Tiësto joins Paris Hilton in Resorts World’s pool-deck plans

A big-name DJ and a big name who has become a DJ are helping launch Resorts World Las Vegas on Thursday night.

Tiësto and Paris Hilton are among the performers on the Ayu Dayclub as RWLV opens formally. Tiësto opens his series on the pool deck on Saturday afternoon. Fellow headliner Zedd premieres at Ayu Nights that evening. Miley Cyrus is the July 4 Ayu headliner.

The 52-year-old Tiësto has performed for more than two decades internationally, and since 2013 years has been a leading headliner at Hakkasan Group (now Tao Group) nightclubs.

The Drake!

“American Idol” finalist and “Sun Records” TV series co-star Drake Milligan is performing at Dawg House on Thursday, Friday and again July 4 weekend. Milligan is an ace Elvis impressionist.

“I was about 7 and my family was eating at a restaurant when we saw my first Elvis impersonator by total accident,” Milligan told Country Music Television. “I had heard some Elvis songs on the radio. During Christmastime, they’d play ‘Blue Christmas,’ and I knew I liked his songs, but I didn’t know who it was singing them. I just knew I liked them … I started reading, watching and just picking up everything I could about him.”

Thus, Milligan is the rare, young Elvis Tribute Artist, as they are called. Viva Las Vegas to him.

The Lee effect

A Liberace display is being featured just off Resorts World’s Conrad lobby. The items include Liberace’s 1913 Shulz Nickelodeon piano, covered in mirror and crystal in the mid-1970s for Liberace’s show at the Las Vegas Hilton. It has just been restored a second time for the Resorts World exhibit.

Also, a candelabra used by Liberace in several shows, and two portraits of the great showman, are also displayed. All of it has been presented on loan from Johnathan Warren and the Liberace Foundation.

Rooted in history

Several trees on the resort’s vast pool deck have been held from the Echelon development. Those who observed the property around 2008 recall several trees planted around the parcel early in its development. They were pulled when the project stalled, stored and have been returned. I’ve suggested plaques be placed at the base of these trees, as a reminder of the plants’ long history.

Stardust memories

Walking the property Tuesday morning evoked a host of memories about times spent at the Stardust. Among them:

*Meeting Jimmy “J.J.” Walker at the sports book in about 1997, as he bet the CFL’s Grey Cup.

*Meeting Wayne Newton for the first time backstage in October 1999. As he pulled me into the seat next to him, he invited me to visit him at Casa de Shenandoah. Then went out and sang “Volare” to announce his contract at the new Wayne Newton Theater for a crowd that included hotel owner and Boyd Gaming icon Bill Boyd.

*Spending NYE 1999 with Mr. Las Vegas, a wild ride down the Strip to Bellagio and back to the Stardust in time for his late-night performance. We nearly side-swiped a limo, lumbered the wrong way down Industrial Road (now Sammy Davis Jr.) and almost wiped out a potted plant that night.

“Wayne, it should be noted, is a bad driver,” was in the intro of that story. As Newton said as we parked semi-legally at the stage door, “I don’t drive very often, and when you don’t drive these Las Vegas streets very often, they move on you.”

*The final show, co-starring Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme in 2006, walking into the theater behind Shecky Greene and Frankie Avalon.

*The closing of the hotel Nov. 1, 2006, filing out of the casino in a conga line led by a Dixie jazz band.

*The implosion of March 13, 2007, when wind blew the plume of smoke and debris to the media staging area. Our cars were caked with Stardust Dust, and I suffered from Stardust Cough for days.

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.