Sunday, February 27, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MIKE WEATHERFORD: 'Entertainer' may be on wrong track

I'm still watching "The Entertainer," even though it's a derivative show promoting a broken and perhaps doomed entertainment model.

Reality shows have a way of drawing us all in. And I watch this one even when it's cringe-worthy, if only because I'm acquainted with some of those involved.

Joe Trammel and Nathan Burton are familiar from "V -- The Ultimate Variety Show." I have interviewed Wayne Newton over the years, although he seems mad at me lately because I keep reminding people he has lost his singing voice.

The show's big disappointment is that it's such a carbon copy of "The Apprentice," with Newton as Donald Trump. Because it cloned a show geared for the real business world, the weekly competitions often have little to do with the ultimate goal of finding the next big Las Vegas headliner.

Even that's a dubious proposition. Forget for a moment that three local contestants -- Trammel, Burton and singer Jennifer Joseph -- already were steady-working pros on the Strip.

Fade back to the very title. Ever since Bob Dylan arrived, "entertainer" has become a distinction between those who create and those who perform the creations of others.

The success of "American Idol" has skewed this perspective. The contest, in which young people cover pop tunes sometimes older than they are, sends the message that singing "Heatwave" can let you cross over to become an original, even if it's only true of Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken because of the show's own ability to promote them.

The reality of all this hit home in a recent "Entertainer" episode, in which two teams were sent off to do lounge acts at the Las Vegas Hilton and The Venetian.

Los Angeles singer-songwriter Jacquie Aquines was sent home because she didn't know the words to "Mack the Knife" and performed an original song in front of the geriatric crowd. Newton relayed the conventional wisdom of his era: Originals are a big no-no in the lounge.

Well, fine. She knew the rules going in, and if she couldn't play the game like another contestant with the single name Delisco -- who is billed as a "freestyle poet and musician," but also knows his way around "Georgia On My Mind" -- then she deserved to go.

But consider this posting on a reality TV message board: "I've seen Jacquie perform a few times in small venues. ... I was quite surprised to find out Wayne Newton was still alive. I do know what I like, though, and Jacquie Aquines definitely entertains me. She's got that certain something that's hard to define, a quality that makes her remain in people's minds long after the show."

Maybe it's the lounge that's broken. The 5,000-room MGM Grand closed its only music lounge at the end of last year to replace it with another trendy bar called Centrifuge.

But a recent attempt to reinvent the lounge also failed. The Palms' Palapa experimented with open-mic and acoustic nights, and may have been one place Aquines could have found an audience. But guess what? It's now dark except for periodic comedy shows. "We are re-evaluating what we're using the room for," a Palms spokeswoman says.

I don't know why the creative thinking failed. But I am pretty sure the room's future doesn't include any acts from "The Entertainer."

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays.