It’s not purely gratuitous. Ms. Electra, late of MGM Grand’s Crazy Horse Paris, has defected to Planet Hollywood. On June 4, she’ll participate in the inaugural performance at Pussycat Dolls Burlesque Saloon. Hopefully it will be at least as exciting as its Web site. Chalk up another coup for PCD founder Robin Antin, who’s managed to keep one-trick ponies like the aforesaid Dolls and Matt Goss cantering long after their legs should have given way. Antin is also responsible for unleashing the thermonuclear neuroses of Nicole Scherzinger on an undeserving world but she has a knack for either giving the Vegas tourist what he wants … or finding a commercially viable ersatz version thereof.
Just what Dad always wanted … Elsewhere at Planet Ho, Caesars Entertainment tries to match Phil Ruffin bull for mechanical bull. It’s debuting the PBR Rock Bar & Grill on June 19 in Desert Passage Miracle Mile Shops. Fathers ride free aboard the bull that day, so if you’re carrying a grudge against your Pop, you can repay him with a brief bucking from the mechanical bronco, followed by an undignified landing upon his tuchus … or worse. And for those who think “Family Vegas” is dead and gone, another opening-night feature is comped meals for kids (age unspecified). So be sure and bring at least three generations of your family when PBR Rock Bar opens its doors.
Don Barden, 1943-2011. The gaming world paid little notice to the passing of Don Barden, a self-made tycoon and cable-TV mogul who had a love-hate relationship with the casino industry. Barden’s mid-life swerve into gaming went well initially but swiftly unraveled after he overspent on Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, literally running out of money in mid-construction. (Neil Bluhm bought out most of Barden’s stake and finished the $800 million leviathan.) By the end, his Majestic Star company was bankrupt and Barden had lost four-fifths of his casino mini-empire.
Barden’s place in history as the first African-American casino owner in Vegas history was diminished by his neglect of Fitzgeralds, purchased with great fanfare in 2001 After that … Barden’s visibility dropped. Big plans were announced, then forgotten. Today, the interior of the property epitomizes “stale” and its exterior is in shocking disrepair. The unraveling of Barden’s casino business gives the lie to his 2004 proclamation that “I got screwed and [Detroit] got screwed” when lost a potential gambling concession to then-MGM Grand, who Barden tried to run out of town behind the guise of a religious group. If you’ve been to Fitzgeralds and to MGM Grand Detroit, you can judge for yourself what Barden would have brought to Motown and how “screwed” the city actually was.
In a Greek-tragedy twist, the fractious Barden spent his latter days exiled to a hotel room, wrangling with his estranged wife over control of his businesses. He won’t even be allowed to rest in peace, as family members are battling over the funeral arrangements. While trying to raise money to finish Rivers Casino, Barden peddled his downtown Vegas casino but found no takers. It future lies in the courtroom, where a judge will decide who gets which pieces of the Barden empire. Strange as it may seem, that tatty old casino may be the pick of the litter.
One of my friends was in Las Vegas sometime ago with his wife and they saw Matt Goss perform. He did not like the show but his wife really did. He asked his wife who told her about Matt Goss and she said some of her girlfriends from college did. She told her husband, “Matt Goss is very sexy and has a great voice. I would rather see him perform than go to a nightclub with you and observe women in their twenties who are dressed like strippers.”
That’s too bad about Don Barden. Regardless of the shape of his casinos, he was a nice man. He probably over-paid for the “Fitz” casinos to begin with (and Trumps former hotel & boat in Gary). Throw in the fact that they were all dumps before he purchased them and then when the economy tanked, he had no where to go. RIP Don.
Having met Mr. Barden once, I concur that he was a very nice man, not at all pretentious. As you say, his dreams outran his wallet. He meant well by “The Fitz” but had too many irons in the fire and too few greenbacks in the bank.
Anyone who is willing to buy a casino in downtown Las Vegas and try and make it profitable has a lot of courage and guts. Unfortunately he did not have enough money to turn around Fitzgeralds but at least he tried. RIP Mr. Barden.
Having been an original member of the table games management department at the Majestic Star and having had the honor of becoming acquainted with Mr. Barden, I find your derogatory statements toward him to be very unfair. If I remember correctly, the LV Fitz was the old Sundance and has been around many years but you are attempting to compare it to a roughly ten year old property in Detroit. I believe Mr. Barden obtained the Fitz via the Phil Griffith organization (a truly nice bunch of folks who, after taking over the Reno Fitz, installed coin operated coffee machines in the employee’s breakroom.) As you should be aware, the casino business is an especially cutthroat business and I’m sure there was no chance of Bluhm, or any of his lackeys, putting roadblocks in Barden’s efforts to open up in Pittsburgh. It was in the late 90’s when Barden attempted to get licensed in Detroit but as you should also be aware, MGM had much deeper pockets, which may have included Native Americans in them. I have been to the “motor city casino” and not been overly impressed and for you to say that Don Barden would have opened and operated a Detroit version of LV Fitzgeralds is ludicrous. Don Barden was a very considerate and respectable gentleman whose achievements can be equated to winning the Kentucky Derby after spotting the rest of the field two furlongs. May he rest in peace.