Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Always in Character

A doo-wop show, a memoir, a TV pilot: Monti Rock III never gives up on his dreams of fame

Monti Rock III makes an impact everywhere he goes, whether he's driving his leopard-print Ford Focus, above, or standing in front of a local Starbucks, below. He displays some of his signature, loud rings. Photos by Christine H. Wetzel.

Life, Monti Rock III says, is an entrance.

He says this after making one at a local Starbucks recently, decked out in a yellow blazer with a leopard-print collar, faded denim jeans and a black cowboy hat with strands of fake pearls wrapped around the crown.

Oh, and his ever-present stuffed cat draped across his arm.

"Who is that guy?" a barista behind the counter asks after Rock steps outside to retrieve something from his leopard-print Ford Focus.

"That's Monti Rock III," a customer answers.

With a blank look on his face, the guy asks, "Who?"

If Rock has his way, that barista and others like him will know who he is when his new gig at the Castaways launches July 31. Rock will serve as master of ceremonies for a doo-wop show featuring several bands.

"I'm possessed with being number one. I'm not going to let anyone get in my way. I want to be Ed Sullivan on steroids. This town needs a me," this king of queens fires off from the corner chair he has once again taken command of in Starbucks.

Rock, a flamboyant, openly gay man whose act is, "there is no act," is in some ways, already famous, says friend and local promoter Tom Crangle.

Since he arrived in Las Vegas 5 1/2 years ago, Rock has been coasting on the fumes of several decades-old successes: two hit disco records during the 1970s; a cameo in 1977's "Saturday Night Fever"; and his 84 appearances on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson."

And he enjoys some fame as a gossip columnist for Gaming Today, a publication aimed at the gambling world.

But the 64-year-old former hairdresser turned "entertainer" wants more.

He's threatening to revive his Disco Tex and His Sex-O-Lettes act, what he called himself when he recorded those disco records, Crangle says.

But Crangle, a promoter for celebrities including David Copperfield, doesn't know if there's room in the hearts of Las Vegans, or money in their pocketbooks, for supporting a Monti Rock show.

"He's a man of questionable limited talents who made a career of pointing out those things," Crangle says, describing his friend of five years. "It's a tough thing he wants to do. To get back on the stage is not easy to do after being gone so long."

Another friend, Frank Lieberman, says if anyone can pull it off, Rock can.

"He'll do well; whether anybody takes him seriously or not remains to be seen. If he's himself, people will warm up to him," says Lieberman, publicist for Siegfried and Roy. "His trouble comes when he's not. He can't be taken seriously as a serious performer, he has to be taken as Monti Rock."

Rock is convinced that this show -- which doesn't have a name yet -- combined with his other projects, will help him achieve the fame he has chased for 42 years.

He's working on a memoir for Huntington Press and he has wrapped up filming on a pilot for an entertainment show called "Monti, Monti, Monti." Rock still is looking for a distributor, though.

"All I wanted was to be famous," Rock says, pausing to choke back tears. Then he laughs, adding "This is not a comeback, this is a public service. I love Las Vegas, it's reinventing itself and I am, too. I'm on a mission."

And, though many of his projects fail to see the light of day, Rock's friends believe he will always land on his feet.

"Each time he's managed to come back," Lieberman says. "If a cat has nine lives Monti's had 50 at least."