PT’s, a local institution, puts two more taverns on its tab

By John Katsilometes

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 | 1:45 p.m.

Remember when there were something like 12 PT's in Las Vegas? That was about 15 years ago. Not even close to tapped out, Golden Gaming is pouring it on with a steady flow of expansion that will lead to "last call" for this sentence of regretful tavern metaphors.

Golden Gaming announced Tuesday that two new PT's-branded taverns. One is located at Buffalo Drive, near I-215 and Sunset Road. The other is on Craig Road and Decatur Boulevard. Plans are for both to be open by the end of August.

Not to sound like a free ad or anything, I have always had a blast at PT's — when I've remembered the previous night, anyway. My fondest memory of any PT's in town was many years ago, dating back 10-15 years, when PT's on West Sahara and Decatur hosted UFC viewing parties. The club aired videos of UFC bouts each week, fairly rare footage as the sport still was a fairly underground attraction at the time. But one of the bartenders knew a guy who knew a guy who had all of the UFC fight cards on trusty VHS tapes.

So each week the process was: Beer quaffing, pool tournament, beer quaffing, UFC viewing party, and we close with ... beer quaffing.

PT's has since grown into a valley-wide institution. The two new bars boost the total number of PTs or Sierra Gold taverns to 35 in Southern Nevada. How it breaks down statistically: There are 28 PT's in Las Vegas (or unincorporated Clark County), counting the two new bars. There are four PT's in Henderson, two PT's in North Las Vegas. There is one Sierra Gold each in Las Vegas (Jones and 215), North Las Vegas (in Aliante) and Henderson (on Warm Springs).

But the most pertinent stat is the total number of jobs created, which the company says will be between 25 and 35. The new positions (which according to a company news release will include cooks, kitchen managers, assistant kitchen managers, bar hosts and servers), will be filled through three job fairs. They are set for July 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Aug. 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Aug. 9 from 4 to 8 p.m. Theses job fairs also will be used to fill positions available in other taverns citywide. All three job fairs will be held at Sierra Gold at 6515 S. Jones Road, the one just off the 215. Hit the company website or call (702) 893-7777 for more info.

Nostalgically, we salute the company and all of its staff — past, present and future. It leads the league in good times.

Play information a Jarr

You might be reading this blog — wait, you are reading this blog — expecting an item about longtime Vegas lounge icon and Harrah's Carnaval Court headliner Cook E. Jarr, and a play centered on Las Vegas that he's reportedly been writing. Not so. We're backing off this right now.

The Jarr is not working on a play about Vegas. I had been following a lead on this purported Jarr Spectacular on Tuesday, and that afternoon actually wrote a sentence for the Sun print edition to "tease" to this upcoming column note. My mistake. As I worked on verifying the information to write the actual note, it became clear this was a staggeringly strange case of mistaken identity.

Short story: On Wednesday, July 7, a friend and former colleague ran into a person at Super Summer Theatre's opening-night production of "Ain't Misbehavin'" who is remarkably similar in appearance to Cook E. Jarr. This person and a friend approached the faux Jarr, introduced themselves and started asking what this person's upcoming plans might be. That would be interesting — especially if the person were actually Cook E. Jarr.

The person, not aware of he was being mistaken for a Vegas lounge legend, described a play-in-progress he's been working on, a satire in which no Las Vegas issue is spared: College sports, UNLV in general, the UNLV football program in particular, the Clark County School District, education funding, sports wagering, political corruption, religion and immigration. The title is to be, "Fourth and Goal From the 39." Sound familiar, Rebel fans?

It was then excitedly relayed to me that Jarr was working on this play, and I was even sent detailed information via e-mail about plans for the production in Las Vegas. Awesometown, as Holly Madison would say. So I sent out e-mail messages and made a round of calls and waited for confirmation and more specifics. This morning, one Michael Paoli sent back an e-mail saying, "I think you've answered a question that's been bugging me for five years: Why do so many people around town recognize me and think they know me?"

Yes, Michael Paoli is often mistaken for Cook E. Jarr, including that night at Spring Mountain Ranch. But he is in fact a Las Vegas writer/photographer/world traveler who is one of only 6,000 or so people to have set foot on all seven continents — the so-called Seven Continents Club. More recently Paoli has worked as a political speechwriter for such office-seekers as State Assembly hopeful Kevinn Donovan (of Henderson's District 22) and Clark County School District Trustee hopeful Ken Small (who represents District F).

Paoli's idea for the production was actually the Rebels' 63-28 loss to UNR in last season's Fremont Cannon matchup. "The idea just came to me then," Paoli says, drawing unexpected inspiration from a demolishing that helped lead to UNLV coach Mike Sanford's ouster.

Paoli expects that the finished version of the play can play well anywhere, not only Las Vegas.

"If you take the local references out, it could play in Wisconsin," Paoli says.

He faces some obstacles, of course, in bringing the play to a local stage. There is the matter of production costs, but because the plot deals largely in the sport of football, he might take it to local high schools and use the uniforms and equipment already provided. He'd like the cast to be made up of high school students, provided those students have a grasp of the mature themes he's envisioning.

Paoli is hoping, eventually, for a run at UNLV's Black Box Theatre and seeing where it goes from there. He's not quite finished with the process, having most of the play written "in my head," but as far-fetched as it sounds, it might have a shot.

If not, there is always Carnaval Court ...

Swiss invasion

Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns are known to have a faithful following, but Monday the band's reach extended across the globe. Seated in the front row of the band's late-night show at the were a quartet of Swiss tourists, who planned their trip to Vegas around the band's appearance at the Lounge at the Palms.

Seriously.

The ambassador of the troupe, all of whom were from Bern, the country's fourth-largest city, was one Tom Mesuerli. He's a trumpet player, a serious musician, and unearthed a clip of Santa Fe performing its swirling version of The Beatles' "Come Together" online. After watching it, he tapped out a quick e-mail to Santa Fe front man Jerry Lopez, telling Lopez how much he enjoyed the performance.

Mesuerli says he expected the e-mail would find its way into Lopez's "Delete" folder. Not so.

Lopez responded with a note of thanks, and soon the two were in corresponding regularly. At one point, Lopez gave Mesuerli the traditional, "If you're ever in Vegas, look us up!" offer — and Mesuerli took him up on it. The trumpeter and travel companions Samira Luetscher and Sarah and Micha Reusch had been planning an extended trip to Vegas and the West Coast that would cover six weeks, total. One condition was that the trip coincide with a Santa Fe appearance wherever and whenever the band was playing.

It turned out that appearance was Monday at the Palms, and the band, as always, blew the roof off the place.

"I've never seen so many great musicians assembled in one place at one time," Mesuerli said after the show ended at midnight. "I've been playing trumpet since age 9, and I've never seen musicians like this." So Vegas trumps Bern, for its number of great trumpeters.

And I would be Swiss remiss if I didn't give due credit to vocalist Tony Davich for his inspired piece of improv from the stage. Lopez invited the foursome onstage, saying, "You can stand back with the horns, or down here with the vocalists. You came all the way from Switzerland, you can hang out wherever you want."

When the group declined, Davich noted, "Looks like they're staying neutral."

Nice.

Killian's returns to Orleans

Details are yet to be chiseled into the band and hotel schedules, but the popular-among-locals act Killian's Angels are returning to Brenden's Irish Pub in August. The band's leader, Beth Mullaney, texted fellow members Monday night that the gig was "back on," and the band again would be appearing at the Orleans' Irish haunt at least through the winter.

They played what was, at the time, their final gig at Brenden's in April.

The Angels play all over town, in venues of all variety, but this has always been their best fit. Once more, "Slainte!"

"Inception" vs. Ted Nugent

Why did I hit the bed suffering from a case of the spins Tuesday night? During the day I spent 30 minutes on the phone with Ted Nugent, for a piece previewing his Aug. 14 show at Primm's Buffalo Bill's Star of the Desert Arena. A sampling. "What's this nonsense I hear about the NRA possibly endorsing Harry Reid!? Do you know anything about this!? Harry Reid does not represent anything for me, except maybe a foal!"

At night, it was the dizzying film, "Inception." Suffice to say I had me some very weird dreams, in which Ted Nugent was actually a character in "Inception." Or, did that really happen? ...

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.