Yes, I know that everyone is patiently waiting for an official March Madness trip report detailing all of the buffoonery in words and pictures, and it's on the way. And even though the vast majority of buffoons have since returned home to the real world, the silliness continues here in America's Playground.
LV Dawn is in town this week, having arrived just as the T2V poker tournament was winding down on Saturday. Since we were both free last night, we decided to get together for some old-school Vegas-style tourism.
I picked her up out in front of Mandalay Bay around 5:30 or so, and we headed down the Strip to Paris. Once there, we hit the Diamond Lounge for free cocktails and appetizers. For a private club, it's a nice place to relax, but it seems that if Harrahs wanted to treat their best customers well, they could do a better job. It's nice, but as far as lounges go, it's nothing special. It's just another room in the resort where the unclean masses aren't allowed access. And, since it's Harrahs, the club membership really isn't that exclusive or cool--it's mostly a bunch of slot-pounding old ladies sitting around bitching about their point balances and stiffing the wait staff.
But there was a decent variety of cheese, crackers, and fruit available, and it was nice to sit, nibble, and catch up while testing the bartenders martini-making abilities. We stayed in there for a little over an hour, three rounds worth to be specific, before moving on and heading over to Bally's.
We had tickets to see Jubilee, a show I've been mildly intrigued by ever since I first started coming to Vegas. I've been to a few shows out here (Mama Mia, The Scintas, The Rat Pack Tribute, Havana Night Club, Phantom) but I've never seen one of the old-school Vegas productions with topless showgirls wearing nothing but g-strings and huge hats. So when Dawn scored some free tickets, I agreed to go with her.
Before hitting the theatre, we wandered the casino a bit and played some Blazing 7's 5-reel penny machines. Sticky and I played them over at the MGM Grand back in January and had moderate success, but last night's machines were set to "Harrahs tight" and just took our money away.
Oooooh, look at all the pretty lights! That'll be twenty dollars...
We wandered over to the Jubilee Theatre after that and were seated immediately in Row A. Not exactly in front, as there were three rows of cocktail tables in front of us, but we were in the first row of theatre seats, a few feet higher than the tables and booths, maybe 20 feet from the stage. Excellent seats.
The first thing I noticed about the show was that there was no live orchestra. It was all recorded music. Of course I didn't much care about that once about three dozen topless women came strutting by wearing nothing but high heels, sequins, and fake eyelashes. Oh, I think they may have danced and sang a little too, but nobody really knows for sure.
The show, although entertaining, is in some serious need of updating. The sets, although very elaborate, seemed like they were straight from 1978, leftover from the Sonny and Cher variety hour. Maybe the Donnie and Marie show. I don't remember, it's been years. But the bottom line is that while the show is visually stunning--the costumes are outrageous--it is in desperate need of an overhaul. There were some highlights though--the two Chinese acrobats (greasemen, according to Danny Ocean) were amazing, and the three Argentinian drummers/ball dancers were a lot of fun to see, also.
I think the biggest problem with the show is that there is no continuity whatsoever--no story, no theme, just a bunch of Broadway-style songs and huge set changes that have nothing to do with each other. It was almost like seeing a talent show with no master of ceremonies. Just one unrelated song after another, which seemed kind of odd to me. Overall, it was a decent show, but it was like seeing a show in the 70's which was nostalgic for the 50's doing a tribute to the 30's.
Am I glad I saw it? Yes! Would I see it again? Doubtful. Was it worth the money? Yes--the tickets were free.
After the show ended and we were shuffling off to the restrooms with the rest of the crowd, I checked my phone and saw that Ed W had left me a message. He and his wife Michelle are on their way up this weekend and want to get together. That means that I'll have had friends in town every day since March 13th through April 1st.
Funny, nobody ever wanted to come visit me in Nashville...
Once we left Bally's we caught a cab down to the Fashion Show mall and had dinner at Maggiano's again. Dawn introduced me to this place a year ago and I loved it. Probably the best 'chain' restaurant I've ever been to. Hell, it's even a hit now with the rest of the the T2V buffoons.
But we ordered way too much food, and I have a fridge full of leftovers to enjoy for the rest of the week. We had four cheese ravioli, calimari (which was burned and we sent back), antipasti salad, chicken piccata (sp?), and baked ziti with Italian sausage. Forget dessert, we could hardly walk out of there.
Once dinner had concluded and we got back to Paris to fetch the truck, we were spent. I dropped Dawn off at Mandalay Bay, said goodnight and made plans to get together later this afternoon, and I headed home and went straight to bed.
I've got a couple of hours before her meetings wrap up, but the plan is to hit a restaurant at any MGM/Mirage property since she has $80 worth of comps to use up. I think we're leaning toward Isla at Treasure Island. After dinner we say goodbye until next time, and then I'm heading over to the Rio to deal a poker tournament.
It should be a fun evening.
I'll catch up tomorrow.
Mikey
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