Colleague Linda Evans, (Photo Diva) will be writing about entertainment, concerts and music celebrities on this site.  But Linda will probably be objective about it all.  I’m not.

I am the world’s biggest Clint Holmes fan.  Cancel that.  I am “one” of the biggest fans.  My friend Libby Hoover may be the biggest.  Or maybe it is some of the other folks we see repeatedly at Clint Holmes performances.  At any rate, Libby and I actually email each other about “our” singer’s appearances and yep, next month, we’re going to the Suncoast Hotel & Casino where you-know-who is performing.

Clint Holmes made his name in Las Vegas as a headliner first at the Golden Nugget and later for some six years at Harrah’s. His bio and You Tube clips indicate a lifetime of success as singer and TV personality, but for some reason I had never noticed. 

So on one vacation to Las Vegas, a friend had free tickets to see Clint Holmes.  Who?  FREE tickets.  Great; we’ll go.   Well, that did it.  What a great show.  This guy is gorgeous, fun, talented and loves his mother. Who is this guy again?

After moving to Las Vegas we found that taking folks to see Clint Holmes’ show was always a winner.  Two-for-one coupons were easy to get, and our guests left with great memories and souvenir CDs. 

Three years ago, I bid for Clint and won.  It was part of a charity event benefiting The Caring Place in Las Vegas.  The prize was an hour on ESPN radio with Clint Holmes.  Someone was bidding against me up to the final bell, but I won. The interview was great fun. Clint Holmes is as nice as people say, and he’s taller than I had imagined. I had a wonderful time, even making Norm’s column because Clint revealed then that when his time at Harrah’s ended, he would be writing his own Broadway show.  The interview question that wasn’t reported, but which was the most memorable, had to do with how a guy who often slithers around the stage can appear to have….no panty line.  (The answer had the word “thong” in it, as I recall.) 

So how did I meet Libby?  Clint Holmes has a website which he isn’t always interested in keeping current. Libby uses the site’s message board to give the updated information (which she ALWAYS has) and one time, I clicked on a small icon with her message thanking her for the correct information.  She emailed back and we became friends.  Later, during one of our joint Clint Holmes outings, I learned that when I was bidding for that radio interview, Libby was the person bidding against me.  Small world.

Libby is still far ahead of the website in terms of Clint Holmes sightings; she emailed me about last Sunday’s concert of the Las Vegas Jazz Connection at UNLV’s Judy Bayley Theater.  The concert featured trumpet legend Bobby Shew (so talented) and in the second half, Shelly Manne’s jazz interpolation of “My Fair Lady” featuring…..Clint Holmes as Professor Henry Higgins.  The concert drew one of its largest crowds; the jazz ensemble was great; Clint and the other soloist, Cyndi Lee, were wonderful, and the audience gave everyone a rousing standing ovation at the end.

Libby and I think that one of those empty stages on the Strip should install the “best singer in Las Vegas” in one of them.  No four-walling, just great entertainment sponsored by the casino/hotel.  In the meantime, Clint Holmes appears several times a year at the Suncoast.  And we’re there.