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Before I left for a long Hawaii big island Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend I got a rare interview with master entertainer Danny Gans, who wins official congratulations for his headlining contract at the Mirage being extended until 2009. He's so diligent disciplined and dedicated about keeping his voice perfect for his incredible impressions that he never talks before noon, never talks the days of his performances and prefers email answers to journalists' questions! For Luxe Life he made the exception, but before we get to that candid Q&A I'd like to bring you some of the facts you never knew about this remarkable man of a million voices!

* Danny's original dream was to be a professional baseball player. He was an All American in college and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox. He played one year of minor league baseball before an ankle injury ended his career.

* Danny spent 15 years on the road performing in the lucrative circuit of corporate events before settling in Las Vegas.

* After each show Danny doesn't talk until noon the next day to protect his voice.

* Danny recorded a Christian pop album produced by award-winning producer Michael Omartian. It reached #13 on the Billboard Music Charts.

* Danny works out every day lifting weights and doing various cardio exercises.

* Danny is a black belt in karate.

* Danny has a classic car collection of 50's, 60's and 70's muscle cars.

* Danny has 200 voices in his repertoire of impressions.

* Danny has raised over $1,000,000 for local charities in Las Vegas.

* Danny has been named Las Vegas Entertainer of the Year 9 times.

* Danny has been headlining in Las Vegas since May 16, 1996 when he first opened at the Stratosphere initially with a 3-month contract that was extended to 9 months. He then signed a 3-year contract with the Rio before moving to the Mirage.

* Danny is an impressionist, not an impersonator. An impersonator dresses like the character they portray and usually only imitates one person.

* Danny currently has over 3 hours of show material, does over 200 voices and no two shows are alike. He averages 75 voices per 90-minute show. He chooses his material based on audience age, energy and feel.

Here's the Luxe Life interview:

RL: First of all congratulations on 10 remarkable years. Can you pick one or two really memorable moments?

DG: I think the opening night at the Stratosphere was huge. I remember my management team at the time, we all kind of said that I had been traveling a long time, why not just roll the dice with the Stratosphere and have a really big opening show. Invite everybody. They said let's invite the press and have a big show. I was the first one to appear in that room. It was one of those magical nights where everything I did worked and the audience was phenomenal. It just exploded from then. That was a big highlight. I remember performing for the first time at ...the Rio and the first time Steve Wynn had come to see the show, that was exciting. I remember meeting him after the show and how enthusiastic he was, and then he came back the next night. From that point on we became good friends and just knowing that someone of his stature was so interested in me and what I did and he was so intrigued with the show; that was a highlight. Other highlights at the Rio was coming in and seeing a standby night and them doing constructions to bang down walls to try to create more seating. I thought this was the start of something big and I may not have to go on the road anymore. I can call Las Vegas my home.

RL: In a sense you were the first of the resident artists?

DG: Well, I think so. Long before Celine came, and I remember Celine coming to see me at the Mirage and, of course, I was thrilled to meet her; she is one of those top 5 singers of all times. She came back a second time and she wasn't living here, I remember there was no talk of a deal. She asked me a lot of technical questions about publicity and the room and how many seats, and I thought maybe she is thinking of coming here, and sure enough. I think a lot of it is people are very attracted to getting off of the road especially those who have been on the road a long time. Most of us we feel like we don't get paid for doing the show as much as we get paid for traveling.

RL: Fifteen years is a long time for being on the road.

DG: It was a long time. I knew I had to get off. There was a time when I really pursued an acting career about 15 years ago and I had gone through being on a sitcom and doing 4 or 5 pilots that never got aired and small parts in movies. I had my hand in it and it was a decision of to either do this full-time so I had to choose doing my own act or pursuing the showbiz and the acting. So I went back on the road and my kids started to get a little bit older and I just couldn't handle my son telling me about the little league game and how his mom videotaped it so I could watch it and how my daughter did really well in the school play I could see the videotape. I was very successful, but I was on the road over 200 days out of the year. I don't know if you know this story, but I played in 1995 a small theater in LA called the Coach Playhouse and Variety did a review on me and it was one of those reviews like I had asked my mom to write a review. It was wonderful and the Broadway people read the review and sent people out to see me and they sent back good reports and Charlotte Nederlander came and saw me, kissed me on the forehead and said I am going to suggest you for Broadway. Six months later I was at the Neil Simon Theater on Broadway, and I was only there for a limited run. It was only supposed to be for three weeks. There was someone coming in after me and I had to go, but they offered me to come back in two months and go to the Brooke Atkins Theater for a year. I didn't know how to handle uprooting everyone to New York even though I knew that career wise that would have been a great situation. The last night there we had our closing party and by coincidence the entertainment director for the Stratosphere saw it and said 'you know I don't have anyone to open the room in three months would you consider opening the room'? That is how it all started.

RL: You know the good Lord moves in mysterious ways, but all of that is certainly a road map.

DG: Well it really is. I grew up believing in prayer and you try to set the goals and you put God first, family second, and you put your career third and I really try and do that. There is a lot said for surrounding yourself with talented people. My band, my crew, my managers all of those people are very talented and driven. I owe a lot to the people of Las Vegas. When I came here, the word of mouth was so strong and then continuing on at the Rio, and now the Mirage. I just feel like from everyone from the cab drivers to the guy that works at the deli, they are all pulling for me. It is a really neat feeling. I am very proud to say this is my home and it is a great place to raise my kids.

RL: The Mirage contract has been extended to 2009, which would give you a total of 9 years there. You won't cut it shorter but do you ever think about what lies ahead?

DG: I think that my kids are older, I think I will do more TV and I have had some wonderful opportunities come along and I have stayed away from that. When I was at the Rio, Aaron Spelling offered me a sitcom and I said how am I going to do that? I came to Vegas to be a dad and a husband and if I do a sitcom knowing that because you being the producer it would be huge, I would have all this fame, but I would never see my family. I would fly to LA to shoot then come back to Vegas just in time to do the show,

RL: Your voice wouldn't hold out.

DG: It would be very tough. I would have to change my show where I wouldn't sing as much and do more comedy. When I look at a lot of the people that come into my dressing room, I had a small part in 'Bill Durham' and I got to know Kevin Costner over the years and he has gone through a divorce and he says I am really happy for you and your success and I don't mean you name on a theater, your pictures on your wall of your wife and your kids and you have been married for 25 years and he said that is more than I could ever achieve. I tell that story over and over again. So when you ask me what I see for the future I think that if God wants me to be a television star that is great but all I know is right now I have 2.5 more years at the Mirage and if that continues and I continue in Vegas I am happy with that.

RL: Do you still find it amazing that 6 years at the Mirage you are still the biggest headliner in town, packing the showroom every night?

DG: Well I am flattered; we have worked very hard to get there. I get to the theater at 5:30 on show days and we rehearse until 7 and we are constantly adding and tweaking what we have. We never take it for granted and we try to make every show like the first one. It is hard to explain that you have been selling out these rooms for 10 years yet you aren't the star of a sitcom you are not the star of a movie and you don't have a record deal, but I am very fortunate and I think that the show is blessed.

RL: When the Beatles 'LOVE' musical came to the Mirage did that boost more interest in you?

DG: I have to say with modesty that there hasn't been any change in my ticket sales one way or the other because fortunately we are pretty much sold out all the time, but it is great that the Mirage can do that well. It was a tough loss when Siegfried and Roy left and to fill those shoes is tough.



RL: You still guard the throat very carefully and your health is completely back to normal?

DG: I do. I have strict rules. I don't talk after the show. I am going to bed after my wife and kids and I don't do interviews on show days and unlike some other entertainers I don't have a lot of sand in the hour glass so I have to be careful and it seems like every year I add more things vocally to the show and it takes a toll. It would be very easy for me to go play golf and talk to my buddies, but I won't have my full voice potential.

RL: And if you catch a cold and lose your voice, that means a hundred other people lose their voices.

DG: That's right. The voice is the downside. There are a couple of guys in the show that have been with me for 20 years and I love them and I would love to spend more time with them but I can't because vocally it is hard and they understand that, but we miss each other. We go to the emails and such.

RL: So life in Vegas as an entertainer and a family man. What do you think of this city and how it has changed in your 10 years?

DG: It is so huge now, it is overwhelming. I don't go to the Strip very often. My wife and I go out, but to restaurants that are in the neighborhood but when I do get on the Strip is exciting to see where the town is going and rooting for my fellow entertainers in a city that is going towards bigger is better. So guys like Rita, and Gordy, and Clint who had a great run. There are very few of us that are holding our own against these show spectaculars and so I am very proud of all of us and what is happening.

RL: What was the toughest voice that took the longest to get down.

DG: It has been Al Pacino. When I did it I did it as a throw away and then when the movie 'Scent of a Woman' came out, it was like wow he is really doing a character and there was great dialogue. When I decided to do it as a part of my show I did it as a tribute and not be funny about it, so when you do that the impression had better be dead on. So I worked for a long time and I got it and it took awhile where I could hold someone's attention with dialogue. If you do Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson you have props to work with. Now I am doing John Mayer, James Blunt and these guys aren't really too funny and their voices have to be right on. The oddball characters, the less popular are the ones that I am the most proud of.

RL: After Howard Cosell, I came a long. Was that a little bit of a blessing?

DG: Well, your voice is great. I have been doing you in the show forever. Your voice is terrific. You were number 11 in the 12 Days of Christmas with the Piper's piping and I had you on a sandy beach. When the Truman Capote movie came out, I replace you with him, but now that the movie has faded, I think I am going to put you back in.

RL: How on earth do you "hear" all those other people?

DG: I've heard other impressionists say they would listen to tapes of other stars to learn how they would do voices. I don't like to do that. If I look in the mirror I would see Danny trying to do Al Pacino, but if I just watch videotape of Al Pacino, I can see Al Pacino and so my face just happens and I can just hear it in my head. That is why I don't like to go see other impressionist. I don't want to do them doing the impression. I don't want to see Gordy do you and then I wind up doing Gordy imitating you.

RL: Does it still baffle you that you can do this so well?

DG: Well, after so many years I can hear a voice and I have it or I don't and by now once I get it is there. I am very thankful that I have something that I can do. Twenty years ago I thought I was going to be a major-league baseball player and when that ended, I had nothing to fall back on and all of a sudden the guy who was fun on a bus ride because he could do a couple of voices, it turned into a career. I feel like I had been given a second chance, and I've given it my best to make sure I would always be grateful for that."

STRIP SCRIBBLES
Congratulations to the Society of Seven and their lead singer Lani Misalucha on today's Las Vegas Walk of Fame ceremony when they were given their official Star outside the Flamingo.

LOVE LIZA
Click here for exclusive photos of Liza Minnelli's amazing performance at the Luxor.

TONIGHT'S TIPS
Isla Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar at TI launches its new Latin Night of the Goddess hosted by sexy Tequila Goddess, model Rafaella Souza for "night of the goddess," ... PURE welcomes Hiromi Oshima, the first Asian Playmate with DJ Vice. The new multi-million-dollar luxury Qua baths and spa opens at Caesars Palace featuring the first Artic Ice room, a Crystal Body Art room featuring Swarovski crystals- and authentic Roman Centurion baths!

TOMORROW'S TEASE
Hometown hero Andre Agassi sells his $20-miillion mansion, 'Mamma Mia!' celebrates its 1500th show at Mandalay Bay, and Luxe Life is up-close and personal with our favorite star chefs!