Debbie Reynolds – Friday night was spent with Debbie Reynolds at Southpoint Casino. At 78 she still has ‘it’! Even though she was really sick from the flu – she did an amazing show as usual. It was a quick backstage visit to say ‘Hi’ to a few of us before she went back to her room. There are so many other performers who could take some lessons from Ms. Reynolds as far a grace and friendliness both onstage and backstage. I had Easter Sunday dinner with her last year and she is just as funny and friendly in person as you would expect after seeing her show. She will be in Laughlin this weekend at the Riverside and back again to celebrate New Year’s Eve at the Riverside as well.
Patrick Kerr – So I take my friend Troy (an amazing ‘younger’ Elvis impersonator) to see one of his idols – Debbie Reynolds. As we are inline to go into the theater, he says to me, “the guy behind us is a comedy actor and has been in several sitcoms but I can’t remember his name.” I didn’t recognize the guy at first, but funny enough he sat with us at our table and Troy was right – it was Patrick Kerr who we have all seen on Will & Grace, ER, Friends, and most notably as Noel – Roz’s stalker on Frasier; along with being on about 50 other TV shows. Patrick is now living in Las Vegas and is starring as Zazu in the Lion King at Mandalay Bay.
Smashburger – My friend Alan and I went to Press Night at the newly opened Smashburger restaurant at the corner of Sahara and Ft. Apache. This is a relatively new franchise based in Denver, CO which has made its way to Las Vegas. There is the newly opened location just mentioned, along with ones at Lake Mead and Buffalo, Ann and Centennial Center, and one currently under construction opening in December on Maryland Parkway at UNLV – next to In-N-Out Burger. Their menu is burgers, chicken, hot dogs and salads – all were VERY good. I had the BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger which had - cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, bbq sauce and haystack onions on it. Alan had their new healthy Chicken Caesar Smashsalad, and we both had their famous Sweet Potato Smashfries which are tossed in olive oil, garlic and rosemary. Check it out – everything was YUMMY.
Stripper101 – When the economy is tough, people become creative in finding ways to market their product – and that happened with David Saxe and his show Stripper 101. Last Saturday was Gay Night at Stripper 101 - they added a special show at 8pm specifically to target the typically lucrative gay community. I think this was a trial show to see how the response would be and then maybe make it a regular event? The normal $39.99 ticket price was slashed to $19.99 for this show only which also included one cocktail and a souvenir Stripper License. Will we be seeing more guys swinging on a pole in the future?
Dennis Bono – My friend Amanda (an amazing jazz singer) and I went to see the Dennis Bono Show at Southpoint. I had not seen Dennis’ show before and I truly enjoyed the afternoon. The show is free as long as you have a Southpoint Players Club card. Arrive early to get your seat because they do fill the 404 seat showroom. Your ticket stub is also good for one free cocktail after the show in any of the casino lounges. Dennis has different guests every Thursday afternoon at 2pm for this live taping of his radio show.
