Columnist Jerry Fink: Stirling Club: Life’s rich pageant at Turnberry

Friday, Jan. 25, 2002 | 8:36 a.m.

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

"The rich are different from you and me." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald could have been sitting in the piano lounge of Turnberry Place's Sterling Club when he made that observation.

Turnberry Place is the exclusive $600 million, luxury high-rise condominium complex going up on Paradise Road across from the Las Vegas Hilton. Two 38-story towers at the site have been completed (eventually there will be four).

At prices ranging from about $500,000 to $5 million, tenants are among the world's rich and famous. It's rumored that Bill Gates has bought one of the apartments -- probably not one of the cheaper ones.

The center of social activity at Turnberry Place is the Stirling Club, which includes formal and informal dining areas, a smoking room and a 30,000-square-foot European, anti-aging Vinotherapie Spa and fitness center.

Also, there is a nightclub that has not yet been named -- Hole in the Wall probably is not on the list of possibilities.

A popular gathering place in the Stirling Club is the piano lounge.

This lounge, as befitting its clientele, is different from most. There's no karaoke, juke box or slot machines. Customers sitting at the bar are more likely to be sniffing and sipping fine wines than guzzling from long-neck beer bottles.

Seating is sofas and armchairs. The decor includes book shelves, a roaring fire, dark- paneled walls and thick rugs on hardwood floors.

As would be expected in a lounge where the atmosphere is sophisticated, so is the entertainment.

The Stirling Club can afford the best in catering to its singular members, and it didn't have to look far to find some of the finest musicians and singers around -- including singer- impressionist Bob Anderson, the Ronnie Rathers Jazz Trio and singer-pianist-composer Heather Kefalas.

Kefalas may not have the name recognition of Anderson, but the world-class musician is not overshadowed by her fellow entertainers. She may be one of the city's best-kept secrets, a classically beautiful lady with an opera-trained voice who has been knocking around the local music scene for more than 25 years. She has made a comfortable living singing rock 'n' roll, R&B, pop, jazz and blues.

Kefalas' family settled in Las Vegas when she was 12 years old. Soon after, she joined a 22-member gospel group called His Folk Singers and traveled up and down the West Coast performing in churches.

Kefalas, a graduate of Valley High School, studied opera at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"I wanted to be a vocal major and that was the only thing they had," she said.

After college (she wound up with a degree in marketing) Kefalas performed with bands at many Las Vegas locations, such as the defunct Carlos Murphys and the old MGM Grand (now Bally's), but spent a lot of time on the road.

She eventually grew tired of traveling and decided to stay home and perform as a single. Her first solo gig was at the Marina hotel, which later was replaced by the new MGM Grand.

Shortly after The Mirage opened in 1990, Kefalas was hired to perform at the Onda Lounge, where she remained for 11 years.

The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 hastened the end of her gig at The Mirage.

"Things were already getting slow," she said. "They were cutting back on everything, and after the attack they cut back very quickly with me. They gave me 24 hours' notice, but I had already been looking. The same week I was let go at The Mirage I found out I had this job."

While the customers at her new lounge may be smaller in number, they are among the movers and shakers of the world, and if the right person hears her she may be able to take her career to a higher level.

There is a lot of potential for Kefalas, who has the voice of an angel but aspires to spend more of her time writing. She recently released a CD, "Portrait," which contains 13 songs she wrote. The CD is available at Tower Records.

"My No. 1 ambition, career-wise, would be song writing," she said. "I would like to do that full time."

She envisions writing songs for films and other performers, as well as for herself.

Kefalas is putting together a show that will showcase her creative talents.

"When I write a song I have a vision in my mind of some art or a video," she explained. "I see the movement, I see the colors of the music, of the moods I am setting. The show would be called the 'Color of Life' or the 'Color of Love.' I'm coming up with the name."

Color will be the theme of the complex show that will delve into character and destiny and life.

"Some say it's too philosophical, but that's how I think," she said. "That's who I am. I want to give a message, not just a bunch of songs."

Meanwhile she is content to entertain the fabulously wealthy.

"Honestly," she said, "I've never really been impressed by money."

Me neither -- I'm mostly impressed by the lack of it.

Lounging around

Brown Derby doffed: The MGM Grand restaurant is closing, but don't fret about its popular lounge entertainer, Frank Sinatra soundalike Bobby Barrett. Barrett will be hanging his hat, temporarily, at the nearby Neyla restaurant. The Brown Derby is being replaced by another eatery, and when it opens, Barrett will be back doing it his way in the new digs.

Jazz trombonist Bill Watrous & His Quartet will be at the Blue Note Jazz Club Feb. 4-9 for two shows nightly at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 per person. In the 1960s and '70s Watrous played with such legends as Woody Herman and Quincy Jones. He also was trombonist for shows hosted by Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett and Ed Sullivan.

Magician Dixie (Houdini) Dooley has packed his trunk and is moving to the Greek Isles -- the former Debbie Reynolds Hotel, not the Mediterranean Sea. He ended his two-year gig at the Plaza last month and starting March 8 will produce two shows in the 100-seat Magic Theater at the new venue, one featuring himself and one featuring illusionist Christian Augustine.