Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Holly Madison to perform a shear act at New York-New York; L.V. Phil to honor Siegfried & Roy with ‘Meditation’

2014 MMA Awards: Red Carpet and Show

Tom Donoghue / DonoghuePhotography.com

Holly Madison and Mario Lopez present during the 2014 Fighters Only World Mixed Martial Arts Awards on Friday, Feb. 7, 2014, at the Venetian.

The Kats Report Bureau at this writing is a Discount Tire outpost on West Flamingo Avenue. I’m here to upgrade my rim shots (rim shot!).

Ever notice how close rim shot is to rims hot? I just did when looking up the style for “rim shot.”

Whatever, I am writing from this location because KatMobile II is on Iraq, or a rack, having two new tires screwed to its front axle. This is because, well, they were worn enough to replace, but also because I traversed a median Tuesday night near Flamingo and Fort Apache and blew out my right front tire. I clipped that concrete slab because I was texting as I was driving, which is not only unsafe and lacking-in-judgment practice, but also illegal.

So I’m now repairing my vehicle, but it could have been a lot worse, and I am bent on putting the brakes on this overtexting characteristic. Even if I have to work the 12 steps, I’ll do it. This city is tricky enough to navigate with both eyes on the road.

That’s our public service announcement for the day. Let us rake:

Click to enlarge photo

John Katsilometes has his head shaved by Tricia McCrone during a benefit for the St. Baldrick's Foundation at New York-New York's Brooklyn Bridge Saturday, March 2, 2013.

• When the PR team from Kirvin Doak Communications asked if I would agree to have my head shaved again for St. Baldrick’s Day, I said, “Sure, for $10,000!”

“This is for charity!” I was told.

“I am kidding!” I said back, with the idea that I would give that $10K to the organization anyway. But I did say, seriously, “If we can get Holly to do it, I’m in.”

So it is that Holly Madison is wielding the clippers and shearing me clean at 1 p.m. Saturday at New York-New York’s Brooklyn Bridge as part of St. Baldrick’s Foundation’s citywide charity events to raise money and engender awareness in the fight against childhood cancer. Events at New York-New York begin at noon and run through 11 p.m. At 1 p.m., members of “Jersey Boys” also will be shaving heads of those making donations at the entrance of the bridge. Angel Porrino and Melody Sweets of “Absinthe” are on at 2 p.m., followed by the cast of “Fantasy” at 4, “Rock of Ages” at 5 and “Million Dollar Quartet” at 6.

The classic-rock band Phoenix is among the planned entertainment, with the great vocalist Tony Davich at the front, so if nothing else, it’ll be a day filled with famous entertainers and great music.

We did this last year, too, with my “Kats With the Dish” radio co-host Tricia McCrone performing the shaving (I think Dish was more emotionally scarred by this event than was I), and this is likely to become a rotating thing with some of the city’s biggest celebs. You know, The Wayner, Celine, Carrot Top … trumpeter Chandler Judkins …

We also are assembling a scene later that night at a peripherally related event, which is my birthday gathering at Tropicana Lounge for Skye Dee Miles’ “Tropicana Nights” performance from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. No gifts, and in lieu of such, please send donations to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation website. We are tentatively working on an appearance by “Mystic Mona” Joseph, who very well might set up a station and perform readings for any guests, with all proceeds going to St. Baldrick’s.

That event also will serve as an opening act of sorts for Frankie Moreno and Stifler, which is set for Tuesday at 10 p.m. (doors) and 11 (show) at Havana Beach Club. Moreno is the focus of a cover story written by the Johnny, appearing this week in Las Vegas Weekly, all about the history of this event. Other than all that, it’ll be a pretty routine evening …

Siegfried & Roy Children’s Party

Kenneth Williams, left, smiles after receiving a backpack full of goodies from Siegfried and Roy during the holiday party provided at the Boys and Girls Club at 2801 E. Stewart Avenue in Las Vegas December 20, 2013. Launch slideshow »

• Speaking of Saturday, the Las Vegas Philharmonic is hosting its “Diamonds Are Forever” annual gala dinner at Aria. The honorees this year are Siegfried & Roy. The Phil has planned to play the song “Meditation,” from the opera “Thais,” a particularly moving and symbolic piece of music for the entertainment legends.

As Siegfried mentioned in our interview last October, marking Roy’s 69th birthday and the 10th anniversary of the incident involving Montecore at the Mirage that ended the Siegfried & Roy show forever, “Meditation” was performed to furnish a orchestral layer of suspense as Montecore took the stage. As Roy lay unconscious in the days after being dragged offstage by the big cat, Siegfried played a recording of “Meditation.” A tear spilled down Roy’s cheek. “I knew then he would be OK.” After reading that account, the Phil decided to play the piece for S&R on Saturday night.

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Pasquale Rotella and Holly Madison at the 2013 Electric Daisy Carnival at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 23, 2013.

• A retweet by Silverton Casino Lodge on Tuesday morning raised some questions about Insomniac Event’s plans for a new venue in Las Vegas.

Late Monday night and very early Tuesday morning, Insomniac CEO and Electric Daisy Carnival founder Pasquale Rotella posted on Facebook and Twitter that he was planning to develop a pair of Las Vegas offshoot productions of the Southern California festivals Beyond Wonderland and Nocturnal Wonderland.

Rotella posted a message saying, “We have an amazing new venue to announce in Las Vegas,” followed by a clarification that EDC would remain at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, indicating the new editions of the Insomniac festivals would be at this new venue.

When that hit the Twittersphere late Monday night/early Tuesday, I tweeted all of that information, tagging Rotella’s Twitter handle, @PasqualeRotella, at 1:30 a.m. At 8:30 a.m., the Silverton retweeted that particular post.

Why is the Silverton getting involved in an Insomniac/Rotella/EDM issue? It’s not because any EDM events from Insomniac are headed to the Silverton property, as hotel President Craig Cavileer said Tuesday afternoon. But Rotella and Cavileer had been in some serious talks over the past several months about staging an EDC-type of event at the hotel just off Blue Diamond Road and Interstate 15. As Cavileer learned, hosting an EDM festival is challenging, rife with unique staging requirements and logistic concerns, and the talks quelled.

The Silverton also was one of the sites sought by the Las Vegas Wranglers before the team chose its facility at the Plaza. Once one of the key figures in Ed Roski’s efforts to build a stadium on the UNLV campus, Cavileer is enormously well informed about facilities, arenas, stadiums — any building that can handle a mass gathering. Cavileer is a pretty bright man with a lot of territory and a convenient location for road travelers. I believe Cavileer says he’s turning his focus back on the property and its current amenities. It might not be the city’s hockey or EDM headquarters, but it’s a property to keep an eye on.

• On the topic of venues and the events therein, don’t expect any non-hockey shows or games or circus acts or anything else at the new Wranglers facility until fall 2015 at the earliest. It’s going to take a full season of Wrangler hockey to figure out the arena’s versatility and to begin booking events at the Plaza’s 3,500-seat venue. And expect that estimated investment by the franchise to be closer to $6.5 million than the $4 million noted in the team’s memorandum of understanding with the hotel.

In any case, that’s a lotta Chuck-A-Pucks.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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