Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002 | 8:42 a.m.
VegasBeat appears Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach Timothy McDarrah at (702) 259-4096, or by e-mail at [email protected].
Bedside reading this week: the Clark County coroner's report on the death of John Entwistle.
Entwistle, the bass player for the iconic rock band The Who, died June 27 while staying at Hard Rock Hotel the night before the band was to launch its U.S. tour. The coroner's report features information the hotel has been reluctant to disclose.
Hard Rock officials have steadfastly refused to release what room was Entwistle's last, concerned that ghoulish guests would either make it into a shrine or want to stay in the same room and partake in the same illegal activities as did the veteran rocker.
Page One of the report details that Entwistle died in Suite 658.
The report's medical history for Entwistle details his claim that he "stopped using drugs 30 years ago."
As reported earlier, "cocaine intoxication," combined with myriad prescription drugs he was taking, led to Entwistle's death.
He spent his final afternoon shopping for Western wear at Shepler's on East Tropicana Avenue and footwear at Boot Barn on the Strip.
Entwistle died with Deja Vu Showgirls dancer Alison Rowse in his bed. In the report she eerily recounts Entwistle's last words: "He said he hated to sleep on his back because his friends," including Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and guitar legend Jimi Hendrix, had died "choking on their own vomit."
I had met Entwistle a few times. The first was when The Who toured following the release of their movie "Quadrophenia." The Clash opened for them several nights at New York's Shea Stadium, and before one of the shows Entwistle spoke thoughtfully and authoritatively to me about His Generation -- the Mods and the Rockers -- compared to the punks (Clash, Sex Pistols, et al.) of the late 1970s.
He spoke of the commonaltities of the two rebellious youth cultures, such as rampant drug use. He said that part of the rocker's life was in his past. Same, and sad, old story.
The remaining members of the original band, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend (original drummer Keith Moon died in 1978), perform this Saturday -- again the show is scheduled for The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Apparently not willing to take any chances, Daltry and Townshend are reportedly staying at Bellagio.
Bueno!
Kudos to KTNV Channel 13's Veronica Sanchez. She and Reno TV reporter Melissa Santos were pictured in the broadcast trade publication Electronic Media, and featured as two of the leading bilingual reporters in the nation.
Picture perfect
"I'd be lying if I said making this show work wasn't a challenge," The Venetian's president Rob Goldstein told me as we walked through the new "Art Through The Ages" show at Guggenheim Hermitage at The Venetian the other day.
"It is hard to condense five centuries of art into 40 paintings," said Goldstein, who has presided over the Most Expensive Hotel on The Strip since it opened three years ago.
Indeed, the show is missing such stars as da Vinci and Michaelangelo, but does have a breathtaking roster of artists from Poussin to Picasso to Pollock.
Beyond the art, there is the question of whether people will even see such a show in a city not known for its high culture.
"It is really a grand experiment -- and we hope a grand success in a sophisticated way," said Tom Krens of New York's Guggenheim, who was on hand to oversee the exhibit's installation. Vegas has been described in many ways, but sophisticated usually doesn't top the list. Not yet, at least.
"Look," added Venetian owner and Guggenheim patron Sheldon Adelson, "we can't exactly put all the art in a motor home and bring it around the country. So we decided to put it in the one place in the country where a lot of people come."
One of the show's curators, Dr. Karl Schuetz of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, said that since there are few churches on or near the Strip -- he usually visits churches when traveling -- he had hit some casinos.
"There's a lot more praying going on in the casinos," Adelson cut it in. "And when people pray here, they really mean it."
Shoe drops
My female colleagues are gaga over the pending arrival of Nordstrom. The thought of 10,000 pairs of shoes (that's 20,000 actual pieces of footwear) brings smiles to their faces.
And that's all well and good. However, what this town really needs is a real Brooks Brothers store. The outlet over in Primm just doesn't cut it.
Real men like to shop, too.
Still 'The Greatest'
Opening Thursday at Studio A at MGM Grand is a stunning exhibition of Muhammad Ali memorabilia.
All of it will be available through Monday at Sothebys.com, the venerable auction house's website.
Among the items on view are the robe The Greatest wore into the ring for his first, classic fight with Joe Frazier in 1971 (the robe's estimated sale price: $100,000) and the white satin Everlast shorts he wore when he defeated Frazier in the Thrilla in Manilla in 1975 (estimated sale price: $50,000).
There also are several more affordable items, such as a denim jacket Ali had emblazoned with "Big Ugly Bear" when he went hunting (successfully) for Sonny Liston's world heavyweight title in 1964 (estimated price $3,000-$4,000).
Tumblin' dice
While the food has been sparkling at the just opened Rosemary's inside The Rio, far more glittering was the jacket worn by Maggie Bock one recent night.
Bock, a local marketing guru, is the mother of restaurateur Wendy Jordan, who just opened the restaurant with husband Michael Jordan. Their first Rosemary's (it is named for his mother) opened on West Sahara a few years back.
Bock told me she bought the duds in Santa Fe, N.M., just for the opening. Navajo it is not: The black blazer was emblazoned with a very glittery Vegas motif -- mainly dice and dollar signs, rolling down the sleeves.
Check out ...
Internet gossip Matt Drudge arriving at McCarran International Airport for a few days of Las Vegas fun and sun (his Drudge Report famously broke the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton story) ... Former Kansas hoops All-American Drew Gooden, the fourth player chosen in this year's NBA draft, sitting in the cheap seats (near the 5-yard line) Saturday at the UNLV-Kansas football game ... Drew Carey fighting for space at the Hard Rock craps tables with "Sopranos" star (and Bruce Springsteen guitarist) Steve Van Zandt and members of the band Coldplay.
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