Parachuting Elvises and Hootie and the Blowfish help celebrate the grand opening today in Tampa.
By RICK GERSHMAN
Published March 11, 2004
[Photos courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino photos]
An Andy Warhol-inspired display pays homage to music legends Stevie Wonder, left, Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Stevie Nicks and Elvis Presley.
Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford used this white Charvel guitar, displayed in the hotel’s lobby, in the mid-1980s during the band’s Permanent Vacation album and tour.
The Flying Elvi skydiving team will drop into the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s grand opening ceremony today around noon.
TAMPA - Anyone who has been to a Hard Rock Cafe knows the chain certainly celebrates rock 'n' roll. But "hard" rock? Not always. The memorabilia that adorns the restaurants comes from a wide array of popular music.
So perhaps it's not surprising that the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino celebrates its grand opening tonight with a concert by Hootie and the Blowfish.
Darius "Don't Call Me Hootie" Rucker and his Grammy-winning band will perform hits such as Time and Let Her Cry at 8 tonight and Friday in the hotel's grand ballroom.
The concert costs $75, but there's a free grand opening ceremony today around noon, when dignitaries will smash a guitar, a staple of Hard Rock openings. Moments later, the 10-member Flying Elvi skydiving team - yes, the parachuting Elvis Presleys - will drop from 10,000 feet.
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is about 10 minutes east of downtown Tampa on property owned by the Seminole tribe, which is why its bars, like the casino itself, will be open 24 hours a day.
As one bartender noted, "Wait till the folks over in Ybor (City) figure out we're over here" after last call at those bars.
The complex does not have a Hard Rock Cafe, though one might be added later. It does have two restaurants, Floyd's and Big Joe's Sports Bar, which opened last summer, along with a portion of the casino.
Workers were putting finishing touches on the hotel and its pool area during a visit there last Saturday, but the casino was busy. It has more than 1,800 gaming machines in its 90,000 square feet, plus bingo and 32 poker tables.
Carl Morantas took a break from the poker tables at the casino center bar, which is bordered by glass cases displaying four outfits donated by the band Kiss. He said he had dropped about $100 playing Texas hold-em but expected to be back on top soon.
Morantas and his wife, Ada, traveled nearly 100 miles from Eustis to check out the casino, and they were impressed, especially since the only hard rock one expects to see in this industrial corridor is a quarry.
"It's strange how it's out here all by itself. It's like an oasis. . . . You almost think it's a mirage," Morantas said. "I'm glad it's not! I came out to the old (Seminole) casino before, but it was nothing like this. I just wish the hotel was open."
The 12-story hotel has 250 guest rooms and suites, as well as a lobby bar, day spa and fitness center, and it connects to a pool area with cascading fountains and a beach volleyball court. It features a 50-foot-guitar at the entrance and, like the casino, is filled with music memorabilia.
PREVIEW: The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 5223 N Orient Road, Tampa, opens about noon today with a ceremonial guitar-smashing and a skydiving show by the Flying Elvi. Free. Opening concerts by Hootie and the Blowfish, 8 p.m. today and Friday in the hotel ballroom. $75. Call (813) 627-7625.
