Laughlin - Music was Great; Gaming Not So...

Well... I probably should have paid attention to my play money poker luck and not bothered playing in Laughlin. Heh heh. Sure, it's "budgeted entertainment" but it still sucks to lose. The machines have definitely tightened-up over the last couple of years. On previous trips, it wasn't unusual to hit a Four-Of-A-Kind several times over a weekend. This trip was three days, and I hit one of 'em... that's it.

On the entertainment side, however, we had comp tickets (along with the comp three-night stay) and great seats for "The Bluzmen" - a Blues Brothers tribute band - playing in the Fiesta Showroom at Harrah's (the photo above of The Bluzmen is from the hotel's web site).

These guys ROCKED. The band was absolutely incredible and "Jake" and "Elwood" nailed it. Eric Martin (Elwood) and Carmen Romano (Jake) had great, gritty voices, over-the-top energy (complete with multiple cart wheels), funny banter with the crowd, and a ton of Blues Brothers favorites. Highly recommended! I hope they'll be making a stop in Vegas soon; I'd love to see them again.

'til next time kids... Keep rockin'!

So Much for Timeliness

Damn, it's been awhile, hasn't it?

And I'm taking a sidetrack from the music thing today to mouth-off a bit on something of truly miniscule importance... Online, play-money poker.

Ya know, it's a good thing it's play money. Otherwise, I'd want to smack some of the players square in the mouth. Which ones...? The idiots who raise - continually - when they have squat in their hands.

I'm a pretty good/lucky player. Normally maintain a pretty nice level of "chips." Now, after getting caught up in dumbass-have-nothing raising contests over the last couple of weekends, I'm at less than 1,000 chips.

Yeah, yeah... You can always leave the game, VG. And I should, but being an optimist, I keep hoping for MY turn, ya know?

On the up side, playing "for fun" - especially when it becomes NOT fun - online is a good barometer for decreasing any desire to play "for real" *LOL* I seldom play here in Las Vegas. Maybe two or three times a year and it's mostly video poker. If it's a table game, it's $5 Blackjack or Pai Gow.

The Mr. and I are headed to Laughlin next weekend where we'll play a little. The moment I feel any urge to smack the dealer in the mouth - I'm walkin'. Heh heh heh.

And if any of you idiots from Poker.net are reading this... KNOCK IT OFF, ya jerk! The game ain't fun when blowhards like you bump the bets on NOTHING!


(It's my blog and I'll scream if I want to. Hmmmmm... Sounds like a Lesley Gore song, eh? Wheeeeeeeeee!)

Life Without Music Would be a Mistake-Part 2

Picking up where I left off, I'd first like to say that I gave this music project some thought last night and came to the conclusion that it's really not just for "my" amusement. The lists might just have some long, lost artists that you'd like to add to your own collection.

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, you can pretty much Google the artists' names with "discography" after it and come up with ALL kinds of good stuff. When I was building my iTunes collection outside of the couple of thousand CDs I had to choose from at home, I also Googled categories such as "One Hit Wonders" for the '60s, '70s and '80s (my heaviest years for listening to the radio), "movie music," "surf guitar," "easy listening," "novelty songs," etc.

Pulling the results of those searches, I was amazed at how many songs came up from my childhood and high school days that I'd completely forgotten about, but had loved.

What a long, strange (musical) trip it's been...

And now... the C, D, E and F artists:

CAB CALLOWAY
C.W. McCALL (Ya'll remember "Convoy," right? Heh.)
CANNED HEAT
CARL DOUGLAS (And the ever-popular "Kung Fu Fighting." Heh heh.)
CARLY SIMON
CAROLE KING
CARPENTERS
CARS
CAT STEVENS
CELINE DION ("River Deep, Mountain High" only... because iTunes hadn't yet offered Tina Turner's original.)
CHAD & JEREMY
CHARLIE DANIELS BAND
CHER
CHICAGO
CHUCK BERRY
CITY OF PRAGUE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (That one'll keep you guessing awhile. Heh.)
CLEFTONES
CLIMAX
CLINT HOLMES (Before becoming a Vegas showroom regular, he recorded "Playground In My Mind"... "My name is Michael, I've got a nickel, I've got a nickel shiny and new...")
CLOVERS
COASTERS
COMMITMENTS
COMMODORES
COUNT FIVE
COWSILLS
CRESTS
CRYSTALS
CYRKLE (This group was managed by Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager. Biggest hit - "Red Rubber Ball.")

DADDY DEWDROP
DALE HAWKINS
DANNY ELFMAN
DAVE "BABY" CORTEZ
DAVID BOWIE
DAVID ESSEX
DAVID LEE ROTH
DAVID TOMLINSON & DICK VAN DYKE ("Let's Go Fly a Kite" from the movie, "Mary Poppins.")
DEE CLARK
DEEP PURPLE
DEL AMITRI
DEL VIKINGS
DENNIS COFFEY & THE DETROIT GUITAR BAND
DEREK & THE DOMINOES
DESMOND DEKKER
DIAMONDS
DIANA ROSS (with and without THE SUPREMES)
DICK BRAVE & THE BACKBEATS
DICK DALE
DIONNE WARWICK
DOLLY PARTON
DON HENLEY
DONNA SUMMER
DOOBIE BROTHERS
DOORS (Lots of their stuff... Wanna dance nasty? "Roadhouse Blues" baby.)
DR. HOOK
DRIFTERS
DUANE EDDY
DUBS
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD

EAGLES
EARTH, WIND & FIRE (Including THE best cover of the Beatles - "Got to Get You Into My Life.")
EDDIE RABBITT
EDISON LIGHTHOUSE
EDWIN STARR
ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA (ELO)
ELMER BERNSTEIN ("The Magnificent Seven" theme... It was my high school fight song. Go Cowboys!)
ELTON JOHN (Including the duet with KIKI DEE on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart")
ELVIN BISHOP
ELVIS PRESLEY (A bunch of his, too... Listened like crazy as a toddler - before the Beatles took over.)
ENGLAND DAN & JOHN FORD COLEY
ENNIO MORRICONE (Theme from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" - Thanks for Clint Eastwood, Dad!)
ERIC CLAPTON
ERIC WEISSBERG
EURYTHMICS (Yeah, I know I've got Annie up there in the As, but they deserve individual mentions.)
EVERLY BROTHERS
EXILE

FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS
FATS DOMINO
FIREFALL
FIVE AMERICANS
FIVE SATINS
FIVE STAIRSTEPS
FLAMINGOS
FLASH CADILLAC & THE CONTINENTAL KIDS
FLEETWOOD MAC
FLEETWOODS (No relation... Heh.)
FOCUS (Remember "Hocus Pocus" by Focus? Yeah... One Hit Wonder.)
FOGHAT
FOLKSMEN (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer in the marvelous spoof, "A Mighty Wind")
FOUNDATIONS
FRANK SINATRA
FRANKIE LYMON & THE TEENAGERS
FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASONS
FREE

As I peruse the first few lists, I'm thinking of a possible name for my "genre" and it is "Eclectic White Bread" *LOL* ... I love a big, ol' mix of stuff, but it (glaringly for some of you readers, I'm sure) omits most of the heavier artists. You won't find any Rap, very little Metal and very little, if any Alternative music on my iPod. What you will find is a lot of Rock, Pop, Blues, Easy Listening and early Rhythm & Blues, with a bit of cross-over Country (I'm really not a fan, but like some individual tunes) and some other stuff tossed in.

Most of the songs hold wonderful nostalgic value for me... I can remember the "where and when" moments I heard so many of them - an awful lot of them while driving or riding in a car, most definitely!

And I make no apologies for my selections... I have a great passion for the music I love. I'm flexible too, and will keep adding tunes as they capture my ears, my sense of fun, and often... my soul.

To be continued...

Life Without Music Would be a Mistake-Part 1

Okay... It's been a couple of days and I've been thinking that I should start with my lifelong love - Music.

The origin of the title for this post, "Life Without Music Would be a Mistake," is from a T-shirt I saw advertised in a music lovers mail order catalog. I've used it as my "signature" on forums, etc., for a long time.

I credit my parents for my love of music. I can't play a note, but the simple act of listening has brought me - probably literally - thousands of hours of pleasure from the time I was a toddler. They raised me on almost everything... I can't even begin to label my own personal genre - it's far too bizarre.

And so I'll let you take a peek for yourself... This is a large sampling of the artists on my iPod - beginning with the A - B alpha list. Well, it's somewhat of an alpha list. For example... for some reason known only to the people at Apple/iTunes, most artists are listed alphabetically by first name or band name; however, Lee Bobbets ("Little, Bitty Pretty One") also shows up in the Bs.

ABBA
AEROSMITH
AL HIRT
ALAN PARSONS PROJECT
ALBERT COLLINS
ALBERT KING
ALICIA BRIDGES
ALIVE 'N KICKIN
ALLAN SHERMAN
ALLMAN BROTHERS
AMERICA
AMII STEWART
ANDREW GOLD
ANDY GIBB
ANDY WILLIAMS
ANIMALS
ANIMOTION
ANITA WARD
ANNE MURRAY
ANNIE LENNOX
ARETHA FRANKLIN
ARGENT
ASSEMBLED MULTITUDE
ASSOCIATION
ASTRUD GILBERTO & WALTER WANDERLEY

ROCKER B. BUMBLE & THE STINGERS
B.B. KING
B.W. STEVENSON
BACHMAN TURNER OVERDRIVE (BTO)
BAD COMPANY
BADFINGER
BANGLES
BARRY MANILOW
BBC BIG BAND ORCHESTRA
BEACH BOYS
BEATLES (My Fabs are my favorites... Their entire catalog is included.)
BEE GEES
HARRY BELAFONTE
BETTE MIDLER
BIG BOPPER
BILL HALEY & THE COMETS
BILL JUSTIS
BILL WITHERS
BILLY IDOL
BILLY JOE ROYAL
BILLY JOEL
BILLY SQUIRE
BILLY STRANGEL
BILLY SWAN
BLACK CROWES
BLONDIE
BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS
BLUE CHEER
BLUES BROTHERS
BOB DYLAN
LEE BOBBETS
BOBBY DAY
BOBBY FREEMAN
BONNIE RAITT
BOOKER T. & THE MGs
BOOTS RANDOLPH
BOW WOW WOW
BOX TOPS
BOZ SCAGGS
SERGIO MENDES AND BRASIL '66
BREAD
BREWER & SHIPLEY
BRIAN HYLAND
BRIAN SETZER
BRITNEY SPEARS (Yeah, I know... But only "Toxic" is included. Heh.)
BROTHERS CAZIMERO (That would be "Hawaiian War Chant." Told ya I'm bizarre. Heh heh.)
BROWNSVILLE STATION
BUDDY HOLLY
BUSTER BROWN
BUSTER POINDEXTER
BYRDS

There are a buttload more to list and I realize this is probably more for my own amusement than yours, but then... it IS my blog. ;-)

Next up, the Cs and Ds... Crank up the music, kids - any and ALL of it!

Can We Talk?

Yes, we can... About anything.

Ups and downs, the good stuff, the bad stuff, the "what the heck" stuff. If it's in my life or yours, in the news, or just floatin' around in our heads - Let's go for it!

I live and work in Las Vegas, so I expect you'll see some unusual ramblings. I also have an alternately silly, strange, bizarre, stupid or simply grand sense of humor, so I expect you'll see some entertaining ramblings. Of course, I make no guarantees. I do promise, however, to do my best and post regularly.

This puppy is officially up and running now. Whee-haw FUN!