Columnist Joe Delaney: Bandleader Boyer to celebrate Aussie style

Joe Delaney

Thursday, March 15, 2001 | 9:10 a.m.

Brendan Boyer and his Irish Show Band will be half a world apart on St. Patrick's Day ... Boyer and talented daughter Aisling (pronounced "Ash-ling") will be appearing at the Booty Hill Club in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday and headlining an Irish spectacular at the Sydney Town Hall on Sunday while D.J. Curtin and the Shamrocks, Irish Show Band members, are performing in the Sahara Casbar tonight through Saturday.

Boyer and the Irish Show Band were known as the Big Eight in Ireland before landing in Las Vegas nearly three decades ago ... These past two years Boyer has been headlining a nostalgia tour, backed by one of Van Morrison's bands, playing Ireland, Great Britain and Australia.

The Sons of Erin's annual St. Patrick's dinner-dance and entertainment starts at 6 this evening in the Sahara's Gold Room ... The Sons and Daughters of Erin do great work in the community.

The annual Sons and Daughters of Erin St. Patrick's Day Parade will start at 10 a.m. Saturday, proceeding on Fourth Street from Hoover, north to Ogden ... After 26 years as St. Patrick in the parade, I am honored to be this year's Grand Marshall ... Also starting at 10 a.m. Saturday will be a daylong festival in the Sahara parking lot on Paradise at Sahara, including continuous food, beverages and entertainment.

Be sure to mark March 22 on your calendar ... Famed comedian Noel V. Ginnity and the Dublin Irish Cabaret, formerly called the Doyle's Irish Cabaret, will perform in the Suncoast showroom at 8 that evening ... More on this in Friday's column.

Star-policy rundown

It's Merle Haggard, Friday and Saturday (Boulder Station); Bill Acosta (Flamingo Las Vegas); "Honky Tonk Angels" (Gold Coast); David Brenner (Golden Nugget); Clint Holmes, evenings, and Mac King, afternoons (Harrah's); Scintas (LV Hilton); "Blue Man Group" (Luxor); George Carlin, plus Rick Springfield starring in "EFX Alive" (MGM Grand); and Siegfried & Roy and Danny Gans in separate theaters (Mirage).

Plus Lance Burton (Monte Carlo); Kenny Kerr (New Frontier); Roy Clark (Orleans); Pete Barbutti (Plaza); Chicago (Stardust); Rick Thomas (Tropicana); and Melinda, First Lady of Magic, Andre-Philippe Gagnon, and Andrew "Dice" Clay (Venetian).

Claude Trenier and the Treniers, Vegas favorites for nearly half a century, will perform tonight through Saturday, this weekend and next, in the Castaways Lounge ... The Castaways would be wise to use the Treniers as a future identification act, just as Arizona Charlie's has signed a one-year contract with Sonny Charles and Sweet Louie, who are the Checkmates, to appear exclusively at Arizona Charlie's East and West.

Marquees are important ... Bally's just announced it will install a new 15-story high outdoor marquee at a cost of $10 million ... We still feel a marquee loses most of its effectiveness when it carries too many items.

Last Thursday we discussed some of the show bargains available, some for the price of one drink ... Inadvertently, we omitted the Riviera's 2-for-l admission deal for Nevada residents with proper I.D., which we just learned will continue through April 30 ... This special offer is only good for the 10:30 p.m. performances.

The Tropicana Comedy Stop's Wednesday preliminary contests will conclude on March 28, with the eight weekly winners competing for the title of "Las Vegas' Number One Fool" on April Fools' Day ... The winner will receive $1,000 in cash and a chance to perform at the Comedy Stop on a Saturday night.

"Lance Burton's Young Magician's Showcase" will be telecast on the Fox Family Network (Cox cable channel 37) at 6 p.m. Saturday ... There are 15 finalists, ranging in age from 7 to 17, boys and girls, who will perform ... "Lance Burton: Master Magician: On the Road" will air at 6 p.m. on March 31.

Burton also served as executive producer on both of the above specials plus "Hocus Pocus, It's Fielding West," which will be shown on a date to be announced in April ... West did a good job at the Lady Luck and deserves a Las Vegas venue.

After you get through fussing with your April 15 income tax return, save as much as you can for the Sun Summer Camp Fund ... Let's make sure every deserving youngster in Clark County gets to go to camp for a week this summer ... See you Friday.