Se we rolled in to town around 10 am. The van popped a belt outside of Gallup NM about 36 hours prior and we had no AC for the rest of the trip (eight days and many miles in the desert to go). We drove through the night after a really good show in a really crappy club in Tempe AZ. We needed a little Vegas.
Drop off Smitty for his room at CP and I drive across the street to Ballys and park the van. Check in and get the other two guys (Davy/Tom) a room (early!) I drive the van to the IP employee parking area (you know that HUGE wall behind the IP) get a 24 hr monorail pass and head to MY room at the MGM.
After some food, a bath, and a nap I head downstairs $120 in to the Lions Share and it's gone fast. Get my freeplay and it nets me about $20 (ouch!). I'm out of here...
Take the monorail to Flamingo and play a bit. Bad VP, bad slots, bad craps. I cant seem to get any traction.
We had a radio interview at 8 and we needed to be playing by 10 so off to Smittys. The 15 minute interview turned in to 45 so we were a little late getting to the Double Down. What a craphole! It makes me feel like I'm at home again hanging out in a club like this. I really needed that.
We play our set, sell some swag while the next band is setting up. They have three drummers (holy crap!) it turns out it's a regular gig for these guys. Their day job is being the Blue Man band. Pretty great batch of players, but the music didn't really go anywhere.
So back to the strip. I'm sweaty and half drunk (thanks to the free booze and liberal pouring policies of the DD's bartender) Smitty and I head out to gamble.
Even more of a beat down than earlier. At one point I had about $130 out on the craps table and I'm trying to convince Smitty to buy in and some jerk sticks his hand out during the throw, 7.
At this point I'm so burnt I head home for the night.
The next morning I'm up and have veggie fried rice for breakfast! In a half hour I'm on the casino floor playing the Lions Share, having a Baily's and coffee, and listening to Otis Redding. For the next hour I think I was the happiest person in town, no big wins bout the combo of the Lions Share and Otis made me a very happy man.
I met up with the rest of the guys at the IP for Hash House pancakes! Blueberry walnut for me, I finished about a third. Monorailed back to the MGM for a little more Lions Share, down $120 (I wasn't playing Otis, I think that was the problem).
So to slow down the money bleed I decided to hit all the south strip casinos to get a chip. Tram to MB, bought $11 worth of $1 chips ($10 for the bet $1 for the collection) and split the zeros on roulette, it comes up black.
Walk to Luxor, buy $11 in chips, split the green on roulette, came up red.
Walk to the EX, buy $11 in chips, split the green, came up red.
Walk to NYNY, buy $11 in chips, split the green, black.
Walk to MGM, buy $11 in chips, split the green, GREEN! Spin it again, black, but I don't care, I'm up!
I head to the room take a little nap, get some food and pack my stuff up. Monorail to the IP parking lot, grab the van and load my stuff at MGM. Pick Smitty up at Caesars. Pick Davy and Tom up at Bally's and we drive off to San Francisco.
So it was a pretty rough trip financially. I brought $1000 and I left with $130, pretty much a bloodbath the whole time, but I had a hell of a lot of fun!
Next trip Oct 21-25! Thanks for reading.
A couple of pics...
Drop off Smitty for his room at CP and I drive across the street to Ballys and park the van. Check in and get the other two guys (Davy/Tom) a room (early!) I drive the van to the IP employee parking area (you know that HUGE wall behind the IP) get a 24 hr monorail pass and head to MY room at the MGM.
After some food, a bath, and a nap I head downstairs $120 in to the Lions Share and it's gone fast. Get my freeplay and it nets me about $20 (ouch!). I'm out of here...
Take the monorail to Flamingo and play a bit. Bad VP, bad slots, bad craps. I cant seem to get any traction.
We had a radio interview at 8 and we needed to be playing by 10 so off to Smittys. The 15 minute interview turned in to 45 so we were a little late getting to the Double Down. What a craphole! It makes me feel like I'm at home again hanging out in a club like this. I really needed that.
We play our set, sell some swag while the next band is setting up. They have three drummers (holy crap!) it turns out it's a regular gig for these guys. Their day job is being the Blue Man band. Pretty great batch of players, but the music didn't really go anywhere.
So back to the strip. I'm sweaty and half drunk (thanks to the free booze and liberal pouring policies of the DD's bartender) Smitty and I head out to gamble.
Even more of a beat down than earlier. At one point I had about $130 out on the craps table and I'm trying to convince Smitty to buy in and some jerk sticks his hand out during the throw, 7.
At this point I'm so burnt I head home for the night.
The next morning I'm up and have veggie fried rice for breakfast! In a half hour I'm on the casino floor playing the Lions Share, having a Baily's and coffee, and listening to Otis Redding. For the next hour I think I was the happiest person in town, no big wins bout the combo of the Lions Share and Otis made me a very happy man.
I met up with the rest of the guys at the IP for Hash House pancakes! Blueberry walnut for me, I finished about a third. Monorailed back to the MGM for a little more Lions Share, down $120 (I wasn't playing Otis, I think that was the problem).
So to slow down the money bleed I decided to hit all the south strip casinos to get a chip. Tram to MB, bought $11 worth of $1 chips ($10 for the bet $1 for the collection) and split the zeros on roulette, it comes up black.
Walk to Luxor, buy $11 in chips, split the green on roulette, came up red.
Walk to the EX, buy $11 in chips, split the green, came up red.
Walk to NYNY, buy $11 in chips, split the green, black.
Walk to MGM, buy $11 in chips, split the green, GREEN! Spin it again, black, but I don't care, I'm up!
I head to the room take a little nap, get some food and pack my stuff up. Monorail to the IP parking lot, grab the van and load my stuff at MGM. Pick Smitty up at Caesars. Pick Davy and Tom up at Bally's and we drive off to San Francisco.
So it was a pretty rough trip financially. I brought $1000 and I left with $130, pretty much a bloodbath the whole time, but I had a hell of a lot of fun!
Next trip Oct 21-25! Thanks for reading.
A couple of pics...
