Smithereens frontman confessing in show at Riviera

Pat DiNizio is a serious, articulate musician, but he can't quite finish this sentence without laughing:

"Right now it's a work in progress. We debut Nov. 2 at the Crazy Girls ..."

If all goes well, the frontman for The Smithereens will have a whole year to get used to the idea of sharing a showroom with the Riviera's topless "Crazy Girls."

But DiNizio is a guy who once had the crazy idea to do a tour of fans' living rooms, and whose professed love of Las Vegas drove him to name The Smithereens' 1989 album "11."

"No one knew at that time it was based on (the original) 'Ocean's Eleven,' " he says. "How ridiculous at that time to name your third album 'Smithereens 11' when it only contained 10 songs?"

Still, the veteran rocker was surprised to field a call from Riviera's new CEO Andy Choy some months ago. He had seen The Smithereens last year at Red Rock Resort and, DiNizio says, "went online and found out I'd been doing this one-man show called 'Confessions of a Rock Star.' "

DiNizio is adapting his one-man revue to perform it with a rock band in the Riviera residency. It sounds a bit like what Garth Brooks' show evolved into at Wynn Las Vegas: using his own life story to weave in the songs that inspired him from his earliest days.

In DiNizio's case, the journey started when he was 4 years old and sat through three showings of "Kid Creole" at an Atlantic City movie theater. "The next day my dad bought me my first guitar. That's it; it was all over for me," he says.

DiNizio was happy to entertain interest from Las Vegas after struggling to find investors to back "Confessions" off-Broadway. "It's a marvelous opportunity to do something that is totally different from most of the entertainment that can be found in Las Vegas currently," he says. "It may well wind up being the only real rock 'n' roll show that runs six nights a week."

And that "Crazy Girls" theater? His choice, over the neighboring venue that once housed "La Cage."

"I think it's a great little room," he says. "When I do these shows I need to look people directly in the eye. The closer I am to the audience, the more intimate the entire experience becomes for everybody."

In an effort to school himself on Las Vegas audiences and their likes, DiNizio also has been showing up in the casino's Le Bistro lounge with his guitar. So if you walk by and hear a really good cover of "A Girl Like You," that's really him. ...

With most schools out Friday, the cast of Cirque du Soleil's "Mystere" combats boredom by having acts from the show perform at Fashion Show mall every half-hour from 1 to 2:30 p.m. ...

LeAnn Rimes does a low-dough show ($9.55) for a good cause on Nov. 3: an acoustic date at Green Valley Ranch Resort to benefit StandUp For Kids, an organization fighting youth homelessness. ...

Just in time for Halloween: Marie Osmond signs and sells her signature dolls from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday in the gift shop at the Flamingo.

If those dolls creep you out, Robin Antin, founder of the Pussycat Dolls, signs her DVD "Pussycat Dolls: Dancer's Body Workout" at the same time Saturday in the Dolls' retail store at Caesars Palace. ...

Isn't every week National Magic Week in Las Vegas? But Oct. 25 through 31 really is, in honor of Harry Houdini departing from this dimension on Halloween in 1926. Jan Rouven marks the occasion with $15 off his shows at the Clarion.

Monday also brings a more unusual commemoration. I would have put the history of "Saw a Woman in Half" presentation at last summer's "Magic Live!" convention pretty far down the list of "Shows Most Likely to Inspire a Porno."

But Halloween marks the release of Vivid Video's "Cheap Trixxx," which takes place "behind the scenes of a master magician's club in Las Vegas," according to a press release (though it was not filmed here). It concerns two sets of twins and the classic sawing illusion.

"Magic porn" makes some sense if you figure most magicians are still male. One of them, however, is not. And news of the video reminded me that Jinger Leigh, of Kalin & Jinger, went there first in last summer's presentation, with a comic bit in which she seemed to really, really enjoy being sawed in half.

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