Don't know how I didn't learn it earlier, but thanks to an e-mail from my old pal, author-drummer Bruce Klauber, I just found out the great saxophonist Sam Butera died Wednesday in Las Vegas at age 81.

I won't bother with the autobiographical details, as they are readily available elsewhere online. But I do have a few thoughts about  Sam (I can't imagine him asking anyone to call him "Mr. Butera").
 

Sam and his insanely tight "show band," The Wildest, were mainstays in Atlantic City from the dawn of legal gambling in 1978 well into the 1990s. The act was one of the last two or three of the great Las Vegas lounge acts of the "Rat Pack" era, and everytime they played AyCee,  Sam and his boys brought a little bit of that old-time magic with them. It was extremely cool to see them in long-gone bars like those that used to be at Trump Plaza and what was then known as Resorts International.

Offstage, Sam was a trip-and-a-half. Speaking in hep-cat lingo delivered via a rich drawl redolent of his native Nawlins, La., he was a font of great show biz stories and all around good cheer. In his later years, Sam, who according to reports had suffered from Alzheimer's, could always be counted upon to rant against rocker David Lee Roth who, Sam charged, virtually cloned--sans compensation--his arrangement of "Just A Gigolo"/"I Ain't Got Nobody," which he conceived for his long-time friend, mentor and boss, Louis Prima.

I have no idea if Sam ever received any satisfaction of the issue before the onset of the insidious illness that ultimately killed him. I at least hope his grievances didn't keep him from enjoying what time he had left.

I'll close with the final paragraph of the obituary Klauber, who gigged with Sam at Resorts at the dawn of the legal casino era, wrote. It sums up the man's life better than I could ever do it:

Now that we won't be wasting away in Margaritaville, what does the future hold for Trump Marina?

Last Sunday, Trump Entertainment Resorts officially pulled the plug on the deal that would have had New York-based Coastal Marina LLC buying the Marina and applying singer Jimmy Buffett's fun-in-the-sun-themed Margaritaville brand/philosophy.

The move could have been a needed shot in the arm for Atlantic City which has been--ahem--buffeted by the twin storms of casinos in Pennsylvania and a still-sour economy.

But things fell apart as the Trump group accused Coastal Marina of failing to hold up its end of the bargain by not having  either the needed financing or licensing in place to close the deal.

But that's all water under the marina, as it were. The bigger question concerns the fate of the Marina, which, even in better days, always underperformed.

There has been no official word on the property's fate, although it's hard to imagine Trump Entertainment wants to keep it. The physical plant needs a lot of work, and there is nothing in the way of dining, entertainment, nightlife or other amenities that puts it anywhere near the level of its two Marina-district neighbors, Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa and Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, which pretty much are the town's standard bearers these days.

The prospect of the "nuclear option" of closing the Marina is too grim to contemplate, and the dried-up credit markets suggests there will be no other suitors for some time to come. Which leaves the Marina in a very difficult position--and Atlantic City without the prospect of a casino-hotel complex that might have been an effective weapon in the battle for casino customers and their money.
 

Sunday's murder of his step-grandson won't keep former heavyweight boxing champ Joe Frazier from headlining an upcoming weeking of events at Bally's Atlantic City. 

Though mourning the shooting death of Peter Lyde Jr., 25, stepson of his daughter, Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, sources close to the pugilistic icon say he'll still headline the "Smokin' Joe Frazier's Sportzbox" extravaganza June 12-14. As a matter of fact, he's expected to spend Monday morning hyping "Sportzbox" on such outlets as Fox 29's "Good Day Philadelphia" and Michael Smerconish's morning-drive show on WPHT-AM (1210).

The weekend's "Main Event" will be the actual "Sportzbox" program on June 13. It's being described as a cross between "Hollywood Squares," "Family Feud" and a celebrity roast. Joining Frazier will be such luminaries as entertainer Joe Piscopo, 1950s pop superstar Bobby Rydell, former Miami Dolphins' placekicking star, Garo Yepremian and Vincent Pastore ("Big Pussy" on "The Sopranos"). It'll be bookended by a VIP cocktail reception June 12 and a June 14 golf outing. All three events--including the cocktail party (and its Red Carpet pre-show), which is being staged as a fundraiser for Gilda's Club, a cancer-related charity named in honor of the late "Saturday Night Live" star Gilda Radner--are open to the public.

For more info, go to www.sportzbox.com.

Comic actors Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer collectively have been getting laughs by pretending to be musicians since their first musical "mockumentary," "This Is Spinal Tap," was released 25 years ago.  But the real joke is that these guys are good enough singers and instrumentalists to actually have had successful careers in the music industry.

That's the takeway from the trio's wildly entertaining Sunday night set at Borgata's Music Box theater.

The team's "Unwigged and Unplugged" moniker for its current tour is a little bit of a misnomer, as McKean and Guest (on acoustic guitars and, in the latter's case, mandolin) and Shearer (bass guitar and "big" bass) were amplified throughout the two-hour set, as were the keyboards of C.J. Vance. But that is just nitpicking, as the show was a two-hour romp through the music the guys wrote and performed for "Spinal Tap" and "Mighty Wind."

Whether on the acoustic tunes by faux Brit headbangers Spinal Tap, or the equally make-believe early-'60s folk of the aptly named Folksmen (from "Wind"), the three stars proved to be incredibly gifted musicians, pickin; grinnin' and singin' with the best of them.

And while all of the program's 24 originals were written as parodies of various genres, the fact is that they all had enough lyrical intelligence, sharp playing (especially Shearer's sophisticated bass lines) and strong vocalizing to identify the three as top-notch musicians.

Among the many highlights were the Folksmen's Appalachian tragedy ballad, "Blood On the Coal" and the sing-songy "Old Joe's Place" as well as such "Spinal Tap" selections as  "The Majesty of Rock" and the "controversial" "Sex Farm."

There was also a heaping helping of comedy--scripted and ad libbed--which exponentially increased the show's entertainment quotient and put the finishing touches on a great evening of song and laughs.

A bit of Vegas-style decadence came to the Boardwalk Saturday night as "Beacher's Madhouse" made its Atlantic City debut at Trump Taj Mahal.

Presided over by comic Jeff Beacher (who is definitely not the hardest-working man in show business), the "Madhouse" proved to be part "rave," part Fellini set piece, part Weimar Republic cabaret, part middle-school male fantasy and part Halloween party--a high energy, low-taste affair that sure looked like a lot of fun for the mostly twentysomething crowd that indulged in the Bacchanal staged in the Taj's Xanadu room.

As an onstage DJ spun house and hard rock tracks, the pimped-out crowd--many of the women came dresssed for a Penthouse magazine photo shoot--danced and took in the scene that was populated by little people dressed as Oompa-Loompas from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and Lollipop Guild types from "The Wizrd of Oz," and other, normal-height cast members in bunny rabbit and other animal costumes.

One scantily clad female dancer busted a move from inside a steel cage suspended over the floor.

While there were performers involved, it was the crowd that was the main attraction, as revelers participated in various contests and even took it upon themselves to provide some diversion for the others (the omnipresent video crew on more than one occasion captured two young women passionately kissing).Now that's entertainment!

As cast member Dan the Song Parody Man (from "The Howard Stern Show") put it so succinctly: "You don't come to see the show, you come to be the show!"

As for the guy whose name is on this Dionysian dance party, he is more the ringmaster than a performer. Or maybe a mad scientist would be a better analogy: He threw a bunch crazy, R-rated thoughts into a bowl and out came scads of money. 

"Beacher's Madhouse" certainly isn't for everybody (folks who believe in things like piety and decorum have been warned). But it sure seemed like those who attended had a great time. Beacher should make every effort to ensure his traveling orgy makes AyCee a regular stop.

Spending almost a decade in the Nevada desert doesn't appear to have been detrimental to Penn & Teller.

The 35-year-old one-of-a-kind act, which blends wiseguy verbal comedy, circus sideshow stunts and a hilariously cynical approach to magic has left its gilded home at the Rio casino in Las Vegas for a three-night stand at Harrah's Resort Atlantic City--their first AyCee visit in many years. And they are as entertaining and astounding as ever.

Armed with what appeared to be close to an hour's worth of new-to-the-East Coast bits, Penn Jillette (the one who talks) and the virtually silent Teller (that's his legal name) turned in a typically strong set that ably showcased their individual and collective talents.

As the booming-voiced Penn filled the Concert venue with his trademark, non-stop, wiseguy patter, the team kept the audience enthralled with such how-did-they-do-that? shtick as mind reading, levitation, fire eating and several hilarious "tricks" that really weren't, but which were staged just to fool randomly selected audience members to great comedic effect.

Among these were a sequence in which a blindfolded woman is led to believe she has become an expert knife-thrower, when actually, Penn, with the help of Teller, simply placed the daggers on strategic parts of a backboard.

It probably doesn't sound like much here in Cyberspace, but trust me, it's hilarious.

Some 20 years ago, in a review of Penn & Teller's show at the Merriam Theater on Broad Street, I wrote that seeing the duo perform was the most fun a person could have in public. I stand by that statement.

Comic Robert Schimmel's Saturday night show at Trump Plaza has been cancelled.

A press release issued by the Plaza earlier today did not give any reasons for the cancellation, saying only that is due to "circumstances beyond our control." Tickets may be refunded at the point of purchase.

In a related note, E! Online is reporting that recent charges lodged by L.A. police that Schimmel assaulted his wife, Melissa, have been dropped because Mrs. S has decided not to persue the case. She has, however, filed for divorce.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement's just-released finding of casino tycoon Pansy Ho  to be an "unsuitable" business partner for MGM Mirage may shake things up in Atlantic City. 

The DGE's 74-page report concluded that Ho cannot be part of any company doing business in Atlantic City because her 86-year-old father, Chinese gaming overlord Stanley Ho, has long been suspected of ties with the country's organized crime interests.

Why this matters to the DGE is because MGM Mirage is Boyd Gaming's (silent-but-equal) partner in Borgata, the almost-six-year-old pleasure dome that is what comes closest to being a successful casino-hotel operation in Atlantic City these days (meaning its profits, while on an extended decline, haven't plummeted like everyone else's).

The choice for MGM Mirage of course, is whether or not to sever ties with Ho or Borgata. It's a tricky decision that could have significant consequences for AyCee.

The reason MGM Mirage may stick with Ho is because she is their partner in the company's Macau, China operation, which represents a massive investment for the Vegas-based gaming empire, and which is a huge gaming market.. On the other hand, The Big B is MGM Mirage's foothold in Atlantic City--still the nation's second-largest gambling jurisdiction.

It's much too early to make any kind of call, but if MGM Mirage--which, at one pre-economic meltdown point was going to build a $5 billion complex adjacent to Borgata--walks away from that property, my guess is that it will also say whatever the word for "adios" is in Chinese to Atlantic City once and for all. Which means any chances of a mega-resort ever being developed on that 70-plus-acre site (which are pretty slim to begin with) would get exponentially smaller.