After promoting & DJ'ing at Exposé on Thursday night, I headed home to pack my bags and close my eyes for a quick nap until Liz picked me up at 4am. But I can never sleep when I'm about to travel. There's something horrible and lovely about driving to the airport at 4 in the morning. The pain of exhaustion mixes with the excitement of a new adventure & the anxiety of flight. Shame the bar isn't open at 6am for Bloody's. Those always calm my nerves before take-off.
We arrived in Vegas at 9am and rented a van for the rest of our party (who had arrived the night before) to take a day trip to Zion . The weekend was a birthday celebration for Momo , 26. I had been hoping some friends would be up for a trip to Vegas because of a High School acquaintence that had I found on Myspace that happened to be a DJ at Jet Nightclub in the Mirage Hotel and Casino. We kept in touch and as soon as I had the opportunity, I told FunkyBadChad that I'd be in town. A graduate two years before me, I remember him very little and never spoke to him. He majored in drinking (according to his myspace). At that time, I had never even tasted a sip. Despite my band geek status, he was stoked for me to be in town and offered for me to spin with him during his residency set at Jet (voted recently as the best nightclub in Vegas and also visited recently by Leonardo DiCaprio according the the People Magazine I was reading on the airplane). I thankfully obliged.
As Liz and I rolled the van into the MGM Grand hotel where we stayed, the girls awaited our arrival with hugs and hangovers. Liz, a true Rockstar, accompanied the rest of the party to Zion, happy to sleep in the back of the van. I, however, decided to forgo the breathtaking scenery for the comforts of the hotel room. Nowhere else can you find the thick curtains that allow you to sleep the day away than in a hotel room, especially a Vegas hotel room. I had plans to visit the pools, but never left the luxurious hotel bed complete with 6 pillows and one long body cushion, only a slight representation of Be, who was probably arriving at her own adventure in Chicago at that very moment.
After everyone returned from their desert excursion and rested, we hit the casinos. Liz and I spotted a sushi restaurant in MGM Grand whose Rainbow rolls were de-fish-a-lish. We walked later to Bellagio to catch the water & light show (which of course we missed) but caught the amazing structures and artistic displays of the Bellagio otherwise. There we met up with Mel & Momo as well as a few of the Salt Lake Party Posse, Emily & Deuce. Emily and I watched Momo at the Roulette table, but after loosing $20 and then 7 hands of Black Jack in a row, I decided my luck was only to be found behind the decks, not in front of them. I retired to bed around 5am down $80, but a bunch of good times ahead.
The next day Liz and I found a nice breakfast cafe and then hit the pools. Yes, I say pools, plural, because there are 5 pools, 3 whirlpools a river and waterfalls amidst the complex's 'lush, tropical landscape'. This is why I love Vegas. Its so outrageous. One pool is a lazy river where you can rent innertubes for $16 a day and pretend you are floating downstream on the Yakima. Luckily, we were gifted some tubes from our neighbors and set out on the rafts to be drifted under fountains and in between splashing children. Strangely enough, I ran into a distant cousin that I see once a year at our family reunion (and who coincidentally happened to be Roseann's high school math teacher). This world is far too small.
That night we all met up in Mel & Momo's room to gather for the evening festivities. There we caught up with our other Seattle traveller, Mahogany and Night Queen, who brought all 4 of her recently single Salt Lake City girlfriends for a weekend of big city mahem.
Later that night, a few of us headed to the Grand Theatre to see Cirque Du Soleil's KA , the epic journey for which the entire theatre at the MGM Grand had been rebuilt. We were seated by characters, inhabitants of the village where the story takes place. I can't even explain how this production took my breath away. The scenes themselves were characters, the stage was dynamic and the heights that the actors went to in order to tell this story were incredible.
After being blown away by this bedazling performance, we had a mere 25 minutes to get across 'The Strip' to the Mirage and get into Jet before the guest list closed. While that seems like plenty of time to travel the length of about 2 miles, add such obstacles as two hundred people fresh from the production of KA standing in line for taxis, bumper to bumper traffic on the 8-lane highway itself, a monorail whose enterance can only be located through the jungles of Casinos built to keep you inside and thousands of tourists strolling the sidewalks with cameras in one hand and bottles of beer, cocktail glasses or bong-shaped margaritas in the other. In the end, the only way to get there in time was to run, weaving in and out of the crowds and cars. We made it at 12:08.
A little tip about clubbing in Vegas: It is SO not like Seattle. People actually go to clubs in Vegas. Thousands of people. So many people that you could stand in line for hours and not get in at all. There are three main ways to get into a Vegas club without waiting in line. First, find the short line. Next, you can 1) slip the door person some big bills to let your party in 2) buy table service, otherwise known as 'buying a bottle' (this is the recommended option) or 3) go to high school with the DJ. We chose #2 & #3 but pulled another $20 from the ATM just in case. 'Buying a bottle' means calling in a reservation earlier in the week to purchase a 5th of liquor for $400. To Seattle-ites that scoff at a $10 door fee and complain when there are no drink specials, $400 for a 5th of liquor seems like an outrageous amount of money. However, this includes mixers (not water or red bull -- be careful!), your own server, and -- this is the most important part -- a table. So, to recap: VIP entrance to big club in Vegas $35-$50, buying a bottle $400, having a place to sit down after dancing for 5-8 hours, priceless.
Before the show, we had met a few of our party for dinner at Dan Marino's Steakhouse in the Hooters Casino Hotel (why not?). But I have to admit, I could hardly eat because I was so nervous. Momo kept leaning over her ribs to laugh at me. She's seen me at many many shows and very rarely gets to enjoy how quiet I get when my stomach is all knotted up. 'Its good for you,' she said, giggling. I swallowed my lobster ravioli hard and tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a little choking squeek. But after a 25-minute run to the end of the strip, walking to the front of the line of a few hundred party goers to enter the intimate house room with 21 of my friends all dressed up in their club clothes and warm smiles, my nervousness drifted away, and I was excited for my first opportunity to play at one of the biggest clubs in the city where I was born -- Las Vegas.
stay tuned for part Deuce!
