Brody Dolyniuk, frontman of Yellow Brick Road, performs during the opening night of his one-man show “Brody’s World” on Tuesday, June 29, 2010, at Ovation at Green Valley Ranch.
Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 | 7 p.m.
One of the most influential behind-the-scenes figures in Las Vegas entertainment over the past two decades is stepping down.
Judy Alberti, the longtime Station Casinos vice president of entertainment who started with the company in 1994, is vacating her post effective Friday. No official announcement has been issued regarding her departure, though it is a fact she is leaving. And there is no word, yet, from Alberti as to what she has planned post-Station.
Alberti previously left the company for two years, 2006-2008, to run the programming at Dodge Theater in Phoenix (now Comerica Theater) and also to lead the entertainment division at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. Most likely, it was decided within the month that Station would advance its entertainment strategy and programming without Alberti, as her colleagues Monica Reeves and Kevin Scroggins will assume most of the duties she previously executed.
The decision to leave Alberti’s post vacant is evidently the simple consequence of soft market demand for big-name acts at locals resorts. With such major Strip operators as MGM Resorts, Venetian/Palazzo and Caesars Entertainment, gobbling up top names, and paying top dollar for those names, there is scant need for large-scope entertainment bookings at Station Casinos.
Just this month, Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn together and Mariah Carey (all at the Colosseum in Caesars) and Diana Ross (Venetian Theater) have joined an already stacked roster of Strip superstar headliners.
There is little opportunity for Station Casinos, with its nine off-Strip hotel-casinos, to compete on that plane.
Recent history has proved such. Since the winter of 2012, the company closed its 9,000-seat Red Rock Amphitheater (where such acts as Motley Crue and Jason Mraz headlined) and also pulled apart one of the best midsize venues in the city, Ovation at Green Valley Ranch (Berlin and Ted Nugent played there, among others). In a move that irked entertainers and fans of live performance, Station shut down Ovation in favor of a bingo enclave.
Nonetheless, the company is still the pacesetter for locals-friendly entertainment, with such popular acts as The Lon Bronson All-Star Band playing Sunset Station’s Club Madrid, Zowie Bowie at Rocks Lounge at Red Rock Resort and Club Madrid, and the tribute Bee Gees Gold show at Chrome at Santa Fe Station and Dallas Events Center at Texas Station.
The live-songwriting series “Nashville Unplugged,” now at Sunset Station, was created in Alberti’s tenure, and the Boulder Blues Series at Railhead has been a popular draw for locals since it premiered in 1996.
Alberti also is responsible for launching the careers of several Las Vegas artists, including Brody Dolyniuk of Yellow Brick Road, a band that is sill a major draw for Station years after Dolyniuk himself has moved to Southern California. The company has won five Academy of Country Music Awards for Best Casino Company (no other organization has won that honor more than once) under Alberti’s watch.
Known for her keen ability to unearth talented artists, Alberti has shown impressive range in her tenure with Station. She has booked such top acts as Train to the pool concert series at Red Rock, The Monkees at the Grand Ballroom at Green Valley Ranch and Robert Cray at Railhead at Boulder Station. In 2006, Alberti opened Red Rock Resort with Zowie Bowie at Rocks Lounge, an act with zero history or name recognition in the city.
Today, Zowie Bowie remains a force at Rocks Lounge, as popular today as ever at the hotel.
Alberti’s final act, as it were, was another example of inventive staging: She roped in David Perrico’s Pop Strings band on Saturday nights, marking the first resident act to perform at Rocks Lounge to feature a full string section. The show has filled the room in its first three shows.
No less an authority than Bronson, who is celebrating his 25th anniversary of performing at venues across Las Vegas, praised Alberti’s record at Station Casinos. He likened Alberti’s philosophy to that of his old entertainment director at Riviera, Steve Schirripa.
“Judy is truly the last of the Mohicans,” Bronson said, noting Alberti’s capacity to bring talented acts to the stage without becoming mired in bureaucracy. “Her longevity in this town, in that capacity, speaks volumes.”
As Dolyniuk, a friend of Alberti’s dating almost to the day she started at Station, said in a text: “I pretty much owe my entire career to her.”
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.
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