British Invade Monte Carlo
Monday, December 7, 2009
The fabulous UKLV foursome with Robin Leach and his date
It was another crazy week for me but I seem to be saying that a lot these days. It started out with a spectacular party at Monte Carlo Hotel and ended with a less than stellar show at the Hard Rock’s Joint and my 47th birthday celebration in the middle but I’m getting ahead of myself again. To start the week off I was invited to cover UKLV’s “Monte Carlo of Bust” event on Sunday, November 29, and while I have already seen, shot and talked about Zowie Bowie’s vintage Vegas act here just a few weeks ago I was more than happy to go and see what was going on. I’m so glad I did as it was one of the best parties I’ve ever been to.
Presented by UKLV, Tammy Lier Entertainment, The Monte Carlo Hotel, and The PUB, this well-orchestrated evening was created to celebrate the launch of UKLV’s website — a Las Vegas British organization that brings together the British community through the events that they create — and included attendance and a red carpet entrance to the Zowie Bowie show in the Lance Burton Theatre at Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino and an after-party in the casino’s The PUB. The creative minds of Andy Walmsley, Steve Lee, Samantha Ratcliffe-D’Arrigo and Steve Parker formed UKLV for Brits who have found themselves living in Las Vegas as a meeting place both online and in person at UKLV events and offer news, nostalgia and a general central source for anything British in Las Vegas.
Domenick Allen performing with the
Zowie Bowie orchestra at the UKLV event
Since I’ve already reviewed the Zowie Bowie show before I’ll just give you the highlights: The infamous British celebrity lifestyle reporter Robin Leach (who actually posed on the red carpet which is quite rare) opened the show with some pretty good jokes; Glasgow, Scotland native Domenick Allen (of rock group Foreigner fame) performed beautifully with the 18-piece orchestra; and to top it all off a closing performance from The Desert Skye Pipe and Drum band, which also led the march through the casino all the way to the after-party at The PUB where the evenings festivities continued well into the wee hours as the British ex-pats got to “natter” and catch up on all things British over curry and Newcastle. Even Chris Phillips (Zowie Bowie) became an honorary Brit and performed an array of British Pop hits and the evening overall was a great success. If you missed it and are of British descent (or a fan or friend of all things UK) be sure to check out their site and sign up for their Crimbo party on Thursday, December 17, inside Aurora at the Luxor Hotel and Casino featuring the local Beatles cover band, The Fab, and an after-party at Cathouse.
Speaking of partying, Wednesday was my 47th birthday and while I was stuck at my day job all day under the usual deadline crunch, my dear hubby did take me out to dinner to a restaurant that I had heard about but had yet to try: Rosemary’s Restaurant. We now have a favorite restaurant (beating out Delmonico’s Steakhouse…sorry Emeril) as each and every dish we tried was creative and beautiful recipes, most with a Southern/Creole twist, and can’t wait to go back! Rosemary’s has long been a favorite among many of the Living-Las-Vegas.com’s scribes and here’s another profile written by Tasha Pittser.
I wrapped up the week on Saturday, December 5, with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra early show inside the Orleans Arena and Chickenfoot at the Hard Rock’s Joint. I didn’t have photo passes for either show — TSO was a last minute “get” through the production manager so no time to arrange for a photo pass and Chickenfoot flat out shot me down for a pass (a first for me) — but I did shoot a little video on my handy dandy pocket camera so click here for a little taste of Chickenfoot or here for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. While I already knew that Chickenfoot’s material isn’t anything that special and they do nothing but the songs off of the debut album on this tour I was really excited to see two of my all-time favorites — guitarist Joe Satriani and vocalist Sammy Hagar — on stage and playing together. Unfortunately, even though there were plenty of seats available on the floor my tickets relegated me to the standing room only bar area in the back of the room and I didn’t know that room could sound that badly, largely due to a less-than-average sound mixer obviously in over his head. It sounded so bad, in fact, that we left after only three songs. TSO, on the other hand, is one of the most brilliant shows ever dreamt up and is 2 hours of non-stop audio and visual stimulation of both their Christmas musical creations as well as some new non-Christmas songs among some standard favorites that leaves me filled with absolute joy and looking forward to the holiday season.
(5 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)
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Domenick Allen is another one of the Las Vegas treasures that’s been hanging out here for the last year or so. Actually, I don’t think he’s moved here yet, but he appears at enough venues around town that it seems like he might. His focal range is downright outstanding and I’m sorry I missed him.
Rosemary’s has long been an insider’s secret — it’s shopping center location may be “low-end” but just check out the luxury and high-end cars parked in the shopping center lot in front of the restaurant any night of the week. There are many fine restaurants in the Las Vegas area, but this one is very, very special.
Mark