Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006 | 7:32 a.m.
When he was a kid growing up in Plains, Ga., Jack Carter remembers believing there were just two classes of people.
"There was the class we saw on TV, and the rest of us," Carter said with a chuckle during a phone interview Thursday before a fundraiser at Jim Rogers' Sun Belt Auto Collection near the KVBC Channel 3 studios in Las Vegas. "But when Dad got elected in 1970, I started to meet these people I'd only seen on national TV and that perception started to change."
"Dad" in this case is former President Jimmy Carter and the 1970 election was for governor of Georgia. Two years after winning the statehouse, the Carters welcomed a few of the top Democrats in the nation to the Governor's Mansion in Atlanta during the primary campaign in 1972. The group included eventual nominee George McGovern, New York City Mayor John Lindsay and Hubert Humphrey. All descended on the mansion attempting to woo the popular new governor and his family.
Not all succeeded.
"I was disappointed in every one of them except for Hubert Humphrey," said Carter, who was 25 at the time (and 59 today). "Most of them were on the edge of their seats trying to figure out what Dad wanted them to say. But Humphrey didn't. He was very comfortable. He had more conviction, and obviously he was well educated and could reason with you."
A year later Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter gathered the family for an announcement. "She said, 'Your father is going to run for president of the United States,' " Carter said. "I thought, 'Hey, we've met the other guys - you're better than them."
NoteMart
Our pick: During the conversation Carter mentioned he'd learned to play guitar at age 40 (when I quickly responded, "Really?" he guessed, accurately, that is my age). He said, "If you want to rent a guitar, rent one and you can make enough music to be happy with it. I have a little amp and a Fender guitar. If you can learn a blues pattern, then you can play rock 'n' roll." During his recent tour of rural Nevada, Carter used a flatbed truck as a speaker's platform and bandstand and plucked his way through "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Got Them Deep River Blues." The performances prompted such headlines as, "Jack Carter rocks Wells," from the Elko Daily Free Press.
The opening of "The Producers" at Paris Las Vegas has been pushed back to early 2007, and we're told the delay is to allow time to assemble a first-rate cast. Initial plans were for the musical to open well, about by now. Then it was the fall, then November. Good news is that the renovation of the Theatre des Arts, which is adding a new orchestra pit, is nearly complete.
A name bouncing around for the Harrah's theater after Clint Holmes leaves in October is the Sammy Davis Jr. Theatre. Davis opened that theater, and the showroom at Harrah's Reno (the Sammy Showroom) is named for him.
The Las Vegas Hilton is filling one of the dates of Barry Manilow's absence in September (he's fine-tuning his hipness, surgically) with a production of "Rock Show" on Sept. 22. Tickets are just $19.95 and the show is a salute to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Queen, Rolling Stones, Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, the Who, Van Halen and Elton John. The production is fronted by my man! Brody Dolyniuk of Yellow Brick Road. (Quick sighting for y'all: On Wednesday at Rocks Lounge at Red Rock Resort, YBR invited Frankie Scinta to the stage for a strangely entertaining turn on Queen's "We Will Rock You.")
Fur old time's sake: Anna Nateece, Liberace's costume designer who crafted many of his capes, suits and shoes will be at the Liberace Museum from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. today. Admission is free, and entertainment (of the ivory-tickling nature) is scheduled.
Following an item from last week, the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation is inviting Clark County residents ages 14 to 28 (not 14 to 18, as I typographically botched in the item from several days ago) to compete in the "Grand Slam for Stardom," with the winner being awarded a spot to sing onstage during the Oct. 7 concert at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Contestants are invited to sing a song of their choosing, a capella, at an open audition on Aug. 26 at Green Valley Ranch Station Casino.
The driver wears X-ray specks! The plates on a red convertible Corvette claim, ICTHRUU
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