As the song goes, Kenny Davidsen had us feelin’ all right.
Davidsen has helmed the interactive piano bar Don’t Tell Mama at two locations since moving to Las Vegas in 2011, first on Fremont East and, since 2019, at Neonopolis.
But the popular club showman has confirmed the club’s heartbreaking finale will be Feb. 14.
“It’s devastating for all of us who have been associated with this club, both past and present,” Davidsen said in a Facebook post Saturday afternoon. The seemingly tireless singer and musician had played the New York location since August 2001, before moving to the city with his parents a decade later.
Don’t Tell Mama’s owners, Minh and Joanna Pham, ran the club during its entire run in Las Vegas. As Joanna Pham noted Saturday, the business suffered a comparative decline in pedestrian traffic after moving from Fremont East, where Cheapshot now stands, to the less-busy Neonopolis complex. The move to Neonopolis was forced when the Pham’s lease on Fremont East expired in 2018.
“We had six months to move, and had to find a place close, and Neonopolis was the closest available for us to move into,” Joanna Pham said. “I didn’t realize, even after 10 years, how important that location was.”
The couple has been working nonstop for 17 years. Minh Pham was customarily set up at the door, welcoming customers. The couple installed a small pizza oven at the location during COVID, to be allowed to present live entertainment as long as food was offered.
“We worked without a break,” Joanna Pham said. “We ran the business for a long time, successfully. We don’t want people to think we failed. We don’t think we failed.”
Neonopolis owner Rohit Joshi said Saturday the general business climate for small shows undercut the club, saying Saturday, “Current economic conditions for entertainment or retail are such that it was the right time to get out,”
The complex operator said he had been working with the Hahns for several months to adjust rent to keep the club going, but even that process did not change the business’s economic prospects.
On a personal note, Joshi said, “The Phams have been fantastic tenants. Nobody has worked harder than they have at their business.” There is no concrete plan for who or what will move into the street-level space.
The club’s concept was a rotation of pianists, with a staff or bartenders and professional singers alternating between the stage and bar. A mic next to the piano was open for audience members of all artistic merit. There was no cover charge, but one tip jar was routinely passed through the crowd and another hanging at the piano.
Several bartenders/singers gained the skills to perform in shows around Las Vegas, on cruise ships and touring shows.
“Don’t Tell Mama has been a springboard for many performers here in Vegas,” Davidsen posted. “It’s a training ground for up and coming singers and pianists to gain their confidence and figure out their on-stage personality. If I listed all of the names of our former employees, you’d be astounded.”
Davidsen has four nights remaining after his Saturday show. He continues to pilot his no-cover, Bowtie Cabaret shows Friday night at Tuscany’s Piazza Lounge, and is the bandleader for Mark Shunock’s Mondays Dark charity shows on alternate weeks. But the piano man is a free agent with this entertainment concept.
“The dream is to find a place on the Strip that wants to take a chance on this type of format,” Davidsen said in a phone chat Saturday. “You either can completely put me in charge, or you can get somebody that we know in charge. You hire singing bar staff. You hire piano players that work both as entertainers and accompanists, so that they know to do how to do both jobs. And you advertise it as open mic to anybody who wants to come in and sing.”
The Valentine’s Day closing show runs until 2 a.m., or early morning Feb. 15. It might stretch into sunrise. This is an open party, no format, but feel free to cut loose with such “Sweet Caroline,” “Piano Man,” and “Friends In Low Places,” forever the soundtrack of Don’t Tell Mama.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
