Killers frontman impressed with Reid
BRANDON FLOWERS calls him “one of our more unlikely fans.” The founding frontman of The Killers was referring to the late Sen. Harry Reid.
Flowers is among those asked to perform for Reid on Saturday at The Smith Center. Flowers is one of just two entertainers slated to perform, and the only Nevada representative. Rock legend Carole King will also appear.
President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will speak at the service.
Flowers remembers meeting then-senate Majority Leader Reid in 2009. The powerful elected official was indeed a Killers aficionado.
“We were rolling through D.C. and we got this invitation to go to the Capitol,” Flowers said in a phone chat Friday afternoon. “We ended up in his office, and I was kind of taken aback by how gracious and humble he was in person.”
Flowers was also taken aback by Reid’s knowledge of the band’s music.
“He was familiar with my solo records and The Killers,” Flowers said. “‘Read My Mind’ I remember coming up as a favorite, and ‘Be Still’ was another favorite, and that’s what they’ve asked me to perform.”
“Read My Mind” is from the 2006 album “Sam’s Town.”
“Be Still” is from 2012’s “Battle Born.”
Flowers is performing along with Jake Blanton and Ted Sablay, both on acoustic guitars. Those two musicians have performed with The Killers over the years, including at Holiday Havoc Night 2 in December 2017 at The Pearl at the Palms.
Flowers said Reid recalled attending Basic High School with Flowers’ parents, Jean and Terry, and his aunt Barbara.
“I was really surprised by how he remembered those days back in Henderson,” Flowers said. “He really talked fondly of my aunt Barbara.”
Reid called over to a senate colleague during that visit.
“It was kind of funny, he summoned Chuck Schumer and had me do an impromptu version of ‘Home Means Nevada,’ a cappella, right there in the office,” Flowers said, chuckling. “We just kind of stood in a circle, and it took me right back to my own upbringing in Henderson, sitting in a circle and having our music teacher teach us that song.
“It was a warm moment, and he was a warm man.”
Warwick’s Stirling residency
Dionne Warwick has signed a residency deal with the Stirling Club at Turnberry Place, as confirmed Friday by her manager Joey Battig. Longtime Vegas entertainment types will appreciate “residency” describing this run, opening March 24 and running 46 weeks.
Doors are at 6:30 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Saturday and Sundays. Tickets are $125 to $150, with $199 VIP packages, open to nonmembers (on-sale information is to be announced). The Stirling Club Showroom is to be set up as an ornate living room, with 175 seats.
Warwick most recently headlined the 165-seat Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace, where she performed from September 2019 through the COVID shutdown in March 2020.
Warwick is an icon in contemporary music, with a string of hits including “Walk On By,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Message to Michael,” “Promises, Promises,” “A House Is
Not a Home,” “Alfie,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “This Girl’s in Love With You,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.”
She’s recently been played by Ego Nwodim on “Saturday Night Live’s” “Dionne Warwick Talk Show.” Warwick turned up on the show in November and sang “What the World Needs Now Is Love” alongside Nwodim.
“Why are you perfect?” Nwodim, as Warwick, asked Warwick herself. The superstar responded, “My darling, I’m not perfect. I’m just very, very good.”
Poitier on the courts
Clint Holmes was a friend of the late acting legend Sidney Poitier for about 50 years. After Poitier died Thursday at age
94, Holmes remembered the Academy Award winner turning him on to tennis.
“He came to see my show in the Bahamas way back in the ’70s, asked me if I played tennis,” Holmes posted Friday on Facebook. “I didn’t, but in an effort to be around him I told him I did.”
Being an advanced player, it didn’t take Poitier long to see Holmes was new to the game.
“Once he saw me ‘play,’ he paid for my first lesson, by his teacher,” Holmes said. “By the end of my five-week run, I was a tennis fanatic and have loved the game ever since.”
“We were rolling through D.C. and we got this invitation to go to the Capitol,” Brandon Flowers, frontman for The Killers, said of a 2009 meeting with then-senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The Raiders show
Ever proud of their entertainment production, the Raiders have enlisted the ubiquitous
Lil Jon for the halftime show of Sunday’s game against the L.A. Chargers at Allegiant Stadium. The Grammy Award-winning rap star has been a regular attendee at Vegas Golden Knights games and has also adopted the Raiders as a favorite Vegas pro franchise.
“I been going to games all season, I’m looking forward to turning up Allegiant Stadium the Lil Jon way,” he said in a statement issued by the Raiders. “Yeahhh!”
Yep, that was the official statement from the frequent Vegas headliner.
Lil Jon has also performed at Toshiba Plaza during the 2018 Stanley Cup Final and has cranked the VGK siren.
Tori Kelly, co-star in the computer-animated comedy “Sing 2,” is set to sing Sunday’s national anthem.
Cool Hang Alert
Grandview Lounge at the South Point kicks it with piano great Wes Winters 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and “The Dirty at 12:30” comedy show at 11:59 p.m. Fridays. The latter is “explicit,” and guests must be 21 or older to attend. Both have no cover.
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.