Re: Walt TR - Part 4 of 4 - Lost Weekend Edition

On Jul 9, 6:37 am, Walt <n...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Walt TR  --  May 26-June 11 - Part 4 of 4
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Featuring the AVLV Lost Weekend, our June gathering of new friends and
old from the newsgroup.

Thursday, June 4

I awoke around noon and arranged to meet Cameron for dinner and "The
Fab" show at Eastside Cannery.

Around 2:45 PM I drove to the Cashman Center north of downtown to watch
BR and Mrs. Eagle compete in the U.S. Bowling Congress Open.  The last
time I'd been inside Cashman was to see and eat some of the giant Las
Vegas Centennial birthday cake, a $100,000+ creation that mostly ended
up feeding the hogs out in North LV.

The temporary set-up inside the huge exhibit hall was impressive, with
60 bowling lanes, overhead electronic scoring, grandstands and numerous
pro shops hawking bowling equipment and apparel.  I watched the BR
Eagles and their team bowl about 1-1/2 games, long enough to shoot some
pics and video.

http://waltlv1.tripod.com/vegas/bowling.jpg ;(2 photos)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h40MUsnAxyY

Back downtown around 5 PM, I ran into Dr. Bob and Skip on Fremont
Street, so we walked together to meet Cameron at Main Street Station.
After pleasantries were exchanged, Cameron and I drove to Eastside
Cannery.  I hadn't yet tried the new buffet there, so we went in on a
2-for-1 (ACG) at about $13 total.  It was just okay for the money.  The
Cannery buffet in North LV may be a little better overall, but I found
enough to eat here.  The salad bar was good and cream of broccoli soup
was okay, as were a few items from the steam trays.  There was nothing
really exotic or really bad.  Slices of cake and pie were wrapped in
plastic to keep them from drying out.  Soft-serve vanilla was okay,
barely.

Shortly before 7 PM we strolled over to Marilyn's Lounge to see The
Fab.  The show started before a small but enthusiastic group of fans,
and late arrivals filled out the lounge later on.  Donna and Denny
brought DocTCW and his wife.  Mrs. Doc is evidently a huge fan of the
Beatles and throroughly enjoyed 2-1/2 hours of their songs, not to
mention a couple of Wings tunes.

The band was in top form and lead guitarist Pat Woodward even managed
to work in a couple of scorching guitar solos.  The Fab also take
requests and can play just about anything as long as it's from the
Beatles.  I submitted a request for "Back in the U.S.S.R." and the band
happily supplied a rousing rendition of same, complete with jet engine
noises at the beginning and end.  All in all, it was a great night of
music.

Here's some video from the previous week's show, including the
indefatigable dancing nerd who apparently shows up at every Fab
performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlM41gQukl8

After the show Cameron and I returned downtown and waited at the Main
Street Station bar to rendezvous with Denny and Donna.  But the first
to show up was Evil Elvis, who said he had dinner earlier with Skip,
Dr. Bob, Bill from Houston and others.

Around midnight I drove down to the Sahara to play some 2-4 Holdem.
The table was fairly soft and after about 45 minutes I was over $40
ahead.  After that I just tread water, neither gaining nor losing much.
After two hours and with the table down to 5-6 players, I left with $36
profit.

Friday, June 5

My notes for this day are sketchy, but my photos suggest I went to the
Gold Coast, perhaps for a lunch buffet.  On the way out I stopped in
what used to be the Gold Coast showroom and is now the biggest lounge
in Vegas, occupied on weekday afternoons by the loneliest jazz band in
Vegas.  And if you come here on Monday nights, you can sing in the
biggest, grandest karaoke venue in Vegas.  No guarantees you'll have an
audience, but if you ever wanted to belt one out in a real Vegas
showroom, this is the place.

http://waltlv1.tripod.com/vegas/gclounge.jpg ;(2 photos)

Hear the Las Vegas Classic Jazz Band go through the motions in this
video.  Having to show up for a daily 5-hour gig in front of a handful
of listeners, it's hard for any band not to sound dispirited.  If you
make it to the end of the video, you'll hear the textbook definition of
a "smattering" of applause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn6uwr6EWj0

I apparently returned downtown and met up with Cameron to get the keys
for the comped Vegas Club room he gave me for the weekend.  He also let
me check out his Cabana Suite across the street from the El Cortez.

http://waltlv1.tripod.com/vegas/elcocabana.jpg ;(3 photos)

Around 3 PM a group of AVLVers gathered at the El Cortez for Lynn's
talk on the history of the Mob in Vegas.  The ElCo had graciously
allowed Lynn to use the 2nd-floor meeting room where Matt hosted his
2007 Soiree.  Lynn's talk was informative, and ElCo general manager
Mike Nolan also made an appearance.  He related to us some of the
history of the hotel, answered several questions and passed around a
couple of framed vintage photos from his office.

http://waltlv1.tripod.com/vegas/lynntalk.jpg

Next on the agenda was DocTCW's Intra-Cosmic Karaoke at 6 PM in
Harrah's piano bar.  A nice-sized group of AVLVers showed up, including
the elusive and enigmatic Ron Emerson in his first official AVLV
appearance.  As for the singers among us, let's just say there's a
reason I'm only posting still photos.

http://waltlv1.tripod.com/vegas/karaoke.jpg ;(12 photos)

Some of us couldn't stay for the entire karaoke contest, as we were
heading north to the Cannery for a special appearance by the Lon
Bronson All-Star Band.  Denny and Donna rode with me.  Cameron,
CyberHog and friends came separately.  This was the first gig in the
band's history that had a cover charge ($5) and it was well worth it.
The horns were amazing, singers Rick Friedman, Tony Davitch and Lisa
Mayer were strong as usual, and there were two -- count 'em -- two sexy
dancers.  The band played 3 sets of industrial-strength rock and R&B
starting at 8 PM and running until 11:20 PM.

http://waltlv1.tripod.com/vegas/lonbronson.jpg ;(2 photos)

After the show we had to hustle to get back downtown before 11:59 PM,
the starting time of the 2009 World Shrimp Cocktail Challenge.  Six of
the world's greatest shrimp cocktail eaters vied for cash and prizes
totaling nearly $35.  The contestants were Denny, Donna, Thomas,
CyberHog, Tom Herbertson and myself.  The goal was to consume shrimp
cocktails in the shortest amount of time.  Contestants were required to
use standard plastic forks to eat the shrimp; bare hands or farm
implements were not allowed.  Precision was important, too, since any
shrimp dropped on the table or floor had to be retrieved and consumed.
Fortunately this last rule did not come into play.

In the first round of competition (a.k.a. the Sweet Six), Denny, Donna
and I were eliminated by our opponents quite handily.  Due to the long
wait to buy more shrimp cocktails, it was decided to go immediately to
a 3-way final between Thomas, CyberHog and Tom Herbertson.  Tom and
Thomas fought hard but could not overcome the power of the Hog.
CyberHog indeed lived up to his moniker as he blew away the competition
and claimed the championship.

http://waltlv1.tripod.com/vegas/shrimp.jpg ;(7 photos)

Saturday, June 6

I arrived at the Palms poker room shortly before 11 AM for the
Pan-Galactic Series of Poker.  Tom Ronson did a good job organizing the
No-Limit Holdem tournament despite having no previous experience and
having to make a late switch in location from the Gold Coast.

Around 25 players were distributed among three tables and the fun
began.  The first player out this year was Thomas W.  For that dubious
achievement he received a book of poker tips by some of the game's
greats.

My experience was not much better.  Last year I knocked out Bill from
Houston on my way to a 2nd-place finish in Matt's tournament.  This
year Bill returned the favor when he went all-in pre-flop.  After
searching Bill's face for possible tells (no help there), I called him
with A-Q offsuit.  He turned over A-9 offsuit and the race was on.  I
had him dominated and felt increasingly confident as neither of us
improved our hands on the flop or turn.  But then Bill caught a 9 on
the river to double up and deal me a crippling blow.

I later won an all-in myself with my last 600 chips but was eliminated
soon after without making it to the final table.  Ironically, Bill went
on to finish 2nd as I did last year.  Tournament organizer Tom Ronson
also made a strong showing finishing 3rd.

But the 2009 champion was Tom in CT, who faced three opponents with
chip stacks similar in size to his own and vanquished them all.
Congratulations to Tom!

http://waltlv1.tripod.com/vegas/poker.jpg ;(4 photos)

The tournament finished fairly quickly thanks to the 15-minute levels,
and by 2 PM or so I was driving Bill-from-Houston and
Margaret-from-Scotland back downtown.  Margaret was the European
champion this year, outlasting Thomas and Dr. Bob.  From chatting with
her she sounds like a very accomplished person who would have many
interesting stories to tell.

Later at the Plaza I watched the Belmont Stakes with Denny, Donna,
Cameron and Bill, as long-shot Summer Bird stole the race from his
half-brother Mine That Bird to produce a blizzard of losing tickets.
Cameron had boxed a 2-6-7 trifecta and was looking good down the
stretch until Summer Bird made it a 4-2-7-6 finish.

In addition to all the AVLV activities, there was a car show on Fremont
Street as part of downtown's Summer of '69 promotion.  Collectors
displayed a variety of popular muscle cars from that era as well as
various custom hot rods.

http://waltlv1.tripod.com/vegas/cars.jpg ;(7 photos)

Saturday evening brought the Lost Weekend's biggest event, the dinner
at Main Street Station.  Close to 50 AVLVers and friends from far and
wide came together to enjoy a good meal and each other's company.  
Foxie Emerson was a no-show but there's always 2010.  It was great to
meet some new folks and renew my acquaintance with many of the usual
AVLV suspects.  I won't list them all here but
...

read more »

As Trout would say.WOW! Ronald Emerson. Is it June 2010 yet?
.

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