Human Nature has a gig, but not on the Strip

Summertime half a world a way in Australia, anyway. But Christmas just the same. On Dec. 12, the 11-year Vegas headliners are performing “Christmas In The Park” at the fittingly titled Kings Park.

The park is a spacious, outdoor venue set for between 3,000-5,000 fans. We haven’t assembled a show for 5,000 folks in Las Vegas since March, which is when Human Nature performed what would be their last show at the Venetian’s Sands Showroom.

But the original quartet of Andrew and Mike Tierney, Phil Burton and Toby Allen are reuniting for a series on the west coast of their homeland. After their series opener, they continue on to Brisbane Dec. 18, Broadbeach on Dec. 19, Canberra on Dec 21 and the Sydney suburb of Rooty Hill on Jan. 2.

The shows are under different titles, the first three three themed for the holiday with a Motown emphasis. The finale is a return to the type of jukebox stage show HN performed on the Strip, with a few originals spicing the night.

The guys hired three local players as their backing band, keeping the production tight and focused.

But before singing a single note, all four members were required to quarantine (separately) for two weeks, at the Hyatt Regency Perth. HN fans were treated to Instagram videos of the guys exercising, singing, cavorting and otherwise counting down the two weeks.

Mike and Andrea Tierney celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary as the Perth Quarantine, as the band called it, wound down Monday.

“It’s very interesting to see the stark contrast between here and there,” Mike Tierney said over the weekend, as the guys’ quarantine was nearly finished. “We have the masks and social distancing in Las Vegas, and almost no community transmission and good control here. We are under quarantine, but we understand why.”

True, Australia currently has almost eliminated COVID cases across the continent. Sending anyone flying into the country into a 14-day quarantine is a significant reason for that. Burton actually moved back to Australia, to Sydney, in October (Burton also went into the quarantine for the upcoming series, after flying across the country).

The pandemic, the end of the run at Venetian and a split among the group’s founding members has thrown Human Nature’s future into uncertainty. The act’s Las Vegas producer, Adam Steck of SPI Entertainment, might well return the show with the three members who still live in town.

But that could only happen when public-gathering allowances are increased at least to 250 people from its current 50.

“There are really so many unknowns at the moment, and we’re just going where the opportunities lie,” Tierney said. “For all intents and purposes, the opportunities in Las Vegas are closed for a show like ours. We couldn’t open the doors with just 50 tickets.”

So it’s a trip back Down Under, 20 hours of flight time for the trio that still lives in Vegas, boarding in L.A. and stopping in Singapore. Then it was a bus trip to separate rooms, meals dropped off until the guys were cleared to leave.

All for five performances in the country that launched the act 30 years ago.

“As a group, we’ve had a good, long career in Australia before Vegas,” Tierney said.“Vegas is not our one and only thing. We’ve been able to keep our options in Australia alive so we can come back and tour here. I don’t know what Vegas will have for us. It will be a long time to come back to the way it was bubbling the way it was before COVID. Until it does, we’ll play live where we can.”

Minimized Magic

Murray Sawchuck is carrying the genre at the moment as the only magician working regularly on the Strip. Sawchuck has reopened at the Laugh Factory at the Tropicana. Guests were set so far apart you could play corn hole between the tables. The the magic headliner was 25 feet (or 8.3 yards, as he reminded) from any audience member.

Sawchuck joins headlining impressionist Rich Little and the regular Laugh Factory comedy lineup as the rear Strip venue to operate during current COVID restrictinos.

“I feel honored, humbled and lucky to be able to walk back on stage again anywhere, let alone the Las Vegas Strip,” Sawchuck says. “Every day is really a gift in these times.”

But the bowling-pin bit killed. The fake-champagne bottle routine did fool the kids (or, kid). Trusty sidekick Lefty, portrayed by master thespian/magician Doug Leferovich, flicked playing cards at great velocity around the room.

Sawchuck has piled up impressive numbers on YouTube (more than a billion views and 1.75 million subscribers) and is a busy expert on “Pawn Stars.” But this re-opening performance for 50-ish fans is where he earned his money. Tough conditions, but very nice work.

Lid-lifter

Those of you who add GIFs to your text messages will get a kick out of this. So will those who recall 1970s TV crime-dramas, and blaxploitation films of any era. Otherwise, sit this one out.

A search for a simple GIF has led to an inspirational conversation with Huggy Bear.

This bears a back story.

Last week I was texting with Vegas publicist Michael Caprio, who reps Olivia Newton-John, Chippendales, “Extravaganza” at Bally’s and the above-referenced Human Nature. Deep in the conversation, Caprio related that 11 years ago, Newton-John goaded him into attempting a back-handspring for her niece during a party on Miami Beach.

Attempting to impress Newton-John (and her niece), and also because Barry Gibb and Jon Secada were in the party cabana, Caprio performed the “back” part. Then he slipped and cracked a bone in his neck and badly scraped his head.

The next day, Newton-John suggested Caprio buy a hat to cover his abrasion so he could make a red-carpet event that night (his neck injury was not serious enough to miss this particular celebration). Newton-John actually joined her publicist on this shopping spree.

When Caprio mentioned the hat, I searched “hat” in the GIF field in my text, looking to send him some zany image.

The very first match, among all hat-related GIFs, was Antonio Fargas. (This is the first match if you search #images in text, but not the case in Twitter.)

Fargas is most famous for playing Huggy Bear on “Starsky & Hutch,” which ran from 1975-79. But in this image, Fargas was shown in his pimp outfit from the 1988 blaxploitation parody film “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.” Fargas portrayed the pimp Flyguy. His suit and matching hat were canary-yellow, with tiger-striped trim.

I immediately called Fargas, who lives in Las Vegas (and is one of my favorite name-drops). I let him know that when you search “hat” as a GIF in text, his Flyguy role is first to pop up. This did make him laugh.

“At the time I did that, it was just another job,” Fargas said, recalling his character in the movie, starring and directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. “But after 57 years in the business, I’m understanding how some roles resonate. I’m accepting that Huggy Bear and Flyguy have a long shelf life. You just never know how or where you’re going to touch someone.”

Star of Jarr

You might remember, or not, a few years ago when we wrote of the effort to honor Vegas lounge legend Cook E. Jarr with a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars. That project is inching toward reality. Jarr fan Mark Block’s GoFundMe effort has met the $20,000 goal to pay the required fee for the Jarr star.

Now that the tip Jarr is full, we wait. Block says the star ceremony will likely be scheduled after the pandemic. “I can’t imagine doing it with masks, but who knows?” Ah, the Jarr knows. He has all the answers. Woof-woof!

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.