Entertainment Diet: Lon Bronson
All those roads that lead to Vegas run in the opposite direction as well. But nobody ever seems to follow them away from Vegas.
Case in point: musician and bandleader Lon Bronson, who not only leads his horn-centric All-Star Band but directs the band for "The Rat Pack Is Back" in the Tuscany's Copa Room, along with other gigs.
Bronson arrived in Las Vegas in 1985 for what he thought was a two-week job setting up the musical components for the Riviera's new drag show, "An Evening at La Cage" — showroom fixture Frank Marino's first Las Vegas showcase.
Bronson assumed he'd back home in New York City after a few weeks. But once he arrived in Las Vegas, "I never left," Bronson notes. (Unlike his furniture and vinyl LPs, which stayed in New York.) "When I got out here, I absolutely loved it."
For this week's Entertainment Diet, we asked the now-longtime Las Vegan about some of his local favorites.
PLACE TO PLAY MUSIC
Bronson chooses The Smith Center's Cabaret Jazz, where he and his All-Star Band return March 19.
Although he's also played the center's 2,000-plus-seater, Reynolds Hall, it's "the intimacy" of Cabaret Jazz that earns Bronson's applause.
"It's amazing you can do a concert with that amount of lighting, staging and sound for an audience of 225" people, he says. And while "there are millions of dollars of equipment in that room," he adds, "the room itself is so striking, so gorgeous."
Sunset Station's Club Madrid, where Bronson's All-Star Band plays every first and third Thursday each month, "may be less elegant than The Smith Center," but their investment in sound and lighting systems make it seem like "you're really walking into a small showroom instead of a lounge."
MUSIC
Bronson likes to catch another large ensemble, David Perrico's Pop Strings, at the Palms Lounge, "a nice little lounge" and "another place I don't play."
Another show Bronson follows, "religiously," is "Alice: A Steampunk Fantasy Concert," now at The Linq's Brooklyn Bowl following stops at the Tuscany and Hard Rock.
"It's the only production show in town that is doing anything avant-garde, anything original," Bronson says, describing it as "a nice mixture of dance music and singing. It really is brilliant."
DINING
Bronson used to be a regular at Parma by Chef Marc, which closed last year. Now he's a regular at Marc Sgrizzi's newest, Chef Marc's Trattoria in Summerlin.
"Everything's spectacular," Bronson says of the Italian eatery, where "they come up with some creations that are truly original." One of his go-to dishes: spaghetti with organic chicken livers, topped by "a sauce that's just amazing."
Bronson's also a fan of Echo & Rig Butcher and Steakhouse, with a balcony that overlooks the Tivoli Gardens location.
"The food is first-rate" — and so are the prices, he says, citing the "amazing deal" he finds with his favorite dish, free-range roasted duck with black forbidden rice, marcona almonds and ginger gastrique, all for about half of what he'd expect to pay elsewhere in town.
"And even more important than that," Bronson adds, "there's no corkage fee. I can bring in my favorite wine for nothing," calling it "too good to be true."
TELEVISION
A self-confessed "news junkie," Bronson says he always has "CNN on in the background" during the day, but there are a few shows he watches regularly.
"One of my favorites is 'Shameless' on Showtime," about a dysfunctional family headed by a single father of six (played by William H. Macy), who's often drunk, forcing the kids to fend for themselves.
"Everyone cast in that show is just genius," Bronson says. "It's just a fun show to watch."
Bronson also lauds Amazon's "The Man in the High Castle," based on the what-if novel by sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, about a post-World War II America ruled by victorious Axis powers Germany and Japan.
"I binge-watched that for nine or 10 episodes," he says. "The attention to detail is pretty astonishing."
As for his future favorite show, that's an easy call: HBO's new "Vinyl," about a 1970s music executive (Bobby Cannavale) trying to save his record label.
"I really like that — it's a time period I lived through," says Bronson, who celebrates his 57th birthday this year. "I know all the music, all the hairstyles, all the clothes."
Besides, "Vinyl" has an impeccable behind-the-scenes team, including director Martin Scorsese and executive music producer Mick Jagger.
MOVIES
As "an all-around pop-culture guy," Bronson's a movie fan. But he's not a fan of the ones he's seen most recently.
"The Martian," about a stranded NASA astronaut (Matt Damon) struggling to survive on the Red Planet, may have earned six Oscar nominations, but Bronson calls it "one of the worst movies I've seen in my life."
And "just as awful," he adds, was "the holy grail" — otherwise known as "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" — which "just rebooted the original movie," Bronson complains.
Yet that won't stop him from catching the next installment in the "Star Wars" saga, which just began production: "Of course I'm definitely going to see everything."
HANGOUTS
"I'm so glad you asked that," Bronson responds to a question about his favorite kick-back spot, the Tuscany's Piazza Lounge.
"They have live music in there seven nights a week," he notes.
After "The Rat Pack Is Back" ends in the Tuscany's Copa Room, "I can walk 20 paces down the hallway to a really cool lounge with great jazz music and have a glass of wine," Bronson says. "I honestly feel like I've been transported back to vintage Vegas."
