Famed Vegas showman Anderson plans 23 impressions in return

By: John Katsilometes | Las Vegas Review-Journal

We set the clocks back one hour over this past weekend.

We’re setting them back decades next weekend.

Famed Las Vegas vocal impressionist Bob Anderson is once more summoning legends who played the Strip in its golden era of showroom and lounge entertainment. He’s promising 23 interpretations when he plays the Copa at Bootlegger Bistro at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (go to bootleggerlasvegas.com/entertainment or call 702.609.3390 for intel).

“My Promise To Sinatra” is the title, referring to a conversation between Anderson and Frank Sinatra at Sands Atlantic City in 1994.

Anderson tells the story often. The entertainer promised Sinatra on Old Blue Eyes’ farewell tour that he would keep alive Sinatra’s music, and that of the Great American Songbook. The man who told me a decade ago “I’m the last of the supper-club singers,” is sharing that message.

Anderson will share tales and sing the songs of such enduring figures as Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Tom Jones, Ray Charles and Andy Williams. He’s also planning to evoke Wayne Newton, Neil Diamond, Julio Iglesias, Jack Jones, Barry Manilow, Tony Orlando and Engelbert Humperdinck in his 23-pack of tributes.

Anderson is backed by Vegas greats Patrick Hogan (piano), Bob Sachs (bass), Bob Chmel (drums) and Jason Corpuz (keys).

There shall be a red carpet … What else? Ah, the Anderson ticket package includes a tray pass of Italian hors d’oeuvres, and a meet-and-greet with the headliner.

Anderson was a Strip favorite through the ’70s and ’80s, playing the Sahara, Desert Inn, Caesars Palace and for a decade at Top of the Dunes.

In his heyday Anderson appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show” and “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” His “Frank: The Man. The Music” tribute ran for about a year into November 2015 at Palazzo Theater.

The show shut down just short of Sinatra’s 100th birthday, a bummer for fans who wanted the show to run at least through that benchmark.

Anderson has since run a version of the Sinatra show for a night at Carnegie Hall, realizing his own dream to sing as Sinatra in the fabled theater. Since, Anderson has returned to his supper-club roots in Vegas, playing Italian American Club Showroom, and now the Copa.

The veteran showman was also in the lineup for the event at Caesars Palace in September, where nearly 300 couples took part in a vow renewal celebrating Las Vegas’ 70th anniversary as the “wedding capital of the world.”

It was a vow renewal for some 250 couples, and also for Anderson, who is forever wed to this city.