Vegas showbiz gives brothers the real blues

Brad Oswald

04/28/2001

Winnipeg Free Press

Metro

BRAD OSWALD - WATCHING TV

'THIS is perfect," Torontonian Kieron Lafferty says to his showbiz partner, Wayne Catania, as they aim their rented sedan down Las Vegas's infamous strip and accelerate toward, perhaps, a date with destiny.

"Doing the Blues Brothers in Vegas is perfect -- we're two guys from Canada impersonating two actors who played two fictional characters, in a town where everything is a replica of something else."

That's about as apt a storyline description as anyone could have written for Lost in Las Vegas, a captivating new Canadian-made documentary that premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. on A&E.

This unusual two-hour production, by award-winning documentarian Paul Jay (Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows), is a bizarre story about two pretty ordinary guys trying to make their mark in the weirdest city on Earth.

As they're presented in the film, Catania and Lafferty are a couple of road-weary musicians who have spent more than their share of years grinding out a meagre existence playing low-rent bars with bands that didn't quite have what it took.

Lafferty is a singer, songwriter and harmonica player with a sharp sense of humour. Catania is an easy-going drummer who once felt resentful because so many people wanted to talk to him about his uncanny resemblance to comedian John Belushi.

Five years ago, when their individual careers had almost run out of steam, the two met. With the addition of black suits, trademark dark shades and an immediately recognizable R&B attitude, a couple of small-scale stars were born.

Performing as a Blues Brothers tribute act, Lafferty and Catania revived their showbiz passion and actually managed to carve out a half-decent living. As the film opens, the duo has caught the attention of a southern producer and has just arrived in Las Vegas to audition for a part in the highly regarded Legends in Concert show at the Imperial Palace hotel.

What follows is an exploration of Las Vegas "culture," shady showbiz ethics and misguided egos that proves to be a painful education for the starry-eyed Canucks.

And if Las Vegas was a bizarre experience for Catania and Lafferty, what happens to them after their Nevada jaunt must qualify as absolutely surreal.

The onstage Brothers are struck with a serious case of the blues when it becomes apparent that they've become pawns in a showbiz turf war. Iron-clad promises suddenly transform into casual suggestions and vague rumours, and with each passing week, the long-term security they thought they had finally secured seems an ever-more-distant possibility.

And then things get really, really strange. In a twist that throws Catania, Lafferty and even Jay into a bit of a tizzy, the Las Vegas producer contacts the filmmaker instead of the performers to make another offer.

The casino folks have suddenly become concerned that having the screw job they've performed on the Canadians captured on film might be bad for business, so they're willing to offer the Blues Brothers impersonators a gig in Las Vegas that will last just long enough for Jay's film to have a happy ending.

Whether that's an acceptable compromise for Catania and Lafferty becomes the subject of prolonged and sometimes contentious discussions.

Needless to say, Lost in Las Vegas isn't a happily-ever-after kind of tale. But by following these dreamers on their desert-mecca misadventure, Jay has given us a fascinating look at how show business -- at the most modest level of stardom -- really works.