Las Vegas gig a good bet for Bear River grad

A series of highly successful shows at Las Vegas' Luxor Hotel and Casino with Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer Frankie Valli has turned into a career move for Bear River High School grad Matt Baldoni.Baldoni, who was hired on as Valli's guitar player last summer, spent three weeks backing the Four Seasons alumni at a string of sold-out shows in Vegas.By the end of December, Baldoni had liked what he had seen so much that he had made the move to live in Las Vegas.While in Las Vegas before Christmas with Valli's band, Baldoni was inundated with gig offers for shows like "We Will Rock You," "Onyx," and "Hairspray," as well as work with other bands."I was not expecting this kind of response but when word started getting around, the phone started to ring," Baldoni said. "So I decided to make the move."Setting up his amp in Las Vegas in late December, he's fielding a flood of studio and show dates."At this point, I have more work I'm turning down in Vegas than I have booked in L.A.," Baldoni said.With broadband Internet and the mega-advances in recording technology in recent years, Baldoni's able to also keep some of his more prominent work in Los Angeles - including playing all of the guitar parts for TV's "Boston Legal" - 10 p.m. Tuesdays on ABC.Working with Valli has also proved to be a joy for Baldoni. Valli is on a roll these days with "Jersey Boys," a Broadway musical on the rise of the Four Seasons proving a hit on the Great White Way.Baldoni will add his musicianship to "Onyx" performances at the tropically themed Mandalay Bay hotel through the rest of this month. Then he's out on the road again with Valli for 15 shows on the East Coast, ending with three nights at Caesar's in Atlantic City.Baldoni's also planning a side trip to the Big Apple sometime during the East Coast swing, where he has front-row seats from Valli - who owns much of the play himself - to watch "Jersey Boys."ANCIENT COSMIC TREASURES DEPT. NASA came calling earlier this month and whisked North Auburn's Ed Soria and Rod Kelley of Lake of the Pines to the Utah desert. The two work for Pacsat, a "have camera will travel" Sacramento firm that provided the satellite feed for the early-morning landing of the Stardust spacecraft. Stardust captured samples of comet dust - a monumental first for scientists. Soria served as camera operator for a live press conference that went out to news outlets like CNN. Kelley, one of Pacsat's truck engineers, ensured that the world could get the feed from several cameras as Stardust landed. And while the brush with space history was exciting, the top-secret Dugway Proving Grounds location the camera truck was stationed at didn't work well for souvenir photos. Pacsat employees toted along a still camera to get a photo of the truck but were told it was forbidden for them to even take one out of their pockets.PARLEZ-VOUS LE "TOUGH GUY?"Robert Conrad's French Connection came calling in the fall and an Auburn Journal article on the TV tough guy's Auburn appearance in aid of the Performing Arts Center Committee has now been translated into français as a result. Complete with photos from Journal lenscrafters Ben Furtado and Karina Williams, an article on the "Wild Wild West" star's "An Evening With Robert Conrad" has been posted on France's version of the Robert Conrad Fan Club - or how-do-you-say "Association James West - Le Fan Club De La Serie TV Les Mysteres De L'Ouest."The Journal was asked for permission to reprint the August story and was happy to comply with the request. We may not be ready to accept "freedom fries" but we're certainly favorable to a little trans-Atlantic freedom of the press."PEYTON PLACE" COMES TO AUBURN"KAHI Connection" host Loyce Smallwood's efforts to find local celebrities in our midst have turned up another gem from TV's early years. Clint Walker has made a couple of appearances and now "KAHI Connection" has netted one of the stars of 1960s drama "Peyton Place." Smallwood welcomed actor Tim O'Connor to her show earlier this week. O'Connor, now in his late 70s, directs actors these days in plays to raise funds for the Miner's Foundry in Nevada City. He moved to Nevada City from Los Angeles where his list of appearances on TV shows from the 1950s includes pretty well every show on the air except "My Mother the Car." O'Connor's most high-profile turn came in the mid-1960s when he played Elliot Carson on "Peyton Place." His "daughter" was played by Mia Farrow. Film audiences of more recent vintage might recall his thoughtful mug popping up in "The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear." Smallwood reports that the 3 p.m. Wednesday show went swimmingly, with plenty of time for reminiscing about incidents like the time Farrow unexpectedly had all her long blonde tresses cut short - forcing a major upheaval on the set and re-shoot.Smallwood's also snagged another name player for a live visit to the KAHI loft on Lincoln Way for a future show - country music singer Lacy J. Dalton. The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com