The Show is UP: In The Valli Of Jersey

Because I'm in Florida visiting my parents and will be traveling home tomorrow, I figured I'd put this post up now. Our latest show featuring a conversation with the legendary Frankie Valli is now online. The show won't be in the RSS feed for iTunes or Zune subscribers until early Thursday, as always, but you can download it by right-clicking here or listen to it via your computer by clicking here right now.

May 15: In The Valli of Jersey

A priceless falsetto took an Italian pipsqueak from New Jersey all the way to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. But it’s only now, with the huge success of the Tony-winning Broadway show based on his life, that Frankie Valli is feeling truly appreciated by the entertainment world. That show, “Jersey Boys,” opened last month to rave reviews at the Palazzo, returning the sound of Valli and the Four Seasons to the Strip in grand fashion. Valli talks about what covers he likes, why he left his Luxor contract so suddenly in 2005 and much more.

In Banter: Terry Fator takes over, Cher needs work, the WSOP undergoes big changes, shrimp cocktails are more expensive and why Vegas.Com rules the world.

Show Links:

Get Jersey Boys tickets for Vegas here
News of Terry Fator's takeover at the Mirage is here
Steve's blog post about Cher's show problems is here
A piece on the changes coming for the World Series of Poker is here
That website to find wireless hotspots in Vegas is here
A story about the increased prices for shrimp cocktails at Golden Gate is here
That weird Trek-crazy site's report on the possible closure of Star Trek Experience is here
Old blog posts about the feud, now over, with Robert Earl, can be found here

Why Frankie Left The Luxor

This week's Las Vegas Weekly column is now online, a look at Frankie Valli's surprise resurgence in Vegas and his explanation about why he left his Luxor contract unceremoniously in 2005.


The Strip Sense: Working his way back to you
Frankie Valli gets some Vegas vindication at the premiere of Jersey Boys

By Steve Friess

It is hard to believe now, especially after the weekend that just was, that only a few years ago Frankie Valli walked out during a three-week contract at the Luxor and was declared by at least one entertainment writer to have essentially ended his association with Las Vegas once and for all.

Hard, that is, because on Saturday the town stood up and cheered as the pipsqueak Italian from New Jersey with the priceless falsetto blew out candles at one of the city’s most elaborate and expensive birthday parties in recent memory.

Move over, Paris and Nicole. The nightclubs, for whatever bizarre reason, may pay you to stand and wave on the anniversaries of your unfortunate arrivals, but would anyone stage a multimillion-dollar Broadway musical based on your life story and then have a major resort-casino time the premiere of it on the Las Vegas Strip just to honor you?

For Valli, there was no question that the moment was immensely gratifying and somewhat unique for Las Vegas. Sinatra, Rickles and Bennett never fell out of favor in such a way as Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons seemed to and, thus, never had quite this sort of a spectacular comeback as is seen with the triumphant debut of Jersey Boys at the Palazzo.

Except don’t call it that. Valli’s not having any of this “comeback” nonsense. “Every once in a while when we had a resurgence, in the interviews people would ask, ‘How does it feel to be making a comeback?’ and I would say, ‘I had no idea we left!’” Valli said. “In all the ups and downs, there was never a shortage of work. There’s all the work I wanted.”

Perhaps, but the wonderful Jersey Boys not only returns The Four Seasons to the forefront of the pop-culture scene but also restores our faith in the future of musical theater in Las Vegas. If last week’s column pointed out how Steve Wynn must be driving convention-travel innovator Sheldon Adelson bananas by planning a huge new expo center, this week it must be noted that Wynn must be utterly depressed that his vision for great Broadway theater on the Strip has been realized not by his now-failed picks Avenue Q and Spamalot but by arch-nemesis Adelson’s knockout versions of Phantom and Jersey Boys.

Read the rest HERE

Show is UP: The Two Seasons

Hey all, this week's show, featuring interviews with Four Seasons songwriter Bob Gaudio (right) and "Jersey Boys" actor Erich Bergen (left) is now online! Click here to hear it or right-click here to download it and listen to it later. Or subscribe via iTunes here or via Zune here.

Also, if you're in town, check out KVBC Channel 3 tomorrow morning at 5 and 6 (or set a DVR!) to catch me commenting on the new Cher show. I'll also be on Nevada Week in Review on Channel 10 at 7:30 p.m. discussing the week's news. They replay that throughout the weekend.

Next week: Frankie Valli. And a new trivia question and poll. So you've got another four days to answer the trivia quiz after all.

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.

Busy, Busy

Crazy busy the past two days, which explains my absence from blogging on Thursday.

Yesterday, I had this New York Times piece run online about the congressional race to save Harry Reid. Confused? Read it. I also enjoyed Norm Clarke's attention on the plagiarism flap with Perez Hilton. There's more to say about that, but I'm not ready to get to it yet.

Today I woke early to spend an hour interviewing Frankie Valli for a print story and, I hope, to air on "The Strip." I'm also busy, while I wait for the exterminator to arrive, working on a follow-up to this Review-Journal report that the state wants Steve Fossett's widow to pay $687,000 for the search for her husband. And I have to get to the headquarters of Cirque du Soleil this afternoon to scope out a story I'm curious about over there, then head to the Flamingo to sign 500 copies of my book given to attendees of the convention of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association. Then it's off to the PBS studio to appear on this week's "Nevada Week in Review" program.

After that, I think we're going to skip the media opening of "Jersey Boys" because I ought to go check out this year's Gay Pride Parade in downtown Las Vegas and we already got to see the show. If I've got the energy, I'll start tearing into Harry Reid's book. If not, I can do that tomorrow.

That's all. Bug man is here.