Don't know about you, but I love Latin music and I particularly like the music of Marc Anthony, who will be performing Sept. 5 at the Mohegan Sun Casino. I've only seen him once live, but I gotta tell ya, he puts on a great show. I also have to admit that several of his CDs, including his first salsa album, Otra Nota, get played a lot while I drive around town.

About his music, he once said, "I keep many recordings in my home, which for me are like time capsules. Each recording is a day in my life and each time I hear one I remember the day and what I was feeling. That's what's important and I think that in the long run people will learn to expect that from me. I hope when they listen to my records they know what I felt that day. To me that's the essence of my art."

Can't argue with that. I know I, and probably most of you, remember what was happening in our lives when we hear a song from our past.

His career, he says, actually started at home, where his father taught him music and composition. When he was 12, he was discovered, along with his sister, by a professional producer of demos and commercials. Harris hired them to do background vocals in his productions and for a long time he didn't use anybody else. Anthony also began writing songs while still in school, and interested his good friend Sa-Fire in one of his tunes, Boy I've Been Told, which went on to become a Top 40 hit. He ended up doing backing vocals on Sa-Fire's entire album.

But as the years passed, he became tired of doing the same thing and promised himself that before reaching 35 he would sing at Madison Square Garden, at Carnegie Hall and would have a number one record. He achieved all of this at the beginning of 1991 when the song Ride On The Rhythm, from the album When The Night Is Over, reached number one in Billboard's dance chart. At age 19 he had participated at a Carnegie Hall concert with singer Danny Rivera and on November 22, 1991, he opened the tribute to Tito Puente at Madison Square Garden on the occasion of his 100th album. Speaking of his salsa music, he says one of his concerns is to be more in touch with his Latin heritage. "It's not my fault to have been born and raised in New York, and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world because it has contributed to my being me. But I will go to Puerto Rico for a while, just to get that feeling. I don't want to do something just for the sake of doing it. I either feel it or I don't."

Watching him perform, you'll soon see that he definitely feels it. Catch him if you can.

Big news for local magician Steve Wyrick. He has signed a multi-year, $30-million agreement with The Shops in Desert Passage at the Aladdin to develop a 22,000-square-foot entertainment complex that will blend a state-of-the-art 500-seat theatre, ultra lounge and magic shop.

Wyrick's multi-level complex will be located inside The Shops in Desert Passage at the Aladdin (which will be renamed Planet Hollywood next year), just 30 feet from a planned 2,000 room luxury tower. The new theatre, to be located on the second level of the facility, will include stadium seating and a stage that rivals the size of other Strip resort theatres.

The complex will also be home to Triq, a signature ultra lounge located on the first floor. There will also be the Stever Wyrick Magic Shop, Magiq, which will offer his easy-to-learn magic tricks for adults and children alike and other fun illusions, including gift sets as well as his signature line of clothing. Or you'll be able to grab a quick bite at Flavour, before or after the show. The complex will be open 7 days a week.

Wyrick says his new show will be "faster-paced, more edgy and uncut, yet have the quality production value of a Broadway performance. With the large stage, I'll be introducing four new colossal illusions in addition to some favorites from previous shows." The new facility is slated to open in late fall of this year.