Shim Lin. Simply incredible. Glad he relocated. I went with Mr. H who loves magic and we were both dumbfounded. Shim stands there stock still, sleeves rolled up, palms out, and cards appear and disappear. No props, just magic. It’s amazing.
Then there was The Beatles Love. Three times. Last year I took clients and warned them, “Guys, this will totally blow your minds.” “Yeah yeah, Bobby. C’mon, let’s get a drink.” We were up close. And all they could say was, “OMG!” I took Hector, in his 20s, and he was stunned that I knew the words to every song. “Hector … it’s THE BEATLES.”
The Secret Garden was Vegas’ best-kept secret. I begged people to go and watch the baby dolphins swimming with their parents and the white tigers. What a great respite from the frenzy of the Strip. Few took me up on it, though anyone who did thanked me profusely.
I had a nice suite compliments of Laurence Scott when we were working on my Non-Linear Dynamics Recurrence Theory Roulette project together.
And I really miss the Carnegie Deli. Pastrami and latkes, oh my.
Finally, the grand slam. Well, more of a hole in one.
With one of my lighting manufacturers, Charlie and I had landed a really nice deal with Guy who lived in Vegas. We wanted to do something special. So Guy suggested they play a round at Shadow Creek, Steve Wynn’s ultra-exclusive high-roller golf course. At the time, the only way was to stay at a Wynn property and it was still $500 each to play. So Charlie and I flew in and were staying at the Mirage. I got there first and the receptionist said, “I see you’re playing at Shadow Creek. Oh dear, we seem to have a problem. I need to put you on the 24th floor.”
I didn’t know what that meant until I opened the double doors to a suite that was literally larger than my condo back in DC. Old school, with the TV rising from the foot of the bed.
Anyway, I don’t play golf, so it was just Charlie and Guy. They had an early tee time and we agreed to meet afterwards. They had major grins on their faces.
“So how was it? How was your game?”
They looked at each other, broke out in giggles like two stoned schoolkids, and exclaimed, “We met Michael Jordan! In the locker room!”
“We were changing after our round and he walked in asked us how our game went!” And they started laughing again.
“So? How was your game?”
“Who cares? we met Michael Jordan!”
All I could say was, “One question. Since you were changing, what was it? Boxers or briefs?”
I miss our annual group pilgrimage to Cravings for our pre Super Bowl brunch. Say what you will about the others, they put out a great spread on Sunday. I will also miss having a great seat, a cigar and cocktail at the Rhumar during the Vulcano show. One visit I sat through 3 shows.