Live from ‘iHat’ music festival: The Wayner joins real-deal Neal McCoy at MGM Village

By John Katsilometes

Friday, Oct. 3, 2014 | 9:15 p.m.

The Kats Report Bureau at this writing is the Route 91 Harvest music extravaganza at MGM Resorts Village across the Strip from Luxor and Mandalay Bay.

Yessir, last month MGM Grand and MGM Resorts Village hosted the iHeart Radio Music Festival. This is the iHat Radio Music Festival. The headliner tonight is a real big gun, Blake Shelton, and along the way it has been (or will be) Brothers Osborne, Dan + Shay, Randy Houser and Brantley Gilbert. Between sets, Dee Jay Silver keeps the crowd on its toes, proof that country music is always willing to expand to any genre. I mean, any.

Earlier, pre-sunset, Neal McCoy played a quick Beatles medley of “Yesterday,” entirely a crowd sing-along, followed by a full-scale “Come Together.” Not the easiest song, lyric-wise or otherwise, but the crowd loved it. Me, too. McCoy is a really polished live performer, a fully realized artist who has played all variety of venue (from saloons to Wrigley Field to, this weekend, the Hollywood Bowl). He’s also appeared at multiple shows for troops serving overseas. That’s why Wayne Newton showed up, onstage, to hug and heap praise and thank McCoy for his involvement in the USO.

Quick story about McCoy, from a fairground performance not long ago in Kalispell, Mont., where Newton spends much of his time these days. In the audience was famed animal expert and Columbus Zoo director emeritus Jack Hanna, a friend of both Newton and McCoy. Hanna is a celebrity largely for his many appearances with David Letterman, and McCoy pointed him out in the audience and announced, “There’s nothing my friend Jack likes more than to pose for photos and sign autographs! Jack! Stand up and let the people see ya!” McCoy also recited, accurately, Hanna’s address at his nearby lakeside estate. And the gate code.

Which is why, if you ever have a chance to catch McCoy, do it. He’s a little nuts, and a great performer.

A little more note-imparting as Houser burns this place up:

• Why is this called Route 91 Harvest? Because the Strip was formerly, and I guess currently, dubbed Route 91. Harvest is to indicate a lot of food collection and consumption, I suppose. Officials are expecting 20,000 fans each night for three nights, which is … well, you do the math.

It adds up to the largest outdoor country-specific festival ever in this city, or the largest anyone can recall, and definitely the largest on the Strip.

Again, same as at iHeart, shuttle service is being furnished at MGM Resorts hotels nearby: Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Excalibur, MGM Grand and New York-New York. That service runs throughout the festival, with pick up/drop off service provided from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. all three days/nights. Slash/got it?

• On the topic of entertainment and MGM Resorts, the Cirque du Soleil show “MJ One” is adding an artist. He’s a pretty famous one, too: Jean Sok, the one-legged dancer who electrified the “Immortal” touring production and also gained fame for his performance with CeeLo Green during “Fight to Win” at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena. How Sok is to be integrated into a show that’s already pretty, uh, great-ed is not yet being disclosed. But he’s in, and soon, at Mandalay Bay.

• A show to know about at Ron DeCar’s Event Center (formerly known as Viva Las Vegas Event Center, on L.V. Boulevard just south of Charleston Boulevard) is “Joni & Gina’s Wedding.” The show is not affiliated with the long-running “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding,” now at V Theater, and is different because the two central figures in the show — Joni & Gina — are gay. Produced and co-directed by Troy Heard, who made a go of it with “Pawn Shop Live!” at Riviera, the show is a piece of interactive theater similarly structured like most dinner shows. However, the claim is you don’t have to be totally immersive to enjoy the show.

The show debuted Thursday and plays again Oct. 16, 23, Nov. 13, 28 and Dec. 11 and 26. Check-in is 6:45 p.m., and the ceremony follows at 7:30. The production played for six years in L.A. As Heard says, quoted on DeCar’s website, “Yes, there are numerous wedding-type shows out there, but this will be the only current Vegas show that is LGBTQ-themed. ‘Joni & Gina’s’ resonates because these characters have heart to spare. You want to be best friends with them by the time the night is over.” I’m already friends with at least two of the performers, Tala Marie of Matt Goss’s Dirty Virgins at Caesars Palace and Amy Solomon of “Tony N’ Tina’s” — and also the music program at — where, kids? — KidVille at Tivoli Village! And this note rocks! Thank you!

• On the topic of general frivolity, bass master Jozef Bobula has been named music director at “Pin Up” at the Stratosphere, joined by new band mate Eric Sande on trumpet. These moves are a result of David Perrico stepping down as MD a few weeks ago. Bobula is an original member of the “Pin Up” band; Sande is recognized for a wide variety of shows, most recently the touring version of “Kinky Boots” that played Reynolds Hall. Bobula and he have subbed with the band about to be mentioned …

• Perrico continues to go open-throttle with Pop Evolution, which has another date set for Cabaret Jazz on Oct. 22. Joining the band of, what, 122 musicians (22 actually) is Danny Serafin of Chicago. The band Chicago, specifically. This should be something special; tickets are $19 and $45, on the Smith Center site.

• On the topic of busy artists, Bill Fayne continues to churn out production shows. He’s a relentlessly creative sort and tonight is helming “My Musical Life” at the aforementioned Ron DeCar’s Las Vegas Event Center. A buffet dinner starts the program at 5:30, with a preshow presentation by a bunch of talented kids ages 10 to 16 at 7, followed by Fayne at 7:30. Tickets are $15; $30 for VIP seating and includes the buffet (call 702-384-0771 for info). DeCar’s place is at once swanky and groovy, host to all sorts of splendid shows. It also was the set for the restaurant scenes in “Casino,” nearly 20 years ago, and that, too, is a beautiful thing.

• I have received quite a lot of feedback from my coverage of Jerry Lewis over the past couple of weeks. He’s been remarkably active, appearing at the Smith Center for the Nevada Sesquicentennial All-Star Concert on Sept. 22 and his own show Monday night. During our most recent session at his Las Vegas home, he talked of the response he receives from these multimedia performances as fans who have not seen him onstage recently are amazed at his mental acuity.

He says his sharp intellect is not such a big deal.

“I understand why people react that way. I don’t think of it in those terms, but I do understand when it’s thrown out at me,” Lewis said. “I’m always thinking about something. When I am watching television, 65 percent of the time my mind is working on something else, and that’s what I do.”

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