Las Vegas Backstage Talk

Paul Williams, “Celebrity Magician” Murray-LVBST w/Comedian Michele LaFong

May 31, 2012  6pm-7pm PST 1230AM in LV & The Web

Singer/Songwriter Paul Williams guests on Las Vegas Backstage Talk radio show with Comedian Michele LaFong.  LV Backstage Talk radio show is the only show that “Gets Personal with the Stars.”

Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe winning songwriter Paul Williams is recognized as one of America’s most prolific and gifted lyricists and composers. A ‘Hall of Fame’ songwriter and recipient of the 2004 National Music Publishers President’s Award, Williams’ standards have been recorded by such diverse musical icons as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, David Bowie, Tony Bennett, R.E.M., Sarah Vaughn, Johnny Mathis, Bing Crosby, The Carpenters, Luther Vandross, Mel Torme and Diana Ross.

His songs have also found favor with Country legends including Chet Atkins, Garth Brooks, The Dixie Chicks, Kris Kristofferson, Charlie Pride, Crystal Gayle, Anne Murray, Lynn Anderson, The Oak Ridge Boys, Diamond Rio and Neil McCoy. When asked which song is his favorite, Paul is quick to respond, “That’s easy! It’s “The Rainbow Connection.” It’s a thrill to hear my words interpreted by such inimitable talents as Sarah McLachlan, Willie Nelson, Judy Collins and Kermit the Frog!”

Williams will soon be featured in Comedian Michele LaFong’s Monthly Syndicated “Las Vegas Backstage Talk” column in Casino Player Magazine, as well as LaFong’s monthly syndicated “Getting Personal with the Stars” column in Gaming Today.

More about Paul Williams here!

Paul preformed recently at The Showroom at The South Point on May 18 & 19

Celebrity Magician – Murray SawChuck

Murray astonished the live audiences by producing a Ferrari from thin air, transforming a showgirl into a 450-pound tiger and did the largest trick ever on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” by making an entire 1918 steam train locomotive vanish in mere seconds. All of these illusions took place in front of a live national and international TV audience, and brought standing ovations from the judges and audiences.

Murray currently guest stars on the History Channel’s hit TV series “Pawn Stars” as a magic expert. His other TV credits include starring on the popular VH1 series “Celebracadabra,” Comedy Central’s TV series “Reno 911,” NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” VH1’s “Tough Love,” and Fox’s “Celebrity Blind Date.”

For more about
Murray SawChuck, click HERE.

You can catch
Murray SawChuck at Tropicana Las Vegas

Laugh Factory Las Vegas, Saturday-Thursday 7:00pm

For info

You can listen to a recording of our show below!

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Bill Cosby, Graham Russell, Michael Shane-LV Backstage Talk w/Comedian Michele LaFong

May 24, 2012  6pm-7pm PST 1230AM in LV & The Web

The Legendary Bill Cosby guests on Las Vegas Backstage Talk radio show with Comedian Michele LaFong.

Over the past century, few entertainers have achieved the legendary status of William H. Cosby Jr. His successes span five decades and virtually all media, remarkable accomplishments for a kid who emerged from humble beginnings in a Philly project.

In the 1960s, his stand-up act was a coast-to-coast sensation, spawning a string of hilarious, best-selling comedy albums, which went on to win eight Gold Records, five Platinum records and five Grammy Awards. His role on TV’s I Spy made him the first African-American to co-star in a dramatic series, breaking television’s racial barrier and winning three Emmy Awards. In the 1980s, he again rocked the television world with the The Cosby Show, a gentle, whimsical and hugely successful series that single-handedly revived the family sitcom (and rescued NBC).

Bill Cosby will be Michele LaFong’s Cover/Feature Interview in “Getting Personal with the Stars” June 2013 issue of Casino Player Magazine.  He is also in LaFong’s “Las Vegas Backstage Talk” Syndicated Column in Casino Player Magazine 2013.

For more about Bill Cosby, click HERE.

You can catch Bill Cosby at Treasure Island, The TI

Treasure Island Theatre, Friday May 25th 8:00pm

For reservations

Musician / Song-Writer – Graham Russell of “Air Supply”

Australian soft-rock group Air Supply quickly became a staple of early ‘80s radio after their first smash hit, “Lost in Love.” Performing together for more than 30 years, Air Supply returns to The Orleans Showroom for three shows Memorial Day weekend.

Producing 30 albums and more than 15 hit singles, Air Supply is renowned around the world, touring in Australia, Asia, India, the United States and the Caribbean. In 2008, Air Supply was named No. 83 on Billboard’s top 100 musical acts of all time – the only Australian band on the list.

For more about “Air Supply”, click HERE.

You can catch “Air Supply” at The Orleans

Orleans Showroom, Fri-Sun May 25th – 27th 8:00pm

For reservations

Musician / Entertainer – Michael Shane

Performing professionally since the age of 11, Michael, most recently, was hand-picked by Steve Wynn to entertain his guests at the Las Vegas mega resort Wynn, as in-house entertainer. In his 30 year career, he has performed in thousands of shows with dozens of stars including Wayne Newton, Gallagher, Debbie Gibson, Brooke Shields, Clint Holmes, Kool and the Gang, the Righteous Brothers and countless others.

For more about Michael Shane, click HERE.

You can listen to a recording of our show below!

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“Las Vegas Backstage Talk” Column in Gaming Today, by Michele Lafong

Las Vegas Backstage Talk in Gaming Today, by Michele Lafong

“Even veteran interviewers surprised! Dennis Miller ‘bleeped’ twice”

Update: “Las Vegas Backstage Talk” is now a Monthly Syndicated Column in Casino Player Magazine, with Backstage Video-taped Interviews posted monthly on casinocenter.com, as well as lasvegasbackstagetalk.com

Comedian Michele LaFong also writes Monthly Features, and Cover/Features in “Getting Personal with the Stars,” in Casino Player Magazine.

Rob Schneider, Bill Haley Jr. Mark Mayer, LVBST w/Comedian Michele LaFong

May 17, 2012  6pm-7pm PST 1230AM in LV & The Web

Rob Schneider guests on Las Vegas backstage Talk with Comedian Michele LaFong, the only show that “Gets Personal with the Stars.”

After opening for comedians such as Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld, Schneider made his network television debut in 1987 on “The David Letterman Show.” In 1990, “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels saw Schneider’s appearance on HBO’s “13th Annual Young Comedians Special” and hired him to be a regular on SNL. During his four seasons on SNL, Schneider was nominated for three EmmyR Awards and a Peabody Award..

Schneider is well-known for his longtime collaboration with Adam Sandler and Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison. Schneider has starred in several Happy Madison projects, including “The Benchwarmers,” “50 First Dates,” “The Longest Yard,” “Eight Crazy Nights,” “Little Nicky” and “Mr. Deeds.” Schneider co-wrote and starred in “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo,” “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” “The Hot Chick” and “The Animal.”

Schneider is the star of the new CBS show, “Rob,” about a lifelong bachelor who married into a tight-knit Mexican-American family. Rob is a successful architect who elopes with Maggie in Las Vegas after a whirlwind romance.

For more about Rob Schneider, click HERE.

Rob Schneider recently performed at The Orleans Showroom on May 5th – 6th

Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets

If only for the impact of “Rock Around the Clock”, Bill Haley would deserve a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (He was inducted in 1987)! Yet his impact in the early days of Rock and Roll went well beyond that milestone! Two years earlier he’d put out “Crazy, Man, Crazy” an original amalgam of country and R&B that arguably became the first rock and roll record to register on Billboard’s pop chart! For most of the Fifties, Bill Haley was a presence on the record charts, and he appeared in several rock and roll movies aimed at teenagers. It is estimated that Bill Haley and His Comets have sold 60 million records worldwide.

Now his Son, Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets, recapture the heyday of his famous father and The Comets and carry on the tradition his father started! Re-creating the Music, the Feel, the Excitement, the Authentic Stage Costuming and the Energy, Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets will transport audiences back to the very beginning of Rock & Roll! Audiences will be on their feet, dancing in the aisles and singing along to every song during this incredible, all-age, Affordable Show!

More about Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets here!

You can catch Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets live at Suncoast Hotel & Casino

Suncoast Showroom, May 19 – 20 7:30pm

For reservations

Managing Editor / Sports Columnist for “Gaming Today” – Mark Mayer

Mark Mayer was a sports writer for daily newspapers in South Carolina and Florida for more than 20 years before moving to Las Vegas. In the last 10 years, Mayer has been on the other side of the betting window as a ticket writer at Primm Resorts before working two years at Vegas Insider. Off and on over the past decade, he has been sports editor for “GamingToday”.

“GamingToday” a weekly publication that is distributed to casinos and subscriptions every Tuesday with gaming and entertainment news and articles.

The current issue of “GamingToday” features Michele LaFong filling in on entertainment for the incomparable Monti Rock III this week. (Issue for May 15 – 21, 2012)

View Michele’s article in “Gaming Today” HERE

Comedian Michele LaFong is a radio personality in Las Vegas. She knows the in and outs of show business and attracts the A-listers.  Check out LaFong’s “Las Vegas Backstage Talk” column in Gaming Today, which will soon be “Getting Personal with the Stars” a monthly syndicated column in Gaming Today, as well as Casino Player Magazine, a monthly entertainment life-style magazine, with over eighty eight thousand paid subscribers nationally.  (“Las Vegas Backstage Talk will also be a monthly syndicated column in CP Magazine.)

You can listen to a recording of our show below!

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May 10, 2012: Rich Little

Legendary Comedian / Impressionist – Rich Little

Legendary comedian and impressionist RICH LITTLE is returning to the Las Vegas stage with his one-man show, “Jimmy Stewart & Friends.” Featuring more than 25 celebrity icon voices including Cary Grant, George Burns, Ronald Reagan, Katherine Hepburn and John Wayne, among others, “Jimmy Stewart & Friends” will take you on an adventure through the life of famed actor Jimmy Stewart. A master mimic of more than 200 voices, Little has appeared on TV variety shows starring Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Glen Campbell and Dean Martin, as well as on series such as “Laugh-In,” “The John Davidson Summer Show” and “The Julie Andrews Show.” Little also had his own variety show in the 70s and was the star of the TV show “KopyKats.” Little was a guest host early on for “The Tonight Show,” hosting 12 times. He quickly became a household name sitting in one of the “Hollywood Squares” and went on to do the “Muppet Show.” Named “Comedy Star of the Year” by the American Guild of Variety Artists, Little was the perpetrator of nine comedy albums and three HBO comedy specials, as well as the Emmy-award winning special “Rich Little’s Christmas Carol” with “W.C. Fields” as Scrooge, “Humphrey Bogart” as one of the ghosts and “Paul Lynde” as Bob Cratchit.

For more about Rich Little, click HERE.

You can catch Rich at The Las Vegas Hotel and Casino

Shimmer Cabaret, performing through May 23rd, 8:30pm

For reservations

You can listen to a recording of our show below!

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Bill Maher, Mary Wilson-Las Vegas Backstage Talk w/Comedian Michele LaFong

May 3, 2012  6pm-7pm PST 1230AM in LV & The Web

Bill Maher guests on LVBST Radio Show with Comedian Michele LaFong.

For the last 18 years, Maher has pushed the boundaries of how far political humor and satire can go on American television. First on “Politically Incorrect” (which first aired on Comedy Central before moving to ABC), and for the last seven years on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and scathing humor have garnered him 21 EmmyR nominations. In October 2008, this same combination was on display in Maher’s swipe at organized religion, “Religulous,” which went on to become the seventh-highest grossing documentary ever.

In addition to his television program-which has featured such regular visitors as Ben Affleck, Robin Williams, Arianna Huffington, Alec Baldwin and Michael Moore-Maher has written four bestsellers: “True Story,” “Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? Politically Incorrect’s Greatest Hits,” “When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden” and most recently, “New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer.”

Bill Maher will be featured in Comedian Michele LaFong’s Monthly Syndicated “Las Vegas Backstage Talk” column in June 2013 edition of Casino Player Magazine, and “Getting Personal with the Stars” Cover/Feature Interview, in CP Magazine, Nov. 2013

For more about Bill Maher click here.
For more about “Real Time with Bill Maher” click here.

You can catch Bill live at The Orleans
Orleans Showroom, May 5th – 6th 8:00pm-Now at The Pearl Theatre at The Palms H & C.
For reservations

 

Singer / Recording Artist – Mary Wilson

Las Vegas resident supreme, and one of the founders of the world famous “Supremes,” Mary Wilson, will be performing in the new Cabaret Jazz Club at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, in a tribute show aptly name, Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Project. Starring Wilson, “Stormy Weather,” is about Hollywood’s first African-American goddess, Lena Horne, from her reign at MGM’s “dream factory,” to a fabled night club seductress, and civil rights icon. The show is based on the book written by James Gavin in 2009.

Stormy Weather is a “living, breathing, biography,” combining story, song and visual images from James’ wealth of material and hundreds of interviews – several with Horne herself – to give us the defining portrait of an American icon, and includes the evening at the Academy Awards in 2002, when Halle Berry thanked Lena Horne for paving the way for her to become the first black recipient of the award for Best Actress.

Mary Wilson is quoted as saying, “I grew up admiring Ms. Horne, and who doesn’t remember those great songs she sang. I’m simply singing the music as a tribute to her and her life,” Wilson said. “It’s that simple!”

SPECIAL EVENT!!!

The Smith Center

Mary Wilson in James Gavin’s STORMY WEATHER: The Lena Horne Project

Three performances set for May 11 at 8:30 p.m., and May 12 at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Reservations
You can listen to a recording of our show below! 

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