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-- Nov. 10, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Down to the Wire

Prince is taking over Club Rio, with hardly a moment to spare

By MIKE WEATHERFORD
REVIEW-JOURNAL


Prince will be the proprietor of the 3121 club at the Rio and its headliner on Fridays and Saturdays. In 2004, he said he enjoys Vegas because he likes seeing people feed off the city's energy.


Some superstar deals on the Strip are a long time in the making. Cher has been rumored to be Vegas-bound for so long it feels like she's already here.

But those involved with Prince's decision to take over Club Rio and rename it 3121 deny any great ability to keep a secret. If it all seems very sudden, they say, that's because it is.

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Prince was first spotted on a tour of Club Rio the weekend of Sept. 9 and 10. By Oct. 4, his Web site (www.3121.com) sported a teasing graphic of the Rio. Officials with the concert promoter AEG Live -- the entity that will deal with the nuts and bolts of the operation -- say they haven’t been on board more than two months.

And when did Lena Morgan find out she was making the jump from being Prince’s personal chef to running a public restaurant?

"October 20th, to be exact," Morgan says of the day she got word that the deal includes a revamp of the adjacent Fiore Steakhouse.

Prince's ability to maintain an unpredictable, mysterious persona has helped sustain 24 years of stardom just as surely as Madonna's knack for makeovers. His quirky, fiercely independent persona extends to this new enterprise, from a ban on photography at Wednesday night's media "unveiling" -- today is the first show you can buy a ticket for -- to deflecting interviews to the Australian twin sisters who have been his backup singers and dancers for less than a year.

On the other hand, casino executives have known for a long time that Prince was looking to do business on the Strip. Through his corporate entity, Paisley Park, he took over the freestanding Empire Ballroom on Memorial Day weekend. The two shows were so self-contained, they bypassed the club's box office to print tickets from a table in the parking lot.

Prince also road-tested Club Rio that weekend for the deal that's now a four-night operation in the circular venue, quickly upgraded with new sound and video equipment:

• Wednesdays are a "Prince Presents" concert format, with performer friends or acts he enjoys. Possibilities include Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Mint Condition, Floetry, The Roots and Morris Day and the Time.

• Thursdays will carry over Club Rio's popular "Latin Libido" night with DJ Dave Dog, adding a twist to keep with the club's live music theme: The L.A. salsa band Johnny Polanco y su Conjunto Amistad, whom Prince saw in Los Angeles.

• Fridays and Saturdays will be Prince himself, for a while at least. "It's an extended engagement, and we don't know how long it's going to be," says Carlos Reynoso, director of special projects for AEG Live. For the short term at least, "He'll be there. He's ready to do this. He's going to blow the roof off the Rio, that's for sure."

This weekend's debut shows should also shed light on what Prince has in store for Las Vegas. He has done club sets in Las Vegas as far back as 1999. But smaller venues tend to give themselves over to extended funk workouts, not the concise hit parade casino tourists might expect. And Prince's Minneapolis club Glam Slam wasn't a long-term success in the 1990s either.

In a rare 2004 interview with the Review-Journal's Doug Elfman, Prince suggested it's possible to strike a balance. "Vegas has become what it's become. It's a showplace. So, an event has to be rehearsed," he said. "I understand that. But when the Rat Pack was up there, you didn't know what was gonna happen."

"He likes to spring things on us as we're about to go onstage with one number and then some other song comes on," says Maya McClean, one-half of The Twinz backing duo.

"He reads the audience as well," says sister Nandy. "He kinds of reads where they're at (during) that time in the show. Whatever kind of feels good for the next part."

She believes the residency will "bring real live music back to Vegas ... We're new to these parts, but I've just heard there's not that much live quality music."

And, she adds, "If they love him, they'll love what he's doing. When he's having fun, they're going to love whatever he's doing. And don't get me wrong, he does some of the hits."

If audiences dance up a hunger on the general-admission floor, they can head next door for the all-night menu at 3121 Jazz Cuisine. Just don't look for the bric-a-brac on the walls.

Other celebrity-themed eateries are "really concept-driven, they're not so much chef- or food-driven," says Morgan, who first met Prince as a caterer and then became his personal chef. "We didn't really put too much work in on the aesthetic. The room looks pretty much the same. We're going to concentrate on the food and the wine pairings."

Morgan was born in Korea and trained as a pastry chef before working with Wolfgang Puck. "My strengths are Cal-Asian cuisine," she says. Revamping the steakhouse menu with the Fiore staff will continue her diverse approach to cooking for Prince at home: "I like to keep it kind of fresh and new for him and change it up as often as I can."

thanks for posting this

interesting that The Rolling Stones and The Who are also in town this weekend

and Timberlake tickets go on sale today and the best seats are $100 so in my opinion Prince could be charging more but glad he isn't
[Edited 11/10/06 9:12am]

that was cool, thanx for posting it.

Cool. But think about the song 3121, I think he wrote that with the club in mind and that's been a while ago I hear at least 3 yrs. I wish him all the luck in the world. He knows how to Damn the nay-sayers!