By John Katsilometes Las Vegas Review-Journal Updated May 10, 2021 - 6:24 pm The tide is rolling in at the Smith Center, and Myron Martin is riding the boogie board.
Metaphorically, of course. Myron’s Cabaret Jazz, named for the Smith Center’s president and visionary, is revving up for a September return. Several shows are coming back online this fall and leading into November. The onsale list begins with duel R&B acts Spectrum and Radiance on Sept. 17. Vegas institutions Lon Bronson Band (Sept. 18) and David Perrico’s Strings (Sept. 29) lead the Vegas bands in Cab Jazz’s return. Las Vegas’ First Lady of Jazz, Michelle Johnson, headlines Sept. 26 (and back Dec. 19 for a Christmas matinee). Hawaiian vocal/music trio Kulaiwi slides into the developing schedule Sept. 18. Bronson’s band has boomeranged around VegasVille since its late-night shows at Riviera in 1990. The act was the first Vegas big band ever to perform at Cab Jazz, and has logged at least 50 sellouts since debuting at the Smith Center in September 2013. “What’s great to me is that we have local artists coming back onstage at the Smith Center,” Martin said Monday. “That makes me feel really good.” Bronson is grateful to Martin and Smith Center booking exec Glenn Medas for providing the band “prime real estate.” “I couldn’t be happier,” Bronson said Monday. “It’s so nice to call the best joint in town home.” Bronson also has dates Oct. 16, and Nov. 19. Perrico, who has filled Cab Jazz at least 40 times since 2014, is also performing a Christmas-themed show Dec. 18. “Everything about the Smith Center is first class,” Perrico said Monday. “We are looking forward.” Further out, it’s Oleta Adams (who sang the 1991 Gulf War anthem “Get Here”) on Oct. 2-1; jazz great Diane Schuur on Oct. 8-9; singer/songwriter Karla Bonoff on Oct. 15, John Pizzarelli Trio on Oct. 22-23; long-running Vegas headliner Earl Turner on Oct. 27; jazz-trumpet legend Arturo Sandoval on Oct. 5-6 (three shows, including two Saturday); Whitney Houston tribute artist Nicole Henry on Nov. 20; and Michael Cavanaugh of Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out” fame, on Nov. 27. It’s a wave of activity for a facility that last hosted a show March 12, 2020, with pop-opera star Giada Valenti. There is also some buzz about a possible all-star show of Vegas favorites at Reynolds Hall, as a way to formally throw open the doors to live entertainment at Smith Center. More on that vision, later. David Perrico was honored to write this arrangement for Las Vegas Music Oasis...watch the video, with Lily Arce on vocals, above.
“In Case You Don’t Live Forever” Lily Arce: vocal Zuzana Engererova: cello Otto Ehling: piano Video by Sebastien Theve Produced by Zuzana Engererova/Las Vegas Music Oasis 4/6/21 David Perrico and Pop Strings Orchestra are excited to be back at THE SPACE on May 2nd, Matinee Show at 4pm PT (7pm ET). Hosted by Feven Kay, the show will pay tribute to the music of DISNEY and feature vocalists Lily Arce, Fletch Walcott, Serena Henry, Noybel Gorgoy, Lorena Peril, Francesca Camus, Christine Shebeck, Autumn Grayce, Lauren Ashlee, Mark Shunock. This is the PERFECT show for the whole family to watch via LIVE STREAM (tickets are only $20 per household/device). There will also be a limited number of IN-PERSON tickets available (2 drink minimum) for $39. Tickets for BOTH options are available via the button below...
Had some fun in the studio the other day with talented photographer Sébastien Theve! Download the hi-res version of this image on our PRESS KIT page, or via the button below...
Photo Credit: Sébastien Theve, The STudio Las Vegas http://www.thestudio-vegas.com LAS VEGAS (FOX5) -- David Perrico Pop Strings Orchestra is performing a special concert in honor of Black History Month. MORE spoke with David about the event happening on Friday, Feb. 26 at The Space. The event will be hosted by FOX5’s Feven Kay. He also spoke about hoping to return to Caesars Palace’s Cleopatra's Barge when more restrictions are lifted. The livestream pay per view concert is at 6 p.m. and $20. You can buy tickets here: www.thespacelv.com
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Topic: Upcoming LIVE STREAM Performance at The Space in Las Vegas By John Katsilometes Las Vegas Review-Journal February 24, 2021 - 6:11 pm David Perrico prefers a late-night lounge show at a Vegas resort to a digital concert on a Vegas laptop. But until his Pop Strings Orchestra can return to the stage, Perrico is back online, one more time. Perrico’s band is performing a livestream concert out of The Space at 6 p.m. Friday. It’s Perrico’s second such effort. It might be his last, too. “We decided to do it one more time,” said Perrico, whose band also performed out of The Space on Jan. 22. “It’s great to get everyone back together after not playing for a year, but it’s also costly to produce and it’s hard to basically beg someone someone to pay $20 to watch you online.” OK, we’ll do it: Check out this band by clicking to the livestream ticket portal at thespacelv.com.
Vocalists Lily Arce, Fletch Wolcott, Serena Henry and Noybel Gorgoy are at the front of joining Perrico’s 16-member orchestra. Hosted by Fox 5’s Feven Kay, Friday’s show is honoring Black History Month, with a healthy complement of James Brown, Motown, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Perrico has essentially re-charted an entire set list for this single show. He’d be wise to save those charts. His should be a coveted band when pandemic restrictions are lifted, as a ready-made and proven winner on the Strip and elsewhere. Pop Strings has headed up slamming, late-night, weekend shows at Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace for four years. Perrico, a premier trumpet player and music director, also performed a midnight show at Westgate Cabaret, on the cusp of the statewide shutdown in March 2020. Those shows have been swinging, no-cover jam sessions hearkening to the city’s golden lounge era. But the the Barge is not an expressly no-cover venue. It’s a more like a small showroom. The venue has hosted superstars Wayne Newton and Dionne Warwick, and also the psychic Thomas John. All have indicated, either directly or through representatives, that they want back onstage. Also in the mix is the under-development Stabile Productions burlesque revue starring ex-“Absinthe” star Melody Sweets, which would also be a late-night production. Perrico says he’s not heard from any Caesars Entertainment rep about his future at the Barge, but he’s willing to play the full scale, to use a music term. I suspect we’ll be back at the Barge. I haven’t heard anything to the contrary,” Perrico said. “But nothing is confirmed, and we haven’t even touched on that topic. I will say that we have played successfully to packed houses for four years. We could go on at midnight or 1 a.m., as far as I’m concerned.” Not to disparage the digital scene, but that would be a kickin’ gig. Check your laptops at the door. Live Stream Concert in honor of Black History month (with limited in-person seating available)1/25/2021 In honor of Black History Month, David Perrico and Pop Strings Orchestra will present another LIVE STREAM pay-per-view concert, featuring the music of Motown, R&B, Jazz, Blues and Soul. The show will be hosted by Feven Kay and will be filmed & streamed LIVE from THE SPACE on Friday, February 26, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. (PST.) Streaming tickets are just $23.50 per household and are available via Stellar Ticketing. IMPORTANT UPDATE: There will also be 48 IN-PERSON tickets available! (Social distance protocols & masks required.). Tickets are $20 per person, and can be purchased here ( thespacelv.com/event/david-perrico-pop-strings-orchestra-2/ ) .
By John Katsilometes Las Vegas Review-Journal January 21, 2021 - 4:33 pm David Perrico’s Pop Strings Orchestra is living in a topsy-turvy universe. As a matter of practice, Pop Strings ensemble fires up a crowd to groove in tight quarters. Typically, it’s a heck of a hang. But not today.
Such dance party would disqualify the band from performing the type of show that has made it a hit at Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace. “Our thing is packing the room and packing the dance floor,” Perrico said Thursday as he prepped charts for Pop Strings’ return to action, virtually, at 6 p.m. Pacific time Friday from The Space. “Do I think we’ll be back, eventually? Yes. I’m just not confident it will be at the Barge. I don’t know where we will end up.” Pop Strings’ performance is available for $20 at Stellartickets.com. The show is backed by co-sponsor John Saksa and Findlay Cadillac, also a backer of Perrico’s shows at Myron’s Cabaret Jazz. Friday’s show is the first stage show by Perrico’s band since March 14 at Westgate Cabaret, a no-cover-charge, midnight gig that had shown some promise just before the pandemic shutdown. But the Barge is where Pop Strings had hosted a popular, no-cover party at 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The band’s uncertain future there is an indication the tightly designed, 160-seat venue will be slow to return. Either a glorified lounge or a small showroom, depending on interpretation, Cleopatra’s Barge has been the residence home of Wayne Newton and Dionne Warwick, and later, psychic Thomas John. “With the shows they’ve had in there, especially with Dionne and Wayne, it seemed they were going with a straight-ticketed kind of thing,” Perrico said. “We could possibly turn over to a ticketed show, but it would be a little challenging for people who have seen us with no cover. Plus, I really like the open-lounge, Louis Prima scene.” Perrico is working on updated arrangements for Friday’s show, including a new spin through Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now,” and some Queen classics the band hasn’t played live. The band’s regular singers, Lily Arce and Fletch Wolcott, are joined by Noybel Gorgoy and Serena Henry. Gorgoy was a highlight in Paul Shaffer & The Shaf-Shifters show, for which Perrico served as music director. Henry has backed Smokey Robinson and Gladys Knight on tour. Perrico says the band is prepared, generally speaking. But they aren’t rehearsing. “We’re doin’ it live,” Perrico said. “This is a chance for people to unwind for a couple of hours. If it works out, we’ll make it a monthly thing.” by Leslie Ventura Thu, Jan 21, 2021 (2 a.m.) The sensation of sitting in a lounge and listening to live music. The singer’s charismatic banter, and the energy that builds as the band plays off the crowd. Throughout the pandemic, Las Vegans have seriously missed live music, but David Perrico has a one-night remedy. The Las Vegas-based composer will bring his Pop Strings Orchestra into living rooms around the world for on Friday, January 22.
Perrico’s two-hour show, available as a $24 livestream, will features favorites from his orchestra’s Strip residency—a longtime favorite at Cleopatra’s Barge inside Caesars Palace—plus new songs the group has been working on throughout the shutdown. “It’ll be based on our high-energy show at Cleopatra’s Barge, but I’ve added some new music,” Perrico says. Expect to hear hits from current pop stars like Dua Lipa, sung by regulars Lily Arce (Perrico’s wife) and Fletch Walcott, plus additional vocalists Serena Henry and Noybel Gorgoy. “They’ve always been in the rotation,” Perrico says, “but I decided to have four singers on this to beef it up a little bit.” Perrico says the pandemic has given him time to consolidate the show and work on new music—“just catching up on a lot of loose ends, mostly with producing.” A new show, String Queen, is now in the works and will feature an all-female string orchestra performing the music of Queen. “A handful of entertainers have contacted me about tweaking their shows, so I’ve written arrangements for them, which has kept me with some compensation coming in,” Perrico says. One of those is a lighthearted public service announcement and commercial encouraging the public to wear face masks, produced in collaboration with the UNLV Health Department and Light Forge Studios. The bit, composed by Perrico, features Pop Strings pianist Otto Ehling and vocals by Arce. As for the Pop Strings streaming special, Perrico says the idea came from Mondays Dark host and owner of the Space Mark Shunock. “We did a show for a family in Delaware—they contacted me through our website about doing a virtual Christmas party concert, and we did it at the Space,” Perrico explains. “After we did that, Mark approached me and said, ‘Would you be interested in doing a pay-per-view livestream?’ I said I’d been steering clear of anything like that, but [the Christmas special] went so well, and the orchestra agreed. So we thought, ‘It’s going to be this way for a while, so why not try it?’” Perrico’s orchestra has gone from performing nearly nonstop—weekly at Cleopatra’s Barge, six shows a year at the Smith Center, plus late-night gigs at the Westgate and hired corporate events—to not performing at all during the pandemic. “Seventy percent of our work was at trade shows and corporate events,” Perrico says. “Until this virus gets under control, until we get the trade shows and hotels at 90-percent capacity, Vegas is still going to limp along. But I’m optimistic. Through crisis comes opportunity. I look at it as time to go inward and reevaluate, hone your skills and develop new skills, and just be ready when it’s time.” Perrico says everyone in his orchestra will be COVID-tested and cleared, and the show will be performed without a live audience. The energy, he says, will simply come from the band, working symbiotically with one another. “With all that’s going on right now in this political climate, the pandemic, the loss of work and businesses—if someone could take a break for two hours, it’s just one way to stop and let go and watch a live performance from Las Vegas.” David Perrico Pop Strings Orchestra Livestream January 22, $24, 6 p.m., stellartickets.com. |
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