Friends come to aid of Bill Fayne

Bill Fayne did two things a lot of people joke about, and found out they're not such great ideas after all.

Skip the holidays?

Might be fine for those who dread fruitcake and family reunions, but not if the option is a medically induced coma.

Lose 50 pounds in 40 days?

Again, sounds good for people trying to cut down on ice cream. Unless the alternative is a feeding tube.

Fayne can laugh about it now -- a little, at least -- and he sure knows who his friends are.

Many of Las Vegas' resident performers will gather at the Suncoast at 2 p.m. Saturday to put on a fundraiser for the veteran musical director, who has worked with many an act informally along with his "real" jobs with Clint Holmes and the Las Vegas Tenors.

"It's touching, but also embarrassing. They're saluting me but I'm not dead yet," Fayne says of the tribute hosted by Holmes and his wife, Kelly Clinton, and set to include Terry Fator, Lance Burton, Frank Scinta, Louie Anderson, Human Nature, Susan Anton, Rick Faugno from "Jersey Boys," cast members from "Menopause The Musical" and others. Tickets are $25 to $45.

Fayne said he was taken down with many a Las Vegan by his home value going underwater, and the drying up of corporate and cruise ship bookings. All that was before December, when doctors told him it would be best to operate on his esophagus instead of waiting to see if it turned cancerous.

That went fine, but a post-op infection attacked Fayne's lungs, which caused doctors to induce the coma between Dec. 3 and 17. He is doing much better physically, but not looking forward to the bill.

Boyd Gaming executive Terry Jenkins offered the Suncoast showroom and staff for free. After all, between Holmes and the Tenors, Fayne has been good for the place. Fayne's reaction was instinctive. "Very quickly I started to put (the show) all together, because it's what I've done my whole life."

The other performers "got very angry," he says with a laugh, and reminded him his role this time is to enjoy it from the front row.

Fayne and Holmes next head to the Flatrock Playhouse in North Carolina, March 31-April 25. The theater's Web site bills it as a headliner engagement, but it's actually another theatrical iteration of Holmes' life story, this one fusing elements of his two previous attempts. ...

Tragedies in the families of two Las Vegas headliners have made their performing schedules minor concerns. But eventually, the shows do go on.

Marie Osmond, who lost her 18-year-old son on Feb. 26, is due back on the Flamingo stage with brother Donny on Tuesday.

Wayne Newton has been in St. Louis at the bedside of oldest daughter Erin, who went in and out of a coma in a pregnancy complication. ...

Tix4Tonight, the largest operator of half-price or discount ticket outlets on the Strip, has acquired one of its two major competitors, All Access Entertainment.

Taking over the five All Access outlets immediately gives the parent company, Tix Corp., 13 outlets in town. All Access President Metin Durmus will remain involved as a consultant for Tix operator Mitch Francis.

The merger leaves only one major rival for same-day discount sales: Vegas.com, a division of Greenspun Corp. Vegas.com is set to open a prominent new sidewalk outlet in front of the Showcase mall this month, after a Clark County Commission decision last year that was contested by Francis. ...

"Dirk Arthur: Extreme Magic" closes at the Tropicana March 12. Ari Levin, the show's producer, is vague on whether this is just a vacation forced by plans to remodel the Tropicana's showroom, or whether the magician and his tigers will be looking for a new home.

"It's really up in the air," Levin says, "until we know all the variables" with the remodeling schedule. In the short term, he adds, Arthur won't mind a vacation. "He's worked every Christmas and New Year's for the past six years." ...

The "Men of X" will hang up their G-strings at Hooters Hotel on March 21. Producer Angela Stabile says she is in negotiations to move the show elsewhere. A new show, "Elvis Now," debuts April 1 with Pete Willcox presenting the King as he might be today had he lived. The Prince tribute Purple Reign will continue as well.

March 21 also is the last day Todd Paul will perform his comedy in the Night Owl Showroom. By the 25th, he hopes to reopen upstairs at Hooters in a new space currently used for banquets. Paul will do double duty, also taking part in "The Dirty Joke Show," which will follow his solo act in the cheekily named Iowa Theater for the Performing Arts. ...

Mandalay Bay's outdoor beach stage, a favorite among locals as well as visitors, springs back to life with a St. Patrick's themed festival featuring Everlast on March 13 and a Gary Allan concert on April 17 tied into the Academy of Country Music awards.

But the beach shows will be a la carte this year, not collectively promoted with a schedule the way they were before the economy took a tumble. ...

If your invite to the real Academy Awards got lost in the mail, you can gawk at faux celebrities today at the Stratosphere.

The home base of "American Superstars" hosts the Reel Awards, honoring tribute acts and impersonators at 7:30 p.m. today. But get there early because there is, of course, a red carpet.

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