Nerds — with Van Halen classics — playing no-cover show in Las Vegas
This is an act to support, and not just for the music and comedy.
The Mighty Nerd Halen plays a no-cover show at the Side Lawn at Sunset Station at 8 p.m. Saturday. The great comic-musician Hal Sparks heads up this wildly entertaining outfit. Mighty Nerd Halen is as the name implies — Van Halen classics, as if performed by (no offense, Diamond Dave) nerds. We have taped eyeglasses, scissor kicks, the replica Eddie Van Halen Frankenstrat guitar, all of it.
Guitarist and band founder Caleb Rapoport is a study in musical vision and also survival. He lost his home and his equipment in the L.A. Palisades fire in January and has been rebuilding his life since. Rapoport has referred to the devastation as “a life-altering blow.”
He and his family escaped the blaze in less than an hour. His wife, Whitney, 24-year-old son August (a student at Loyola Marymount University) and 12-year-old Shen were in the home.
“One of the biggest PTSDs is, I had to grab a few things in the 45 minutes I had to grab things,” Rapoport said Friday morning. “I had to guess on what I could take and leave behind. I lost 95 percent of my musical equipment. I grabbed six guitars, but lost 20 that were just as important as the ones I grabbed.”
Such family keepsakes as pictures, furniture, wedding plates were lost in the fire.
“Every day is kind of a reminder about something we’ve lost,” said Rapoport, now leasing a home in West Los Angeles.
Mighty Nerd Halen formed in 2017, with the lineup of Sparks, Rapoport, Jeffrey Page and Victor Brodén. The comic rockers have played M Resort, Vamp’d on West Sahara and The Shag Room at Virgin Hotels. The band plays a 70-30 split between the David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar Van Halen eras.
They have even performed from the Gary Cherone “Van Halen III” album, though none of those songs are planned Saturday.
The comedy puts smiles on faces, but the rock is real.
“We want people to see us and laugh,” Rapoport said, “but listen to us and say, ‘Those guys can play.’ ”
‘Wizard’ memories
Sphere offers haptic seats. But “lap-tic” seats would be appropriate for “Wizard of Oz at Sphere.” I mentioned to Sphere Executive Vice President and Global Head of Venue Operations and Development Bill Walshe that I’d never seen “Wizard of Oz” in a theater. It was always on TV.
“I’m getting chills just remembering this, but when I saw this film, it was sitting on my mom’s lap,” Walshe said Tuesday at the unveiling of the Sphere’s promotional activation, showing the Wicked Witch’s legs and the ruby-red slippers. “This will bring back that nostalgia, but with Judy Garland singing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’ at 16K resolution on 160,000 square feet of screen, remastered and re-orchestrated and delivered through 167,000 speakers.”
Yeah. What he said. But as a kid was pretty impressed with just the one speaker …
Quick-close artists
The Golden Tiki taped a sign at its Chinatown entrance on Wednesday saying it was closing temporarily due to “technical difficulties.” As soon as we checked out what was happening, the place had reopened Thursday.
Flooring was said to be the reason for the brief shutdown. I was certainly floored, temporarily, and so were a few unhappy patrons. Oh, and watch for Backstreet Boys in a shrunken-head capacity.
Answer to ‘Tease This’ …
From earlier this week, the sports broadcast personality who is headlining The Composers Room is UNLV grad and former ESPN fixture Kenny Mayne. He’s set for 7 p.m. June 27.
Your VegasVille Moment
I was enjoying some wings with ranch amid light cigar smoke at Eight Cigar Lounge on Wednesday night when a guy shouted at me, “John! Have you seen Heidi Fleiss?!”
“Not often enough!” I called back.
OK, my response is concocted but the question was real, from the author — the esteemed author —Michael Kaplan. The event was the release party of his latest tome, “Advantage Players.”
The green-covered book is “a rare look at ‘advantage players,’ professional gamblers who consistently beat the casino games at which everyone else loses, penned by the only feature writer in the world with access to this clandestine crew.”
Fleiss takes up a chapter and was in the room to promote the release, though I never caught up with her at the party.
Also in the pages: Poker great Phil Ivey; baccarat millionaire Kelly Sun; Don Johnson (not the actor, but the notorious gambler who, according to legend, beat Atlantic City for $15 million); John Chang, the founder of the famed MIT blackjack team that inspired Kevin Spacey’s character in the movie “21”; and the world’s greatest sports-betting furniture salesman who’s known as Mattress Mack. The book is available on all major eBook reader formats.
Cool Hang Alert
The soaring (vocally) performer Daniel Emmet debuts at The Space at 7:30 p.m. (doors at 6:30 p.m.) Friday and Saturday. Emmet was an “America’s Got Talent” finalist in 2017, and has just released his latest single, “Faithfully.” Go to TheSpaceLV.com for intel.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
