Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

2014 in Review: Triumphs, closings and litigation

2014 Billboard Music Awards: Winners Backstage

Tom Donoghue / DonoghuePhotography.com

Jennifer Lopez backstage in the media room of the 2014 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, May 18, 2014, in Las Vegas.

Jennifer Lopez at Mandalay Bay Events Center

Jennifer Lopez performs at Mandalay Bay Events Center on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012. Launch slideshow »

BOISE, Idaho — This is how we close 2014, in the Treasure Valley of western Idaho. The temperature has dipped below freezing, and a snow flurry from two days ago has iced the streets and sidewalks.

The big news is Boise State University’s football team heading to Tempe to face Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl. Bronco Nation is an annual reminder of how a great college football program can boost a community. One day, UNLV might generate this sort of fever under its new coach Tony Sanchez. Boise State was once a member of the Big Sky Conference, where the opposition was Northern Arizona, not the Arizona Wildcats. It can happen. It happened here.

We’re gearing up for a thunderous opening to 2015 with the Jennifer Lopez performance at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace. This is a full-scale production, and the feeling is that it is a prelude to something residential with Caesars Entertainment. Her name, and physical presence, has cropped up frequently on the Strip over the past few months, but don’t expect her to be the next headliner announced at the Colosseum (as noted below).

Until the clock vaults us into 2015, we look back with our annual recap of the year past.

See you back in Las Vegas:

Who is to be a woman, but not Jennifer Lopez? The next announced headliner at the Colosseum. Axis at Planet Hollywood, Britney Spears’ home, is a stronger possibility.

Something weird that really happened: A freshly married couple rushed the stage at a Zowie Bowie show at Rocks Lounge in Red Rock Resort in November.

Big opening to watch: It’s in the nightclub industry, as Strip heavyweight Hakkasan Group opens the 75,000-square-foot Omnia. That is the club once known as Pure in Caesars, whose size and scope rival that of Hakkasan at MGM Grand. Omnia is expected to open this spring.

‘The Penny Pibbets Show’

“The Penny Pibbets Show” at Art Square Theater on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014, in downtown Las Vegas. Launch slideshow »

2014 Holiday Havoc: Imagine Dragons

Imagine Dragons headline Night 1 of 2014 Holiday Havoc at the Joint on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014, at the Hard Rock Hotel. Launch slideshow »

Entering 2015, the hottest show in a small theater is … “The Penny Pibbets Show” at Art Square Theater. Shows remain at 10 tonight and Tuesday, 2 p.m. Sunday and 10 p.m. Jan. 5-6. Tickets are $25; go to ArtSquareTheatreLV.com for information.

Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds was asked in November if the band would play at MGM Resorts Village, MGM Resorts Festival Grounds or Life Is Beautiful in 2105. What did he say? “We’re in talks with some of those. Certainly, our favorite place to play is here. This is our hometown. If we can possibly make it work, we would do it all. Everything. Vegas will be probably seeing a lot of us. Maybe too much of us (laughs). Hopefully they won’t get sick of us.”

Wynn’s Neighborhood Watch program: “If these guys put their money where their mouths are, I’m a big cheerleader. K.T. Lim and James Packer, between the two of them, are talking about $7 billion to $8 billion. Hoo-RAY!” Steve Wynn said this, in October, of the developers planning to build across the Strip from Wynn and Encore.

Name three Elvis movies in which “Fantasy” producer Anita Mann danced: “Spinout,” “Clambake” and “Speedway.”

Worlds collide at Stratosphere: Seated next to each other, but at separate tables, for a Frankie Moreno show at the Stratosphere in August were Pantera founder Vinnie Paul and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts President Myron Martin. They were both honored to meet the other.

Duck! Commander? Opening sometime in 2015, no earlier than the spring, will be “The Duck Commander Family Musical.” But other than the original story from the New York Times reporting the show, there has been no formal verification of the show’s opening or venue. It’s supposed to be the Rio’s Crown Theater.

Brandon Flowers singular ride: The Killers’ frontman was the first to ride Uber in its short-lived history in Nevada. He will forever be known as Las Vegas Rider Zero.

Fox in the woods: Criss Angel, Carrot Top, Murray Sawchuck and “Menopause the Musical” are among the Las Vegas entertainers and shows booked by Foxwoods President Felix Rappaport, the former president of Mirage, Luxor, Excalibur and New York-New York and an exec for more than two decades in Las Vegas.

Rock in Rio USA Media Preview

The Rock in Rio USA media preview Monday, Oct. 27, 2014, at Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard on the Strip. Launch slideshow »

Crazy, but not in a bad way: Rock in Rio founder Roberto Medina attended the groundbreaking of MGM Resorts Festival Grounds and talked happily of the festival’s future on the Strip, saying, “Las Vegas dreams big, and I dream big, also. It’s a good combination, this crazy guy coming into Las Vegas with Rock in Rio.”

Theater to watch: Westgate, which has been seeking something to supplant “Raiding the Rock Vault” for several months. It is one of the largest and most famous venues in the city, and the ideas to fill that room are big (Johnny Wright, who has managed Justin Timberlake, ’N Sync, New Kids on the Block and The Jonas Brothers, was in talks with resort officials just as the hotel was purchased by David Siegel).

Fill out the title: Reckless In … Vegas, a stylish, ever-rockin’ trio that merges such Strip-centric classics as “Luck Be a Lady,” “It’s Not Unusual” and “Mr. Bojangles.” The band debuted at Downtown Grand and is planning a move from the Bay Area to Las Vegas in a couple of months to set up, permanently. Frontman Michael Shapiro is from Las Vegas, and his band is inspired by the city. Obviously.

Talk it out: “ENTSpeaks,” the production by Andy Walmsley inspired by the Ted Talks series, was a hit at Inspire Theater in October. The Amazing Johnathan’s stirring account of his health problems topped a night where former Supremes member Mary Wilson, legendary comic Marty Allen, “Splash” producer Jeff Kutash, former “Crazy Girls” cast member Shellee Renee and ”O” artist and former Olympic synchronized swimmer Christina Jones all talked of their lives and careers. The next show is planned for Feb. 2, again at Inspire.

The Vegas 150: On Sept. 22, an all-star lineup convened, performed and partied at the Nevada Sesquicentennial All-Star Concert in the Smith Center. It was the largest such gathering since the USO benefit concert in the aftermath of 9/11 in November 2001. A few entertainers — such as Wayne Newton, Clint Holmes and Earl Turner — took part in both of those shows.

Jarring conclusion: A caterwauling take of “Viva Las Vegas” ended the show for Cook E. Jarr at Harrah’s Piano Bar, his final performance Aug. 27. For more than 30 years, originally with his band The Krums, Jarr graced the stages of El Rancho (after it was rebranded from the Thunderbird), Dunes, Sands and Caesars Palace. He was even booked at the Tap House banquet room for a time before moving to a long run at Harrah’s Carnaval Court and Piano Bar.

Clarion Liquidation Sale

Irons available for purchase at a liquidation sale in the Clarion on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014, in Las Vegas. Launch slideshow »

Clarion with those implosion plans: The Clarion, which was once the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel (among other names and owners of the property) closed on Labor Day. The new owner of the property on Convention Center Drive, just west of Piero’s, is Lorenzo Doumani. He plans to knock down the building in a grand implosion party next month (tentatively Jan. 13) and build a tower so tall that it will be looking down on Wynn and Encore. Doumani hopes to open his yet-unnamed resort in December 2017.

Oberaker makes a stand in New York: Co-written by “Ka” music director Richard Oberacker and his lyrics-writing partner, Robert Taylor, “Bandstand” played a series of three performances Sept. 3-4. The full-scale production staged for potential investors took place in a new, 112-seat theater at Lincoln Center. Critics like the show, a lot, and there might be some new news about that show and the Oberacker-Taylor musical “The Sandman: A Little Nightmare Musical.”

Do you hear the drums, Fernando? The return of “Mamma Mia!” at Tropicana Theater was far less successful than the show’s previous six-year run at Mandalay Bay. The show closed Aug. 3 after less than three months. The hotel shifted to existing Strip productions by illusionist Jan Rouven and “Raiding the Rock Vault” to fill the theater.

A hit and run at Cosmopolitan: On July 12, from the stage at Rose. Rabbit. Lie., Spiegelworld founder Ross Mollison toasted the audience with, “ ‘Vegas Nocturne’ is a hit.” The next day the show was formally closed, leading to a legal back-and-forth between Spiegelworld and the hotel that is still unresolved. The show lasted about seven months and has yet to return, although a version is said to be targeted for Chicago.

Double-Header of the Year (off-Strip Division): On consecutive nights, Frankie Moreno and Clint Holmes appeared at the Hollywood Bowl. The shows were unrelated, as Moreno appeared in the “Joshua Bell & Friends” lineup on July 8 and Holmes was featured in “To Ella With Love” in the “Jazz at the Bowl” series on July 9. The appearances at the Hollywood Bowl were firsts for both Las Vegas headliners.

Double-Header of the Year (Strip Division): On July 11, Amanda Avila, finalist on Season 4 of “American Idol” in 2005 and a singer in several Las Vegas shows since, sang the national anthem at the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Erislandy Lara bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Then scrambled across the Strip for a gig at the Lounge in Excalibur.

“Rock Vault” fallout: Where the term “You can’t kill rock and roll!” applies, “Raiding the Rock Vault” dropped frontman John Payne and continues to perform its classic-rock production at Tropicana Theater. Meantime, Payne himself is shopping a new rock-styled production in town. Double-meantime, the lawsuit between Payne and “Rock Vault” producers is yet unresolved, but who cares? Rocking out and selling tickets is the No. 1 priority.

Lebowski del Grande: Jeff Bridges played a pair of weekend gigs at Rocks Lounge in Red Rock Resort with his band The Abiders. Of the continuing popularity of “The Big Lebowski,” he said in June: “It was not a fluke that it has been so popular. I thought it should have been more popular when it was released, actually.”

Wild trivia action: Mark Barrett, longtime drummer for The Lon Bronson All-Star Band, was once a stand-in for The Unknown Comic. Barrett made media appearances, conducted interviews and signed autographs in the character made famous by Murray Langston.

Some real Nic at night: In a single evening, May 30 being that evening, actor Nicolas Cage was spotted at the Johnny Mathis show in the Smith Center and the Guns N’ Roses finale at the Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel. He introduced the latter from the stage.

Maybe a quarter-million costume changes? Frank Marino notched his 25,000th show with his May 31 appearance in “Frank Marino’s Divas Las Vegas.” He paid tribute to Joan Rivers in the performances after her death. “In the 1990s, I found, it was very easy to get on a talk show,” he said as he marked No. 25,000. “I would just call Phil Donahue and say, ‘I’m a drag queen doing a show in Las Vegas!’ Bang! On the show! Jenny Jones, Sally Jessy Raphael, not to mention Joan Rivers herself, all had me on.”

A legend at 88: Said Jerry Lewis, who turned 88 in March and twice appeared at the Smith Center (for the Nevada sesquicentennial celebration and his own one-man show): “Look what God has given me. I’m not homeless. I’m not in need of surgery. I have most of my functions in order. I don’t want to ask for any more.”

The unexpected, but not inaccurate, endorsement of the Strip mega-nightclub scene: From Penn Jillette: “If you really had to say what is the Sammy, Dean and Sinatra in the 21st century — what’s the oddest finger-popping and skinny tie and too-cool-for school attitude today, you’ve got to say, it’s the electronic dance culture.”

But for some real skinny tie and too-cool-for-school attitude, check out … Bob Anderson’s tribute to Frank Sinatra at Venetian Theater. The show is called “Frank, The Man, The Music,” and in May he performed the mind-blowing production of the musical adaptation of Sinatra’s career. That show has led to a series of shows beginning Jan. 24, with Anderson backed by a 32-piece band and wearing makeup applied by Hollywood favorite Kazu Tsuji (“Salt,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Enchanted” and “Norbit” among his film projects). Vinnie Falcone conducts, which is only right as he worked with the real Frank Sinatra for years.

Olivia Newton-John Arrives at Flamingo

Olivia Newton-John, with Chippendales at the Rio stars Ryan Stuart, Jon Howes and Nathan Minor, makes her way to the Flamingo on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, in Las Vegas. Launch slideshow »

Rod’s boot camp: Observing the tussles that result in his kicking his signed soccer balls into his audiences, Colosseum headliner Rod Stewart said, “I’ve seen fights and blows, even between women, although I don’t encourage that. It is extraordinary the lengths people would go to to get ahold of a football.”

Former Mayor Oscar Goodman, County Commissioner Tom Collins and Chippendales at the Rio frontman Jaymes Vaughan convened at what Strip event this year? The official welcome ceremony for Olivia Newton-John at the Linq Promenade announcing her “Summer Nights” residency at Flamingo Las Vegas. Olivia was presented keys to Clark County and the City of Las Vegas, and no one had an issue with any of it.

Bad timing: On March 27, two nights before his 47th birthday, John Popper of Blues Traveler fell unconscious in his hotel room at Mandalay Bay. He awakened in his underwear, missing $2,500 and his Rolex Presidential watch, for which he paid $19,500. He had met a woman at the Bar at the Hotel and, as he recalls, “At some point, it became obvious that this person was a prostitute.” The watch is never recovered.

The $5 million birthday present: Steve Wynn summoned Hugh Jackman, Rachel York, 36 dancers and 32 musicians to put on a spectacle for wife Andrea Wynn’s 50th birthday party at Encore Las Vegas on March 1. Garth Brooks, Neil Diamond, Quincy Jones, Steven Spielberg and Sheldon and Miriam Adelson were among the invited guests. Directed by Phil McKinley, the party sparked the idea for “Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers,” which opened Dec. 20 at Wynn Las Vegas.

Welcome to “Barry” Simon: How longtime friend Bill Murray repeatedly referred to star chef Kerry Simon when MC’ing the Kerry Simon Says Fight MSA fundraiser at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Simon continues to suffer from the neurodegenerative disease Multiple System Atrophy. Murray alternated “Barry” and “Larry” in referring to Simon, adding needed brevity to the program for the well-liked and widely respected Simon.

When a makeover needs a makeover: After a nearly two-month dark period for upgrades to the production, “Jubilee” returns to Bally’s on March 17. Audience members are left somewhat confused by the changes, including oddly placed dance numbers and the story of the new character Miss Jubilee. In April, the man assigned to remake the show, Beyonce’s choreographer Frank Gatson Jr., is released from the show. With no fanfare or grand reopening, “Jubilee” has continued to be tweaked, with former “Viva Elvis” creative director Gene Lubas summoned to help right the ship.

Meantime, Gatson’s Wikipedia entry makes no mention of “Jubilee.”

Elvis plays the Strip: Opening the 80,000-square-foot bowling-and-music venue Brooklyn Bowl from March 15-16 are Elvis Costello and The Roots. Jane’s Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins and Toad the Wet Sprocket headline at the music hall throughout the year, with a schedule spiced by late-night Wednesday performances by locals’ favorite The Funk Jam.

Not as easy as 1-2-3: Amid widespread intrigue for their many hits and famous surname, The Jacksons opened what was to be a 40-date run in “Rocktellz & Cocktails” at Planet Hollywood on Feb. 20. The guys grooved pretty well (especially a rejuvenated Marlon), but ticket sales faltered, and the show closed April 6 three weeks earlier than planned.

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

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