Steve Friess attacked Rich Little twice the weekend before Little's wife committed suicide

In a stunningly unfortunate case of bad timing, it turns out that Las Vegas blogger, New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author, concert promoter and comp queen Steve Friess published a pair of vicious, politically-motivated attacks on the legendary comic impersonator Rich Little, just days before Little's wife committed suicide. "The Friesster," who has exerted an influence on Vegas entertainment scene through his many media connections and outlets (not to mention his relationships with Vegas moguls like Steve Wynn), slammed the 71-year-old Little on his Vegas blogsite on Saturday, July 10th, for allegedly referring to gay Congressman Barney Frank as a "queen" in a punchline during a comedy routine the previous evening at the Nevada Republican Party's annual convention.

"It seems like Little wants to make himself relevant again by stealing material, resorting to incredibly simplistic homophobic humor and polarizing audiences." --Steve Friess

The next day, Friess hit again, publishing an accusation from a "reader" who supposedly "attended Rich Little's stand-up performance at The Cannery in North Las Vegas on Saturday night," that Little had "introduced a woman in the audience who he said was the best female impersonator besides for Barney Frank." Friess also repeated the accusation from the "reader" that "Little's best impression was of Andy Rooney but that the jokes themselves were lifted verbatim from Steven Wright." Despite his reputation for cadging free show tickets, Friess did not attend either performance. In the Sunday attack, the activist Friesster revealed that his problems with Little may have less to do with the use of a "slur" than with Little's conservative political leanings and contributions to Sean Hannity events. "Rich Little is an interesting figure because he was called upon in 2007 to perform at the White House Correspondents Dinner the year after Steven Colbert's scorcher embarrassed President Bush. The reviews were brutal but he didn't do much current-event political humor then. "I'm not one to write off someone just because they're old or they've been out of the public eye for a while... But it seems like Little wants to make himself relevant again by stealing material, resorting to incredibly simplistic homophobic humor and polarizing audiences who aren't expecting to be polarized." Four days after the broadsides, Little's wife Marie Marotta was found dead in an apparent suicide. Norm Clarke of the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Sunday quoted "a friend" saying that Marie's health issues were compounded by "a tough year" for the couple, including "a dropoff in his headliner bookings in the last decade." While there is no evidence that Friess' screed contributed to the tragedy on Thursday, the postings, which are widely read among Las Vegas' business class, would certainly add to Rich Little's difficulties obtaining future headlining bookings in the city. As of this posting, Friess has not commented on Rich Little's tragedy. (Leaving aside a comedian's license to offend-- what of the word "Queen"? In a rare case in which a negative comment on Friess's site has not been censored and removed, a commenter to Friess's posts challenged the activist for holding the "old" Little to the political-correctness expected of young performers. He also questioned Friess' hypocrisy: "In 'Gay Vegas', you say 'there is nothing queer about the Four Queens, except its name'. This makes me see 'Queen' as not being insulting, yet your post about the Barney Frank joke makes me think it may be an insult. So, now I am wondering when it is OK to use 'Queen' and when it is an insult? I am especially afraid that it is never OK to use 'Queen' if the user is not gay." (Friess responded: "The use of terms/slurs by people who are part of the community or friendly to it is different.")

Rich Little's wife an apparent suicide

Rich Little says he found a suicide note along with the body of his wife in the bedroom of their dreamhouse in the Lake Sahara section of Las Vegas on Thursday. Marie Marotta apparently ended her life with an overdose of sleeping pills.

The report comes out of the 71-year-old impersonator's hometown, Ottawa, Canada, where his longtime friend, retired broadcaster Gord Atkinson, says that Marotta suffered from severe migraine headaches that sometimes "knocked her out for days.

"She left him a loving note and said that she couldn't go on."

Marotta was 45. She became Little's third wife when she married him in Hawaii in 2003. She was active in many humanitarian efforts, including working with the homeless, children in need and abused animals, and this year was inducted into the Las Vegas Walk of Stars.


Las Vegas gossip Norm Clarke quotes a "friend":

"'They've had a tough year,' alluding to Marotta's medical issues, their purchase of a dream home at the height of the local real estate run-up and a dropoff in his headliner bookings in the last decade."

Atkinson say Rich Little is "absolutely devastated."

Services are set for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Palm Mortuary on Eastern Avenue.

Rich Little made tabloid television history in 1992 when he was sued by his former girlfriend, Vegas magician Melinda Saxe, for allegedly making a secret videotape of them having sex.

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 Cañada 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.

Danny Gans book hits stores today

Danny Gans' autobiography makes its official debut in bookstores today-- the same day that Garth Brooks will announce he's starting a long run at the theatre left vacant by Danny Gans' death.

The Voices In My Head arrives five months after the Las Vegas headliner died of an overdose of the powerful opiate hydromorphone, also known as Dilaudid or "drugstore heroin." Gans' ghostwriter-turned-cowriter RG Ryan tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal what he told Tabloid Baby last month: that the book will not address Gans' drug use (or his ownership of a pharmacy supply house), but that "readers may get an idea from the book about why he took them":

"Gans sustained several injuries over the years that caused him long-term problems, including an ankle injury that ended his dreams of becoming a major league baseball player, surgeries, two car accidents and a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis."


The paper says the book "spans more than 50 years, beginning with a brief history of how his parents met and closing with a chapter about how Gans came to be headlining at Encore after a long tenure with The Mirage.

"Much of what's addressed in the book-- Gans' love of baseball, his Las Vegas resume and even his inspirations-- won't surprise readers who are familiar with the entertainer, co-writer Ryan says. But Gans told his story in a way that will enable people to understand what drove him to be the 'man of many voices' and a longtime Las Vegas headliner."

Ryan says he met Gans while exercising at a local gym 13 years ago,and that he proposed the idea for the autobiography over coffee in May 2008. The book, told in Gans' voice, was based on 15 hours of recorded conversations that Ryan transcribed and shaped.

Despite Ryan's insistence that he book was completed the day day before Danny Gans died, the Review-Journal article states that he'd completed only a "first draft" on April 30th. Ryan emailed to correct us after we reported last month that Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke wrote that a "rough draft" had been finished that day:

"The final draft was, in fact, completed at eleven AM on Thursday, April 30, 2009."

He tells the Review-Journal: "The day before he died, at 11 a.m., I sent him a text," Ryan recalls. "I just said, 'Done!!!' He wrote back, 'Great, let's get together Friday at 4 p.m.'"

The first copies of the book were made available Saturday at the Danny Gans Memorial Run for Champions. The paperback retails for $14.95 and is published by Stephens Press, a subsidiary of Stephens Media LLC, owner of the Review-Journal. It's available at Amazon.com (we're awaiting our copy), some bookstores and online at DannyGansVoices.com (see column at right).

Garth Brooks and Steve Wynn are scheduled to announcer the singer's extended stand at the Encore Theatre at one pm.

Danny Gans' ghostwriter: "Norm Clarke got it wrong! I did so complete Danny's autobiography the day before he died!"

The ghostwriter for the upcoming autobiography of the late Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans insists the book was completed the day before Danny Gans died, and that Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke was "wrong" in reporting on September 6th that he had only completed a "rough draft."

R.G. Ryan, the musician, poet and, according to Norm, former minister, who collaborated with Gans on his memoirs before the musical impressionist died suddenly at age 52 after taking the powerful opiate hydromorphone, emailed the Tabloid Baby offices to insist that this Danny Gans legend is true:

"Just read your report regarding my interview with Norm Clarke. Contrary to what he said, and what you subsequently reported, the final draft was, in fact, completed at eleven AM on Thursday, April 30, 2009. It is a well-documented fact that Norm, unfortunately got wrong. I'd appreciate a correction in your report and wished you would've asked me about it. I've been pretty open with you, don't you think?"

Ryan has indeed responded to our questions on more than one occasion, and gave his blessing for us to post the prologue to the Gans book, The Voices In My Head (we used screen grabs of the chapter from Ryan's site, which he has since removed. He also told Tabloid Baby that he finished the book at 11 am the day before Gans died.

Although he's failed to answer several queries we've emailed him in the time since, we're happy to publish anything he's got to say.

The story that Danny Gans had completed his autobiography hours before his shocking death was one of several image-burnishing stories that were circulated by his friends in the days after the tragedy. The book is set for October release. Norm is on vacation in Spain. No word whether he's issued a retraction, as he's done for past Danny Gans myths that he had floated.

Danny Gans autobiography contains chapter touching on his drug use; coauthor admits book wasn't really completed the day before Gans died

Danny Gans' ghostwriter turned co-author admits today that the musical impressionist's autobiography was not really completed the day before he died. Although the legend began on the day of the Las Vegas superstar's untimely death and has been repeated often in the months since, RG Ryan now admits that he had only finished a "rough draft" of the book-- which is now said to contain a chapter that at least touches on an explanation for Gans' secret use of painkilling drugs.

Ryan's revelation-- and the effort to address the details of Gans' untimely death in a suitable fashion-- could help explain the delay in publishing The Voices In My Head, which was snatched up within days of Gans' shocking passing on May 1st by the owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and promised for a rush-release in June (publication is now set for October).

Ryan, a local writer, poet and musician who is also billed today in Norm Clarke's Review-Journal column as a "former minister," had intimated that the delays were due to negotiations with Gans' family over his writing credit.


Ryan tells Norm that the book will include a chapter called "The Glory and The Pain," detailing Gans' "incredible struggles to overcome pain."

Writes Norm:

"The pain came not just from sports injuries, but two car accidents. One involved being rear-ended by a garbage truck about eight years ago. The other happened about five years ago when his car hit a water puddle and hydroplaned into a light pole.

"On some nights, when his pain was unbearable, Gans signaled his band leader to play a song, 'because Danny would have to run off stage and throw up,' Ryan said."

Norm reports that Ryan and Gans' estate do not go into the details of how managed that pain, or what led to the overdose of hydromorphone (described my Norm as "a powerful opiate also known as Dilaudid, the highly addictive drug... nicknamed 'drugstore heroin.'")


Ryan claims, "It never came up in our conversations (12 to 15 hours of interviews). The only thing he ever said about that to me was that he stuck to ibuprofen, because all that other stuff-- he said he had doctors prescribe heavy-duty stuff-- it dried out his voice."

"When Gans died, 'I was just as shocked as anyone else. Obviously he was taking something stronger than Motrin,' Ryan said."

Ryan tells Norm that Gans was "pushing very hard to get a number of things wrapped up. But I didn't pick up any sign that he had a premonition that he was going to die."

"Ryan described the book as a 'comprehensive, intimate look into the heart and soul of a man who, from the time he was 7 years old, was targeted to the goal of being a professional baseball player.'"

Norm also reports that Ryan "finished a rough draft the day Gans died."


A "rough draft" is usually the first version of a work that requires correcting, rewriting, revising and polishing. In the case of a book, it is far from the final, finished version.

Ryan had told us via email that the entire book "was finished at eleven AM on Thursday. We were supposed to get together at four Friday afternoon, May 1."

The autobiography myth was one of several that were spread in the hours after Gans death. Another, later retracted by Norm, was that Gans switched the final song in what was his final show from his usual medley of African American singing impressions to Bobby Darin's "The Curtain Falls."

Michael Jackson's brother hires Danny Gans' manager

There's no longer any denying an intimate relationship between the deaths of Michael Jackson and Danny Gans.


Gans' manager Chip Lightman tastefully chose the day of Michael Jackson's funeral to announce that he's been hired by Jacko's brother Jermaine to help launch a "comeback," beginning with convention and corporate bookings.


According to Norm Clarke in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Lightman (known for phoning beauty queen-turned-TV entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs in the early hours of May 1st to inform her that her good friend had been pronounced dead only minutes earlier) has not booked any Vegas gigs. Norm says Lightman "employed a similar strategy with Gans, who went on to become a Las Vegas headliner sensation.

"Lightman said Jermaine Jackson, who had limited success as a solo act, is putting together a show based on his hits (two top 10 entries), Jackson 5 hits and a tribute to Michael.

"Jermaine, who sang Michael's favorite song, 'Smile,' at his brother's memorial, plans to hire some of Michael's musicians, said Lightman.

"...Jermaine recently announced he was organizing a tribute to Michael in Vienna, Austria, and promised 1 billion TV viewers. But no family members agreed to participate.

"Larry King's wife, Shawn, was initially involved, but pulled out."


Another connection: Shawn King was set to perform with Danny Gans at the Wynn Resorts' Encore Theatre on May 2nd.

Lightman has been booking some acts into Gans' theatre at the Encore. We reported in July that he'd floated the story that he'd talking to a representative of Jackson's brothers about having them take over the empty stage.

"Appearance of conflict": Steve Friess attempts to reconcile his roles as Michael Jackson reporter and exploiter

Las Vegas blogger, New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author and comp queen Steve Friess knows he violated journalistic ethics when he produced his “Michael Jackson’s Untimely Death Was The Best Thing That Could Ever Have Happened to Michael Jackson’s Music Show” at the Palms over the weekend. This morning, in a piece called "What did I just do that for?", he calls his actions “journalistically complicated,” admits that he’s “duty-bound to stay out of the news, not to make it, to observe and analyze, not to participate,” that “the two roles caused me plenty of angst,” and that “I also knew there could be an appearance of conflict.” But no worries. Steve Friess reasons his way out of the mess! And he also promises to open his books to us... It seems that Steve Friess always has a lot of ‘splaining to do. He’s a music critic who has a severe hearing disability; a media critic who sleeps with a local television news producer; a supposedly unbiased Vegas correspondent for many out-of-town outlets who’s known to cadge free show tickets whenever relatives are in town, then mentioning the show on his blog to legitimize the scam. He’s also the guy who called us “a**hole” and other names and then attempted to have the TabloidBaby.com site shut down, after we emailed privately to ask why his colleagues in the local Las Vegas news media were not investigating the recent, very mysterious death of Strip headliner Danny Gans. In the weeks to follow, he and other Gans friends would campaign to mislead and distract from the facts about Gans’ death. After it was revealed that Gans died from a dose of Dilaudid (AKA “drugstore heroin”), he followed up with an apologia in the Las Vegas Weekly (which looks like an alternative paper but is really a screeding and story dumping ground for reporters and columnists for the daily Review-Journal and Sun and establishment freelancers like Friess) that was meant to put the matter to rest, but instead was viewed as an instant camp classic of hilarious, infuriating, self-deluding justification.

"The records of revenue and expenses will be available soon for any legitimate journalist who asks.”

This morning, it’s Michael Jackson, and how he came to cross journalistic lines, violate basic journalistic ethics and reveal a gross hypocrisy by promoting a Michael Jackson “tribute” show while simultaneously covering the federal probe of his death, and negotiating and schmoozing with Jacko’s father and associates after writing that "Michael Jackson’s untimely death was the best thing that could ever have happened to Michael Jackson’s music." Friess claims it was magical serendipity after a performer named Erich Bergen, whom Friess says he befriended after devoting a column to him) “tweeted something vague about wanting to do a tribute show… and I called Erich to find out more.” And just like that: “I was suddenly co-producer of a benefit that, at that point, we thought would maybe fill the Liberace Museum showroom. “Whoa! Aren’t I a journalist? Aren’t I duty-bound to stay out of the news, not to make it, to observe and analyze, not to participate? “Fair questions, all. And given what has happened to the Jackson story since then—that the death is considered a homicide and that a Vegas doctor is at the probe’s epicenter—those questions are even more pertinent. But when this started, it was a few days after Jackson’s death, and nobody I knew imagined it would be a criminal matter. It took weeks before any national media outlet recruited me to dig into Dr. Conrad Murray’s background and a month before his office and home were raided…” As Fries says: “Whoa!” “When this started, it was a few days after Jackson’s death, and nobody I knew imagined it would be a criminal matter”? Friess has tried that line in his own column, and still rings demonstrably untrue. The LAPD was all over Jackson’s death from the moment his doctor, Conrad Murray, ran away from the emergency room of UCLA Medical Center within minutes of the official death call. Police towed Murray’s car from Jackson’s driveway that very first day with full knowledge that Jackson’s death was suspicious and by the time Friess announced his Jacko show, the investigation was in full swing and publicized widely Friess gets to the point when he claims: “When I informed my editors at various outlets of the concert, they just told me not to write about it in their publications. Good help, evidently, is hard to find in Vegas.” Once again, Tabloid Baby was the only journalistic organization to criticize Friess for covering the investigation of Dr. Murray after celebrating Jackson’s death in print and then churning up a money-making scheme to capitalize it. Friess ignored our requests for comment. At one point, he emailed us an hysterical attack. Yet, he reveals this morning that he took our criticism to heart: “The two roles caused me plenty of angst. I knew there was a distinction between a charity show and a death investigation, but I also knew there could be an appearance of conflict. I don’t dismiss such concerns— they’re valid and part of every journalism school’s curriculum— but it’s telling that every nonjournalist I groused to viewed one as having little to do with the other. Did putting on a show have any bearing whatsoever on the criminal probe, or vice versa? Of course not. I agree that journalists shouldn’t become involved in political causes, but must we never do charitable works?” Let’s put aside the encouragement Friess says he received from the “nonjournalists” he associates with in Las Vegas. “Did putting on a show have any bearing whatsoever on the criminal probe, or vice versa?” We’d say the question deserves more debate than the “of course not” Friess inserts before the reader can make up his or her mind: Steve Friess was assigned by the New York Times on July 28th to cover the probe of Las Vegas doctor Conrad Murray in regard to alleged illegal prescriptions and the possible homicide of Michael Jackson. Friess, who wrote on his blog that he spent time “chilling” in the newsvan of the local NBC affiliate (“Miles’ TV station”—Miles being his unofficial husband). On July 11th, Friess’ friend and mouthpiece Norm Clarke had written in the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “How widespread has the practice of doctor-shopping become in Las Vegas? Will the investigation into Jackson's prescription drug abuse lead back to the Las Vegas medical community, given Jackson spent a good deal of time here in recent years?” Surely. a probe that exposed widespread prescription abuse among Las Vegas entertainers would harm Friess' show. Any local show business criminal probe, especially one related to Michael Jackson, could have bearing on his ticket sales. Friess went beyond reporter’s role on August 19th when, on his blog he criticized ABC News for assigning a reporter to cover Dr. Murray's movements.

"Any credible reporter could have quizzed me"

Then again, Friess admits more while again attempting to justify his actions:: “True, we relied on contributions from many whom I cover, but that cut both ways. Erich did virtually all of the asking, often leaving me out of it to avoid being denied because of something I had written. My coverage has accrued me plenty of detractors in the hotel and show industries, a fact I wear as a badge. I avoided offering myself for interviews until the last week, when Erich became overwhelmed with creative duties. Not because I feared journalistic criticism—any credible reporter could have quizzed me, but only one, my own Weekly colleague John Katsilometes, did—but because I thought I could harm the effort.” Again, Friess is not being candid. The credible journalists at TabloidBaby.com have criticized and quizzed Friess for weeks, sending him lists of questions and interview requests that he ignored before Katsilometes took them to the source. Thanks, Kats.

“I co-produced this show to learn what it takes to put on a production like those I cover. To me, this was the equivalent of a cop reporter going to the police academy.”

Friess winds up with two final stabs at justifying his actions. One is an alternative reason for putting on the show: “I co-produced this show to raise money for kids, but also to learn what it takes to put on a production like those I cover. To me, this was the equivalent of a cop reporter going to the police academy. In this crash course, I learned the costs of everything involved with putting on just one show, much of which never occurred to me, and discovered all the legal and logistical elements of such an effort..." The other is an ungracious attack on those who didn't go along with his plans, as if his use of obscenity would somehow prove he's still got his journalistic cred: “…I also learned who in Vegas is for real and who is full of shit. That means those of you who claimed you could get us Celine Dion, Brandon Flowers and even Taylor Dayne. That means you, ‘journalists’ from TMZ, who promised coverage when really you were gunning so obviously for an entirely different story. That means you, singer Earl Turner…” Friess ends with a promise, though with a caveat that he’s bound to use as an excuse: "The records of revenue and expenses will be available soon for any legitimate journalist who asks.” As soon as this item posts, we will “ask” for the revenue and expense report. We expect that Friess will refuse us. We will, however, obtain the records and present them to you. So in the end, does Steve Friess realize that his actions in the Danny Gans and Michael Jackson cases hurt his credibility and legitimacy? Sure. But in Las Vegas, does it matter? Probably not. Friess can say anything he wants in today's column because he's protected by the code he revealed in his Danny Gans apologia: "In Las Vegas, when left to our own devices, we do things a little differently.” Read Steve Friess’ entire Michael Jackson apologia here. We welcome your comments.

The Kats' out of the bag about Steve Friess' Las Vegas "tribute" to Michael Jackson

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Rolling out act after self-congratulatory act while a flurry of tweets about its wonderfulness was unleashed by its producer and his friends, beauty queen-turned televisioon entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs and Norm Clarke of The Las Vegas Review-Journal, the “Michael Jackson’s Untimely Death Was The Best Thing That Could Ever Have Happened To Michael Jackson’s Music Show" went off as scheduled at the Palms resort in Las Vegas yesterday-- but not without some serious questions aimed at its producer and promoter, Las Vegas blogger, New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author and comp queen Steve Friess.

The questions came from Tabloid Baby.

Friess gave his answers to the Las Vegas Sun.

One thing the Danny Gans case has made clear is that journalists working in Las Vegas read Tabloid Baby, and while some curse us for calling them out on their cowardly refusal to investigate the big questions while hyping some questionable enterprises, they do take our criticism to heart-- and when they can slip it past their editors, take up our challenge.


In this case it was John Katsilometes of the Las Vegas Sun who, in a promotional piece on the Jackson "tribute," cornered Friess about his obvious conflict of interest, if not the bizarre notion of his producing a "tribute" that he insisted was not a tribute to Jacko the man, even though the tribute took place on Jacko's birthday, with Jacko's father as a guest.

Kats gets Friess to answer the questions we have asked in this space, and in many unanswered emails to Friess, including:

Was Joe Jackson paid to attend the tribute?

How much does he plan to raise in total?

How much money will go to ""production costs" and expenses?

Either Katsilometes asked the questions or Friess used the friendly reporter to give his answers, unchallenged.

Writes Kats:

"Friess finds himself performing something of a moonwalk between the Jackson death investigation and the Palms benefit. His role in covering the Vegas angle of the Jackson story has coincided with his involvement in organizing a charity show that is essentially authorized by the Jackson family. Friess, who writes regularly for Las Vegas Weekly (a Greenspun Media Group publication) among his freelance gigs, allows that it has been an interesting summer ever since the details of Jackson’s death spilled out to include Las Vegas.

“'There’s no doubt it’s weird for me,” Friess said today. 'When this was conceived, it was just a couple of days after his death. Nobody believed it would be a homicide at that point, that it would be anything this controversial connected to Las Vegas... Journalists don’t have to divorce themselves from their communities.' (Friess plans to write of his shifting between journalist and benefit producer in next week’s L.V. Weekly.)

"Friess finds himself performing a moonwalk
between the Jackson death investigation
and the Palms benefit. His role in covering
the Vegas angle of the Jackson story
has coincided with his involvement in
organizing a charity show that is essentially
authorized by the Jackson family."
--Las Vegas Sun

"Soon after Jackson’s death, Friess was approached by Bergen, a friend who is a lifelong Jackson fan, to assist in organizing the benefit show. Bergen has invoked an audio clip of himself at age 4 singing 'Man in the Mirror' during his performances at the Liberace Museum and has written a piece for the Sun relating Jackson’s influence on his career. It was Bergen who first thought to turn Jackson’s untimely death into a means of raising money for local arts programs, and both organizers have said that the show is to honor the creative work, not the mercurial and ultimately tragic lifestyle, of Jackson.

"At this writing, about $90,000 in advance ticket sales have been raised, Friess said. The goal is $100,000... Friess says that all money taken in after production costs will be donated to the Public Education Foundation to fill such needs as instruments, maintenance of instruments, sheet music, supplies and specialized tutoring (the books will be opened to anyone who wants to review how the money was allotted, he said, adding that the Jacksons did not ask for fees to appear at the show or dedication ceremony)."

If Steve Friess is indeed writing another apologia for his actions in the Las Vegas Weekly, we hope it is as amusing and mind-boggling as his "A Fine Restraint" excuse for not investigating the death of local superstar Danny Gans.

Meanwhile, we should point out that Michael Jackson's death was suspicious from the start, his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray of Las Vegas, was sought for questioning from day one, after he disappeared from the emergency room hours after Jacko's death, and Friess, who wrote in the Weekly's July 2nd issue that "Michael Jackson’s untimely death was the best thing that could ever have happened to Michael Jackson’s music," was covering the Las Vegas investigation of Murray weeks after he began producing the birthday part for the man whose "baggage" he claimed "imprisoned and stigmatized" his "product."

Money questions haunt the “Michael Jackson’s Untimely Death Was The Best Thing That Could Ever Have Happened To Michael Jackson’s Music Show" in Vegas

With Las Vegas columnist Norm Clarke confirming that Michael Jackson's father Joe Jackson "has committed to attending" the controversial “Michael Jackson’s Untimely Death Was The Best Thing That Could Ever Have Happened To Michael Jackson’s Music Show" at the Palms on Saturday afternoon, new questions are being raised about the "costs" of the concert and what the pre-net money is being spent on.

The show's producer and promoter, Las Vegas blogger, New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author and comp queen Steve Friess, promises in a recent press release that "100% of the proceeds after costs benefit music education programming in Clark County Public Schools" --while at the same time "raising funds to help kids across the U.S."

As more local entertainers are joining the afternoon lineup on August 29th-- Jacko's birthday-- it's unclear how much money is being spent on the show and "after party"-- and whether anyone is being paid for appearing. The involvement of Joe Jackson brings the issue to a head, in light of reports that he was paid by the city of Gary, Indiana to appear at a Jacko tribute there.


Friess, who had celebrated Jackson's June 25th death as "the best thing that could ever have happened to Michael Jackson's music" and led the media coverup in reporting the prescription painkiller death of local superstar Danny Gans, was among the first in the nation to rush to capitalize on Jackson's death by scheduling the tribute show for a "tribute" show that he has pointedly insisted "will commemorate and celebrate Jackson’s art" and not his life.

Friess has claimed that he hopes to "to raise $100,000 for public schools music programs," but he has not revealed how much he hopes to raise through ticket ales and donations.


On Monday, August 17th, Friess wrote on his blogsite about his meeting with Joe Jackson at the Palms, and while he did not go into specifics about what it took to get Jackson to "promise to get to the Palms for at least the end of our show" and "the after-party," he did admit to blurring his roles as journalist and concert producer by selling to the New York Daily News the personal information Joe Jackson revealed during the negotiations.


The afternoon event at the Palms Hotel & Casino has grown in scope as it is being bunched with other local tributes, including the declaration of "Michael Jackson Day" in Las Vegas and the appearance of Joe Jackson and former manager Frank Dileo a special celebrity star tribute at a theatre at the Palms.


Friess has raised eyebrows as he covers the Las Vegas angle of the Jackson story for The New York Times while doing business with Joe Jackson and other members of the Jackson family. He recently criticized ABC News for stationing a stringer outside the home of Dr. Conrad Murray, who's being investigated in Jackson's death.

We've reached out to Steve Friess for comment, but he has not responded.

Las Vegas keeping an eye on Tabloid Baby

"Hello Tabloid Baby!"

They're not talking, but they're watching.

The group of Las Vegas journalists who tried their darndest to keep the secret life of superstar Danny Gans from being investigated or revealed in the weeks before the coroner confirmed his death by Dilaudid overdose is keeping close tabs on Tabloid Baby's coverage of their unusual Michael Jackson tribute show.

Beauty queen turned TV entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs, who literally took out a Bible during a news report to demonstrate the clean-living spirituality of her longtime close personal friend, referenced Tabloid Baby in a Twitter message early this morning.


Jacobs was bragging that she had been a guest at a roast for Harrah's Las Vegas president Don Marrandino over the weekend, seated with New York Times stringer, Guy Vegas author, comp queen (as exemplified in this case) and Jackson show producer Steve Friess (who led the campaign to quell Gans coverage) and Norm Clarke, the ubiquitous Las Vegas Review-Journalist gossip columnist who went to print with whatever Jacobs and Friess gave him-- and who revealed that the Marrandino was attended by "500 high rollers" along with the Gans trio.


Listing Friess, Norm as among the "fav pals" she "hung" with, she added somewhat defensively: "Hello Tabloid Baby!"

Hello, Ms. Jacobs.

(As of now, no Las Vegas journalist has written or broadcast a definitive, no-holds barred examination of the circumstances of Danny Gans' life and death.)

Las Vegas media's Danny Gans death coverup mob join forces to promote Michael Jackson birthday "tribute" concert

The group that allied to mislead the public about the life and death of Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans is joining forces for the August 29th Las Vegas “tribute” concert to Michael Jackson.

The benefit show at the Palms Hotel and Casino (where Jackson last recorded) on what would have been Jacko’s 51st birthday is produced and being promoted by Steve Friess, the New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author, local entertainment blogger and comp queen, who attacked Tabloid Baby, and made attempts to have this site shut down, because we were investigating the mysterious death of Gans on May 1st, and who, in the days following Jackson’s death, applauded the tragedy as “the best thing that could ever have happened to Michael Jackson’s music.”


According to a press release issued yesterday, the 3 pm show at the Pearl showroom will feature video montages and “cast members of Jersey Boys, Lion King, Peepshow and Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular.”backed by a 10-piece band comprised of musicians led by Las Vegas’ own Joey Melotti.”

Tickets, which go on sale Saturday, are $29, $54, $79, $104 and $129, “plus applicable box office fees. A VIP package is available for $504.” Proceeds are said to go to “Music Education programming in Clark County Public Schools.”


Details of the show were promoted on television this week by Alicia Jacobs, the beauty queen turned entertainment reporter who was Gans’ longtime close personal friend and who, with Gans’ manage Chip Lightman, led a spin campaign to divert attention from Gans’ drug use that led to his death by overdose of the powerful painkiller hydromorphone. Jacobs’ boss, KVBC News executive producer Miles Smith, is Friess’ unofficial husband (the couple were married at the Palms, though same-sex unions are not sanctioned in Nevada).


Friess’ show was announced last week by Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke. (whose paper has deliberately downplayed the Gans story). In the weeks before the cause of Gans’ death was announced, Clarke was used by Jacobs and Lightman to plant items that painted Gans as a clean-living, drug free, and spiritual figure.

Friess came to our attention in the days following Gans’ death, when he launched a vicious public attack against Tabloid Baby (and took steps to have this site shut down) after our correspondent emailed to ask why the local news media was not investigating the circumstances of Gans’ tragic death. Friess later admitted he knew of rumours that Gans was a steroid user, and that he was involved in spreading false stories about the tragedy to throw reporters off the scent.

Not Michael Jackson, but Danny Gans in an incredible simulation

While Friess has switched his “journalist” hat for one of show promoter, most of the talk in Las Vegas media circles concern his motivations for celebrating Jackson’s birthday, since he has expressed a disdain for the life of the late singer.

Some suggest it would be more appropriate for him to take the time to plan a tribute to Danny Gans, whose birthday is October 25th.

(Tabloid Baby classic: Click here to read "The Danny Gans daisy chain: Steve and Chip and Alicia and Norm and Miles and--")