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Nightclub devoting week to Bowie tribute

Chinatown's Golden Tiki nightclub will be David Bowie Central this week.

Managing partner Branden Powers and general manager Eddie Rivkin count themselves among Bowie's most passionate fans.

They started the weeklong tribute to the music legend on Tuesday night. They established a candlelit shrine just inside the entrance, with more than 100 candles burning 24 hours a day for the next week.

Bowie died Sunday in New York City after an 18-month battle with liver cancer.

"The '50s had Elvis, the '60s had (John) Lennon. I was a kid in the '70s and Bowie was that to us and in some ways is a bigger loss musically and creatively to the world than Elvis or Lennon," said Powers, who saw Bowie perform in the early 2000s at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel.

"The loss has hit me harder than some of my own family," he added. "I just feel like the flame of creativity on the planet has been extinguished."

Rivkin, 51, was a fan long before he came face to face with Bowie at a sushi joint in Tokyo's roaring Roppongi district.

It was the fall of 1983.

"I was a punk kid, 19, in the Navy," said Rivkin. "It was my first time out of the country, hadn't been in Japan for a week, and we had a couple days of liberty.

"One of the guys took us to the sushi bars," said Rivkin, who had been working for a Detroit radio station for three years starting at age 16.

"We sat down and I looked over at a blond-haired guy, impeccably dressed, next to me," said Rivkin. "He was the 'Thin White Duke.' He was the nicest not-star star I ever met. He chatted us up as if he had known us forever."

Bowie was in the middle of a big run of shows in Nippon Budokan, an arena where Bowie was performing on the Serious Moonlight Tour.

Bowie invited Rivkin's group of four to see his show. "He took our names," said Rivkin, "but we kind of figured we'd be blown off when we went to pick 'em up. Low and behold, he left us tickets right down front, and with backstage passes."

Powers recalls being with his mother the day she pulled the car over to shoulder of the road and started crying on the day Elvis Presley died.

"What's really, really bothersome to me," Powers said, "is my children and my childrens' children will grow up without that uniqueness in their world."

Not lost on Powers is this eerie coincidence: "Elvis and Bowie were born on the same day (Jan. 8) and Elvis recorded a song called 'Blackstar,'" he said.

Bowie's 26th and final studio album is titled "Blackstar." It was released on Jan. 8.

"We have a starry night sky (at the Golden Tiki)," said Powers. "We plan to have a permanent shrine to Ziggy Stardust. There would nothing more perfect than having his face appear and disappear among a constellation of stars."

Powers said he drove to a ZIA Record Exchange on Tuesday and was informed they were sold out of Bowie "records, DVDs, and T-shirt. Everything Bowie."

"They said Bowie is selling bigger than 'Star Wars,'" he said.

The scene and heard

About 150 extras were in place during Monday's filming of Matt Damon's stroll through Aria's casino for the unnamed "Bourne" sequel. Look for the west lane of the Strip to be closed during next week's filming of the car chase scene. Previous temporary closures include Shania Twain's arrival on horseback in front of Caesars Palace with a herd of horses in 2012 and in 2001 for "Oceans 11," when Don Cheadle emerged from a manhole.

Sightings

Wearing a hardhat, Shaquille O'Neal, toured the construction grounds of the Beer Park by Budweiser at Paris Las Vegas on Monday afternoon. The 10,000-square-foot rooftop bar and grill will open directly above Hexx kitchen | bar | chocolate later this month … NBA great Dominique Wilkins, dining at Morels French Steakhouse & Bistro on Monday … At the Italian American Club on Sunday: Don Cherry, the singing golf pro, celebrating his 92nd birthday. At another table, Steve Lawrence, with Dennis and Lorraine Bono.

The punch line

"The Minnesota Vikings lost their playoff game yesterday when their kicker missed a 27-yard field goal. The kicker is now in an undisclosed location, waiting to meet with Sean Penn." — Conan O'Brien

Norm Clarke's column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find more online at www.normclarke.com. On Twitter: @Norm_Clarke

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