Saturday, March 26, 2005
Viva Las Vegas
Yes, I know it's been said before...
My Day Job sent me on an adventure to the City of Sin this week. I was at an educational conference for three days. It was a highly interesting trip, as I hadn't been in Vegas since 1989.
It's a mythic place in some ways. On Tuesday night, I was sitting in Quark's Bar at the Hilton, chatting with a few inebriated folks, listening to the barkeep/waiter asking someone how they wanted their steak replicated (as in rare, medium rare, well). One individual was recently back from Iraq in the Air Force, moonlighting as a Starfleet lieutenant colonel at the Star Trek Experience. I had to beg off hanging out at one point because I was planning to meet another friend down the strip at Margaritaville.
Our daily lives just don't leave us room for vocabulary like that.
I like the Margaritaville in Key West much better. Hell, I like Key West in general much better. So it goes. The erupting volcano and the giant margarita pitchers were a nice touch, but the place was *way* too crowded. I may be an entertainer, but too many people pressed too closely can push me right back into my little introvert shell.
I also walked over to the Luxor, the big hotel/casino shaped like the Great Pyramid. Say what you want about "pyramid power;" I couldn't stay in the place more than about ten minutes. My head was buzzing for hours after I got out of there.
It's a beautiful place though; I'm not knocking it. Though as a fan of Stargate SG-1, being in a place with so much Egyptian interior decorating had me waiting for some guy with glowing eyes to appear, saying, "Kneel before your God." :)
Las Vegas - there's noplace else like it on Earth. Nor should there be.
My Day Job sent me on an adventure to the City of Sin this week. I was at an educational conference for three days. It was a highly interesting trip, as I hadn't been in Vegas since 1989.
It's a mythic place in some ways. On Tuesday night, I was sitting in Quark's Bar at the Hilton, chatting with a few inebriated folks, listening to the barkeep/waiter asking someone how they wanted their steak replicated (as in rare, medium rare, well). One individual was recently back from Iraq in the Air Force, moonlighting as a Starfleet lieutenant colonel at the Star Trek Experience. I had to beg off hanging out at one point because I was planning to meet another friend down the strip at Margaritaville.
Our daily lives just don't leave us room for vocabulary like that.
I like the Margaritaville in Key West much better. Hell, I like Key West in general much better. So it goes. The erupting volcano and the giant margarita pitchers were a nice touch, but the place was *way* too crowded. I may be an entertainer, but too many people pressed too closely can push me right back into my little introvert shell.
I also walked over to the Luxor, the big hotel/casino shaped like the Great Pyramid. Say what you want about "pyramid power;" I couldn't stay in the place more than about ten minutes. My head was buzzing for hours after I got out of there.
It's a beautiful place though; I'm not knocking it. Though as a fan of Stargate SG-1, being in a place with so much Egyptian interior decorating had me waiting for some guy with glowing eyes to appear, saying, "Kneel before your God." :)
Las Vegas - there's noplace else like it on Earth. Nor should there be.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Jimmy Buffett: Uncut
I just watched the 60 Minutes/CMT special, "Jimmy Buffett: Uncut" on CMT on Tuesday night. It was very interesting, especially to the part of me that's working to create even a small percentage of his popularity for my own music and such.
It was a montage of interview and concert bites, going into some depth about his career, his show, and his Parrothead fans. The concert footage seems to have mostly been gotten at a Palm Beach performance last year, with some bits from the big Texas show with George Strait, Alan Jackson, and others last Memorial Day.
I've been fortunate in recent months to have seen a number of Buffett interviews and shows in which he's opened up somewhat more than he would at the typical stadium show. When he does that, I learn a bit more about what being an artist means to him. Sometimes it helps me with working out what being an artist means to me. For that, I'm grateful.
For example, he talked about how hard he's had to work over the years, how he's always kept an eye on making sure he'd come out of his career with something to live on. He said he doesn't consider himself a great musician, and that what he does is that he knows his audience and gives them what they want. These are things I've been hearing in other places, so they make an impression on me.
In retrospect, I suppose taping it so I could review it in the future might have been a good idea. But I'm sure someone in our local Parrothead club has done so.
It was a montage of interview and concert bites, going into some depth about his career, his show, and his Parrothead fans. The concert footage seems to have mostly been gotten at a Palm Beach performance last year, with some bits from the big Texas show with George Strait, Alan Jackson, and others last Memorial Day.
I've been fortunate in recent months to have seen a number of Buffett interviews and shows in which he's opened up somewhat more than he would at the typical stadium show. When he does that, I learn a bit more about what being an artist means to him. Sometimes it helps me with working out what being an artist means to me. For that, I'm grateful.
For example, he talked about how hard he's had to work over the years, how he's always kept an eye on making sure he'd come out of his career with something to live on. He said he doesn't consider himself a great musician, and that what he does is that he knows his audience and gives them what they want. These are things I've been hearing in other places, so they make an impression on me.
In retrospect, I suppose taping it so I could review it in the future might have been a good idea. But I'm sure someone in our local Parrothead club has done so.
