Columnist Joe Delaney: Venetian believes in ‘First Lady’ Melinda’s magic

Joe Delaney

Thursday, July 20, 2000 | 9:14 a.m.

Joe Delaney's column appears Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at joe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4066.

Welcome home, Melinda, First Lady of Magic, performing in the Venetian's C2K multipurpose showroom and nightclub ... Melinda's mother, Bonnie Saxe, is the producer-director of "Les Trix," featuring the Showgirls of Magic at the San Remo ... Bonnie was Melinda's first mentor-manager, etc., and the guiding force behind those first 10 years of creating her onstage persona, finding places to perform and merchandising her show.

Melinda's last five years away have found her performing at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and in a theater named for her in Branson, Mo. ... During this period, in 1998, she was named Magician of the Year by the International Society of Magicians.

With Steve Wyrick set to open at the Sahara in mid-August, will there finally be a surfeit of magic acts in main showrooms? ... If there is, look for Melinda to be one of the survivors.

Dark showroom nights

The original premise for LV entertainment called for two shows a night, seven nights a week, or 14 shows ... Hotel house bands had a six-days-a-week contract ... There were relief bands that played the seventh night ... Hotels varied their house band off nights so a good relief band could play different hotels six nights a week.

If in fact the MGM brass is looking to renegotiate Danny Gans' contract with the Mirage, it could be to have the right to book shows when Gans is not appearing, since Gans' schedule calls for five performances a week out of a possible 14 total.

It must be a costly waste of valuable hotel space to have a showroom that is only in use one show a night, even five nights a week, or, as has been the case, even fewer shows, as has been the norm with Caesars' Circus Maximus, the Desert Inn Crystal Room and the LV Hilton showroom.

Star-policy rundown

It's Howie Mandell and the Raspiyni Brothers (Caesars Palace); Gladys Knight (Desert Inn); Marty Allen and Karon Kate Blackwell (Gold Coast); Clint Holmes (Harrah's); Bill Acosta (Luxor); the Four Kings, Ben E. King, Lloyd Price, Jerry Butler and Gene Chandler plus Rita Rudner, and Tommy Tune starring in "EFX" (MGM Grand); Siegfried & Roy plus Gans (Mirage) and Lance Burton (Monte Carlo).

Plus Lorrie Morgan (Orleans); David Cassidy-Sheena Easton (Rio); Sally Struthers-Rachel Ricca (Silverton); Wayne Newton plus Bob Anderson (Stardust); and Melinda, First Lady of Magic (Venetian); a truly eclectic selection.

Price, one of the Four Kings at the MGM Grand, was one of the barrier breakers in the 1940s a la Ray Charles with his country album in the 1960s ... Price's recording of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," started out rhythm & blues and wound up at the top of pop charts.

More rhythm & blues

The full billing for the current MGM Grand show is "Four Kings of Rhythm & Blues" ... King is best known for his rendition of "Stand By Me" ... Price went strictly pop after "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," with "Personality" and "Stagger Lee" ... "Precious Love" and "The Duke Of Earl" were multiweek chart toppers for Butler and Chandler, respectively.

The Scintas in the LV Hilton nightclub are the most exciting total entertainment act to hit town in years ... It's no-holds-barred talent, a solid hour-plus of standing-ovation stuff.

Aisling (pronounced "Ash-ling") Boyer is the attractive, talented daughter of Brendan and Stella Boyer ... Her father, co-founder of the Irish Show Band, is touring Ireland and England ... Aisling performs Sundays, starting at 9 p.m., in Ruth's Chris Steak House on West Flamingo Road.

Jazz notes

On Friday nights it's Pogo's ... Sundays, 1:30-4:30 p.m., catch George "Moose" Mosse and Ronnie DiFillips, the World's Smallest Jazz Band (Swede's Corner) ... Monday nights it's the Jimmy Wilkins Big Band (Riviera) ... The Joe Lano Trio is in Napoleon's Bar (Paris Las Vegas) every night but Monday ... From noon-6 p.m. it's the Kinda Dixie Jazz Band (Gold Coast).

Marv Koral's All-Stars, featuring Carl Fontana, play at Houlihan's on North Rainbow, tonight only, 7-10 p.m. ... Support good jazz wherever and whenever ... And please support the Sun Summer Camp Fund ... See you Friday.