Last night's Untold Stories was Entertainment in Las Vegas. On the panel were former headliner Lorraine Hunt Bono, old time comedian Peter Anthony, and RJ columnist Mike Weatherford. They talked about the good old days and how it transitioned to today.

Lorraine was by far the most interesting. Unfortunately, she had to leave early as her and her husband Dennis were planning a surprise birthday party for Mama Scinta. Lorraine's family moved here when she was a baby because her parents health depended on dry air. He father lived a very long time and her mother still runs the kitchen at the Bootlegger. She loved music and was good friends with the daughter of Las Vegas show producer Jack Entratter. She began playing the piano at a very young age. Her mother let her go into show business with the understanding that she got an education first, so she attended an upscale school in LA for musicians and learned to sing. After one year, she came back and was instantly hired to sing. When she got her first big gig making $150 per week, she invested in a piece of land in the desert which is now at Trop and Eastern. She was 19 years old at the time. They finally built the original Bootlegger on that property. Her parents did the kitchen, and she did the front end with entertainment. She continued to do some lounge work on the strip but it was the politics of running a business that took her into local government, all the way to Lt Governor. Today, her son, Ron Mancuso is the entertainment guru for the Bootlegger. Ron has the amazing ability to not only find legends, excellence, and talent. He also finds talent are teachers or mentors for the younger entertainers. Lorraine had lots of fun stories. I'm sorry she had to leave early.

Mike Weatherford was interesting. He came to town some 25 years ago and has seen a lot come and go. A lot of our discussions were how and WHY the entertainment and crowds changed so much. And we talked about how spoiled we became thinking things would always be the same. When Mike first moved here, he had car trouble about 100 miles out of town, and it was a long and tiring day or two to finally make it into town. He finally made it to town and checked in with his boss at the RJ, even though he wasn't scheduled to start for a few more days. His boss told him there was an event with Sinatra at the MGM. He didn't have to cover it, but if he wanted to start early, he could have the assignment. Mike declined because he thought Sinatra would always be in town a few weeks every year. Besides, he was still getting over his car trip from hell. As it turns out, it was a huge event with Dean and Sammy and others as special guests. It was the end of the end of an era.

My question was why is the Bootlegger talent relagated to the Bootlegger, and the strip is dominated by 3 or 4 main producers? It boils down to 4 wall entertainment and money.

Another question is how do Zowie Bowie and a puppet guy headline on the strip and is that real talent? The first part of the answer is that America is consumed by the TV. It tells them what they want. American Idol, Dancing with Stars, and other talent based shows define talent these days. This eats on Lorraine pretty bad. She says they know how to do what they did on TV, but they can't go on stage, entertain, improv, and work an audience. They have a niche, they don't have talent. That's the main difference of entertainment then and entertainment today.

It was an entertaining evening. Peter Anthony had a cocktail or two before the event and was a little too tipsy to be on a guest panel. I've seen him around town before, and thought of him as a talent way past his prime and now just a bitter old man. Last night, he was just a wind bag.