Band plans hello, goodbye at rock reunion

It’s been 27 years since their last show and they’re already talking about hanging it up again?

“It’s going to be the most important gig we ever played because it will probably be the last,” says Freddie Woods.

Depending on the creakiness of your old-timerdom, you remember Woods as either a longtime KOMP-FM (92.3) rock DJ, or as the drummer for Little Sister.

It’s the latter that people will turn out to see at The Cannery on Sunday, when Little Sister is one of the bands taking part in a reunion of ’80s-era rockers known as the Las Vegas Rock Reunion Hall of Fame.

The weekend also includes a Saturday gathering at Tommy Rocker’s, and follows up the initial reunion in 2011.

“We needed more time to sort out how to do it,” co-organizer Lisa Chapman-Goulston says of skipping a year after the first event, which perhaps overreached in its scope.

This time the focus has narrowed to the ’80s, and bands that packed the likes of the Troubador, Moby Grape and Captain America’s to hear Roller, Le Jump or Luv Hunter.

All of them are on Sunday’s bill, which is headlined by Xcursion, the first band to feature Mark Slaughter, who went on to be one of Las Vegas’ first homegrown breakouts with Slaughter.

“There were only a few clubs you could play,” says Woods, who drummed for Little Sister from 1980 to 1984, which came before his 13 years as a KOMP DJ.

“The bands are taking this so seriously. They know their 20 to 25 minutes onstage are it,” Woods says. “I think it’s going to be magical.”

Saturday’s show starts at 4 p.m. with free admission to see bands including Pettey Crime, The Point and Samsons Army.

Sunday’s show at 3 p.m. has a $20 admission benefiting the Metro Arts Council of Southern Nevada, with proceeds earmarked for Imagine, Chapman-Goulston’s foundation to place musical instruments in schools. Both locations also will collect canned food for Three Square food bank. ...

The masked hip-hop dance troupe Jabbawockeez has announced the name and opening date of its new show at Luxor. “Prism” debuts May 18 in a new 830-seat theater fashioned from a motion-simulator ride on the casino’s second floor. Ticket sales begin Friday. ...

“When the Subtitle Became the Title.”

“Legwarmers — An ’80s Musical” this week transformed into simply “The ’80s Show” at the V Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort.

“This isn’t just a name change. This is a new show,” creator Sirc Michaels says of changing about 75 percent of the content.

“Legwarmers” paid tribute to the John Hughes flicks of the ’80s, but walked a thin and ultimately unsatisfying line between “book” musical and a revue format.

The new version has been rechoreographed by Cynthia Dufault, rewritten to be more campy and now has a more stable cast featuring Kim Wood, singer for the Nancy Rayguns, a like-minded ’80s tribute often found at the Fremont Street Experience. ...

Bonkerz comedy club reopens today in the Plaza, in a newly created 100-seat room to the right of its Z Bar; part of the space was the minigolf area of a previous venture, the Swingers Club.

Joe Sanfelippo will use the Bonkerz name that brands 24 other venues across the country, but not the usual three-comedian format. Instead, three continuing shows with specific themes will share the room.

“Because the audience rotates, you don’t have to rotate the comics,” he explains.

Sharing the room will be “Voices of a Generation” with impressionist Rich Natole, “Comedy Italian Style” with Tommy T and Mikey V and “Viva Vegas,” anchored by magician Steven Best.

It speaks to how much of a low numbers game Las Vegas entertainment has become when Sanfelippo says 100 seats is “the perfect size for me. For a comedy club, it works really well. Fifty people makes the room look full.”

However, Sanfelippo also aims to put bigger names — and more people — in the Plaza’s vintage showroom. Billy Gardell will tape an installment of his “Road Dogs” for Showtime there on June 13.

The Bonkerz name was previously used at Palace Station in conjunction with Louie Anderson’s shows, before Station Casinos closed the room for reasons still not explained. It seems probable Anderson could join the Plaza party. ...

“Legends in Concert” will celebrate 30 years in Las Vegas next month, which is one reason why “Stars in Concert” — which used some of the same celebrity impersonators — pulled the plug at the Boulevard Theater after one month.

Producer Jim Huntley says he and his German co-producer, Bernhard Kurz, just grew too used to a less-crowded environment — the Estrel hotel in Berlin — to be comfortable with the short-term losses and long-term investment it would take to make the revue competitive here.

While nicely remodeled inside, the Boulevard (which locals may remember as Club Utopia) remains a major challenge in not being part of a casino, and being hidden behind a Walgreens on the Strip. ...

On Wednesday, “X Burlesque” is throwing a party at the Flamingo to mark 11 years of topless fun. The celebration will include the silent auction of a painting by Terry Ritter to help former Las Vegas performer Shellee Renee in her fight against breast cancer.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at
mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.