This week's LVW col: Come Hither, Adam Lambert

Y'all saw the vague first draft of this one last week, but now I've got input from Strip execs, including one who says that they've been pondering the Strip potential of...Susan Boyle! Enjoy. -sf

Larger than life, perfect for Vegas

Someone here needs to sign American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert right now

BY STEVE FRIESS

Until last Thursday, I had never watched an entire episode of American Idol. Yes, I’m one of the six.

As any halfway-conscious consumer of celebrity news would, I generally keep up with the Fox mega-competition in a vague enough way such that by May each year I’m usually able to identify the two finalists the same way I know the teams in the Super Bowl every February. I don’t actually care in either case, but nor do I clamp my ears and squeeze shut my eyes and actively avoid what will inevitably climb into my brain via any available pore or passage anyway.

I wouldn’t have watched this finale, either, except that my 9-year-old nephew and 14-year-old niece, whom I was visiting in Pennsylvania, are nuts for the thing. It struck me as an opportunity to see how the folks who love this phenomenon interact with it.

Plus, I admit, I was curious this cycle because of all the lip about whether the nation was ready for its first probably gay American Idol in one flamboyant Adam Lambert. Lambert had been crowned the favorite months ago and already appeared on the cover of Entertainment Weekly.

So I subjected myself to two bloated hours and did my best to explain to the young’uns who cameo stars Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Richie, Queen Latifah, Santana, Kiss (“What’s with the makeup?” 9-year-old Daniel wondered) and Queen are. And for the first time, I watched Lambert and co-finalist Kris Allen perform and interact with host Ryan Seacrest.

Knowing nothing of any of the other performances to date, it nonetheless seemed fairly obvious to me who would win. When America was allegedly stunned that a handsome, sweet-natured balladeer from the Deep South bested the big-voiced, costuming-prone, guylinered reincarnation of Freddie Mercury, my sole surprise was that anyone expected a different outcome.

I mulled this with a gay AI–devoted friend in Chicago via Facebook later that night wondering what is typically next for these folks. Geoff recited the drill: summer concerts with the rest of the AI top 10-ish, a likely record deal with 19 Entertainment, a solo tour perhaps.

“He should get a show in Vegas,” I wrote.

“That is … brilliant,” Geoff responded.

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com

Memo to Vegas Scouts: Sign Adam Lambert. Now.

America did Adam Lambert and Las Vegas a ginormous favor by crowning milquetoast, inoffensive, adorable but unmemorable Kris Allen tonight as this year's American Idol. Now, if Las Vegas talent scouts are smart, they'll Terry Fatorize the liberated, beholden-to-none runner-up. Lambert defines the next-gen Vegas megastar: He's got the costumes, the pizzazz and, although this is hardly necessary in these parts, that brilliant voice.

Millions of fans -- and especially the gays and the cougars -- would flock here to see the new superstar. No need to build up the name cred; the biggest TV show of our time just took care in a few months of what would otherwise take years of touring to accomplish. Bring in Thierry Mugler for costumes, Dave LaChapelle to direct. Start Adam off singing big-voice rock standards, let him work his new material in. Give audiences a sense of discovery.

Paris and Wynn have empty showrooms. The Joint is now in the resident-act market. The Hilton has turned toward this demo with Monster Circus.

Show Lambert the money. Do it as quickly as possible. He's a one-man multiplier effect. AI's given us Oscar winners, Tony nominees, country music superstars. Why not a new Strip headliner?

The Show is UP: Marie, Part II

Here's the second half of Marie. Enjoy the show! Click on the date below to listen or right-click and save to your computer. Or subscribe (it's free!) via the iTunes link or via the Zune link. Enjoy.

April 9: The Stevie and Marie Show, Part II

In Banter: MGM goes up and down, Tony Curtis is weird, CityCenter may seem cluttered and legislators ponder a whore tax.

Last week she talked about genteel topics like Groucho Marx pinching her butt and brother Donny falling off tables. But this week, Marie Osmond gets controversial, particularly when she’s talking about what she knows about the behind-the-scenes world of Dancing With the Stars and American Idol.

Links to stuff we discuss:

Tickets for the Donny and Marie show
GritsToGlitz.Com, guest co-host Amy’s show
Jill Curtis’s horse rescue organization, Shiloh
VegasHappensHere’s photo of the F’bleau towering over the Riv
The Strip’s Tony Curtis episode
The A.P. on the whore tax hearings
RuPaul’s Drag Race TV show

The Strip is LIVE tonight w/ Marie Part II

We're live tonight @ 6:45 p.m. PT at LVRocks.Com with the second half of the conversation with Marie Osmond and the president of the hotel whose fancy suite almost none of you could place. Marie Osmond gets a little controversial this time, particularly when she’s talking about what she knows about the behind-the-scenes world of Dancing With the Stars and American Idol.

Come to the chat room at LVRocks.Com and listen live and converse with others. Or wait for the podcast, which you can subscribe to for free in iTunes.

What A Night: The Jersey Boys Premiere

Click above to watch the special VIDEO edition of "The Strip" or right-click here to download it.

Over the years, going to Vegas functions has become more of a chore than a pleasure. My partner's dislike of the social scene has spilled over on to me; I'd rather be home with Miles, a movie and my dogs on most occasions. It does become all the same people having all the same chatter, and these things become a minefield for me in which people come up to me expecting to be remembered. I have one of the world's worst memories for faces and names, so it's embarrassing.

That said, last night's Jersey Boys premiere was one of the best times I've had. While I liked the show when we saw it for the first time last month, I inexplicably adored it last night. I can't tell if that's because I've been studying up on the music and over the past week interviewed Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio as well as Erich Bergen who plays Gaudio. But at the end when the on-stage Frankie spoke of original member Nick Massi's death, I got mildly choked up. (The Bergen-Gaudio interview will appear on this week's epsiode of "The Strip." It's unclear yet whether I can air the Valli conversation, which is the basis for a print story I'm writing today.)

As always, the night began with a red carpet parade I observed but did not participate in. Here's Frankie Valli himself, followed by actor John Cleese and then Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson with his wife, Miriam...

Click on any photo below to expand it

And here's KVBC entertainment reporter (and former Mrs. Nevada) Alicia Jacobs interviewing her date, American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe, who sported a wrist in a cast he joked came from punching Simon Cowell. Would that that were true...


At the end of the show, there was a tribute to the surviving original Four Seasons, Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio and Tommy DeVito, as well as their longtime producer, Bob Crewe. You can't really see it that well here, but you can watch the tribute on the SPECIAL VIDEO EDITION of "The Strip" by clicking here or right-clicking here to download it for later viewing.


Walking out, I ran into Rita Rudner, who is scheduled to be a guest again on "The Strip" at the end of May once I read her new book. Here she is with her husband, Martin.


A few days ago, some friends went to see the show and one text-messaged me during the show's eight-minute intermission to rave about it and also to pass along her boyfriend's prediction that they would drop the cursing from the script within a few months. It was a strange notion seeing how Vegas is NOT know for being timid in its entertainment in general and the coarse language is part of the Jersey authenticity of it all. And then I saw this sign on the way out which pretty much proved to me that they won't ever touch the script:


If you can't read it, it says: "Jersey Boys contains smoke, gun shots, strobe lights, authentic Jersey language and is not recommended for children under the age of 12." That takes care of THAT.

The party was quite a creative endeavor. Here's the entrance...


...and the first thing you saw was "Jersey Boys" spelled out in 7-foot letters across the room...


The room was lined with antique cars adorned by pretty dancing girls in 1950s attire (or vice versa?). There were placards explaining what each car was, but it didn't seem like most people knew they could go up on the platforms and look closer.


As always, the food was insane. Little burgers and meatloaf, other odd stuff I couldn't identify.


There were martinis passed out like crazy with punny names like "Walk Like A Man-hattan"...

...and "Cherry, Cherry Baby..."


And I learned that apparently in the 1950s and 1960s, people mainlined sugar...



And, finally, there was the Happy Birthday tribute to Frankie Valli. You can see that, too, on the special VIDEO edition.



Go see the show. I don't quite agree with Jerry Fink of the Las Vegas Sun, who told me last night he thinks it's the best show in Vegas right now. I think that title might be a toss-up to me these days between Ka, Love and Mamma Mia. But it's certainly quite good.

Breaking: American Idol, The Las Vegas Spectacular?

I've now heard from high-ranking officials of more than one casino conglomerate that go-betweens for the producers of American Idol are hard at work trying to marry the reality megahit brand to Vegas in some sort of as-yet-undefined show concept. It's really fluid what it would be -- some sort of talent show involving the audience? a concert featuring ex-AIers? -- but as the city tries to look beyond big-name headliners, Cirque-type spectacles and Broadway, this is one thought that holds some real appeal and pre-sold marketing clout.

Whatcha think of them apples?