The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey • 52

Atlantic City At the Copa: Sands room is going dancing By DAVID SPATZ ATLANTIC CITY The Copa Room, which has always been the focal point for entertainment at the Sands Hotel Casino, is currently undergoing extensive renovations that'll change the room from a nightclub into a nightclub. The hotel has tentatively set Feb. 22 as the opening date for the casino industry's first true after-hours club catering to the late-night crowd that's always had to go outside the 11 casinos to kick off their shoes to do some heavy duty dancing. "I want to emphasize that this won't be a said Thomas L. Cantone, vice president of entertainment for Sands.

"We're going to make this a true nightclub in every sense of the word." The new policy doesn't mean the Sands is getting out of the headliner business. The hotel's entertainment format will remain unchanged because the new Copa Club won't open Sands $17.00 BONUS INCLUDING Joker $5.00 $12.00 DEFERRED CASH VOUCHER Slots! $17.00 Bonus on arrivals before 4:00 PM Sunday thru Friday. Arrivals after 4:00 PM Friday will receive $10.00 cash and $5.00 Deferred Voucher. SATURDAY Arrivals will receive $11.00 Cash and $5.00 Deferred Voucher. Offer available to persons 21 years of age older.

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Fri. until after midnight on weekends when the headliner shows have ended. "We've designed the Copa Club so that we only need a one-hour turnaround time from the moment the (headliner) show is finished until we can reset the room as a dance club," Cantone explained. The casino executive said the Sands is committing tens of thousands of dollars to the new program to maximize the use of the facility" and to provide an attraction no other hotel offers. "People who come to the casinos are ready to party late at night, but they've had to go outside of casinos to dance," he said.

"We're going to take advantage of the equity in our showroom by making it a dance-oriented, after-hours club." The changeover from showroom to nightclub consists of creating a large dance floor by removing the chairs, tables and banquettes from the pot area near the stage of the Copa Room. A special lighting rig that's being designed and built by the hotel's technical staff will be lowered from the ceiling to a point just above the dance floor. The room will be dressed in a tropical theme which includes 30 brass palm trees, and music will be pumped through the club's awesome sound system by a disco jockey. The hotel has also arranged with a local radio station for a two-hour live remote from the room each Friday and Saturday, Cantone added. The new set up includes three wide-screen television monitors for projecting music videos, and a television camera installed above the dancee floor will make it possible for customers to see themselves dancing.

Although most of the music will be taped, the Sands is also planning to occasionally supplement the recorded sounds with live music from acts ranging from lounge artists to oldies groups, "including maybe even some old Motown acts," Cantone said. The hotel will ask a nominal cover charge at the door, but Cantone stressed that the room will be open to the public and not just to the casino's preferred customers. Shore Bets: Singer and actor Billy Daniels leads the cast of the musical "Bubbling Brown Sugar" into the spotlight this evening to open the 1986 legitimate theater seson at Del Webb's Claridge Casino Hotel. Daniels, who's on loan to the Claridge from the Golden Nugget through April 6, is no stranger to the lead role in the show, having played it for 500 performances in London several years ago. The only traditional casino headliner on the circuit this weekend is singer Robert Goulet, who performs once tonight and twice tomorrow evening at Resorts, with comedian Freddie Roman along just for laughs.

"Legends In Concert," the hightech tribute show at Caesars which stars the Jersey-based Mahoney Brothers performing as the Beatles, is also set for a weekend run, as is "An Evening at La Cage" at Bally's and the ice revue and production show "City Lites" at Trump's Castle. Former Olympic skater puts icing on Trump's entertainment cake By DAVID SPATZ ATLANTIC CITY No matter how warm it gets, a former gold medalist will be skating on thin ice here next month. The folks at Trump's Castle hotel and casino wouldn't have it any other way. Peggy Fleming, who won the Gold Medal for figure skating during the 1968 Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France, has been signed to be the President's Weekend centerpiece of the hotel's $2 million production show "City Lites." Fleming makes her casino debut with a single show Feb. 13 and two shows nightly Feb.

14-16, according to Castle entertainment director Nancy Engler. Last month, the Castle broke the ice, so to speak, when it spotlighted the figure skating team of Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, who did a solo routine and incorporated their fluid motions into one of the show's glamorous production numbers. But the format has been slightly altered for Fleming, whose Gold Medal earned her numerous television specials and a chance to provide expert Have you checked YOUR TV with today's LUCKY NUMBERS? In section of The Home News PEGGY FLEMING commentary during ABC-TV's coverage of the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. "Peggy will skate two numbers," Engler said, "but she won't be part of a production number." Engler wouldn't reveal whether the Castle has signed other popular ice skating champions, although she noted that it's a "possibility" in the coming months. Meanwhile, well-pllaced sources have confirmed that the Castle will be adding "name" entertainers to "City Lites" for about 15 weeks during the hotly competetive summer months.

That format has been successfully employed for several years at the Las Vegas Hilton, where stars are booked to work a 45-minute set during the middle of the "Bal du Moulin Rouge" production show. Engler said it was "too early" to comment on the policy change, although sources said that the hotel has already signed actor and singer Jim Nabors and comedian Phyllis Diller for extended gigs this summer. The hotel has also reportedly offered contracts to singers Vice Damone and Jack Jones. Idol Gossip: One that got away (and one that didn't): The Sands Hotel Casino was just a signature away from singer Whitney Houston, who would have made her Boardwalk debut. But Houston apparently decided not to sign anything while she awaits the outcome of the Grammy Awards.

If she wins any and she's got to be considered a frontrunner at least for new-artist honors you can certainly believe she'll be asking for more money. But the Sands is all set with rock singer Billy Ocean, who'll launch his summer tour at the Sands with two performances June 27-28. Other attraction signed to the Sands this winter and spring include David Brenner (Jan. 31-Feb. 1); Rodney Dangerfield (Feb.

14-16); George Carlin (March 7-9); Gregory Hines (March 14-16); The Commodores (April 4-5); Pia Zadora (April 11-13); David Brenner (April 18-19); The Four Tops (May 2-3); and Billy Crystal (May 23-25). Caesars has signed a bunch of familiar faces for next summer, including George Burns, David Copperfield, Smokey Robinson, Buddy Hackett, Joan Rivers and The Pointer Sisters. And Resorts has its S.O.S Some Old Stars lineup for the summer, which means Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Don Rickles, Liberace, Donna Summer and Peter Allen will all be back in the Superstar Theatre..