Sibella’s Stardust memories: Busing tables, losing cars
Serving as president of Resorts World Las Vegas is not Scott Sibella’s first job on that piece of Strip property. When he was a senior at Western High School, Sibella was a busboy at the Stardust coffee shop and buffet.
About to head to college at UNLV, the teenage Sibella lost a Datsun while gaining wisdom.
“I left work one night and my car was nowhere to be found,” Sibella said in a phone conversation last week. “My friends didn’t believe me. But it was gone, out of the parking lot, a Datsun B210. I loved that car.”
From a pedestrian teenager to a man in the driver’s seat today at Resorts World, Sibella is figuring out a hospitality strategy in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has announced its fancy Theatre at Resorts World, a 5,000-seat venue suitable for A-list resident headliners, concert tours, sporting events and production shows. Set to open in the summer of 2021, the venue can be scaled back to 2,000, adaptable to pandemic protocols.
Already, Celine Dion’s name has cropped up as a possible headliner, given the resort’s booking partnership with AEG Presents/Concerts West. Sibella has a history with Garth Brooks (who played private shows at Mirage when Sibella was president there), and also George Strait, who headlined MGM Grand Garden Arena during Sibella’s time there.
Strait has most recently headlined a half-dozen weekends per year at T-Mobile Arena.
“We’d love to have Garth, and George Strait, but there are big arena acts and we’re evaluating who we want in the theater now,” Sibella said. “They are definitely still popular. But the key thing is everything is on the table, we could do a Broadway act in there; all these different things now with AEG as part of our family.”
Resorts World sits on 88 acres once home to the Stardust (and also under-development Echelon) on the north end of the Strip. The new hotel is taking up about two-thirds of that territory, leaving ample space to play outside.
“Remember, we still have a lot of acres that we could do things with,” Sibella said. “I don’t know if we’ll do that in phase one, you know, but we are looking at doing some outside attractions and at least constantly looking at what we can do with this property, especially when it comes to entertainment, but that is our plan.”
Sibella talked of an expanded lounge/showroom venue that would seat up to 500 for live music and comedy, the centerpiece of the yet-named “entertainment zone.”
“There will be entertainment throughout the property, and we believe that live music is coming back,” said Sibella, a graduate of the UNLV William F. Harrah College of Hospitality. “We want to bring back that old Las Vegas feel, where there’s good lounge music.”
All genres are welcome. Pack an accordion. Bring a mandolin.
”It could be Southern rock, it could be country music, it could be dueling pianos,” Sibella said. “But we’re trying to design this place where it’s got different zones, and different types of music, throughout the property, even high-end music where you got five-star restaurants, maybe a piano player, something like that. We know how important entertainment is.”
There are scores of idling Las Vegas entertainers ready for drive. Just hand ‘em the keys. And somewhere, something needs to be named The Datsun.
Tres hombres?
Morris Day has teased on his Instagram account to an unlikely collab with Snoop Dogg and Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top.
Day released a quick video of the three posing together, with the message, “Rock, Rap, Fun. You do the math.”
I did. It adds up to “wha-a?”
The post’s hashtags include #versus #music #hits #newschool #oldschool #money #comingsoon #iconic and #legendary.
Day and his band, The Time, rose to fame in the Prince classic “Purple Rain” and had a brief run at Flamingo Showroom in the summer of 2008.
In the video, Day says, “We’re gonna call it the overhand right. They ain’t seein’ this one comin’.” Maybe not. But we’re seeking answers from our bearded friend.
The Tyson combo
SPI Entertainment CEO Adam Steck has had this idea to stage “Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth Round 2” as a pay-per-view stream event. Steck had initiated talks with Team Tyson, but the star headliner (54) has instead opted to fight Roy Jones Jr. (51) in a charity bout. Who says 50s nostalgia is dead?
Anyway, Steck’s idea remains, regardless of Tyson’s various forays. The boxing legend most recently headlined at Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club at the MGM Grand in November 2017. Two years ago his reps said he was working on a broadcast version of the stage show, so the live-stream approach makes sense.
Great moments in social media
South Point’s Instagram account has posted a classic shot of a classic Vegas statue: Casino legend Benny Binion on horseback. The statue is sporting TWO face covers: One worn by Binion, the other by his horse.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats! podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.