Dance fever contagious at this show

The disco version of Spinal Tap, the faux heavy metal band, will test the Las Vegas entertainment waters this weekend.

Dr. Zhivegas, a St. Louis-based dance band, debuts its high-energy disco-cover act Saturday night at Green Valley Ranch’s Ovation lounge.

If they’re a hit, they’ll be back — maybe for an extended stay.

“Bar none, this is the best live performance I’ve ever seen,” says Judy Alberti, vice president of entertainment for Station Casinos.

Alberti discovered the duo Zowie Bowie and brought them to Red Rock Resort a couple of years ago, and the act, which features dance music that spans several generations, has become one of the most popular in the valley.

Zowie Bowie is leaving Station Casinos for the Palms and Dr. Zhivegas could fill the void if it catches on the way it has in the Midwest, where it performs more than 200 engagements a year at casinos, clubs and theaters.

“We’re always trying to canvass the country to see what’s out there, what’s popular regionally that we might be able to bring to Las Vegas,” Alberti says. “Sometimes we like to bring something new to the market, something fresh.”

Alberti says she heard about Dr. Zhivegas, a four-piece band fronted by vocalist Frankie Muriel, through friends in St. Louis.

“I also heard about a couple of other bands so I flew to St. Louis to check all of them out,” she says. “And these guys knocked me out. There are lines out the door to get in to see these guys.”

They’re so popular it was difficult to get them out here for the showcase, even though it could lead to more engagements.

“The band is booked a year in advance,” Alberti says. “They’re such an anomaly. Frankie, the lead singer, is like a young version of Robert Plant doing Earth, Wind & Fire and Kool and the Gang. It’s just a big party. It’s nothing like you’ve ever seen in Las Vegas. People love it. It hearkens back to the days when lounges were strong.”

Muriel says the band started out as a spoof in St. Louis 12 years ago. Its members were all with different rock bands. Muriel thought it would be fun to do old disco music from the ’70s and ’80s in the style of a rock band.

“We weren’t serious about it at all,” he says. “We just thought it would be fun to play these songs we remember from when we were little kids, the music of our older brothers and sister.”

The musicians got together and jammed and their popularity exploded almost immediately, like spontaneous combustion.

At first, Muriel says, the act was full of shtick and cheesy, but now the cheese is gone and they take themselves seriously, but in a fun way.

“We just play dance music from the ’70s, ’80s and some from the ’90s,” Muriel says. “It’s a very high-energy show. We really come out of the gate strong and we don’t stop. We structure the set the same way the disco DJs did it, one song blends into the next.”

The name? One of the band members came up with Dr. Zhivegas — combining Dr. Zhivago and Las Vegas.

“We cracked up when we heard it,” Muriel says. “But I guess now that we’re coming to Vegas it’s pretty appropriate.”

IF YOU GO

Who: Dr. Zhivegas

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: Green Valley Ranch, Ovation

Admission: Free



Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at [e-mail].