Friday, July 2, 2010

The Buzz: The Show Sizzles Every Monday Night!!

The show sizzles every Monday night at Kelly Clinton’s Open Mic Cabaret   ---it's the hottest weekly show of talent in Vegas. With the dynamic Kelly Clinton as the MC,  the show always starts off with a blast!  Monday night it was Kelly as Kelly with her comedic intro song, "Bald Headed Men." She loves them!!! Just ask a guy named Rob who gave Kelly a shining (pun) example of the kind of man who turns her on. The audience was in stitches as Kelly played it to hilt with Ray and a couple of other bald headed men!! It was an explosive opening for one more fabulous evening of hot entertainment!










The open mic began with a welcome back to singer/musician, Isaiah Mercado, one of the most sensational Michael Jackson tribute artists we’ve seen in a long time. Isaiah arrived in Las Vegas a few months ago and showcased his professional talent right here at Kelly Clinton’s Open Mic Cabaret at the Bootlegger Bistro. In a matter of weeks he was out on the road with bookings all over the country! This night Isaiah Mercado gave us a terrific performance of MJ’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.”
The very talented musician/singer and tribute artist, Isaiah Mercado just turned 24 and he is well on his way to a fabulous career in the entertainment business.

Next up was the super talented Malia Civetz.  The 16-year old Malia has so many professional performances under her belt she is certainly on her way to stardom. Malia showed her stuff with an awesome version of “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” recorded by Whitney Houston and written by Grammy award winning songwriter, Diane Warren. The crowd loves Malia and she followed up with a second tune in an entirely different musical style, the swinging version of the Sinatra tune, "World on a String.”
Malia Civetz appeared with her group, Breakthrough, at the opening of Toast of the Town, the new Thursday afternoon show at Sam’s Town. The Las Vegas Academy student also relayed the story of how she got a call the day before a recent Dodgers vs. Yankees game asking her to sing the very next day. (She has performed many times for the opening of pro sports games) Malia answered the call and performed the next day at Dodger stadium before 56,000 fans!


There were several young performers at the open mic this week ---all of them were terrific singers.  The youngest was the phenomenal Kaela Victoria Jonson-Smith who came by for her second show at the open mic cabaret.
Ten-year old Kaela knocked us dead with her unbelievable performance of “Listen.”
Kaela Victoria Jonson-Smith studies voice at the LaBlanc Academy.



We were in for a real treat with our next performer, musician/producer/arranger, Jeff Neiman. Jeff produced Clint Holmes latest CD, Re-Imagined,  ---and he has been working as Clint’s musical director since the Fall of 2009. The super pianist, Jeff Neiman performed an awesome solo in concert at the grand piano featuring music from Phantom of the Opera.

Jeff Neiman will host the Toast of the Town show at Sam’s Town this Thursday, July 1,  at 2 PM. Jeff will also perform as musical director for Clint Holmes at the Suncoast on July 10 and 11th.



Kelly Clinton picked up on Jeff’s performance by presenting her own version of the music from Phantom in her operatic voice.  
JT Thompson did the Kelly 'catch or quick pick-up'  when she took her 'after the opera number fall.' 

Though she makes it appear comical, Kelly really can hit those notes using her voice in high range. Go Kelly, Go Kelly!





The very popular Lannie Counts was up next with his amazing performance of “Sunshine of My Life” by Stevie Wonder. Lannie is one fine singer with a truly remarkable range. We always looked forward to seeing Lannie perform every few weeks or every couple of months when Kelly first started the Monday night open mic over a year ago at the Bootlegger.  But Lannie said once he started coming in every week over the past few months ---now he is “addicted and I can’t stop!”
As always, the crowd can’t get enough of Lannie Counts either so they demanded more and the fabulous singer obliged with the Motown tune, “Just My Imagination.” Suddenly Clint Holmes joined in from the audience and moments later he was on stage with Lannie for an incredible duet jam session that Kelly  described as  “Magical stuff.”
Lannie Counts wrapped up the his fantastic solo spot and the crowd went wild!!! Wow, that was so hot!!

Be sure to catch the incredible Clint Holmes at the Suncoast on July 10 & 11. Make your reservations now.
Tickets go fast!!  The billboard painting was brought in from home by Kelly Clinton.  It was a surpise moment for her husband Clint Holmes.

The word is spreading about Kelly Clinton’s Open Mic Cabaret and the talent from California have been driving in to perform at the popular cabaret show. This week we saw the gorgeous singer/songwriter, 18 year-old Lauren Diaz perform her original tune “You Ain’t Nothing to Me.” The talented musician accompanied herself at the grand piano as she sang out the lyrics in her amazing full voice.
Lauren Diaz drove in from Hesperia, Ca. just to perform this night at the Bootlegger. She was on her way back home when the show ended. Come back anytime Lauren.



It was Richelle Riviera’s first appearance at Kelly’s Cabaret.  Richelle Riviera spent the last year or so on cruise ship tours before coming back to Vegas to settle in for a while. The pro performer had the band behind her when she gave her tremendous presentation of the Billy Holiday tune, “God Bless the Child.”

Everyone was very pleased to see the amazing singer Bobby Black accept Kelly’s invite to step up to the mic. Bobby gave an awesome performance of the fabulous Michael Buble` arrangement of “Cry Me a River.” The crowd roared for Bobby Black and he gave us another outstanding presentation of “Faithfully” by Journey...... Bobby Black is sensational!!
As you may or may not know, Bobby Black was a solo performer with plenty of professional experience when we first met him several years back at Kelly Clinton's original Monday night gig at the Bootlegger. As the story goes, two other pros, Mark Giovi and Bill Fayne also sang at the weekly gig and one night former Bootlegger manager, Ruthie Catalano suggested they sing together. That was how the now famous group the Las Vegas Tenors came to being. Later another awesome tenor, Teddy Davey joined the group and not long after Mark Giovi took the starring role in the show “Bite” at the Stratosphere.
Bobby Black was headed for Aruba on Tuesday for a cruise ship tour with the Las Vegas Tenors.

Between acts the fabulous multi-talented Kelly Clinton kept the crowd roaring with laughter with her witty off-the-cuff comedy including an amazing multi-character improv version of her own soap opera ----and with hysterically funny call backs to her new found bald-headed love, Rob. Expect the unexpected whenever Kelly Clinton is on stage!! Gotta love her!!

Kelly spotted musician/singer Jamie Hosmer in the audience and with a little enticement from Kelly and Bobby Black,  Jamie took over the grand piano and floored the crowd with his awesome performance of the Elton John hit tune, “Rocket Man.”   Though Bobby promised Jamie he and Clint Holmes would sing with him -- and they were on stage--- Clint said Jamie didn’t need any help from them, he was doing so fabulous on his own. Wow, what a great performance by Jamie Hosmer!!! We’d love to see him at the Cabaret again!!
Jamie Hosmer is a member of Las Vegas’ leading band, Santa Fe. Santa Fe performs at the Bootlegger on Wednesday nights starting at 10 PM.


Next up,  musician/song stylist April Spain blew us away at the grand piano singing her incredible version of “I Love Being Her With You.” April just arrived back in town after a long absence. She has worked with Kelly’s musical director, Mike Clark in the past and both Mike and drummer, Billy Adams were featured in solo spots during April’s performance. The crowd loved her and April Spain did a fabulous show on her second number, “Just the Two of Us.” Wow, welcome back April Spain!!!

The boys in the band are really hot too!!

Another beautiful young woman, Yvonne Silva was up next. Yvonne was a singer before pursuing her current profession as a Maitre' D at Mandalay Bay. She wants to get back into singing again and Yvonne Silva showed her stuff with a terrific performance of the Etta James tune “At Last.”



Yukon Jack Logan was back this week. The guitar-playing singer had the band backing him up on his marvelous performance of the Johnny Cash tune “Solitary Man.”
Yukon Jack Logan performed his own show at Sea World for over a decade before making the move to Vegas in recent months.


Our next performer, Murry McKay had the crowd rocking as he danced and sang the up-tune “I’m So Excited” by the Pointer Sisters. This is such a familiar tune to many of us it’s really hard to believe it was first released back in the early 1980s and made it to Billboards Top 100 Chart on it’s second release in 1984. Where does the time go?! The song was also selected by the Recording Industry Association of America as one of “The Songs of the Century.” Murry McKay did a great job on this memorable tune.




Our own JT Thompson was about to wrap up the show with track music but the DJ Jake Klein who was filling in for the one and only Kevin Cordova didn’t have the version of “Christopher Robin” that JT sings with. That could have been a bummer but JT decided to perform
A cappella and what an outstanding job he did!! JT Thompson did an astonishing performance of the Kenny Loggins tune!! Great Job JT!!

To our surprise and Kelly’s too, there was one more act that wanted to go on. The late arrivals had come a long way from Los Angeles to do the show. The duo act just barely made into town in time but they did get on to close the night out. Guitarist/songwriter Shana Golden and singer/lyricwriter Gina Jirouard gave a wonderful performance of their original tune “Ageless Mirror.” The girls from the group Kona Wind are in the process of recording “Ageless Mirror” on their new CD of the same title. Their earlier CD release, “Come Into My World” has already sold over 4,000 copies.
Kona Wind usually performs as a five piece band in their shows. They have worked as an opening act for many big name performers and have done their own show at the Cannery in Las Vegas and at many other venues. They were in town for a performance this week. Check them out at www.konawind.net

Before bringing the night to a complete ending, there were celebrities in the audience that deserve a mention. Kelly had no idea the cast members of “Rain” the Beatles musical were sitting at a large table watching the show until the very end of the night.  Kelly was delighted to have them at the Cabaret and to hear the announcement “Rain:  The Beatles Experience” was going to Broadway this Fall!!!
Congratulations to the entire cast!!

Once again Kelly Clinton’s Open Mic Cabaret came to a final close following a dynamite evening of fantastic performances. Thanks to the great entertainers who perform, our friends and fans who are such a great audience ---and to Kelly Clinton and her A-Team, Musical director Mike Clark and drummer Billy Adams, Bootlegger host JT Thompson and filling in for Kevin Cordova this week, DJ Jake Klein.
Please join us again next Monday night at the Bootlegger Bistro for Kelly Clinton’s Open Mic Cabaret, the best Monday night show in Vegas!!

Perform, Promote Your Gig,

Dine In, Chill Out


It’s Always a Blast!

Bootlegger Bistro, 7700 Las Vegas Blvd. South


Dining Room Reservations: 702-736-4939

1 comment: