The Joint @ The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, July 4, 2006Liz (my best friend), Mark (her husband), Rob (my buddy from the DC area), and I will be attending the show.
And I get to hang out with my God kid, Miss Michelle...woohoo!
Friday, June 30, 2006So, my plane left out of Dayton at 12:03pm. It was a very good thing my mother called that morning at 9:30am, as she woke me up. I stopped by my rental office to pay the rent and let the managers know that if the mailman came to them and told them he thought I was dead because my mail was piling up, "Could you let him know I'm not dead, I'm in Las Vegas." I didn't have time at that point to stop by the post office and have them hold the mail. After calling everyone I knew to ask for
directions to the Dayton Airport as I was traveling 80 mph up 75, I arrived at the airport at 11:20am, stashed my car next to a curb (where two other vehicles were currently parked, so I'm really hoping it is still there upon my return), made it through security at 11:35am (good thing I travel in flipflops whenever the weather permits), and made it to my gate as they were announcing the "final boarding" call...
Made it to Chicago a wee bit early, so we got a tour of the airport, waiting for our gate to open up. While waiting for my next flight, I purchased
The Devil Wears Prada, imo,
everyone must read this book, it is hilarious, and has been placed upon my "book pimp" list. Flight from Chicago to Vegas was ok, with one odd happening...about 1/2 of the way to Vegas, a male passenger, roughly my age, yelled out "Hey!" in such a manner (tone, volume level, and inflection) that the entire plane went silent, he also called for the flight attendant. Several passengers in the front of the plane stood up and turned around to see what was happening and a lady in the row behind me asked, to no one in particular, "What the hell is going on?" The flight attendant appeared out of nowhere. To be honest, I'm not sure what happened, the male motioned to a lady behind him, perhaps she was having a medical problem (I was afraid she was perhaps having heart pains, I don't know what the S.O.P. is for that issue on a plane). We landed, but the plane was essentially silent following that incident. Oh, a tip for those that have never flown into Vegas,
DO NOT CHECK YOUR BAG, it takes about an hour after you have arrived at baggage claim for the bags from your flight to actually begin to show up.
Liz and I stopped at her and Mark's pub (at some casino, don't know which, but the staff knows them) for dinner and drinks. There was a cover band, we asked them to play either Poison or Guns and then chatted with the singer and another guy from the band, as well as some random dude that approached us after we were identified as "the Poison fans". I think the problem was that the singer didn't know any of their songs well enough to perform them comfortably. We made it home at 12:30am, at which point in time, I decided the best place for me to sleep that evening was not the bed, it would be on the carpet in the middle of the doorway to Michelle's room/the guest room...
Saturday, June 1, 2006After waking up at 6:00am (and realizing I had napped on the floor), we watched the England/Portugal soccer game. I was somewhat pulling for England, but was ok with whomever won (Portugal did-we lived in Spain when I was a wee lass). We also watched several other Disney movies before the France/Brazil game came on, was pulling for Brazil, pissed France won (Important Disclaimer: I don't follow soccer, I'm an NFL/Skins girl. Mark follows soccer, therefore Liz follows soccer...). Had dinner at
Islands, good burger joint, recommended for those that travel here.
Rob arrives sometime around 11:00pm Vegas time tomorrow, Mark has already made plans for a "guys night out".
Sunday, July 2, 2006Mark watched Michelle, so Liz and I headed over to the Red Rock Casino. We had lunch, some margaritas, and people-watched. While Liz and I were hanging out, Rob was attempting to get to Reagan-National for his flight (flew out of Reagan-National, flies into Washington Dulles). He forgot his swimsuit, but managed to make his flight with a couple of minutes to
spare, after he stashed his personal vehicle in the Vienna Metro parking garage.
Mark and I went back to the pub for a bit, then Liz and I headed off to the airport to retrieve Rob around 11:00 p.m. After retrieving Rob, the three of us went to the Stratosphere. I am happy to announce after gambling $1.00, I won $1.50 playing Black Jack (iirc, it was a quarter machine, should have cashed out when I made it to $2.25...oh yeah, baby, I'm a high roller, lol. Honestly, I don't understand why people gamble away their money, a few bucks is ok I guess, but you're giving your money away and are guaranteed nothing in return, no little toy, no plastic ring, no bouncy ball. I get screwed enough paying taxes, I'm not tossing the rest of my income down the drain).
Monday, July 3, 2006Mark had to work and Michelle went to day-care, so Rob, Liz, and I just hung out, killing time before we got Michelle. We picked her up around 4:00 p.m. en route to the
Hard Rock. We used the valet and actually had them take our bags up to the room for us (yes, we had that much stuff, please keep in mind we were accompanied by a 1.5 year-old infant).
Checked in (woohoo,
Room 777...talk about a lucky room) and started to attempt to find the correct elevator to take us up. Since we were confused, we stopped outside the Hard Rock gift shop and I went in to ask. After receiving clarification, I went back out and Michelle was getting fussy (she wanted to get out of her stroller). Liz was just about to lean over and get Michelle out of her seat, when CC DeVille came careening around the corner, right between Rob and Liz, and myself and
Michelle. At the exact moment he whipped around the corner, Rob was also turning to the right and almost took him out with Michelle's diaper bag.
We were obviously somewhat in shock seeing as we were mere inches from a complete and total disaster in the middle of the Hard Rock Hotel and well, it was CC DeVille. Liz and I looked at one another, like "WTF just happened! Is Michelle still with us or did she get taken out?" and we both immediately looked down to make sure she was still in her stroller. I was busy thinking, "Holy Shit, that was CC DeVille." Liz was busy thinking, "Crap, was that the singer from the cover band we saw or CC?" Rob was busy thinking, "Dude, that guy looks really familiar, who the hell is he?" He looks pretty good, imo, kinda Keith Richardsy though, and a couple of inches taller than myself. We debated for a bit whether to attempt to meet him, but decided to continue on up to our room because Michelle was still fussing, he was talking to a couple of other folks, and we suddenly realized all three of us adults were just kinda looking at him like he was an animal in a zoo.
We went up to the room for a bit. Rob and I went down to the bar while Liz hung out with Michelle, waiting for our luggage. He won $35 playing Black Jack. Liz and Michelle came down and the four of us went to take a look at the pool. Really nice looking, although rather crowded at one of the pools. Some guys with black hair that looked rather familiar kept looking at Michelle, Liz, and I...not sure who they were, perhaps some of the guys from Cinderella and I'm not quite sure why they kept looking at us instead of the scantily clad females in the pool, perhaps because we had a 1.5 year old with us, perhaps because Michelle was sneaking a straw into Liz' Jack and Coke whenever she could (no, she is not drinking the beverage, she dips the straw in and then gums it to death), or perhaps because of my amazing fashion sense (a black t-shirt fits just fine with a pair of navy blue board shorts and light pink flipflops, especially while staying at the Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas).
Mark arrived around 6:30 p.m., after somehow having locked his keys in the car while in the valet line ("I'm blocking a Bentley!!"). He straightened that up and met up with us in the room. We headed downstairs for dinner at Mr. Lucky's 24/7, pretty good food. Following dinner, Mark and Michelle went upstairs and we sent Rob up to get the valet ticket from Mark, as Rob, Liz, and I had decided to head out onto the
Strip, primarily to sign up for the Flamingo's players card so we could get our flamingo pens (had to buy them, they weren't handing them out anymore) and stopped by Margaritaville as well.
We got back to the Hard Rock, went to the bar (Mark and Michelle were asleep, so no strip club for the boys), and began checking out some of the displays. It was cool, they had Rolling Stones stuff, Guns and Roses, Beatles, Elvis, Kiss, Sublime, Nirvana,
Nikki Sixx' bike from the
Girls, Girls, Girls video, a Britney Spears display (where I had reminded Michelle earlier in the day she would
not be a Britney, so we set off in search of Janis), and the Chili Peppers' lightbulb suits in the sports bar we watched part of a World Cup game...so, you get the idea.
Liz and I were checking out the Beatles display when CC DeVille, Bobby Dall, and entourage passed by us. Bobby was wearing a white shirt with embroidery and looks like a Florida hippy, reminds me somewhat of my surfing instructor. Unfortunately, I was forced to send Liz to the room shortly after this occurrence (she
had decided to take a nap on the couch in front of the Hard Rock bank/cage area). Mark and Michelle made another appearance downstairs around 2:00 a.m. for a walk, she had woken up and was all decked out in her
Mini-Sludge gear.
Rob and I continued to hang out in the casino, consuming way too many gin and tonics/red bull and vodkas, when Rob decided enough was enough, and we were going to talk to CC DeVille. For those of you that don't know me, my favorite guitarists (in no particular order) are
Keith (thank the lord he survived his recent plunge from the
coconut tree), Izzy (I could not believe what I was seeing in NYC this past May), and CC DeVille (I actually have the
Samantha 7 album, it was pretty good, imo). After Rob tells me this, I'm thinking, "Great, just freakin' great, I'm absolutely plastered and he wants me to manage to talk to one of my favorite guitarists."
Rob and I stumbled (essentially Rob was dragging me, kicking and screaming...he kinda picked me up, tucked me under his arm, and carried me over there. I was so against the idea of me attempting to meet/communicate with him seeing my present state) on over to Mr. Lucky's and CC was walking out, talking to some guy about jogging. Rob starts talking to him (after he finished talking with the one guy). This is the exchange we can remember:
Rob: "Sorry about the almost collision earlier today with the baby." Rob briefly went over the
earlier incident.
CC: "Is she ok?"
Rob: "Yeah, she's fine."
CC: "Great. Enjoy the show." (note: this is when he shook Rob's hand, while I was about 5 feet away, simply watching the exchange, because I'm, um, cool like that and could not believe what Rob was about to do...)
Rob: "I came out from DC for the show. You know, you could make my friend's day if you would shake her hand."
I heard him say this, my jaw dropped to the floor and probably turned as white as a sheet due to shock. Rob looked up and was rather surprised to discover I was now about 10-15 feet away from them. Apparently, while the two of them had been talking, I had been slowing backing away from them (heh, demonstrating my coolness factor, yet again...).
So I got to shake his hand (he actually had to walk over to me, because I was just standing there, in a state of complete shock; I have no idea if I was hauling around the Flamingo Pen/clutching it in my left hand at that point; his eyes are really blue, I do remember that; and I felt kinda bad afterwards b/c both Rob and I were full of adult beverages and he is trying to remain sober). Whereas Rob managed to actually
have a brief conversation with him, I have no idea what I said to him (iirc, it was something about him coming around the corner and almost taking out my god-kid), due to my level of intoxication and just because I couldn't believe I was finally meeting him. Jodie and I met Bret Michaels a few years ago at Nissan (ok, so we joined the "Bret Michaels Intergalatic Fan Society " and spent $15 in order to do so), and I asked Bret if I could wear his hat, he told me, "maybe next time, sweetheart."
I then
headed upstairs and went to bed. Rob was left alone in the casino, ran into a bunch of hookers (one of them, Veronica, gave him her card), and the one chick he ran into that was not a hooker told him about the $5 Poison poker chips (so he picked up three for us).
Tuesday, July 4, 2006Liz, Mark, and Michelle went to the
pool while Rob and I attempted to recover from the previous evening. At some point in the afternoon, I woke up and headed on down to the pool as well (Mark and Liz had just dropped Michelle off at the sitter's). The pool was nice, I meandered down the lazy river, did a circle around the big pool, tossed in a few underwater summersaults, and then started swimming back. For some reason, they shut the pool earlier, so we all got kicked out.
Rob was still snoozing away, Mark and Liz were at the Pink Taco, so after a quick shower, I headed down there to eat something. Apparently they had been attempting to contact me for quite some time and then realized I could perhaps be in the pool, therefore my phone wouldn't be on me. Prior to realizing I was probably at the pool, Mark made some crack to Liz, "She's probably out trying to track down Bret, since she has already met CC and you guys have seen Bobby cruise by a few times...Hey, speak of the devil, there he is!" Yeah, Bret walked by Mark and Liz while they were sitting on the patio. They also saw one of the guys from Endeverafter, along with a table full of their roadies.
After I finished my tacos (the Mexican place at the Red Rock was better, imo), we went over to see if we could bring cameras into the show...yeppers, just not professional. We ran upstairs, picked up our cameras and the tickets, found Rob, then entered the venue shortly after Endeverafter had begun playing.
>>>>>The show section and following will be fully updated shortly, as soon as the 4 of us can manage to find some free time (hopefully this weekend)<<<<<
We made it into the venue and sent the guys to get us drinks...they were freakin' $10 each (I was figuring the casino/hotel would screw us since we were essentially trapped in the venue, and yeah, they did, the price kept going up...$10, then $11, then a lovely $12 per adult beverage). We started on the right side of the stage (from the audience's view) then moved over to the left side. Rob made the comment, "This isn't the Mississippi Valley Fair, that's for sure." He and I (along with Jodie and Julie) went to see Poison at the MVF when I was living
out in Iowa, we got our "bags o' beer" for $10 (6 beers and ice) and it was a fair-type atmosphere, people were wearing jeans/cut-offs and t-shirts...at this particular show, some folks were decked out to the 9's.
Don't ask me for a set-list for either Cinderella or Poison, I have no idea what order the songs were played.
Liz and I meandered into the crowd during part of Cinderella, which was cool. They were pretty good and she was really thrilled to see them.
It was the normal Poison set-list, opening with
Look What the Cat Dragged In and played
An American Band third. They played part of Dylan's
Knockin on Heaven's Door as the intro to one song and we got to hear
I hate every bone in your body (that video isn't from the Vegas show, it is from Pittsburgh, but the video in the background is the same). The show was just fantastic, I'm in Vegas at some tiny-ass club, and seeing Poison play with my friends that know me the best and I'm most comfortable around: Liz (we've been friends since highschool), Mark (her husband I met sometime when we were in highschool), and Rob (the first person I met at UVA).
Pictures from the show, currently somewhat unorganized (all show pictures are up though) because I tried to create a sub-album within a sub-album. Rob's show pictures are pretty good, he has the ability to take really good pictures at concerts, whereas I possess the unique talent of taking a picture while forgetting my camera has a "zoom" function and managing to cut people's heads off, all at the same time.
The show ended with
Talk Dirty to Me as the encore, with red, white, and blue streamers. I grabbed a bunch of them to send to my mom.
Background on why I collect confetti/streamers from concerts for my mom:
As a kid, riding along in the car with Mom behind the wheel, we listened to everything, from oldies, to country, to classical, to show tunes, to current songs. It was all good, it was music. My Mom can sing, so she would sing along to the music and it was fun. Mom also saw the Beatles a few times, the Rolling Stones, and some how managed to obtain a drumstick from a Doors show, many moons ago.
So, my second year in college, my Mom calls, all excited, Hey, the Stones are going on tour! Theyre coming to FedEx! Do you guys want to go?
Mom got tickets for 4 of us. It was a good show, what Stones show isn't?
So the next year, the Stones were playing the MCI Center, March 8. One of my housemates and I cooked up a plan, we'll go up to DC and see if we can get tickets from someone there. So we leave town and I tell another housemate, "Oh, yeah, if my Mom calls, tell her I went to the library."
To make this quick, we got up there, got tickets from a guy at face value ($150), sat a few rows up from the floor, and when the guys walked out to play mid-arena, Keith, Mick and the rest were directly in front of us, only a stones throw (haha) away.
During the finale, they released streamers and confetti. I collected what I could in my pockets. When we left, my friend asked, "So, back to Charlottesville?" But I insisted upon stopping by my folks house, I had to let Mom know what we had done and I wanted to give her the confetti I had collected.
So we got to the house and made it inside. Mom was pissed, she had called twice. Once my housemate used the line, "Um, f went to the library," she knew something was up. I never went to the library for any real length of time while in school. So she started fussing, which was understandable, seeing as I was obviously up to something and no one would tell her what I was up to. I then told her we had driven up to DC with the hope of getting tickets at the door, actually got them at a reasonable price, saw the Stones, could have tossed a softball to Keith and Mick, and gave her the confetti I had collected. While all was not forgiven (yeah, I should have told her my plan prior to enacting it), much was. The confetti from that show was carefully packed into a Tupperware container, which I believe she still has.
So it came as no surprise to her when I purchased tickets for the Rolling Stones show in Charlottesville, of all places, along with plane tickets from Cincinnati. No surprise when I called while in line to get into the stadium, no surprise when I called during Ruby Tuesday at 9:45pm so she could listen in, no surprise when I called during the bomb threat to let her know what was going on and that we would call after the show, and no surprise when my friend dialed the wrong number at 12:15am in an attempt to find our friend, Mike. And thinking about it now, no surprise when we called her at 3am Florida time to let her know how the Poison show was (although I couldn't hear a damn thing she said and I'm pretty sure we-us in Vegas-were yelling into the phone).
After the show, we walked around the club for a bit, looking for anything on the floor from the bands, another guy was doing the same, he managed to find a copy of Cinderella's set-list.
We went over to the bar with the Chili Peppers' suits to have a few drinks (this is when we decided it would be a good idea to call my mom over in Florida). At some point, we retreated to the room. Since we had a bit of a walk down the
hallway, we all had plenty of opportunities to flick the cymbals that were hanging on the wall. Liz and Mark went to bed, while Rob and I were looking at the view out the window. I went to bed and Rob headed back downstairs to the bar. I have no idea when he returned to the room, but he shared the elevator with one of Poison's roadies, who was carrying some shirts and a pair of cowboy boots.
Quote List from the hotel/show experience
Me: I just want to shake his hand.
-----
Rob: Listen, we have this chance, it would be ridiculous not to.
Me: You have a point, but I still don't want to go over there right now. I don't want to bother him and how long have we been drinking now? Who knows what will come out of my
mouth.
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Rob: So, I was observing the
flamingo pen this morning and you know, it kinda looks like him. Didn't he dye his hair pink and poof it all out a long time ago?
Me: Oh good lord, Rob, I can't believe you just said that...but you're right, he did and it kinda does.
-----
Me: Crap!! The Flamingo Pen has just become a double-amputee, his foot fell off. It is somewhere below my seat I think, hopefully it didn't fall off while I was holding him out the window so he could enjoy the breeze (my mom has one leg, my family loves leg jokes...).
-----
Rob: Listen, you are going to have to change, like now. The black shirt and navy shorts combo is giving me a major headache.
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Rob: I woke up this morning and was trying to figure out how we all got home last night, when I realized, "oh yeah, the elevator took us home."
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Me: So, we have 8 items to carry out of the hotel but we only have three arms, I'm not sure if this is going to work.
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Rob: God, I feel like I'm married to the two of you, "Rob, get us a drink, Rob, take a picture, Rob, can you do this for us?"
Mark: Welcome to my world, pal.
-----
Liz: So, who is going to carry the cooler out?
Me: Rob, because it is heavy.
Rob: Great, just what I was hoping for. Thanks!
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Rob: If we ever have to get married, we're getting married in Vegas.
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Me: Dude, Liz, if I ever move out here, we're getting jet skis (comment made while looking at a boat from the window of our room).
Liz and Mark, simultaneously: "Sweet" "No"
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Mark: Just to let you guys know how old I'm getting, my ears are still ringing from that show. (comment made at approximately 8pm the day after the show)
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
We left the hotel around 10:45 a.m. (checkout was at 11:00 a.m.), Mark had gone to pick up Michelle earlier and they were back at home already, picked up a few more items from the hotel, and went down to check out "old Vegas".
Michelle is currently sporting her new Poison gear.
We dropped Rob off at the airport around 9pm, he was taking the red-eye back to DC, then headed back to Liz's house and went to bed.
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Liz dropped me off at the airport sometime between 7am-8am, my flight was at 9:50am. TSA managed to find another lighter, which had made the flight with me from Dayton.
** Rant On** I don't mind TSA at all, they can search my bag whenever they feel the need to, I would just like the entire process to be somewhat similar across the country...I can wear my Doc's going through Reagan-National, can't wear my flipflops leaving Orlando, Dayton spends 30 minutes trying to find a 2 inch pocket knife (which had been in my bag since prior to 9-11 and I had no idea it was even in there), Moline spends 20 minutes searching for lighters while I carried one in my pocket through Reagan-National (not on purpose, I forgot it was in there). **Rant Off**
Picked up a White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks (the only time I drink Starbucks is in airports) and went to the smokers' lounge to people-watch and wait. One lady lost money in a poker machine, a guy won a bunch playing the Wheel of Fortune slot machine, and an old, plump, white guy tried to pick up a cute Asian chick (she played dumb, like she didn't speak English, to escape the situation). I checked my voicemails, my mom had left one, "You guys have to be awake by now, give me a call and let me know what is up...but please don't call me again at 3 in the morning." Rob called to let me know he had made it back in one piece, his car was still at the Metro, and he was at work. Apparently, he had the red-eye from hell, a 73-year old guy was really drunk in the row in front of him (the flight attendants cut him off, at which point he started waving $50 bills in an attempt to get another drink) and the 73-year old guy's son (55ish) was in the row behind Rob, vomiting the entire way to DC.
My flights were fine (Vegas to Denver, Denver to Dayton), got my bag, my car was still where I had stashed him, and made it back home around 9:00pm.
Final Thoughts about the Trip
* I'm pretty sure I speak for all 4 of us when I say "we had a blast, it was great, an absolutely insane time."
* Next time I'm in Vegas, I'm spending a few nights at the Hard Rock (it was only $129/night for us, on a holiday weekend...of course we did reserve our room months in advance)
* This was the best Poison show I've seen and the most fun I've had at/because of a Poison show. My friends and I go see them whenever they go on tour (we use them as an excuse to go visit each other around the country..."Dude, f, Poison is playing, you coming out?" "I'll get the tickets, you get the beer, and we'll be there.")
I'll add this here now, seeing as I was contemplating the differences between this story and the GnR story during my flight home. The Guns story is so much more detailed because I was the only one out of my circle of friends and associates to attend the show, therefore I wanted to remember everything so I could share it with them. To be honest, the majority of the Guns story was written between 4am (when I arrived back at the hotel) and 5am (when I realized what time it was and the 12 hour drive facing me the next day). That, and our normal summertime activities include seeing Poison, whereas me going to a GnR concert by myself and then prancing around the streets of New York City at 2 in the morning is definitely not.
