John Katsilometes | Las Vegas Sun

The Kats Report Bureau at this writing is Umami Burger, Beer Garden & Sports Book at SLS. The Beer Garden scene, in particular, where the night air is cool, the lamps are hot and the neon of the Bonanza Gift & Souvenir Shop lights our way …

Hosea is a combat-wounded military man who was injured in Afghanistan. He enlisted in 2001 and is a hero by any measure, having received the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, five Army Achievement Medals and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among other honors.

It was a soaring gesture, to be sure, and Paul Stanley then asked the crowd at the Joint to join him in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in tribute to our servicemen and servicewomen volunteering around the world. It was not the first time the KISS Army has paid tribute to the real Army in such a way. KISS also presented a fully renovated, mortgage-free home to a serviceman during the June 2013 Rock Fest in Cadott, Wis.

The show capped a day in which the band arrived at the Joint in a Maverick Helicopter. Well, three members took flight. Gene Simmons wanted no part of the ’copter ride to the hotel but did pose with his bandmates in front of the craft after it landed on property just before the show.

KISS is in residency at the Joint through Nov. 23. They play most of the hits in a show that blasts pyro throughout, makes fine use of the giant video panels at the sides of the stage and in the back, but could be 30 minutes longer. “Strutter” was not in the setlist, a quibble, maybe, but the KISS Army would love that addition.

• Steve Wynn is wearing a splint, part time, as he is recovering from thumb-and-wrist surgery he underwent about three weeks ago. The procedure was to address a wear-and-tear injury Wynn suffered many years ago when he was something of a motorsports daredevil.

“I had a fusion in my thumb because of arthritis, and it was something a little more complicated,” he said on Halloween during an interview in his office at Wynn Las Vegas. “It was from my motorcycle racing, and it was screwed up. I had it fused, and there’s a plate in there.”

Wynn’s easy-rider running mate in those days was Larry Ruvo, and “Larry damaged his knee pretty badly doing that, too,” Wynn said. No video of these races through the desert. It’s all part of Las Vegas lore.

• During the “Britney Spears Day” celebration at the Linq Promenade, which just about crimped off foot traffic for the hundreds of people craning to get a glimpse of the day’s honoree, property chief Jon Gray was asked if he had any favorite gambling stories. Turns out he does have a couple: He once turned $100 into $10,000; he also went 9-for-9 on a college-football parlay card.

We’ll follow with these details, but for those who think rebranding the Quad as the Linq Hotel is a gamble, Gray (a native of Tonopah, as it happens) knows that culture pretty well.

• Murray Sawchuck continues to be on the cusp — cusp, I tell you! — of a new venue in Las Vegas. Maybe he’ll sign by the weekend. The now-former Laugh Factory at the Tropicana headliner thought he had a gig booked this month at Foxwoods in Connecticut, where former Luxor head Felix Rappaport is heading up the entertainment lineup, but it was moved back to February.

The magician stepping in? Criss Angel. The Luxor headliner is taking the dates Nov. 13-15 at that hotel’s Fox Theater.

This is the second time over the past two months that Sawchuck’s schedule has been shifted after a booking by another magician. He is leaving Laugh Factory after the Trop booked Jan Rouven into Tropicana Theater. “The New Illusions” production starts Nov. 28.

• Never thought you’d see The Offspring playing the M Resort Pavilion, eh?

Ah, but this is not the famed alt-rock band that, for a time, featured vocalist and bassist Andrew Freeman. We talk of the offspring of some genuine entertainment legends starring in “An Evening With the Next Generation.” Lined up are Ricci Martin, son of Dean Martin; Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland; Lena Prima, daughter of Louis Prima; and Steve March-Torme; son of Mel Torme. The MC is Anthony Lewis, son of Jerry Lewis.

This unique shindig, a cast never before assembled, is at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $29.99 and $34.99 and available at the M box office, (800) 745-3000 and at Ticketmaster.com.

A side note on this show: One of the great parties in recent years was the 70th birthday party of Ellie Clinton, mother of Kelly Clinton-Holmes, at the home of Kelly and Clint Holmes.

Kelly and Lena are best friends since they were kids, and this party had a lineup of entertainment that would have sold out, well, the M Resort Pavilion. Lena played drums that night, and there was a trumpet, trombone and even a cowbell involved. At least that’s how I remember it. Quite a time, that was.

• The comely and talented Swing City Dolls are performing regularly at 7:30 p.m. Fridays at Sam’s Town. This is an act with an Andrews Sisters vibe, and if you don’t know who The Andrews Sisters are, Google that. They were the top of the pop of their era, and this trio takes you back to that era.

It’s groovy, from a time before even that word was used in conversation. Check ’em out. Tickets are $15 and available at (702) 284-7777 or SamsTownLV.com.