Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

How ABBA wound up playing in Las Vegas church; Lisa Marie Smith signs for another year in ‘Pin Up’

‘Mamma Mia!’ at Tropicana

Erik Kabik / Retna / ErikKabik.com

Alison Ewing, Christine Sherril and Mary Callanan in “Mamma Mia!” at the Tropicana in May 2014.

‘Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers’ Press Conference

Director Philip William McKinley, Andrea Wynn, Steve Wynn and choreographer Marguerite Derricks attend the press conference for “Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers” in Encore Theater on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014, in Wynn Las Vegas. Launch slideshow »

‘Mamma Mia!’ Grand Opening at Tropicana

The official grand opening night of Launch slideshow »

Grand Opening of 'Pin Up' at Stratosphere

The grand opening and red carpet of Launch slideshow »

The Kats Report Bureau at this writing is a new haunt for column construction: Seattle’s Best Coffee and Kate’s Korner Ice Cream & Smoothie just to the left after you enter the casino at South Point.

A couple of wrestlers from Wisconsin just ordered a smoothie the color of green and ambled away. How do I know they were wrestlers from Wisconsin? They wore “Wisconsin Wrestling” T-shirts.

And they looked like they could pin me inside of 5 seconds, though neither weighed more than 150 pounds. They are in town for the World Wrestling Championships at Orleans Arena. I assume such anyway.

Or maybe they just heard about the great ice cream/smoothie action at South Point and had to make the trip to Las Vegas.

I am here on a Monday night. Why? Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns are opening their open-ended run of Monday nights in South Point Showroom.

The night begins at 10:30 and ends only after Rochon Westmoreland plays out his final bass solo, which is usually around midnight. The cover is $5 GA; $10 VIP with a drink. Silly bargain. Just silly.

Let’s cue the band for this notes medley:

• “Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers” keyboard virtuoso Tom Lipps has a pretty spirited side gig: He fills in occasionally at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church at 2300 Sunridge Heights Parkway in Henderson. Lipps plays piano behind the singing of St. Francis music director Stephanie Logan.

Lipps also played in the “Mamma Mia!” band at Mandalay Bay, which is a key component of this story: After the psalm during the Labor Day morning Mass, a quiet fell upon the congregation. The blaring of a cell phone broke that silence playing the ringtone of … “Dancing Queen” by ABBA.

This went on for eight bars (that’s a music term, though there was a time in my life when “eight bars” was “a good start”) until the offender managed to mute the phone. “It took a long time to respond,” Lipps said in an FB chat (and this was just hours after we became FB friends). “I had immediate flashbacks to the ‘Mamma Mia!’ pit.”

Lipps said the look on Logan’s face was “priceless,” and, admirably, “I resisted the urge to quote ‘Dancing Queen’ in any of the subsequent songs.”

Which is a clear case of knowing your audience …

• Lisa Marie Smith of “Pin Up” at the Stratosphere has signed on for another year as the show’s primary, and only, vocalist. Smith started in the production in August 2013 and will continue to pursue her recording projects with Las Vegas producer Jason Tanzer. Her latest single, “Heartbreak,” was released in August.

• A former writer for sister pub Las Vegas Weekly, Rick Lax is the latest Las Vegas magician to be featured on Penn & Teller’s “Fool Us” for the episode airing Monday night. Lax is not revealing the specifics of the trick but does offer:

1) It is a modern take on an old sideshow concept: doing multiple

mentally taxing things at once.

2) It is an homage to one of my favorite 1980’s Penn & Teller routines.

3) I'll be doing it 1 1/2 feet away from Penn & Teller.

No. 3 sure opens up some possibilities …

• Ricky and Tony Moreno are embarking on a campaign to develop a DVD and travel show titled “American Tourist.” They are Americans and travel quite a lot, hence the title.

The brothers of Las Vegas headliner Frankie Moreno have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund this project, which you can find at this link.

The Morenos have traveled extensively over the last several years, and this project is a shared dream for the brothers that is unrelated to Frankie Moreno’s music career. The result has led to a hiatus by Tony Moreno from Frankie’s stage and recording career.

Ricky, as you likely remember, was a finalist in the Travel Channel’s Next Travel Star competition (reaching the Top Five out of thousands to audition). That process inspired him to go for broke with the “American Tourist” concept, an idea that is planetary in scope.

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

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