Dropped over to Rich Little's house the other day to take a look at some of his sketches. You heard me right. Little, as well as being the country's best impressionist, is a skilled artist who has been drawing charcoal sketches of famous people, many of them personal friends, since he was a kid in high school.
His work, some 20 sketches, will be shown at The Gallery in Summerlin this Saturday, November 25, a day before Little's birthday. The Gallery is located at 9330 W. Sahara in the Village Square shopping mall. This is Little's first professional exhibit.
He said, "I've done a lot of the classic movie stars like John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Mae West and Frank Sinatra, but I've added some contemporary people into the mix as well. People like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, as well as Tom Cruise, which came out really good considering it was difficult trying to draw him when he kept jumping up and down on the couch."
Little appeared on the David Letterman Show last week as part of Impressionist Week. It was his first appearance on a late night talk show in 30 years, the last being on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, a show that Little hosted on a number of occasions when Carson was off. He certainly hasn't lost any of the magic, as the audience, which is a fairly young crowd, gave him sustained applause and a standing ovation at the end of his act." More on my visit with Little next week.
SWARM OF SANTAS
Opportunity Village will attempt to break the world record for the Largest Santa Gathering with the Great Santa Run and Kris Kringle Jingle at 8 a.m. on December 9 at the Freemont Street Experience. This is a fundraising effort to benefit Opportunity Village. Registration is open to the public, and offers a fun warm up event for the New Las Vegas Marathon which will be held the following day.
The first 5,000 jolly joggers will receive a five-piece Santa suit complete with hat, belt and beard and a gift bag. Participants may choose from the 5K Fun Run/Walk or the Kris Kringle Jingle one-mile stroll for the casual walker or jogger (I'm in this group). Check-in begins at 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 9, with the event beginning at 8 a.m. Registration fees are $45 prior to Dec. 9, and $75 on race day. Head Santa and Honorary Chairman Mayor Oscar Goodman will serve as the official Santa starter for the event.
The current world record for the Largest Santa Gathering was set in December 2004 with 4,260 participants at the Newtown and District Dial-A-Ride Santa Run in the U.K. Opportunity Village expects at least 5,000 participants for its Great Santa Run. For more information on the Great Santa Run and Kris Kringle Jingle, call 702-259-3741 or visit www.opportunityvillage.org.
HAUTE DOG!
The Four Seasons Hotel will be hosting its annual charity luncheon Dec. 2 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. to benefit the UNLV Cancer Research Center and The Animal Foundation Frank Scinta of the Scintas will act as emcee of the event, which add a new element called "Haute for the Holidays and Haute Dogs." There will be a silent auction that will include gifts from Mandalay Place and Four Seasons trips around the globe, most including first class airfare from American Airlines. Not too shabby. Celebrity models will walk down the runway with adoptable dogs from The Animal Shelter, featuring canine couture from Lush Puppy.
Four Seasons Hotel's charity events have raised more than $430,000 benefiting cancer research efforts in Las Vegas at the UNLV Cancer Research Center and this year, The Lied Animal Foundation will also be a recipient of this year's proceeds. If you'd like to take part, you can make reservations by calling Kim Vinoray at 702-632-5249. Cost is $100 per person with champagne and $50 for children ages 4 12.
ANOTHER WYNN-ER
Wynn Las Vegas seems to be a pretty lucky place these days. In the space of just over a month, the resort had two Megabucks winners. Just a few hours after arriving in Vegas, an anonymous man from Toronto, Canada scored a whopping $10,828,990 Megabucks jackpot. He'd already hit several small jackpots (totaling $2,200) when he spotted someone leaving their seat at a Megabucks machine and stepped up to take a shot. "I began playing and was down to my last $3 when it hit," he said. "I knew I won as soon as I saw the game reset." Just a month before that, another lucky player hit for $12,317,717. All I can tell you is that neither of these guys was me. You'll know when I win when you click on to my column and there's a blank screen.
SPEED FOR NEED
This is the season for giving and it hasn't been lost on the Las Vegas Chapter Of Speedway Children's Charities. It will hold its annual grant distribution and Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 6 p.m. in the Busch garage (in the infield of the superspeedway).
The Las Vegas Chapter will grant $299,000 to 64 local children's charities at the ceremony. Among the 64 recipients are: Candlelighters for Childhood Cancer of Southern Nevada, Down Syndrome Organization of Southern Nevada, Greater Las Vegas After-School All-Stars, "I Have a Dream Foundation," Inc., Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation, Miracle Flights for Kids, Las Vegas Sun Summer Camp, Positively Kids, and Shade Tree.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and children from all 64 organizations are scheduled to attend the event. The evening's festivities will include a performance by the Culture Shock Las Vegas inner city dance troupe, a choir from the Girl Scouts Frontier Council and local talent Malia Civetz. And hey, Santa Claus is also scheduled to make an appearance. Can't beat that. Speedway Children's Charities (www.speedwaycharities.org) is a non-profit foundation based in Charlotte, N.C., that distributes funds to charities and foundations providing medical, emotional and social services to children in need.
Good luck and I'll see you on the Strip. And don't forget to check out www.valleyblogs.com and tune into Lenny's Las Vegas at 7 p.m. every Friday on KLAV 1230AM.
If you have a question or a Las Vegas experience you would like to share with my readers, please e-mail me at lennylv@cox.net. Please include your full name and the city or town where you live.
