MFD does Vegas

I tagged along with my wife to a corporate event in fabulous Las Vegas and music from My Favorite Decade was everywhere:

Because the trip was paid for by my wife's company, blog headquarters for a few days was the Bellagio. With a few exceptions, the ambient music in elevators, shops, restaurants and casinos was almost exclusively from 1976-85.  Here's a few songs I can remember hearing:

• If I Can't Have You - Yvonne Elliman
• Sunglasses at Night - Corey Hart
• (Keep Feeling) Fascination - Human League
• You Can Do Magic - America

Our first priority upon arriving was food.  Directly across the street from the hotel was the Cabo Wabo Cantina.  Owner Sammy Hagar wasn't there, but the atmosphere was great, the Jack and Coke BBQ sauce was delish, and the $24 margaritas, while not worth that price, were pretty darn good (you'll notice I wrote margaritas, not margarita).

Our second priority was the casinos. Several slot machines were '76-'85 themed.  I saw machines from The Rolling Stones, the Christopher Reeve Superman movie, the Grease movie, and, of course, the original gambler, Kenny Rogers.

Our first night in town, we went to the Flamingo to check out Donny and Marie, hoping for some cheesy '70s entertainment.

The Flamingo is the oldest resort on the Strip still in operation and looks every bit the part.  It was also the only place where I was approached by a hooker (sorry ladies, I'm taken).  The "Donny and Marie Showroom" is a dump and I can't believe the fire marshal allows that many people and their walkers to be crammed into that space.  The show was entertaining enough, but there was plenty of Osmond narcissism and lip-syncing to go around.  The most disappointing part was that they would only sing medleys of their hits so you'd only get one verse of "Paper Roses" or "Deep Purple" but full versions of songs from their latest albums.  However, the band was good and I was treated to full versions of "Crazy Horses" and "Soldier of Love" so thumbs-up for that   Am I glad I went?  Yes.  Would I go again? No.  After the show, my wife was excited to see Donny's Dancing With The Stars trophy in the lobby and I ran into Olivia Newton-John in the gift shop.

If only ONJ had been performing at the Flamingo that week instead of D&M...

The following night as we were preparing to go catch our next show, I flipped on the hotel TV to ESPN Classic and they were airing episodes of Battle of the Network Stars, so I had to drop everything and watch until my wife told me it was time to travel down to Mandalay Bay to catch the Cirque du Soleil show "Michael Jackson ONE."

The performances were first rate and, of course, we knew all the songs. In addition to all the MJ faves, there was also a mash-up of "Human Nature" and "Never Can Say Goodbye" that I can't figure out if I liked or not.  At the end, the cast danced with a MJ hologram which was a great way to wrap things up. The only problem (and this is a recurring problem in Cirque shows) is that they attempt to create a narrative to tie the show together. This show's narrative included four kids running around the set getting special powers from Michael's glove, hat, etc.  My wife said they reminded her of the Scooby Doo gang. The show didn't need them because there is so much going on otherwise. I enjoyed it, but the theater was only half full (we sat on a row by ourselves) so I'm not sure how much longer it can afford to run.

The following day I was going to head down to Circus Circus and have a drink at the rotating Merry-Go-Round bar made famous by Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Sadly, I checked the Internet before heading down to Circus Circus and discovered that the bar has been converted to the Horse-A-Round Snack Bar, serving things like pistachio gelato. Gentrification - bah humbug!  Instead, I went over to the Casa Fuente cigar bar in Caesar's Palace.

While enjoying myself, I heard a killer Afro-Cuban remix of Diana Ross's "Upside Down" that I've been searching for ever since.  For the record, I tried the house brand cigar with a Cameroon wrapper and it was quite good.

All good things must come to an end, but we ended this trip just like almost every eighties teen movie ended - with New Wave dancing!  The entertainment at the corporate gala was none other than 80's cover band, The Spazmatics.  And they were great, playing songs like "Whip It," "What I Like About You," and "I Love Rock and Roll."  Except for a few unexpected travel delays and expenses, this was a perfect trip! I wasn't expecting a MFD theme to this Vegas trip, but I'm sure glad it turned out to be just that.