Columnist Jerry Fink: Classic lounge career has been a work of Art

Friday, Aug. 23, 2002 | 9:07 a.m.

Jerry Fink's lounge column appears on Fridays. Reach him at jerry@lasvegassun.com at (702) 259-4058.

Art Vargas is a throwback to old Las Vegas, when lounge entertainers put on shows that involved more than one person singing a song to recorded music.

"I'm not bothered being pigeonholed as a lounge entertainer," said Vargas, who spent several years as a Bobby Darin tribute artist. "If you want to take the classic term 'lounge,' what lounges used to be -- Sammy Davis Jr. used to play lounges. So did Louie Prima and Little Richard. Lounges were like showrooms at one time.

"In a way, that's where I come from. I don't have a problem with that. Vegas was built on lounge entertainment."

Vargas will perform at the Tropicana's Celebration Lounge 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., Monday through Sept. 1.

"There are a lot of those old-school elements to my act," he said. "The performers from the old days are the ones that influenced me. That's what I bring to the stage, with my own twist to it."

Vargas is a performer with boundless energy whose enthusiasm fills a room.

"I've been entertaining pretty much my entire life," Vargas said. "I knew at an early age I was born to dance and sing -- it was a natural part of who I was. I was 7 years old, singing and dancing at parties. I knew for sure then that this is what I was supposed to do.

"I couldn't help it. I hear music in my head, even when I'm not thinking about it: patterns, beats and rhythms, things like that."

Vargas sang and danced his way through school in Detroit, where he also was a clothing model. After graduating from high school in 1982 he began performing in Detroit nightclubs and other venues.

"I was doing so many interesting things, all at the same time," he said. "I was hustling things that revolved around entertainment -- local commercials, TV promotions. Growing up in Detroit, I was exposed to a lot of great music."

It didn't take long for audiences to notice a similarity between Vargas and Darin, both in appearance and voice.

"So I developed a Bobby Darin tribute," Vargas said. "I always loved that kind of music, anyway. I learned to like it when I was real young, when I would go to the Salvation Army and look through boxes of old dusty records that sold for 25 cents each. I would take them home and listen to them and learn. It was exciting, an education."

He said he was influenced by entertainers such as Darin, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Joe Williams and Sara Vaughan.

And, he said, he was always different.

"But I felt comfortable in just being my own person," he said. "I learned from a lot of different influences, bits and pieces from everyone. I dress in my own style. I'm comfortable in doing things my own way."

Vargas' education came from performing and studying performers. He had no interest in college.

"I just wanted to learn my craft," he said. "I went with the flow of things."

The flow soon brought him to Las Vegas in 1987.

"A friend kept telling me I should be in Vegas, the way I sang and danced," Vargas said. "So I flew to Vegas and saw the 'Legends in Concert' show at the Imperial Palace, where I met the show's producer, John Stuart, and he asked me to audition for the show.

"It wasn't planned. I wasn't expecting it."

The audition went well and Vargas was hired to be Darin, a role he played for almost six years, from 1987 to early 1993.

Eventually, he said, he wanted to expand his horizons.

"The 'Legends' show was an incredible experience," Vargas said. "I felt so comfortable there, but I didn't want to get locked into doing Bobby Darin with 'Legends' the rest of my life. There was a lot more in me bubbling to get out."

He has made a comfortable living being Art Vargas for the past nine years.

"One of my first gigs when I left 'Legends' was at Harvey's at Lake Tahoe," Vargas said. "I put together a band with two backup singers."

In Vegas he performed at Maxim and the Four Queens and then moved to lounges on the Strip, including Bellagio (Fontana Lounge) and The Venetian (Venus Lounge).

Today, Vargas is busy creating a show based upon his lounge act. He said it will be suitable for a showroom.

"It will have a live band, live performers, some girls, a couple of variety acts."

Vargas has grown from doing a tribute act to Bobby Darin, to paying tribute to the way entertainers used to perform.

Lounging around

Former Kitchen Cafe proprietor Teddy Daginis has a new restaurant/bistro -- Romy's Cafe, 8565 W. Sahara Ave. Daginis, whose menu includes Greek and Italian cuisines, says he plans to continue his tradition of providing lounge entertainment for his customers. Accordion player Bob Maccarilo performs Mondays through Thursdays. Greek singers Nikos Mariana and Soufoulis Heiko perform Fridays through Sundays.

The San Fernando Band, which struggled after arriving in Vegas from Guam shortly after 9/11, has been heating up lounges all over the state the past couple of months. They've been performing at gigs everywhere from Wendover (Northern Nevada) to Laughlin, and points in between. This week, through Sunday, they are at The Stratosphere's main lounge, playing dance music starting at 10 p.m.

Dance music from the '50s and '60s will be featured at an "American Bandstand Party" Wednesday at the Tuscany Hotel's Piazza Lounge (on East Flamingo Road at Koval Lane). Pianist/vocalist Howie Gold said the party begins around 8 p.m.

Forward Motion was a popular Southern California dance band in the '70s and '80s. The group moved to Las Vegas in '90 and has been a local fixture ever since. They are performing evenings at the Sahara's Casbar Lounge through Sept. 1.

The Thunderbird Hotel, 1215 Las Vegas Blvd. South, has re-opened its lounge after a two-year hiatus. A party celebrating the opening kicks off at 9 p.m. Saturday. The featured entertainer at the event will be Elvis tribute artist James Rompel and his band. Vegas was built on lounge entertainment."