Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Monday By the Numbers: Earl Turner and Checkmate Charles check in at Suncoast

Stifler/Unscripted Party at Tropicana

L.E. Baskow

Earl Turner belts out “Kiss” during Las Vegas Weekly’s Unscripted Party featuring Stifler in the Havana Room on Tuesday, March 4, 2014, at the Tropicana.

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Earl Turner and Clint Holmes sing “Wishing Well” with Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns.

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Earl Turner and Lani Misalucha, headliners at the Hilton, perform during “Las Vegas Celebrates the Music of Michael Jackson” on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009, at Pearl at the Palms.

Today’s Monday By the Numbers is inspired by Earl Turner, The Checkmates (especially Sonny Charles) and George Wallace. These favorite Las Vegas entertainers met Saturday and Sunday night at Suncoast Showroom during Turner’s latest residency there.

Man, what a show. Wallace opened, Turner walked on unannounced, and Charles joined midway through the show.

“Soul Man” was a highlight, as was an acoustic take on The Checkmates’ lone Top 40 hit “Black Pearl,” as Turner played an acoustic guitar and sang the “Sweet Louie” part with Charles seated at his side. Turner also charged into the crowd and danced on tables while calling out “Uptown Funk.”

Wonderful.

The night ended with a group sing-along featuring entertainers in the audience, including Clint Holmes, Little Anthony Gourdine (Little Anthony & The Imperials), Sonny Turner (The Platters), Gregg Austin (Magic of Motown & More), Freddy Empire (a Las Vegas lounge vet dating to the days of the Landmark and Dunes) and Antonio Fargas (“Huggy Bear” to millions of TV viewers in the 1970s and a great actor and stage performer).

The scene looked like an Old School commencement ceremony, and it was a blast. Let’s roll the data:

Let’s roll the data:

32: Years The Checkmates, fronted by Charles and Marvin “Sweet Louie” Smith, headlined in Las Vegas until Smith’s death in 2007.

7:Years Charles spent as a member of The Steve Miller Band after the demise of The Checkmates.

78: Talk-show appearances made by The Checkmates throughout their career.

74: Charles’ age.

550,000: Total square feet of gaming space at Venetian Macau.

345,0000: Total square feet of gaming space, combined, at Venetian Las Vegas and Palazzo.

1: Times that Melody Sweets has lost a pasty during a performance of “Absinthe.” (This happened during a show last week.)

2: Number of pasties, total, used in each of Sweets’ numbers in the show.

9: Diameter, in feet, of the “Absinthe” stage.

12: Width, in feet, of the wind tunnel at Vegas Indoor Skydiving on the Strip.

22: Height, in feet, of that wind tunnel.

33: Years that Vegas Indoor Skydiving has been open in Las Vegas (the attraction is holding a “Why My Dad Is a Superhero” contest this week in which guests are invited to submit a short story detailing their fathers’ superhero qualities, and the winner receives a free flight).

11,500: Estimated season-ticket deposits for an NHL expansion team to play at Las Vegas Arena.

10,000: The original goal for team owner Bill Foley and his group for such ticket deposit sales.

30: Years since Golden Rainbow was founded, as the organization hosts its annual “Ribbon of Life” charity production June 28 at Tropicana Theater.

Two: Pianos recently moved into Tropicana Lounge for the latest entertainment effort there — a dueling pianos act.

1,000: Approximate seating capacity at Tropicana Theater.

900: Seats in the theater-in-the-round for “Tournament of Kings” at Excalibur.

200: Single men and women (100 apiece) taking part in “The Great Love Debate,” a town hall-style exercise where six experts discuss and debate being single in 2015. (The event is 6:30 Wednesday night at Baobab Stage Theater at Town Square; go to VegasLove.EventBrite.com for tickets.)

20: Years that comic Dennis Blair opened for George Carlin.

1: Times Blair has had a cup of ice flung at him onstage (it happened a few months ago during his Johnny Cash routine at Sin City Theater).

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

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