The Fab Four musicians of Classical Mystery Tour will be back at the 7,000-seat Aladdin Theatre on June 7 after their successful engagement in March 2002. The show presents about 20 Beatles tunes sung, played and performed exactly as they were written with a 42-piece Glen Willow Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra score is exact, right down to every note and instrument that was on the original recording. Tickets are $20, $40 and $50, call 702-785-5000.

International star Charo made a tough decision to cancel her successful show "Bravo" at the bankrupt Sevilla Restaurant and Nightclub in Desert Passage because management had reneged on their contract and owe her company money. She has filed a $2 million breach of contract suit against Sevilla.

A new summer outdoor concert series will start up on June 21 at Paris Las Vegas featuring popular contemporary acts on the charts and the latest newcomers. Lifehouse and Dishwalla will start the ball rolling on June 21 with tickets for that show being $39 in advance and $40 the day of the show.

Following shows will highlight Uncle Kracker and Rhett Miller on July 12, Aimee Mann and Duncan Sheik on July 26, Susan Tedeschi and Bering Strait on Aug. 30, and additional concerts that will be announced in the coming weeks.

The outside venue is located on the pool deck beneath the Eiffel Tower with shows beginning at 9 p.m. Normal ticket prices with tax and handling fees included will be $35 in advance and $45 the day of the show, call 1-877-374-7469 or 702-946-4567. Tickets purchased the-day-of will include complimentary admission to Risque, the new ultra nightculture lounge at Paris.

If you have a sweet tooth, this unusual event will "take the cake" so to speak. The 2003 Inniskillin Icewine National Pastry Team Championship presented by Cap'Fruit, will be held July 4 and 5, at the Rio and feature 36 top USA pasty chefs competing in teams of three for two days.

The competition, held in odd-numbered years, will have the 12 teams competing for $125,000 in total prize money. The theme will be Broadway Musicals and over 13 hours, the teams will create cakes, frozen and plated desserts, petits fours, bonbons, and spectacular chocolate and sugar showpieces.

The challenge will begin at 2 p.m. on July 4, when the teams file into the exhibition hall and take their places in 12 identical, custom-built kitchens. Strict judging holds all teams to the same standards. The second day starts at 6 a.m. The final pieces or works of art are 11 foot sculpted structures.

For more information, visit www.pastrychampionship.com. Ticket packages for the "World's Biggest Pastry Event" start at $100.

Les Brown's Band of Renown, under the leadership of the bandleader's son, will appear at the Stardust on Saturday, May 31. The orchestra, a fixture on the American popular music scene since the 1930s, will play for dancing in the Stardust Ballroom. Admission is $15.

Les Brown Jr., who has been associated with the band since 1960, took over the baton following his father's death in 2001. The Guinness Book of World Records lists the elder Brown as the leader of the longest musical organization in the history of pop music. He was 88 years old when he issued his last downbeat.

Throughout the 1940s the band featured a young vocalist who would later become a major film star, Doris Day. In 1947 Bob Hope hired the Brown band for musical support on his radio show and personal appearances.

After attending his father's alma mater Duke University, Les Brown Jr. joined the band as a vocalist. While working intermittently with managing the band and record productions, he successfully pursued careers in television and music. As an actor he appeared in more than 200 segments of various television situation comedies and dramas. He also produced record albums and concert tours for top musical acts such as Sly & The Family Stone and Loggins & Messina.

The current Band of Renown has two featured artists who have been with the orchestra for more than 55 years: trombonist Clyde "Stumpy" Brown (brother of Les Brown Sr.) and vocalist Butch Stone.

The Suncoast will kick off its third year of "Wild Wednesday Pool Parties" on June 4 from 7-10 p.m. and feature live music, cash giveaways and three grand prize drawings.

Admission is $2 for ladies and $5 for men 21 and older and includes all-you-can-eat appetizers, a live band, an entry into a $500 cash drawing held at the end of the party in the Showroom, and a "Pool Party Fun Book" good for three free drinks, two-for-one breakfast at the St. Tropez Buffet and a 50-coin bonus on a 500-coin jackpot.

There will be free weekly attractions such as a Patron Kingpin Bowling Lane, Tanqueray Putting Green, Beringer Wine Tasting Bar, Stoli Martini Bar, frozen t-shirt and hula contest as well as body painting, chair massages and caricature painting.

The last Wednesday of each month will feature an additional grand prize drawing for items such as a Caribbean Cruise for two from Prestige Travel, "Party Like a Rock Star" concert getaway from Coors, and a Saturn Ion Quad-Coupe and Mexican Cruise. The party season will end on Aug, 27. For information, call 702-636-7111.

TOP OF NEXT COLUMN

E! Entertainment Television, the world's largest producer and distributor of entertainment news and lifestyle-related programming, will premiere its new ten-part reality mini-series "Nearly Famous 2: More Vegas Showgirls" on Monday, June 2 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT. The show will explore the lives of the Las Vegas performers in "Skintight" at Harrah's. The following nine half-hour installments will take viewers inside the lives of each dancer as they balance their daily routines, from taking the kids to school and maintaining relationships outside of work, with the rigors of performing shows six nights a week.

Comedienne Rita Rudner will make an appearance at the 17th annual Golden Rainbow's "Ribbon of Life" stage spectacular to be held at Paris in Le Theatre des Arts at 1 p.m. on June 7 and 8. The shows are the largest fundraiser for the nonprofit AIDS support organization.

This year's theme is "Hot Hot Hot" and features nearly 300 performers from production shows on the Las Vegas Strip. Ticket are $25, $50, $75, $100 and $175, call 702-384-2899.

Country music legend Loretta Lynn will perform at Buffalo Bill's Star of the Desert Arena in Primm, Nev. , located 35 minutes south of Las Vegas on Interstate 15 at the Southern Nevada / California state line, on Saturday, July 26. Ticket through Ticketmaster are $32.50 and $42.50, call 702-474-4000

Lynn's latest compact disc release is "Still Country" on Audium Records.

Her accomplishments within country music include more than 70 albums, 17 of which went to number one, 55 top 10 singles and 27 number one singles. With 21 awards, this Country Music Hall of Fame member has won more awards than any female artist in country music history and was the first country entertainer ever to appear on the cover of Newsweek in 1973.

Her critically acclaimed movie and #1 New York Times best-selling autobiography "Coal Miner's Daughter," was followed by the opening of an 18,000-square-foot Coal Miner's Daughter Museum at her ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. Her latest milestone is the release of her second autobiography, "Still Woman Enough," published by Hyperion Books.

Beginning June 2, the "Folies Bergere" production show at the Tropicana will have a new schedule. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday will continue to have 7:30 p.m. covered and 10 p.m. topless shows. Sunday will also remain dark. The changes are on Tuesday and Friday when there will only be one show at 8:30 p.m. and it will be topless.

The Wet 'n Wild water theme park now in its 19th season on the Strip next to the Sahara has signed a 10-year land lease extension with the owner of the 27.5-acre property.

The Gold Coast's popular "Honky Tonk Angels" show featuring three talented ladies impersonating country stars Reba McEntire, Dolly Patron and Patsy Cline, will open a new revue called "Serendipity" on June 4. The new show will salute Petula Clark and Nancy Sinatra as well as the likes of Stevie Wonder, Little Richard, and Frankie Valli. Sharon Haynes first brought her Patsy Cline tribute to the hotel in 1997. The current format with the three ladies has been in place about three years.

Stand-up comedy star of stage, screen, radio, TV and even CD's, Bob Zany will headline the Riviera Comedy Club, May 26-June 1. Tickets are $17.95 plus tax and fee, call 702-794-9433.

The "multi-media" comic began his career with an appearance on "The Gong Show" as an overweight 15-year-old stand-up comedian. Half way through his routine, he was dragged off stage by a man dressed as a nun. Eleven years later, Zany was a celebrity judge on the show.

Five years ago, Zany took over the airwaves with the weekly "Zany Report,' syndicated nationally on "The Bob & Tom Show."

Since Las Vegas is known for its incredible number of rooms for two-legged creatures, what's wrong with a hotel for dogs and cats? The America Dog and Cat Hotel opened last November and it has 5,000 square feet of free-range area for dog mingling. Located off the Strip at 2900 E. Patrick Lane, the resort-of-sorts has amenities such as Oriental rugs, animal-themed paintings, scented potpourri, chew and play toys, music, and overhead televisions airing shows starring dogs.

For dogs that prefer solitude, there are private suites. A single-night dog-suite rate, for example, is $79.

Cats stay in three-story kitty condos, with top-floor "penthouses" featuring beds, five-inch televisions and Tiffany lamps.

This weekend, May 25-27, hundreds of impersonators are descending on Las Vegas to attend a Celebrity Impersonators Convention at the Imperial Palace.

There will be the likes of "Tiger Woods," "Austin Powers," "Ozzie Osborne," "Snoop Dog" and many more putting at the new Greens of Las Vegas at Tropicana and Paradise and doing other activities including vendor booths, photographers, seminars and a talent showcase.

Summer fun for the family may include taking in the Ringling Bros. - Barnum & Bailey Circus at the new Orleans Arena, June 19-22. All the regular tickets for the 7:30 p.m. show on Thursday, June 19, are $10, call 702-284-7777.

CONTINUE ON TO...:
>THIS WEEK'S LAUGHLIN SEGMENT
>LAST WEEK'S LAS VEGAS SEGMENT
>VEGAS VIEWS FULL ARCHIVES
>Return to "Heard Around Town"
>Return to Las Vegas Leisure Guide