Joe Williams Music Scholarship March 2008 concert finds a home

Good news for jazz aficionados. A suitable venue for the Joe Williams Music Scholarship concert has been found.

After the call went out for help earlier this week, local casino man Michael Gaughan stepped forward to provide the South Point showroom for the March 2008 concert, which raises scholarship funds for music students at the College of Southern Nevada.

A growing list of other companies and business owners also volunteered to assist in the concert, which also serves to honor the memory of the legendary jazz singer. Among many: the Rio, Silver Nugget, Just Jazz, the Mushkin family and Goldwater Capital.

RHODES' DONATION: Did you hear that developer Jim Rhodes recently donated $10 million to the Nevada Cancer Institute?

It's true.

Of course, he can afford to now that he's no longer paying former County Commissioner Erin Kenny.

With that smart remark out of the way, the donation by Rhodes and wife Glynda is an impressive figure that received almost no local media attention. The story behind the donation is poignant.

Like so many families, they have battled cancer. Jim Rhodes' mother, Betsy, is a breast cancer survivor. His father, Leonard, died of cancer of the esophagus.

This is the second major donation by Rhodes to the NVCI. Rhodes Homes donated $1 million to the organization in 2004.

SNOWSTORM ON PINTO: Give developer Michael Jabara credit for creativity. The grand opening of his SUMMIT Design Showcase at Brian Head included a full-scale, two-bedroom unit surrounded by a mountain of snow -- all in the backyard of his Pinto Lane home. Residences at the Utah resort start at $300,000.

The opening also featured snowmobiles and snow was trucked in from Utah.

SHOWING RESTRAINT: The Crazy Horse Too saga gets weirder by the day with the topless joint's neighbor and critic James "Buffalo Jim" Barrier seeking and getting a restraining order against Bart Rizzolo, father of incarcerated club owner Rick Rizzolo.

While we're on the subject, perhaps one day some smart person will explain how a shuttered topless bar is fetching a $31 million sales price.

BANKER'S HOLIDAY: In squarer, less colorful cities, the notion of the mayor and council honoring a lifelong sports bettor and handicapper would be a front-page scandal. But this is Las Vegas, and the Runyonesque character in question is none other than my man Lem Banker.

Lem is a walking encyclopedia of the history of sports betting, and his hyping of Las Vegas is perhaps second only to the efforts of Mayor Oscar Goodman. So on Saturday, it will be Lem Banker Day in Las Vegas.

The honor was made possible through the efforts of radio show host Larry Grossman.

I hear Lem also provided a certain sports-betting mayor with several winners.

MIRACLE MILE: Carlos Ramirez tells me there's still time for stroke survivors and their families to celebrate their victory by traveling the final "Miracle Mile" of Sunday morning's Zappos.com Las Vegas Marathon, starting with registration in the Mandalay Bay parking lot. A stroke survivor and long-distance runner, Ramirez has been an inspiration to locals for years.

Competing on Sunday in her first half-marathon in the wheelchair division: 15-year-old Brittney Bergeron.

NEON MUSEUM: The La Concha Motel lobby, a piece of historically significant architecture that is being transformed into a piece of the Neon Museum, will begin to take shape once more at 2 p.m. today at the southeast corner of north Las Vegas Boulevard and McWilliams Street. The Friedmutter Group has donated its architectural expertise for the project

Once it's reassembled, the lobby will display the museum's amazing neon.

ON THE BOULEVARD: There's still time to sign up for the Great Las Vegas Santa Run, which assembles at 8 a.m. Saturday on Fremont Street. Proceeds from the Claus convention benefit Opportunity Village. ... I notice the Sin City Chamber of Commerce, which represents adult businesses in the valley, is having a holiday toy drive. Presumably, children's toys. ... Meanwhile, the Firefighters of Southern Nevada Burn Foundation is holding its sixth annual "Fill the Fire Truck Toy Drive" at local Wal-Marts and at the Palms each weekend in December. ... Controversial sports gambler Steve Budin signs his "Bets, Drugs, and Rock & Roll" book at 2 p.m. today at Gamblers Book Shop at 630 S. 11th St.

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