Recycled Percussion's VIP Night at Studio 54 at MGM Grand on Sept. 7, 2010.
People have gotten trashed at Studio 54 before, but never like this.
This crew makes you an offer you have to refuse. I mean, refuse!
The opening act should be the Man from Glad!
There are so many garbage containers strewn about the stage the production's sponsor should be Republic Services!
This is the biggest use of junk bonds on the Strip since Steve Wynn financed the Mirage!
Fred Sanford could be music director of this outfit!
I haven't seen so much debris piled up in Vegas since the Frontier was imploded!
I'd say this concept needs to be scrapped, but it's already there!
They should hire Barney Rubble as the emcee!
This is the most ambitious staging of crap on a Las Vegas stage since "Starlight Express" headlined at the Hilton!
Anyway ...
Dismissing our inner Shecky, the new act at Studio 54 at MGM Grand is Recycled Percussion. You might remember this act as one of the half-dozen or so from the fourth season of "America's Got Talent" that was more entertaining than chicken-chasing champion Kevin Skinner. In its construction, Recycled Percussion show is an inspired mash of the trashy, rhythmic sensibilities of "Stomp" and "Blue Man Group."
It reminds of the latter for its pulsating soundscape, which brings to mind a citywide chase scene in "Starsky & Hutch," or even "The Mod Squad."
It hearkens to "Stomp" for the ensemble's use of such discarded or unwanted items as garbage containers, the front grill of what seems to be an onetime Cadillac, pie tins, what looks like a spent missile shell, Buick hubcaps, and — I kid you not — a kitchen sink. That affect was given to S.P.I. Entertainment's Adam Steck and Bri Ulivarri, who were seated in front of me for Tuesday's media-night performance.
When I was bored with my pie tin, I pounded at the Sink of Adam and Bri.
That's part of the shtick — every audience member is given a drumstick and asked to pick from the show's Giant Bin O' Junk, with every item marked with colored dots. The hope is that the ticketed guests will follow stage prompts from the performers and rap their appointed instruments as part of the Blue Team, or the Red Team, like that.
Naturally, the idea unravels. Organizing an audience at Recycled Percussion is like trying to choreograph a bunch of 4-year-olds slamming metal pots with wooden spoons. By midshow, everyone is pretty much banging away without cause or pause. Meantime, guitarist James Magoon, DJ Todd Griffin and percussionists Justin Spencer and Ryan Vezina perform any variety of drum-based numbers in rapid-fire progression.
The trick for this relentlessly antsy band is to stretch what seems a limited art form — banging on junk — into an hour-plus show. Their act is curtailed by its positioning at Studio 54, which means the audience is 21-over. This would be an ideal production for young children and teenagers, who would leave not only entertained, but in need of a healthy nap.
Though it seems a relatively new venture, Recycled Percussion has actually been around for more than 15 years. Their big break was performing for a national TV audience on "AGT," which led them to Las Vegas for a stint with the show's variety production at Planet Hollywood.
Now the guys are headlining at Studio 54, just the second ticketed show in that venue ("Girls Night," which had a limited run in May, was the other). The show runs Mondays through Saturdays (dark Sundays) at 8 p.m. The cost is $47.90, which might be a little steep especially when you learn you can't keep your sticks or pie tins. But it's better than a lot of what passes for entertainment in this city (such as, a lackluster, chicken-chasing country crooner) and that's no ... trash talk.
More from the note bin
• In the interest of dislocation — er, disclosure — I was called onstage by the Recycled Percussion boys during media night. So was Twitterbug Bill Cody (he's @VegasBill), the eminent Dayna Roselli of Channel 8 and Scott "Carrot Top" Thompson. We competed in a drumming and drumstick-catching contest. I won, primarily because people have been hurling objects at me for years. If it'd been an insult-catching contest, I would have won that, too.
But it was really fun, the most fun I've had onstage since dancing the "Brady Bunch" jig with Barry Williams about five years ago at the Riviera. Fortunately, there were only about 20 people in the audience to witness that regretful performance. I was not so lucky Tuesday.
My favorite moments were Roselli trying to avoid wearing the masks we'd been assigned to don for the appearance (she finally consented, appropriately, to pull "The Scream" mask over her head), and Carrot Top — who has been a professional comic for more than 20 years — seeming actually nervous about the outcome, saying, "I can't see! I can't see!" from inside his beak-nosed costume affect. It was a really unique experience; my man Don Chareunsy, editor of Ubiquitous Robin Leach's Vegas DeLuxe has a Q&A with the boys here.
• Dependably well-suited when appearing in public, Mayor Oscar Goodman is joining a bevy of models at 4 p.m. Friday at Fashion Show mall to kick off "Fashion's Night Out." Las Vegas partners in the event, which is a weeklong series of shopping events at more than 250-plus designer shops at Fashion show and the Shoppes at the Palazzo.
The idea is to restore some consumer confidence in retail fashion at some of Las Vegas' best-known stores. As the news release for the even states, Saks and Neiman Marcus at Fashion Show are hosting extensive events in their stores, and more than 75 retailers will be offering special shopping incentives throughout the weekend, Those businesses include Fendi, 7 For All Mankind, Dooney & Burke, Banana Republic, Jimmy Choo and Guess.
• Quiz time: What do David Copperfield, Rush, and October Playboy Playmate Claire Sinclair have in common?
All will have performed onstage at MGM Grand by the end of the year.
Copperfield at Hollywood Theatre, Rush at MGM Grand, and — from Oct. 21-Oct. 28 — Sinclair as the next featured dancer in "Crazy Horse Paris." Others who have taken on that role have been Pam Anderson, Carmen Electra and Dita Von Teese have also sashayed across the "Crazy Horse" strobes. At 19, Sinclair is the youngest dancer to star in any "Crazy Horse" production.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.
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