Columnist Joe Delaney: Remembering Kingston Trio’s beginnings

Joe Delaney

Friday, May 11, 2001 | 8:56 a.m.

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

The Kingston Trio, led by one of the originals, Bob Shane, are in residence at the Suncoast through Sunday ... Shane, Nick Reynolds and Dave Guard were fellow college students in the San Francisco area when they formed the original group in 1957 ... Their inspiration was the success of such groups as the Weavers, who hit it big in the late 1940s and early 1950s with their recording of Leadbelly's classic, "Good Night, Irene."

"Tom Dooley," based upon an English folk tune "Tom Dula," recorded in 1958, was the career launcher for the Kingston Trio and sparked a folk music renaissance that set the stage for Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul & Mary, the Smothers Brothers and other folk singers who followed.

Bert Block was an orchestra leader who had become an agent and an important cog in Joe Glaser's Associated Booking Corp. ... I was still living in New York, a few years before moving to Las Vegas permanently in 1962 ... Block was going to visit Los Angeles and San Francisco and asked if I had noticed anything special while I was there a few weeks earlier.

I suggested he check out the Kingston Trio, the Limeliters and Lenny Bruce ... He signed the first two to the agency but felt Bruce was too erratic ... Both the Kingston Trio and the Limeliters played the Four Queens during the 1980s.

The Smothers Brothers are Orleans showroom regulars. ... In fact, Tom Smothers hosted a PBS special in the mid-1980s that featured the Kingston Trio members past and present ... Shane is joined by George Grove and Bob Haworth for the Suncoast engagement.

It should also be noted that Peter, Paul & Mary will perform at the Orleans May 18-20, and the Smothers are due back Aug. 7-12 ... Dylan and Baez confine themselves to the concert circuit these days.

Weekend wrap-up

Keely Smith is hot again with her two new CDs, "Swing, Swing, Swing" and "Keely Sings Sinatra"... She is performing in New York City at Feinstein's in the Regency Hotel and will be at Chicago's Drury Lane Theatre for two weeks starting June 10 ... Bob Anderson is starring in Jeff Kutash's "The Main Event" at the Sands in Atlantic City through June 8.

Good friend and multitalent Nelson Sardelli is just back from another successful European tour ... Sardelli is another of the talented Las Vegans who work consistently elsewhere and also deserve a home here ... Sonny King and Blackie Hunt, Friday and Saturday nights at the Bootlegger, is a good example of one solution to this problem ... Check it out.

Dick Foster's new production, "Michael Holly's Off-The Wall Comedy Hour," 1 and 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at the Sahara, is another method -- afternoon shows -- of utilizing talented performers who also live here ... Foster's "Imagine," a long-term tenant at the Luxor prior to the Blue Man Group, is at Caesars Atlantic City.

Foster's production of "Spellbound" had a multiyear run here ... Foster Productions also has shows on Princess Cruise Lines and at Caesars in South Africa ... Two former Riviera mainstays -- musical director Dick Palombi and former entertainment director Barbara Hayes -- are now part of Dick Foster Productions.

Rosemary Clooney in concert, with Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack, 2 p.m. Sunday in UNLV's Ham Hall is a lovely way to treat Mom on Mother's Day ... If she is a jazz fan, there are a number of good choices, especially Thursdays through Mondays ... Call the LV Jazz Society; become a member.

If Mom is a balletomane, treat her to the Nevada Ballet Theatre's "Peter Pan" in the Rio's Samba Theatre at 7 p.m. Saturday or 2 p.m. Sunday ... The Samba Theatre will be the new home for NDT's classic "The Nutcracker," starting in December.

Variety Club, the Children's Charity, will present another 150 Bikes to Kids, 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Circus Circus Adventuredome, bringing the total to 300 thus far this year ... Variety's money stays here and works here for a number of children's charities ... It deserves your support, as does the Sun Summer Camp Fund ... See you next Thursday.