Tournament of Poses
"Somebody get me a mirror!" commands Jerome Frazier between rump shakes, while brushing his slicked-back coif with a bejeweled right hand. Five women surge forward from the audience to comply, as though it actually is Morris Day playing Calico Jack’s on West Charleston Boulevard.
Frazier checks his image in one of the compacts.
"I’m looking too good," he says. As the crowd hoots its approval, he rejoins the strains of "Jungle Love," the 1984 hit by Day’s group The Time.
Every weekend, hundreds of closet singers gather in valley bars to chase scrolling lyrics and long-lost dreams.
Following are four fan favorites — handpicked from more than a dozen suggested by hosts at Ellis Island, Calico Jack’s and the Downstairs Bar, and observed in splendiferous action by the R-J on a recent Friday night.
Musical ability is immaterial: two have it, two don’t. But each knows how to work a crowd like the star he pretends to be.
THE JEROME EXPERIENCE
Real name: Jerome Frazier
Age: 42
Day job: Salesman for the Community Funds grant service
Professional experience: In 1999 and 2000, Frazier fronted an R&B covers band, also called the Jerome Experience, but now only accompanies prerecorded backing tracks.
Signature songs: "Jungle Love" and "The Bird" by The Time
Costume: Spats, zoot suit, blingy gold jewelry
Vocals: Scary good
Moves: His spats actually blur
Crowd-pleasing moment: The "give me a mirror" speech
Preparation: Prancing around his house for 30 minutes every day, looking in his own mirrors
Motivation: "It gives you a new identity just for five minutes. And when people actually believe I’m that person, that’s the reward I’m looking for." (More than once, Frazier said, witnesses have approached him to congratulate Morris Day.)
Appearing: Friday and Saturday nights at Calico Jack’s, 8200 W. Charleston Blvd.
ANDREW GAUDETTE
Age: 36
Day job: Dock manager for Dillard’s
Professional experience: Until six months ago, sang for a local hard-rock band called Burning Ashes
Signature songs: "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol, "Silent Lucidity" by Queensryche
Costume: "Just my hair."
Vocals: Note-perfect. If Skid Row ever needs a new singer, this is the man to call.
Moves: Standard hair metal
Crowd-pleasing moment: When he rips off his hairband and screams, "This is for the ladies!"
Preparation: Ten hours of practice in home studio per week, plus one double Jack-and-Coke before hitting the stage.
Motivation: "It keeps my vocal chords in shape. Plus, you never know who’s gonna show up at a karaoke bar. I heard that’s how Mary J. Blige got discovered by P. Diddy."
Appearing: Friday and Saturday nights at Ellis Island, 4250 Koval Lane.
VINNY CAPRI
Age: 70
Day job: Retired busboy
Professional experience: None
Signature songs: "That’s All Right" and "All Shook Up" by Elvis Presley
Costume: Elvis wig and shades, big gold chains and a 10-gallon heart. (Capri also wants you to know that he drives a 1954 pink Cadillac.)
Vocals: An impersonation bereft of nearly every correct note, and as off-the-beat as it is offbeat
Moves: Hysterically intense mic swings and hip swivels
Crowd-pleasing moment: When, crouched down like the King about to bust a karate move, he brushes the floor and says, "I’m looking for money."
Preparation: Two or three hours of practice per week. "I feel that too much practice is no good."
Motivation: "Elvis is in my heart, I guess. There’s other singers I liked growing up in Brooklyn, but they didn’t sing like Elvis. And I always wondered if, by accident, I would ever be a singer. And now I am."
Appearing: Friday-Sunday nights at Ellis Island; Monday and Tuesday nights at Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall; Thursday nights at Palace Station, 2411 W. Sahara Ave.
YGOR
Real name: Benjamin Blumengold
Age: 36
Day job: Runner for Anthony’s Bail Bonds
Professional experience: None
Signature songs: "Bye Bye Bye" by ‘N Sync, "Funky Cold Medina" by Tone Loc
Costume: None needed. Seriously.
Vocals: Unencumbered by tone
Moves: Break-dancing and other hip-hop steps
Crowd-pleasing moment: Everything he does. (His stage name — earned after he accompanied his karaoke buddy, Scary Larry, on "The Monster Mash" last year — is shouted like a sports chant by his many followers throughout the performance.)
Preparation: Watching videos. "That’s all. I don’t know. When the music comes on, I’m just incredibly entertaining to watch."
Motivation: "Just to have fun. But maybe some agent in the audience might see me and put me in a comedy show."
Appearing: Friday and Saturday nights at Ellis Island; Sunday and Tuesday nights at Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall, 3595 Las Vegas Blvd. South.