The Beatles "Love" at the Mirage, Hated It

I am a huge Beatles fan. I have original Beatles dolls safely encased in a glass hutch. I have original framed magazines from the 60's. I have all their music digitally remastered. I have them on all my playlists. I have the tee shirt. I even flew from Ohio to Vegas to see Ringo and his All Starr Band at the Hard Rock some years back. I've made the pilgrimage to see the John Lennon exhibit when it was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I love their music. I SHOULD have loved "Love".

My husband surprised me with tickets to see "Love", the Cirque du Soelil show at the Mirage for my birthday. I had a choice between seeing Elton John live at Caesars or "Love". The reviews for "Love" were all positive, for me it was a no brainer.

We sat down and the first thing that happened was some strange character from the show was walking on the back of the chairs. He approached me and I was surrounded from characters from the show. He mumbled some jibberish and put a lavender purple vinyl heart on my forehead. They all stared at me and talked more jibberish. It freaked me out.

The show had technical problems and didn't start on time. The natives in the audience were restless. The announcer welcomed some Z minus celebs in the audience, when the spotlight hit them, they weren't in their seats. The guy in front of us took all 4 kids out for popcorn and drinks. We figured he'd spent like a hundred bucks snacking up his kids. Then his wife took each kid one by one to the restroom. Hey, you have to get your entertainment where you can!

The show started like 45 minutes late. The music was amazing. The sound system was amazing, you could hear the music from the speakers in the back of your headrest. The seats are comfortable. I sat there and kept thinking WTF does this have to do with the Beatles and love? First of all, I don't get Cirque shows. None of them. I am fairly intelligent, but I seem to be missing something. They remind me of a bad acid trip from the 60's, not that I'd know. I loved parts of it, the skaters, the acrobats, but some of the characters just creeped me out.

I was prepared for the exploding yellow Volkswagen simulating John Lennon's mother getting hit and killed by a car, but what does that have to do with entertainment? I found it depressing. My husband wasn't enjoying it much, either. Probably for the only time in our entire marriage, we agreed. He didn't get it either. Neither were the 4 kids in front of us.

I wanted to love "Love". I tried. I really tried. But after awhile I was wishing that we'd gone to see Elton John in concert. As we left the showroom, I watched everyone's puzzled faces as some tried to do a philosophical analysis of the show. I heard about the Tao of the show. Another said it brought the Zen of the Beatles full circle. I don't have a clue what they were talking about, but it sounded better than what I said "I just didn't like it".

What I did like was the "Love" gift shop. I dropped a lot of cash buying more tunes. And then we dropped more money in the casino right by the showroom where they play non stop Beatles music. And I love love love their music!

How I made 25 grand in 5 hours with two dollars

Yes, I really did. Two years ago in Vegas. Lady Luck embraced me and didn't let go. It was the ride of my life!

I was in Las Vegas for a convention. My parents were along for the fun. We were staying at the Bellagio. My husband was at home working and dog sitting our 4 legged kids.

I'd spent a long day at the convention and was ready to rock and roll in the casino. My work friends decided to go see Thunder From Down Under at the Excalibur.
I did my best to ditch my parents who were freaking out that I was alone in the casino. Yeah, I was alone with thousands of cameras trained on me, I'll be fine.

I lost all the money I had except for two bucks. I couldn't hit up the cash machine for another 12 or so hours so I had nothing to do but go to bed. As I was wandering through the casino, I decided to go to bed flat broke. I put my two bucks into a Venice nickel machine and son of a gun, I got free games, then more free games, then more until I was up to like $250. Whoo hoo.

So off to bed, I think, but the $5 Top Dollar machines called my name. Put in a twenty. First pull, top dollar...for $3200! OMG! So while I was sitting there with my hands shaking waiting for my payoff, I put a $20 in the next machine...top dollar again, $1450 another tax form. And so it went. $1200 here, a thousand there.
OMG..this can't really be happening to ME. Am I a shill?

One of the slot hosts from the high roller lounge started following me around. He was a cutie, early 20's eager to please and kept offering me food or drinks. Since it was like 3AM and I'm a lousy drinker, I declined. His name was Jason and he kept telling me to enjoy the ride, because it won't happen like this next time. (Note..it hasn't!)

So I grab my loot and decide to head to my room, when one of the floor slot staff said to me to put a $20 in the $5 pinball machine because its been paying off all night long. So I did. Pinball on the first pull for $500. Pinball on the third pull for $750. I figured I'd play a few more dollars when the symbols on the machine lined up. Double Diamond, Double Diamond, Double Diamond for $8000. This was too much, I totally freaked out. I've never hit a jackpot across, ever. I was shaking, called my husband who thought I was joking. I put Jason on the phone to confirm my win. All my husband cared about was what I was doing calling him in the middle of the night with a guy. Bruce is not a jealous man, he just couldn't wake up enough to figure it out. He heard the 8 grand part!! This time the casino brought me champagne. I tipped everyone lavishly and had a security guard escort me upstairs. I've never had so much cash in my life at one time that was MINE.

I was so excited I couldn't sleep! I counted and counted the money...I had more than 25 grand in cash. Then I added up my tax forms and found out that I had blown about 4 grand to get the 25 grand, but what the heck?

I didn't sleep a wink. I kept checking the safe to see if it had really happened. I was meeting the parents for breakfast, I was bouncing around and ready to burst. I wasn't in the mood to hit the convention that early. I gave each of them a thousand dollars and we hit the $5 machines. And a weird thing happened, the machines that were so good to me just hours before wouldn't give up a nickel. The ride was over! But what a ride!!

New Frontier Hotel Goes Out With A Bang!

The Frontier Hotel was reduced to a pile of rubble after a fireworks display in Las Vegas on 11-13. RIP The fireworks added to the farewell, don't you think?

Las Vegas Local wins 1.9 million at Wynn's

A 39 year old Las Vegas headed to Wynn's to check on the status of his job application.
While he was there, he decided to play the Wheel of Fortune slot machine.
He hit for 1.9 million dollars! He says he'll pay off his house.
No word on his job application, but with that amount of loot,
do you really need a job?

Culinary workers face strike deadline in Las Vegas

Culinary Union Local 226 and Mission Industries faced a Tuesday deadline set by the union last week amid talks on a union health care plan. At stake is clean sheets and towels for all Las Vegas hotel guests. Almost 50 hotel-casinos use the company’s six local plants for sheets, towels and other services.

The company has says it is trying to renegotiate with some of its customers to help pay for a health plan it says is now double its current amount.

“The casinos have all been willing to listen and talk with us. They’ve been receptive,” David Spurlock Jr., general counsel for Mission Industries, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The company has said it will continue all of its services if workers strike.

Let me know if I need to pack my own towels and sheets...this won't keep me at home!

UPDATE: The union announced a tentative contract that will be presented for union ratification on Tuesday.