Tony Viviano back by Popular Demand at Patrick's Westport Restaurant

Elvis’ First Venture to Las Vegas Was a Flop, Writes Historian On the heels of successful TV appearances, singer's foray into a Vegas night club left him all shook up

Note:, Jan. 28, 2016, marked the 60th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s first appearance on national television

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Newswise, February 1, 2016. – Beginning with “one electrifying night” in 1969 and continuing through the mid-1970s, Elvis Presley reigned as Las Vegas’ top nightclub act. 

But his first attempt to win over fans in that city 60 years ago was “a painful setback” for the young performer, writes a historian at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T).

Presley was a pop sensation on the rise by the time he made his national television debut on the Dorsey Brothers’ “Stage Show” 60 years ago on Jan. 28, 1956. 

That event and subsequent TV appearances on Milton Berle’s program, “The Steve Allen Show” and the “Ed Sullivan Show” helped solidify the singer’s reputation as the “king of rock’n’roll.” Those successes also led to a poorly timed decision to put Presley in front of a Las Vegas night club audience that was not accustomed to his gyrations and raucous style.

The singer’s first venture to Las Vegas – the city that later became his favorite get-away destination – was dismissed by critics and harshly criticized by the audience, writes Dr. Larry Gragg, Curators’ Teaching Professor of history and political science at Missouri S&T, and the author of two books and numerous articles about Las Vegas in popular culture.

Encouraged by Presley’s success in concerts and TV appearances, his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, “decided that the next critical step in building a national presence for Elvis was for him to appear in a nightclub,” Gragg writes in “’They Weren’t My Kind of Audience’: Elvis Presley’s First Appearance in Las Vegas in 1956,” published in the Winter 2015 issue of the journal of popular history Nevada in the West. “The famed ‘Strip’ in Las Vegas was the logical place,” Gragg writes, “as it had become the pre-eminent showplace for live entertainment.”

Parker arranged a two-week engagement for Presley as an “added attraction” to headliner Freddy Martin and his orchestra and comedian Shecky Greene at the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas beginning April 23, 1956. 

“Those two weeks turned out to be a painful setback for the young star,” Gragg writes. “It quickly became apparent that Elvis was ill-prepared for a nightclub crowd.”

The crowd wasn’t prepared for Presley either.

“The audience reaction to his act … made matters worse for Elvis,” writes Gragg. “This would have been their first encounter with the energetic, gyrating rock’n’roll singer.”

On opening night, the nervous Presley “began with his hit ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ which he mispronounced as ‘Heartburn Hotel,’” Gragg recounts. Almost immediately, one man near the front leaped to his feet, shouting expletives about “all this yelling and screaming” and resolving to “go to the tables and gamble.”

The rest of the audience “sat in stony silence for several minutes not knowing how to react,” Gragg writes, but eventually “a few people were tapping their toes and snapping their fingers as others offered polite applause, and as they left the Venus Room most were talking about Elvis.”

Reviews of Presley’s performance that night were mixed. A writer for the Las Vegas Sun said the singer “failed ‘to hit the promised mark,’” and Newsweek said he was “like a jug of corn liquor at a champagne party.”

At the end of that debut, Gragg writes, a “frustrated and angry” Presley was quoted as saying, “I don’t want no more night clubs. An audience like this don’t show their appreciation. … They’re eating when I come on.”

But Presley would return to Las Vegas and the night clubs some 13 years later. In July 1969, Presley – backed by two quartets and a 35-piece orchestra – “returned in triumph” to Las Vegas, performing at the new International Hotel “before a sold-out crowd that included a glittering array of Hollywood stars and Las Vegas luminaries,” Gragg writes.

Already associated with the city thanks to the success of his 1964 movie “Viva Las Vegas,” co-starring Ann-Margret, Presley’s dazzling performance on “that electrifying night in July 1969” firmly established him as “a true Las Vegas icon,” Gragg notes.

Gragg is the author of two books about Las Vegas: Bright Light City: Las Vegas in Popular Culture (2013) and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel: The Gangster, the Flamingo, and the Making of Modern Las Vegas (2015).

The 20th Anniversary World Tour Returns to The Fabulous Fox Theatre February 12-14, 2016

Buy Tickets Now! CLICK HERE! On Sale NOW Riverdance.com Tickets: $30 to $100 Performances: Fri. 8pm Sat. 2pm & 8pm Sun. 1pm & 6:30pm

The international Irish dance phenomenon is back by popular demand in RIVERDANCE-The 20th Anniversary World Tour.

Drawing on Irish traditions, the combined talents of the performers propel Irish dancing and music into the present day, capturing the imagination of audiences across all ages and cultures in an innovative and exciting blend of dance, music and song.

Of all the performances to emerge from Ireland - in rock, music, theatre and film - nothing has carried the energy, the sensuality and the spectacle of RIVERDANCE. 

RIVERDANCE-The 20th Anniversary World Tour is composed by Bill Whelan, produced by Moya Doherty and directed by John McColgan, and comes directly to North America from a sold-out run across Europe and Asia.

Last time Garrison Keillor will host A Prairie Home Companion in St. Louis

Live at the Fabulous Fox Saturday, June 18 at 4:45 p.m. 

$68, $58, $38

 Tickets go on sale Friday, January 22 at 10AM online at metrotix.com, by calling

314-534-1111, or in person at the Fabulous Fox Box Office.

St. Louis, January 28, 2016– The Fabulous Fox Theatre proudly presents host/producer Garrison Keillor & friends live at theFox Theatre for the popular weekly radio broadcast, A Prairie Home Companion.  This performance will be the last time Garrison Keillor will host A Prairie Home Companion in St. Louis.

If you showed up on July 6, 1974, at the Janet Wallace Auditorium at Macalester College in Saint Paul and plunked down your $1 admission (50 cents for kids) to attend the very first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, you were in select company.

There were about 12 people in the audience. But those in attendance thought there were worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon, so Garrison Keillor and the APHC team went on to produce close to 500 live shows in the first 10 years alone.

There were broadcasts from this venue and that, until March 4, 1978, when the show moved to The World Theater, a lovely, crumbling building that was one plaster crack away from the wrecking ball. (Now fully renovated and renamed The Fitzgerald, it is the show’s home base.)

In June of 1987, APHC ended for a while. Garrison thought it was a good idea at the time, but only two years later, the show was back, based in New York and called American Radio Company of the Air. But there’s no place like home. So in 1992, it was back to Minnesota and, soon after, back to the old name:A Prairie Home Companion.

There has been plenty of adventure in the past 40-plus years — broadcasts from Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Iceland and almost every one of the 50 states; wonderful performers, little-known and world-renowned; standing ovations and stares of bewilderment.

We’ve missed planes, coped with lost luggage, dodged swooping bats and hungry mosquitoes, plodded through blizzards, and flown by the seat of our pants.

Today, A Prairie Home Companion is heard by 4 million listeners each week on nearly 700 public radio stations, online, and on the American Forces Networks, SiriusXM Radio, Radio New Zealand, and KPRG in Guam.

Garrison recalls, “When the show started, it was something funny to do with my friends, and then it became an achievement that I hoped would be successful, and now it’s a good way of life.”

A Prairie Home Companion is produced by Prairie Home Productions, and distributed nationwide by American Public Media. The program is underwritten by Ford.

About Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor was born in 1942 in Anoka, Minnesota, and began his radio career as a freshman at the University of Minnesota, from which he graduated in 1966. He went to work for Minnesota Public Radio in 1969, and on July 6, 1974, he hosted the first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion in St. Paul. Today, some 4 million listeners on more than 600 public radio stations coast to coast and beyond tune in to the show each week.

Keillor has been honored with Grammy, ACE, and George Foster Peabody awards, the National Humanities Medal, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His many books include Lake Wobegon Days, The Book of Guys, Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance, Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny, and The Keillor Reader (Viking). He is the host of the daily program The Writer’s Almanac and the editor of several anthologies of poetry, most recently,Good Poems: American Places (Viking).

In 2006, Keillor played himself in the movie adaptation of his show, a film directed by Robert Altman. He has two grandsons and in 2007, he opened an independent bookstore, Common Good Books, in St. Paul, the city where he and his wife and daughter make their home.

People’s Choice Award Winner for Favorite Breakout Artist - Shawn Mendes to perform Live at the Fabulous Fox Saturday, August 6th, 2016

Fox Ticket Information for Shawn Mendes:  Tickets: $40

 On-Sale Information:

Tickets go on sale Saturday, February 6 at 10AM online  atmetrotix.com, by calling 314-534-1111, or in person at the Fabulous Fox Box Office.

 Fan Club presale begins Monday, February 1st at 4PM

American Express® Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Tuesday, February 2nd at 10am through Friday, February 5th at 10pm.

(St. Louis, MO), January 28, 2016 – With his #1 debut album, #1 single “Stitches”, & now second Pop Radio hit “I Know What You Did Last Summer” extending his momentum into the new year, Island Records recording artist Shawn Mendes has announced his Shawn Mendes World Tour, opening across Europe with 11 dates in April-May, and then arriving in North America with 26 dates starting on July 15^th at Mizner Amphitheater in Boca Raton FL, through the August 21st homecoming date at Air Canada Center in Toronto. 

Preceding these shows, Shawn will play his biggest New York City concert to date, headlining Radio City Music Hall on Saturday, March 5th, which sold-out in under 5 minutes when tickets went on-sale this past fall.

           

Fan Club pre-sale for the Shawn Mendes World Tour will start onFebruary 1st; with American Express pre-sale starting the next day (February 2nd); and public on-sale going up February 6th  (U.S.). 

Fans can access the presale by signing up for ShawnAccess.com to get a code, & then purchasing a “ShawnAccess Tour Passport Presale Bundle” on the show’s ticketing site.

First 50 online ticket purchases in each city (25 from presale, 25 from regular onsale) will win a Meet-&-Greet with Shawn at their respective concerts.

            

“I Know What You Did Last Summer,” the RIAA gold single duet byShawn and Camila Cabello of Fifth Harmony, has gone Top 15 at Pop Radio, Top 10 on iTunes, Top 20 on the U.S. Spotify chart, and Top 30 on Spotify’s Global Top 50. The video for “IKWYDLS” is currently past 35 million YouTube views. 

Shawn and Camila wrote the song together backstage in his green room at a Taylor Swift 1989 Tour show last summer, and recorded it secretly in New York and Los Angeles. 

      

When Handwritten, now double platinum with a total of 2 million adjusted sales, entered Soundscan at #1 last year, it made Shawn the youngest artist in nearly five years to chart a #1 album on the Billboard 200.  

“IKWYDLS” follows up Shawn’s run of consecutive hit singles “Life of The Party” (RIAA platinum),“Something Big” (RIAA platinum), and “Stitches” (RIAA 4x-platinum). “Stitches”went to #1 on US Pop radio, nearing pole position at the Hot AC formats and has become a certifiable airplay and sales smash around the world. 

 In addition to topping the official singles chart in the UK this week, the single has hit #1 on iTunes in over 20 markets, and reached Top 5 on the Global Spotify chart.  Shawn also took home the MTV EMA for Best New Artist and the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Breakout Artist.

For more information on the Shawn Mendes World Tour 2016 visit

www.ShawnMendesOfficial.com

BEAUTIFUL, The Carole King Musical at Fabulous Fox, February 23 - March 6, 2016

On Sale NOW

BeautifulOnBroadway.com

Tickets: $36 to $95

Performances: Tues.-Fri. 8pm Sat. 2pm & 8pm Sun. 1pm Sun. Feb. 28 at 6:30pm Thur. Mar. 3 at 1pm

January 11, 2016--Long before she was Carole King, chart-topping music legend, she was Carol Klein, Brooklyn girl with passion and chutzpah. 

She fought her way into the record business as a teenager and, by the time she reached her twenties, had the husband of her dreams and a flourishing career writing hits for the biggest acts in rock ‘n’ roll. 

But it wasn’t until her personal life began to crack that she finally managed to find her true voice.

BEAUTIFUL – The Carole King Musical tells the inspiring true story of King’s remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history. 

Along the way, she made more than beautiful music, she wrote the soundtrack to a generation.

Abby Mueller will lead the cast, starring as Carole King. Featuring a stunning array of beloved songs written by Gerry Goffin/Carole King and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil, including “I Feel The Earth Move,” “One Fine Day,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “You’ve Got A Friend” and the title song, BEAUTIFUL has a book by Tony Award® Nominee and Academy Award® Nominated writer Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni, choreography by Josh Prince and took home two 2014 Tony Awards® and the 2015 Grammy® for Best Musical Theater Album. BEAUTIFUL is currently playing to sold out crowds at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on Broadway.

AARP The Magazine Announces 15th Annual Movies For Grownups® Award Winners Spotlight Selected as Best Picture; Bryan Cranston and Lily Tomlin Score Top Acting Honors

Kathy Griffin to Host Annual Awards in Los Angeles on Monday, February 8, 2016 

January 11, 2016 -- AARP The Magazine has announced the winners of the 15^th Annual Movies for Grownups® Awards, continuing its integral role in awards season with its tradition of honoring the best in films with particular relevance to a 50-plus audience. With the film Spotlight and actors Bryan Cranston and Lily Tomlin included among the top honorees, this year's winners will be feted at the star-studded AARP Movies for Grownups® Awards on February 8^th at the historic Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles. 

Two-time Emmy and Grammy award-winning comedian Kathy Griffin will host the evening for the second time. 

"I'm so honored to be hosting the Movies for Grownups Awards again," said Griffin. 

"For one thing, it's one of the few nights of the year anyone refers to me as a grownup. Having never acted like a grownup, I doubt I will start onFebruary 8," Griffin added. 

"But this will be a great event, count on it. These nights have become as star-studded as the frickin' Academy Awards."

The honor of Best Picture will go to Spotlight, the critically acclaimed drama based on the true story of The Boston Globe reporters who investigated allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church. Lily Tomlin and Bryan Cranstonlead this year's acting honors and will take home Best Actress and Best Actor nods for their work in Grandma andTrumbo, respectively. 

This year's Best Supporting Actress award will go to Diane Ladd for her part in the emotionally charged biographical comedy-drama Joy; and Mark Rylance earns the Best Supporting Actor for his outstanding performance in Steven Spielberg's Cold War-inspired thriller Bridge of Spies. 

This year's Best Director award will go to Ridley Scott for his film The Martian, and David O. Russell was voted Best Screenwriter for Joy. Michael Douglas will be presented with the esteemed Movies for Grownups^® Career Achievement Award for his prolific on- and off-screen accomplishments.

"This is our 15th year of celebrating movies created for grownup audiences, and we couldn't be more pleased to be honoring these terrific actors and filmmakers," said Robert Love, editor in chief of AARP The Magazine. 

"We look forward to the February awards and to many more years of championing such great work—and encouragingHollywood to see our demographic as the important audience it is."

The 15^th Annual Movies for Grownups® Award winners are:

• Career Achievement: Michael Douglas
• Best Picture: Spotlight
• Best Actress: Lily Tomlin, Grandma
• Best Actor: Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
• Best Supporting Actress: Diane Ladd, Joy
• Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
• Best Director: Ridley Scott, The Martian
• Best Screenwriter: David O. Russell, Joy
• Best Grownup Love Story: Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman, 5 Flights Up
• Best Comedy: Nancy Meyers, The Intern
• Best Documentary: The Last Man on the Moon
• Best Intergenerational Film: Creed
• Best Buddy Picture: Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley, Learning to Drive
• Best Time Capsule: Love & Mercy
• Best Movie for Grownups Who Refuse to Grow Up: Pete Docter, Inside Out
• Best Foreign Film: Rams (Iceland)
• 
  

The awards will raise funds for AARP Foundation, AARP's affiliated charity, which works in communities across the nation to help struggling older adults meet their basic need for nutritious food, safe and affordable housing, adequate income and much-needed personal connections. 

This year's awards will also assist in the Foundation's work to end adult hunger with support from Chase Card Services and its commitment to donate up to $1.1 million to AARP Foundation in 2016 through a cause-marketing campaign with the AARP Credit Card. 

AARP Movies for Grownups® is a high-impact multimedia franchise that was started by AARP The Magazineeditors to spotlight and celebrate movies with storylines, performances, and filmmaking that have distinct relevance to the 50-plus audience.

For more information about AARP's Movies for Grownups^® Awards, go to www.aarp.org/annual-mfg-awards. The entire list of award winners will also be featured in the February/March Issue of AARP The Magazine, available in homes February 1st.

About AARP Foundation 

AARP Foundation is working to win back opportunity for struggling Americans 50+ by being a force for change on the most serious issues they face today: housing, hunger, income and isolation. By coordinating responses to these issues on all four fronts at once, and supporting them with vigorous legal advocacy, the Foundation serves the unique needs of those 50+ while working with local organizations nationwide to reach more people and make resources go further. AARP Foundation is a charitable affiliate of AARP. Learn more at www.aarpfoundation.org.

About AARP The Magazine's Movies For Grownups® Awards
The annual Movies for Grownups® Awards raises funds for AARP Foundation, AARP's affiliated charity, which works in communities nationwide to address the needs of older Americans by investing in innovative solutions that tackle the causes of the challenges they face: the need for functional and affordable housing, adequate and nutritious food, steady income, and strong and sustaining social bonds. Chase Card Services will be the Premier sponsor of the event.   

The Movies For Grownups® multimedia franchise includes talent interviews, weekly online reviews and previews, film festivals, free movie screenings and year-round coverage in print and online. For more information about Movies for Grownups® visit www.aarp.org/annual-mfg-awards. Twitter: twitter.com/Movies4Grownups

About AARP The Magazine
With nearly 36 million readers, AARP The Magazine is the world's largest circulation magazine and the definitive lifestyle publication for Americans 50+. AARP The Magazine delivers comprehensive content through health and fitness features, financial guidance, consumer interest information and tips, celebrity interviews, and book and movie reviews. AARP The Magazine was founded in 1958 and is published bimonthly in print and continually online. Learn more at www.aarp.org/magazine/. Twitter: twitter.com/AARP

About Chase
Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.4 trillion and operations worldwide. Chase serves nearly half of America's households with a broad range of financial services, including personal banking, credit cards, mortgages, auto financing, investment advice, small business loans and payment processing. Customers can choose how and where they want to bank: 5,400 branches, 18,000 ATMs, mobile, online and by phone. For more information, go towww.chase.com