Lv-based reality show being shopped
AFremont Street Experience TV series has escaped COVID-19. “The Downtown Vegas Reality Show” finished filming in November, PRE-COVID shutdown, and is being shopped to suitors.
“It’s a tongue-in-cheek, certainly humorous, slapstick-style kind of thing,” outgoing Fremont Street Experience President and CEO Patrick Hughes said during last week’s episode of “Podkats!” “We have nine episodes shot and edited. Right now, we have an industry-renowned sales agent doing the rounds with broadcasters to get someone to acquire the distribution rights.”
You might remember, or not, this project, which came to light last summer. Funded by the FSE and produced by Mouseroar of Las Vegas, the series is loosely based on the Viva Vision canopy show renovation. Hughes co-starring along such Las Vegas figures as former Mayor Oscar Goodman, the D Las Vegas and Circa Las Vegas co-owner Derek Stevens, Bally’s headliner Xavier Mortimer, Four Queens Elvis tribute artist Steve Connolly, “Marriage Can Be Murder” husbandand-wife team Eric Post and Jayne Ann Savoie Post, ex-“absinthe” Green Fairy Melody Sweets, and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member and recurring Las Vegas headliner Rob Schneider.
As Hughes says, “Hulu, Netflix and Comedy Central are all in discussions that are happening, right now. I would love to see it be aired, because it is hilarious, local entertainers are scattered throughout the series, and it promotes the city.”
The series is also in an advnatageous, and unplanned, position as content that has not aired but is already produced.
“The fact that this show has already been filmed and produced, before COVID, should work in our favor,” Hughes says.
Hughes said the show should garner support from the LVCVA, for its civic promotion. But it’s unlikely Hughes will be in his current post at FSE when the series airs, whatever the platform. He’s leaving FSE in October, heading to Ireland to spend some time with family before returning to review options in Las Vegas.
Hughes laughed at the suggestion “The Downtown Vegas Reality Show” would be his FSE after four years with the company.
“My head on a screen?” he said. “People are going to come back and say, ‘Where’s that guy been?’ But I’ll be back, absolutely … I can’t ignore this place. It’s been so good to me.”
Rock me, Andy-deus
Scenic designer to the stars Andy Walmsley is working
his mastery on “Steve Aoki Mozart 2 - A New Musical.” The production headed up by the superstar DJ is working toward two January shows at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall.
Walmsley won an Emmy for his work on “American Idol” and also developed the stage for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” His vision is felt at several Las Vegas Strip productions, including “Rupaul’s Drag Race Live!” Terry Fator’s show at the Mirage, and Human Nature at the Venetian.
Walmsley, a Las Vegas resident, recently listed his five favorite Vegas set designs, with “Rupaul” topping the list
Walmsley also has designed the set for Nick Cannon’s daytime talk show. The syndicated, daily program was scheduled to premiere this fall but was pushed back to 2021 after Cannon’s anti-semitic remarks on his “Cannon’s Class” podcast in July. The show was to be rare because it was staged with a studio audience during COVID-19.
Dolyniuk’s FB festival
Brody Dolyniuk, a member of the Vegas Facebook Live All-stars, is hosting a Zeppelin USA livestream from 4-5:30 p.m. Monday. Find it on Dolyniuk’s Facebook page. The founder of Yellow Brick Road and the Zeppelin tribute acts blows it up on the Facebook platform. His “Dark Side of the Moon” Pink Floyd show is still streaming on his page.
Dolyniuk calls it “Dark Side of The Loft,” for the location. Whichever, it’s worth a visit.
From Huntridge to Kluger
A well-known Vegas rocker, Tony Costanza, the original drummer for metal bands Machine Head and Crowbar, died Tuesday at age 52. Friend and former band mate Afzaal Nasiruddeen posted that Costaza died in his sleep. No further details have been reported.
Costanza was connected to a pair of Vegas icons — one a venue, and one a fellow drummer.
One of Machine Head’s first shows was at the Huntridge Theater on Aug. 29, 1992. And Costanza took lessons from jazz master Irv Kluger, a longtime friend of Buddy Rich, who rocked Pogo’s Lounge right up until his death in February 2006 at age 84.
Nasiruddeen, former guitarist with the metal band Crisis and Costanza’s onetime bandmate and friend, said in a statement Tuesday: “I cannot relate to this reality of loss yet. I know he had a lot of admirers, and I was one of his biggest. He would have literally taken a bullet for me. That’s the kind of gangster brother he was. Tony died in his sleep this morning, so I am sure he was at peace and in no pain.”
Nasiruddeen has started a gofundme page to help pay for Costanza’s funeral.