Originally posted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal here.
By John Katsilometes / Las Vegas Review-Journal
November 15, 2018 – 5:01 pm
Updated November 15, 2018 – 7:24 pm
Posthumously, Vinnie Paul headlined Las Vegas a final time Sunday night.
The co-founder of Pantera and Hellyeah and a Vegas resident was honored that evening with a shrine at The Golden Tiki. The glass case showcases the shrunken head the club dedicated to Paul a little more than a year before his death on June 22.
Not surprisingly, the place was jammed for late-night session. Paul was enormously popular on the local entertainment scene and was known to hit the town routinely to catch live music, comedy, magic — any variety of entertainment. Paul loved talent in all of its forms.
Fittingly, the night drew members of Hellyeah and such luminaries as Carrot Top and Tony Felicetta of Dino & The Sharps (who emceed the event).
Paul’s girlfriend, Chelsey Yeager, took the mic to address the crowd that packed the club’s dance floor. She managed, “I miss him so much …” but could not finish and stepped from the stage. Many of Paul’s friends said they were still stunned at his passing. Carrot Top called him “a big, kind soul,” and, “a sweet, generous man who always had a smile on his face.”
Topper has always been grateful for Paul’s repeated visits to his show at Luxor over the years— more than 100 by Paul’s own count. The hard-rock legend will continue to be memorialized near the entrance of The Golden Tiki, one of his favorite haunts.…
