Joe Brown

Story Archive

The return of the queen: Frank Marino rules in Divas Las Vegas at Imperial Palace; Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010; OK, maybe I can’t be entirely objective, having seen a preview of Divas Las Vegas while dolled up in drag myself. But even with mascara melting into my eyes and wig tendrils finding their way into every sip of cocktail, it was clear to me that Frank Marino’s return to the Strip is going to be a triumph.
The Woman in the Mirror: With Divas Las Vegas, Frank Marino continues his 25-year reign as Queen of the Strip; Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010; With Divas Las Vegas, Frank Marino continues his 25-year reign as Queen of the Strip
The return of the queen: Frank Marino rules in Divas Las Vegas at Imperial Palace; Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010; Frank Marino rules in Divas Las Vegas at Imperial Palace
When I was a girl: Joe Brown's drag metamorphosis; Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010; The metamorphosis of the Weekly's Joe Brown.
Celine Dion sings on ... and on and on: Monday, Feb. 22, 2010; So here she comes again. Yes, Celine Dion is taking another crack at the Colosseum — she punches in on March 15, 2011 — and she’ll probably bring down her own box-office records in doing so. In fact, if you look at dollar volume, audience numbers and international travel appeal, Dion has been more successful as a Las Vegas headliner than Elvis or the Rat Pack or Liberace combined.
Cirque repackages rock ‘n’ roll icon in ‘Viva Elvis’: Show at CityCenter’s Aria is Cirque’s seventh in Las Vegas; Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010; It’s a theme-park "Grease" reunion, a live-in-person Gap commercial with an Olympics opening ceremony budget.
Review: Cirque repackages rock 'n' roll icon in 'Viva Elvis': Show at CityCenter's Aria is Cirque's seventh in Las Vegas; Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010; "Viva Elvis," which officially opened at CityCenter’s Aria Friday night after weeks of paid previews and adjustments, joins six other Strip-resident shows, and it’s likely to be lucky number seven for Cirque du Soleil.
Save us, Celine!: You’re our only hope!; Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010; Las Vegas is thrilled that you're coming back, Celine. But can you speed it up? A city turns its worried eyes to you ...
Save us, Celine!: You’re our only hope!; Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010; You’re our only hope!
Seeing red: Rug rats invade Las Vegas: Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010; When the cameras come out on red carpets, we stop and gawk, drawn by the lights.
Midlake: The Courage of Others; Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010; Here’s another splendid album by a good band that we’ll probably never get to see in Las Vegas.
Prepare for the second coming of Celine!: Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010; Queen Celine is headed back to save the Las Vegas economy. Start preparing.
The bastard son of Tony Robbins: Jason Alexander stars at Planet Hollywood as “the world’s fourth-best motivational speaker”; Monday, Feb. 15, 2010; An interactive, energetic 80-minute massacre of corporate cliches and self-help stupidity, "Donny Clay" is staged in the Chi Showroom on the second level of the casino, the stage otherwise occupied by the upmarket nudi-tease that is "Peepshow." It's ironic and a bit genius that this spoofery of success-industry swindling is staged just a few hundred feet from the business suites and conference rooms where this kind of nonsense takes place in awful earnest.
The bastard son of Tony Robbins: At Planet Hollywood, Jason Alexander as “the world’s fourth-best motivational speaker”; Monday, Feb. 15, 2010; At Planet Hollywood, Jason Alexander stars as “the world’s fourth-best motivational speaker.”
Las Vegas becoming a sweet spot for a gourmet sugar rush: Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010; Most who make the trek to Las Vegas come to get their cravings on: eat, drink, smoke, gamble, make sexytime, anytime. What brings people here comes down to a yearning to forget the bitter, to taste the sweet. Which reminds us of the unspoken vice and open secret of this city: our raging sweet tooth. Yes, you may leave Vegas with all manner of wonderful or icky mementos, but your most likely souvenir will be sticky fingers, a jacked-up glycemic index and a toothache.
We want candy: Vegas’ unspoken vice: Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010; The Strip has been sugar-coated and dipped in chocolate, with sprinkles on top.
The great mall of China: The Strip goes red and gold for the Year of the Tiger; Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010; There's an international pop superstar in Vegas this weekend, and you've likely never heard of him.
Love and squalor: Farewell, J.D. Salinger: Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010; Weekly writers say goodbye to a literary great.
The Showgirl must move on: Bette Midler's exultant Vegas victory lap; Monday, Feb. 1, 2010; As Bette Midler folded up her feathered fans - after singing the first verse of "Wind Beneath My Wings" to her orchestra, the next to "4,500 of my closest friends" - it felt like something more than a Vegas show was ending.
The Showgirl moves on: Reflecting on Bette Midler's exultant Vegas finale; Monday, Feb. 1, 2010; Bette Midler's exultant Vegas finale was packed with off-the-script surprises and tender moments.
The Faux Pharoah: New exhibit at Las Vegas Natural History Museum showcases King Tut reproductions; Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010; The real thing - does it even matter anymore? Especially here in Las Vegas, where simulacra and imitation-everything are the new true.
Tomb Raider: The Faux Pharoah: Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010; The real thing–does it even matter anymore?
Steve Wyrick Theatre a dark monument to struggling Vegas showrooms: Monday, Jan. 25, 2010; Last month, the grandly titled Steve Wyrick Theatre and Entertainment Complex went out of business — went dark, as they say in showbiz. But the lights are still on, night and day, blazing away.
The State of Entertainment: Disappearing acts: Where have all the Strip shows gone?; Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010; It's not magic. More and more showrooms are resting empty as Strip shows go dark.
Snakes on the mutha-f&@#!g Strip!: Seriously. In a glass room.; Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010; Animal Planet's Donald Schultz has brought some really bad company for his 10-day vacation.
The Strip meets the Shore: The real Jersey Boys are back in town; Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010; The first wave of "Jersey Shore" invasion begins Friday night at Jet. Go get tan.
We’ve got the cure: Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010; Make Vegas the medical Mecca. Bring on the anesthesia on demand and antibiotic cocktails.
The Strip IS for locals: And it may need us more than ever; Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010; I used to live in Washington, D.C., and then in San Francisco. And like many residents of those much-traveled-to towns, I pretty much steered clear of the places tourists came in droves to see: The Mall, the Smithsonian museums, the monuments, the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf. That was dumb. I moved away, and I could kick myself now.
Twin odes to ... crockpots: Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010; Let us count the ways we love our crockpots.
Frank Caliendo: Kathy Griffin for straight guys: Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010; Does Las Vegas really need another celebrity impressionist? Surprisingly, yes.
Insurgo fills new space with unusual 'Othello': Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010; Taking a typically atypical approach to Shakespeare's "Othello", Insurgo Theater Movement gives the tragedy a twist - an inversion of color-blind casting: Artistic director John Beane is playing the title role, ordinarily performed by a dark-skinned actor.
Steve vs. Sasha: Comparing this week’s big keynote speakers: Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010; The Microsoft CEO goes up against the porno actress. No pun intended.
Insurgo fills new space with unusual 'Othello': Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010; Insurgo Theater Movement gives the tragedy a twist, an inversion of color-blind casting.
I have seen the future of Vegas ... and it smells good: One man’s visit to the CityCenter Sales Pavilion; Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009; The CityCenter Sales Pavilion is Disneyland for the competitively acquisitive. The Cirque du Soleil of open houses. "Architects Gone Wild."
Come lounge with Jerry: Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009; If every entertainer Jerry Fink has ever written about showed up at a party in his honor, it would have to be held at the Silver Bowl.
Gay gaming: Slots and the City: Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009; I make a point of playing the gayest slot machines whenever I spot them. So when I saw the towering new Sex and the City slots, I ran across the casino floor.
New 'Nutcracker,' same issues: Dancers never really get off the ground in Nevada Ballet Theatre's new take on the holiday classic; Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009; You can’t judge a ballet company by its "Nutcracker." Which is fortunate for NBT.
Jersey Boys 2.0: Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009; The guidos are coming, and they’re prepared to battle it out on the dance floor for club dominance on the Strip.
Last call for Manilow ... for now: Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009; Barry Manilow is moving to Paris in the springtime. Paris Las Vegas, that is.
Mutant showgirl: Lady Gaga touches down in Las Vegas: Friday, Dec. 18, 2009; Lady Gaga out-Cher-ed Cher, made Cirque du Soleil and Britney's "Circus" tour look like county fair carnivals, and made New Year's Eve in Las Vegas anticlimactic. The first of the pop phenomenon's two sold-out shows at The Pearl concert venue at the Palms rendered all previous showbiz obsolete. Let's hope one of our Strip moguls has the sense and foresight to try to convince Gaga to keep her "Monster Ball" tour right here in Las Vegas - and make the rest of the world come to her.
Garth, a guitar ... any questions?: Sans special effects and costume changes, Brooks’ Wynn show is one of the best on the Strip; Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009; The arrival of Garth Brooks may be the first glimpse of the next Vegas and a new showbiz paradigm: the anti-spectacle.
Googling Gaga: Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009; More compelling than whether Lady Gaga tucks or had her Adam’s apple shaved is how this pop chimera managed to achieve top-of-mind status in such a compressed time frame.
An Osmond encounter: Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009; Joe Brown was blessed with a vision at City Center.
Vegas lowers its 'Freaks' flag to half-mast: Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009; Fondly remembering the show that "could make you throw up in your mouth a little."
Garth Brooks brings a new showbiz paradigm to Las Vegas: Country superstar opens five-year, one-man stand at Wynn Las Vegas; Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009; The triumphant arrival of Garth Brooks may be the first glimpse of the next Las Vegas and a new showbiz paradigm: the anti-spectacle. After a decade of ever-more-elaborate (and impersonal) Cirque-dominated, can-you-top-this? extravaganzas -- epitomized by Celine Dion and then Bette Midler -- Brooks and Steve Wynn are keeping it simple.
Thoughts on Garth Brooks, man-crushes and a new showbiz paradigm: The country superstar opened his five-year one-man stand at Wynn Las Vegas this weekend; Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009; Garth Brooks is the anti-spectacle — unplugged, unpretentious, just a singer and his songs.
Putting the “movement” in Insurgo Theater Movement: Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009; Insurgo’s new next-door neighbors include a tranny bar, a hair salon, a Chinese tailor and a wig shop.
Twenty years into his solo career, Morrissey remains erudite, iconoclastic: Friday, Dec. 4, 2009; Wit, poet, romantic, troublemaker, enigma, hero of our inner adolescents ... It’s Morrissey, singer and songwriter of The Smiths, arguably the best band of the ’80s.
Barry Manilow: Still the romantic: He is to bid a grateful adieu to the Hilton as he prepares his new show at Paris — he promises the old songs will look more ‘beautiful’; Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009; Where do you go after “Ultimate”? If you’re Las Vegas headliner Barry Manilow, whose current Las Vegas act is called “Ultimate Manilow,” you head to Paris. Paris Las Vegas, that is: Manilow announced Tuesday that he’s packing up and headed for the heart of the Strip with an all-new show of his mostly-old hits.
A Scrooge defused: This ‘Christmas Carol’ a winner: ‘Christmas Carol’ wins over a Sun critic weary from years of holiday fare; Monday, Nov. 30, 2009; Just before the clock struck 8 on a chilly Friday night, I slipped crankily into my seat, bracing myself to see “A Christmas Carol” on stage for what seemed like the bazillionth time.