BREAKING: Human Nature Gets 2 More Years

The good news: Human Nature, the Aussie group that does the wonderful Motown tribute show at the Imperial Palace and has been the Strip's rare breakthrough hit of the Great Recession, is getting two more years. A formal announcement is coming late Tuesday at the IP at which the guys will appear for a photo op with benefactor Smokey Robinson. Congrats!

The bad news: They're renaming the 653-seat showroom where they play as the Human Nature Theater.

OK, this is only bad news for me as I just through being taken to the woodshed by the population of lovesick middle-aged British women and gay men who make up Matt "Gossy" Goss' most dedicated fan base over my assault on the notion that someone like Goss has done anything to earn having a room named for him. That column, of course, compared his Robin Antin-engineered marketing and attitude unfavorably to the modest, harder-working guys from Down Under.

Ah, but I'm consistent! As much as I admire Human Nature, I'm not convinced they've earned in one year something that neither Frank Sinatra nor Liberace nor Elvis Presley ever had. A classier move: Brand it the Smokey Robinson Theater. He's earned it and he's connected to this act in a serious way. But they don't ask me, of course.

Even if I think giving Human Nature this honor is premature, however, they at least have done something Matt Goss hasn't done to deserve it: They became a bona fide Vegas success first.

This week's LVW col: Matt Goss v HN

Here's this week's very controversial column comparing the rollout of Matt Goss to that of Human Nature in Las Vegas. Enjoy. -sf

Mishegoss
Why Matt Goss could learn something
from Human Nature

By STEVE FRIESS

The act was big. Really big. Millions-of-records-sold big. But that was then and that was somewhere else and almost nobody knows about it in the United States, so the act landed in Vegas hoping that America’s entertainment crossroads would provide the introduction necessary for broader success.

That’s the setup, anyway. And in the past year, much to my fascination, we’ve seen that hand being played out in two dramatically different fashions on the Strip, with significantly different outcomes.

The Australian group Human Nature and British singer Matt Goss both largely started from zero in their career second acts after boy-band successes in their homelands. Both even found well-regarded names to stand up behind their incursions onto the Strip scene and a classic musical trope to emulate.

The results, however, have been starkly different. Human Nature is rounding the bases to their first anniversary at the Imperial Palace, having proven to be a rare smashing success during the city’s most challenging economic era. And Goss? He was bounced from the Palms after about five months during which he couldn’t quite fill a tiny lounge, only to relocate to Caesars Palace’s 160-seat Cleopatra’s Barge, which, again, he is not filling up without the help of casino comps.

So what does this tell us? The answer, dear readers, is in the Gossiness of it all.

What, perhaps you ask, is “Gossiness”? Well, nobody exactly knows, except that it is very likely in coming years to be an Urban Dictionary entry synonymous with an act that thinks it can burst on the Vegas scene and expect everyone to revere its awesomeness before it’s actually even bothered to prove its awesomeness.

Read the REST at LasVegasWeekly.Com

Frank Marino To Reopen @ IP

This is the sort of thing I'd normally just Tweet, but with Twitter all funkied up, I'm going Old School and blogging. (BTW, that Tao Tweasure Hunt was reskedded for next week and this is a funny bit called "When Twitter Is Down.")

While Erich Bergen and I were at Vegas.Com today for a meeting about our big "Las Vegas Celebrates The Music of Michael Jackson" fundraiser at the Palms later this month, Frank Marino was there filming a TV spot for their site. I sensed the Marino aura when I spotted a rather plain Caddy out front with the La Cage license plate. It surprised me, actually, because the last time I saw Marino's car it looked like this:


Anyhow, I caught Frank in full drag and asked him when he'll be back on stage. He said he opens Labor Day Weekend at the Imperial Palace. "We're going to teach those Human Nature boys a thing or two," he said. The show features the cast of the 25-year Riviera production that was shut down suddenly earlier this year. Norbert Aleman, the longtime producer, will not be involved, Marino pointedly said.

I mentioned to him the kerfluffle I got into with Aleman's peeps when I Tweeted that I had heard Crazy Girls would be shutting down soon and that it had just 80 people in attendance, mostly comps. Aleman's folks sent a statement insisting they were NOT shutting down but never suggested the attendance figures were incorrect or explained the financial math of having a show running with that large a cast and that little revenue.

"You ought to have said that what you meant to say is that the show should close," Marino said drily.

Meow!

Show is UP: Smokey and the Band

Hey! I'm trying something new! I just upgraded to Leopard and the new Garageband and decided to start creating an AAC version of the show with bookmarks. This is my first try, so I kept it simply by breaking the show into four parts -- banter, the Human Nature interview, middle-show stuff and Smokey Robinson interview. If you've got iTunes and/or an iPod, this may be a way to navigate. Please let me know. Otherwise, you can always download the mp3 version. Both will be in the RSS feed. To download, right-click on the date below (or the AAC link) and save it to your computer. Or you can subscribe (it's free!) via this iTunes link or via this Zune link. -sf

Aug. 6: Smokey's Awesome Aussies
New! Get AAC edition

What’s a legend of Motown doing as the chief backer of a Vegas production featuring a white former boy band from Australia? Smokey Robinson explains that, talks about Michael Jackson and sings a few bars of the first song he ever wrote this hour. It’s no “My Girl,” but he was only 6 when he wrote it. That’s coming up, plus Andrew Tierney of that very band, Human Nature, talks about the group's transition from top-of-the-heap Down Under to headliners at, uh, the Imperial Palace.

In Banter: MJ concert details, the attack of the Chitown columnist, Beyonce v Anthony Cools, Prive's woes, Tao's interesting idea and more.

Links to stuff discussed:

Tickets for Human Nature at the IP
Smokey Robinson’s website
Amy’s podcast, GritstoGlitz.com
Amy’s Norm video
Station Casinos in bankruptcy
Tickets for Anthony Cools at Paris
Beyonce review in the R-J
Prive nightclub's problems
Tao’s Twitterhunt
Neil Steinberg’s outrageous Chicago Sun-Times column on Vegas
VegasHappensHere.Com attacks Neil Steinberg’s column
Steve’s column about the Stage Door Casino

The Strip is LIVE tonight w/Smokey Robinson

No, really this time! We're on live at LVRocks.Com from 7-8 pm PT with lots of new details about the Michael Jackson benefit event, discussions of the week's news, a new trivia question, interviews with Smokey Robinson and one of the Human Nature guys (separately) and much more.

Join us at 7 p.m. PT at LVRocks.Com for the live steam, chat room and studio cam. Or wait for the podcast version and subscribe (it's free!) via this iTunes link or via this Zune link. Your call.

The Strip is LIVE tonight w/Smokey Robinson!

What's Smokey Robinson, the legend of Motown, doing as the chief backer of a Vegas production featuring a white former boy band from Australia? Robinson explains that and talks about all things Smokey on this week's show. Also, Andrew Tierney of that very band, Human Nature, talks about the group's transition from top-of-the-heap in Oz to newbies in Vegas.

Plus, news from Vegas, a new trivia question, the poll, listener feedback and, as always, the Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week.

Join us tonight at 7-8 p.m. for the live show and chat at LVRocks.Com. Hopefully the chat room will be working this go-around! Or just wait for the podcast version and subscribe (it's free!) via this iTunes link or via this Zune link. Your call.

Happy Monday

I thought that was fun. Tee hee.

Also, if you've never heard of Uncle Jay Explains before, it's a perfect Monday morning lift. He does these 3-minute comic news summaries that are always, always, always clever. Here's this week's:



You can get "Uncle Jay Explains" via iTunes, but Jay's site doesn't provide a direct iTunes link to do so. So go here and follow his instructions for how to subscribe.

Meanwhile, my day includes a just-concluded interview with one of the Human Nature guys for this week's show, preparing for a Smokey Robinson interview tomorrow for this week's show, some MJ benefit-related calls and meetings and an attempt to finish a long-delayed piece for USA Today.

Oh, and I also have to call the IRS. Looks like I'm audited. Eeek. Somehow I'm not freaking out. Yet.