Justin Timberlake at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
The Kats Report Bureau is Athena Room at Caesars Palace in the hours before Celine Dion returns to the Colosseum. Win a bet, or just look smarter than you might be, by knowing that the host of Celine’s 2002 opening-night CBS-TV special from the Colosseum was …
Justin Timberlake.
J.T. handled lobby duties and also conducted the pre-show interview. So much hype that night as the Colosseum, which wiped out the beloved Circus Maximus showroom to stage the original “A New Day …” production envisioned by Franco Dragone. Timberlake met Celine backstage that night, took one look around the lavishly appointed quarters and bellowed, “This dressing room is nicer than my first house!"
It’s still a beautiful performance manse. Looking forward to the return of the queen of the Strip. No question about that moniker.
• Some stories just need to be told, regardless of their scant news value. This one centers on Franky Perez and his flawed communication skills.
From supporting social justice with album proceeds or sharing his personal struggles to inspire hope, Franky Perez is a musician with heart.
How this went down: On Monday, Perez took a break from touring with cello-rock band Apocalyptica to hit the Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns show at the Lounge at the Palms. Also on hand was Vegas drummer Earl Campbell, who plays behind Zowie Bowie and has been in Sheena Easton’s band for eight years.
Campbell and Perez have known each other for many years, and over the past year or so Perez has tried to contact Campbell to sit in with his bands the Dirty and the Truth (and the Dirty is playing Saturday at 10 p.m. at Sunset Station’s Club Madrid, free of charge). The texts back to Perez have always been cordial in spirit, but always declining, “Sorry, I have plans,” “Sorry, I’m booked,” that sort of thing.
After the Santa Fe show, Perez made his way over to Campbell and said, as I approximate the exact verbiage of the conversation, “Dude! What’s up? You’re busy lately!”
“I’ve been good! What’s up with you?” Campbell responded.
“What’s up? I’ve been trying to get you to play with me for a year,” Perez said, laughing.
“What?” Campbell said. “No you haven’t.”
“I just texted you today!” Perez said, and showed Campbell the text from earlier that day. “Look!”
Campbell gazed at the phone and said, “That’s Earl Turner."
Yes, for about 12 months Franky Perez had inadvertently contacted fellow headliner Earl Turner to play drums in his band. That day, he asked Earl Turner — thinking it was Earl Campbell — to join him for a segment on “Valley View Live,” which was to air live this afternoon.
Complicating matters further, is this morning Earl Turner responded to Perez and said something like, “I can make it!” And, the coup de grace, Earl Campbell could not make the TV gig.
“It was crazy,” Perez said. “I told Earl the story and we laughed for five minutes straight.”
Earl Turner, he means.
The epilogue: Perez and Turner teamed on “Knock on Wood,” which is what you do when you want to fend off bad luck … or be grateful that the Earls in your life have a sense of humor.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.
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