THE VEGAS THROWBACK: BOBBY BARRETT

'OCEAN'S THIRTEEN' WEEK CONTINUES!

Almost 10 years ago I stumbled upon an awesome crooner at The Brown Derby in Vegas named Bobby Barrett. It was after a show and we were looking for something to do. Eventually, my chick found a listing touting a 'Sinatra Singer' in a local entertainment mag. While I'm not down with Sinatra-esque singers on the whole, this guy was different and the Derby bar was right out of Hollywood in the '30s. I entered a time capsule. Tiled floor, wood as far as the eye can see, caricatures all over the wall, circular red leather booths. The whole bit.

And then there was Bobby Barrett. What struck me most about him were his mannerisms, which these so-called Sinatra Singers never quite get. It takes alot more than throwing a trenchcoat over your shoulder. You either have it or you don't. Bobby had it.

In between songs, he'd light a cigarette, chat with people in the Derby lounge and really sound like Sinatra. Sinatra talking! You see, Bobby was from Boston and he had that that hard-edged city voice full of smoke and bourbon. Sinatra had that same gruff sound to his voice. And the fact that Bobby knew the entire Chairman catalog was just plain icing.

Here's an interview I did with him a few years back. Last I heard he was in Phoenix, giving his throat and voice a much-needed rest.

Here's to you Bobby!

-- Enjoy
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The Throwback: Bobby Barrett

The Sands and its swingin’ Copa Room may be long gone, but its legacy of Frank Sinatra is more than alive and well thanks to crooner Bobby Barrett. The 41 year-old stylist is on a mission to keep the coo-coo days of the Rat Pack alive and well thanks to his a reverent Sinatra tribute show at Casa di Amore in Las Vegas that packs them in weekly. Discovered singing karaoke at a bar in his native Boston, he arrived in Vegas in 1997 for a local production of "Joey and Maria's Italian Wedding" and hasn’t left since. As for his Sinatra? His mannerisms suggest the cool tuxedoed Frank of the early JFK ‘60s and as he croons half-way through “Witchcraft,” there’s damn charisma and swagger in the room to match the chairman broad-for-broad. We recently caught up with Barrett after his show and over a Jack Daniels discussed old Vegas, lounge culture and P. Diddy.

Chillingly enough, the night you started your first big casino gig at the Brown Derby (in the MGM Grand) Sinatra had died.
My first night on the strip... I called them to cancel and they said that there were tons of calls to see if I was going on. Most of them were actually coming from friends of Frank who were in town for his celebrity golf fundraiser. When he died, it sort of turned into a memorial.

So were you nervous at that point?
You kiddin' me? Sure, I was. Guys like Hal Linden and Robert Goulet and Gregory Peck were all around.

What's the most requested Sinatra tune?
It's got to be "My Way." It's a great tune because it has so many memories for people and evokes so many feelings that there's no way I could ever dread doing that song night after night.

To that effect, what do you dread doing?
"New York, New York" another gigantic request.

It’s obvious that you know tons about Sinatra since you often tell great anecdotes about the tunes and the man. How big a Sinatraphile are you?
Huge. It’s been avid ever since I was a little kid. My mom was into all the old-standbys like Frank, Jimmy Roselli, Dino. The Italian side of my family dug that stuff.

You have quite a following on the Vegas circuit virtually through word-of-mouth. You can't visit a chat board and not see a mention of Bobby Barrett. Just today, I found a web page of someone describing their Sin City excursion mentioning you in what seemed to be German?
Really? That's unbelievable. But on the flipside, I guess I can believe it because when we were at the Derby we had regulars from all over. Scotland was also huge and of course Britain and Australia.

Are there any Bobby Barrett groupies or bobby soxers out there?
I hate to call them that but yeah, they've become friends, actually. They're certainly loyal and if I do four nights straight, some of them are usually there. I think the reason why they dig the act so much is that they've said that I remind them of Old Vegas.

That said, do you think Frank would've liked modern day Sin City?
Hmmm ... that's a tough question but ... (emphatically) no. It's just too family-oriented. Essentially I think Old Vegas was a place for Sinatra to go with his friends and sin for a couple of days.

When you were at the Brown Derby at the MGM it was like gangbusters every night. They even had you up on the jumbotron outside and you're packing them in. One night, Frank Sinatra, Jr. shows up.
It's funny that I remember this but I was singing "It Was a Very Good Year" and one of the Derby managers whispers in my ear that Frank Jr. is on the way down.

Are you kidding? As you were singing he tells you this?
Yeah... It was like telling your pitcher he's got a no-hitter going. So here I am all anxious and Junior comes walking in with his wife. Behind him is Bill Miller (Sinatra's accompanist) as well as an entourage of around 20 people including David Arquette and some other celebs I probably didn't recognize --

-- I'm sorry, did you just say David Arquette was in Frank Sinatra Jr's entourage?
Yeah. Can you imagine that?

It's just an odd combo wouldn't you say?
Incongruous...

Did Junior have an opinion of the act?
Well, he didn't talk to me or anything but I the maitre d' said, "I hope the music is to your liking..." and Junior answered, "Well, that Bobby does a fine job" or something to that effect...

Well that's sort of bland, huh?
Of course, I can't quote him directly but that's what I was told.

After your gig at MGM, you landed in many lavish strip lounges (from Bally's to Treasure Island). But it seems that these days that old school casino lounge is a dying breed.
It almost seems that lounges are an afterthought now. When they were more prominent, they were actually one of the big draws of a casino -- the lounge and its entertainment. It's unfortunate. Many of the people that are doing the hiring now are very young and don't understand that.

These days, turntables seem to be more important than a great crooner.
Yeah, everything changes. Way back, every hotel had their own house band.

Red Norvo at the Sands, Louie Prima at the Stardust…
Exactly. You just don't have that any more. It mostly boils down to technology, price and feasibility. If they (execs) think they can save a few thousand bucks or whatever [by hiring a deejay] than that's what they'll do.

Hip Hop mogul P. Diddy and actor Ashton Kutcher have recently styled themselves in the vein of the Rat Pack and actually going as far as tagging themselves that.
-- Are they really doing that?

Yep. The fact that they're friends I’d say is odd enough.
I guess when they accomplish the things that those guys have, maybe they'll have a right to say that. Personally, I don't think they've remotely touched on the caliber of anything they've done in terms of music or even movies.

So is Frankie somewhere rolling over in his grave?
Rolling over? Nah. He's probably laughing somewhere saying, "What are they nuts?!"