Couple revives photos in maternity pictures
EVERY picture tells a story. This adage, and rock lyric, is right for
Las Vegas rock ’n’ roll power couple Nina Digregorio and Brody Dolyniuk.
The couple has turned the arrival of daughter Raina Marie Dolyniuk into an online rock photo gallery. Raina Marie was born 8:44 a.m. June 16, weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces. Their photos were taken between June 10 and June 15.
In the weeks before Raina’s arrival, the couple re-created a half-dozen iconic rock ’n’ roll portraits from their Las Vegas home. Iconic photos of John Lennon in New York City; Mick Jagger in the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” video; Jimi Hendrix, cigarette dangling, set up behind a drum kit; Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in a “Help Me Rhonda” T-shirt; Freddie Mercury at Wembley Stadium; Jim Morrison, also in NYC; and Geddy Lee of Rush onstage in a kimono make up the lineup.
Digregorio explains, “We didn’t have the luxury of a traditional maternity shoot because of the quarantine, so we decided to do our own maternity photos. We thought it would be funny to re-create famous rock star photos, only if they were pregnant.”
The parents have been well-known for years around the Vegas entertainment scene. Digregorio, master of the violin and bass guitar, is founder of the Bella Electric Strings music company and Femmes of Rock ensemble. Dolyniuk, a terrific vocalist and instrumentalist, created the Yellow Brick Road rock cover band and is frontman for “Symphonic Rock Show” performances across the country. He has headlined several times in rock orchestra shows at The Smith Center.
Raina’s first name is a mix of Dolyniuk’s middle name, Ray, and Nina’s first name. Marie is Nina’s middle name, and her grandmother’s name. The couple has already nicknamed Raina “The Bella Brick Baby.”
Digregorio gave birth early, the morning after she posed in a series of Jagger dance moves. “That was the last one, on June 15, and later that night we rushed to the hospital and Raina was born early morning,” Digregorio says. “Mick put me over the edge.” (For the full set of photographs, go to reviewjournal. com/kats.)
An electric gift
The magic world is mourning the death of an icon: Marvyn Roy, known as “Mr. Electric,” died Wednesday at age 95 of a brain hemorrhage in his home in Los Angeles. Able to seemingly illuminate any bulb onstage, Roy opened for Liberace and Dean Martin in Las Vegas, at such famed venues as Stardust, the original MGM Grand and Desert Inn.
Roy’s lineage lives on in Murray Sawchuck’s stage show. Late in his life, Mr. Electric taught Sawchuck his Milk and Light Bulb act, where he pours milk into a paper funnel to create light. Sawchuck has posted two videos of Mr. Electric teaching the act.
Taken together, they are a lesson in stage precision. Sawchuck performed the trick on “Penn & Teller’s Fool Us,” giving Mr. Electric a new audience.
“I wanted to get every nuance correct, as it’s not my act, it’s his and will always be his,” says Sawchuck, who was close to Roy for 30 years and considers Mr. Electric his mentor. “My goal was to learn it from him and perform it on a world stage while he was still alive to see it.”
Remembering Daniels
The night I met Charlie Daniels, we were both in pink Wrangler shirts. It was December 2010, during Tough Enough to Wear Pink Night at the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Daniels, who died Monday of a stroke at age 83, was a real gentleman in our encounter. He was playing Tropicana’s then-tiffany Theater (now Tropicana Theater) during the NFR run. I told him I covered entertainment and he asked me about the Vegas music scene.
“I hear your song all the time in our casinos,” I told him, referring to “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” He laughed, and I told him it would be fun to have him jump into Casbar Lounge at the Sahara and play the song, then leave, unannounced.
“I think there’s a lounge where we are,” Daniels said, referring to Tropicana Lounge outside the Tiffany.
I could see the wheels turning, but to my knowledge Daniels didn’t play the Trop lounge. As it is, the song lives on in David Perrico’s Pop Strings show at Cleopatra’s Barge. The first show back, I’m breaking out the pink.
It’s a mystery
A Touch of Mystery & More Entertain Group of Las Vegas is offering interactive theater and a Lawry’s dinner at 7 p.m. Wednesday. “Mystery at the Earthquake Saloon” is the troupe’s latest who-dunnit. The show plays out on a Zoom link; Lawry’s is a partner with a three-course, to-go dinner offer. Meal are available for pickup from 4:30-6:30 p.m. The whole package is $79, including the “Mystery” production.
The group has another Vegas show set for July 22, and also shows based in Chicago (where you can buy just the online performance for $25). Check out the full menu and details at atouchofmystery. com.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section.
His Podkats! podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/ podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal. com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @Johnnykats1 on Instagram.
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