Poker News

Len Butcher

You’d think after living in the desert for 29 years that I would get used to our summers, but I guess it’s no different than people living in places like Buffalo or Fargo, ND who never get used to the winters. It is HOT here, my friends, 110-plus every day, but, as we love to brag, “No humidity.”

So how does that differ from Houston or New Orleans where it looks like you’re taking a shower while walking down the street? Well, picture sticking your head in a 400-degree oven and you’ll kind of get an idea. Why am I telling you all this? Because it’s midnight, the temp’s 104, and the weatherman is calling for 117 tomorrow, so I’m a bit grumpy and I know that the main topic of conversation with all of us is the weather, no matter where we live.

Now that I’ve brightened your day, let’s see what’s going on in our town. Magician Lance Burton will be holding his annual benefit, Lance Burton and Friends, on Sunday July 31, to raise funds for the Zelzah Shrine Temple at Mesquite & Rancho in Las Vegas. All of the monies raised will be donated to the transportation fund to aid the hundreds of children who are clients of The Shriners in Las Vegas. The coach buses transport the children with medical problems and their parents to the Shriners Hospital in Los Angeles.

This year’s lineup includes performances by Burton, comedy-magician Fielding West, magician Nathan Burton, Drew & Angela Dicostanzo — aka DV8 Reality Magic and puppeteer Anthony Rais with Totolino. It all starts at 5 p.m. in the Lance Burton Theatre in the Monte Carlo. Tickets are $27.50 for balcony and $35 for the lower level. Call 702-382-5554 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Monday thru Friday to get your tickets. It’s going to be a great show and you’ll be helping a good cause.

Around the country, there’s some pretty good entertainment out there for you to see if your in the neighborhood. Country legend Loretta Lynn will be at the Turning Stone Casino in upstate New York Aug. 11 and she’s as good as she ever was.

I happen to love country music and country singers. I’ve always found them friendlier than most folks I meet and as down to earth as you can get.

Loretta Lynn’s no different. I’ve never had the chance to interview her, but did meet her a number of years ago, and according to her friends, what you see is what you get. If that’s the case, you’re getting a lot.

This straight-talkin’ women-liberatin’ song-writin’ country-western star rose up from poverty to become one of the most popular and influential singers of our time. She was born in Butcher’s Hollow, Kentucky on April 14 in 1935 and over her long career paved the way for women in the man’s world of country music.

While pretty, she wasn’t a staggering beauty, and while successful, she did have real-life problems to deal with, including having to raise six kids and handle a drinking, sometimes wayward, husband. When Loretta sang songs about divorce, men who drink, and the pill, she gave voice to women who were starting to find their strength, women who couldn’t identify with other famous women singers of the times like raucous Janis Joplin, or psychedelic Grace Slick. And Loretta’s message was even stronger because she didn’t just sing those controversial songs, she wrote them. Loretta established herself in a field — country/western music — that didn’t have many successful women.

Thanks to Loretta’s pioneering work in the ’60s, great stars like Dolly Parton and Tanya Tucker were able to flourish in the ’70s. Tanya, in a TV interview, said Loretta “was one of the first to tell it like it is.”

Tammy Wynette said, “Loretta definitely paved the way for me, I was always so proud of Loretta, she was so honest, she was so sincere.” And in the ’80s, none other than President George Bush summed up her impact succinctly: “Loretta is as close as you get to a household word in this country.”

Loretta, not surprisingly, remains humbled by the acclaim: “I don’t believe in stars, except the ones you can look up and see.” It’sthe kinda gal she is. Don’t miss this chance to see her.

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