Columnist Joe Delaney: Holiday festivities draw to close at Suncoast

Joe Delaney

Thursday, March 22, 2001 | 8:15 a.m.

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

Las Vegas's St. Patrick's Day observance concludes this evening with Ireland's foremost comedian, Noel V. Ginnity, and Dublin's Irish Cabaret performing at 7 p.m. in the Suncoast showroom ... Singer Emma Walsh and tenor Paul Hennessy, who has appeared in Irish theaters and on television as one of the Three Irish Tenors, and the Dublin Irish Dancers will also perform.

Special features will include tributes to the famed Clancy Brothers, energizers of Irish folk music, and a special tribute to the late Frank Patterson, Ireland's favorite tenor, who performed here two years ago and whose funeral I attended in Dublin in June 1999.

Tickets are priced at a modest $19.95 ... Call the Suncoast box office at 636-7111 now, don't be shut out ... Irish or not, we guarantee you a great evening of entertainment.

Speaking of great evenings, Claude Trenier and those ubiquitous and indefatigable Treniers treated the capacity crowd to two hours of the real Las Vegas during their first show opening night, last Thursday, in the Castaways Lounge ... Peter Anthony, comedian Carme, impressionist Babe Pier, Cork Proctor and Nelson Sardelli, Las Vegas performance veterans, joined the Treniers onstage for a two-hour impromptu that resulted in many standing ovations.

The Treniers perform two shows tonight and three between 8 p.m. and midnight on Friday and Saturday ... The Castaways couldn't do better than build a hotel-performer identification by making the Treniers permanent tenants.

Jazz notes: Long time Sun reader Ned Wilk sent us a note reminding us that Carl Lodico and an all-star group of musicians perform every Thursday, starting at 9:30 p.m. at Pepper's Lounge ... Recommended ... Plus Pogo's on Fridays, the Ernie George Trio with Dr. Tom Ferguson on piano and bassist Bob Badgley at Paisano's on Saturday.

Sunday jazz is 2-5 p.m. with the World's Smallest Jazz Band at Swede's Corner, and Monday at the Riviera features Jimmy Wilkins Big Band this week ... Don Menza's Big Band returns on April 2 ... Also Sunday at 2 p.m., it's UNLV Jazz Ensemble I with tenor-in-residence Walt Weiskopf in UNLV's Ham Hall.

Star-policy rundown

It's Bill Acosta (Flamingo Las Vegas); David Brenner (Golden Nugget); Clint Holmes, evenings and Mac King, afternoons (Harrah's); Wynonna (LV Hilton); Blue Man Group (Luxor); Rodney Dangerfield, plus Rick Springfield starring in "EFX Alive" (MGM Grand); Siegfried & Roy and Danny Gans, in separate theaters (Mirage); and Lance Burton (Monte Carlo) ... There's more.

Plus "The New Kenny Kerr Show" (New Frontier); Jerry Lewis (Orleans); Pete Barbutti (Plaza); Penn & Teller (Rio); Jerry Lee Lewis (Sam's Town); Wayne Newton (Stardust); Rick Thomas (Tropicana) and Melinda, First Lady of Magic, plus Andre-Philippe Gagnon, at different times (Venetian).

Comedian Shelley Berman, original Chicago cadre with the Second City, headlines in Harrah's Improv through Sunday ... "The Second City," Las Vegas chapter, is now ensconced in Bugsy's Celebrity Theatre (Flamingo Las Vegas).

"Forever Swing," is the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts' tenant through Sunday -- the first in a series of Broadway shows through September ... The UNLV Performing Arts Center presents "Rockapella" at 8 p.m. on Friday in Ham Hall, part of the "Best of the New York Stage" series.

The Casino Legends Hall of Fame at the Tropicana inducts Tony Orlando, Holmes, Pat Cooper, Bernie Allen and the late Nat "King" Cole; Bob Anderson will emcee ... Casey Cole, Nat's daughter, will accept on behalf of her father ... The event will take place in the Tropicana's Tiffany Theatre at 2 p.m. Friday.

Jean Genet's controversial play, "The Balcony," starts a two-weekend stand Friday at 9 p.m. ... Multitalented Barbara Brennan has returned to Las Vegas to portray the Madam at the Great Balcony Bordello in the play ... Avant garde Polish director Henryk Baranowski will direct "The Balcony" ... Brennan directed the late Brian Keith in "Letters of an Irish Parish Priest" at UNLV in 1993, one of her many local accomplishments.

Acclaimed tenor Andrea Bocelli and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra will perform Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, celebrating the second anniversary of Mandalay Bay ... Luciano Pavarotti opened the Events Center in 1999 and returned in 2000 as the Three Tenors helped celebrate the resort's first anniversary ... See you Friday.