Notes: Gans clan wows at Hall of Fame event; Knight headed for Tiffany?

By John Katsilometes

Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 | 4:33 p.m.

Notes? We got yer notes right here, buddy, and they’re stacking up like used snow tires in a Pocatello Big O shop:

• This year the Nevada Entertainer/Artist Hall of Fame moved from Ham Hall to the UNLV Student Union ballroom. It’s was a wise move, given that the audience in past years rattled around cavernous Ham Hall, and those attending had little chance to interact (unless you count tweeting from your seat).

This event, attended by about 250 guests, has become a highlight of the year’s event calendar, mostly for its appeal to people who actually live in Las Vegas. Seated at my table were eight individuals, four of whom were Las Vegas natives -- and had never met. You’d think that, at some point, Las Vegas News Bureau Curator and Liberace Foundation board member Brian Paco Alvarez would have been introduced to KSNV Channel 3 entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs. But not until Thursday’s program.

Honored were the late Danny Gans, the brilliant interior designer Roger Thomas, Rainbow Company Youth Theatre and architect Thomas J. Schoeman (who was awarded the first Dean’s Medal for his contributions to the university). A tribute film montage for Tony Curtis, who died in September, also was played for the audience.

Gans’ award was accepted by his son Andrew and daughter Amy. After a recorded tribute to the celebrated comic/impressionist was played on the room’s video panels, Andrew stepped to the mic, his voice halting, and said, “They always show the video before (the speech).” Andrew Gans is 20 years old and stands about 6-foot-3. As College of Fine Arts Dean Jeffrey Koep said, in reference to Danny Gans’ baseball career, “Andrew looks like a baseball player.” A pitcher, likely. The younger Gans also looks like he can dunk a basketball in street clothes.

I’d not met any of the Gans children until Thursday, and Andrew’s strong handshake and fast smile reminded me so much of his father. UNLV’s decision to honor Gans and invite his family to the event was absolutely the right call.

• Remember the tale of Maxwell Ming “Ziggy” Hollick? Ziggy is the son of “The Lion King” cast members Angela and Michael Hollick, whose start-of-life premiere in July was a bit earlier than scheduled. Like, seven weeks earlier than scheduled. About to assume the role of Scar in the Disney production at Mandalay Bay, Michael instead bolted from the hotel while still wearing full makeup after being informed that his wife was going into labor. One of Ziggy’s first sights will be of his father in African jungle makeup, a photo op for the ages.

Well, this month, Ziggy finally met his parents’ co-workers. Angela reports that, similar to the production, Ziggy was a hit. He was born to be in show business, I guess.

• Even as hotel officials sort out just how to proceed with renovating Tiffany Theatre, the old Tropicana showroom remains one of the real gems on the Strip. I sort of hope they keep putting off plans to gut the venue and add seats in a more modern theater design. Until then, it would be an ideal spot to showcase a legendary performer who is strongly connected to Las Vegas and who doesn’t currently have a standing gig in town.

If you’re thinking Gladys Knight, you’re not far off.

I wouldn’t be thrown loopy if Knight, one of the great vocalists ever in contemporary music, were brought into Tiffany Theatre sometime this year. Keep the antennae up for that speculation to become reality, with Knight joining Recycled Percussion and The Beatles tribute “Yesterday” as headliners at the hotel. Sometime down the line, that Gloria Estefan-based musical will move in, but I wouldn’t expect that to happen until next year, after the theater upgrades are completed. A cafe concept involving Estefan's husband, Emilio, also is being discussed at the hotel.

• The Concert of the Week was Journey/Night Ranger at Planet Hollywood Theatre for the Performing Arts. Night Ranger still pumps out “Sister Christian” and “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” as if the calendar is stuck on 1984. That's fine with me; I seem to remember that being a good year, music-wise and otherwise.

And what more can you say of Journey vocalist Arnel Pineda, aside from he’s the most fiery Filipino on the planet not named Manny Pacquiao. He’s a breathtaking vocalist and treats the stage like his personal jungle gym. Pineda has given Journey, whose lineup still features longtime members Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain and Ross Valory, renewed life. But any Journey concert still relies very heavily on the band’s hits from the 1980s.

Fortunately, Pineda blasts the vocals on the new stuff with untrammeled glee, and as I tweeted during the show, “This little dude is so good, he could win ‘American Idol.’ ”

There is no higher praise, right?

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