Prolouge
It was getting
to the point of ridiculous-ness...I'd
been walking around, saying that for weeks. Did it last time I went
too. I think I need help.
Anyway.
The last show of the millenium - how could I NOT be there?? Also, Sherry had never experienced the power that is Voodoo, so I HAD to be there (I also hadn't seen her in about 6 months, so that was a plus too). I had no choice, really. It was an act of humanitarianismif there ever was one.
We hit a wee snag early on in the planning stages - the show was at the House of Blues and was rumored to be 21+...but it turns out it was just a rumor started by Ticketmaster (and Slave). They're all against me, I tells ya.
So after many emails and phone calls and such, turns out I'm not the only one getting in on the action - Raz (Smirk), Kathryn (Mizz), Taryn (Myte), Joel and Kelly are coming too. Yay!! Voodoo army!
We all get rooms at Treasure Island (arrrrrr...), and sit and wait for the week to come.
And hey, it's here!!
Tuesday, December 28, 1999
I had a 9:45pm flight from NYC, so we (my intrepid traveling buddy Mike and I), hop on the A train and cruise for an hour through lovely Lower Manhatten, Brooklyn ::waves to Meisje::, and finally Queens, where we get there nice n'early.
Okay, so 6:30 was a bit TOO early. :-)
We get me all checked in, and if you're familiar with my last trek to Vegas (SHOULDbe up on Meis' page, *hint, hint*), you'll be happy to know that my luggage didn't leave me for even a second. :-)
We hang around for awhile, making the 6 ½ mile walk from the gate to the food court (JFK is under perpetual construction), and falling to our knees with gratitude at the site of Burger King. We kicked it BK-style for a bit, and then headed back to the gate around 8pm, only to be told we had at least an hour before we could even go through the metal detector to wait for the plane. Pleh.
So Mike, being the
curious soul that he is, goes and finds a FREE
cybercafe.
I tried to resist, really I did. I swear. No kidding.
I didn't waaaaaaanna check my email - he MADE me!
(I'm pretty sure
I'm going to be entombed with
a laptop in my hands. Oh well.)
We play with the airport 'puters for awhile, but by now it's nearly 9pm, so Mike deposits me at the gate, and I scoot through the metal detectors to...wait some more.
After a bitchy gate agent tells me I can't board just yet because my row was ONE LESS than the ones announced even though TWO PEOPLE got on the plane, I finally get to board with the 50 other people. Apparently the 9:45pm Tuesday night flights from New York to Las Vegas aren't that popular. Wonder why...? :-)
Flyflyflyflyflyflyflyflyeatwarmcookiesflyflyflyfly...
While somehow resisting the urge to land in Phoenix (once again, see the last Vegas account), I land at 11:45pm, west coast time. Yay!!
I grab a *very* expensive cab (that's how they get ya, the bastards!), to Treasure Island (arrrr...), my luggage still firmly in tow. I get to the room, and try to track down Raz, who's kindly left me a little note. I call Joel, and get Kathryn instead and spend some time trying to track them down.
Unfortunately, I don't, so I opt for a shower around 1am...this lil' east coaster is tired!
But, sleep shall have to wait, as Raz returns around 1:45am, and we spend the next 3 hours talking, finally getting to sleep around 4:30am (or, for those playing along at home, 7:30am for me!)
Sleeeeeeep...
Wednesday, December 29, 1999
The alarm clock goes off at 9:30am. No one knows why.
We get up around 10:30 and go and meet Kathryn and Joel for brrrrrunch at the buffet. Lots of really tasty snacky cakes were had.
We discuss our plans to go all girly later on and do hair and makeup and Joel makes a hasty exit, promising to meet up with us later on. Okie dokie.
We head to The Venetian, the brand new Italian-themed casino across the street from Buccaneer Blvd (heehee), and got reservations to take a gondola ride down the middle of it for later on that afternoon (we packed our swimmies and noseplugs just in case).
We had about 2 and ½ hours to kill so we set off down The Strip. In front of the Rio, Kathryn was telling us that when they walked by there the night before, "I Wanna Be" was playing on the loudspeakers. We all laughed.
Until we realized it was playing again.
Then, we stopped and sang and danced along with it. People even stopped and took our pictures. They were very much jealous of our dancing, I'm sure.
Moving on...
We pressed on, talking pictures all the way. We stopped in front of Bally's and just for a minute, I was back there in July, with Sherry and Marc da Ho and Steve's lllllllllllovely lllllllllips (and hips).
Sigh...I miss that man.
::slap::
Sorry. Thanks Sher.
We cruised past Paris-Las Vegas, and took some shots of the neat buildings. We stopped in front of a big fountain, and I contemplated jumping in, 'cause it was SO nice and warm out. I almost did too, but I was wearing the new Docs, and I'm not sure how waterproof they are.
Next, we hit Bellagio, just in time for the dancing water show. We saw some rainbows and once again, I felt the urge to jump in.
We went inside Bellagio and wandered around for awhile - saw the pool and the neat ceilings. On the way out, we had to drag Raz out of the Prada boutique AGAIN, but then we all got sucked into a shoe store and did a fair amount of sighing over the many pairs.
The gondola appointment nearing, we went back to The Venetian, and waiting on line at the beginning of the river. We wearing trying to decide with gondolier we'd prefer, and had finally settled on one that looked like Mr. Josh Levy. He was taken, however, and we were escorted to the boat by the Lovely Luca. Yum-may.
He gave us the water safety lecture ("if you fall out, just stand up!"), and we glided down the lil' river in the San Angelo (de boat). On the way back, he stopped the boat under a bridge and sang to us in Italian. Siiiiiiiiiigh...
After the ride, we took a group shot with him. No way were we going home without one!
It was nearing 4:30pm, so we set off for the mall to take advantage of Macy's generosity and get glam at the makeup counters. Raz was determined to get good red lipstick, no matter what.
About an hour later, we emerge, looking very loverly, if I do say so myself. We scooped up Sherry on the way up to the room, and took our time getting dressed.
By 7pm, we all emerged, looking FA-BU-LOUS. :-)
Raz went off to gather Kelly and her friend, and me and Sherry met up with Kathryn and Joel in the lobby. Joel went off to meet vegas friends and the other three joined us, and off we went to the Mandalay Bay (where HOB is), in 2 cabs.
(Did you know vegas cabs can only carry 5 people at a time?? I don't care either, but the cab driver made SURE to tell us.)
We pull up and go to the HOB to get our tickets (yes, this time I had a ticket!). Raz and Kelly went off to eat, Kathryn went in to get us spots and Sherry and I went to check our stuff.
We pass the elevators and I spy a pair of black n' white Stacy Adams. Before you can say, "the swingers have landed!", I look up...
...and up...
....and up, to see the lovely smiling face that belongs to Mr. Dirk. Nice!
We chat for the briefest moment, as he was on his way to the HOB. He was glad to see us, and introduced me to his wife, who's very pretty, very nice and not nearly as tall as he is (then again, who is??)
We continue on, with him going one way and us the other. I look back at Sherry, and she says:
"Omigodomigodomigodthatwasdirkomigodthatwasdirk"
That's a direct quote too :-)
We check our stuff and go back to the HOB and settle in with Kathryn, right down in front. In true HOB fashion, the stage was too damn high (like, over 5 feet), so it was going to be another night of sock examination. Oh well.
While listening to the opening band, a funky kind of funk band, The Watson Family, we ditched our shoes, which were beginning to hurt. Suffering for fashion is HIGHLY overrated.
We also found out *much* later on that the band is Dirk's brother-in-law's band. Nepotism is a good thing sometimes.
They played a fairly short set, and were off the stage by 8:45pm. A quick set change and around 9:15, the boys hit the stage.
As usual, they kicked the largest amount of booty possible, if not more so. As if there was any doubt?
The setlist was the same as always, but who could get tired of it?
"This is the last cool show we're going to play this century!" - Scotty
Some highlights:
- Karl playing air
guitar on his sax
- Kurt cracking
up while Kathryn and I made faces at him.
- Josh raisin'
da roof during 'Jump With My Baby'
- Scotty jumping
up and down, doing splits ala Steve
- The best dressed
horns in the business, throwing in some 'Auld
Lang Syne' during 'Jump
With My Baby'
- Dancin' Dirk
gettin his groove thang on.
- The girl behind
me with this teeny tiny squeaky voice yelling, "you
GO big bad voodoo daddy!!"
- Andy taking a
solo on his bari sax (no singing this time)
- Mike and Ron.
Always.
But sadly, as it always must, the show ended all too quickly. :-(
There was, however, the meet and greet and SO much more to look forward to.
The HOB cleared out fairly quickly, but a pretty big group of people waiting to meet the guys remained. They knew we were there, so we hung back from the crowd, getting water, and going to the bathroom and getting ourselves back together while we watched them be rock stars.
After awhile, the crowd thinned, and we headed over. Sherry was really excited, because this was her first Voodoo show. A breakdown, by each guy:
Mike
We came upon Mike
first, who was in a great mood. He's a pretty mellow, quiet kinda guy,
so you never know what you're going to get when you talk to him.
But he was in good spirits. Right now, life
is good and he's really happy about it.
Josh
Poor Josh!
He was getting a cold, but was still in good spirits. He was walking
around with a frat-cup beer in his suit pocket instead of their standard
Newcastle, and was gracious enough to switch places with me so it wouldn't
get all squished on my dress. I wanted him to drink some OJ,
but they didn't have any.
Dirk
I came upon Dirk,
who gave me one of his signature HUGE
hugs,
like he hadn't seen my 3 hours earlier. He was so excited, because
his family was with him. He also said I looked "lovely" and my dress
was "beautiful". Awww...I told him I didn't want them to be the only ones
all slicked up, and we decided that in Vegas, ANYTHING goes.
Ron
Ron reminds me
of a puppy - he's always so excited and jumpy with a constant grin.
Fortunately for him (and us), Scotty hadn't had a chance to indulge in
one of his new favorite hobbies - feeding Ron shots, so he was nice
and sober.
Glen
Ah Glen...whatta
cutie. His hair is growing out and his
roots are beginning to show, so a new dye job could be in the works for
the next set of shows. We talked for a bit - he was really flattered and
excited that so many of us had come from so far away for the show.
Karl
The Voodoo sweetie.
I had my lil' camera with me, and we went to take a photo and he says,
"Wait,
is this the one where I'm supposed to take my glasses off?"
Apparently, SOMEONE had mentioned our conversation from earlier.
Fortunately, the voodoo sweetie also has a sense
of humor.
We got ourselves some dirty looks when we launched into our 'omigod,
it’s scottyyyyyyyyy!!’ act, complete with
screams, when he came out. More on him later...
Kurt
Who had a lovelymustard
yellow shirt n' tie combo and new doc marten
wingtips (he never wears anything but!). I mentioned I had danced
with his lookalike a few weeks back (except this guy had more than peach
fuzz for hair), and Kurt swore up and down
it wasn't him. I kinda figured, but he told me the surefire giveaway
was the dancing because he "...can't dance
for shit".
Scotty
He finally appeared
about 25 minutes after all the other guys. He was immediately
surrounded,
but as the crowd cleared, he came forward and gave me a big hug, just after
a guy assured me he was a nice guy. I gave him my best 'duh' look,
and Scotty gave me another squeeze to prove his good qualities (!).
He's looking forward to being a
'normal human
being' for the next 2 weeks they're on vacation.
Andy
Andy was in a FABOO
mood. We also went through our
standard fawning, telling him he was a great singer and guitar player and
receiving his standard ‘look’ and 'fuck you'
to match…but it’s okay, ‘cause we love him
and he loves us. :-)
Gradually, the crowd began to fade away, and one by one, the boys went off to enjoy Vegas in all it’s hedonistic glory.
We, however, had a dinner date with Karl. Me, Raz, Kathryn, Sherry, Taryn and two other Voodoo friends, Alexander and Narit were all that were left. Alexander didn’t know we already knew Karl and wondered if this was going to be a big thrill for us to eat with him. Karl corrected him:
“Oh, Lesley and I have shared *many* broccoli filled meals together!”
Weeeee…
The HOB was closing…well, more like, it was CLOSED. We were being kicked out, when Karl finally returned, luggage in tow, in jeans and sneakers. Who WAS that suited man??
Sherry had gone off to make a phone call and get her coat, but we tracked her down on the way to elevators. We were all carrying some of Karl’s stuff, but handed it back before anyone could make it to eBay.
He went to dump his stuff, and we gratefully plopped onto a couch in the middle of hallway. We were just resting, when Andy and Josh get off the elevator. They see us and crack up. Josh triumphantly shows me a bottle of OJ he tracked down, and was off to “put myself to bed”. Karl meanwhile, is playing Mr. Mission Impossible, and running up and down the hallway, ducking in and out of doorways. Silly!
We all (minus Raz and Taryn, who were talking to Andy and Josh), go to hunt down food. It was 12:30am, and we were HUNGRY.
We got a table for 10 and ordered up some food. Fast forward to 5:30am, and we’re STILL there!
Dinner highlights:
- Karl harassing
the waiter about the chicken wings:
“Are they spicy?”
– K
“They’re very good
sir” – W
“Yeah, but are
they good spicy or just spicy?” – K
“They’re GOOD,
sir” – W
“Yeah, but are
they spicy??” – K
The waiter hated us by the end of the night! Despite the somewhat gray endorsement, both Karl and Sherry indulged and pronounced the wings tasty.
- We learned of Scotty and the Dreaded Three H's. 'Nuff said.
- While we ate, Karl told us road stories, expanding on the things he had written in his tour journal. He did an impression of the “octave key, man yeah!” guy, which prompted us to do that as well.
“Chicken wing, man yeah!”
- We also spent some time wondering about the ‘Karl as a Cherry Poppin’ Daddy’ theory. Octave Key Man had INSISTED he was a CPD – I guess he COULD look like Steve, minus the 14 inch height difference.
- Karl told us about his son having a cold - his (the baby's) current favorite thing to do is wipe his nose on the shirt of whoever’s holding him. As he tells us, he makes a napkin bib, claiming he was wearing his last clean shirt.
- And speaking of
Karl's son, this kid is TOO adorable. He has Karl smile and biiiiiig
blue
eyes and
red
hair. The kid looks like a cross between
Karl and …
…Andy
- Karl told us this really funny joke that his wife hates:
A penguin is driving through the desert and his car breaks down. He makes it to a gas station, and asks if the mechanic can fix it. He says yes, but it’ll take a few minutes. So, the penguin leaves and comes back with some ice cream. The mechanic is wiping his hands, and the car’s all fixed.
“Well, you blew
a seal” – mechanic
“No, it’s just
ice cream” – penguin
Haaaaaaaaahahaahhaha!! We thought it was very funny.
Like I said, the waiter hated us. We paid the bill at 2am, but sat there until about 5:30am. Taryn, Alexander and Narit left around 3:30, but we hung around some more. We would have stayed longer, but we were all starting to fall asleep in the middle of sentences. So, we packed Karl off to bed at 6am (when he had to be up at 8 for a 10am flight!), and cabbed it back to the hotel. Bed around 6:30am. Ouch.
Sleeeeeep….kinda.
Thursday, Dec. 30, 1999
We get up around 10:30am, to meet Raz’s friend for brunch and to say goodbye to everyone (I stayed an extra day). We took some pictures and bid Joel and Kathryn farewell, and then went off to meet Raz’s friend for brunch at the hotel.
I saw her off to the airport and then headed to the Showboat, the other hotel. All I have to say on that is:
WHAT. A. DUMP.
Oy, this place was krappy with a kapital K.
It was around 2pm, and since I didn’t have to meet Sherry until 7pm, I took a nice, looooooong, nap. I got up and showered and met Sher at the Hard Rock at 7pm for the Santana show.
I went to buy a ticket and…
…DENIED! The show was sold out. Awww poop.
I packed Sher off to the show and grabbed a cup o’quarters. I was determined to hit it big and win us airfare to the Bahamas.
Alas, Beef Boy was not with me that nite, as I lost all 10 bucks. Oh well.
I collected Sherry after the show, and together, we surfed the crowd to the bathroom. A wee tricky, considering the amount of people, but we made it. We headed off in search of food, and after being turned away from the Hard Rock Café, we went to the kwikee mart and saw a nice, hot man. Then, we were silly with the camera until it was time to go home. :-)
I get back to the Dump, and against my better judgement, go to sleep atop the bed, rather than in it.
December 31, 1999
What a way to end
the century…getting up at 6am. Go to the airport, get upgraded because
there’s NO ONE on
the flight and flyyyyyyyyyy home. Bye Vegas!