Like most major casino companies, the recession hit them hard and Station has been navigating its way through a structured bankruptcy proceeding for the better part of a year. It appears that is drawing to a close and the result may mean a break-up of the company and the sale of many of its hotels.

The company's major stakeholders, the Fertitta family who founded it, would retain four of the hotels - Red Rock, Boulder Station, Sunset Station, and Palace Station - but the rest would go up for sale including Texas Station, Aliante Station, Fiesta Henderson and Rancho, Green Valley Ranch, and Santa Fe Station among others.

Boyd Gaming, owners of locals hotels like Orleans and Suncoast, have previously announced their intention to snap up some or all of the properties, but the Ferttita brothers say they are going to try to buy the hotels back also to keep them all in the family.

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The hotel opened in 2006 after a major remodeling of the dingy joint that it was before, the San Remo. Hoping to lure a young, middle market crowd with their Miami beach theme and famous Hooters girls as dealers, the property just never really caught on and has been struggling ever since.

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Word on The Strip is that a group of investors, some of whom were associated with the Starwood Hotel group, are buying up the company's debt in a bid to gain control of the property. What they plan on doing with it if they get it is a huge question mark.

Do I hear an implosion in the future? Possibly, but probably not anytime soon. To tear the property down would mean they'd have to build something new and coming up with the billions needed to do that is virtually impossible in this economy. The more likely scenario would be some sort of remodel and/or partnership with a name brand hotelier to bump up the property's profile.

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So I went into the Garth Brooks concert at Encore Las Vegas with an open mind but low expectations. I walked out calling it one of the best concerts I have ever been to in my entire life.

Garth Brooks, for those who have been living in a cave for the last 20 years, remains the best selling music artist of all time, having sold more albums than The Beatles. His string of country music hits was virtually unstoppable in the 1990s and his high-energy, high-production value concert tours broke records for attendance and box office.

But then in 2001 he retired from performing to concentrate on being with his family, including country-music superstar wife Trisha Yearwood. He has been mostly AWOL from the pop-culture scene ever since.

Steve Wynn changed all that. Luring Brooks out of retirement was reportedly not easy but the lure of being able to do whatever he wanted on stage in Vegas in a series of limited weekend only concerts while maintaining his home in Oklahoma was too much to resist. We should all thank Mr. Wynn for this.

The show is simple: Garth Brooks and a guitar. That's it. No back-up band, no big staging, no pyrotechnics, no flying in from the wings. He greeted the audience dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt, a trucker cap, and work boots looking no less than the random tourist from Oklahoma that sits next to you at the blackjack table. Then for the next two-and-half hours it was him and a guitar and a stage and it is, in a word, thrilling.

Brooks' love and mastery of music is put on fine display here as he takes a trip back through his life to explore his sonic influences from the country-western staples that his father loved (Merle Haggard and George Jones) through the music he liked as a kid (Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel) to his mother's taste (Otis Redding and Don McLean) and then into his own young-adulthood (James Taylor, Bob Seger).

He mostly does music by these artists - Haggard's "Mama Tried;" Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson;" "Wild World" by Cat Stevens; "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay;" "American Pie;" the list goes on. His guitar playing and voice are chameleon-like, straight-up country twang one minute and a blues-rock growl the next.

Taking these trips back into his musical past then sets the stage for his own career. For instance he spent a lot of time on Bob Seger's "Night Moves," talking about a dark foreboding of the chord progression; how it is like "painting a song" and that you could hear the storm clouds moving in and the thunder rolling. And then he goes into one of his own huge hits, the similarly dark "Thunder Rolls."

Through the show Brooks maintains a happy-kid in a candy store exuberance and genial friendliness. Not only does he seem like one of the nicest guys on the planet, with a great deal of self-deprecating humility, but he's darned funny as well. The story he tells of his mother's driving abilities (or lack thereof) and the time he got to sing with James Taylor and forgot all the lyrics are fall down funny. If this whole music thing doesn't work out, maybe he could try stand up comedy.

But the music thing is the key here. It's unbelievably exciting to watch a man who is so enamored by music - all kinds of it - in this kind of setting. It's like your buddy pulls out a guitar in your living room and starts playing and you never want him to stop.

On the night I saw the show he almost didn't. After playing for nearly two hours, including backing wife Trisha Yearwood on a couple of her hits, he came back out and did another 45 minutes, taking requests from the audience like he was some sort of human jukebox. When a guy yelled out "Croce!" from the balcony, Brooks had the house lights brought up, had a five minute conversation with the guy that yelled it, and then proceeded to play five (5!!) Jim Croce songs right off the top of his head. Unbelievable.

You don't have to be a fan of country-western music to like this show. You don't even have to be a fan of Garth Brooks' music to like this show. All you need to be is a fan of music, period.

Vegas4Visitors Grade: A

Garth Brooks
Encore Las Vegas
3121 Las Vegas Blvd. S
702-770-7469
website
Price: $125
Showtimes:

I know what you're thinking. You've been hearing the stories for years about impending changes at The Tropicana. I've written dozens of them it seems. Every time a new owner comes on board (and there have been plenty over the last decade or so) they have promised big changes; everything from a major remodel to tearing the joint down and starting over.

But this time it's really happening and the Tropicana you know now will be a distant, dusty, dingy memory by spring 2011.

The new look is tropical South Beach, all white marble and bright orange, yellow, and red floral patterns. In the casino, the renovations are already under way and are bringing that light and bright feeling to everything from the floors to the ceiling and the gaming tables in between. In perhaps what may be the most shocking part of the remodeling, the famous Tiffany glass ceiling over the casino's main pit will be going away. I know, I know... I feel the same way, but let's be honest. If it means the hotel gets improved in every other way, I am willing to let it go and so should you.

Rooms are getting the full extreme makeover, turning the worn traditional look into a beachside bungalow affair. Bamboo and rattan furnishings, sandy toned carpeting and wall coverings, giant white framed flat-panel televisions, all new bathrooms, premium bedding, and gorgeous plantation shutters on the windows are just the start of things. Add in wireless Internet, laptop sized safes, iron and boards, robes, iPod docking stations, and plenty of other amenities are making these accommodations competitive with some of the newer, more expensive hotels on The Strip.

Okay, so that's the casino and the rooms, but they can't really mean "everything" can they? Oh yes. The convention center has already been remodeled. All of the restaurants are getting redone and/or replaced. Ditto the bars and lounges. One of the last remaining traditional showrooms in Vegas (with the round booths and skinny tables) will get completely remodeled into an 1,100 seat, state-of-the-art theater. The famous pool area will get all new landscaping to give it more of a beach theme. Even the exterior of the property, currently a faded Caribbean bore, will get upgraded into a white and gold edifice complete with waterfalls and plenty of lush foliage.

The goal of the Tropicana's new look is to move it up a notch or three on the hierarchical ladder of Vegas hotels, which may mean some higher prices when it's all done. But my guess is this will still be a value in comparison to many properties on The Strip and the fresh face is going to be worth paying an extra few bucks for.

As mentioned the remodeling is already underway so if you stay there you may have to deal with some construction inconveniences. The first chunk of rooms comes online April 2010 with most of the interior work done later this year and exterior work in the spring of next.

To say the new Tropicana is an improvement on the old is the understatement of the century and does a disservice to the undertaking. What will come out of this is a hotel worth being proud of and one you should absolutely consider for your next trip to Vegas.

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