Off to the races

This is for all you horse racing fans out there, me included. It’s that time of the year again “where the turf meets the surf” at Southern California’s beautiful Del Mar racetrack. Jerry’s Nugget will host the Del Mar Handicapping Contest every Saturday, now through Aug. 30.

Every week you will have a chance to pick your favorite horse in any five of the first eight races on the Saturday Del Mar card and accumulate points for Win, Place and Show. The first place prize is $400 with $100 for second. Contest winners who are More Club card holders will receive a bonus dining certificate of $30, good for any restaurant at Jerry’s Nugget. Each entry is only $10 and you can enter up to three times per week. Visit the casino’s race and sports book for a complete listing of contest rules. Good luck.

Bye Bye Barr. You’re out of luck if you had planned on seeing Roseanne Barr at the Sahara. She has vacated the premises as of last week. She had originally planned to take August off, but then said that because her youngest son will be in school in California, she wanted to be there in September.

Some of this may be true, but I think the real reason for her departure is that she wasn’t doing boffo business and the fact that the Sahara is going to be featuring a new show called "Raw Talent Live" sometime in August, even though that show will be in another theater at the resort. No replacement has as yet been named for Barr. It looks like the Platters, Coasters and Marvelettes, whose contract is up at the end of August, will be given an extension.

One of my favorite performers is also saying goodbye to the Strip, but there’s only good news connected to this move. Singer/impressionist Gordie Brown will be ending his run at the V Theatre (Planet Hollywood) on Aug. 9 to begin a five-month gig as the opening act for Celine Dion's North American leg of her "Taking Chances" tour. He will join Dion in Montreal, the starting point of the tour, a week after he leaves his current gig.

The tour ends in Sunrise, Fla., on Jan. 30, but Brown will return to Las Vegas where, according to his manager Bernie Yuman, he has a long-term deal waiting. Don’t be surprised if that deal is working once again for his old boss, Sheldon Adelson at the Palazzo. Brown had a long, successful run at The Venetian before being replaced by Wayne Brady, but at that time there were rumors that Brown would be given his own theater at the Palazzo once it was built.

But wherever he goes, it will be great to see him back in Las Vegas. If you’ve never seen him, make sure you do when he returns. Without doubt, one of the best shows in town.

Another show that will bite the dust this week after a long run at the Flamingo, is The Second City. Great show, good response, as there had to be for it to have lasted seven years. This comedy revue was clever, irreverent, and oh so funny. My colleague Mike Weatherford reports that according to an exec with the show, The Second City was vacating the premises because, in his words, “We just didn’t have enough seats.” Whatever the real reason, the Strip loses another quality show. No word on a replacement.

If you’re between 10 and 18 and you think you’d like a career in the theater, how about auditioning for the award-winning Rainbow Company Youth Theatre. Open auditions for the student ensemble and for roles in "The Kid Who Ran for President" are scheduled on Saturdays in August at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North.

All auditions begin at 1 p.m. On Aug. 16, the auditions will be for the 2008-09 student ensemble. If you take part, you will receive intensive training in all aspects of the theater, from acting to set construction. Mandatory classes are weekly throughout the year and students work on all five of the company’s productions.

On Aug. 23, adults and young people age 10 and older may audition for roles in "The Kid Who Ran for President," the first production of the season. It is recommended that you show up with a prepared song. The musical is about an average sixth-grader who agrees to run for president and finds himself headed for the Electoral College. Just in time for the real election, this clever satire will make everyone tune in for the final results. "The Kid Who Ran for President" will be performed at Reed Whipple Cultural Center Oct. 3-12. For more info, call (702) 229-6553.

Good luck and I'll see you on the Strip. And don't forget to check out eNeon each Wednesday by subscribing (free of charge) to the Review-Journal's weekly newsletter. Also check out my blogs under BLOGS on the Review-Journal’s home page. If you have a question or a Las Vegas experience you would like to share with my readers, please e-mail me at lennylv@netzero.net. Please include your full name and the city or town where you live.