Comedian Ron White’s wife winning second cancer fight
Mirage headliner Ron White tells me his wife, Margo Rey (a classics vocalist with a 4½-octave range), is singing again while fighting breast cancer a second time.
“Eventually, the chemo will kick your ass, no matter how tough you are or how good of shape you are in,” White said.
“She’s always been in excellent physical condition, a yoga freak. But the combination of those two things (cancer and chemo) beat her down,” the comedian said.
Rey’s second bout against cancer started a year ago. She has been gaining strength for some months. White said it’s a “cruel diagnosis.”
“And this is a recurrence, so it was something we weren’t looking forward to or expecting. But we’ve got her back up and running and singing at full voice, which is all good news.”
Rey often has sung in Mirage venues after her husband’s performances in the hotel. White said her voice made AC/DC singer Brian Johnson cry, when White and Rey spent New Year’s Eve with Johnson and his wife, Brenda.
“I’m not name-dropping. That’s just where I was” on New Year’s, White said.
“And I watched her make him cry, singing ‘The Nearness of You.’ Just a big ol’ fat tear rolled out of his eye.”
White’s richest friend has been very helpful to the couple during Rey’s cancer battle.
White is friends with billionaire John Paul DeJoria, the military vet and one-time janitor who started Paul Mitchell hair products out of his truck and who is majority owner of Patron tequila.
“When my wife was going through cancer treatment last summer, he sent us two plane tickets to Majorca (an island in the Mediterranean), where we got on a 180-foot yacht,” White said.
“He just spent five days floating us out there and letting Margo get fresh air. He does that kind of stuff all the time for people.
“He’s just a sweetheart.”
White and Rey will be in Vegas on Wednesday night for White’s sixth “Comedy Salute to the Troops” at the The Mirage. CMT will tape it for a March airing. Tickets cost $80-$110 before fees.
His “Comedy Salute” stars White and comedians Kathleen Madigan, Geechy Guy, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Roy Wood and Josh Blue.
It’s one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for the Armed Forces Foundation, helping fund its “Help Save Our Troops” campaign to reduce military suicides and lend a helping hand to military families.
White’s a true believer in troop causes and comedy, so this is kind of a dreamy event for him.
“People can come out and watch a taping. That’s fun to do. We rely pretty heavily on the locals to support this,” he said.
“It’s a fun night for me, because I can get all my friends in one spot, and I don’t have to clean up after them.”
$10,000 PER HAND?
TMZ reports the Miami Heat’s Ray Allen this weekend was spotted at a $1,000-minimum table in Bellagio’s high-roller lounge, where he lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 or $40,000. Of course, Drew Carey would sneeze at losing such a paltry amount. But the ladies bringing Allen his cocktails wouldn’t, presumably.
GUNS N’ BLOATED
Guns N’ Roses (Axl Rose plus some talented guys who weren’t in Guns a long time ago) will stage another Hard Rock Hotel run May 21-June 7. Tickets go on sale Friday morning.
According to Billboard magazine and Blabbermouth.net, Guns’ shows grossed $1.6 million from 17,469 ticket sales over six nights in October and November.
STUNT COCKTAIL
XS nightclub this weekend launched a $5,000 cocktail called Five Star to celebrate its fifth anniversary. If any dummy ever buys it, it will arrive on a gold tray. Ingredients: Louis XIII Rare Cask 42.6, Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 23-year, Martini Gran Lusso 150th Anniversary Vermouth, D.O.M. Benedictine “Black Monk” 500th Anniversary Edition, Peychaud’s Bitters, Angostura Bitters and flamed orange oils. I honestly don’t know what those ingredients are. But today is my birthday, so if you really feel the need to throw $5,000 down the toilet, please know I have three toilets in my house.
Doug Elfman’s column appears on Page 3A in the main section on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He also writes for Neon on Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.
