Meet Mesquite: City 80 miles north emerging as entertainment destination

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 | 8:14 a.m.

Editor's note: Following is the first in an occasional series of entertainment stories centering on areas and towns in Southern Nevada outside of Las Vegas.

It was 8 p.m. on a Saturday night. The Cactus Bar lounge at the Eureka, one of four major casinos in town, was beginning to stir.

A dozen drinkers sat around the bar while about 500 gamblers behind them played slot machines and table games.

Two elderly couples from St. George, Utah, sat at tables inside the 80-seat lounge. "It starts off slow and then tapers off," Las Vegas tax attorney Denny Denman said. He was joking, of course. Although Mesquite will never wear the Entertainment Capital of the World crown, the 15,000 or so folks who live here and the travelers who stay at the Eureka, Virgin River, Oasis and CasaBlanca enjoy music and dancing as much as residents and tourists 80 miles down the road in Las Vegas.

Denman was wearing a tuxedo as he prepared to step onstage to take up his position at the keyboards, joining fellow musicians Lenny Myers (lead vocals and guitar), Danny Vincent (vocals and guitar) and Tim Nicoloff (vocals and drums).

Lenny Myers & The Fantastics were put together by Myers eight months ago, specifically to perform at the Cactus Bar.

"We're just bunch of guys getting together having a ball playing music," Myers said.

The four men have known each other for years, sometimes performing with each other and with other groups as they pursued their individual careers (Myers owns the Internet company entertainmeusa.com, which also employs Vincent; Nicoloff has a digital photography service, Nevada Digital Photographs).

Besides being a tax attorney and a band performer, Denman is an Elton John tribute artist.

They say they have never rehearsed as a group. Their individual knowledge of music from the 1950s to '80s is so great that if all of them don't know a specific song that is requested, at least one of the members knows it, and the rest just wing it.

It doesn't bother them that the lounge isn't always full of fans. The musicians are performing for the entire casino.

"Our audience is out there," nodded Denman, indicating the gaming area, "not necessarily the bar. We sing for the people who love listening while they're gambling.

"We don't get caught up in not seeing people in the lounge. We're doing our job, entertaining people in the casino."

Lenny Myers & The Fantastics are among a handful of entertainers who rotate dates at the Eureka. Recent lounge headliners have included country singers Trey Houston (formerly known as Sonny "D") and Kelly J. Band. Others on the roster include Glen Williams, who does a mini-revue, and Mark Berabian, a Danny Gans-type performer.

Roy Koch is beverage director at the Eureka, and he hires the entertainers.

"Versatility is important," said Koch, who moved to Mesquite when the Eureka opened in 1997. "I studied the demographics to see what bands would do well and I found that music from the '60s and '70s, with a little country and jazz mixed in, does the best."

There is music seven nights a week at the Eureka, which Koch says is the most popular casino with locals.

"We try to be the friendliest casino in town," he said. "We get the lion's share of locals."

Koch says karaoke is the most popular form of entertainment, hosted every Tuesday night by the Fun Fools of Las Vegas.

"There may be 20 singers who want to perform," he said. "But there will be 80 people in the audience there to listen.

"Karaoke is hard to beat."

Mesquite revisited

Mesquite, on Interstate 15, abuts the state line of Arizona and is just a few miles from Utah, where the majority of the business in the casinos comes from.

While the breadth of entertainment found here is not the same as in Las Vegas, there nevertheless is entertainment, most of it quite good.

But the local economy doesn't rely heavily on performers -- casinos barely break even on their entertainment, and in some cases they use it as a loss leader (a term used by grocers describing taking a loss on one item in hopes that it will bring shoppers in to buy other items -- it's an old-fashioned concept that was popular in Vegas's early days, but is now largely history).

More important to the budget are the casinos, a growing retirement community and golf courses.

There are five courses, including the CasaBlanca Golf Club, Wolf Creek, Hamilton Ranch, Oasis Vistas and Oasis Palms. A sixth -- Falcon Ridge -- is slated to open later this year.

At one time it was the fastest-growing small town in the United States, exploding from a population of about 5,000 in 1996 to more than 15,000 today.

It is a conservative population, perhaps because of its proximity to Utah.

You won't find topless production shows in Mesquite, much less nude clubs that sell lap dances and other forms of sexually oriented entertainment. An adult book and video store opened in 1993, but after almost three years of around-the-clock picketing by protesters, the owner gave up and closed down.

The most risque show to ever play in Mesquite was "Chippendales" a few years back at the CasaBlanca. When folks learned it was coming to town it sparked a flurry of protest letters, but once the male beefcake dancers arrived the protests died.

After that, the Oasis brought in "Thunder From Down Under" for a few dates, without a ripple of resistance.

Executives for the four major casinos say they don't have any problems recruiting entertainment for the remote area, which is marked by gorges, canyons, mesas and seemingly endless miles of flat desert terrain.

Lots of Juice

Lenny Myers & The Fantastics were performing for free in a lounge on the east end of town, belting out such blasts from the past as "At the Hop" and "Mack the Knife."

Juice Newton was at the CasaBlanca on the west end in the town's only showroom, performing many of the hits she had in the '70s and '80s.

Price of admission was only $14.95-$24.95 to see the Grammy Award-winning, pop/ country cross-over artist who helped pave the way for such performers as Shania Twain.

Among Newton's lengthy list of classics are "Angel of the Morning," "Queen of Hearts," "Break It To Me Gently," "Love's Been A Little Bit Hard On Me" and "American Girl."

"American Girl 2" will be released this year.

The CasaBlanca books performers whose names are still well known, but who have already passed the peak of their careers.

B.J. Thomas, Billy Ray Cyrus, Charlie Daniels, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Crystal Gayle, Don Williams, Glen Campbell, Mel Tillis, Pat Boone and Roy Clark are among those who headline in Mesquite.

CasaBlanca Marketing Director Marty Rapson is responsible for booking entertainment. She says her audiences like country, classic rock 'n' roll and comedy.

In addition to at least one headliner per month, there is a lineup of comedians almost every weekend. The most recent comics to perform for free here included John Bizarre, Randy Lubas and Carl Wolfson.

Rapson says tribute bands don't do well at the CasaBlanca.

"Our audiences are more interested in the real thing, like the Oak Ridge Boys," she said.

The Bellamy Brothers will perform Aug. 8.

Though Newton's star doesn't shine as brightly as it did early in her career, she still has a devoted fan base. Those fans were reluctant to let her leave the stage after her 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. performances on a recent Saturday.

Newton, who lives in San Diego, has performed in huge auditoriums all over the world. But it doesn't bother her to sing in a 550-seat showroom at the CasaBlanca, a room that is as well-designed as any comparable venue in Las Vegas.

"The music is what drives me," she said before a recent performance. "Once the first note starts, nothing else matters." She will be playing in a middle school auditorium in Brewer, Maine, in October.

"Sometimes you use a school auditorium in a small community because it is the biggest venue around," Newton said.

About 300 fans turned out for each of Newton's two shows in Mesquite.

"This year has been a little slow because of the economy," says Newton, who performs about 100 dates a year.

Newton said she has performed in Mesquite several times in the past couple of years, but has been driving through town routinely since 1991 on the way from San Diego to her second home in Sundance, Utah.

She enjoys performing here.

"It's a captive audience," she said.

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