Anderson: He’s doing it his way

By Jerry Fink

Friday, Oct. 11, 2002 | 9:23 a.m.

Who: Bob Anderson.

When: 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Where: Stardust's Starlight Lounge.

Tickets: $24.95, $14.95 locals.

Information: 732-6111.

There's a revival going on at the Stardust.

Singing impressionist Bob Anderson is reviving an era of American entertainment he says folks, especially older folks, crave.

It was an era of cabarets and saloon singers such as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

"I think there is room for a New York-style cabaret in Las Vegas," says Anderson, who is putting his money where his belief is by renting the Stardust's Starlight Lounge and converting it into a 200-seat showroom.

Anderson is backed by a band of five veteran musicians that includes pianist Vincent Falcone, who was orchestra director for Sinatra for seven years.

"I'm opening the shows with songs people haven't heard in an awful long time," he said.

Anderson's cabaret performance debuted Oct. 1. He has a three-month contract, with an option to renew for another three.

The show is going through growing pains. For one recent performance, only 40 people were in the audience -- among them vocalist Loretta St. John, who had a long and successful lounge career in Vegas until the entertainment scene changed; now she is scrambling for work, as are many other talented performers.

"Our marketing hasn't kicked in yet," Anderson said. "When we get the word out, people will be here.

"There are a million and a half-plus people in this town, the majority of them over 50. That's enough of a draw for this kind of a show. I want to market to those people. We can fill the house from now on."

Anderson is tweaking the show, trying to find what works.

For one thing, he said, people are telling him the 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. show times are a little too late for the crowd he is trying to attract.

"Can you believe that?" he said. "This is Las Vegas, and 9 and 11 are late?"

The town that used to party till dawn with the Rat Pack has changed.

"I don't like to believe that Las Vegas is such an early town, but if people say 9 and 11 are late, I'm listening," Anderson said.

This weekend, he is moving the shows to 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.

"I'm going to try that," he said. "I guess I want the show to be like the old Las Vegas, but old Las Vegas doesn't exist anymore. It has changed, but that doesn't mean the shows can't be like the old days."

The 52-year-old Anderson got in on the tail end of the old days. He arrived in Vegas in 1973 in a 1963 Volkswagon Beetle. Two days later he was driving down the Strip when he suddenly pulled into the Sahara, deciding on a whim to watch Nancy Sinatra and the Everly Brothers rehearse.

Anderson said as he watched the rehearsal, Phil and Don Everly got into a fight with each other and then with Nancy Sinatra and stormed offstage.

He said Sinatra was panic-stricken.

Anderson, 22, and fresh off a farm outside Detroit, approached Sinatra and said he could sing all the songs listed for the opening, and in the voices of the original artists. His impressionist repertoire includes more than 100 singers.

A quick audition was successful and Anderson has been a renowned singing impressionist ever since, able to re-create the voices of such legends as Sinatra, Bennett, Barry Manilow, Jack Jones, Steve Lawrence, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and dozens of others.

"I've cut down on the amount of impressions I'm doing here," Anderson said. "The Stardust doesn't want much more than an hour-and-10-minute show. Besides, there are so many impressionists in town -- every hotel has one. So, I'm singing more as Bob Anderson.

"But in the middle of the show I still pay tribute to the best entertainers who have made the town what it is -- Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Jack Jones, a little bit of Elvis."

With so many voices at his disposal, the show is constantly changing.

But one thing that never changes is the quality.

"Quality never goes out of style," Anderson said. "And that's what's lacking today. There's nowhere to go in Vegas to see shows in the tradition of Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr."

Except maybe at the Stardust.

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