New monthly series lets local acts go ‘long form’
Locals may know Ed Mathews for his variety shows. But Friday he’s giving them more like a non-variety show.
Mathews produces two weekly shows as player’s club promotions for Boyd Gaming, Thursday afternoons at the Suncoast and Sundays at Sam’s Town. He uses about five performers in each, so that’s a gig for 10 acts a week, 50 weeks a year.
“I’m taking care of everyone in town who’s not working,” he says. And by “working,” he usually means out to sea on cruise ships.
But there’s a catch for these grateful performers: They only get to do around 10 minutes. That means most of them have “full shows you never see,” he says.
So when Sam’s Town asked Mathews to propose something at night, he came up with the idea of letting one act go long-form and do its whole show.
“Vegas-Fridays-Live” will launch as a monthly show on the first Friday of the month, with the Swing City Dolls kicking it off Friday. Bobby Brooks Wilson follows in December and Shades of Sinatra in January.
The Dolls are Natalie Carson, Robin Berry Vincent and Connie Crawford-Murray, paying homage to the 1940s and ’50s “girl groups” such as the Andrews Sisters and McGuire Sisters.
“We do a lot of music that no one’s really doing anymore,” Carson says. “We kind of bring back this emotion for people because they’re hearing these songs like they were performed back in the day.”
The three have been balancing the Dolls with other jobs for about 15 years, and each time they reconvene they pick right up where they let off. “We have something magic going on because we don’t really have to rehearse to have this awesome blend,” Carson says.
They sing with a six-piece band at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Sam’s Town Live. Tickets are $15 plus taxes and fees; call 702-284-7777.
Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.
