The American Century Championship Returns for its 36th Year
Celebrity Golf Tournament
By Bill Kopp
The American Century Championship is an annual celebrity golf tournament held each July at Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada. Established in 1990, it features a diverse field of celebrities, including athletes, actors and entertainers. The most recent winners were Tony Romo (2022), Stephen Curry in 2023, and Mardy Fish in 2024. The 54-hole, par 72 event offers a purse of $750,000.
Over the years, the American Century Championship has become a premier destination for fans to engage with their favorite stars in a competitive yet entertaining setting. The tournament includes a Long Drive Challenge (16th hole), Charity Chip Challenge and a Hole-in-one contest on the 17th tee; the latter is sponsored by Korbel. The tournament supports charitable causes, contributing significantly throughout its history. Visit Lake Tahoe CEO Carol Chaplin spoke with Rock On about the popular tournament, which takes place this year July 9th-13th.
Tell me about your role in connection with the tournament.
Carol Chaplin: I’ve been president and CEO of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority (LTVA) – or as we call ourselves these days, Visit Lake Tahoe – since 2008. I came in June of that year, so the first thing that I got hit with was a very active and vibrant event called the American Century Championship.
You started in June?! So it was “Welcome, and ‘boom.’”
Yes! But my staff have been doing this for a long time. We manage the volunteers, and we have 400 of them for the tournament that week. And many of them have been there, if not for every year, for close to all 35 years. NBC owns this tournament, and they have a wonderful tournament director. Milthorpe Sports LLC is the company that runs the tournament. LTVA is the destination sponsor; we have roles that we play, but we don’t produce every aspect of it. There are lots of partners; it’s just amazing to see how many people in the community are involved in this; they transplant themselves for a month before it happens.
It’s often a challenge to get volunteers for events; getting them to come back again and again suggests that it’s a very rewarding experience for them.
Oh, absolutely. A lot of these volunteers know each other from other tournaments; this is part of their social life. They’re passionate about the sport, passionate about the players. They spend a week with us, and they find their own accommodations. Our staff hears from them year-round because they’ve become friends and acquaintances. They’re something else: they know what they’re doing and they know what hole they want to be on. They know what role they want to play. It’s a great little community, and the volunteers really make that thing run.
Tell me about the origins of the tournament.
1990 was the first year; there were about 1,500 attendees that year. At that point in time, Caesar’s Hotel was here; it originated with Caesar’s, and the LTVA helped find rooms for the players and [tasks] like that. NBC purchased the tournament in the mid ‘90s, and American Century became the title sponsor in 1999. So they’ve both been with the tournament for a long time. American Century is an incredible company to work with; they’re very passionate about what they do for nonprofits.
Back in 1990 it was just a little tournament with a few celebrities. And then it just grew from there; last year we had 77,000 people attend. We’ve had some incredible moments on the golf course that have echoed around the world, like Steph Curry’s hole-in-one in ‘23.
What sets the American Century Championship apart from other golf tournaments?
The golf tournament takes place at our good partners Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, considered one of the finest in the country. It sits right on the lake, so there are incredible views of stunning Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevadas in the background. A lot of golf tournaments have great scenery, but I’m not sure how many are in an Alpine setting like ours. So that might set us apart a little bit.
Then there’s the fact that we have approximately 84 celebrities and athlete players every year. And there’s this thing that happens on the golf course – especially on 17, which is right next to the lake – where we have spectators who line up on the beach in their boats. They wait for their favorite players to come along.
And there’s strange stuff that happens. You might see Justin Timberlake throw a football into a basketball hoop. It gets pretty fun out on those final holes, coming in to 18 at the clubhouse. Golf etiquette is observed when it needs to be, but it is put aside in some cases when the players are having fun. And some of those players come back year after year themselves, just like the volunteers. They have friends on the course, and they really have a good time. It’s a place where the players bring their families and have a little bit of a vacation as well.
What charities benefit from the event?
American Century has their own charities; they’re very active in cancer research. Then every year after the tournament, the LTVA manages this pot of money that comes back to us. Each year it’s anywhere from $75,000 to $125,000, for a total of over $8 million over the life of the tournament. Beneficiaries include The Boys and Girls Clubs and Cancer League of South Lake Tahoe; some of our local schools get money. Most of the money goes to nonprofits that help some of our local underserved populations. And we’ve been able to donate things like a vehicle to get people to their treatments, and a walk-in cooler to help keep food fresh so that people can have fresh meals made for them. Typically we’re able to donate back to at least 25 to 30 nonprofits. American Century and the tournament are the reasons that we’re able to do that. The tournament is one of those gifts that keeps on giving; we’re always very appreciative and thankful for American Century helping us with that.
Beyond exponential growth, how has the tournament changed over the years?
At the beginning in 1990, obviously we didn’t have the kind of media coverage we have now, so [from a technical standpoint] we couldn’t do what we do today. We didn’t have drones, we didn’t have social media, and there were some limitations in term of television broadcasting. Of course now we’re broadcasting globally. One reason that the tournament has grown so much is that we reach so many more people year after year. Online, we are numbering in the billions – as opposed to thousands – of impressions.
This tournament is a community within itself. The American Century team that comes in is the same people that I met in 2008. I’m still working with the same team, the same tournament director from NBC. We all know each other; we know what our families are doing. We’ve watched kids grow up. And the players have done that as well. We have NFL Hall of Famers, we have incredible stars from every different sport, we have TV stars. And they all have a relationship on the golf course that withstands the test of time.
What else would you like people to know about the tournament?
Tournament week is something that we all look forward to here in the community. There is a very different vibe in South Lake Tahoe. The community is really proud of this event and welcomes people to spend time with us. People enjoy walking into one of our hotel casinos and seeing one of the players dining or having fun. Harvey’s Outdoor Concert Series is in full swing during that time period, so there’s always a concert during the tournament, and a lot of the players go to that.
We have incredible local community partners in our hotels and restaurants. Harrah’s is our host hotel for the event. Edgewood Tahoe is a great partner and provides the golf course; they turn it over to the tournament for that entire week. Bally’s, Golden Nugget, Forest Suites and Azure Hotel are all our partners; they help provide rooms and accommodations for the team that comes in from NBC and some of the sponsors. Korbel is a big sponsor, too; they’ve come back every year.
It’s fun to see how we all come together to make this a really special time of the year. There’s nothing else like it for us here in South Lake Tahoe.
Killer Queen: Crazy Little Thing Called Tribute
By Bill Kopp
In 2025, tribute bands are a major segment of the music industry. Fans who perhaps never got to see their favorite classic rock band – or who want to relive the experiences of when they did – react with enthusiasm when a quality tribute band comes to town. But back in the ‘90s when the London group that would become Killer Queen first got started, the concept of tribute rock bands hadn’t come into being. A combination of being in the right place at the right time, coupled with talent and dedication, set Killer Queen on a course that continues today, three decades after their launch.
Ahead of Killer Queen’s March 23 date at Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, lead singer Patrick Myers recounts to Rock On how he went from being a student to becoming the onstage embodiment of the late great Freddie Mercury.
Tell me how you first got into the music of Queen and the larger-than-life personality of Freddie Mercury.
I’d been a Queen fan since about age 13, 14, I think, and I sort of cut my teeth on their music. I had played their songs at school, in concerts and things like that. But I never thought that it would become something, because back in ‘91, tribute bands didn’t really exist.
In the winter of 1991, we were just students getting to know each other. We “got” each other through Queen and [David] Bowie, with a little bit of Led Zeppelin thrown in; they were the ones everyone seemed to agree were brilliant and had been really exciting in our lives. But we weren’t thinking about it other than that just as a way of getting to know each other. We’d talk about which albums we liked, and all that sort of stuff; just general conversations about that sort of thing.
And then we got the news that Freddie was ill and then had died and it suddenly turned everything on its head. We were all in shock – a massive shock – because I stupidly hadn’t even realized he was ill. I’d seen he’d looked a lot older and had seemed to be aging a lot faster than the rest of the band.
I knew he’d had his wild times, but it still never crossed my mind that he was going to be dying of AIDS. I just thought he was all right; back in the ‘80s he’d said in interviews that he’d been tested and he was fine. And I just assumed, “Oh, thank God he’s all right then.”
So I was completely blindsided by [his death]; we all were. And we started playing the songs to each other. There was a battered old piano in a laundry room, and we played the songs to each other; we’d start showing each other how each song went.
At the same time, that Christmas, I went home and was messing about with my mum’s makeup kit. I had a beard that was only half grown and I wanted to color it in a bit with a mascara so I could go out and see my friends and pretend: “Look! I could grow a beard! How grown up am I, right?” I was only about 20 or something.
Just by chance, I was wearing a brilliant blue shirt with a polka dot red tie, which Freddie had worn in his last interview in videos. I hadn’t bought them with the view of looking like Freddie; I just happened to have those things. And I was trying to dress up because it was Christmas.
So I had a combination of the mascara and the clothes. I suddenly thought, “Oh, look! I’m wearing stuff that Freddie did, and I’ve got a beard like Freddie had.” So I pulled a “Freddie face” face in the mirror. That’s the first time I’d ever done that, and I suddenly realized if I did that, my face could look like Freddie Mercury’s.
I’d always been a vocal mimic and I’d mimicked people that I loved, so I’d mimic John Lennon and Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello and Bono and Lou Reed and anyone with a distinctive voice. And – though I found him difficult to mimic because he had a beautiful voice – I mimicked Freddie. And I thought, well, maybe…
How did that lead to the band getting going?
The idea of tribute bands was really only just starting then. At the time there was this one band called Bjorn Again that played the music of ABBA; they weren’t even called a tribute band. But I went back to university and said, “Maybe we should do a concert” of Queen’s music. So we got ourselves together, and we rehearsed and rehearsed. A friend of ours called Amanda said she wanted to make costumes for us.
And then bizarrely, we got offered this headline spot in the middle of London for our first ever show. I wasn’t sure were ready, but someone had passed a photograph of me to the venue’s entertainments officer. He’d forgotten to renew his entertainment license, so he couldn’t put on a major band like Nirvana or the Pixies or Blur or whoever was big at the time. So the only thing he could put on was a student band.
And I said, “Well, no one’s going to come to a ball to see a student band!” He said, “They will do if it’s a tribute band.” But I said no. I didn’t think were ready. I was scared. And I wasn’t sure people would like the idea of [a band] pretending to be Queen: Was it sacrilegious?
And then he said, “No, go on. I’ve got faith in you. Please give this some thought.” So I gave some thought and said, “Yes, let’s just do it, because I’m never going to get an opportunity like this again.” I thought, “Even if we do one show, wouldn’t it be great to do that one brilliant show in front of loads of students as opposed to trying to get a gig in a pub or something?” So that’s what happened.
How did that show go?
That first gig took off, and the entertainments officer said, “I want to manage you.” He booked us into big clubs like the Marquee, and he handled our marketing. He was very clever and savvy. And we were just shell shocked! This was like an abstract project, and it suddenly went from an abstract to “Oh, right, this is happening!”
Within about a year, we were in the West End; we had the first-ever tribute to anyone in the West End. There were musical shows – jukebox shows – but there wasn’t a tribute band having their own evening where there was a concert. Then we were on national TV, and we started getting loads of work abroad.
And it kept on. It kept on growing and growing, and we started winning awards. Suddenly the arenas got in touch and said, “Would you like to come and play some arenas?” I didn’t seriously expect it. So I just said yes. And then America got in touch. We played Red Rocks and places like that, and different arenas all over the world.
I’ve “just said yes” at strategic times in my life, and it seems to have worked out all right.
What makes Queen and their music special for you?
The lovely thing is to share all this with audiences that love the music. They’re beautiful songs.
I think a lot about Queen as a band; not just Freddie. I think of their musicality, their personality and their sense of humor. I’ve never met them, and I don’t know whether I ever will or not. But I’ve spent so much time in the company of their songs that those songs feel like friends.
When hip hop and orchestral music meet, sparks fly
Cypress Hill Meets Reno Phil - When hip hop and orchestral music meet, sparks fly
by Bill Kopp
What are the challenges in trying to combine what Cypress Hill does and what an orchestra does?
Bobo: The big challenge is to keep the essence of what Cypress Hill is about, how it can translate on stage. We’re known for giving a pretty energetic show. And I think that the [orchestral] arrangements add to the dark atmosphere that Cypress Hill tends to go at on albums like Black Sunday [1993]. We’re able to get that essence, and I think that’s what helped it to become what it is.
I come from a Latin jazz background; improvisation is a really big thing to me. Troy Miller created the arrangements; he comes from that kind of background, too. And he understands how to get that out of people. And I think it was important for the orchestra to really feel relaxed. The rehearsals were key. You know, if we went in there stiff, that’s exactly how they were going to play. Then Covid happened, so a lot of logistics were just a little too difficult at the time.
When we came [to the Royal Albert Hall], they were kind of surprised that we were as prepared and hands-on as we were. That let them loosen up a little bit; they could have fun and not think, “Oh man, here we go. How is this going to turn out?” Everybody was ready to go right from Jump Street. It’s not just us doing our thing and them doing their thing, an us-and-them thing. It’s really about combining it, letting each other shine, letting each other speak. You get the classical part of it, you get the hip hop part of it, and it all comes together.
It’s a meeting of the minds, a great experience. And I look forward to more of that.
Altieri: With all the different musicians in the Reno Phil, we all have our different ideas in approaching something like this. Usually it takes a conductor to keep one sound together. So we’re all going to be doing something brand new, and it’s really very exciting. We have to come in there with open minds and be ready to adjust quickly.
The real challenge is when things go a little bit off-kilter or not quite what we’re expecting. I do my homework; I learn the charts as best I can. But that’s the thing: you can learn the charts, but things can still get a little crazy. Yet all of us are able to adapt quickly. And some of the best music comes from the spontaneity of the moment.
Bobo: On tour, we do our regular shows, and we do symphony shows.
And to be honest, sometimes it’s kind of difficult to switch back and forth: “All right, we’re doing a normal set this week, and then in five days we’ve got a symphony show!” Because you have to really get into that mode: the way you play, the way you’re thinking. So the whole thing has been a challenge, but it’s been great.
After Covid kind of settled down, we thought, “Well, let’s try this, but let’s do it with some other orchestras and then build up to it.” And I’m glad that we did that, because the LSO is one of the most renowned orchestras in the world, and they are on their A-plus game. We had to be in that mindset.
Hip hop and other popular forms of music are about spontaneity, being in-the-moment. But orchestras work from sheet music and a planned program. How do you reconcile those different approaches?
Bobo: You have to be respectful to what they do and how they do it. You’re in their house. We are lucky to be able to do this; not many hip hop groups can say that they performed with an orchestra. We like to make it a real combination, and with the orchestras and conductors that we’ve worked with so far, it’s been just that.
Altieri: We blend using the forces of a classical or “classical symphony” with modern genres that may or may not have musical notation. It’s trailblazing.
One of the things that I do as a conductor – especially as someone who specializes in pops – is that when I see the arrangements, oftentimes I will come up with my own ideas and tweak them. I might throw out some ideas to increase the energy and the overall flow. That’s part of the fun; that’s the way that art evolves.
Even with written arrangements for the orchestra, I’d imagine that spontaneity is baked into this collaboration.
It’s not as if Cypress Hill and the Reno Phil will have days to rehearse together…
Altieri: We’ll get together [before the concert] just to see if our charts line up with what [Cypress Hill] is doing. Because sometimes things don’t quite line up like they should. So you’ve got to have somebody at the helm who can think on their feet and try to “right the ship” in real time.
That’s part of the fun too: you don’t really know [what will happen]. I’ve done some concerts where we’ve blended orchestral music with a DJ. Yeah. The DJ has his ideas of what he’s doing, but those aren’t necessarily notated. That was a real challenge, but it came off quite well. So I found out a long time ago, and it’s now a little mantra that I use: “It’s fun to be fluid.”
Are many of the musicians in the Phil fans of Cypress Hill, or of hip hop in general?
Altieri: Absolutely! You can’t live in a vacuum. Myself, I knew “Insane in the Brain” quite well. And in doing my research, I’ve gotten to know some of the other tunes too. It’s gonna be a lot of fun collaborating with Cypress Hill.
Bobo: Oh, yeah! In all of the orchestras that we have played with so far, we’ve met Cypress Hill fans. It’s not like they’re these stuffy musicians. You have some who grew up listening to Cypress, yet they play classical music. And there are a few – OGs, I call them – who have been doing this kind of thing for years; they really appreciate this combination of hip hop and classical. And it’s always cool to be able to sit down and talk with them.
There’s a certain contingent of season ticket holders who come to everything. Do you think that the audience for this concert is likely to be primarily those people, or might it draw in people who have never seen or heard the Reno Phil before?
Altieri: You’re asking the million-dollar question! The Reno Phil is always trying to branch out and find new audiences; that’s always a goal.
But that’s also the beauty of the art. We’re trying to branch out into new avenues, and who knows? There might be some dyed-in-the-wool Beethoven fan who decides they want to check out a little hip hop and see what else we can do. Because that’s really part of the excitement of music making. What we do with pops is suggest to people, “Hey, if you like that, come to listen to this and expand your horizons a little bit.
Is this collaboration indicative of the Reno Phil’s direction going forward, working with more artists outside of the classical and orchestral idiom?
Altieri: The hip hop angle is a new one for us. But yes: we’ve done rock, and we’ve done country. In the summer we’re doing a concert with a Beatles tribute band. Just a couple of months ago, we did “Nashville to Neon.” That was a purely country and western show. There are starting to be a lot more orchestras tapping into the country music market. Those artists are saying, “Isn’t it fun to have a symphony orchestra backing you up?” Because it’s a powerful sound when you’re able to put that many more colors into your show.
This whole collaboration highlights the idea of pushing boundaries, of trying new things. That seems to be a common thread that unites the Reno Phil and Cypress Hill.
Bobo: Yes, and in Cypress Hill we have a true brotherhood. We’ve kind of grown with each other. Back in the early days, everything was just so new. It was just, “Hang on! We’re all experiencing this together!” As years have gone by, we’ve been able to maintain that brotherhood and still enjoy making music together. And we still enjoy being on tour together.
When we come together, everybody falls into their spot, and then we enjoy trying out new things. When we’re in the dressing room, somebody might say, “Yo, this might be cool; let’s try this.” And then – even without a rehearsal – we’ll try it at the show. If you’re locked in like that, anything is possible.
Cypress Hill with The Reno Phil
Grand Sierra Resort, Grand Theatre
Friday, April 4, 2025, 8pm