The Road Trip, Part II

After the big party Hunter and I attended in Sun Valley on Saturday, Hunter flew back to Vegas on Sunday from Salt Lake City to check out -- and be summarily unimpressed -- with the reopened Plaza. Check out brutal Tweet 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The Plaza is in big trouble if they don't get their act together asap.

Anyhow, I left Hunter and stopped by the Utah Capitol. I know I've been there already, but I couldn't find the picture, so I took another one. Then, on the way out of SLC, I saw this:

Yes, I was tempted to stay on I-15!

The next leg of the road trip awaited, though. I headed to Dinosaur National Monument, which straddles the northwestern Colorado-northeast Utah border and evidently is where loads of dinosaur fossils have been found. It's sorta schticky, as seen by this by the visitors center...

...but also a rather scenic 10ish-mile drive. You see vistas like this:

There is a dinosaur artifact area but it was closed when I was there. Either way, there's great camping and hiking land up there, and the rocks have gen-u-ine petroglyphs, see:

There's more from here in the Flickr slideshow at the bottom of this post. But this awesome bit of neon from Steamboat Springs, Colo., was just wonderful:

I didn't stay there because the Fairfield Inn was cheaper and I got Marriott points, but I was surprised on Monday morning to find that the resort-fee concept has spread:

It was only about $3. I guess it included Internet service, but I wasn't warned and it didn't actually work. I didn't complain, though, because for reasons I do not know, the front-desk dude gave us a massive room upgrade to a gigantic, gorgeous room.

Meanwhile, a subplot of this trip is that it's Black and Jack's first major road trip and their bodies aren't taking it all that well. They've had a rough time, but I've been coddling them a bit extra and feeding them carefully and finally, today, they're not as miserable, see:

Today, I drove through the sensational Rocky Mountains through the Rocky Mountain National Park route, aka U.S. 34, with John Denver's Greatest Hits playing on the iPod, of course. Here's the best shot:

There are loads of other awesome pictures in this Flickr slideshow, which starts in SLC, goes to Dinosaur and Steamboat Springs and then into the park.

And, yes, this shot...

...was a little dangerous to take. But then I got to Denver and picked up Amy, who flew in from Vegas to accompany me for the rest of the trip. Next stops: Topeka, St. Joseph, Mo., Jefferson City and Springfield.

Our New Year's Eve In Las Vegas On TV

So here's the montage version of the Party at the Panorama that KSNV Channel 3 anchor Marie Mortera staged featuring me, Marie's boyfriend and Panorama resident Amy Turner, whom many of you know as fill-in guest host on The Strip and co-host of the GritstoGlitz podcast. (Ladies, surely this experience merits a new edition of your show?!?)

At the end of the video is a photo montage from behind the scenes and of the fireworks from the Panorama deck.

A few things to note:

* I didn't record the closings/goodbyes because the show went over time and Cox Cable is simply incapable of knowing when shows actually end. But thanks to Norm Kresge of Las Vegas for helping me figure out how to get it from DVR to DVD to YouTube!

* KSNV won the night! Their 11:45-midnight ratings were stratospheric. I'm quite proud not just because I got to participate but because it was, of course, Miles who managed this coverage and ran the show from the News 3 ranch. I don't know what the other channels were doing, but it's clear that News 3 has regained its mojo after losing to KLAS a couple years running. Yay! Miles hates it when I toot his horn, but toot toot and deal with it, Smitty.

* We did the party in the Panorama unit I own. Marie misspoke about Amy owning it, but Amy has been living there for about six months.

* KSNV arranged the food from LBS Burger and Hachi at Red Rock Resort and the Champagne provided by Southern Wine & Spirits. I was not involved in those arrangements. It was all quite lovely, though!

* Happy New Year, Everyone. If you don't mind, here's the most awesome picture taken so far in 2011:


As you can see, Aces (left) is already an integrated part of the family with Black and Jack. Hooray!

Go See This

Really. You should. "I Oughta Be In Pictures" is a really interesting Neil Simon play being put on over at the Las Vegas Little Theatre, one of the community theaters around town. It's about 3 miles west of the Strip in the middle of Chinatown. This month they're putting on this dramedy about an L.A. writer whose long lost teen daughter shows up on his doorstep one day hoping to forge a relationship with him.

And, yes, there's a personal reason I'm shilling for this one. Not only is it a really well-done play, but one of its three stars is frequent Strip Podcast and Petcast guest host Amy Turner, in her first venture into Vegas community theater. Amy, at right being pawed by Gene Simmons, starred in many productions in Chattanooga, Tenn., including turns as Mama Rose in "Gypsy" and Golde in "Fiddler on the Roof." (Aside: Does that not just sound so, uh, special, "Fiddler" as played by Southern WASPs in the Deep South? I suppose it's no odder than Long Island Jewish groups who put on "Oklahoma!", eh?)

Anyhow, in this case Amy plays Steffi, the girlfriend of the L.A. writer whose long lost teen daughter shows up on his doorstep one day hoping to forge a relationship with him. I went with John Katsilometes to a full-dress rehearsal last Thursday and it's a very touching and funny show. The actress who plays the teen daughter, Rachel Lanyi, is a recent UNLV Theater School grad who is particularly gifted.

There are eight remaining performances, this week and next, at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. It's well worth your time.

The show is UP: Under A. Cools' Spell

Alrighty...here's the newest show. Listen at 1:04:00 to hear how to win a pair of MJ tickets and afterparty passes! To download, right-click on the date below (or the AAC link) and save it to your computer. Or you can subscribe (it's free!) via this iTunes link or via this Zune link.

Aug. 13: Anthony Cools' Spell
New! Get bookmarked AAC edition

Whether you buy hypnotism or not, there's no denying that Anthony Cools has Las Vegas under his spell. The Paris Las Vegas headliner has become a somehwat unlikely Strip entrepreneur, responsible for four shows besides his own including Bobby Slayton and Penny Lane at the Tropicana and Mental and Freaks at O'Sheas. Cools explains how he became the king of middle-brow and why he thinks some of the more disgusting acts that take place at Freaks are really "quite romantic."

In Banter: Amy and Steve discuss Mental and Freaks, another MJ raid, Laughlin sees an uptick, an accidental ReHab visit, a Maggiano's deal for Amy, and more.

Links for stuff discussed:

Tickets for Anthony Cools at Paris Las Vegas
Anthony Cools’ website
Amy’s Norm bird video on YouTube
Amy in Norm Clarke’s column in the R-J
The site for both Freaks and Mental at O'Sheas
Luke Jermay, the mentalist from Mental
O’Sheas homepage
Steve-O’s website
Steve’s NYT piece on the latest MJ pharmacy raid
Steve’s LVW column on the Stage Door Casino
A link to see the Tropicana’s new logo
See the latest depressing data from the LVCVA for yourself
Las Vegas Advisor’s notice about the hot deal at Maggiano’s Little Italy, Amy’s favorite place ever
Follow “Bound For Las Vegas” singer-songwriter Tommy Held on Twitter
Doug Elfman’s Carmen Electra piece

Your Monday Morning Smile

My good friend, loyal listener, frequent Miles social stand-in and sometime podcaster Amy Turner was telling me about this thing related to the Review-Journal's Norm Clarke at lunch recently and I told her she had to get it on video. Voila!



Classic!!! Of course, Amy first learned of our show through Norm's column, so she truly is a Norm fan.

If you liked that, check out Amy's viral YouTube hit at 113,000 views and counting...



Let's all have a great week!