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The NORM-a-THOM committee members (in alphabetical order, or disorder)...Robert Allen, Peter Anthony, Ben Ardito (owner of Take 1 Nightclub, who generously made his place available for the planning meetings), Jeanne Brei, Paul Campanella, Robert S. Ensler, Linda Glynn, Andrea Gross, Norm Johnson, Don Lance, Rolando Larraz, Jim Marsh, Nik Mastrangelo, Lee Michaels, Nelson Sardelli, Lou Toomin and Rick Vittallo (Good guy Lou Toomin covered the costs of all the printed fliers, posters and programs, as well as treated the committee members to lunch the Monday after the show. Look for his name on an upcoming ballot.) Boyd Gaming Corporation/The Orleans crew...Terry Jenkins, Mary Marshall, Candi Cazau, Stacey Medall, Amanda Anderson, Anthony Orseno and the backstage workers, both the Boyd employees and the volunteers...Gary Alan, Ada Brei, Paul Campanella, Natalie Fleming and Pietra Sardelli among them. An extra tip of the hat to Shannon O‘Day who handled the lighting for the show. Atmosphere people, who kept the folks waiting in the long lines amused and entertained... Robert Allen and Adam Flowers doing close-up magic, look-alikes Linda Angeline as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Grata as Rodney Dangerfield, and Roy Hammock as Willie Nelson, providing plenty of photo ops, and Felix Silla (Cousin Itt in TV‘s The Addams Family) handing out programs and visiting with the crowd. Entertainers (in approximate order of appearance)...Nelson Sardelli (host/MC), Paul Campanella (Let the Good Times Roll), comic Pete Barbutti, Michaelina Bellamy (It's Almost Like Being In Love), The Mentalist - Gerry McCambridge, Roy Hammock as Willie Nelson (Whiskey River/To All the Girls I've Loved Before/Crazy/You Were Always On My Mind), Artie Schroeck and Linda November (We Love a Piano), Nik Mastrangelo (That Old Black Magic), Chef Chas La Forte (You Don't Know Me), Jimmy Hopper (The Prayer), Bill Nolte (On the Road Again/I've Been Everywhere with special added lyrics by Mark Waldrop), Sammy Shore, Genevieve (One Moment In Time), Earl Turner (Treat Her Like a Lady), Kathleen Dunbar, Dennis Bono and Lorraine Hunt-Bono (Goody Goody, Our Love Is Here To Stay), comic/impressionist Bill Acosta, Rich Little, The Las Vegas Tenors (You Raise Me Up, Nessun Dorma), Linda Angeline as Marilyn Monroe (My Heart Belongs To Daddy), Charlie Callas, Ronnie Rose (That's Life), Steve Rossi, Loretta St. John (This Will Be My Shining Hour, S'Wonderful), Jerry Lopez with Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns (Ain't That Peculiar), and Clint Holmes (I Sing, written by Holmes and his musical director Bill Fayne). What was most impressive and somewhat surprising...a three-plus hour show, without an intermission, and very few people left before the very end. And a big round of applause to the 22 talented musicians. With no rehearsals, these pros, combined or individually, were able to make the singers sound like they had all been performing together for years. The "core group" was made up of The Gary Olds Trio - with musical director Gary Olds (he's the one wearing the Clear Com headset) on drums, Danny DeMorales ( Dionne Warwick) on bass, and Jeff Johnson (Sheena Easton) on piano and synthesizer - plus four, Vincent Falcone (Frank Sinatra, Diahann Carroll, Vic Damone) and Tommy Deering (Joe Williams, Pearl Bailey, Bobbie Gentry) sharing piano duties, Dr. George Ritter and Don Hill (Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and 55 years with The Treniers) on saxophone, and Artie Schroeck (Frankie Valli, Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, Liza Minnelli, Laura Nyro, Kenny Rankin) on vibes. As if this list of players weren't impressive enough, there was Jerry Lopez, Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns, (currently backing Bette Midler in her production at Caesars Palace). The 14-piece band is made up of Lopez on guitar and vocals; Michael Grimm, Tony Davich and Abe LaMarca, all on vocals; Bill Zappia, keyboards; Rochon Westmoreland, bass; Pepe Jimenez, drums; Gabriel Falcon, percussion; Danny Falcone (son of Vincent Falcone), trumpet; Glenn Colby, trumpet; Nathan Tanouye, trombone; Eric Tewalt, baritone sax; Miguel Rodriguez, alto sax, and Rob Mader, tenor sax. Almost unheard of today, when it comes to fundraisers, every cent that was raised through ticket sales (a total of 673), collected in jars and/or received in mailed in donations, was turned over to the Kayes for Norman's care. Bottled water, paper clips and rubber bands, long distance phone calls...NOTHING was taken out of the proceeds as "expenses" to put this "labor of love" together. There were no fancy, ego-driven paid-for newspaper ads. Instead, the group counted on the local media to use their voices and ink to help promote the NORM-a-THON. People, including Jerry Fink (Las Vegas Sun), Norm Johnson (Las Vegas Leisure Guide), Rolando Larraz (Las Vegas Tribune), Duke Morgan (KJUL 104.7 radio), John L. Smith (Las Vegas Review-Journal and KVBC Channel 3), and Mike Weatherford (Review-Journal), all came through for the cause. No money was taken out of the donations to pay musicians or anyone else. A group of approximately 22 musicians stepped up to the plate to do their part in making the afternoon a big success. Robert Allen and Adam Flowers, snappily dressed in pinstripe suits and fedora hats, who, not only entertained people waiting in line for the showroom doors to open (the line was so long that the doors were opened almost a half-hour earlier than scheduled), they also escorted the acts onto the stage and "encouraged them" (is "strong-armed" too harsh of a word?) to drop some money into the jugs provided for such purposes. It might be noted that it was all "folding money" and not a "clink" was heard. The NORM-a-THON might be called a "pay to play" benefit. To top off an already wonderful afternoon, there were a couple of proclamations presented to Norman. From Mayor Oscar B. Goodman, came the news that April 20^th, 2008, was declared Norman Kaye Day in Las Vegas. And from the Office of the First Lady State of Nevada, a Certificate of Special Recognition was presented to Norman Kaye by Robert S. Ensler (who did his Donald Trump impression earlier in the afternoon), "In honor of Norman's lifetime achievements in many fields including: entertainer, humanitarian, philanthropist, educator and entrepreneur, and as Poet Laureate (now Emeritus) of the State of Nevada since 1967." The certificate is signed Dawn Gibbons, First Lady of Nevada. A big plus was that Norman Kaye was present to see this outpouring of kindness for himself. Although he looked quite frail sitting in his wheelchair in the front row, Norman was smiling throughout the afternoon. Against all odds, what might have been a bust, turned out to be possibly the best benefit of this kind in decades...maybe EVER! Mission Impossible? Thanks to those acknowledged above, and anyone we may have inadvertently omitted...Mission Accomplished! Almost 700 people attended (including Paul and Sue Lowden), and more than $20,000 was raised. This is the kind of caring community that Las Vegas can be. This is the kind of caring community that Las Vegas SHOULD be. This is the kind of caring community that Las Vegas WAS in The Orleans Showroom, from noon to 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, April 20^th, 2008.