Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 10:53 a.m.
The legal term is, "beyond reasonable doubt." And after watching Vegas curiosity Monti Rock III belt out "Love Is in the Air" to open a new doo-wop tribute show at Castaways Thursday night, the verdict is in.
Rock is guilty of having absolutely no singing ability.
However, he has a unique stage presence. Like a car crash or a rainbow, he is too unusual not to observe.
And, happily, his singing is limited to that one song. For the rest of the show he only appears between the acts -- which include faux versions of the Coasters, Platters, Temptations, Vandellas and Chantels. The performers are all polished tribute acts; each group sings a handful of familiar hits.
The show is fast-moving, mainly because Rock, in his emcee role, is, well, pretty good.
He prances around the stage between sets, proudly flaunting his homosexuality both verbally and with his exaggerated swishy movements.
When the acts exit the stage, he mimics their various walks and dance steps.
Based on the positive reaction to his shtick from the audience in the Castaways Events Center, Rock's act works.
"I'm back -- this is my out-of-town opening," said Rock, dressed in a skin-tight white jumpsuit, before he took the stage with a handful of pink carnations that he tossed into the audience.
"Soon I'll be hosting a show on the Strip, which is where a talent like mine belongs," he said.
The Castaways engagement plays Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Sept. 13.
Oscar who?
Best media tidbit gleaned from all the "Hunting for Bambi" coverage was a line in The Australian, a leading Down Under newspaper.
After "Bambi" was uncovered as a hoax, the newspaper reports "The female mayor of Las Vegas went nuts."
Apparently, The Australian editors are not only a few times zones removed from Las Vegas, but also a few years removed. Former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones left office in 1999.
Dial down
Some callers trying to contact the new Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City have been getting a crude surprise. Seems that the phone number 1-800-BORGATA is actually a pornographic phone service.
While that is not the hotel's advertised toll-free phone number -- which is (866) 692-6742 -- it is the number that many folks dial when trying to reach the hotel.
When VegasBeat called the latter number Thursday to ask if they were aware of the former number, we entered a voice mail maze and, after spending 20 minutes on hold, gave up trying to speak to a live voice.
Juiced
What happens to a reality show star when their 15 minutes are up?
Go ask the tough-talking, original "Survivor" cast member Susan Hawk -- she recently opened Juices Wild, a smoothie bar on West Lake Mead Boulevard.
Coaching
Mike Ditka can keep a secret. When he was in Las Vegas over the weekend for a charity event, he didn't utter a peep that he was going to be the spokesman for a new impotence drug.
Starting with the kickoff to the upcoming NFL season, the tough guy football star will show off his sensitive side as he starts a series of television ads touting the wonders of Levitra, a drug that clinical trials have shown works faster and longer than its chief competitor, Viagra.
Viagra has become one of the best-selling legal drugs of all time, thanks in part to such celebrity spokesmen as Bob Dole and baseball star Rafael Palmeiro.
Changes
Scott Eldredge, the new marketing director at the Sahara, called longtime entertainment and publicity manager Germaine Thompson into his office at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and fired her, citing budget issues.
She was let go a day after overseeing a Spike Lee commercial shoot that she had brought to the hotel.
When reached on her cell phone Thursday night, Thompson confirmed the series of events, but declined additional comment. Eldredge, who was until recently director of hotel operations at the Silverton, was not immediately reachable.
Sis, boom
"STOMP," one of the most original stage productions we've ever seen, comes to Las Vegas next week.
The off-Broadway hit (the original production is in its 10th year in New York's Orpheum Theatre) uses everything but drums to fill a theater with compelling and infectious rhythms. Among the percussion instruments used are garbage cans and lids, boots, plungers, plastic bags, brooms and hubcaps.
The show runs from Tuesday through Aug. 10 at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts.
VegasBits
Opener: David Brenner will be the first headliner at the new Westin Casuarina (the former Maxim) on Flamingo Road. He has inked a one-year deal to perform a 90-minute solo act in the hotel's 250-seat showroom. The doors open in mid-September. Brenner first performed in Las Vegas at the Sahara in 1971, and claims to be most frequent guest ever on the "Tonight Show With Johnny Carson," with 158 appearances, not counting reruns ...
Goal: The Las Vegas Wranglers pro hockey team will bring its inflatable Slap Shot game to the Baby Expo at the Cashman Center on Saturday. A team spokesman said the Wranglers mascot will gauge the "hockey skills of future Wranglers" ...
New club: The restaurant OXO at the J.W. Marriot in Summerlin is going to be converted into a nightclub called PLUSH. It'll be operated by the same people who run Key Club, one of the hippest spots on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood ...
Stars: Ann-Margret and Hunter Tylo are in Genoa, near Carson City, this week filming a Hallmark made-for-TV movie, "Till the River Runs Dry." Camera crews were last there in 1990 to film Stephen King's "Misery," which won Kathy Bates an Academy Award ...
Debut: NBC officially announced Thursday the season premiere dates of its shows. The new James Caan drama, "Las Vegas," bows at 9 p.m. on Sept. 29.
From Sun wires
California's gubernatorial recall campaign could get a touch of Hollywood glitz next week when Arnold Schwarzenegger goes on late-night TV to discuss whether he'll run to replace Gov. Gray Davis.
The Republican will announce his decision Wednesday, then elaborate on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," a campaign consultant said today.
Meanwhile, Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt is one of the 200 people statewide who have filed paperwork with county registrars -- the first step in the process to run on the ballot.
Studdard sues clothing maker: "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard has sued hip-hop clothing maker 205 Flava Inc., saying the company wrongly profited from his image after he wore its jerseys on the singing competition.
Studdard wore the oversized jerseys adorned with the number 205 -- the area code of his hometown, Birmingham, Ala. -- at the beginning of the Fox reality series, but stopped wearing them and spruced up his image as the competition got tighter.
archive
