‘ENTSpeaks’ promises to be more than just a lot of talk; Travis Cloer is lit up over Rise Lantern Festival

By John Katsilometes

Monday, Oct. 20, 2014 | 12:54 p.m.

The Kats Report Bureau at this writing is Bellagio, at a little lounge area just off Jean Philippe Patisserie. This is where the chocolate, and even addled ignorance, flow freely. As I was ordering a cup o’ the black stuff, a tourist (I expect) said to a companion, “If you get lousy service, just tell them you know Steve Wynn.”

Good luck with that. But he’ll be happy to know you’re in town.

As they say at the Bellagio Conservatory, let’s rake:

• Andy Walmsley’s “ENTSpeaks” speaker series is set for 10 p.m. Tuesday at Inspire Theater at Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard. In a rarity on that corner, a red-carpet walk is set for 8:30 p.m., and after the appearances onstage the guests will hang after for a quite-large industry party at Inspire.

The event itself is an invite-only showcase for 200 guests, who will be amused, moved and otherwise entertained by a half-dozen speakers taking 15 minutes apiece talking of their lives and careers. Onstage Tuesday are Mary Wilson of The Supremes, legendary standup comedian Marty Allen, comic magician The Amazing Johnathan, producer Jeff Kutash (of “Splash” at the Riviera), Olympic synchronized swimmer Christina Jones (now with “O” at Bellagio) and former “Crazy Girls” showgirl and current cancer survivor Shellee Renee (she is one of the women who posed for the famous “No if’s, ands or …” poster for “Crazy Girls”).

The idea for this type of series was that of Walmsley, who came across a string of Ted Talks monologues on You Tube one night. He started digging online and found that he was fascinated by the unvarnished and unedited connection made between the speaker and audience. He contacted Inspire proprietor Michael Cornthwaite, who, similar to Walmsley, is an acutely results-driven individual. In less than a month, Walmsley’s idea had grown from a concept to a booked performance on Fremont East.

All of these presentations should prove to be, at the bare minimum, interesting. I’m particularly eager to hear from Amazing Johnathan and Kutash, both of whom have riveting stories that have never been told publicly.

• Count “Jersey Boys” cast member Travis Cloer and his family among those who had a uniformly negative experience at Saturday night’s Rise Lantern Festival, which drew about 10,000 people to Jean Dry Lake Bed, where the throng sent 20,000 illuminated lanterns into the sky. Cloer, his wife, Jennifer, and their two children ages 5 and 2 attempted to partake in what organizers presented as “a transformative event that brings hope, optimism and inspiration to a centuries-old tradition.” Along with thousands of other attendees, the Cloers were left waiting for buses for hours, to and from the festival space (they parked at Gold Spike in Jean to be shuttled to and from the event).

Organizers said the transportation delays were caused by a contract with bus operators that timed out at 11 p.m., but the transportation disruption was not the only problem, as reports spilled online of major ticketing confusion at the site as attendees crashed the event, and the allotment of two lanterns per ticketholder was largely ignored and many who paid to attend the event were not given any lanterns as the supply ran out.

The Cloers, with their two young children in tow, began their Rise experience at 4 p.m. and didn’t get home until after 12:30 a.m. A characteristically positive individual, Cloer eviscerated the event on his Facebook page, and when I asked him about it Sunday at the Venetian, where he took part in Jeff Leibow’s “NF Hope Concert” at Sands Showroom, he just shook his head and said, “It was the worst experience of my life.”

• BBR’s next “Alice: A Steampunk Rock Opera Fantasy” show is Oct. 29 at Vinyl in the Hard Rock Hotel, the fourth venue for the production envisioned by Anne Martinez and co-directed by dancer Ryan Kelsey. The explosive show, laden with alternate versions of contemporary rock and pop songs charted by David Perrico, is at 11 p.m. BBR will be followed by a set by Las Vegas rock band Smashing Alice.

Vinyl likely won’t be the last venue showcasing BBR. Caesars Entertainment remains interested in the show, and there is serious talk about an intimate, distinctively designed venue being modified for late-night BBR performances in 2015. The show is remarkably imaginative and thus requires imagination for a fitting presentation.

• Murray Sawchuck is now zeroing in on 20 hotel-casinos since he heard Jan Rouven was moving into Tropicana Theater. That was Sept. 24, and that day Sawchuck announced that he was moving his afternoon show out of the Laugh Factory at the Trop when his contract expires Oct. 30. In the following weeks, he has been all over the valley posing in front of possible (or, in some cases, impossible) venues for his show. Over the past few days, he was snapped while standing in front of Rumor, M Resort and Buffalo Bill’s in Primm.

On Thursday, Sawchuck also stopped in to see Rouven at his soon-to-close show at Riviera, where tiger-training comic magician Dirk Arthur opens Dec. 1. Sawchuck has planned a red-carpet performance — and the sun never sets on a Murray Sawchuck red-carpet opportunity — for his final show at Laugh Factory. Those invited to attend include Rouven and the lineup from “Raiding the Rock Vault,” which also is moving into Tropicana Theater in November. That’ll be quite a party, and it is a class move by Sawchuck, who could have just loped to the finish line with no fanfare. But that is not his style, not at all.

• On the topic of venues … kind of … MGM Resorts has no plans to change or add to the names of its two outdoor festival grounds. They are MGM Resorts Village (where two weekend ago the Wine Amplified Festival closed a busy October) and MGM Resorts Festival Grounds (where Rock in Rio will be staged over two weekends in May). Those are the names of those venues.

But there will be a corporate sponsor for what has thus far been called MGM Resorts Arena just south of Monte Carlo on the Strip. That venue is scheduled to open in the spring of 2016. As MGM Resorts spokeswoman Jenn Michaels said last week, there will be a sponsor relationship for the naming rights of that arena that will likely take shape “fairly early” next year.

• Nightclub & Bar Media Group has announced the launch of its seventh-annual Top 100 Survey, which is the only list of the country’s highest-grossing clubs based on how much revenue these clubs raise in a single year. For the 2014 list, Las Vegas nightclubs occupied seven of the Top 10 positions, with XS at Encore taking the top spot by generating $90 million in 2013. The survey, found at Nightclub.com/100, is to be completed by reps of nightclubs, bars and lounges from across the country of all size and markets. Expect Hakkasan at MGM Grand, which was not on the list after 2013 as it opened in the middle of the year, to be in this year’s Top 10. Near the top, too.

• Telegenic teen crooner Tommy Ward posted a tweet over the weekend tagged with #Wynning. A play on words, that, as on Sunday afternoon Ward was to audition at Wynn Las Vegas for none other than Steve Wynn.

No official word on what role or performance opening this audition was to satisfy. I’m feeling that a beautifully appointed lounge might be the possibility for young Mr. Ward. As they say, more will be revealed.

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