Las Vegas Day Four: U Will B Assimilated 2Night

Hey, we clean up pretty well!

This day (December 1, 2006) would probably go down in personal history as my longest Vegas Day ever. Technically our wedding day and the last two days of Las Vegas III: The Centennial were longer but we’ll all be the judges as I elaborate. For Somara and me, it will definitely be the second most awesome Vegas Day in our relationship. It also explains why this is posted even later than normal. I figured no one is any hurry to read my Web site over the weekends.

We took it easy getting cleaned up and ready for the day. I don’t like to schedule every day of my vacation, especially Vegas ones, with activities that MUST be achieved. I prefer to have a goal of tackling three or four events the entire time. The rest are optional and if they’re cut due to money, energy, time or bad reviews, I don’t sweat it. Those can be saved for the next venture. As you could see from the long-windedness of yesterday’s two entries, I had spent a considerable amount of time writing in advance. With Friday’s entries completed (about Thursday), we hit the Fashion Mall again to piggyback off the Apple Store’s free wireless connections…five mintues before the retractable catwalk rose out of the mall’s public area. It’s not so much the loud, thumping music that’s so distracting, it’s the comical strutting the models (all female this time) do as they parade back and forth on the catwalk. I may have said it last time yet it bears repeating, they look like some weird flightless birds and their ultra-skinny frames only amplify the comical nature of the strutting. Many of the dresses were pretty ugly too. Somara managed to capture a few movies of this. I hope to post these into a composite movie as a tutorial for her with iMovie and to tease avid Bowie-hater Roo (a young lady who works at the coffee shop) because it has his hit “Fashion” as the audio track. Trust me, it’ll be amusing.

After Picayune received its updates (stories, color-scheme changes which are explained later in the post), all our online banking was confirmed (paychecks!) and my correspondence was completed, we set out to the Las Vegas Hilton for the Star Trek attraction. Back in 2004, the ride was updated to include a 4-D battle against the Borg. José and Glenn had already seen it so I saved it for this trip. I had thought the first ride was replaced by the Borg thing. Nope, they’re both there which is great. Sure the ride’s price increased from $30/person in 2003 to $39/person but now you will definitely take in at least both once instead of repeating the same one from 1997 ad nauseum (literally, with all the jostling motions). I’m still politicking Somara to go with the buzz phrase for this trip to be “You will be assimilated!” No luck. This is why we needed an odd number of people to participate on this trip, namely José! I think I could win him over. Let me clarify, using the Borg’s catchphrase doesn’t sound very original, it’s downright uber-geek. No, you say “you will be assimilated!” and poke the other people in your gang in the arm. Again, José can back me on this since he’s also been on the Borg 4-D ride, otherwise, I don’t want to spoil it for my fellow Star Trek fans.

We then took in a very late lunch at Quark’s place after the attraction. It would be cooler if they really tried to make futuristic and/or alien food and drinks from Star Trek instead of re-labelling contemporary dishes with the names of various characters. The Chicken Khan sandwich is pretty good but wouldn’t you rather spend $11 for a dish of something that resembles those worms Worf eats knowing full well it’s actually “disguised” pasta?

Leaving the Las Vegas Hilton took longer than planned too as I stumbled upon the afternoon craps lesson. The instructor was a pro. If she could drum the odds and payoffs into me pretty well, I can only imagine how effectively she could train some of my customers on TCP/IP essentials.

Time was getting closer for Somara’s awesome surprise but I had to try out my newly acquired knowledge of the game at TI’s craps table while the minimum bets were five bucks. Don’t fret! I always play with money I classify as “spent” so if it’s lost, I won’t default on the bills or mortgage. I also have a playing time limit and leave regardless of my status; winning or losing. I didn’t fare as well as I did earlier, I dropped $34 out of the hundred I started from. Many would be pissed and there was a time I would be too. Nope, I felt great and had a thrilling time. Why? The waitress managed to bring me a beer twice and free booze is always a gain; the TI employees working the table were funny and cordial; and I almost dropped $70 of my original starting money until the last shooter nailed three sixes or eights before he hit the point of five (a rebound of $26!). I’m not going to explain the game here, I’m still a novice. Craps is my favorite table game for the social interaction. On the downside, one guy to my right received the bad news about his fellow Midwestern buddies having to cancel as Chicago and St. Louis were snowed in. The lady and boxman laughed at me when I said to the guy, “dude, I’d fight through f@#%£∞’ al-Qeda to be in Vegas!”

My daily gambling itch had been scratched, so on to revealing the big surprise for this trip which many of you may have already known about from my numerous phone calls. Firstly, we got dressed up, hence the picture above. Grabbed a cab to Rio which will be another story (for the addendum). Then took her to the new Club 3121, Prince’s new Vegas gig! Her new outfit really helped celebrate the occasion. This was his seventh show and seven is a lucky number or a “perfect” number in the Classical World. They opened the doors earlier than the tickets claimed yet it worked to our advantage, we were camped on the floor within 30 feet of him when he finally hit the stage…way after midnight. Tardiness and pre-show vanity clips plugging how many people admire him aside, Prince is still an impressive performer and musician. Watching him interact with the crowd has brought me to the conclusion that he gets bad press because he’s really very mum on his private life. Think about it. Does the average person really know about his background as they would about Michael Jackson or Britney Spears? Anyway, his show is definitely on the must-see list of Las Vegas despite it being $140/ticket for general admission. His Club 3121 is really where the old Danny Gans Theater resided so it is really intimate. Rock concerts just don’t really work in stadiums or convention centers. You may be disappointed over him mainly performing his new material from 3121 over his older stuff, he did do “Kiss” with Dynasty replaced by Desperate Housewives in the lyrics. “Purple Rain,” and “Let’s Go Crazy” were missing yet it didn’t matter, his energy was contagious. The other great surprise was the appearance of saxophone legend Maceo Parker playing in his band. People who are into James Brown know the guy. Prince also demonstrated how he is still a generous performer, what changed my opinion of him in 1986 with an MTV contest. How? He would pull members of the audience on to the stage to dance during certain numbers and he even let one guy sing the lead on the first verse of Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music.” I think Bill Maher owes Prince an apology. My personal favorite of Prince’s generosity was bringing this woman on stage who was overweight and I won’t mince words, she’s the wingman’s date. Yet Prince had her dancing for the crowd and he heaped a ton of praise on her, made her feel like a million bucks for the evening and memory he gave her. It was really sincere too. Prince went on to do FOUR encores, the last one only on the condition if we came back tomorrow night (another demonstration of his little known sense of humor). He exceeded the standard 80-minute-with-one-encore set as the house lights came up well past 2:30 AM.

Prince’s concert is definitely the pinnacle of this trip as I planned but he overcame annoyances such as some people being totally loaded by 11 PM (morons in my opinion). Others I told about this show ridiculed Prince for going to Vegas, stating that this was a sign of his career fading. I say, not a chance. Once you see him, you’ll change your mind and besides, following in the footsteps of Elvis (not the first entertainer to do this, but the most famous one) is genius. Why tour? Stay put and have those who really want to see you come to a central location.

To close, the biggest thrill was revealed by Somara after I told her we were going to Prince. Back in 1984 when he was the center of the universe (remember how many times “When Doves Cry” was played?), she had a ticket to see him at the Erwin Center but she couldn’t go due to no transportation. How it broke her heart. Last night, I managed to fulfill her wish 22 years later.

Day Five will have mucho pictures! Keep reading, enjoying, commenting and e-mailing me!

GAMBLING REPORT
Somara: $11.50
Steve: -$50