If you've ever dreamed about the 1960s Las Vegas showtime experience, you'll want to indulge yourself when A Night In Las Vegas arrives at The Lounge this week with Vin Paradis a guest vocalist of The Art Deco Orchestra.
A tribute to the iconic jazz artists who created Vegas' party-strip reputation – think Rat Pack artists like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. – this will be an evening to bring out your Sunday's finest threads.
The upcoming 'A Night In Las Vegas' show at The Lounge… what do you have planned for the evening?
[Vin] What we hope to bring is the sound and flair of legendary artists who put Vegas on the map at its inception of popularity.
I have hand-picked songs that I believe bring this romanticised era to life and blend with my specific style and delivery. I'll be in the company of another truly wonderful female lead singer that evening in Cherryn Lomas.
The night, I believe, is going transport people 12,000 kilometres to the neon-flashing lights and excitement of Vegas at its peak with jazz music ruling the radio-waves and the cinema.
The night will explore the infamous Rat Pack era of jazz-singing movie stars like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin as well as other Vegas stars like Bobby Darin, Frankie Valli and Nat King Cole; what personally do you love about this era of music and entertainment?
Truly, I love the vibrant, classic style, the smooth-swagger cult of personality, the energy, the glitz and glamour. These individuals were just that, the epitome of cool, all epic and iconic like the reputation of Vegas, fame and notoriety.
Being able to perform with the 17-piece Art Deco Orchestra; how empowering is it for you as a vocalist to front such a large, musical beast?
Having the opportunity to front the Art Deco Orchestra is being able to lean back on a wall of big sound, the volume just lifts you up through all that brass and chrome like a motorcycle. It's sometimes fast and hard or sweet and cruisey.
I've performed with a few of these guys in my brief history in Australia and they are amazing artists. Each of these guys have these amazing personalities and the stories I've learned about some of them deserve their merit and award.
For a performance like 'A Night In Las Vegas', how much effort do you put into the what you're wearing on stage?
I tend to go a bit all-out when it comes to the fashion and styling with my performances; when people pay money to see a show I think that the effort should be made to represent our craft the best we can.
I have quite a few tailored outfits, some designs I've collected over the years and even some classic retro suits I've picked up at op-shops for some repurpose. I have sourced out some neat fabrics from around the world and sent them to my tailor to design suitable attire.
Recently I acquired some car upholstery leather meant to restore some vintage cars in a cool turquoise tone. It reminded me of an old car my mum had; you know that first memory as a boy, of the love affair with the automobile. I sent that over to be made into a proper tuxedo blazer.
I have some flamboyant and colourful numbers that keep audiences wondering what the heck I'm thinking. But the response has all been positive, outside of the endearing jabs I get from the musicians I've been fortunate enough to be around.
Your own experiences in Las Vegas; any PG-rated stories you can relay to our audience?
I have a few stories indeed, some of which must fall under the category known as 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'. One I can share though is, when my mates and I went to Vegas at the age of 21; we commandeered a black jack table at one of the smaller, off the strip, casinos, about seven of us in total.
We had a young dealer pretty rattled and we were all piling high in our winnings soaking up free high-balls, playing by the book. We were getting pretty raucous and loud. After a while the dealer got tapped out by his replacement. An older fella named Ben, said so on his nametag.
He looked like he had been a fixture there for years. He was a bit eccentric and dressed a bit old fashioned compared to all the other staff dealing and working the other gaming tables. As he dealed and picked us off one at a time he regaled us with tales of old-time gangster Vegas.
Well, this guy pretty much collected all of our winnings pretty hastily. We were all in disbelief, he was pulling out black jacks and winning hands like you wouldn't believe. The odds are more in your favour than any other game in the casino with black jack and he was playing against all odds statistically.
Anywho, to finish it off we went and ate our sorrows at the casinos restaurant and began enquiring about this dealer Ben. It was a small casino so very intimate and the waiter staff were telling us that no such person was dealing in the casino.
After we ate, we went back to that black jack table and our other, young dealer was back at the table. We asked him where Ben went and he said he didn't know any Ben, he asked the Pit Boss who's Ben. He also said that there was no one name Ben dealing.
We were all perplexed. We described his appearance to the Pit Boss and he said that sounds like Old Ben, but he passed away about a year ago. He also said that staff still see him around the casino occasionally.
Now if I didn't have six other fellas to corroborate the story, you'd swear it was a put on, but in hindsight, I think they just put in a ringer to shark us and lead us a bit with a ghost story, it was a good one though at the time and really it was a great night that entertained us all.
