Columnist Kate Maddox: LV-bound monks find L.A. a real drag

Kate Maddox

Sunday, Feb. 6, 2000 | 9:32 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays, only in the La Vegas Sun. Reach her at kmaddox@vegas.com.

It sounds like a mediocre B-movie, or a new Fox special: The Shaolin Monks take on Hollywood and, of course, laughs and craziness ensue.

The monks, fresh off the plane from China for their very first trip to America, hit L.A. for a few days of interviews to promote their upcoming show at the MGM Grand. If you were a monk, sequestered in a peaceful hilltop monastery for most of your life to study martial arts and mind control, Tinseltown, one could safely assume, would be the opposite of everything you've ever known. And these guys apparently got a kick out of it.

Their media blitz consisted of stops at "The Roseanne Show," "The Martin Short Show" and "The Late, Late Show with Craig Kilborn," as well as an appearance on KTLA's "Good Morning L.A." on the WB network.

Approximately eight members of the 24-member troupe made the rounds, doing portions of their routine -- breaking bricks on their bodies, having sword fights and demonstrating kung fu. But the real fun took place behind the scenes.

The monks spent a little too much time in the talk show green rooms and, at one point, while waiting to appear on "The Roseanne Show," they were exposed to, shall we say, the lighter side of daytime chat. Also crammed into the backstage waiting area were a group of drag queens, done up in their finest TV best, about to do a segment for Roseanne on drag queens who perform for a living.

The monks, who were essentially dumbfounded by the group, kept repeating the words "pretty women, pretty women." After a brief and puzzling explanation from their interpreter, the phrase soon became: "pretty men, pretty men."

The monks took the lesson in culture shock in stride and the two groups waited comfortably together, eyeing one another. To be fair, if a bunch of drag queens walked into a room where some Chinese monks, ranging in age from 9 to 57, were waiting to demonstrate how to break a pole over someone's head, the effects would be just as shocking.

If that mental image isn't strange enough, picture the monks -- again, it's their very first trip anywhere outside of their remote village -- riding around in souped-up low riders, with velvet seat covers and tricked-out hydraulics.

(Low riders are cars or trucks -- these were convertibles -- whose wheel bases have been lowered so that the cars ride as close to the ground as possible.)

This time the holy men shared a segment on KTLA's morning show with a group of low-rider fanatics. The leader of the monks rode shotgun with the show's anchorwoman. They had a blast.

Hopefully, by the time their show at the MGM opens on Friday, the Shaolin monks will have had plenty of time to get used to America -- and all of its quirks.

The reviews from Shirley Bassey's opening night show were so overwhelming that her producer, Joseph Battig, had 35 messages on his machine the next day -- and that was just before 10 a.m.

Bassey gave an outstanding performance on Thursday night, earning six standing ovations before her hour-long show ended.

Back stage, Las Vegas stars Siegfried & Roy, Lynette Chappell (who plays the Evil Queen in S&R's show,) financier Carl Ichan, Phyllis McGuire, Robert and Vera Goulet, Rich Little, heavyweight boxer Butterbean, comedian Carrot Top (a k a Scott Thompson,) WCW wrestler Randy "Macho Man" Savage and some other colorful characters from around the globe came out to congratulate the singer on her success and to welcome her back to Vegas after a 20-year absence.

Bassey, who's looking to land a more permanent contract here with one of the hotels, will be at the MGM's Hollywood Theater through Wednesday.

Thursday night was also a big night for David Cassidy. The former teen idol and co-star Sheena Easton held the grand opening performance of their new show at the Rio, "At the Copa."

A "love story" in which the pair get a chance to showcase some of their big hits -- including a crowd-pleasing rendition of "I Think I Love You" from Cassidy's "Partridge Family" days -- the show was a mixture of Bob Fosse-type stylings, musical numbers and a rousing 19-piece orchestra.

One of the guests at Thursday's performance was actor Andrew Kavovit, 26, who played Cassidy in a recent TV movie chronicling the singer's tumultuous career.

Although there have been rumors over the past couple of weeks concerning backstage dueling egos between Easton and Cassidy, the show went off without a hitch.