His music, of course, remains Newton's first love. New Year's Eve saw Newton kick off his landmark 10-year exclusive commitment with the Stardust, worth a reported $250 million, and he'll play 40 weeks there this year, with another four to six weeks in Branson, and a few odd weekends in Atlantic City. Newton's live show has never been sharper. Wrote music scribe Jim Greer in the pop culture mag Spin, "...his show is the standard by which I will henceforth judge each future concert of any genre. I'm not talking about camp, or kitsch. I'm talking about full-blooded American entertainment." Each performance sees Newton, squeezed tidily into a tuxedo, entertain his audience with a multi-faceted attack. There's the cornball Catskills humor, tinged with innocuously randy innuendo, to the delight of the innumerable housewives in stretch pants in attendance. Clearly, Wayne is keeping up with the (Tom) Joneses. There's the playful banter with his orchestra and singers. There's Wayne getting down on his knees at the stage's edge for the 15th time since the concert started, nary a hair out of place in what can only be described as his petrified pompadour, as he greets yet another middle-aged woman who's eluded security and made it to the stage, giving her a kiss and a kind word, accepting her flowers, letting her wipe the sweat from his brow. The Biblical allusion is apparent.

The crowd gathered at his Atlantic City Christmas show at the Trump Taj Mahal was introduced to Newton's knockout of a wife, his mother-in-law, penguins, dogs, publicist, and the woman who takes care of the animals, all onstage for a surreal version of "Let There Be Peace on Earth." It's a shame the Arabian horses couldn't make it. Like the hair, the perma-grin stays in place, teeth sparkling in the footlights. The left hand's fingers keep snapping. Wayne keeps making like the Energizer Bunny. No one - no one - leaves disappointed.

A three-record set entitled "W.N. and Friends," due out this spring, offers Newton a trove of new material for his live show. His 148th record release, the compilation features a veritable Dream Team of contributors, including Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, the Dixie Chicks, Ray Charles, and Peabo Bryson. Presumably, Newton is working harder than ever.

"I have never dreaded going to work," he says. "During times of emotional stress, the one thing that's saved my sanity has been that I had to go to work that night. On both instances when my mother and father died, it was opening night for me, and I had to perform. Personal losses and heartbreaks are secondary to what I must do when I'm on the stage."

Newton has taken it upon himself to assuage the suffering of others with his tireless charity work. He was a recent recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, awarded to "outstanding American citizens recognized for their significant contributions to the country;" an American Living Legend award, whose other recipients included John Glenn and Justice William Rehnquist; and he was also made an Honorary Green Beret for his work with the Armed Forces, which includes raising funds for the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. He cites the nation's capital as the site of his proudest professional moment, a July 4th gig on the Mall in front of 350,000 spectators, the most ever assembled for a single-act performance in the U.S.

"It's been a great year," Newton beams. "I keep pinching myself."

In the rare moments when he's not working, Newton enjoys spending time with his daughter and wife Kathleen, flying his helicopter, water skiing, and catering to his 65 Arabian horses. Newton's equine passion stems from his childhood; he recalls himself at age nine, trading his parents' movie camera and his bicycle for a wild colt named Sheik. When his parents learned of the unauthorized transaction, they didn't have the heart to take the horse away, so young Wayne was made to clean horse stalls and pastures to work off his purchase. Amazingly, Sheik would roam Newton's Vegas paddock until the horse's death 10 years ago, and he is buried on the property. Newton says it's the only job he's ever had that didn't involve performing.

And Wayne Newton will continue performing for the foreseeable future. "I'll play till it leaves me, but I would leave it first," says Newton, who was lured to Vegas as a teenager to open for Jackie Gleason, and essentially has never left. "When you've worked long and hard enough to learn something, you should keep at it for awhile." After more than 50 years of live performances, Newton adds, "you'd think I'd get it right."

Millions of people worldwide - tourists in fanny packs, Gen-Xers, probably even James Brown - would argue that Wayne Newton's got it down pretty good.