Gambling911.com crew partied with Eagles Randy Meisner, or did we?

Gambling911.com parties with a felon at Doyle Brunson toast that featured among other things, Pamela Anderson getting annihilated and walking out.  We can't make this stuff up.


In a bizarre twist to an already bizarre night that witnessed a frazzled Pamela Anderson storm out of a dinner gathering in a huff, the Gambling911.com crew managed to become party to what is now a national manhunt....Oh, and did we mention, we partied with the felon?

Thursday night, the crew of Gambling911.com was seated at our table for the 'Doyle Brunson Roast' dinner. We started to chat with a friendly man wearing overalls and enjoying many cocktails. After much chit-chat, we found out that he was Randy Meisner, the bass guitarist, for the Eagles.  Leave it to our fearless leader to whip out his laptop and conduct a quick "Google" search on our new "friend". 

Since our crew is mostly Gen-X, we knew of Eagle's songs and members, but didn't know the details or history of the band. Let's face it, we were in diapers when the Eagles were really cranking out the hits (okay, some of us were). We figured he had to be someone important though since he claimed to be one of Bodog Poker's new "celebrity poker players (he even sported a Bodog cap - see above picture). 

Randy Meisner proceeded to fill us in detailed experiences about playing with the Eagles, and life on the road. Randy described how his mother purchased a very expensive guitar for him as a child, and molded him into a musician at an early age. He spoke of concerts, his buddy Dustin Hoffman, his 11-acre sprawling house on the Malibu beachfront, his love for poker, a recent Bodog sponsorship, and that Pamela Anderson was not well-liked in his gated community.

As the night went on, Randy said some things that started to puzzle me. He said he had a bull on his Texas ranch called 'Sugar'. Sugar, the massive bull, would be out grazing in a big open field, and then allow Randy to grab him by the ears and pull him back to his pen. The bull apparently respected Randy... a lot. Randy also stated that he did his graduate degree at Stanford, and taught business at UCLA. Finally, in what was almost an invitation, Randy told us that the Eagles were going to play in Vegas for the last time this September 2006. What a busy guy! But, why was he here alone?

After our lobster dinner, compliments of Doyle's Room, Randy tailed us to the party ballroom. He scoffed at showing his red pass to a guard, exclaiming, "I have never had to show any credentials! I just walk into concerts whenever I'd like."

Randy was certainly shaping up to be a weird bird. However, we all had our pictures taken with him, and bragged to our friends at the party about our famous dinner mate.

Gambling911.com's own Jenny Woo froze like a deer in headlights when she learned that a member of her DOM's (that being her "Dirty Old Dad") was sitting across the table from us during the toast.

"My father used to sing me to sleep every night with 'Hotel California'."

Randy was quick to point out that "Hotel California" was actually a song about a drug overdose. 

We eventually split up and lost Randy at the party.

When I returned to my room that night, I did a Google search on Randy Meisner and the first indexed result made my jaw drop. Randy Meisner had been the target of an imposter for over ten years through the 80's and 90's. A 1998 SFWeekly.com article told the sordid tale. Errrr our fearless leader apparently missed this search.  The quip that made my head spin:

For 10 years, Lewis Peter Morgan impersonated Randy Meisner, an obscure former bass guitar player for the Eagles rock group. Morgan smooth-talked his way into a borrowed lifestyle of guitars, girls, and casinos.

For the last decade, Morgan traveled between California and Nevada, pretending to be Randy Meisner, a founding member of the 1970s rock group the Eagles. As Meisner, Morgan coasted on the generosity of gullible instrument manufacturers, friendly casino owners, and starry-eyed women with money to burn. He grew fond of the process of fast-talking people out of a custom guitar, or if they happened to be female, out of their pants.

Thankfully, we took pictures of "Randy". After a fervent internet search for ANY pictures of the REAL Randy Meisner, it was conceivable that the man we met COULD be him. Both men have grayed, have roundish faces and have blue eyes. However, upon careful study of the photos, the nose, teeth and ears are very different between the two."Fake Randy" is also heavier set.

The fake Randy is quite knowledgeable about Meisner's life and music history, and had reportedly met and fooled Don Henley once.

The impostor, Lewis Peter Morgan, was arrested in 1998 after a several year manhunt and served 16 months in prison.

So, did the crew of Gambling911.com have dinner with Randy Meisner or Lewis Peter Morgan last night? Here are the pictures below...and you decide.

In an ironic twist, through various connections, a member of the Eagles was notified to confirm this not to be the real Randy Meisner.  By Friday evening, private investigators descended upon Las Vegas in search of the imposter who has made the real Randy Meisner's life a living hell. 

Payton O'Brien, www.gambling911.com

Originally published July 30, 2006 2:26 pm EDT