St. Baldrick’s at New York-New York nets $165K; Joe Williams Scholarship Show

By John Katsilometes

Monday, March 9, 2015 | 3:01 p.m.

The Kats Report Bureau over the weekend was roving VegasVille with great gusto, hitting “Frank: The Man, The Music” at Palazzo, St. Baldrick’s Day at New York-New York, the Joe Williams Scholarship Show at UNLV’s Ham Hall and a sendoff for a blazing singer in one of the city’s best shows.

Follow along, if you will.

• As anticipated, Red Rock Resort, specifically Rocks Lounge, was the setting of a pair of shows worth a look-see on Saturday night. The first was the return to a Las Vegas stage by Frankie Moreno, who had not performed a ticketed show since leaving the Stratosphere.

Moreno has some new faces onstage, most notably backups singers Crystal Robinson and Ashley Robertson and sax player Lex Meyers. Evident in the production is Lacey Schwimmer’s imprint, onstage and off, as she’s dancing during the rollicking original “Diva” and also working choreographing the stage presentation.

With ticket prices at $19, $29 and $39, the room was set for a 300-capacity show, and 220 to 240 were in the house, a solid turnout for a first-time, ticketed Moreno show at that venue. He is back once more April 11.

The Moreno show was followed by David Perrico’s Pop Strings lineup, which is, remarkably, a no-admission experience. Perrico also lured a healthy crowd for its 11 p.m. start, and he’s been a popular draw since debuting the strings-powered band in January.

The concept of Rocks Lounge, as any small- or midsize venue, is to attract customers who would not otherwise be visiting the property. These were Las Vegans, at both shows, as Moreno asked his audience, “Is anyone here not from Las Vegas?”

Maybe two people clapped.

Stations Casinos is depending on these types of top-level performers to keep its hold on the locals’ market. Nabbing Moreno and Perrico, added to the already popular regular acts Lon Bronson’s All-Star Band (Fridays at Sunset Station’s Club Madrid) and Zowie Bowie (still bringing the party on Friday nights at Rocks Lounge), was something of a coup.

• The final numbers for St. Baldrick’s Day at New York-New York’s Brooklyn Bridge were, well, hair-razing (heh). With a goal of $100,000 at the start of Saturday’s activities, the final take surpassed $165,000. Turning up to shave down were Olivia Newton-John, Carrot Top and the casts of “Jersey Boys,” “Million Dollar Quartet,” “Fantasy,” “Absinthe” and Thunder From Down Under.

But the new star of the event was 4-year-old Elann Saula, whose treatment for immune-system disorders at Children’s Specialty Center of Nevada is funded in large part by donations to St. Baldrick’s.

After Elann shaved my head at New York-New York, he was recruited to shave again at the event’s headquarters, McMullan’s Irish Pub. He raised $800 just in shaving our Mohawks, as his mother, Leslie, goosed the crowd for money so he could finish the landscaping. If Elann doesn’t get a handle on his schedule, he’ll become the “go-to” shaver for these events.

• The Joe Williams Scholarship Fund Concert to benefit the UNLV Jazz Studies program drew 500 to Ham Hall at UNLV, a strong turnout for a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee.

Pete Barbutti hosted, uncorking quite a few funny lines. When Jazz Studies department head Dave Loeb walked onstage unannounced during Barbutti’s opening remarks, the 81-year-old comic said, “What? Who are you walking out here? I thought you were a janitor.”

Outstanding stage performers including Clint Holmes, Earl Turner, Bill Fayne, Reva Rice, Don Cunningham, Marlena Shaw, Tezz Yancey, Ronnie Rose and Jo Belle Yonely filled the show with the requisite outstanding performances.

Also appearing onstage: UNLV Jazz Studies professor Nathan Tanouye, a widely respected trombonist and arranger who writes the horn charts for Celine Dion’s orchestra and is a member of Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns and Las Vegas Philharmonic; and Otto Ehling, a keyboard great who plays in “Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers” at Encore Theater, among many gigs.

The program continues to produce top musicians all over the city. You’ve probably seen them in action without even realizing it.

• A veteran comic performing the Riviera Comedy Club has this to say about the hotel’s imminent demise: “Riviera is closing, and Caesars is giving odds at 5-to-1 that no one will notice.”

So says Jeff “Big Daddy” Wayne, at the club tonight through Sunday, sharing the bill with Greg Vaccariello. Wayne has been booked at the Riv’s comedy room since 1996, when then-entertainment director Steve Schirrippa was at the rudder and the hotel was bustling with activity.

The stage shows “Splash” and “Crazy Girls” were top draws, and Lon Bronson’s All-Star Band was building its devoted locals following.

“The Riv was a place to hang out, especially for comics who were coming in after their gigs,” says Wayne, who is looking for a home for his “Big Daddy’s Barbecue” one-man comedy show, which played Starbright Theater in Summerlin in September.

“Friday nights, we would get together and listen to music and have some drinks and tell war stories. When Steve was there, the Riv was the place to be.”

Wayne has always joked about his appearances at now-imploded hotels: “I started at the Marina, and it’s gone now. The Dunes, gone. The Sands, gone. So enjoy yourselves because I don’t know how long we’re going to be here.”

The answer, now, is May 4, when the Riv closes forever.

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