Notes from the scene: Sammy (Shore) keeps the beat; Sammy (Hagar) pours it on

By John Katsilometes

Friday, July 4, 2014 | 3:32 p.m.

The Kats Report Bureau on this Independence Day is Terrace 1 (which is the only terrace) at our Newport Lofts office. Sirens have been blaring already today, and from our high perch, we feel the heat of another 110-degree Fourth of July holiday on the rise.

On the topic of heat, conversation has been boiling about the BBR production that has closed its five-show run at Tuscany’s T Spot Lounge. After a kicking of the tires from Station Casinos, the most serious discussions center on Windows at Bally’s, where “Divorce Party” ended its run a couple of weeks ago.

The spacious and sophisticatedly appointed Windows is a unique room, and BBR is a uniquely powerful production. It would be an intriguing match if the money is right for show producer and co-star Anne Martinez. Meanwhile, I’ve heard about a stage version of the film “Clue,” which was an adaptation of the board game, moving into Windows.

Paint me skeptical, but when people say Windows needs to get a clue, was this what they were talking about?

Let’s move to the conservatory …

• We’re dedicating this Independence Day weekend column to the ever-independent Sammy Shore. The Sam Man was most recently onstage June 1 for his annual Funny Bones variety show at Orleans Showroom, a benefit for the Nevada SPCA. Days later, on D-Day (oddly enough), he underwent valve-replacement surgery at Mountain View Hospital in Las Vegas. This was to replace a long-faulty mitral valve with an artificial valve, and the 87-year-old Shore says he is gaining strength after a two-week hospital stay.

It is unlikely that he will participate in the annual Elvis Fest convention at Westgate Las Vegas, which runs Thursday through July 13 (Shore opened for Elvis for most of his run at the old International and Las Vegas Hilton).

As for Shore’s humor, that needed no replacing. As he said, “They said ‘valve,’ and I thought they said, ‘Valvoline,’ and thought they’d just give me a couple of quarts and send me on my way,” he said during a phone chat this week. “But they looked at me, boopity-boopity, they did the surgery, and I am recovering now.”

• Was that Sammy Hagar at Harrah’s on Tuesday? Or the guy who plays the Red Rocker in “Legends in Concert?” It was the real deal (“Legends” has no Hagar, and no Elvis, at the moment) as Hagar scrambled onstage with the burning country-rock cover band Cash Presley at Toby Keith’s Bar & Grill. Hagar was in town to open the beach series at the Hard Rock Hotel on Wednesday night and stopped into Keith’s place (which does ridiculous business on weekends and holidays) for “Rock Candy,” “One Way to Rock,” “American Woman” and “Tush.”

As Hagar wrote on his Facebook and Twitter pages: “It was a blast. The place was packed with Redheads for a little pre-show party and the SBBR and tequila was flowing like water, baby.” Redheads is the unofficial name for Hagar’s fans. SBBR is Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum, which is at once a liquor and a way of life. Especially for Redheads.

• Plugging away: Clint Holmes is reviving his tribute to Paul Simon and Cole Porter, titled “This Thing Called Love,” at Cabaret Jazz in the Smith Center this weekend. Tonight and Saturday, show times are 8:30; Sunday’s matinee is 2 p.m. This is the performance that Holmes has uncorked at Cafe Carlyle in New York for which he won the Best Celebrity Male Vocalist award by the publication BroadwayWorld.com.

Holmes also has developed a show that swings from Burt Bacharach and The Beatles. I have suggested another such crossover-inspired show: “Music Royalty: The Stylings of Queen and Carole King,” which I am told is “still under consideration.”

• “Vegas Nocturne” celebrates its 100th performance Wednesday night, and expect a few changes in the show at Rose. Rabbit. Lie. in the Cosmopolitan. The production continues to tweak what is onstage and also its marketing approach. What has happened during the course of its now-seven-month run is folks in town and tourists are referring to the show as “Rose. Rabbit. Lie.,” which is actually the general restaurant and bar space where the show is staged.

“Vegas Nocturne” is, nonetheless, a gem of a show. A few quick reasons to check it out: Twin tappers Sean & John, costumed comic magician Piff the Magic Dragon, beat-box vocalist and musician Butterscotch and a live band flanking the stage featuring genius vibe master Christian Tamburr. There are many other impressive artists in “V.N.”; those just happen to leap (in some cases literally) to mind.

• We have an update on Carlos Santana’s plans for “Santana IV,” which he plans to record with members of his original band, including Greg Rolie, Michael Shrieve and Michael Carabello. It was originally expected that he would commence recording in time for a fall release, but work on that album won’t be completed until early next year. Most of that recording will be at Odds On Records & Studio in Henderson.

Santana has invited one of his original musicians, Marcus Malone, to play on a couple of songs on the album. Santana found Malone homeless in the Bay Area after a San Francisco broadcast report about the homeless population in the region. And playing drums with Santana these days, in his upcoming tour with Rod Stewart and his November dates at House of Blues, is Santa Fe’s Pepe Jimenez.

• What you don’t often see: A UFC champion giving a lap dance to a total stranger. Or, anyone else, for that matter. But Rashad Evans was called to the stage by The Gazillionaire on Thursday night during the “What Will You Do For Free Alcohol?” segment of “Absinthe.” Seeming somewhat perplexed as to what was happening (he’d not seen the show before Thursday), Evans stood at the edge of the stage with a fellow audience volunteer and a woman seated in the middle of the performance. The idea is that whoever gives the best lap dance to the woman in the seat gets a free drink. And the lineup, as chosen by Gaz, is always a “dorky white guy, a cool black guy” and a preferably Asian woman.

Evans attempted to beg off dancing, telling Gaz he was recovering from a knee injury — which happens to be true. He suffered a torn ACL in March and is out of action likely for the rest of this year.

But the fighter could not fend off the goading of Gaz, the show’s “producer,” who shouted, “If you can’t beat this guy even with one leg, I’m taking away your Black Card!” Evans climbed to the stage, stripped his shirt and gave this unsuspecting woman a heck of a show. The crowd roared, and I do believe that both guys (and the woman) received free drinks. Richly deserved, too.

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