Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

A rocker from ‘Pin Up’s’ Lisa Marie; Martin Kaye a doctor on the keys; Jillette’s O.V. event worth a Reed

Monday's Dark AFAN Benefit

Steve Marcus

Martin Kaye performs during “Monday’s Dark” with Mark Shunock, a monthly charitable event, at Body English nightclub at the Hard Rock Hotel Monday Dec. 16, 2013. Proceeds from the event benefited local nonprofit Aid for Aids of Nevada (AFAN).

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Promotional shots of "Pin Up" singer Lisa Marie Smith, who joined the cast at the Stratosphere in September.

This week The Kats Report Bureau has been stationed at the new Fulton Street Food Hall at Harrah’s. This is the new food court — did I say food court? I meant culinary marketplace, of course — at the foot of the escalator that leads up to the parking garage to Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill.

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It’s a refreshing concept in many ways. The Fulton Street bazaar presents a bakery station, coffee station, yogurt station, pizza station and the ’80 rock band Power Station (not really). I was really impressed by all the fresh offerings and the awe-inspiring brightness of the design. This is just a very illuminating experience, and I got a lot of work done at my work … station.

Onward:

• You know who just rocks it vocally? Lisa Marie Smith, whose usual job is singing the rotation of poppy tunes in “Pin Up” at the Stratosphere. She was a highlight in the October “Mondays Dark” show at Vinyl with a full-throated take on Heart’s “Barracuda” and this week released the hard-charging single, “I Want Your Lovin’,” which premiered on 94.1 The Mix on Wednesday and is available for download (at a cost of just 1USD) on iTunes.

This song reminds a lot of what Joan Jett and Pat Benatar turned out decades ago, a real rock-‘n’-roll, hoochie-coo effort, produced by Las Vegas ‘ studio wiz and musician Jason Tanzer. He’s the guitarist on the song, too. Check it out on iTunes, with the hope we hear more of this sort of thing. The word “groovin’” is in the opening stretch, and that alone is something to support.

Pia Zadora in ‘Million Dollar Quartet’

Singer/actress Pia Zadora performs during a guest performance in Launch slideshow »

• Martin Kaye performed his “I Should Have Been a Doctor” showcase at Art Square Theater on Nov. 1. It was a fine performance by a guy who is just oozing (with talent), and the next steps are to tighten the show somewhat — maybe be 15 minutes — and start shopping it to producers and entertainment directors. The story arc in this autobiographical piece is that Kaye’s father suggested he should have been a physician. Instead, he’s the doctor of the keyboard as Jerry Lee Lewis in “Million Dollar Quartet” at Harrah’s.

The side project has Kaye singing many of his favorites, some originals and performing on alternating keyboards at center stage. Similar to how Eric Jordan Young has delivered a spirited, polished version of his own entertainment passions in “Shakin’ ” at Sin City Theater in Planet Hollywood, Kaye’s is a personally revealing effort. He’s also a seasoned, gifted pro, hoping (as have many others) to use a Las Vegas production as a springboard to a solo career. Keep an eye on this bloke. He’s great, and he wants it, badly.

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Recovering wrap artist Pia Zadora, shown at her home in Summerlin on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014.

• On the topic of "MDQ," kind of, is that one of that production's guest stars is back in action at Piero's. We speak, of course, of Pia Zadora, who was felled in September after tumbling out of a golf cart near her home in the northwest and suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured and dislocated right ankle and a fracture behind her right jaw. She underwent surgery at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles in late September, and her husband, Mike Jeffries,descibed her as "stir crazy" in the weeks since. She performs each Friday night, starting around 9 o'clock, with band leader Vinnie Falcone and a crack four-piece band. It's one of the swankiest hangs in the city.

The Home of Penn Jillette

The home of Penn Jillette from Rio magician headliners Penn & Teller on Monday, Sept. 9, 2013. Launch slideshow »

• When Penn Jillette and his wife, Emily, were honored at the Opportunity Village Magical Forest last week, band leader Lon Bronson had a surprise for guests at the black-tie gala. His backing band (featuring David Perrico on keys, Jimmy McIntosh on guitar, Danny DeMorales on bass, Ginger Bruner on rock ’n’ roll tuba, Nina DiGregorio on violin and vocals and Daryl Borges on drums) and he tore through a Lou Reed-spiced medley: “Vicious,” “Walk on the Wild Side,” “Femme Fatale” (sung by DiGregorio); Satellite of Love,” “Make Up” and “Sweet Jane.”

Jillette sang that last song, and damn I wish I’d made that event (blame the opening of “The Last Five Years” at UNLV’s Judy Bayley Theater for that). It was quite a happening.

“The looks on the suits’ faces were pretty funny when I’m singing stuff like, ‘We’re coming out of the closets, out on the streets,’ Bronson said. “It was a far cry from Veronic last year.”

Jillette is a major Reed fan, which helps it all make sense.

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"The Symphonic Rock Show," featuring Brody Dolyniuk, a band and 25 orchestral musicians, at Reynolds Hall in the Smith Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, Aug. 24, 2012.

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Travis Cloer performs during Mark Shunock’s “Mondays Dark,” benefiting Nevada SPCA, at Vinyl on Monday, Jan. 20, 2014, in the Hard Rock Hotel.

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The voice: Kristen Hertzenberg is just as comfortable singing an aria as she is rapping “Bust a Move.”

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Lead vocalist Rockie Brown performs with The Rockie Brown Band at the Sand Dollar Lounge, 3355 Spring Mountain Road, early Tuesday morning, July 15, 2014.

• On the topic of Bronson and those artists I favor, his upcoming onstage collaboration with Brody Dolyniuk at the Smith Center on Nov. 28 sold out this week. The show stars Bronson’s All-Star Band and features Dolyniuk, the gifted visionary who founded Yellow Brick Road, sampling The Beatles’ songs. Everyone wins! That this show has filled to the venue’s capacity is encouraging news on many planes, as Bronson typically draws very well in Cabaret Jazz and Dolyniuk maintains a solid following even after moving to SoCal three years ago (he now works out of Mission Viejo). And, there is the appeal of The Beatles, a favorite of every musician and singer in the Bronson/Dolyniuk domain.

Up next for Dolyniuk in VegasVille is a Dec. 7 show at Reynolds Hall, his latest Symphonic Rockshow effort, titled “Totally ’80s Symphonic.” It is to be, as advertised, a tribute to the great songs of that decade, A-ha, The Cure, Eurythmics and Tears for Fears, that sort of vibe. Many members of the 21-piece orchestra have already been name checked in this column (music director Bronson, DiGregorio among them), and do keep an eye out for French horn ace Beth Lano. No reason other than she knows how to make that instrument sing.

• Cab Jazz is in for a busy December, to put it mildly, starting with the Dec. 3 installment of Keith Thompson’s “The Composers Showcase of Las Vegas,” and we hope the music director of “Jersey Boys” comes forth with a number from his long-in-development musical, “Idaho,” which is nearly too true to the subject to be deemed funny. This production has a promising future, even among members of my family in Boise and Pocatello.

Otherwise: Clint Holmes is back for his residency at Boman Pavilion on Dec. 5-7 (Friday and Saturday nights at 8:30; Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.). Travis Cloer of “Jersey Boys” performs his Christmas show on Dec. 8. The title is “Christmas At My Place,” but do not come to my place. Please arrive at Cabaret Jazz.

Cloer is developing a throwback, classic TV-styled production, and my advance review is: “This show is a holiday stocking stuffed with goodies!”

What else … Kristen Hertzenberg (she’s so good, it Hertz!) teams with piano great Philip Fortenberry on Dec. 13 for “Holidays From the Heart.” Hertzenberg, late of “Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular” and currently the swing character Dyanne in “Million Dollar Quartet,” has performed a few shows to great response at Cab Jazz. So has Fortenberry, the associate MD at “Jersey Boys” who this year worked on “Rocky” on Broadway, and who also doubled Michael Douglas in “Behind the Candelabra.” Fantastic artist. And! Wayne Newton is booked for a conversation with R-J columnist Norm Clarke, a series aptly titled “Conversations With Norm,” on Dec. 13. Topics are to include The Wayner’s friendship with members of The Rat Pack (especially Frank Sinatra, whose 100th birthday is being celebrated throughout next year) and his famous feud with Johnny Carson, which sparked the famous phrase, “If you don’t knock it off, I’m gonna knock you on your ass.” Wayne said that, to Carson, and it needs no context.

• Get ahead of the curve on The Rockie Brown Band, music fans. This is one of the best live acts anywhere in town, a horn-powered soul/pop/rock/funk fusion band that for the past few months has unleashed originals from Brown’s’ upcoming debut album, "Brand New Day," during midnight shows at Sand Dollar Lounge. The boys and she are moving to Tuscany’s T Spot Lounge beginning at midnight Monday. An uncommon time in a spot that is still a hidden gem, yes, but this act really grooves. If you’re into that, check it out, with no cover. Just drink responsibly, OK?

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

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