Shows drawing nightclub crowd

Today's kids and their crazy spinnin' on their heads? Lemme tell you. In my day ...

Last week's news that the break-dancing Jabbawockeez will replace Lance Burton at the Monte Carlo creates a possible generation gap. Shades of 1956, with people who came to hear the Freddy Martin Orchestra at the New Frontier shielding their ears from that Elvis Presley hoodlum.

Throw in Recycled Percussion, already pounding on trash barrels to guitar and turntable riffs at the MGM Grand, and you almost have a trend. And isn't it about time?

Traditional shows have taken such a beating from the nightclubs, they look like the receiving end of a Recycled Percussion drumstick.

Veteran concert promoter Bill Blumenreich is involved with both shows and watched what happened with the rest of us. "To run shows in town you have to compete with nightclubs. Now there are almost as many nightclubs as there are showrooms," he notes.

"When I first came to town (about 20 years ago), it wasn't unusual to see a few late shows in town. Now they're almost extinct."

But when he saw Jabbawockeez at the MGM Grand last summer, "I said, 'Wow. This is the nightclub crowd. Kids in their 20s and early 30s. It has to be a late show because these kids will go to a nightclub right afterwards,' " he says of the 9:30 p.m. offering. (Roommate impressionist Frank Caliendo, also produced by Blumenreich, will move into Burton's 7:30 p.m. slot.)

Blumenreich will assist Jabbawockeez executive producer Fred Nguyen in promotion. He doesn't pretend to totally get those kids and their crazy head-spinnin'.

"One lesson I learned the hard way many years ago is I don't buy the acts that I think are entertaining, funny or whatever," he says. "I buy the acts I think the customers like. When I go to the show, I don't even watch the show so much. I watch audience reactions."

Because of that, however, Recycled Percussion is "a show I'm trying to advertise across the board." On opening night, he watched some folks in their 70s, thinking, "They're not gonna like this. They're not gonna be hitting their drumsticks (in crowd participation). You know what? These people were more into it than anybody."

Still, Recycled Percussion built its fan base by touring college markets. Blumenreich wishes the troupe could be in an all-ages room because the Studio 54 nightclub has an age-21 restriction.

That's never been much of a problem, considering the age gap between children and their parents at magic shows or "The Lion King." Producers on the Strip will probably tell you it's a good problem to have.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.