1999-2010

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Keepers of Danny Gans' secrets gather


The Las Vegas Strip did not dim its lights to mark the first anniversary of the passing of the man who was the entertainment and gambling mecca's greatest homegrown superstar, but there were some who took time to remember the life and legacy of Danny Gans.

Norm Clarke tells us that friends and colleagues of the late musical impressionist gathered yesterday afternoon at his grave at Palm Memorial Park on Eastern Avenue. About a dozen people attended the 2 p.m. tribute, and it is that story-shifting inner circle, the ones who hold the secrets of his life and death, whose names stand out. Among them:


Chip Lightman, his longtime manager who says he received a phone call from Gans' wife Julie in the early hours of May 1, 2009, telling him that Gans had died hours earlier;


...Alicia Jacobs, the beauty queen-turned-television entertainment reporter for local station KVBC-TV, who touted her close friendship with Gans and was the first person Lightman notified of the death that morning (around the same time that paramedics arrived at Gans' Henderson estate);


...R.G. Ryan, who collaborated on Gans' posthumous autobiography, The Voices In My Head, and who's refused to comment on the controversy regarding the timeline of Gans' demise or the drug use that led to it; his assistants and members of his band and crew.


Gans' wife and family packed up and moved from Las Vegas to La CaƱada Flintridge, California, outside Los Angeles shortly after his death, which occurred about three months after he opened at Steve Wynn's Wynn Las Vegas hotel and casino.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We now interrupt the “Danny Gans Memorial Page” to announce that a member of acting “Royalty” has succumbed to breast cancer

Lynn Redgrave lost her battle with breast cancer on Sunday May 2nd at her home in Kent Conn.

Redgrave was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2002, had a mastectomy in January 2003 and underwent chemotherapy
Her death comes a year after her niece Natasha Richardson died from head injuries sustained in a skiing accident and just a month after the death of her older brother, Corin Redgrave.
Lynn Redgrave is survived by six grandchildren, her sister Vanessa, and four nieces and nephews

A private funeral with be held later this week.

Read more: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/36915675/ns/today-entertainment/#ixzz0mtu3lm8v

We now return you to your regularly scheduled obsession

Anonymous said...

I wish to offer my sincere condolences to his wife especially and also his close friends. I too lost my husband so I know just how very hard it is. May God Bless You and Your's I pray somehow someday you are able to remember the good times and smile, I still have a really hard time, I know you must miss him. I think it was terrible they didn't dim the lights he surely deserved at the very least the dimming of the lights. I don't think they care about anything or anyone, remember when Roy was hurt, oh we will never take down the sign, heck a week later down it came if it took them that long, money its all any of them care about. They have to face their maker then they'll be really sorry! I really do believe that with all my heart and soul!