What Happens In Vegas...

Lynyrd Skynyrd's Las Vegas restaurant files for bankruptcy.

Lynyrd Skynyrd took a gamble and lost. The Lynyrd Skynyrd BBQ & Beer restaurant inside the Excalibur hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip has filed for bankruptcy and closed. The hotel shut it down for non payment of rent and the owners have filed a lawsuit trying to get the doors opened again. The lawsuit claims the hotel failed to give the owners a chance to catch up on past-due rent prior to the shutdown and that the eviction has damaged its reputation and put close to 90 people out of work. The owners are asking the court to let them re-open with the promise to pay rent going forward. Skynyrd, which helped open the restaurant last fall, licensed the use of their name and likeness.

At the time of the opening, guitarist Rickey Medlocke told us the band had "great expectations" for its success, but did add that he was a bit hesitant going into the restaurant business because more times than not, when musicians go into it, they fail. There are a few successful acts who have had luck, chief among them Sammy Hagar and Jimmy Buffett.