bodies have to show or you can’t see those movements.” All the numbers in FANTASY were the concept of Mann (who is still doing some things for TV and recently co-produced the Dirty Dancing series) in conjunction with award-winning choreographer Cris Judd, Gustavo Vargas from Canada’s So You Think You Can Dance, and Tiger Martina. FANTASY contains music from a variety of genres, including pop, rock, country and Latin. Providing comic relief is Sean E. Cooper, who does right-on impressions of pop cultures most popular personalities, including James Brown, Tina Turner and Michael Jackson. Another unique factor is that Mann doesn’t ask the girls their ages and cites that she doesn’t care how old they are as long as they are dancing and not faking it and they feel good about themselves. Unless there is a problem backstage, she doesn’t change the cast. In 11 years, there have only been four lead singers. However, although she says that she has always been happy watching FANTASY, Mann still wants to change some numbers. Sometimes, she relates, she’ll hear a song and just have to choreograph a number to it. “I’m a ridiculous perfectionist,” she laughs. “It’s not a matter of not being happy with the show; it’s a matter of I can improve it. When I make a change, I can tell immediately if it’s going to work. I know before putting something on stage or TV if it’s going to work— that’s my job and it’s why I have a job. But I think my taste is very normal and that I have the same sensibilities as a lot of other people and I like what they like. I dream up numbers for FANTASY all the time and am always open to new things. Ideas come from everything.” To sleep. Perchance to dream... Now through December 25,international recording artist Sisqó is guest- starring in FANTASY performing his No. 1 hit “Thong Song” alongside the sexy cast. Leaving a Lasting Impression Frank Caliendo cuts his long-term engagement short By Bobbie Katz Call it a 1 to 10 split.
“Performing at Monte Carlo is an experience I won’t soon forget,” says Caliendo. “From day one, the support from the staff and fans has been amazing. However, the demands of traveling from Phoenix and being away from my family have been harder than I anticipated. With this move, I hope to take advantage of opportunities in television and film that will allow me to spend more time as a husband and a father.” “This is Vegas, so this show is bigger and has a higher production value than traditional standup,” Caliendo explains about his Monte Carlo show. “I’ve got a live band and we have video segments. It has all of the excitement of a TV show but it is live-on-stage and no two shows are exactly alike. “My impressions evolved differently,” he continues, explaining how he made his name in show business. “I grew up watching Jonathan Winters and Robin Williams and my impressions are tied to standup. A lot of people are still doing impressions the way they were done 30 years ago and they are still doing those same celebrities. A lot of 20-ish and 30-ish kids—who know me from my football gig and YouTube—don’t know the people they are portraying. The hardest part is finding impressions that appeal to a wide enough audience and you’re never going to get everyone in the audience with every joke. I go from voice to voice in the middle of a joke. I also have a specific portion of the show in which I use props. Plus, I can do Walter Brennan and cartoons.” One thing that separates Caliendo from a lot of the pack is that he works very clean. “My dirtiest line is when I’m doing Bill Clinton and he says that he likes melons—and he’s actually talking about fruit at the time,” Caliendo laughs. “I do care about the clean aspect, maybe a little too much sometimes. I have two little kids. While it’s not for kids, my act is borderline PG—the worst I will say is something like ‘I’ll kick your ass.” Caliendo explains that he has a point of view on each celebrity that he portrays and that he builds his standup around them. For example, since Robin Williams is known to be a vocal chameleon, Caliendo depicts him doing the entire Wizard of Oz, portraying every character. Or since Caliendo has observed that Al Pacino yells in movies for no reason at all and he would love to see him cast as a librarian, he portrays him in that mode. “I try to pull some truth,” Caliendo notes. “That’s the funniest thing. I have to think like the person to do the person. It’s like looking into a mirror and looking down at myself from another body. It’s almost like I can see the whole scene while I’m performing it—I can actually see the person when I’m doing him.” Audience members may find themselves hearing different voices every night—Caliendo improvises parts of every show, adding a different element. “I grew up watching TV. I love TV,” Caliendo exclaims. “Growing up, I could mimic people. I graduated from the University of Milwaukee in 1996 with a degree in broadcast journalism. But I wasn’t a good investigative reporter. So I attended comedy improv classes and would improvise voices. A guy told me that I should try standup and that my impressions could be utilized on the club and college circuit, which I did from 1996-1999. I ended up on TV in 2000, where I did my very first comedy sketch.” Although he quips that he didn’t read his contract carefully and that he thought his Monte Carlo deal was for 10 years of tenure not performance, in reality Caliendo says that he has had a very good relationship with the folks at the hotel and that he is very impressed with everyone. “I just let things happen,” Caliendo sums up. “If I dwell too much, I drive myself crazy so I try not to think about it. Whatever comes my way and seems right, I do. Otherwise, I go in a different direction.” Come this spring, it will be south—to Phoenix. Celebrity Secrets Some little-known facts about big Vegas personalities By Bobbie Katz Ok, so you read the tabloids, the Internet reports and watch shows like Entertainment Tonight and you’ve gotten the skinny on which celebrities have lost or gained weight, who has been arrested for drunk driving, or which ones aren’t wearing underwear on a given night. But how much do you know about the headliners that appear on the stages of Las Vegas? It’s our turn to chew the fat about some of the city’s heavyweights. Did you know:
Tournament of Kings Rides High on the Strip for 20 years By Bobbie Katz When was the last time you were told that it was okay to eat dinner with your hands? At Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur, it’s absolutely the order of the day. With its medieval flair, a genuine jousting tournament, great special effects including dragons and fire wizards, and a finger-licking good meal, this show is a royal treat for the entire family. Taking place in the more than 900-seat King Arthur’s Arena at the hotel, it is a fantasy excursion into the intrigue and excitement of medieval Europe. “People can express themselves at this show,” explains Patrick Jackson, the production’s creator/producer, about its popularity that has seen it just celebrate its 20th anniversary at the hotel. “It is interactive and there’s a certain freedom in the room. People hate each other without really hating each other.” At Tournament of Kings, guests can definitely show their colors. The kings, each wearing a different hue, represent seven different countries – Russia, purple; France, blue; Ireland, green; Spain, orchid; Austria, brown and tan; Norway, orange, and Hungary, burgundy. The Dragon Knight wears black. The crowd is seated in eight different sections, each corresponding to a particular king and his color (one section corresponds to the Dragon Knight) and each section cheers its combatant on. From show to show, no one knows which royal entity will win this exciting tournament – for real. The story begins when amid the backdrop of a fanciful feast, King Arthur gathers his fellow kings of Europe in his kingdom of Avalon for a no-holds-barred jousting competition to honor his son, Christopher. The rival kings begin the games, riding their faithful steeds through rounds and rounds of medieval sport, testing their skills, agility, strength and endurance. But as the event winds down and the victorious king takes his celebration lap, the evil fire wizard Mordred (played by Anthony Restivo, who was a semi-finalist on this year’s America’s Got Talent) attacks, dampening the festivities and threatening to throw the land of Avalon into an age of fire and shadows. Kingdoms clash, beasts attack, and fire burns bright. The dragon kills a king by knocking him from his horse, then challenges Arthur and wounds him mortally. Before dying, Arthur asks his son to avenge his death. Christopher is left to fight the dragon. Merlin the Magician appears to explain that because of an old curse, once wounded, the dragon turns into a Dragon Knight. Christopher wounds the dragon and the transformation occurs. Six fighters, dressed as one-half dragon, one-half fighter, then enter and surround Christopher, who seeks help by blowing his horn to beckon the kings. With the royals’ assistance, Christopher defeats all the dragons, including the Dragon Knight. Merlin reappears and presents the Sword of Arthur, Excalibur, to Christopher. A celebration follows. With 36 cast members, 26 horses (currently there are normally 30), and elaborate costumes (new ones will be put in the show in December), one can only imagine the huge expense involved in this production. “This is a very expensive show to run,” admits Jackson. “There is a lot of maintenance. Costumes can get ripped very easily. I wish that the guys in the cast would hit each other a little softer but there is this real macho guy thing going on. It’s better for the audience but it’s nerve-wracking because you don’t know what’s going to happen. My biggest worry is that someone or one of the horses will get hurt. I am constantly hands-on. “We have a very clean safety record,” he adds. “We know every inch of the arena. My dad and I, who created the show especially for the Excalibur, were there when they built it. We told them what we needed and it was built with our specifications in mind. We use every inch of space outside as well as back space. When you work in a tighter space, you need to pay more attention. Everyone knows where they’re supposed to stay. We don’t allow guests backstage for this reason. We do a meet- and-greet in the arena after the show with Diablo, our black Fresian horse. He’s always very secure.” Jackson notes that there are 10-12 horses used every night in the show and that the same horse is never used two days in a row. The breeds of the equines include Fresian, Morgan, Arabian, Quarter horses, and Andalusian. For 19 years, Ivan Caulier has been the company manager and stunt coordinator who knows each horse and ensures the safety of the animals and their riders. He warms the horses up beginning at 4:30 p.m. (the show starts at 6 p.m.) and rehearses them every night after the show. For the last year, Jackson has also retained a female horse trainer from France named Jesse Bonneau. “It’s like having 30 children,” Jackson smiles, talking about the horses. “They live in a stable the hotel built for us and they are very well cared for by a staff of 10, including a stable manager and an assistant. We have one veterinarian and there are others on call. A Ferrier comes in once a week to change the horses’ shoes.” All the king’s horses -– and all the show’s men, women, scenery and special effects – make this production a thrilling spectacle to behold. It is one show in which excitement is truly the crowning glory. Las Vegas is His Kind of TownFrank Sinatra Jr. is taking a chance on the love of good musicBy Bobbie Katz
Admittedly, it’s not always easy to find jobs when there are so many musicians involved. But with his goal these days being to just keep working, Sinatra Jr. continues on his path, seeing to it that the people who still want to hear this kind of music get it on a high note. “I had the notion a long time ago that someone has to offer a sound with real music, a real band or a real orchestra—a real endeavor,” Sintara Jr. says. “Because of the larger accompaniment, my show is different than anyone else’s. There’s also a historical Las Vegas section in it in, which I do one little bit of the famous acts that appeared in the city in the past. When I appeared at the Suncoast this past April, I told some Jack E. Leonard stories and the audience loved them. It’s kind of fun.” Sinatra Jr., who has played Las Vegas off and on since 1963, remembers coming to Las Vegas with his father back in 1960 when his dad was there with Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin in what was infamously known as the “Rat Pack.” About his remembrances of that famous group, Sinatra Jr. says that they were “a bunch of guys fooling around and having a good time, who found ways to make themselves happy by clowning with each other.” The first time Sinatra Jr. actually visited Vegas, however, was in 1954. Calling the city in those days quite a place to be, he notes that it was a two-lane ribbon of road called Highway 91. “If you drove off the Strip of concrete, you’d be in the sand and need a tow truck to get you out,” he laughs. He also recalls the ensuing days when he and his father would be appearing in town at the same time and they would get together after their shows and go downtown to visit an old reporter friend named Forrest Duke, who was then a greeter at the Union Plaza. In 1977, what Sinatra Jr. refers to as a “total eclipse” occurred: his father and he were appearing at the same hotel at the same time, Sinatra in the main room and he in the lounge. In 1993, what he terms an “eclipse” transpired when both appeared in town at the same time, with Sinatra at Caesars Palace and Sinatra Jr. at the Frontier. Still, he admits that it was not easy growing up Sinatra. “No one ever had a rougher time than I had,” he admits. “Someone once said in a book that if I hadn’t been named Frank Sinatra Jr., I would have had a better chance. The Jr. is not even technologically correct—my dad was Francis Albert and I’m Francis Wayne. My father was seldom around when I was growing up because of his career. And I wasn’t the ideal child—I was always in trouble. My parents divorced when I was 7, and it was a very hard thing for me. A lot of things changed and it was very difficult in terms of my own perception. “What my father gave me most of all was hell, like any dad would give a screw-up like I was,” he continues, talking about his father’s personal legacy. “The biggest thing is that he was a man, right or wrong, who believed what he believed. He was never wishy-washy or a 51-percenter. If he went against the trend, that didn’t matter to him. He had principles and that’s what he gave to me. Winston Churchill said that the man who has no grace has no character. I believe that. And as I once told the son of another famous father, you can sit there and take two big pieces of paper and write down the good and bad of being your father’s son but, afterwards, you’re left with two big pieces of paper. You can either put it behind you or make yourself a dribbling madman.” When, in 1988, Sinatra asked him to be his musical director, Sinatra Jr. says he nearly fell over. That association lasted six years and 10 months until the elder Sinatra stopped working. Besides realizing that his father needed him for the first time in his life, Sinatra Jr. also felt he was giving something back to the man who provided him with food, clothes, an education and medical care. “My dad was 72 and I was 44 when he asked me to conduct for him,” he relates. “It was the first time he had ever asked me to do something for him. Even though he was one of the big, big stars left, he was slowing down, his eyes and ears were failing and he needed someone who could help him keep it together. I remember being flabbergasted when during the Ultimate Event tour with my father, Sammy and Liza Minnelli, a reporter called me ‘the glue that holds it all together.’ I had endeavored to be invisible and just let the audience see the back of my head and jacket.” Since those days, Sinatra Jr. has once again strived to be out in front, doing those wonderful songs that reach out and touch the audience. Although the name Sinatra will always have its own special magic, he is intent on making sure that it will always be music to the ears. Knowing is Believing
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Supernaturally Yours
Claire Sinclair is hot to trot in Crazy Horse once again
Menopause’s newest cast member has her own prescription for contentment
about two and a half weeks,” Kompst, who has been with the show about 8 weeks, explains. “We’re taking a step back before I learn the other two roles—Professional Woman and Earth Mother— to get me into rotation in the show. It’s so interesting, there are other people covering the different roles and with each person that does so, it becomes a whole different show. You pull a little of yourself from every character you play.
Discovering the BODIES
By Bobbie Katz
Comedy hypnotist Anthony Cools focuses on adult fun 
By Bobbie Katz
By Bobbie Katz
watch and listen, you participate in all the feelings he brings forth. You experience joy, laughter, tears, and nostalgia, all in the course of 90 minutes. One of the few entertainers who changes his show on a yearly basis, and sometimes in-between, he presented not only a brand new program but also debuted his hot new stage look and a kick-butt new band. It’s all part and parcel of the fact that Engelbert keeps himself contemporary and fresh, giving romance a pulse. He opened his show with an upbeat tune called “Stay With Me Stay,” and stay with him, the crowd did, even long after his performance was over, judging from the buzz about it that continues on even now.
Rita Rudner admits. “It’s never finished. Every day I add something new—I try to control my mind and think of something. What I say in my act about my husband is true—I’ll make a comment off the top of my head and he’ll look at the top of my head and say, ‘What’s it like in there?’
Tim Allen seeks to bring down the house at The Venetian
Sammy Shore has long been known for being Elvis Presley’s favorite comedian and opening act, founding the Comedy Store in L.A., working with some of the world’s biggest stars and being the father of actor/comedian Pauly Shore.
Bobby Slayton has long been known as “The Pitbull of Comedy.” And it will be apparent to anyone in his audiences at Hooters from January 27-April 2 that he will have a bone to pick with just about everybody who comes within his comedic territory—there’s no fencing this guy in.
To all the girls he’s loved before, the news must have hit them with a poignant note.
Smokey Robinson set the stage for a spectacular act at the Imperial Palace one and a half years ago. It’s one that surprisingly features four white Aussie guys singing Motown. Now, more than ever, if you can’t take the heat, you might want to stay out of the showroom— in his inimitable style, the Motown icon has proven once again that where there’s Smokey, there’s fire. 
wanted me to join them on “Get Ready” and “Tears of a Clown” and they came into my studio and sang for me. I was blown away. It was wonderful to hear guys singing acappella like they were on a street corner. They are singers’ singers. And they’re not only great singers but great dancers. I was so impressed when I saw them perform that I knew they’d be a huge success.”
Comic impressionist Frank Caliendo, who opened his gig at the Monte Carlo in October 2009 with a 10-year contract, has taken stock of his life and has decided to separate from the property after performing there a little over one year. The entertainer announced this week that after a commercially and critically successful run, he is leaving the hotel this spring to focus on family and other projects.
Cher once admitted that the lights go on and off in her bedroom by themselves and that she believes it’s her late husband, Sonny, letting her know that he’s there. 
Holly Madison, stat of PEEPSHOW and the E! Entertainment TV series Holly’s World reveals that she hasn’t reached her height yet and says that, eventually, she wants to be a mom and a Sunday school teacher. She loves going to church every Sunday with friends.
Eva Longoria, star of Desperate Housewives and owner of Beso in Crystals at CityCenter, finds it mind-boggling that she is the first, and currently only, woman restaurateur in Las Vegas. She spends 80 percent of her time doing philanthropy. 
Barry Manilow says that where his songwriting is concerned, the songs that come to him without thinking are the ones everybody likes while the ones he struggles with never make it because he believes that people can hear the struggle in them.
Carmen Electra likes to design clothes in her quiet moments and would like someday to have her own clothing line. Inspired by her live performances, she sketches things and sews them together.
Rita Rudner admits that it’s never been easy to write comedy, that it’s been a struggle from Day One. She likens it to walking a tightrope and she’s always saying, “I’d better get another foot on this tightrope or I’m going down.”
Marie Osmond calls herself “a guy chick” because, growing up with eight brothers, she can hang out with the guys and have a great time. She says she processes things the way a guy does—she gets her angry moments over with and she’s done and happy that it’s over. From her brothers, she’s learned to just go with the flow.
Clint Holmes gets depressed if he doesn’t sit down at his piano for a couple of hours each night and try to write a song or create something.
Comedy magician Amazing Johnathan started out as a street performer in San Francisco and found himself getting arrested a lot for obstruction, after shop owners complained. He added comedy to his magic because every time he went to do a trick, something would inadvertently go wrong.
Mac King is a gourmet cook. The only job he ever had outside of show business was as a chef in a popular restaurant in Kentucky. His specialty is chicken with mushrooms and shallots in a wine cream sauce and he says he makes the best chocolate flourless cake in the whole world.
Frankie Scinta built his own computer and loves working on software—it’s like therapy for him—and he resolves all his family’s and friend’s computer problems. He has found a software program that allows him to log on to someone else’s computer and solve the problem without ever leaving his home.
Female impersonator Frank Marino may change clothes 17 times a night in his gig starring in An Evening at La Cage at the Riviera but there is not one trace of drag anywhere in his home—not an earring, an eyelash or even powder for his face.
Besides being a raw and uncensored hypnotist, Anthony Cools is also a musician, artist, photographer, pilot, show producer and entrepreneur. He uses his own Motivation and Positive Self Program that he came out with in 2002 to prioritize and manage his time.
One wouldn’t expect it about wise-cracking street guy Vinnie Favorito but his passion is playing chess. He also loves watching movies (especially in the true crime genre) and owns some 5,000 DVD’s and loves to play poker and has played in the World Series of Poker. 
Gordie Brown is the proud owner of the ring that Elvis Presley wore on his right pinky in the documentary about the King’s career called That’s The Way It Is. Designed in Nashville by jeweler Harry Levitz in 1965, Elvis wore the ring until 1974. Brown obtained it after three months of negotiating with a collector who had purchased it at a Christie’s auction in 1993.
Your Kingdom for a Horse
Size does count. Just ask Frank Sinatra Jr., who will be coming to the Orleans stage November 19-21 with a 20-piece band to make the kind of swelling Big Band music that his famous father and he have always been known for. For Sinatra Jr., doing a stint with just piano, bass and drums, akin to “back being a singer in a cocktail lounge,” is unacceptable. Like his famous parent, he stays true to his craft, continuing to do things “his way.”
Art comes alive in this MGM Paris revue
Louie Anderson Sees the Light
It Was Always in the Card
Call him the Wizard of Odds of the pop music arena.
The Pause That Refreshes
groups popped up and claimed that they were Dawn. Orlando soon found himself with an expensive battle on his hands to prove who he was and decided to start a group so that they could make public appearances.
KA: A World Unto Itself
n a cliff chasing each other, one performer falls from the top of the stage, a distance of 90 feet. Even though we have safety nets underneath, we still felt it was too dangerous. So we put air bags on top of the safety nets.”
A Labor (Day) of Love
covered with in this business, it goes away when the wisdom comes,” he explains. “Wisdom doesn’t come to you until you’re pretty well on in years. I learned more about myself when I was 62 or 63 than I ever had before, but then what would you do with wisdom at 37? Along with the wisdom comes a new attitude. All of a sudden, you find yourself and your thought process becomes exquisite. You’re putting positive perspectives in your life because there’s an inner feeling there that you have nothing to do with.
Blues in the Night
Still Setting the World on Its Ear
The fiery Latin entertainer with the big blonde locks, comedic fractured English, voluptuous body and the hip motion she calls “cuchi-cuchi” is making her latest move in the Las Vegas market. She will be “shaking” things up at the South Point on August 13 and 14 – and you just may be able to feel the tremors from “hair” to eternity.
When famed Big Band leader Xavier Cugat spotted her on the show, he decided that Charo was just what his orchestra needed. 
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