SHELLY DONAHUE/VIEWPianist Wes Winters performs June 14 at Club Madrid at Sunset Station. Winters performs there on Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m. and has a Liberace tribute show at the Liberace Museum.
Top, Pianist Wes Winters performs at Club Madrid at Sunset Station. Winters says he will launch a sixth version of his Liberace show later this summer.Jack and Ann Polson of Boulder City dance during Winters' show.SHELLY DONAHUE/VIEW
Top, Pianist Wes Winters performs at Club Madrid at Sunset Station. Winters says he will launch a sixth version of his Liberace show later this summer.Jack and Ann Polson of Boulder City dance during Winters' show.SHELLY DONAHUE/VIEW
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As Wes Winters' fingers fly furiously over all 88 keys on the piano, it's hard to imagine that he never received formal training or learned to read sheet music.
Whether he's performing in his Liberace tribute show at the Liberace Museum, 1775 E. Tropicana Ave., tickling the keys at Carluccio's Tivoli Garden next to the museum or entertaining the high rollers and general public at Club Madrid inside Sunset Station, Winters retains an inner energy.
"Talent is the overall word," Arlene Weinman said of Winters.
Weinman, one of Winters' self-described "stage moms," works at the museum and attends all the lounge shows she can.
"He's always very much himself," she said.
In his lounge show at Sunset Station, Winters takes requests and estimates that he can play between 1,300 and 1,400 songs. The free show runs every Thursday in Club Madrid from 5 to 6 p.m. for club members and from 6 to 8 p.m. for the public.
"It's kind of a throwback to old Vegas," Winters said.
Winters plays piano and sings a variety of songs using background instrumental mixes that he put together himself. The audience joins in by dancing on the floor around his piano.
He said it takes him about a day to learn most pop songs and up to a week for harder songs.
Winters has been performing "A Musical Tribute to Liberace" for the past 3 1/2 years, although it wasn't something he anticipated he would be doing when he moved to Las Vegas from Kansas shortly before that.
"I didn't think I would be wearing sparkly clothes for a living," he said.
Winters stressed that his tribute show, which runs at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at the museum, is not an impersonation.
"(Liberace) did not like impersonators. When I do my tribute show, I want to hold true to what he would do and how he would do it," he said.
In the show, Winters wears sparking costumes reminiscent of Liberace's own flamboyant wardrobe. The outfits are made by Winters himself or sewn by his seamstress friend.
As Winters prepared for the tribute show on June 12, he surveyed his fingers.
"I need one more ring," he said, loading up nearly every finger with a glittering band. "I think this is hysterical, and I think it's a blast."
Nedra Rodhein is a tour guide for the museum. She gets visitors to buy tickets to the show by saying they can talk to her afterward if they don't like it -- and she said she has never had a complaint.
"Wes (Winters) has a quality that people enjoyed in Liberace -- that sense of joy," Rodhein said.
Rodhein said Carluccio's restaurant is booked on Wednesday nights for the next five weeks, where Winters' lounge show runs from 7 to 10 p.m.
Liberace has long been a part of Winters' life. Winters came from a musical family, but at age 5, he saw a CBS special featuring Liberace on television.
"I watched him play and, literally, it was a life-altering experience for me," he said. "I started the next day teaching myself to play the piano by listening to records."
Winters practiced on an upright piano in his parents' garage and began performing a lounge act in Kansas City, Mo., at age 17. He decided to come to Las Vegas to further his career. Shortly after arriving, Winters was talked into entering the Liberace Play Alike contest. He won and began volunteering at the museum, eventually starting his tribute show.
"It's one of these little things that a lot of people in the industry would not last," he said.
The Liberace show is about to launch a sixth version in August. Although Winters never got to see Liberace perform live, the entertainer had a large impact on his life.
"I had never seen someone's fingers fly that fast over a piano before," he said.
Tickets for "A Musical Tribute to Liberace" at the Liberace Museum are $15. There is no cover charge for the show at Carluccio's.
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