By MIKE WEATHERFORD
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Finally, I’m going to have to get over to “Pia’s Place” — formerly the Monkey Bar inside Piero’s restaurant — and start sucking up to Pia Zadora, whose sterling voice beat down years of her very name being a punch line in the Johnny Carson era.
What would be my ulterior motive, beyond the straightforward value of hearing her sing Thursdays through Saturdays under the musical supervision of Vincent Falcone?
Perhaps it would be to eavesdrop and try to learn which of seven local movie theaters she will go to for the Fathom Events screening of “RiffTrax Live: ‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians’” on Dec. 5.
The childhood Pia’s role in the famously awful cheapie fueled a lot of those old jokes. And if perhaps she is singing at Piero’s that night and can’t go, might she at least cover the immortal movie theme song (“Hooray for Santa Claus”) during the holidays?
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Tag Archives: pia zadora
Las Vegas Sun – Mamma Pia! Zadora is Ringleader of Vintage Vegas Hang
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Pia Zadora speaks during “The Showbiz Roast” of former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman at the Stratosphere Theater Tuesday, July 23, 2013. Fifty percent of the show proceeds benefited Miracle League of Las Vegas.
By John Katsilometes
As the singer at Piero’s took a break on Thursday night, a cluster of dignified gents convened in the middle of the club for a little kibitzing.
Mingling in what could be termed the Piero’s Circle of Legends were Rich Little, Steve Rossi and Vince Falcone. A few feet away, sitting idly and comfortably at the bar, was Piero’s owner Freddie Glusman. Still onstage, tending to his guitar, was Joe Lano.
Little and Rossi are two of the more significant comedy performers over the past half-century, Little as a groundbreaking impressionist and Rossi for his long and storied partnership with Marty Allen (the two famously appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” the same night the Beatles made their national-TV debut in 1964). Falcone served as Frank Sinatra’s pianist and music director for more than a decade. And Lano, who has played for nearly every major artist to headline in Las Vegas (including Sinatra) is positively revered among artists across all demographics in Las Vegas. As he performed behind the star of the evening — the expressly cute and sweet-voiced Pia Zadora — Justin Shandor energetically asked, “Is that Joe Lano on guitar? Wow.”
Shandor plays Elvis in “Million Dollar Quartet” at Harrah’s and won the International Elvis Tribute Artist Contest in Memphis three years ago. Seated in the same booth was a summarily impressed Rob Lyons, who plays Carl Perkins in “MDQ” but looked more like an excited Buddy Holly with his dark-rimmed glasses and combed-back hair. Lyons is among the coalition trying to get the word “groovy” back in the public lexicon, and accurately noted, “This is really groovy.”
Zadora wound up at the table and quickly the talk leapt to the possibility of Zadora performing a “walk-on” at “Million Dollar Quartet.” So far, we have not encountered the person who would not want that to happen (this is where a double-negative becomes a positive). The night ended with Shandor and Lyons in animated conversation with Zadora and her husband, Michael Jeffries, and PR Plus reps Laura Herlovich and Hillary Smoot.
Who knows if Pia will ever jam with the “MDQ” crew. But this thing that happens at 9 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays evenings in what is called “Pia’s Place” is a very cool hang.
Las Vegas Review Journal – Jerry Lewis in the Audience at Piero’s
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Film and comedy legend Jerry Lewis, in the audience at Pia Zadora’s show at Piero’s Italian Cuisine on Friday. Later she kept her commitment at Frank Marino’s 11 p.m. roast. Zadora had to cancel her Thursday gig at Piero’s because of a death in her family. Her ex-husband, Jonathan Kaufer, the father of her 16-year-old son, Jordan, died in an automobile accident between Baker and Barstow, Calif.
It’s the Norm – Pia Zadora at Piero’s Italian Cuisine
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If you have lived in Las Vegas for more than 25 years, you have possibly driven by, or even stopped in and had dinner, at Piero’s Italian Cuisine, 355 Convention Center Drive, truly just a hop, skip and a jump, from the Las Vegas Convention Center. It had been nearly 20 years since I last sat and had dinner in the place that “The Man” Frank Sinatra, used to call his place–where he could eat peacefully, meet quietly with friends, and just hang out.
When I heard that a dear friend of mine, Pia Zadora, was going to be appearing there, along with my buddy, Vince Falcone, there was no question I had to go back to place that I once enjoyed an awful lot during my younger years in the village. It hasn’t changed that much either. When you walk through the door, you can actually smell the history: Not only of Sinatra and his Rat Pack gang, but a lot of the mob guys would be there having a casual dinner or a few drinks. It was definitely the place to go to if you didn’t mind being seen saying hello to a few guys (who were probably being watched by a branch of some federal police department or an under-cover Metro officer). Anyhow, back to Pia.
This is a dynamic lady with what I will call a throwback voice. It’s a really sweet voice, with a touch of smoky huskiness that she uses very carefully. I would say, and I think Zadora would agree, she shines at Piero’s as a saloon singer. Sinatra was a saloon singer. Robert Goulet loved to sing what he called, “saloon songs.” And, Pia has a great range of music to present, considering she sings the music of the “Great American Song Book,” and shares a few stories about her favorite guy, Frank. There is no doubt she loved and admired the man. She pays him proper respect by singing a few of his classics during every performance. And who better to conduct, but Vinnie, who was Frank’s conductor for more than 10 years, and was Pia’s conductor when she traveled with a symphony orchestra. With the leadership of Falcone on the Baby Grand, Joe Lano on guitar, Bob Saxe on bass, and Mike Mechem on percussion, the petite lady from Hoboken, New Jersey, opened right away with one of my favorites, “That Old Black Magic.” It reminded me of the night I got married at the old Stardust Hotel, and Billy Daniels sang it for my bride and me. To give you an idea of what to expect, I’ll name just a few of the songs she selected the particular night I was at Piero’s: “Lady is a Tramp,” “Time after Time,” “Penny’s From Heaven,” “The Man I Love,” “Where or When,” and of course, “New York, New York.”
This is a lady who knows how to sell a song, tell a story, and laugh about herself. She is having fun every Thursday through Saturday, starting at 9 p.m. There is a cover charge, by the way, but gang, this is what Vegas used to be like, and from what I hear, the entertainers who live here are making their way to Piero’s once again to see and listen to one of their own—Pia Zadora!
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Los Angeles Times – Las Vegas: Pia Zadora to Sing at longtime Sin City Favorite
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Chanteuse Pia Zadora begins an open-ended string of performances this week at Piero's Italian Cuisine in Las Vegas. (Pia Zadora)
Actress and singer Pia Zadora is about to embark on an open-ended residency at Piero’s Italian Cuisine, an old school Las Vegas restaurant.
The restaurant’s lounge will be transformed into Pia’s Place, where Zadora, a Golden Globe winner, will perform at 9 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays beginning Thursday. The chanteuse will be accompanied by a quartet led by Vincent Falcone, a pianist and former musical director for Frank Sinatra.
Zadora will sing such standards as “All of Me,” “That Old Black Magic” and “The Lady is a Tramp.”
A cover charge of $30 includes two cocktails.
Piero’s, just east of the Strip at 355 Convention Center Drive, is a longtime favorite among Vegas locals. It was popular with the mob when it controlled many Vegas hotels.
Some scenes from the movie “Casino” were filmed inside the restaurant. It opens at 5:30 p.m. daily for dinner.
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Hollywood.com – Pia Zadora: ‘Summer Arrest Drama was over a dumb family incident’
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Actress/singer Pia Zadora has broken her silence about the embarrassing summer (13) family showdown at her home in Las Vegas that led to a police stand-off. The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult star, who is married to a detective, was taken into custody on 1 June (13) after a late-night altercation with her 33-year-old stepson, during which she sprayed him with a water hose. But it was her 16-year-old son, Jordan, who called the cops and reported his mum was acting crazy in a house full of guns. He also claimed Zadora had sprayed him too in an effort to get him to go to bed. She was charged with domestic abuse and coercion, and during a court hearing on 12 September (13), she was ordered to attend an alcohol use evaluation and undergo impulse control counselling. Opening up about what really happened, Zadora tells U.S. news show Access Hollywood Live, “It was, like, three in the morning, I was tired, I wanted to go to sleep, and my 33-year-old stepson decided he wanted to come and hang out.
I tried to get him to leave (and) he refused… He was getting very loud. I took the hose and I hydrated him… He’s, like, six-four (six foot, four inches), he weighs 300 pounds; what am I gonna do? Get into a fist fight with him? I don’t think so. “Then I decided to get the 16 year old to go to bed and I hit another brick wall, because he wanted to stay up and hang out with the 33 year old… and play video games, and so his stepbrother, when I insisted, handed him his cellphone and said, ‘Dial 9-1-1′.” Zadora insists she never sprayed the teenager, despite what he told the police, adding, “He might have been in the vicinity and he might have gotten a drizzle but I directed the hose at the 33 year old… He said, ‘My mother’s running around the house like a crazy woman and there’s a gun in the house…’ There were a lot of guns in the house because my husband has Fort Knox in the house. He’s a cop… But obviously that was like a red flag.” When she woke up hours later, the place was surrounded by cops. She recalls, “I heard stuff outside the house, noises that sounded like fireworks…, so I knew something was wrong, so I had to call 9-1-1 because obviously if I had gone out without notifying them I might not be here to talk about it today. “I called 9-1-1 and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ and they said, ‘We’re outside. Can you come out and bring Jordan (her son).
I woke him up and we both marched out just like in the movies with our hands up… The cops separated us, they interviewed me , they interviewed him and they arrested me… for a jagged gel nail, because when I went to grab the phone from him, I made a little scratch, accidentally, behind his ear.” Looking back on the incident, Zadora wishes she had been a little less impulsive, but she’s playing down reports suggesting she was drunk when she attacked her stepson: “I wish I had just gone to bed… but I’m sort of somewhat of a control person, where I want everyone outta the house. I didn’t want my stepson to stay there because if he had too much to drink he would have to stay over and I wanted my privacy. It was a nice Friday night and I wanted to be with my husband. “I was drinking that night; I had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner and a lemon drop when I came home. (I was) maybe a little buzzed… I wasn’t drunk… The whole thing is dumb; it was a whole dumb family incident. “There were no charges, no convictions, no pleas, no nothing. They’re like, ‘OK, we’re gonna dismiss this if you do an online impulse control (course)… and if you have an alcohol assessment’, which was very helpful.”
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OK! TV – We Take a Trip Inside Performer Pia Zadora’s Home!
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Taking a tour in Pia Zadora’s home in Las Vegas.
Access Hollywood – Pia Zadora Clears The Air About Her Recent Arrest
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Pia Zadora opens up to Billy Bush and Kit Hoover on Access Hollywood Live about her recent arrest for “domestic battery and coercion” charges following an incident with her 16-year-old son. What happened exactly? How is her son now? Plus, why has she has decided to go public.
OK! TV Exclusive – Pia Zadora
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Pia Zadora exclusive interview about her arrest and latest tragedy loss.
Las Vegas Review Journal – Pia’s Side of Story
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Pia Zadora has ended her public silence on the May incident that resulted in being jailed after a domestic abuse arrest involving her 16-year-old autistic son.
Her interview with the Review-Journal came a day after she agreed to take an Internet impulse control course and an alcohol assessment.
“I learned a lesson — and that’s to never let what is essentially a small family drama get out of control,” she said.
Zadora said she was speaking out, in part, to set the record straight on the terms of her case.
“There was never any plea, never any conviction, never any sentence, never any probation,” she said.
She accepted the two conditions of the court rather than “the prospect of him having to deal with this in court” because of his “special challenges.”
The former actor, singer and Las Vegas headliner added, “I love him dearly, but he’s been the greatest challenge of my life except for trying to get people to forget I made ‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.’”
The incident started, she said, when she playfully sprayed her 33-year-old stepson with a water hose to remind him it was time to go.
Looking back, she said, “it was really dumb” because it led to her stepson handing a cell phone to her son “and telling him to call 911, which was even dumber.”
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