Viva Las Vegas! - Well, its time for our yearly pilgrimage to the city of sin. Sharon, Ronn, and I are driving out (about 4 hours) while our friend David - from jousting fame - is flying out to meet us the next day. Vegas is one of my all time favorite cities in the world. Fortunes are won and lost - believe me I know - and you can find some of the most unique entertainment in the world.
I�m a HUGE "Cirque Du Soleil" fan and they now have 3 shows in Vegas. I have seen two of them - "O" and "Zoomanity". They were both Amazing! In addition to them I�ve seen many of their touring shows as well. I�ve seen "Quidam" twice - my first - "La Nuba" - the resident show at Disney Orlando - "Allegria", and "Dralion". "Quidam", "Zoomanity" and "O" are my favorites.
Anyway, back to the trip... We decided to get a hotel a couple blocks off the strip to save a few bucks. The room was nice and the hotel had its own little casino in it. I sensed trouble already. Our first Event on our list was Penn and Teller. I got us tickets before we even left Phoenix. I actually met them years ago in Houston�s Airport. I was on my way to a show in Phoenix and they were waiting to get on the plane I was exiting. As I walked off the airplane they were just standing there like they were waiting for me. I approached them as if we were old friends and said "Funny seeing you here, I was supposed to see you do the "Bullet Catch" last night in St. Pete but had to work another job." Teller�s Response was "Why didn�t you call in busy?" Which floored me since I had never heard him speak before. So, I pulled out my unused ticket and had them sign it. We exchanged pleasantries, chatted about the fact that I did Renaissance Festivals (Were they got their start) and went our separate ways. By the way, everyone thinks Teller is short. He�s not; he�s almost as tall as me. Its just That Penn is so damn tall as you can see in the pictures.
Zoomanity Stage�posing with Penn�Jef and Teller chat after show
Their show/theater is in a newer section of the Rio suites. (Where I married my lovely wife, by the way.) They have beautiful chapels there. No cheesy drive thru weddings for me!
Ronn and I have always been big fans of Penn and Teller�s sarcastic style to comedy and magic. When we sat down in the theater we noticed they had a pianist (ha ha, I said pianist) and a stand up bass player doing some mellow jazz stuff. I immediately realized the bassist was Penn Jillette. Even though he had his hair back and up in a hat. He�s a damn talented guy! I�m jealous! Although VERY musically inclined I never stuck with anything long enough to get really good. (Except maybe singing) I�m just good enough at a couple of instruments to impress someone that doesn�t play, but not good enough to impress someone that does.
So, shortly Penn left the stage and the pianist (he he) started to tell everyone in the theater that there were a pair of boxes on stage that P and T as we�ll call them �cuz I�m a lazy typer- were going to use in they�re first trick. He invited audience members to go up on stage and examine the boxes to see that they were sturdy and had no trap doors, etc. Nobody moved. Of course, Ronn and I being the Hams that we are, we jumped up and headed towards the stage. As we got on stage the pianist continued to tell people to come up. He said, "Please, feel free to go on stage, examine the boxes, heck... do a little dance if you want!" Of course, Ronn and I couldn�t let a chance like that get by so we simultaneously began to dance on the P and T stage. He audience started to laugh and then broke into a huge round of applause. Ronn turned to me and said "See, even when we�re off the clock, we�re on the clock." I tell you that�s so true. Sometimes I don�t know where D�angelo ends and I begin. We went back to our seats and then I had an idea. I asked the usher if I could take a picture of the audience from the stage. He said "Sure." So, I got the audience�s attention and took this picture. It was really cool. It�s amazing what you can get away with if you only ask. But, I have to say "It�s always easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission." The show was great we had a blast and set out for a night of gambling afterward.
Jef and Ronn being hams on stage�Jef and Ronn on Penn&Teller's stage�Jef's picture from stage
We managed to get some sleep that night between cocktails. Free or cheap cocktails I might add. That�s one of the things I love about Vegas. As long as you�re gambling, you�re drinkin� for free!!!
The next day we headed out to "Circus Circus". It houses the Entertainment director for Circus Circus, Excalibur, and The Luxor hotels. We�ve been in contact with him since I contacted him a couple of years ago. Although a really nice guy, he�s having problems finding somewhere we�d fit in Vegas. Personally I think we�d be perfect. Especially when it comes to conventions. We could really liven up a boring convention. But I think he�s thinking on too small a scale. We want to work a bigger room. Maybe open for a bigger headliner �till we get our own following out there. Anyway, we�ll keep pluggin� along. We are doing Tortugapalooza after all. We�re not the types to sit and wait to be discovered. We�ll make it on our own!
The next night�s slated event was "Zoomanity", its Cirque�s new burlesque show. It�s kind of a combination between a normal Cirque show, a cabaret style show, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. (Complete with transvestites) Let me tell you something... If you like edgy, wild in your face entertainment - and I suppose you do if you like us - you�ll love this show! There�s too much to get into and I don�t want to give anything away, but you will be left with your mouth open at times. It is definitely not for Ma and Pa Kettle from Utah. Especially the orgy scene! And that�s all I�m gonna say.
at another Vegas bar�Sharon at Rio�Hoover Dam via Vegas
All in all, a good time was had by everyone. We gambled WAY too much! It was probably the most we�ve ever gambled. We went through over a grand! We were up several times but couldn�t get ourselves to walk away while we were ahead. Something we used to be good at.
At one point during the second day Sharon decided to rest at the room while Ronn, David, and I went to Harrah�s Casino up the street. That�s where we honeymooned. I was playing the "Price is right" slot machine for quite sometime. I was up, I was down, you know the usual routine. The key to most of these games is to do the max bet. That really enhances the payout. Well, it seemed my luck was running out so I started making lower bets to lengthen my playing time. So, guess what happens. Instead of betting 5 per line, I bet 3. The machine hit with the max jackpot. If I had bet 5 per line it would have paid out $10,000! But, it paid out about $300, which was fine. It paid for my gambling for the rest of the trip. I was sick about missing the ten grand though.
Big payout�another payout
The rest of the trip was uneventful, we went to some cool buffets, checked out a couple of bars, gambled, drank, gambled some more, saw a show, and gambled some more. I could seriously go broke in that town! Whenever you�re out there make sure you don�t keep too much cash on you. And, if you win, put it aside and don�t touch it. You�ll be glad you did come the end of the trip!
