Bootlicker....err, Bootlegger

Monday night is open mic night at Bootlegger, a famed restaurant/bar on the boulevard, just south of the strip.  It felt a lot like the Italian America Club, which is to say that I have my doubts as to the Snow White cleanliness of the startup cash for the place.  Several things struck me as odd about the joint,  For one thing, besides the emcee, all of the staff members were male and none of them wore glasses.  (Okay, the musical director wore sunglasses....)

The picture below is dark, but understand that the place itself is dark.

The food was excellent.  The entertainment was hit or miss, but I suppose that's the risk you take when you have an open mic.  The weekly emcee, Kelly Clinton, didn't just introduce acts--she's an engaging performer in her own right.

The acts are anything that the performers want them to be.  There was a great a cappella group, a solo guitarist, a recent high school grad with dreams of Broadway stardom, some improv jazz singers, a quartet that somehow escaped The Lawrence Welk Show, an aging thespian puffing out Andrew Lloyd Webber tunes, a country singer (accompanied by Mark Miers from Unkle Kracker), and a truly embarrassing act by a guy whom I swear was the love child of Truman Capote and Carmen Miranda.  So Kelly informed us, the cozy table stage right was populated by entertainment big wigs, whom I suppose must scope out the clubs constantly for new talent.  While there are lot of decent singers, I've been consistently struck by how good the musicians are who provide back-up music for the performers.  Singers walk up there and tell them what they want the three or four piece band to do, and these guys deliver.  It's impressive.  I think the musical director last night was formerly a star on "Starsky and Hutch."  As I've said before, everyone seems to skirt the outer regions of fame without actually being famous.  

There's special love at our table for Lisa Gay (former back-up singer for The Fifth Dimension).  I've seen her perform a handful of times already, and she always joins us at our table for dinner.  She's an extremely personable lady with a great lounge/jazz sound.  

We stayed until after midnight, which means that Pam and I missed the latest installment of "The Bachelorette."  What a terrible show.  What a must see on On Demand tonight!