Columnist Joe Delaney: Station casinos on right track

Joe Delaney

Thursday, July 24, 1997 | 11:21 a.m.

THE WAY TO GO. ... Recent releases from three Station Casinos: Boulder, Palace and Sunset indicate a renaissance in entertainment with Sunset scheduling The Spinners and Main Ingredient at 9 p.m. Saturday and re-scheduling the Gladys Knight & Friends spectacular for Aug. 1, in the Sunset Amphitheater.

Boulder Station has booked Rick Trevino, Aug. 5; Chubby Checker. Aug. 22; Earl Klugh, Aug. 24; and John Berry, Aug. 27. ... Column favorite Buddy Greco will play the Sunset Station, July 29-Aug. 3 and Boulder Station, Aug. 12-17; this shows some creativity in booking.

Established lounge acts such as Sergio Alberti, Lil Elmo & the Cosmos, Lyin' Eyes, and Sonny Turner rotate between the three, giving each a local circuit to play. ... Just noticed that Al Martino, a longtime headliner here, plays Sunset Station, Aug. 30-31.

Identification

This column has been advocating longer runs for acts that fit the theme of the hotel, building identification so that regular visitors and fans will know that a favorite act plays at that hotel. ... Cork Proctor has been doing this at the Orleans with Sam Butera & the Wildest, The Treniers, plus various Zydeco acts.

Before Shecky Greene became a main showroom headliner, he played the Tropicana Lounge for a few years, making that lounge the equal of the main showroom as a source of casino action. ... When The Sheck moved to the Riviera, he took that fan base with him and did the same for the Riviera. ... This is just one of many such cases.

Louis Prima, Keely Smith and Sam Butera at the Sahara, 1955-1960, followed by Don Rickles, 1960-1965, made the Casbar Lounge as important to the casino as the Congo Room. ... There are many more.

Blues Mondays

Returning to Station Hotels, Boulder Station is on the mark with its free Boulder Blues Concerts on Mondays plus Mutiny and its off-the-wall improv humor between 7 & 9 p.m. on Wednesdays. ... The Riviera has made Mondays important again to jazz fans with Don Menza & Friends in the lounge, celebrating their third anniversary.

The Off Broadway Theater presents Monti Rock, The III in "The Experience," on July 25-26 and Aug. 1-2 in its theater at 900 E. Karen, Suite D-116, not for the faint-of-heart.

Susan Abbott-Doskocil presents an Evening of Jazz and Tap, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, upstairs at the Debbie Reynolds Hotel, featuring Dianne "Lady Di" Walker, Sam Webber and her talented self plus top players Carl Fontana, Gus Mancuso, Rudy Aikels and Clyde Duell. ... Admission is $15, $10 to seniors and LV Jazz Society members with paid-up cards.

Pete continues

Top sports authority and radio personality Lee Pete and this columnist just re-united for seven fun weeks, 2-4 p.m. weekdays, on KRLV AM 1340, doing our version of "Two Grumpy Old Men" a la Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon with touches of Bob and Ray. ... Lee has moved to 10-11 a.m. weekdays on the station, still the best.

My UNLV Hotel School teaching schedule has me on a semester sabbatical in the fall, returning in the spring to teach the three-credit Hotel Entertainment Course. ... I am slated to teach a course in UNLV's Greenspun School of Communications this fall.

The fall course will cover the Opinion and Editorial pages of the nation's top newspapers, covering editorials, commentaries, critiques and column writing in general. ... Call the Dean's Office at 895-3030 for further information on the course.

And into 1998

Just received confirmation that I shall be teaching at the International Academy of Broadcasting in Montreux, Switzerland, Jan. 5 through 25, 1998, my third year there. ... In September, it will again be a Mariachi Mania Weekend at the Aladdin with Vicente Fernandez on Sept. 12 and the Seventh Annual Mariach Festival on Sept. 13, both in the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts. ... I love what I do, especially at the LV SUN. ... See you Friday.