Friday, April 1, 2005 | 8:47 a.m.
Today is the day to use extreme caution every time you open a door, walk around a corner or receive an emergency call.
It's a day for skepticism. Believe nothing without three sources of confirmation. These are the 24 hours of the year during which pranksters are most likely to prey upon the naive and unwary.
April Fool's Day is a free pass for the mischievous, who are given the right to exercise their guile without criticism. It falls on April 1 for almost everyone.
But for Amazing Johnathan, every day is April Fool's Day.
"I call it, 'Amateur Day,' " said Johnathan, the often outrageous comic magician at the Riviera with a devilish sense of humor.
Johnathan's house is a testament to his passion for pranks -- there are the exploding trees in the backyard; a corpse that rises out of the ground; a restroom wired for sound effects.
"I don't do anything special on April 1," Johnathan said. "I do it every single day."
Gags are not only his joy, but also his lifeblood.
"But you can only take a prank so far," he said. "Once they're about to get on the airplane -- that's when I stop. What if the plane crashes, and just because you pulled some stupid practical joke someone dies?"
For those who need some coaching in pulling gags, Johnathan has an instruction manual: "Every Trick in the Book" (available at his Web site, www.amazingj.com).
"I give readers some ammunition," said Johnathan, who will be on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on April 21 and sometime after that on MTV's prankster series "Punk'd."
One of Johnathan's pranks involves rolling down a car window, sprinkling broken glass all over the interior and placing a brick on a seat.
"That's a good one," he said. "They take their car in to be fixed and the guy just rolls up the window."
Johnathan called playing pranks like a game of chess.
"They make a move, you make a move," he said.
Johnathan rarely gets checkmated -- although someone at a party once managed to tuck a 12-foot strip of toilet paper into the back of his pants.
"That was pretty embarrassing," Johnathan said, "walking around the club with this long tail of toilet paper."
But those moments are rare.
"No one can really get me," Johnathan said. "I want to be fooled, too. But I can see it coming from a mile away. I have to act surprised on my birthday. I always have to play like I don't know what's coming up."
Few people dare to try and fool the master.
As he says, "They are terrified of the retaliation."
Tax axed?
The state Legislature might be repealing the infamous entertainment tax law that was hastily passed at the end of the 2003 legislative session. Senate Bill 247, which would repeal the 10 percent tax on admissions, food and drinks at live entertainment outside of casinos, was introduced March 21.
The confusing legislation of 2003 caused some restaurants and nightclubs to fire musicians, singers, hula dancers and other entertainers because the law required the venues to pay the 10 percent tax if they employed any form of entertainment.
After several protests the law was modified so that "ambient" sounds -- such as pianos playing in the background -- would not require the imposition of the tax.
When Bob Williams plays piano in a lounge at El Cortez he's merely a musician who provides those ambient sounds. But if he sings while playing the piano he becomes an entertainer, subjecting his employer to an entertainment tax on food and drinks.
"When the tax was first put into effect, the management at the Eiffel Tower restaurant fired all their piano players," Williams said. "This caused a row, so the tax law was modified to allow for 'ambient background music.'
"When I play at El Cortez I am not allowed to sing. The piano is in a lounge within earshot of the slots and also piped into Roberta's Restaurant, so both the lounge and restaurant would be subject to this tax."
Williams sees the tax as a deterrent to lounge entertainment, especially downtown, which is trying to reinvent itself as a destination location with a vintage Vegas atmosphere.
Williams says that even drinks that are comped to slot-machine players can be taxed under the existing law.
But the new bill, if passed, would repeal the 2003 law and tax only live adult entertainment. Which means, as long as the lounge performers keep their clothes on, there won't be an entertainment tax.
The bill contains a caveat: "... if the provisions of this bill concerning the tax on live adult entertainment are held to be unconstitutional, the tax on all forms of live entertainment will be reinstated ..."
The first step of the bill is to go through the Senate Taxation Committee, where it will be studied and a hearing scheduled. If the bill is approved it goes to the floor of the Senate for a vote; if approved there, it goes to the Assembly and the process is repeated.
Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, is chairman of the Senate Taxation Committee. If you have a strong opinion one way or the other, contact McGinness at (715) 684-1442 to find out when the bill will be heard and sign up to testify.
McGinness might be able to tell you whether the hearing will be televised to Las Vegas at the Grant Sawyer Building, where interested parties might also be able to testify rather than making the trip to Carson City.
Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, herself a former lounge performer, is confident the bill repealing the law will pass.
"The entertainment tax has been a terrible burden to all of our wonderfully talented lounge entertainers," said Hunt, who occasionally entertains at her Bootlegger Bistro in Las Vegas.
She says the initial law had unforeseen and unintended consequences.
"They didn't intend for hula dancers to lose their jobs," Hunt said. "That's what happens when we make laws at the 11th hour."
Even Steve Wynn, who will open his new resort next month, is appalled by the ill-conceived entertainment tax. He criticized the law earlier this month when he addressed the Gaming Control Board at his licensing hearing for Wynn Las Vegas.
"There should not be a tax on (entertainment at) lounges," Wynn told the board. "We can't charge people for lounge acts; the public won't pay for it.
"It's like putting a tax on art. If you put a tax on it, pretty soon you have no more art because the owners aren't going to continue" to deal with taxes.
Mas Cuba
"Tropical Passions," a Cuba-inspired revue that made its Las Vegas debut at the Hilton in December, premieres at the Sahara on April 21.
Sahara entertainment director Ron Garrett says the production will have a four-month limited engagement, running through Labor Day.
There will be eight shows weekly -- at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and at 7 p.m. Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The show will be dark Tuesdays. Tickets are $49 to $69.
The production features a cast of more than 30 performers and a 23-piece orchestra.
"Tropical Passions" is the second production in Vegas which traces its roots to Cuba.
"Havana Night Club," created by Nicole Durr, is made up of a cast of 50 dancers and musicians who came to the United States from Cuba to perform at the Stardust. Once here they asked for political asylum.
Most of the cast of "Tropical Passions" comes from Florida, but they are either expatriate Cubans or Cuban descendants.
"Havana" traces the origin of dance in Cuba from centuries ago to the present.
"Passions" focuses on music popular in Cuba during the '50s, not only Latin but also pop and rock 'n' roll.
The choreographer and artistic director is Las Vegan Jesus Sanfield, who fled Cuba 25 years ago and eventually settled in Las Vegas.
"Passions" music includes mambo, cha-cha, guaracha, rumba, blues and rock 'n' roll -- all backed by a 23-piece orchestra (the Latin Grammy-nominated Tropicana All Stars).
Music that will be covered includes that of Cuba's Benny Moore, along with Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley and Josephine Baker.
German Piferrer is the musical director. Rolando Moreno is the costume designer. Miami-based Recaredo Gutierrez and his company, Regu Productions, are producing the show.
Gans' donation
Mirage headliner Danny Gans teamed with beverage company Players Drink and Mercy Airlift recently to send 7,000 cases of Players Drink to tsunami victims to aid the relief effort.
The drink is filled with immune-boosting vitamins.
Andrew Pike, chief executive of Mercy Airlift, flew to Vegas to meet with Gans at the distribution center and to pick up the donated drinks.
'Drag' race
"Dragapella" won't give up. It's going to keep trying until it finds a home in Las Vegas.
The revue, featuring four drag queens who wear '50s-style hairdos and dresses and sing a cappella, was performed at the Hilton's Shimmer Cabaret last week.
It's the second time "The Kinsey Sicks, America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet" have been in Vegas in a month. In February they were at the Westin, where they also showcased their talents in August.
Hopefully, one of these showcases will pay off for the group, which has been keeping audiences in stitches since getting together in San Francisco in 1993 to spoof drag queens.
It's a hilarious production with a superb cast that includes Irwin Keller (Winnie), Jeff Manabat (Trixie), Chris Dilley (Trampolina) and Ben Schatz (Rachel).
Someone should give these girls a break.
Party time
The Riviera is gearing up for its 50th birthday party April 20, when there will be fireworks and a re-creation of the ribbon-cutting ceremony that took place on the date in 1955.
A piano concert by Liberace scholarship winner David Jonathan Lomascola follows the ceremony.
Michael Bolton will perform anniversary concerts at 9 p.m. April 22 and April 23 in the Riviera's Royal Pavilion (for information call 794-9433).
Cake and champagne is being served from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the month of April in the race book area of the casino.
Education need
A fundraiser for Entertaining Education will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Turnberry Place's Stirling Club.
Money will be use to implement animated lessons using celebrity voice-overs for the children of the Clark County School District. The lessons will be donated to the district by Entertaining Education.
Celebrities scheduled to attend the event include Tony Curtis, who will exhibit some of his artwork, Bill Acosta, Tony Sacca, Marlene Ricci, Skip Martin of Kool and the Gang, Laurence T and Early Clover of Cornell Gunter's Coasters.
Singer dies
The bright lights of Las Vegas dimmed slightly March 25 with the passing of vocalist Patti Prince Cooper, wife of comedian Pat Cooper.
The 69-year-old entertainer often performed as the opening act for her husband of 41 years.
A native of Ashtabula, Ohio, Cooper was a resident of Las Vegas for the past 35 years, where she was active in her church, several charities and the Society of Singers.
Survivors include her husband, daughter Patti Jo Weidenfeld of Henderson, grandchildren Hannah and Eva Weidenfeld, and brother Roger Del Prince of Ohio.
The family asks that donations be made to the Lymphoma Research Foundation or American Cancer Society.
Vegas Views
Honolulu radio co-hosts Michael W. Perry and Larry Price will broadcast from the California Hotel from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. This is the eighth year in a row the show has aired live from Vegas.
"The Perry & Price Saturday Morning Show" is heard in Hawaii on KSSK 92.3-FM. For the California Hotel broadcast, they will use the Ohana Room.
For those who wish to attend, tickets are $16.95. For information call 385-1222.
Ventriloquist Ronn Lucas will be presented a lifetime achievement award by the International Ventriloquists' Association on April 24 during the ninth annual Vegas Ventriloquist Festival at Imperial Palace.
The Smothers Brothers will make the presentation.
Lucas will receive the Askins Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to performers who have made an "outstanding contribution to the ventriloquial art."
The presentation will be made at 7 p.m. at the beginning of the festival's annual gala, Ventastic 2005. Lucas performs at 3 p.m. Saturdays through Thursdays at the Rio.
The Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel will perform at the Silverton's Hideaway Theater at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets are $20. For more information call 914-8557.
Recently, the band released "The Very Best of Asleep at the Wheel," a compilation of 14 of the band's greatest dance tunes, including "The Letter That Johnny Walker Read," "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and "Sugarfoot Rag."
Rubber-faced comedian Charlie Callas, who recently moved to Las Vegas, dropped by the Greek Isles last week to see the Rat Pack show "A Tribute to Frank, Sammy, Joey and Dean."
Callas, a close friend with the members of the original Rat Pack, had such a good time that he joined the cast onstage for some clowning around.
The cast includes Gary Anthony (Frank), Luis Velez (Sammy), Sandy Hackett (Joey) and Pete Wilcox (Dean).
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