At Their Peak

Kirk Baird

Thursday, Feb. 22, 2001 | 9:33 a.m.

Getting there

Take U.S. 95 north to Kyle Canyon Road and make a left. The Mt. Charleston Hotel is 16 miles up the road on the left-hand side. The Mount Charleston Lodge is 21 miles up the road, also on the left, or 5 miles past the hotel.

With the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players, Bill Murray created a role that would help make him a star: Nick the Lounge Singer.

Nick had the bantering skills of Merv Griffin, with a singing voice to match. While performing in what was usually a small resort club at a resort, he would mangle popular songs, changing the lyrics to match the environment and his mood often stopping mid-song to clown around with the audience.

It's safe to say Murray's Nick did for lounge singers across the country what "Jaws" did for sharks: made us fear and hate them.

Ruben De Guzman, however, is different.

Nestled in a small corner of the restaurant/bar at the Mount Charleston Lodge, where he performs from 5-10 p.m. Saturdays, De Guzman is surrounded by speakers and electronic equipment that turns the singer/bassist into a one-man band. His stage is complete with keyboards, guitar, horns and drums.

"I'm a lounge singer," he admitted, although he laughed at any comparison to Nick. Whereas the idea for Nick was to be the show, the soft-spoken and musically unobtrusive De Guzman is the equivalent of Muzak.

De Guzman, who has performed at the lodge for seven years, knows his role: He's there to match the mood of the restaurant, which on the Saturday following Valentine's Day was for the romantically inclined.

With a repertoire of more than 300 songs, ranging from country and classic rock to instrumentals and medleys, he sticks to the slower-paced tunes, such as the adult-contemporary classic "Sailing" by Christopher Cross.

It was just what Sal and Georgina Munoz of Las Vegas were looking for. Having arrived earlier that evening, the couple were relaxing at the lodge having after-dinner drinks. The next day was Sal's birthday, Georgina said, so the weekend getaway was a combination Valentine's Day/birthday gift.

In keeping with that theme, Georgina requested Shania Twain's "You're Still the One," a song they danced to at their wedding. But the couple were content simply to be in the moment.

"Hes OK," Sal said, referring to De Guzman, "but it's good to be away from Vegas."

Which is what Mount Charleston has always been a quick retreat from urban life. While hardly competition in terms of entertainment on the Strip, the mountain does offer something different than the city: varied climates, snow, cooler temperatures, hiking during the summer and sledding during the winter.

And there are other diversions, too, such as the Dummkopf's, which performs from 1-5 p.m. Sundays at the lodge.

A lot more lively than De Guzman, the five-piece polka band -- think Lawrence Welk meets vaudeville, with a touch of the Schmenges (the John Candy-Eugene Levy polka parody band) -- has performed at the lodge for 14 years.

"And we're going to do it until we get it right," said Suzy Firth, who plays keyboard and, along with the rest of the group, sings.

Specializing in "Oomph" music (read: German) to big band, Firth said the Dummkopf's play a little bit of everything. Along those lines, the members also routinely joke with each other as well as anyone who walks by.

The idea, she said, is to have fun, which is what Jim and Norlene Theisen seemed to be doing, as they recently clapped and sang along to the songs.

Sitting at a table in front of the band, the two were visiting Las Vegas from Minnesota for a lumber-buying convention, an event they've attended annually for 20 years. It wasn't until a few years ago, however, that they discovered there's more to Las Vegas than the Strip, after driving to Mount Charleston.

The couple said in many ways they prefer the mountain activities to the city. "It's a break from the machines and everything," Norlene said. "It's relaxing."

Chrisse Waddell, publicist for the Mount Charleston Lodge, said other than De Guzman and the Dummkopf's there's not much else in the way of indoor entertainment at the lodge. But, she added, that's the way it's been for years and it seems to have worked.

"The bottom line: If you want to get away from town and work or whatever, it's a great little getaway," Waddell said.

Meanwhile a few miles south at the Mt. Charleston Hotel, there's John Windsor.

A singer/guitarist with only two guitars -- one electric, one acoustic -- and a drum machine, Windsor said he has a working knowledge of at least 200 songs, mainly of the country, folk and classic-rock variety.

But any similarity to a lounge act ends there, he stressed, as Windsor considers himself more of an entertainer than a club crooner, as his frequent jokes and bar-wide toasts attest.

In fact, his amusing diatribes and witticisms between -- and sometimes during -- songs cost him a few jobs at casinos because he proved distracting to gamblers, as they watched him instead of feeding the machines.

But at the small bar in the hotel, where he performs from 8 p.m.-midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and 3-7 p.m. on Sundays, he's found his perfect place, he said.

"I'm not a big enough name to play the headliner, but a little better than to be stuck playing in a room full of slots," Windsor said. "I'm in between."

For eight years Windsor has performed at the hotel, and during that time has gathered a loyal following, such as Shirley Reynolds and Joseph Herrera of Las Vegas.

The two saw Windsor perform about two years ago and make the trip up the mountain about twice a month.

"(The hotel) is a nice place to get away from the city," Herrera said. "But now we come just to hear him."

Sue Pierce, marketing director for the hotel, said having Windsor at the hotel as an alternative to the outdoor activity has proven successful.

"When people come up on the weekends especially, they want to see a show like John and have a lot of fun," Pierce said.

And because of that demand for extra entertainment, she is working to create more options, such as a comedian-hypnotist who will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and a murder-mystery show in which participants try to solve a fictional case based on clues.

A staging of the performance in September proved successful enough, Pierce said, that the hotel will host an overnight mystery sometime in March.

"I would love to have the murder-mystery every week, but it's hard because we do so many weddings" at the property, she said. "I don't have the facilities."

Still, what entertainment the hotel does offer, she said, is becoming an attraction.

"We're up in the mountain, so you're not going to go to it four or five times a year," she said. "But it does bring a lot of people up to see us."

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