{"id":6751,"date":"2011-05-24T13:44:37","date_gmt":"2011-05-24T21:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=6751"},"modified":"2011-05-24T13:45:50","modified_gmt":"2011-05-24T21:45:50","slug":"your-moment-of-carmen-electra-don-barden-r-i-p","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/your-moment-of-carmen-electra-don-barden-r-i-p\/","title":{"rendered":"Your moment of Carmen Electra; Don Barden, R.I.P."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s not purely gratuitous. Ms. Electra, late of MGM Grand’s Crazy Horse Paris<\/a><\/em>, has defected to Planet Hollywood<\/strong>. On June 4, she’ll participate in the inaugural performance at Pussycat Dolls Burlesque Saloon<\/strong>. Hopefully it will be at least as exciting as its Web site<\/a>. Chalk up another coup for PCD founder Robin Antin<\/strong>, who’s managed to keep one-trick ponies like the aforesaid Dolls and Matt Goss<\/strong> cantering long after their legs should have given way. Antin is also responsible for unleashing the thermonuclear neuroses of Nicole Scherzinger<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"Just what Dad always wanted …<\/strong> Elsewhere at Planet Ho, Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> tries to match Phil Ruffin<\/strong> bull for mechanical bull. It’s debuting the PBR Rock Bar & Grill<\/strong> on June 19 in Desert Passage<\/strong><\/span> Miracle Mile Shops<\/strong>. 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<\/em> … 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.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object>
\nDon Barden, 1943-2011<\/strong>. The gaming world paid little notice to the passing<\/a> of Don Barden, a self-made tycoon<\/a> 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<\/strong> in Pittsburgh<\/strong>, literally running out of money in mid-construction. (Neil Bluhm<\/strong> bought out most of Barden’s stake and finished the $800 million leviathan.) By the end, his Majestic Star<\/strong> company was bankrupt and Barden had lost four-fifths of his casino mini-empire.<\/p>\n

\"\"Barden’s place in history as the first African-American casino owner in Vegas history<\/a> was diminished by his neglect of Fitzgeralds<\/strong>, purchased with great fanfare in 2001 After that … Barden’s visibility dropped. Big plans were announced<\/a>, 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<\/strong>, who Barden tried to run out of town behind the guise of a religious group. If you’ve been to Fitzgeralds<\/a> and to MGM Grand Detroit<\/strong>, you can judge for yourself what Barden would have brought to Motown and how “screwed” the city actually was.<\/p>\n

\"\"In a Greek-tragedy twist<\/strong>, 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<\/a>. 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<\/a>. Strange as it may seem, that tatty old casino may be the pick of the litter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[28,44,18,83,51,4,7,140,53,11,91,95,6,9,19,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6751"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6760,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6751\/revisions\/6760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}