The Las Vegas trip was great, and unexpectedly there were a few music related items I thought I’d share.

On our first morning there in sunny Las Vegas, we threw on some clothes and went down to breakfast in the New York New York. There was a Chinese restaurant (Chin Chin) that had a breakfast buffet. We were skeptical, but upon inspection and seeing a vat of bacon being loaded into the steamer, we knew it was for us. We got a table and a plate and headed for the food. Overhead I was astonished to hear not easy listening morning music but Led Zeppelin! They were playing “Ramble On”. Not what I expected the Chin Chin’s early morning demographic to be listening to, but I loved it. Bacon and Zeppelin. They were listening to a rock Sirius station. Props to the radio chooser that day. I looked around and I suspect that half of the room had no idea what they were listening to, and the other half tuned it out. I heard it though. They played some Doors too. Nice start to the day.

On another of the days we ventured to the downtown area, Freemont Street. This was my first time.

As we strode closer to Freemont Street from where our ride dropped us off I heard the distinct wailing solo that for a moment I couldn’t place. It was getting louder and louder. I finally got it, “Prince – 1999”. There was a band playing and they were just finishing up the Prince song as we came up just to the right of the stage and wormed our way through the crowd to The D casino bar outside. The band was called something like Count and the Dracula’s or something like that. Several hundred people were standing there digging it. The light show canopy was overhead and zip liners were zipping by us as we gather our battle plan. A walk to The Golden Nugget.

The light show was pretty cool I must admit. It came on just as we were heading down the street towards the Golden Nugget and passing between the freak scenes on either side. There were 2 Michael Jacksons, a Captain Jack Sparrow and among others, a man who squeezed through tennis racquets (no strings) and folded himself into a small box to something along the lines of “Herbie Hancock – Rockit”. Amusing. He deftly timed the culmination of his act to conclude mere moments before the light show and deafening overhead lightshow speakers kicked in. Each hourly light show has a different theme, and the one overhead as we were there watching was of all things: Queen!

They played “We Will Rock You”. I didn’t think to get a photo of that, but you can see a clip on You Tube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lho4MeiEoUs

I did get a nice shot of the lights AFTER I thought to dig out my phone.

It was interesting, but one downtown trip is all I will ever need.

At some point a different day we ended up in the MGM, which was across the street from New York New York and as we went in and passed the signs for upcoming events I caught a flash of red that looked familiar. RUSH ! “Clockwork Angels” tour! Unfortunately, not until November. I did pose for this  disgruntled looking picture by the sign. As close as I am going to get.

Then on the last night in Vegas we ended up spending pre-comedy show time in the Toby Keith – I (heart) This Bar and Grill at the Harrah’s Casino.

There was Toby memorabilia everywhere and of course they were playing a heavy dose of Toby videos on the screens. Yes, we saw Red Solo Cup. It was interesting to see his hair change over the history of the videos we saw, some I have to admit were not bad. There was a TV right in front of us at the bar.

I have to admit it was not a bad couple hours spent.

Don’t get me wrong, I still prefer the early morning Zeppelin.