Columnist Jerry Fink: Bono’s show catching on at Sunset’s Club Madrid

Friday, May 3, 2002 | 8:55 a.m.

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

Fans of "The Dennis Bono Variety Hour" begin lining up outside Sunset Station's Club Madrid at 11:30 a.m. each Thursday.

By the time the door to the club opens three hours later, some 500 eager customers surge into the room, many scrambling for a seat close to the stage, where Bono hosts a show that airs at 7 p.m. Fridays on KJUL 104.3-FM.

"It's truly amazing," Bono said. "This has become a social event. Everyone knows each other, especially in the first five or six rows."

In fact, the show has become so popular, it's about to be televised.

Jon Fondy, Bono's executive producer, says beginning with the show on June 20, in addition to being taped for radio, it will be taped and televised at 9 p.m. Sundays on KTUD Channel 25 (Cox cable Channel 14).

Bono's show routinely features such nationally and internationally known celebrities as Rich Little, Mickey Rooney and the Smothers Brothers. It also spotlights lesser-known local performers who are extremely talented but haven't had the break they deserve, such as vocalist Denise Clemente, who performs at Santa Fe Station's Lizard Lounge.

This week's special guest was Desi Arnaz Jr., a resident of Boulder City.

The price of admission for some of the best entertainment in town is two drinks. Or you can wait a day and listen to the boiled-down taped version for free on KJUL.

Bono came up with the idea for his combination variety-and-talk show a couple of years ago. It has been on the air one year.

"I felt like it would work," he said. "It worked with Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin."

Douglas' nationally syndicated variety/talk show aired from 1961 until 1981, and Griffin's aired on NBC from 1962 until 1986. Both hosts were singers before they launched interview careers.

Bono is no slouch as a vocalist, himself. He is a classy guy who has discerning taste in music, a singer of standards who in 1989 impressed Frank Sinatra and Sinatra's closest friend, Jilly Rizzo.

"I was living on the East Coast when I had a CD out that got great recognition on the West Coast, but no play back East," Bono, a former English teacher, said. "All of a sudden, I got a call from Jilly."

Bono thought friends were playing a gag on him, but then Rizzo flew to New York to meet him.

"Jilly became my manager," Bono said "He took me under his wing."

The Connecticut native settled in Las Vegas in 1991. He's been here ever since, living up to Sinatra's exacting standards.

"Sinatra used to say about me, 'This is the kid that's going to carry the torch,' " Bono said. "Nobody's going to be Frank. There will never be another Frank Sinatra, but I had the respect for the music (he did). And my interpretation (of the music) was what he respected."

Bono said Sinatra hated it when people called a song "a Sinatra song."

"He would say, 'This is a Cole Porter song, this is a Gershwin,' " Bono said. "He always paid tribute to the songwriter. That's what a singer is supposed to do."

Just as Sinatra and Rizzo helped Bono early in his career, Bono is using the radio show to help others, injecting new and unknown talent into the mix with the more established entertainers.

"I like having the opportunity to bring people to the forefront who I think are talented," he said.

Bono said his variety show took a few weeks to catch on.

"In the beginning we would have 60 or 70 people in the audience," he said.

But as word spread, the crowds grew and now "The Dennis Bono Variety Hour" is the most popular show on one of the most popular radio stations in town.

"The key to the success of the radio show is that Dennis gets intimate with the entertainers much more than Jay Leno or other hosts," Fondy said. "Dennis is an entertainer interviewing an entertainer."

When the radio show is televised, the format will remain the same -- with Bono singing a couple of songs, bantering with the audience, trading jokes with music director Bob Rosario and announcer Scott O'Neil and interviewing guests, who also perform.

Fondy said the variety show eventually will find a national audience.

"Every major town in the country has a local television show, but our local is a pretty killer local," he said. "The success is going to be because Las Vegas has the glamour, the glitz of show business. People will want to see it in other areas of the country, in other areas of the world."

Bono said the idea for a television show, which was proposed by his producers, surprised him.

"It came out of nowhere," he said. "I was just looking for a radio show. I didn't think television was going to happen."

Whether on radio or television or in front of a live audience, Bono seems to be the perfect host -- gracious, charming, self-deprecating, attentive, witty.

"I'm having the greatest time I've had in my life," Bono said. "I can't wait for every week. I like the people, they like me. Everybody kids me, and I like being kidded. It's just fun.

"I don't want anybody to take me too seriously, except in the singing."

Lounging around

Veteran comedian Sammy Shore dropped by the Bootlegger Bistro on Friday night, on his way home to Los Angeles after performing at a Friars Roast in New York. Shore reluctantly (yeah, right) stepped into the spotlight after some arm twisting by comedian/musician Peter Anthony. Anthony was subbing for Sonny King as co-host with Blackie Hunt at the Bootlegger's "Off the Cuff" lounge show. King was out of town, but not out of mind.

A huge crowd at the Kitchen Cafe last week helped musician Tom Saitta celebrate his 60th birthday. Saitta (who also owns Integrity Chrysler-Plymouth) has been a vocalist and fluegelhorn player with Dennis Mellen's Wednesday Night All-Stars band at the cafe for almost five years. Before he got into the car business 30 years ago, Saitta was a full-time musician. He has kept his chops in shape all these years in case the car thing doesn't work out. Happy birthday, Tom.

Manhattan of Las Vegas featured several tribute entertainers last week, including Pete (Elvis) Wilcox and Terry (Neil Diamond) Archer. Wilcox did an interesting bit as Elvis imitating members of the Rat Pack.

The JimmyLee Smith Band will perform at the Sand Dollar Blues Lounge for the late show Saturday. It's so late, it will actually be Sunday (2:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m.).