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Tom Jones, Prison Riots and $2,500 Catsuits: The Life of an Elvis Impersonator

October 27, 2009 at 4:07 PM | by juliab | 0 Comments

Here's a modern-day fairytale to brighten your Tuesday: once there was a little boy from Zanesville, Ohio, called Tim Welch. Little blond Tim grew up dreaming of being an athlete; instead after a stint in the Marines, he ended up a prison guard in southern California.

Life as a prison guard wasn’t the best of fun. One day there was a riot, and Tim got stabbed by an inmate, leaving him with a 3in scar (for life) on his chest. Not fun!

But then in 1997, Tim decided to go to Vegas for the weekend. As one does in Vegas, he ended up standing up and singing You Don’t Know Me to a roomful of people at the end of a Tom Jones concert. And, it being Vegas, the audience included Tom Jones.

Afterwards, Sir Tom came up to Tim, told him he did a mean Elvis impression, and suggested he might like to reconsider his career plans, seeing as the prison gig wasn't going so well. So Tim cut his shoulder-length blond locks, invested in some wigs ($2000 a piece) and a couple of catsuits ($2500 a go), and upped sticks from LA to Vegas.

The rest is history. He used to do a show at the New Frontier, but since that closed he’s become the preferred Elvis of the Las Vegas CVA. Which is how we met him, last week, at the launch party for British Airways’ London-Vegas flights.

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The 'Happiest Mayor in the World' Has the Best Business Card in the World

October 26, 2009 at 1:26 PM | by juliab | 0 Comments

We already knew that Mayor Goodman sounded like a hoot from articles like this, and even if we hadn’t, we’d have guessed it from pictures from the BA London-Vegas launch party like this.

But we have newfound respect for after he gave us his business card at the party. What happened was that we lurched up to him excitedly and slurred our goodwill at him, he flashed us the indulgent smile of a man who can’t cross a casino floor without some drunk lurching up to him excitedly, and handed us his business card.

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A Glimpse Into the Very Near Vegas Future: Brits On The Strip

Where: London, UK [map]
October 23, 2009 at 12:18 PM | by juliab | 0 Comments

Three signs of a good night: you wake up clutching a poker chip in one hand, Elvis Presley’s email address in the other, and your camera seems to have magicked up pictures of you with vodka luges and feather boas that you definitely don’t recall going anywhere near. This was our morning after the BA London-Vegas route launch party at Studio Valbonne in London last night.

Mayor Goodman was guest of honor along with his wife, Carolyn, his showgirls (six of them) and his Elvis impersonator. Two Cirque du Soleil folk were doing acrobatics around the room, Rain DJ Paul Oakenfold was on the decks, and everyone was in the party spirit – including the waitress who was so sozzled that she fell over as she was taking a picture of us with Elvis.

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Mayor Goodman and His Girls Have Landed In London; Mel B Confirmed for the Party

Where: London, UK [map]
October 21, 2009 at 2:08 PM | by juliab | 0 Comments

The mayor has landed! Oscar Goodman and his showgirls arrived in London today in preparation for tomorrow’s party celebrating British Airways' direct London-Las Vegas flights which launch on Sunday. Good thing they put them in business class, what with those head-dresses.

And here’s Mayor Goodman looking pretty perky, considering he’s straight off a red-eye (we’re guessing from LA, unless they laid on a special Vegas flight for him. Which we wouldn’t completely disbelieve). The suits are (L-R) Rossi Ralenkotter, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, Mayor Goodman, and Richard Tams of British Airways. Loving that black cab – and hoping it was taking him to Buck House to meet the Queen…

In still more happy news, those nice bods at BA listened to our plea to get Mel B along to the bash – she confirmed this afternoon. That’s what we call customer service. Now if they could only abolish their ridiculous seat-booking charges, we’d love ‘em to bits. Any chance of you hearing us on that one, chaps?

Full party report, complete with Mayor Goodman, Peter Andre and the lovely Mel B, to come on Friday.

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Paul Oakenfold, Oscar Goodman and, um, Peter Andre Ready for London's BA Launch Party

Where: London, UK [map]
October 16, 2009 at 11:47 AM | by juliab | 0 Comments

Just nine days to go until the launch of direct British Airways from London to Vegas and we got some word about the party. It’s taking place at Studio Valbonne in the West End next Thursday, and Rain DJ Paul Oakenfold will be on the decks (the night’s doubling as a launch party for his new album Perfecto Las Vegas).

Guests of honour will be Mayor Goodman and his showgirls, Jen and Porsche, and our sources say they may well be joined by former England captain Matt Dawson, his teammates and tabloid staple Peter Andre. Not sure what any of that crowd have to do with Vegas (the rugby tournament maybe?), but until recently Peter was married to Jordan and his last business venture was MCing a male stripper show, so he should be just fine.

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Oscar Goodman Is Bringing His Showgirls To London To Christen BA's New Route

Where: London, UK [map]
October 2, 2009 at 3:17 PM | by juliab | 0 Comments

Have you heard of London's mayor Boris Johnson? He’s um, a buffoon character. Instead of neat politician hair, he has a woolly blond thatch, instead of saying bland politician things, he likes to weigh in with jokes that others sometimes take offence to, and instead of being a dull politician who nobody really cares about, Londoners either love him or hate him.

Boris likes to think he’s one of a kind, but he’s about to meet his match – Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman is crossing over the pond this month for the launch of British Airways’ direct London-Vegas flights on October 25.

Along with meeting Boris and, possibly, the Queen (he's working on that), he'll be guest of honour at an as yet top secret party.

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