Clint Holmes relaunches Vegas residency at Golden Nugget
Clint Holmes’ trek back to the Las Vegas stage is a road well-traveled: Fremont Street.
As of May 9, you’ll find Holmes at the Golden Nugget Showroom, performing 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays through August and possibly longer.
It’s a perfect fit for the popular Vegas vocalist, who recently released the flourishing jazz album “Rendezvous,” and arrived at the Golden Nugget in 1999. He became known for a funny TV commercial and billboard campaign, showing him singing in the shower, with the message: If you wanted to see Holmes sing for real, hit the Golden Nugget.
“I have come full circle,” he said of his return. Even the date is significant, as May 9 happens to be Holmes’ 71st birthday. After leaving his initial Golden Nugget gig, Holmes had a six-year residency at Harrah’s. He then played monthly Cabaret Jazz at the Smith Center before developing the stage show “Between the Lines” at Palazzo Theater last July. That show closed in December.
Holmes has since been headlining one-offs around the country, such as as The Jazz Cruise and a tribute to Henry Mancini in Los Angeles earlier this month (where he sang “Charade” and “Whistling Away the Dark,” with Quincy Jones and Julie Andrews).
Holmes is also hitting Birdland in New York next week to promote “Rendezvous.” The album’s first single, “Say Something” (featuring R&B and jazz artist Ledisi) debuted at No. 29 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz charts.
Holmes says he’ll have most of the backing players who performed at “Between the Lines” show at Palazzo, including his music director, Christian Tamburr.
Heading back to the Golden Nugget, Holmes is now toggling dates in the Showroom with his friend and fellow headliner Frankie Moreno, who performs Thursdays and Saturdays. With its concert series 52 Fridays filling out the weekends, the Golden Nugget — where Frank Sinatra once held court — has become a hot venue throughout most of the week (dark Sundays and Mondays).
Give it up for Santa Fe
On the topic of Holmes’ shows over the years, his backing band at Harrah’s was Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns, joined by his longtime music director Bill Fayne. Santa Fe continues to kick it up at the Lounge at the Palms. On Monday, musicians in the packed venue included players from Ricky Martin’s band, The Guess Who and the Steve Miller Band.
As Sante Fe founder Jerry Lopez said from the stage, “The great thing about our shows is most of the audience can get up and play the gig.” That included guest artist Andreas Aleman, an R&B star from Sweden.
Santa Fe’s permanent lineup includes musicians in Celine Dion’s orchestra, noted trombone soloist Nathan Tanouye, trumpet virtuoso Danny Falcone and acclaimed sax men Phil Wigfall and Eric Tewalt. They are worth noting, as Celine announced Wednesday another set of 37 shows at the Colosseum Sept. 19-Jan. 20, including a New Year’s Eve performance. Celine’s shows are more fun when you know the players.
We expect him back …
The silent prop comic Tape Face has added an 8 p.m. Tuesday show to his lineup (he usually plays Wednesdays through Sundays) as he moves to his closing date of May 7 at Bugsy’s Cabaret at Flamingo Las Vegas. But I really feel he could be back in town this fall. The artist (whose real name is Sam Wills) is doing great business, and learning the city and his show has generated strong word of mouth … taped or otherwise.
Really interested in this one
On the topic of Paris Las Vegas, there is some heat regarding a pending announcement eof a major production setting up in the Paris Theater, most recently home to “Jersey Boys.” That venue has been dark ever since, but I’ve heard talk of a multimillion-dollar musical coming in this year. The official word is expected to come early next week.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
