Talent show acts have links to Las Vegas

A handful of performers with Las Vegas ties made it into the top 40 of "America's Got Talent," including triplets who play violin; George Wallace's sometimes-opener Mosaic; and a chain saw juggler who likes to play with fire.

If you watch the beginning of the quarterfinals in tonight's two-hour episode (at 9 p.m., KVBC-Channel 3), here's a primer.

• Mosaic: These six dudes met in Orlando, then moved to Vegas. They're a "vocal band" singing funk, pop, rock and other styles, usually with a lead singer. Most of the guys use their voices like beat boxes, simulating drums, guitars and other instruments.

Mosaic's been down the reality-show path before. They won MTV's "Top Pop Group" competition, plus CBS' "Early Show" competition, "A Cappella Quest." Since then, they've opened for Prince, Jay Leno and Wallace.

• Alizma is a group of three dress-alike blond triplets originally from Poland. They play violin and sing around town. They also talk at the same time, which is confusing. A few years ago, they performed on Carson Daly's show, and Carson drooled on himself.

• Bri Bernstein is a 17-year-old singer-songwriter from Las Vegas Academy who sings and plays keyboards. On the show so far, she re-interpreted a Jonas Brothers song and actually made it sound like a good tune (impressive feat). She plays French horn; was on Pax network's "America's Most Talented Kid" contest; and was once in talks for a music deal at Warner Bros.

• Married couple Mario and Jenny Ferreira. He juggles chain saws, while she wears skimpy leather and does flips. They were part of "Monster Circus" at the Las Vegas Hilton, where he would breathe fire, balance a guitar-on-fire on his chin, and spin a giant, metal cube-on-fire around his body.

• And Grandma Lee is a 75-year-old retired phone company worker from Florida who sometimes performs stand-up at Bonkerz comedy club at Palace Station.

It seems as if everyone in the entertainment biz comes through Vegas, so some others in the top 40 have performed here, such as Acrodunk, acrobats who bounce off trampolines to do wild basketball dunks. They've performed at corporate gigs here and did a jam session during 2007's messy NBA All-Star events.

MORE ON CRAIGSLIST

I received a flurry of e-mails about my Monday column on killers and scammers who connive by using craigslist.

Some Las Vegas Review-Journal readers say they love craigslist. Others wrote to tell me about specific scams they fell victim to, or almost did, and some pointed me to ongoing scams.

One woman, Paula, said she replied to two different car ads, which were supposedly posted by two different women, but then she received the same money-seeking form letter from both fake women.

"This person(s) is still alive and well on Craigslist," Paula wrote. "Can these be reported? Does anyone even care?"

Answer: I don't know. I have failed so far to find what law enforcement agency to turn to, if any of them have the time or jurisdiction.

Reader Christine Tosti wrote to say there are scammers and crooks on craigslist, but she thinks legitimate small businesses outnumber them. She found a job at the site, and her brother and her fiance use the site to post free ads for business work.

A reader named Lee said he does "run into flakes" on the site, but has sold five horses, a horse trailer, a fishing boat and even "1 Bull Frog," among other goods.

A reader named Martin, however, said he's "never seen so many scammers," and this past Sunday, he went to see a car posted on craigslist, but the ad poster admitted he doesn't own the car and wouldn't say who does.

Another reader says someone posted a Photoshopped ad with her face on it, and she began "receiving a large amount of e-mail from people requesting sex from married men."

Lovely. What a ... .

Doug Elfman's column appears Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. E-mail him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. Read his blog at reviewjournal.com/elfman.