March 26, 2021

Las Vegas, NV, March 26, 2021 –( PR.com )– Nearly five years after the pop music icon Prince’s untimely death, Marshall Charloff has created a unique one-man tribute dedicated to the artistry and music of the legendary Prince called The Purple Piano.

In January 2016, at age 57, Prince began what would ultimately become his last tour entitled “the Piano & a Microphone.” The tour was a series of solo shows that featured just him, his purple piano, and an incredible discography of songs. On January 21, 2016, the first performance was played to a small crowd at Paisley Park; and followed with an album “the Piano & a Microphone 1983.” The Purple Piano, created by Marshall Charloff, is a heartfelt and intimate tribute to these very unique performances.

Marshall Charloff has performed nationwide fronting world-class symphonies in most major cities in the US and Canada, played keys in the Atlanta Rhythm Section, and since 2011, tours fronting the celebrated Purple xPeRIeNCE – arguably the greatest tribute to Prince in the world, and co-founded by Matt “Doctor” Fink from Prince & the Revolution. Marshall is featured on recordings with Prince on the album 94 East, where he plays both keyboards and bass guitar, and recently collaborated with Prince’s sister Sharon Nelson to co-write and record “Colours.” Pepe Willie, who discovered Marshall, was also responsible for getting Prince’s career up and running.

“The Purple Piano is a show I created out of my sheer love and adoration for the music of Prince,” said Marshall Charloff, creator and star of The Purple Piano. “Prince’s album ‘Piano & a Microphone 1983’ and tour is haunting in the purity of who Prince was as an artist…a tour cut short by his death that shocked the world. I created this show to take up the mantle of ensuring that more people saw this intimate side of Prince that is faithful to him.”

The Purple Piano includes hits “Purple Rain,” “Raspberry Beret,” “Little Red Corvette,” “Kiss,” “1999,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Darling Nikki,” “Most Beautiful Girl” and many more in a hauntingly sexy intimate piano and microphone only performance.

“Prince defined a generation of music,” said Pete Housley, Executive Producer of The Purple Piano. “Watching the sizzle reel for this show sent shivers down my spine. Marshall has truly captured the persona and presence of Prince on stage, and the intimacy of the music in this show is heartfelt.”

The Purple Piano joins an impressive lineup of uniquely different shows performing at Alexis Park Resort Hotel, which includes All Motown, The Big Little Variety Show, Amazing Magic starring Tommy Wind as well as BurlesQ, Rock Candy: Male Revue, Jokesters Comedy Club, Alain Nu – The Man Who Knows and Late Night Magic.

The Purple Piano starring Marshall Charloff takes the stage Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights at 8:00 pm exclusively in the Athena Showroom at Las Vegas’ Alexis Park Resort Hotel. Tickets start at $49.95 and are on sale now through most major ticket brokers, online at www.TicketKite.com or by calling the Ticket Kite Box Office at 702-483-8056.

Alexis Park Resort Hotel is located at 375 E. Harmon Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89169.

Media Contact: Denise Kraft, denise@vergepublicrelations.com, Verge PR, 206-852-1656

August 18, 2020

TEXT BY KAT MOON (TAIPEI) | PHOTOGRAPHS BY AN RONG XU (TAIPEI) FOR TIME

When Damy Li bought a ticket to attend the first concert of Eric Chou’s 2020 How Have You Been tour in Taipei on Aug. 8, she knew she’d have to wear a mask upon entry. What she didn’t know was that she’d win a lottery that got her a second one—a pink medical mask signed by the Mandopop singer-songwriter, who gave it to her onstage. It would be a memento not just of Li’s first concert, but of how fundamentally COVID-19 has changed public life.

That night, the 10,000-plus concertgoers at the Taipei Arena experienced what few have felt in nearly half a year: the energy of a packed house singing along with a beloved artist’s songs. That a concert of this size—larger than any other reported on since social distancing measures began—was taking place in Taiwan is a testament to the self-governing island’s strong response to the coronavirus. Heading into the show, Taiwan, which has a population of more than 23 million, had recorded 479 cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths. Through prevention measures ranging from border control to mandatory 14-day home quarantine for travelers, Taiwan has largely kept the virus at bay. In early June, after no new locally transmitted cases were recorded for eight weeks, restrictions were lifted on audience numbers for large gatherings.

Chou’s concert—sold at full-capacity and in an indoor space—signaled that in Taiwan, a return to something like normalcy, at least for live music, might happen sooner rather than later. In fact, the Taipei Arena’s fall lineup includes several more concerts scheduled for the coming weeks. Frances Lo, CEO of M.Star Entertainment, which manages Chou, said the Taipei City Government had announced available dates for the reopened Taipei Arena after gathering size restrictions were eased. Though she says securing the first concert at the coveted venue was not part of the plan during the application process, the company was informed on July 1 that Chou’s shows would have that honor.

When the concert began earlier in the evening, Chou took a moment from the usual rituals of priming the audience for enthusiastic participation to make an appeal that fans keep their masks on throughout the show. “If you want to sing, you can still sing!” he said. “Don’t let the masks stop you.” He led the audience in an exercise to practice screaming through their face coverings: “Three, two, one!” he counted down, and more than 10,000 fans proved that their masks were no match for a crowd hungry for the transcendent experience of being collectively immersed in live music.

“Let’s sing together”

The intoxicating scent of hairspray filled the backstage waiting room before the show as a stylist in a pastel blue mask spritzed some across Chou’s slicked-up hair. A makeup artist in a green mask dabbed concealer onto his forehead, nose and cheeks. As the two meticulously tended to the performer, his puffy white Shiba Inu, Chopin—who would later appear onstage as a special guest—scurried underfoot. The stakes were high: the 25-year-old artist had sold out 42,000 tickets across four shows in 15 minutes, a high-pressure situation even without pages and pages of safety protocols to enforce. Recalling a YouTube Music Night virtual concert he held in March, Chou said he missed the live response of in-person performances the most. “I love that during the chorus part, I’ll just be like da jia yi qi chang!”—he says the phrase for “let’s sing together!” in Mandarin. And then everyone joins in. “For me as a composer, that’s the most rewarding feeling.”

Since his debut in 2014, Chou has become one of Mandopop’s rising icons, best known for the soulful ballads he has written across five albums. His 2014 and 2016 hit songs, “The Distance of Love” and “How Have You Been?”, made him only the third Mandarin singer at the time to have two songs surpass 100 million views on YouTube, after industry trailblazers Jay Chou and JJ Lin. “Ever since I moved and went to school in the States when I was 11, listening to love songs healed my heart,” Chou told TIME. He could barely speak English when he arrived in Massachusetts, and music from Mandopop artists made him feel at home. “I realized I should write my own songs too, because I want to help people not feel lonely and bring companionship,” he said.

Now, Chou was getting to enjoy the magic that can only happen when thousands of people are together under one roof. Rows of masked fans sang choruses in unison and a glimmering sea of lights emerged during the performance of his fan-favorite 2019 song “What’s Wrong.” In a nod to the song’s opening line, “You say that blue is your favorite color,” attendees cast their phone flashlights through tinted blue sheets previously placed on seats. Behind Chou, a spotlight shone on two cellists playing on an elevated platform. The singer-songwriter’s discography is filled with tracks featuring orchestral accompaniment, and the dozen-plus musicians onstage brought deeper emotion to their live renditions. The stage also featured stunts that only a live tour can facilitate: during one highlight, Chou performed the stirring ballad “The Chaos After You” on a white grand piano from a platform suspended in the air. It traveled slowly across the length of the arena, thousands of masked faces craning upward to watch .

Health and safety first

Outside before the concert, hundreds of Chou’s fans—called “Stars,” or Xiao Xing Xing in Mandarin—had lined up with portable fans and parasols in the humid, sunny afternoon. They left the merchandise booth carrying t-shirts and coasters before making their way across various stations set up for health and safety measures. Apart from masks and temperature checks being required upon entry, all attendees needed to provide a physical ID card or enter their names and phone numbers into a government website in order to receive a QR code that would facilitate contact tracing should the need arise. After the temperature check stations, fans were ushered toward tables packed with boxes of pink medical masks and square alcohol wipes; M.Star had ordered more than 40,000 masks to cover the four shows—the two in Taipei on Aug. 8 and 9, and two in Kaohsiung on Sept. 5 and 6.

Fans appeared largely unbothered by the public health measures. Maruko Liu, 31, who was back at the Taipei Arena after attending Chou’s concert there last May, said the disease prevention protocols would not lessen her enjoyment. “I think they’re necessary,” she said. “We’re already thrilled that we can go to a concert.” Bonnie Tsai, whose last in-person concert was also Chou’s tour stop there last year, shared similar feelings. “To be able to still attend a concert during the coronavirus period, even if we need to wear masks and get our temperatures taken, that is OK,” she said. A fan of the artist since 2014, Tsai, 22, said she did not think twice about purchasing tickets when the shows were announced. “He’s having two concerts in Taipei and two concerts in Kaohsiung—I’m going to all four,” she said. Sam Chen, on the other hand, was attending his first concert ever, having decided to buy a ticket since he listens to Chou’s songs regularly and sings them at karaoke. The 24-year-old admitted that he does not like to wear masks much. “But there is no other way since I’m scared I could be infected because there are so many people in one place,” he said.

“All of this could only be experienced here, in person”

When large-scale indoor concerts will return elsewhere hinges on the arrival of a vaccine and remains as uncertain as the trajectory of the pandemic itself. Few places in the world have experienced such relaxed measures, with most of the global music industry continuing to hold concerts virtually. Besides Taiwan, one exception is New Zealand—which reported 102 days without local transmission before new cases were recorded last week—and held its first major concert since the nation’s COVID-19 lockdown in July, with a crowd of at least 6,000. Other countries, including Canada and Indonesia, have experimented with drive-in shows, and a socially distanced outdoor show took place earlier this month in the U.K. And while the U.S. has seen concerts with scaled-down capacity, multiple artists have faced criticism after videos of largely unmasked crowds were shared on social media.

The scene couldn’t have looked more different at the Taipei Arena, where a quick glance across the crowd of thousands at any moment in the evening showed nearly all of the attendees in masks, with only a stray mask tucked beneath a chin and the occasional nose exposed for deeper breaths. Such a high level of compliance meant that Chou could make the most of his proximity to adoring fans. He walked around the oval venue and borrowed phones to take selfies with their owners, fans clustering around as they tried to fit into the frame. The artist gave high-fives as he jogged along the stage, a move that intensified screams throughout the arena.

Around an hour into the show, Chou drew from numbers that were distributed to the fans who bought tour t-shirts earlier in the day and called out 223. A few songs later, Damy Li emerged from below the stage. Chou gave the elated fan a rose, then offered her his second present: the autographed mask. “I want to help put it on you, is that OK?” he asked, before removing the blue mask she was wearing. “From deciding to buy his t-shirt, to getting this number, to being selected by him through the random draw—all of this could only be experienced here, in person,” said Li, who has followed Chou’s music since 2014. As she wore the new mask onstage, her eyes matched the beam hidden behind her face covering. After the concert, Li rose from her seat in the blue mask she had arrived in, the signed one tucked away in her bag like the treasured souvenir that it was. “I’m not going to wear it,” she said. “I’ll carefully keep it safe.”

Link to original article.

January 20, 2020

By David Spatz – January 20th, 2020

The Rat Pack is back.

Truth be told, they never really left.

Okay, the core of stars that formed the Rat Pack — Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford — are all physically long gone.

But they left behind a treasure trove of memories, music, spontaneous comedy and anything else they could make up on the spot on the stage of the Copa Room, the legendary showroom at the old Sands casino in Las Vegas.

Although its core members were guys, the Rat Pack occasionally added unofficial “mascot members” like Shirley MacLaine, Juliet Prowse, Angie Dickinson and Marilyn Monroe.

Now, three ersatz Rat Packers – Frank, Dean and Sammy – are being joined by mascot Marilyn Monroe in a weekly show titled “The Rat Pack – Back in Town.”

The show is presented 4 p.m. Sundays through April in the 2,200-seat Tropicana Showroom.

“It’s been so many years since a ‘Rat Pack’ show has been done (in Atlantic City),” says Allen Valentine, the magician-turned-producer who’s been crafting casino production shows for three decades.

“I think the last one (in Atlantic City) was at the Sands in the early 1990s, and it just felt right (to do it now),” Valentine says.

Valentine describes the music of Sinatra, Martin and Davis as “iconic” and “timeless.” He says it hits all the right notes for the perfect casino show crafted for an older crowd.

“It’s got powerful songs that speak to you emotionally, it’s really fun and it’s got a little bit of sex appeal with some of our dancers … and of course Marilyn (Monroe, for whom Sinatra carried an unrequited torch),” he explains. “It hits all those marks and it’s just an elegant, feel-good show.”

If there was a top dog among the original Rat Packers, it was obviously Sinatra. In “The Rat Pack – Back in Town,” that role is sung and played by Brian Duprey, who was 13-years-old and going through puberty when his voice began to change.

“My mom had a cassette or something on, and I was singing to (Sinatra) and my mom ran into the room and said, ‘Oh my God, you sound like Frank Sinatra,’” Duprey remembers. “I was baffled, because I wasn’t a singer. I was just singing along and imitating him and it just kind of stuck because I had that baritone voice. It kind of fit me like a glove.”

Still, the fact that he sounded like one of the world’s greatest entertainers wasn’t enough for him to change his career plans. He was always fascinated and drawn to the world of business.

He earned a business degree in college and eventually went to work for a New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company.

“That’s when I decided I didn’t like that lifestyle of working for a company and doing the 9-to-5 thing,” he says, “It just didn’t fit me.”

It took the tragedy of 9-11 for Duprey, 45, to realize life was short and if he was ever going to make a major move, that was the time to do it.

So he moved to Las Vegas, took singing lessons and gradually began working the types of gigs that helped him climb the ladder to eventually land the Sinatra role in the long-running, look-and-sound-alike revue “Legends In Concert.”

It was during those years when he first played Atlantic City. With a 13-year run, “Legends” was (and still is) the longest-running production show in Atlantic City casino history.

Duprey, whose wife, Jamie, performs in the “Rat Pack” show as Marilyn Monroe, has finally discovered a balance in his professional life. He agrees that making a major career move like he did at age 28 was something of a risk. But he needed to discover what his true calling was.

Turns out show business isn’t such a bad gig after all.

“I like producing, directing, acting and singing. I like all sides of the entertainment business, but I still like (the) business (world),” he says. “I wouldn’t mind owning a spa or a gym one day. I like dabbling in many different areas, so whatever is making me excited to get up every day and be singing or owning my own business, I’m all for that.”

As he’s done in the past with production shows at Borgata and Hard Rock – plus major casinos outside Atlantic City – Valentine’s show is a one-and-done gig each week.

That presents a series of challenges, including how to make sure all the cast members – some of whom are scattered around the country – make it to Atlantic City by 4 p.m. Sunday to do a 90-minute show and then catch the next plane, train or automobile out of town.

“The (casino) market has changed over the years. When I first started 30 years ago producing shows in Atlantic City, we had a very healthy bus program. We had Greyhound busses lined up and down Pacific Avenue,” he says. “But that’s changed. Casinos can’t (financially) support production shows that run five nights a week any more.”

However, doing the shows on either side of the weekend – like Thursday at Borgata, or later Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock, where he’s currently producing a show, the casinos can leave their Friday and Saturday nights open for headliners.

They’re able to get more bang for their marketing buck. And it’s not just in Atlantic City. This is happening at MGM National Harbor (near Washington, D.C.), Biloxi, Ms. and Twin River casino (in Rhode Island), all places where his company, Elite Casino Marketing, is presenting shows.

“It’s the new trend for production shows,” Valentine says.

Original article @ www.pressofatlanticcity.com

October 31, 2019

By Andrew Gaug News-Press NOW Oct 31, 2019

More than a decade after his death, Michael Jackson’s legacy lives on and inspires future generations of performers.

• • •

Helping to keep that legacy alive is Michael Firestone, the performer in the Michael Jackson tribute show “I Am King — The Michael Jackson Experience.”

The show has presented Firestone with numerous opportunities to pay tribute to Jackson, being chosen as one of two official Jackson impersonators for the “Michael Jackson Laser Spectacular” shows in theaters and casinos all over the United States and Canada. He’s also been featured at events for MTV and Larry The Cable Guy.

Like many in the ’80s, Firestone was captivated with Jackson through a series of performances and music videos.

“My first memories of seeing MJ were in the ‘Rock with You’ video, his Motown 25 performance, the ‘Thriller’ video and his ‘Billie Jean’ performance. Those really stuck with me,” he told DNA India.

A student of channels like MTV in the ’80s, Firestone said he was enthralled by the superstars of the time.

“I really studied very talented performers and just pretended to be them. Prince, Michael Jackson, Stevie, those guys are talented, I’m just a copycat,” he told I Am Queen Magazine.

For Jackson specifically, he would watch his videos and emulate his moves.

“I practiced to his videos. I’d also record myself and replay the videos to see how I was progressing,” he said.

As he improved, he started performing the songs and moves at events, talent shows and parties. It caught on enough to net him performances in Las Vegas and, later, a cruise line contract.

“At 18, I was offered my first professional job as a Michael Jackson tribute artist at a casino in Las Vegas,” he said.

The job led to him creating the tribute show that has now toured around the world.

When Firestone performs Jackson’s hits like “Human Nature” and “Stranger in Moscow,” he said he feels like he’s keeping the star’s spirit alive. While he does drop the persona at times during the show, he likes to maintain the illusion for most of it to please those who didn’t get to see Jackson live. To note, the final time Jackson performed in Missouri was 1988 at Kemper Arena.

“They are MJ fans. And I hope to put on a concert making them feel like they are back in time and remembering MJ,” he said.

Performing those intricate moves and singing those difficult vocal parts of songs like “Thriller” and “Bad” is often taxing.

“Performing night after night starts to get difficult. I have to take care of my voice in between performances and warm up properly,” he said.

During the time Firestone has been performing as Jackson, he’s also had his fair share of questions concerning Jackson’s offstage behavior. Earlier this year, the HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland’ had two men accuse Jackson of sexually abusing them as children. Firestone said he doesn’t believe those statements were made in good faith.

“MJ is not even alive to defend himself. It is most definitely unfair to discredit anyone’s work until all claims are proven,” he told the Business Standard.

Firestone met Jackson once in 2002 and said he was cordial and supportive of the tribute show.

“We spoke then, and a few weeks later he called and we talked for several hours on the phone. It was eye-opening and inspirational and, of course, a dream come true to get such a phone call,” he told the Business Standard.

Jackson’s support was one of the many reasons Firestone has been paying tribute to him for about 20 years.

“I wrote ‘I Am King’ and I wrote it to flow in such a way that it brings you up. The show is named ‘I Am King’ not because I think I am king … It is because Michael Jackson is king and I will continue bringing the magic and music of Michael Jackson to venues worldwide for as long as I possibly can. There will never be another MJ,” he told the Business Standard.

Tickets for “I Am King — The Michael Jackson Experience” are $24 to $45 and $12 for students. They can be purchased at the Performing Arts Office, 719 Edmond, or by calling 816-279-1225 or online at www.saintjosephperformingarts.org.

— Andrew Gaug | St. Joe Live

Original article @ www.newspressnow.com

August 5, 2019

The 2018 release of the film ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, a biopic about legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, was a roaring success both critically and at the box office.

Among the beneficiaries of this reexamination of the 70s and 80s band that established stadium rock and operatic styles in rock is Queen Nation, America’s premier Queen tribute band, which visits Alaska for a pair of shows this weekend, Friday night at the Alaska Native Heritage Center on Friday and the Tanana Valley Fair on Saturday.

“I was excited to see it when it was finally coming out,” said Gregory Finsley, the Freddie Mercury of Queen Nation. “We cried, we laughed, it was the best time, so emotional. I gave it a B-plus because there were some chronological issues that didn’t work out and there were a few people left out. I’ve seen it three or four times since then.”