[no subject]

Hard Rock declines 'death room' requests

By DAVE BERNS 
GAMING WIRE 

Hard Rock Hotel executives are dealing with the
macabre implications of the death of The Who bassist
John Entwistle. 

Reservation clerks at the hotel have received several
dozen phone calls from people wanting to stay in the
room where the 57-year-old Entwistle died Thursday of
an apparent heart attack. 

But Hard Rock executives have not granted the
requests. 

Instead, they have publicly withheld the room's number
after leaving it vacant over the weekend before making
it available for rental Monday as any one of the
hotel's 657 rooms. 

"We treat it as a regular room. We wanted to treat it
with dignity and respect," said Hard Rock President
and Chief Operating Officer Don Marrandino. "I think a
room a guy dies in is not a positive marketing
opportunity. 

"We're not going to put a plaque up there or anything
else." 

Hard Rock executives are debating whether to
distribute or destroy several thousand commemorative
gaming chips that were to be issued before the start
of Friday's concert that was to open The Who's
three-month national tour. 

The $5, $25 and $100 chips with images of Who lead
guitarist Pete Townshend are likely collectors' items
that could bring big money on eBay but have been
locked in a vault since the death. 

"The release of those chips would've taken away from
the death," Marrandino said. 

Hotel executives and representatives of The Who could
reach agreement by Wednesday on a rescheduled
September concert in The Joint, which would come near
the close of the group's national tour. 

An estimated 1,800 tickets ranging in price from $150
to $350 each were sold or given away for the
since-canceled event. Two hundred tickets had been
refunded through Monday evening, with many ticket
holders apparently waiting for a rescheduled concert. 

The Hard Rock was set to pay $800,000 to The Who for
the band's Friday appearance, said a knowledgeable
source. Marrandino declined to confirm that figure. 

Meantime, hotel executives are thinking about creating
a permanent on-site memorial to Entwistle with the
permission off his longtime bandmates, although it
would not be in the hotel room where he died. 

"We've just wanted to do everything classy and not
take advantage of the situation," Marrandino said.


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-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
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