Summon the strings: Perrico and Arce are engaged
It’s time to cue the orchestra. The bandleader of Pop Strings has popped the question.
Trumpet master and music director David Perrico and popular VegasVille songstress Lily Arce are indeed engaged, effective Wednesday night. Perrico asked for Arce’s hand in matrimony as the couple enjoyed a casual, yet romantic, dinner of turkey chili from Greens & Proteins with a side of Fritos “scoops” at Casa de Perrico.
“With our schedules, we could never line up a night out, so it was really cool and impromptu,” Perrico said. “I didn’t really plan it that way.”
He added, “Whenever you see Fritos, you know something good is going down.”
The question was delivered so unexpectedly that Arce answered with, “Are you serious?”
Followed by, “Yes! Of course!”
Nice recovery.
“If you ever want to surprise a woman with a proposal, do it over chili and Fritos,” said Arce, who swings in “Raiding the Rock Vault” at Vinyl at Hard Rock Hotel, “O” at Bellagio and “The World’s Greatest Rock Show” at Stratosphere. “If we’d gone out to a fancy dinner or Mount Charleston, I would have seen it coming. But not this one.”
The couple’s nuptials are set for May, at a place to be decided in Las Vegas. The big move happens just as Pop Strings celebrates its year anniversary at Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace.
The band actually opened Oct. 6, 2016, but has not marked the date formally out of a show of respect after the 1 October shootings. The celebration is simply planned to be an announcement from the stage and the band’s usual soaring set.
“We’ve wanted to return to the days of Louis Prima, where you could just hit a lounge in Las Vegas and see a great band,” Perrico said. “When we started talking to (Caesars Entertainment exec) Damian Costa about this, we agreed we were going to take people back to those days.”
Over the past year, those who have dropped in for a Pop Strings gig include Hugh McDonald of Bon Jovi, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Danny Serpahine of Chicago, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short, Flavor Flav, Paul Shortino of “Raiding the Rock Vault,” and lounge icon Richard Cheese.
“All of us have been noticed from this gig,” says Perrico, who has backed Gladys Knight, Donny & Marie Osmond, Natalie Cole and Toni Braxton and also toured with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. “The fact that I am working with Paul Shaffer is mostly because of your shows at Cleopatra’s Barge. It’s the whole Caesars Palace reputation for live music that makes this happen.”
Perrico is serving as Shaffer’s bandleader for Shaffer’s nine-date extended engagement in December. Meantime, he plays the occasional private show and works six nights a week in “The Rat Pack is Back” at Tuscany Suites.
“I’m always really busy,” Perrico says, then catches himself and adds, “Hey, we both are.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
