Friday, November 28, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: Jackson double was approached

Local Michael Jackson impersonator Lane Lassiter met with the singer's representatives two weeks ago. Craig Williams radio stunt under fire. Ben Affleck poker show airs on Bravo. Bernie Yuman adds to stable of stars.

Did Michael Jackson, a master of disguises, recruit a double as a diversion during last week's media invasion?

Lane Lassiter, a longtime local Jackson impersonator, has a hunch that's what Jackson's handlers had in mind when they met with him recently.

Lassiter met backstage with Jackson's representatives about two weeks ago. He was asked if he would be available for an unspecified job.

"They came upstairs after the show and said they liked the picture I sent them," said Lassiter. He found it unusual that they didn't attend the show.

"They didn't tell me any more than I needed to know," said Lassiter, a 12-year veteran of the Riviera's "An Evening at La Cage."

A Jackson impersonator since 1979, Lassiter, a 43-year-old father of two, claims he was the lone Jackson act who wasn't axed in Las Vegas 10 years ago when Jackson was in the middle of another child molestation scandal.

The existence of a double has been suspected since TV coverage captured His Weirdness up to something at the Henderson Executive Airport on the day of his return from Santa Barbara. With blankets held up to block the view, Jackson was seen getting in and out of a vehicle and going back into the plane. Seconds later someone who appeared to be Jackson came out the plane door and got back into the car.

Suspicious minds believe that a double came out of the plane and was in the car that went on the circuitous three-hour route to Green Valley Ranch. That bit of chicanery would have allowed the real Jackson to be spirited off to another location.

Dr. Vegas

CBS has an hour-long drama set in Las Vegas planned about a casino house doctor.

According to Variety, the concept is loosely based on "Dr. Fink," a longtime house doctor at Caesars Palace.

The leading man will be "a good-looking guy who's caring, smart and has a little bit of a wild side," director-writer John Herzfeld told Variety.

The Scene and Heard

Big Mona at KWID-FM 102 is threatening to open a can of whup-ass on this reporter and deejay Craig Williams of KOMP-FM 92.3. She is taking issue with Williams' account of a KOMP stunt last Saturday. Williams had a KOMP regular named "Brain Dead" driven around town, waving out a window, ala "Jacko," from under a blanket. Williams claimed a KWID staffer got punked by the prank. Didn't happen, says Big Mona. ...

The Celebrity Poker Showdown, filmed at the Palms last month and featuring Ben Affleck, begins airing on Bravo Tuesday as part of a six-part, one-hour series. ...

Bernie Yuman, longtime Siegfried & Roy manager, has added Jimmy Hopper of the Bellagio's Fontana Room to his stable of entertainers. ...

The local chef community is raising eyebrows over the recent mass mailing of $25 discount certificates by a hip restaurant that recently won major acclaim. Those mass mailings are usually a bad sign.

May I recommend ...

The fabled cream corn at Piero's Italian Cuisine is the creme de la creme of holiday side dishes.

The Punch Line

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way -- things I had no words for." -- Georgia O'Keeffe, on painting.

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.