Columnist Kate Maddox: LV singer gets MTV’s attention

Kate Maddox

Tuesday, May 16, 2000 | 7:57 a.m.

One local singer/songwriter is getting closer to her shot at superstardom, thanks in part to MTV. Latoya Holman submitted a two-minute video of her original music to "Total Request Live's" Big Deal Band Auditions talent contest, and next week she's headed to San Diego for the quarterfinals.

Holman, who is 26 and has lived in Vegas for a little over a year, was one of thousands from all over the country who sent MTV audition tapes. Little did she know that her solo performance -- she backed herself with the guitar -- would put her on the map. Holman has played her R&B/hip-hop music around town at various coffee shops, but she's pining for the big time. "I'm really proud of my accomplishments so far," the singer says. "I mean, I've only been playing guitar for six months and I'm completely self-taught."

The people at MTV, who are flying Holman and the other finalists to San Diego for the competition next Monday, took notice of that raw talent. If Holman finds success in California and beats out her 10 competitors, she'll move to the semifinals and hopefully onto the finals. The winner of the overall competition gets a deal with Epic Records and a $10,000 cash prize.

Despite the sudden cancellation of "Grease" at the MGM, cast member Eddie Mekka is surprisingly optimistic about the future of the show. Mekka, who hams it up with the crowd and is one of the more memorable characters in the show, blamed troubles with the Hollywood Theater's sound system for the demise of the musical -- which, if you ask me, didn't have "huge hit" written on it anyway.

Apparently Troika Productions, which produces the show, was less than happy about the system. Teams from the MGM and Troika tried to fix the troubled mike system, according to Mekka, but after a couple of weeks it was still getting worse. "With a bunch of kids onstage singing, you need to hear the cues and solve the problems," Mekka, who lives in Las Vegas, said. "That just didn't end up happening."

One of the downfalls of closing two weeks ahead of schedule was taking care of the cast members, most of whom couldn't afford to stay in town or else had sublet their homes while on the road. "The kids really had no place to go and that was really the bad part," Mekka said. "But Troika was really good to everyone, they paid for plane tickets for the kids and they all got home."

The final curtain for "Grease" was a last-minute announcement, at best. The hotel decided that things weren't working out -- although attendance at the show was moderate -- and let the cast know its decision during an afternoon rehearsal. The set was torn down two hours after the announcement.

At least Mekka is undeterred. He and the rest of the production head out for the East Coast leg of the tour in a couple of weeks and, after that, Mekka will move on to a nationwide production of "Fiddler on the Roof." As for Vegas, Mekka says: "At least we got to play here. Breaking into the scene is always the toughest part, and we did it."

After having an emergency appendectomy last week, Danny Gans, returns to his stage at the Mirage tonight. Gans, who reportedly had a tough week of recovery, should be back up to speed and packing in his usual crowds in no time.

Brian Austin Green, one of the stars of the soon-to-be-outta-here teen/ adult drama "Beverly Hills 90210," was holding hands at Spago here recently with one of his former co-stars. Green and Vanessa Marcil -- who played bad girl Gina -- were tete-a-tete throughout the meal, perhaps plotting future career moves.

Friday night's grand opening party for the new Paradise Road location of Morton's raised almost $30,000 for the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation. Approximately 400 people mingled at the restaurant's swanky new digs.