Joanne Gilbert, a new (and already active!) Friends of Classic Las Vegas member, told us about a Jazz Event This Sunday which is sponsored by the Las Vegas Jazz Society

It’s part of a series, ”Tribute to the Las Vegas Jazz Masters” - this time honoring, “Elder Statesman”, Jimmy Wilkins, trombonist, conductor, writer, arranger, alumnus of the Count Basie Orchestra, Clark Terry Big Band, and groups led by Illinois Jacquet, Teddy Wilson and Dizzy Gillespie, among many others. He has played with all the top players in American and Las Vegas Jazz History. Las Vegas is fortunate to be the home of many treasures of jazz history–their role in the evolving culture of our city is invaluable!

If you’re a “Friend of Classic Las Vegas”, or anyone interested in the history and community of our town, particularly the people who made it happen - and/or a music lover, then you don’t want to miss this event.

It’s at Sonny’s Tavern, 4145 S. Grand Canyon Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89147 (215/Flamingo).

Admission is $10/LVJS Members or $15/general admission.

Sunday, August 24 at 2:00 p.m., at Sonny’s Tavern:

Please RSVP to Joanne: jazz@joannes.us

Great breaking news from the Las Vegas Review Journal.  Seems the new owner of Binion's, Terry Caudill, is making a splash by bringing back the Million Dollar Display to Binions!

Jerry Fink, in the Las Vegas Sun, writes that it is high time that in a city with streets named after Sinatra, Martin and other famous folks, it is time to honor Louie Prima who did so much to help put Las Vegas on the entertainment map back in the 1950s and 1960s with his lounge act that included his wife, the wonderful Keely Smith, and Sam Butera and the Witnesses.

It’s time to give Louis Prima his due.

Actor Bruce Dern has a Las Vegas street named for him, for Pete’s sake. So does Ben Johnson. Neither had his name on Vegas marquees or set the neon nights ablaze with music.

But no street honors Prima, who created the classic songs “Sing, Sing, Sing” and “Just a Gigolo.”

No star on the Las Vegas Walk of Fame recognizes the trumpeter who pumped life into the Vegas lounges during the ’50s with his boisterous showmanship. There’s no star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame despite his film and radio successes, nor does he have a spot in the rock, blues or jazz halls of fame despite his crossover music appeal.

One of the world’s great entertainers, who’s synonymous with Las Vegas, has no statues here or anywhere else. No plaques. No postage stamps.

Years ago he was inducted into Steve Cutler’s Casino Hall of Fame Museum at the Tropicana, but the museum has closed.

It’s time to crank up the righteous indignation.

It’s been 50 years since Prima and Keely Smith won a Grammy for “That Old Black Magic” — in the first year of the awards ceremony. It’s been 30 years since Prima died in his hometown of New Orleans; he succumbed Aug. 24, 1978, after being in a coma for three years. He was born Dec. 10, 1910, so there’s still time to name a street after him or put a star on a sidewalk somewhere by the time the centennial of his birth rolls around.

“The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will honor Louis on his 100th birthday,” his widow, Gia, says from her home in Toms River, N.J. “They will make a commemorative poster.”

That hardly seems enough for the man whose entertainment career spanned six decades from Dixieland through big bands, lounges and jump blues.

The giant mural at the Louis Armstrong International Airport honors 50 New Orleans legends — but not Prima. “There’s a jazz park on Bourbon Street and they have statues of Al Hirt, Pete Fountain and Louis Armstrong. I would like to see them get a statue of Louis in there,” says the former Gia Maione, who was Prima’s fifth and final wife. After Smith and Prima divorced, she also became Louis’ co-star onstage. “I’ve been trying to get some recognition in Las Vegas for Louis, but so far nothing, not even a park named after him, even though he helped make it the entertainment capital of the world in 1956. It amazes me.”

Prima’s children do their best to keep their father’s music alive. Lena Prima performs a tribute show, and Louis Prima Jr. sometimes gets a gig at an Italian festival or other event, such as a recent show that drew 1,400 fans at the Hilton. But even those gigs are getting tougher to come by. Prima Jr. would like to establish a Louis Prima lounge in one of the Strip resorts to honor his father and the other acts that created the Las Vegas lounge scene.

“The fans know and love my father and his music. It’s the venues,” says Prima Jr., who lives in Las Vegas. “They’ve forgotten him.”

The older generation that knew Prima’s music and saw him perform is dying, says Ron Cannatella, official archivist for Prima Music LLC in New Orleans. But the younger generation knows his music rerun-style through movies and TV.

“Louis’ music is still a vital part of mainstream pop culture,” he says. “They may not know Louis Prima but when you put his music into a contemporary context, people remember.”

Remember the orangutan singing “I Wanna Be Like You” in Disney’s “The Jungle Book”? King Louie was Prima.

All those khaki-clad “Swingers” and “Swing Kids” in the movies and Gap ads? Dancing to Prima. David Lee Roth hamming it up on “Just a Gigolo”? Channeling Prima. Musicians such as Brian Setzer, Los Lobos, Phish, Smashmouth and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy keep Prima’s music alive.

Just consider Prima’s classic composition “Sing, Sing, Sing.”

The stretched out version by Benny Goodman and a big band that included Harry James and Gene Krupa defines swing music. It’s shown up in movies from “After the Thin Man” to “Leatherheads,” in Broadway shows such as “Dancin’ ” and “Swing!” and on TV shows including “The Simpsons,” “The Sopranos” and a long-running Russian serial.

“It was a landmark composition,” Cannatella says. “Louis should receive a posthumous lifetime achievement Grammy or even an Academy Award.

“He’s like a brand name, musically. He would take anything, whether his own composition or a standard, and once Louis Prima got hold of it and put it in his own style it was unmistakable. He is still unique and recognizable today.”

The Las Vegas Sun is reporting that the City of Las Vegas officials are still holding out hope for a downtown sports arena and gaming mecca in the wake of the REI meltdown.

According to Scott Adams, director of the city’s Business Development Office, the possibility still exists for a sports arena complex, including a casino, on a 56-acre downtown site off Charleston Boulevard.

Though Las Vegas’ deal with arena developer REI Neon appears dead, there is a chance a buyer of the property might want to develop the site as REI once did, Adams said.

And that’s why, until it’s known who will end up owning the land, it makes no sense for the City Council to strip the site of its designated gaming “overlay,” or entitlement.

Critics have said the REI plan was a scheme in which there was never an intention of building an arena on that site.

The backdoor plan, these critics have suggested, was instead to use the gaming entitlement to raise the value of the land, and then sell it for a higher price to a casino developer.

In a recent interview, Adams denied that claim, and said a motion had not been made before the council to eliminate the gaming entitlement simply because the ultimate fate of that land was undetermined.

If the arena plan for that site dies, Adams said, any possibility for gaming would die with it.

Should those acres be sold, together or piecemeal, to businesses or developers who have nothing to do with an arena project, he said, it would make sense — at that point — to have the council eliminate the gaming entitlement.

EROTIC HERITAGE MUSEUM

OPENS IN LAS VEGAS.

Sin City added yet another premiere adult destination to its roster when the Erotic Heritage Museum opened here earlier this month. The gala event for artists, critics, and friends drew a crowd of several hundred that experienced art, film, memorabilia, and events including a performance art wedding staged in a Grecco-Roman-style wedding chapel by artist Keith Murray. Murray’s service in which he was dressed as half groom and half. bride was officiated by an “Elvis Ministor.” Also on hand were head-to-toe, spandex- and vinyl-clad women tooling around the museum in mechanized vehicles as part of Jeff Gord’s performance art piece, “Mechanised Maidens”.

The museum is owned and managed by the Exodus Trust, a non-profit California Trust that’s sole purpose is to bridge the gap between that which is commercial and often misidentified as pornographic, and that which is aesthetic encompassing movements including folk, pop, and fine art. And just this morning, the museum received its license to campaign for charitable donations of both money and art. The campaign is entitled, “Save Our Erotic Heritage”, and of course all donations are tax deductible.

According to Grand Patron Harry Mohney, “tonight is a celebration of human sexual artifacts and should be inspiration to the inhibited to enjoy their sexuality.” When asked about the turnout, trust manager Dr. and Reverend R. Theodore McIlvenna, a preacher for over 40 years and PhD, said: “With attendees from nineteen countries and twenty-five states, I’m surprised by the wide diversity of attendees and yet I haven’t heard one negative comment.” He continued, “tonight is a testament to the fact that if people want to know, it’s here. If we can’t take care of ourselves, we won’t be able to take care of others.”

The museum encompasses over 24,000 square feet of permanent and featured exhibit space with a special emphasis on the unfolding of the American Sexual Revolution of the 20^th Century. The Museum opens with the theme “Erotic Art Now,” and features the following artists: Francois Dubeau, Bobby Logic, Todji Kurtzman, Jacqueline Cooper, Keith Murray, Michael Grecco, and Jeff Gord.

The largest archive of its kind in the world (twenty-five warehouses full) provides rich material for rotating exhibitions selected by the curatorial staff. Many formats and media represent a wide spectrum of behaviors and attitudes including many rarities never before available to the public including important documents of science, history, and art.

The collection of the Moving Image, the most notable single collection in the Archive, provides focus for understanding the sexual revolution of the mid-20^th Century. The Museum offers cultural context for appreciating these works many of which are priceless artifacts which the Museum endeavors to collect and preserve.

The Museum is an ideal environment for lectures, symposiums, classes and workshops to promote artistic, educational, scientific, and literary functions. The Erotic Heritage Museum supports academic pursuits and research through the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality [www.iashs.edu] and its satellite campus. Continuing education will also be offered through The American College of Sexologists [www.americancollegeofsexologists.org], as well as other affiliated academic associations and organizations.

According to Dr. Laura Henkel, artistic director for the Museum, “I encourage the residents of Las Vegas to visit the Museum. This Museum is for everyone. It’s an opportunity to learn about ourselves and about others, and a delightful way to spend a few hours. I’m certain you’ll experience at least one tingle, one smile while visiting the largest erotic art collection in the world.”

Located just a short trip from The Strip at 3275 Industrial, doors open daily at 11 a.m., admission is $15, $12 for students and seniors with ID. Las Vegas residents with valid local ID will also receive 50% off admission. All visitors including those to the gift shop must be 18 years of age.