The Kats Report Bureau at this writing is Tasti D-Lite at the AdventureDome level of Circus Circus. This, of course, is the frozen-yogurt emporium that extolls, “Dessert Your Guilt.”
I guess this is where shoplifters who walk this promenade hang out between gigs.
Me, I am catching up on some paragraph assembling before reuniting with Jason Egan, founder of Fright Dome, which celebrates its 13th opening night Friday.
There was a time Egan and I could just call each other and make a time to meet in about five minutes. But today, realizing such appointments takes two weeks and involves a series of personal assistants, PR reps and maybe even a shoplifter.
Onward:
• Jerry Lewis wielded the shtick and the stick in accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award at the G2E Entertainment Awards at Vinyl in the Hard Rock Hotel on Wednesday night.
In his appearance, which lasted for about 10 minutes, he cracked, “I want to thank the group that presented this, whoever they are. I think it would be relevant to say that getting the Lifetime Achievement Award is about the 93rd one of these that I’ve received since I was 20.”
Lewis wheeled into the room on a motorized scooter and climbed to the stage with the help of a cane, owing to a very long history of back pain dating to a fall he took from a piano at the Sands in March 1965. He held up his walking implement and said, “I’ve gotta explain this, I’ve never walked onstage with one of these, but I’ve got a birthday coming up, and I’ll be 90.” That happens March 16.
Casino Entertainer of the Year award winners Penn Jillette and Teller accept their award during the 2015 Casino Entertainment Awards presented by Global Gaming Expo at Vinyl on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015, in the Hard Rock Hotel.
Lewis was to be introduced by Wayne Newton, but Newton had to miss the event because of a medical issue that is not serious (at least, not in a life-threatening sense). In his place, Charo turned up to introduce Lewis and told the audience, “I am extremely glad to be here, even though my English is not as good as Wayne Newton’s. So please, don’t miscon-screw me.”
Hah.
She also said of Lewis, more seriously, “We are talking about an American hero. He is a humanitarian, a genius as a comedian, as an entertainer, as a director. He started an immortal foundation, the MDA, and has helped millions of lives.” When Lewis got to the stage, she cut loose with her “coochie-coochie-coochie” move, and Lewis said, “You’re going to break that if you’re not careful.”
Other highlights of the night included Penn & Teller winning the Casino Entertainer of the Year award and the Colosseum at Caesars Palace Executive Director H.C. Rowe being honored with the Casino Entertainment Legend Award. Doling out the awards were G2E and the American Gaming Association.
• Janet Jackson will be performing somewhere in Las Vegas in May, having canceled her appearances at the Axis theater at Planet Hollywood for vocal concerns. Her Oct. 9-10 shows are off the books, and booking company Live Nation has announced that her next Las Vegas show will be May 16. But the “where” of it all is not clear, and it is not out the question that she might perform at Las Vegas Arena as one of that venue’s opening rollout of entertainers.
In this May 23, 2013, file photo, singer Janet Jackson arrives at the American Foundation for AIDS Research Cinema Against AIDS benefit at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes, France.
“MGM Arena” is the place noted in the news release announcing Jackson’s May date, and all we can safely say at the moment is she will be headlining at an arena owned by MGM Resorts. Las Vegas Arena is among them, but that arena is an AEG Live partnership, not Live Nation, which is booking her tour. It’s likely either MGM Grand Garden Arena or Mandalay Bay, and the single show and lag in time between Jackson’s schedule performances should create additional ticket demand. Her sales at Axis were reportedly not great.
• A show I would return to, that I expected I would not want to return to, is Pitbull’s mini-residency at Axis. Holy moly, can this guy brang it. Axis is becoming a 4,000-seat nightclub, and Pitbull’s stage show fits that objective perfectly. His backing dancers, especially, are terrific, and you can feel he has rehearsed the heck out of this performance. Next St. Baldrick’s Day, I’m going full-on Pitbull: Shaved head, shades, black shirt and slacks, red jacket. The whole nine. It works for him, right?
• The media show for Dirk Arthur’s headlining run at International Theater at Westgate Las Vegas somehow led to this old yarn from former Gov. and Sen. Richard Bryan as we met at the theater entrance:
Bryan attended the opening performance of the International, which starred Barbra Streisand in the months before Elvis began his long run at the famed showroom. Bryan was with Harry Reid that night, as both were in the stage Legislature and invited guests. Reid left his Oldsmobile Toronado (“I even remember the car he drove that night,” Bryan recalled) with the inexperienced International valet crew.
Who lost the vehicle.
“It was gone, and I mean for hours,” he said. “We waited around until about 2 a.m. before it was returned. Harry was very worried. Great night, though. Great night.”
• During the G2E show, Casino Entertainer of the Year presenter Ubiquitous Robin Leach let loose with some information that has been bandied around the scene for a while: That Human Nature, among the nominees, is moving from Sands Showroom at Venetian to Harrah’s.
Boom, just like that. New venue action. No formal confirmation of this from any of Human Nature’s PR representatives, though they have all been asked about this revelation.
HN, as we refer to the four Aussies in shorthand, is prepping for its annual holiday show. It should be the same sort of presentation that was well received last year, with a holiday-themed set and setlist and even a female guest singer in the mix. Keep an eye on that act, and that room, as suddenly Human Nature has taken on a healthy measure of intrigue.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.
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