VEGAS 411 has been flooded with reactions to our report on a wannabe celebrity. The guy, previously known as Darryl “Two Toes” Meeks II, is now flim-flamming his way to fame as “Joe Chavira”. The real entertainers of Vegas aren’t taking it lightly. So we’re back with part two…
People often say that “no publicity is bad publicity”, but Joe Chavira might think otherwise come December 7th. So who the Hell is this guy and why should we care? That’s a question on lots of minds since I published this report earlier in the week. For the musician formerly known as “Darryl Two-Toes Meeks II”, it’s being asked for all the wrong reasons.
Why should an entertainer about to receive a spot on the Vegas Walk of Stars be worried? Because there’s actually talk of a protest at the event. Yes, those who’ve paid their dues and earned a place in Vegas history have had their fill of old Joe. They’re sick of nepotism and false claims of fame from a dude whose schtick would be more at home in a comedy sketch.
Do you remember “Nick the Lounge Lizard”? Bill Murray’s campy character was a Saturday Night Live favorite. Apparently, Joe Chavira was a big fan, too. His official YouTube Channel has exactly sixty-four subscribers as of this writing. How could he NOT get inducted into the Walk of Stars?
Joe’s over-the-top promo (below) for the No Reasons Tour (aptly named, one might say) seems suspiciously familiar…a lot more “Nick” than Dino or Frank.
Congratulations if you were able to survive those seventy cringe-inducing seconds. They’re highlights from a 2022 tour that quite possibly never took place. I’ve been unable to uncover evidence of concert dates, and the footage is obviously doctored with fake applause. Also, there’s no sign of an actual audience.
Enigma Online, an obscure yet appropriately-named entertainment blog, promoted Joe’s album NO REASONS back in December 2020. What was going on between then and now in place of a tour? Was Joe too busy with something else….like planning to swindle a wealthy widow, the Mayor of Las Vegas, and the entire Vegas entertainment community?
“The Press is Loving this! Opportunities for companies to be recognized and promoted on this historic day. December 7, 2022 honored by Walk of Stars on Las Vegas strip” / JOE CHAVIRA
The self-proclaimed sensation, who’s attached his entire persona to deceased sixties entertainer Trini Lopez, certainly hasn’t been focused on updating his professional website. The merchandise section offers only one item – an “Exclusive VIP FAN CLUB PACK”, loaded with cool stuff like a ringtone, four autographed photos, and a 2019 calendar! All this and more can be had for the low price of $8.95.
Fans won’t have to worry about missing any of Joe Chavira’s popular concerts, either. The home page of JoeChaviraMusic.com features a pop-up announcement for his salute to Trini Lopez. Showtime is 8 pm…on September 24th of 2021.
Mayor Carolyn Goodman certainly seems drawn in by Joe’s crafty ways. The embattled politician, who famously sparred with Anderson Cooper over the COVID-19 shutdown, must be mesmerized by Joe’s tight pants and leather biker gloves. She officially welcomed the “singing sensation” to Las Vegas in August of last year.
When was the last time you heard of a mayor officially welcoming a new resident to the city? Perhaps Mayor Goodman did the same when Oscar-nominated actor Mark Wahlberg moved to Sin City last month, but the announcement didn’t cross our VEGAS 411 desks. Sorry, Marky-Mark.
What did make it to us was a slew of stories about Joe’s checkered past. These communications are filled with accusations of plagiarism, misrepresentation, fraud, bankruptcies, and evictions. Sources have offered testimonials and referenced shady events going as far back as the mid-1990s.
“No one has the balls to stand up for fear of possibly losing their gigs. I don’t see it that way. I currently have a private investigator friend looking into his life. Sam, if this were Old Vegas for example… No one would be talking about this, this negative overture of an event would not be happening because Chivara would just simply disappear.”
From a well-known Strip headliner:
“Omg ur article about that man!!!! Wtfffffff. What a jerk! I swear to god if people spent all the time they do scheming on actually doing something they would probably be very successful.”
This person offered hundreds of words of insider knowledge on Chivara/Meeks and his lifetime of schemes:
“I have additional information that I believe would be of help to you. I ran background information for my friend Trini Lopez on Joe back in 2015. Joe has been a con man his entire life and I found Santa Maria old newspaper articles as far back as 1995 outlining hundreds of thousands of dollars that Joe had scammed numerous community members for his “Two Toes” Pizza theater.”
Here’s a video from the official “Two Toes” YouTube channel, which boasts thirteen subscribers”
“Joe took advantage of my friend Trini Lopez and is attempting to make money off him. Joe has taken several (pieces of) memorabilia from Trini over the years and convinced Trini to gift him many more. Joe is a con man with a background of fraud, bankruptcies, evictions, etc.”
“He has taken numerous amounts of money and involved himself in Trini’s personal business as well as his finances since 2015/2016. Trini paid him thousands of dollars for a bunch of old songs that he wrote, convincing Trini that they could re-record them as “original “songs. Total fraud….it is provable. We tried to stop Joe from taking advantage of our dear friend, unfortunately, we didn’t succeed.”
From Joe Chavira’s official bio:
He created his “Two Toes” cartoon strip which ran in the local paper as well as the LA Times for several years. From that strip came the “Two Toes” animation project.”
A reader has more to tell about the strangely named “Two Toes” saga:
“Santa Maria Newspaper still has those 1995 articles about Joe defrauding business people there. He had a “cartoon strip” called Two Toes with characters and he was raising money to get his characters made into a pizza arcade for kids. “
“Trini’s best friend of 45 yrs in Palm Springs is still alive and willing to share also. Joe actually broke up their long-time friendship and Joe got Trini to pay for an attorney to sue ____ for slander and defamation against Joe!!!!!”
That last paragraph resonates for one simple reason. Joe Chavira, up until now, has been coated in non-stick Teflon and likes to sue people who uncover his misdeeds. Earlier today, this writer received a demand from Joe’s attorney to remove Part One of this report and issue a retraction.
It’s worth noting that Chavira’s website lists a single sponsor – Michael Clayton and Associates…a California law firm. Clayton and Chavira have a history together in Santa Maria, where Joe has been accused of swindling his mentor Trini Lopez. I guess it’s good to befriend a lawyer when you’ve got an agenda like Darryl “Two Toes” Meeks.
Joe Chavira (aka Darryl Meeks II) and Attorney Michael Clayton give their seal of approval…to something…
Until our own attorney can look over the letter (which humorously enough was not actually attached to the email), we’ll proceed with publishing this continuation. And we’ll keep you updated if the rumored December 7th protest is officially announced.
After our first part of this series was published, VEGAS 411 received a communication from Diane Russomano, who wished to offer this bit of important clarification:
“I read your story about Joe Chavari (sic). Please take note that that was done under the old organization. Starting in January 2023 there’s an entire new organization called The New Las Vegas Walk of Stars. Will be working exactly as the Hollywood walk of fame does.”
“No star will be bought. It will be from sponsors and Fanbase and I would love to send you the entire new organization’s information and board of directors.”
It appears that this will be a continuing story as the community comes together to do what is fair and just. We’re glad to be doing our part to protect the integrity of Las Vegas entertainment.
“Mr. Novak, thank you for your story regarding Joe Chavira!!!”
“Those of us who do NOT think Joe has EARNED anything, especially a STAR, hope your words matter to those that can STOP it from happening.”
“Your kind of journalism is what we need here. I highly doubt now he will go through with Dec. 7th. The power of the pen definitely did its job. Great work!”
UPDATE 3/20/23 – According to the Facebook post of Carolie Swindle, Joe Chavira passed away shortly after midnight on 3/19/23. VEGAS 411 was contacted by several entertainers who uniformly stated that Chavira had been secretly battling brain cancer. His obituary is listed here.
