Thanks for the Memorabilia

By John Katsilometes

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 1998 | 12:18 p.m.

For a living, Charlie Casella handles Madonna's underwear.

He also arranges the archaic, psychedelic stage gear once worn by Jimi Hendrix. He form-fits tattered denim outfits donated by the estate of Kurt Cobain, makes sure Billy Idol's purple leather suit fits just so, and even adjusts little wigs on 35-year-old Beatles dolls.

"I'm a lucky person, there's no question about it," the 32-year-old curator of the eye-catching memorabilia collection at the Hard Rock hotel said. "I can't believe I'm doing this for a living. Who wouldn't want this job?"

Casella's labor of love has resulted in one of Las Vegas's more distinctive hotel-casino backdrops. Visitors socialize and gamble amid Harley-Davidson motorcycles once owned by Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue and Matt Sorum of Guns n' Roses, the battle-scarred drum kit used on the Doors' last U.S. tour in 1969, and guitars signed by artists ranging from George Michael to Bob Dylan.

They are symbols -- and cymbals -- of the times.

"If you count everything, we've got more than 10,000 individual items," Casella said. "We try to give people a look at the old and the new, lots of different things."

The oldest item is a circa 1955 Les Paul guitar played by Bill Haley. The newest is a velour-and-silk suit worn by Alanis Morrisette on the November cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

"The Alanis Morissette outfit was a big deal for us," Casella said. "To have that on display, along with the copy of the magazine, shows people we're on top of what we're doing."

Casella's story is the quintessential rags-to-riches tome. He attended UNLV for a while, never earning a degree but finding part-time work as a busboy at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Casella was soon promoted to waiter, then assistant curator, and finally to curator two years ago. He now lives in Los Angeles and checks in with the hotel at least twice a month.

"This is kind of a big mom-and-pop operaton and I'm just lucky, that's all," Casella said. "It's a lot of luck and hard work. It's a real rock 'n' roll story you'd find in a movie."

The hotel is a separate entity from the Hard Rock Cafe franchise, which encompasses 96 restaurants in 33 countries, including vacation outposts such as Kuwait and Malaysia. Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton sold off his share of restaurant stock two years ago and solely operates the Hard Rock hotel.

Most of Casella's time is spent working phone lines and combing the classifieds seeking unique rock 'n' roll-related items. The bulk of the collection is garnered through personal contact, when artists appear at the Hard Rock's Joint for a performance.

"We get a lot of stuff after people appear here, because this is a very unique place to play," he said. "It's kind of prestigious to perform here and have your stuff on display, like a badge of honor."

Lisa McCarthy, a vactioning jeweler from Boise, Idaho, stared at a display featuring James Brown's gold jacket and the piano where Al Green wrote "Take Me to the River," and came away impressed.

"I've seen a lot of guitars and stuff at the (Hard Rock) cafes, but this stuff is really different," she said. "If you're into rock 'n' roll at all, it's hard not to get caught up in it."

Musicians also tend to act more like fans than stars, Casella said.

"Lenny Kravitz came in here and saw our Jimi Hendrix display," Casella said. "He has his own collection of Hendrix stuff and he was very inquisitive. He could tell by sight what outfit Hendrix wore and when, and was a real student of his music."

Not surprisingly, Kravitz signed a guitar and donated an outfit he wore during a show at the Joint to the collection.

"If it's good enough for someone like Jimi Hendrix, it's good enough for anyone," Casella said. "There's a type of peer pressure going on."

Casella has to be careful about what types of items to display. A sweatshirt worn by Alice Cooper, with no distinguishing markings or accoutrements, is worthless.

But a black leather stage costume -- highlighted by a red, protective athletic cup worn over the pants -- is a sure-fire hit.

"We're not into T-shirts that you can't recognize," Casella said. "You can look up at a T-shirt and say it belonged to so-and-so, but who's to say you didn't just pick it up from some hotel guest?

"We're into very flashy things, like painted leather and denim suits and feathered boas."

What strikes fans initially is the size -- or lack thereof -- of most of the clothing.

"These big stars are not too big," Casella said. "Most of them are very tiny."

The purple velvet outfit purchased from the artist formerly known as Prince looks like it belongs to a 7-year-old kid. Morissette's outfit had to be taken in to fit the smallest mannequin available.

"Getting these things to look good and natural is kind of tough," Casella said. "It can be a very personal process."

Madonna, naturally, is a fan favorite. The newest display at the hotel features a tassled black bustier she boasted on her 1985 world tour, along with two dresses worn on stage and in music videos.

"We try to make our collection a tribute to the artist," Casella said. "That's why you won't see a graphic desription of Kurt Cobain's death (by self-inflicted shotgun blast) or the way some of these musicians lived or died. It's all about their music."

However, a few items do carry a nefarious history. One display features a seemingly innocuous white suit once owned by Mick Jagger.

But hard-core Rolling Stones fans recognize the suit as the one worn by the swollen-lipped singer during a 1969 drug bust.

"There's a famous picture of him in that suit," Casella said. "He's got his handcuffs on and everything."

Among the more popular (and pricey) items are a caped leather Elvis Presley jumpsuit and black accoustic guitar. The suit is worth $100,000, by Casella's estimation, and the guitar is worth twice that.

"We know that was one of Elvis' favorite guitars," Casella said. "And there are a lot of Elvis jumpsuits, but this is a really good one. It's so Vegas."

The Beatles display is certainly the most varied in the collection, a cavalcade of lunch boxes, teeny-bopper magazines, dolls and even a canister of talcum powder worth about $1,000.

The assorted trinkets were purchased in 1995 from a single collector for $50,000. It's now worth more than $100,000 and climbing, Casella said.

"Beatles stuff is amazing," he said. "Their fans are a rare breed. There's a lot of stuff out there and it keeps climbing in value. This is just a small part of one person's collection."

To ensure the authenticity of more personal items -- such as a leather jacket once owned by U2's Bono that looks like it could have been bought at the Gap -- Casella often must go directly to the source.

"I usually try to call the person directly, or a representative of their record label or family," Casella said. "We won't buy from some guy who says he's got a David Bowie outfit and looks very sketchy. We'd at least like a photo of the artist wearing it, and if he's deceased, we'll go to a member of the family."

Casella also checks serial numbers on instruments and, whenever possible, meets with artists in person to collect items.

Casella said 95 percent of the items have been purchased by the hotel, with the other 5 percent donated on loan. He's eagerly awaiting a collection of Carlos Santana memorabilia, which includes the outfit he wore on stage at Woodstock.

Also en route is the famed Union Jack dress worn by former Spice member Geri Halliwell. Casella bid $70,000 at an auction for the dress, which was initially supposed to be delivered by the red-headed songstress last month.

"That never happened," Casella said. "Unfortunately, the timing didn't work out. The wording of the contract was very vague and now it's just going to be delivered to us. She's been hard to find."

The dress will arrive in time for the hotel's expansion in May. The additional floor space will also house new custom-made Fender guitars and provide room for items piled up in the hotel's two warehouses on the Hard Rock site in Las Vegas and in Los Angeles.

"We've got plenty of stuff to fill space," he said. "It's just a matter of where and when to display it."

Casella is still seeking hard-to-obtain memorabilia from artists past and present.

"We've had a really tough time reaching Marilyn Manson, because he's the hot act right now and he's very tough to track down," he said. "I'd love to have some of his stuff. We don't have anything from the Doors, except for the drum kit, and we'd like to get some Janis Joplin items."

Competition is lively among the Hard Rock, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and individual artists' estates, but, Casella says, "we usually get what we want if we're persistent enough."

One item he's nearly ruled out is the guitar Hendrix set aflame at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. The left-handed Fender Stratocaster was given by Hendrix to Frank Zappa, who in turn left it to son Dweezil in his will.

Dweezil Zappa is said to have replaced the scorched neck and still plays the guitar in the studio. He's not willing to part with it, either.

"That's a tough thing. I know a lot of people are after him for that and making a lot of offers," Casella said. "I call and fax him every week. It's not about money, it's like a family heirloom. How can you ask a guy to part with a guitar left to him by Frank Zappa that was given to him by Jimi Hendrix?"

It's not easy. Maybe the best things in life are free.