It was a rather mellow day for us since the city starts to go berserk by Friday afternoon, really a brief lull after the craziness of Thursday evenings; I figure those people are sleeping it off, recharging for the weekend.
First order of business, getting our tickets to the free show the timeshare gave us for attending the owners’ meeting. The concierge Mikey highly recommended Vegas! The Show because he grew up here and he said the lead guy does a solid Sammy Davis Jr. imitation. Since it involved scoping Planet Hollywood, we figured we could kill several birds with one stone: round four of poker, place a bet on the Bruins/Canucks game, watch the game and attend the live show.
Every visit to this casino raises my opinion of it. Initially I wasn’t thrilled to see the Aladdin get converted into a larger monument for three tremendous egos behind a failed restaurant chain. Clear Channel’s dirty fingers being in it didn’t help. However, much like their inability to run radio stations competently, CC through its proxies (Starwood, Goldman Sachs) failed and Harrah’s absorbed Planet Hollywood into its empire. There is certainly a huge difference with the casino versus the restaurant. The former is very subdued, tasteful and dignified, an uncommon trait on the Strip while I always found PH the restaurant to be a cluttered, weak knock-off of Hard Rock filled with crap cleared from Hollywood’s garage.
We tend to visit PH for sentimental reasons since it was the hotel during our wedding week. Had I known the Aladdin was undergoing the biggest bankruptcy in Nevada history (at the time), I would’ve picked a location which endured. It’s also the location for two roulette victories with 27, thus, it became my last stand in the Maggi Video Poker Invitational 2011…I lost spectacularly (see below).
Another cool discovery was the Bettie Page Store. The place specializes in the clothes associated with the cult pin-up model, namely dresses from the late Forties to mid Fifties. There isn’t much in the R-rated department Bettie was more infamous for. I scored a couple SFW T-shirts (one for me, the other for the catsitter) drawn in the same vein as Bettie’s photos. I’ll post mine after Jeremy receives his. The only hint I’ll give is, think Adam Hughes meets nose art. We told the sales clerk the owner needs to open a branch in Austin. Our home has a sizable Hipster, Retro and Rockabilly crowd to make it successful.
Sorry guys, no DVDs or magazines of the legend here.
With the daily gambling out of the system, we went back, cleaned up and returned to PH for Vegas!. The show had dinner included so we squeezed in a nice meal with Lombardi. I think Nelson treated us there for the wedding. I had so little sleep then along with eight years ago being a blur. As I ate, I watched the Bruins lose my 10 clams on Game Five. The eruption of jubilant Canadians was deafening a couple times. Then again, many are present to gobble up the foreclosed property to convert into vacation homes thanks to a strong looney. I imagine the Canucks have a big fan base in Seattle and Portland because the NHL has ignored those cities for years. I consoled a guy wearing a Boston jersey; remember, we’ll get them next time and unlike the Olympics, they can’t whine for a mulligan.
Now the main attraction with Day Four, Vegas! The Show. My attitude was indifferent initially. If the show was dull at least it was free, came with dinner and it just cost us a couple hours. After seeing it, I would say it’s something every visitor should consider. What’s it about? The easiest answer I can give is it’s a musical history of Las Vegas covering the city’s evolution starting from the late Forties with Louis Prima and closing around the time Elton John became a fixture. There’s dancing, singing, magic and a marionette. I was so impressed, I scored the soundtrack and the album featuring the show’s lead. Sadly, they don’t offer a DVD for me to share with friends, namely my primary Vegas buds Jose and Nelson.
Gambling Report:
- Video Poker: Somara 4, Steve 0 ($16.25, $0), Somara wins
- Somara: -$17
- Steve: –$105 (Damned Bruins, they failed to score on all PPs)