Columnist Joe Delaney: Fernandez supports education with concerts

Joe Delaney

Friday, Oct. 27, 2000 | 9:53 a.m.

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

Vicente Fernandez, the King of Mexican music, known in the Spanish-speaking world as El Charro, performs at 8 p.m. in the Mandalay Bay Events Center ... Ezequiel Pena and Banda El Recodo will be appearing with Fernandez in a "Charreada," best described as a rodeo with entertainment, an art form that attracts tens of thousands of spectators in Latin America.

Fernandez ranks with such great interpreters of authentic Mexican music as Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete and Javier Solis ... Fernandez's career has resulted in more than 50 albums, with dozens of hit singles and sales in the millions ... He has starred in numerous motion pictures and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Tonight's performance will benefit the Hispanic Scholarship Fund ... His son, Alejandro, a star in his own right, appeared at the Bellagio on Sept. 16, Mexican Independence Day, for the same good cause.

You can participate

For every ticket sold at each of 15 concerts, including Las Vegas, Fernandez will contribute 50 cents to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund ... General Motors, as sponsors, will contribute $1 for every concert-goer who participates in its "Measure Up Challenge" ... Starting two hours before the concert, there will be a display of the General Motors 2001 models.

One need only sign up at the General Motors booth and answer a few questions, an easy way to add $1.50 per person to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund ... During the past quarter-century, the fund has awarded more than 40,000 scholarships, totaling more than $47 million to date.

Anent Bob Anderson

Bob Anderson, one of the finest singing impressionists and a saloon singer who ranks with the best, past and present, will perform in concert, tonight through Sunday, at the Suncoast ... This is an opportunity to see and hear Anderson backed by a 10-piece orchestra ... Except for those occasions when he has worked as a main showroom opening act, Anderson has always worked with a trio or quartet.

Anderson's regulars -- conductor-pianist Bill Stevenson, Hap Smith on guitar, Brace Phillips on bass and John Nashan on drums -- will be augmented with Walt Blanton and Tom Snelson on trumpets, Dick McGee on trombone, Ron Halvey on tenor sax, Gary Freyman on baritone sax and Jack Cenna on percussion, making it a very special musical entertainment treat.

Master of the guitar Joe Lano wrote special arrangements for Anderson's Suncoast engagement ... Lano and his trio are evening regulars in the elegant Napoleon's Bar at Paris Las Vegas.

Weekend wrap-up

Actors Repertory Theatre presents Wendy Waserstein's "An American Daughter," weekends through Nov. 5 at the Summerlin Library theater ... Justin Tranz, star of "Hip-nosis," performing at both O'Sheas and Flamingo Las Vegas, will be the special guest performer at the 33rd annual Open House and Fall Festival at St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City Sunday ... Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

The 34th annual Beaux Arts Ball, a benefit for Aid for AIDS of Nevada, starts at 10 p.m. Sunday in the MGM Grand's Studio 54 ... The costumes are incredible ... Tommy Tune, Frank Marino, Monti Rock III and Breck Wall will serve as judges, awarding cash and prizes to winners in various categories ... See you next Thursday.