Golden Knights hint to Logic-al event for playoff opener
The Kats! Bureau at this writing is 3535 bar at Linq Hotel. Fizzy water is pouring freely and the house music is jacked up at this watering hole, which is currently serving as media headquarters for the Emerge Music + Impact festival.
The Mat Franco Theaterjust up the escalators, has also been transformed, morphing into a music club for the weekend event. (More on Mat in a minute).
Until then, more from this scene, and elsewhere:
Golden Knights rap shot
The NHL is planning a pre-game concert starring the rapper Logic, to be held outside T-Mobile Arena before the Vegas Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup Playoffs opener Wednesday night.
The logical (heh) location would be Toshiba Square. The Golden Knights’ Twitter feed says, “Details to come as we know more!” No response at this writing from texts to the team’s PR raps. I mean, reps …
Louie Las Vegas
Louie Anderson’s new book, “ Hey Mom: Stories for My Mother, But You Can Read Them Too,” is out. The book is a collection of letters from Anderson to his late mother, Ora. Anderson began writing about three years ago as he was cast as Zach Galifianakis’ mother in the FX show Baskets, for which Anderson won an Emmy.
A Las Vegas resident, Anderson is prepping a live concert recording May 24-26 at South Point Showroom. All three shows are ticketed performances, same as Anderson’s usual appearances. The difference: The veteran comic’s material will be hard-focused on Vegas, and he plans to shop the show to cable networks or even just post it himself on his Facebook page.
“I’ve been performing in Vegas since the ‘80s, it’s my home, and I love it,” Anderson said in a phone chat Friday. “This is going to be a Las Vegas special with jokes I’ve been telling for years. I want it recorded. I don’t want it to be lost.”
Symphonic convergence
Las Vegas Philharmonic has released its 2018-2019 season at the Smith Center, and the music of “Psycho” is in the lineup (but no cutlery allowed at Reynolds Hall, folks). Most intriguing is what is planned for the 2019-2020 season: A full symphonic production of The Composers Showcase of Las Vegas.
Philharmonic Music Director Donato Cabrera says he was struck with the idea during the Composers Showcase at Myron’s Cabaret Jazz in February. The next day he and Composers Showcase co-founder Keith Thompson met for coffee. “I told Keith it would be fantastic to bring these incredible artists inside Reynolds Hall and pair them with the Philharmonic. He agreed and we’re doing it. How cool would that be?”
Very. TCS celebrated its 12th anniversary Wednesday night at Cab Jazz. The show has hopscotched around VegasVille from its original home at Suede restaurant. It’s spent time at the Liberace Museum, Creative Studios and Garfield’s in Summerlin before landing at Cab Jazz in 2012. The show has consistently drawn some of the best composers in the city, and Wednesday was no exception.
And on that topic …
Ex-”Jersey Boys” cast member and “Marilyn: The New Musical” at Paris Theater co-star Travis Cloer performed his latest original, “I Can’t Love You More” at Wednesday’s TCS show. This is a handy way to mention Cloer’s next gig April 13 at the Italian American Club. Cloer and his four-piece backing band will perform a wide spectrum of classics, including a couple of Four Seasons songs from Cloer’s days when he played Frankie Valli on the Strip.
Cloer was invited back to the IAC showroom during his debut there in December, when club maitre d’ and manager Benny Spano called out to the stage, “I have an offer you can’t refuse!”
That is the IAC way.
Franco’s big reveal
Quick fact about Mr. Franco: He’s become friendly with Joe Esposito, the vocalist on “You’re the Best,” the theme from “Karate Kid.” A few years earlier, Esposito was in the band Brooklyn Dreams, which collaborated with Donna Summer on her hits “Heaven Knows” and “Bad Girls.”
Esposito is also known for the hit song “Lady, Lady, Lady” from “Flashdance.”
Franco and Esposito have actually recorded YouTube clip of the two performing “You’re The Best” (Franco plays guitar) and — get this — Esposito is a Vegas resident who plays with the band Cool Change at Round Bar at Rampart Casino. The band is back April 20-21; Franco met Esposito when checking out the band in November. Crazy. So, look for some social-media posts from Rampart Casino.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
