Station vs. Richfield; Operation Showgirl; The Wayner, etc.

What made 130+ houses (and a clutch of apartment buildings) behind Palace Station so important that Station Casinos — currently busy sweating video poker play — was paying three and four times market value during a period when the Las Vegas real estate market was cratering? Therein lies a mystery. Almost four years after Station started agglomerating bits and pieces of Richfield Village, it says it doesn’t have a plan for the area — nor a timeline. Never did, apparently.

(Mad props to Two Way Hard Three creator Hunter Hillegas, who planted the seed of this story back in April.)

The Fertitta Brothers have long been in the habit of stockpiling local real estate parcels like so many nuclear warheads. Unfortunately, that means that large tracts of the valley are now locked in the deep freeze, accentuating the blight we’re currently experiencing. Just ask people who have been waiting for something, anything to be done on the former Castaways site (now for re-sale, for a cool $39.5 million). And Durango Station may be the locals-casino “failsino” of which legends are made: oft-announced, still unbuilt. Something — Aliante Station, “Viva,” Losee Station, “Castaways Station” — keeps leapfrogging it to the head of the queue. By levering up to its eyeteeth and then (surprise!) going into Chapter 11, Station took a big slice of the Vegas economy hostage, victim of will o’ the wisp decisionmaking and hubristic ambition.

Showgirls II. Another confessional from the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has emerged, this one involving Vegas showgirls. (No, not in that way.) “Operation Showgirl” was the brainchild of Archon Corp. treasurer (and current senatorial aspirant) Sue Lowden. The article’s account of the state GOP convention that Lowden controversially aborted is best taken with a grain of salt, though.

Once is too much. Word through the Dancing with the Stars grapevine is that Wayne Newton was and continues to be very close to the professional dancers on the show, remaining good friends with former partner Cheryl Burke (left, on opening night) and putting up Kym Johnson in his guest house when she comes to Vegas to rehearse with the Flamingo‘s Donny Osmond. However, Wayne the Mensch is less of a pressing concern than Newton the Trainwreck. The Wayner’s Tropicana show is not merely bad, it is the worst in town. A high tolerance for pain is a prerequisite for attending.

As a business decision on the part of Trop CEO Alex Yemenidjian, however, the Newton signing cannot be second guessed. Even as scribes strive to outdo each other in describing the mind-scarring sucktasticity that is Once Before I Go, it generates free publicity and stimulates (morbid?) curiosity that no media buy could match. Besides, even if Newton is a shockingly hollow remnant of his former self, given his status as “Mr. Las Vegas,” there will still be people willing to plunk down the price of admission so they can say they saw him play the Strip — and the Trop has obliged them.

Score: Tropicana 1, Newton 0.

Now it can be told. It seems that Bette Midler‘s extended stay at Caesars Palace was a disappointment for everyone involved, including Harrah’s Entertainment, AEG, ticket scalpers and Midler herself.