Speedwagon runs strong, but Thornton sings ho-hum

Friday, Aug. 17, 2007 | 7:28 a.m.

REO Speedwagon is good eno ugh to continue performing indefinitely so long as the members of the aging band don't break a hip.

The band, still rocking after 40 years, put on a great show recently at The Palms. Lead singer Kevin Cronin, 56, hasn't lost much of his youthful energy onstage.

Most of the audience was aging rockers, but there were enough younger fans to make one think that the group will be around for a long time.

Keep the day job

Singer Billy Bob Thornton is lucky he has a day job as an actor.

A recent concert at the Green Valley Ranch revealed that the brilliant thespian is only a so-so singer. Adequate, possibly, for a lounge in some small town, but he could never hope to achieve the same status he enjoys in the movies.

But his fans loved him as he and his band, The Boxmasters, started off playing some rockabilly and then escalated into more of a rock format.

The band outshines the star performer.

Just for laughs

Dom Irrera was billed as the headliner, and he was definitely the star of the show at the Riviera's Comedy Club recently. His well-oiled act kept fans in stitches.

But Carla Rea, a local gal who was one of the warm-ups, all but stole the show.

Rea's day job is public relations and community affairs director for KVBC Channel 3. But at night she takes off the serious mask and puts on the comedy.

Sample: "Prostitution is legal in Nevada - not Las Vegas, but in Nevada. I think being a hooker would be a really good job, in the sense that you wake up, you're in bed and you're at work. I mean, you're ready."

The crowd loved her. She'll headline at the venue sometime in November.