Dullest Vegas trip ever

I've been in Vegas on business since Monday. Here I am, sitting in my hotel room, watching reruns of the David Letterman show, and thinking, "You, know -- what happens in Vegas really doesn't need to stay there."

Apparently, I'm doing it wrong.

Here are some random thoughts on the trip while I wait to fall asleep before getting up at 5:30 to catch my flight home.

1. Getting up at 7:30 AM in Vegas is just wrong.
2. Catching a cold before going on a business trip is never fun.
3. When that cold confines you to your hotel room when you are not in meetings, its less fun.
4. It's important to distinguish the complimentary water bottles in the hotel room from the mini-bar water bottles (which (with service charge and restocking fee) cost as much per gallon as printer ink.
5. The Burger Bar in Mandalay Place does make a mighty tasty burger.
6. You don't look cool walking to the Burger Bar with wearing a back pack.
7. You don't look cool walking to the Nine Fine Irishmen wearing a back pack.
8. In general, back pack are not so cool looking in Vegas.
9. Reading the Watchmen graphic novel means any pretense of cool goes out the window.
10. There was never actually any pretense.
11. The Bread Pudding at Nine Fine Irishmen still rocks.
12. Seriously? The Nine Fine Irishmen ran out of Irish Soda Bread?
13. Video Poker gives you the illusion of having a chance to win.
14. A dull business trip to Vegas still beats a trip to most nameless, indistinguishable cities in the country. And the flight is shorter.
    

Disney's influence on Vegas

On a recent episode of Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place (Shut up -- Hannah went into reruns) oldest son Justin dates and become a werewolf and youngest son Max starts a dog walking business.

Why does he start this business? So he can afford his next business venture -- the cup on a chain. He is convinced that the cup on a chain is an awesome idea. You won't lose your cup, and can always have a drink ready. Plus it lets you have spitting contests with your thoroughly repulsed sister.

And he succeeds in getting his cup on a chain.


I can see the appeal. It's like a car cup holder for a kid. But now I'm wondering if Disney patented the invention because this weekend, they were all over Vegas.


Folks are all over the south end of the strip with the three foot long alcoholic beverages hanging from a chain around their necks. I thought about trying to get a better picture or asking one of them to pose and model, but given the volume of alcohol, I figured one of two things would happen.

Either I would have a loud, gregarious friend for the rest of the night that I couldn't get rid of, or I would encounter someone angry that I called attention to their cup on a chain and would suspect me of mocking them or trying to steal their cup on a chain (a process complicated by the fact that it's chained to a person). And I had no interest in either of those options. Stealthily taking pictures from the distance seemed to be the best, albeit creepiest, option.

So now you know -- if you want to get out in front of the latest Vegas trends for getting your drink on -- watch the Disney Channel. Because nothing will drive you to drink quite like unlimited reruns of Disney tween-targeted sitcoms.

Las Vegas Ice Lounge

The Minus 5 Ice Lounge recently replaced a wine bar in Las Vegas's Mandalay Bay. Wired had a fascinating article about the process and construction a few months ago.

Here's the problem: Mass-producing frozen swans is a lot more complicated than making punch bowls. The best industrial icemaker, from a company called Clinebell, is about the size of a copy machine, weighs 575 pounds, and takes three days to turn 44 gallons of water into two 280-pound blocks. So the first thing Bayley needed was space for a lot of Clinebells.

Fortunately, being in the middle of nowhere has its advantages. Bayley bought a 3,000-square-foot barn for $50,000 and installed 20 ice cabinets. Plus, water from the town well was free in Hensall. He determined that his work should meet restaurant health codes (no one eats ice sculptures, but people do occasionally eat off of them), so he also installed a reverse-osmosis filtration system. His ice would be crystal clear.

...More

The GF and I spent some time there during a recent trip to Vegas. Sure, it's a bit chillier than the 60 degrees I like to keep my apartment at, but it's still quite pleasant.

The ice lounge is really two bars. One is in the freezer, which is kept at -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit). The other is right outside the freezer, with a lodge like feel so visitors can warm up with another drink.

Normally, the cover is about $30. During Saturday afternoon, for each of us, it was just $20 and that included two drinks. Yes, I know that if I lived in Minnesota I could just step outside with a shot glass for free, but that's not the point.

The cover includes 30 minutes in the freezer. Before you go in, they wrap you up in a parka, detachable hood (presumably for easy cleaning), plastic food handling gloves, and big poofy mittens. You can run a tab using a small electonic device on a tether, which is important, because there is simply no way to handle a wallet with those mittens.

The friendly and chilly looking bar tenders pour up boozy beverages in ice glasses. The benches and tables are all made from ice. The walls are covered with blocks of ice. Animal skins (don't know if they are real or fake) cover the benches to keep them comfortable for seating.

There are ice scupltures in the room. And unlike at a ridiculously expensive wedding, the ice sculptures don't mealt away in a day. They still had Valentines Day and Superbowl ice sculptures on display.

Drinking is a bit of a challenge. You have to hold the ice glass between your two large mittens and tilt it into your mouth. As you drink, the think rim of the cup slowly melts away and assumes the shape of your lips. It's cold enough in there that the rest of the glass stays intact.

And with the parka, it's quite pleasant in there. The air is dry so you don't get the kind of cold that cuts to the bone on the east coast. Instead, you feel it in your cheeks and in your nose.

The ubiquitous Vegas club/event photographer popped in and out, posing people and taking pictures that were later for sale for $25 for three copies of one photo. Unlike the bartenders, she seemed more comfortable in her environment, hopping around in thin hoody and jeans. Of course I imagine it's difficult to run a camera well in a parka.

Before we left, group of twenty-something guys came in with 2 or 3 women. Of course, once they had their drinks, the guys had to take off their parkas and shirts to pose and flex for the camera while wearing their hoods.

Next of course, each one had to pose on the ice table. This table is 4 feet off the ground, and for those of you not familiar with ice, is both slippery and cold. Of course, it only took one to pose. He struggled to get up on this thing and not slide face first and topless to the ground.

He managed to do it, but I was sure this was going to turn into a Fark.Com story. His friends, being guys, of course, each had to take their turn on the pommel horse of a table. Afterall, they couldn't let him show them up, especially in front the women. By the time the third guy got up, his only option was to lie chest down on frozen block.

All to the encouragement of the photographer. Drunk guys + Proving their manhood = $$$$ It's a well-known formula.

And thought to myself, "You know, if I was 15 years younger, and had consumed a lot more alcohol, that could have been me."

Minus 5 is very cool, and no, I'm not apologizing for the pun. It's may be a little pricey, but it's fun, and it's a great fit for a weekend in Vegas.

The CES 2009 Gambling Report

The trade show wrapped up on Sunday.

After a tasty Sushi dinner at JPop in Mandalay Bay, followed by dessert at Chocolate Swan, I headed over to the MGM Grand to do a little gambling.

That was probably not my best move.

I quickly lost $20 in a Deal or No Deal slot machine -- Damn you, Mandel, you bald headed freak!

I followed that up with the quickest round of Black Jack I have ever played. I went through $100 in about 12 minutes. The only reason that took so long was because the dealer had to shuffle the 6 deck shoe in the middle of the massacre.

After some aimless wondering while the shock of my money whooshing out of my pockets like a Boeing 777 taking off, I sat down at a big Alien themed slot machine in Luxor. I put in $20, dropped down to $10, got up to $60, and finally cashed out at $48.06. And it was tough to hit that cash out button. But I met my quitting target, so that's exactly what I did.

Here's the summary:

MGM Grad slot machine: -$20
MGM $10 Black Jack table: -$100
Luxor slot machine: +$28.06

Total gambling profit/loss: -$91.94

While it's a little disappointing, I can take comfort in knowing that I'm still playing with "house" money. I've had some good luck at the casinos in recent years. This year's loss just comes out of the winnings I had last year.

Next time, I'll bring my rabbit's foot.

Star Trek Book Week Part II: Electric Boogaloo

Star Trek Book Week Parts I & II Posts:

1. Book Review 15: Star Trek Memories (William Shatner)
2. Book Review 16: I am not SPOCK (Leonard Nimoy)
   
3. Book Review 17: The Longest Trek (Grace Lee Whitney)
   
4. Book Review 18: Star Trek Movie Memories (William Shatner)
   
5. Book Review 19: I Am Spock (Leonard Nimoy)
   
6. Book Review 20: Beyond Uhura -- Star Trek and Other Memories (Nichelle Nichols)
   
7. Book Review 35: Up Till Now (William Shatner)
8. Book Review 36: Beam Me Up, Scotty (James Doohan)
9. Book Review 37: Warped Factors -- A Neurotic's Guide to the Universe (Walter Koenig)
10. Book Review 38: To The Stars (George Takei)
11. Book Review 39: Just a Geek (Wil Wheaton)

I have an idea how the rest of the week will go.

At 11:00 PM the soft ding will let me know the hotel elevator reached my floor. I'll step out of it and wander down one of three halls to my room. I'll get halfway down, realize I chose the wrong hall, and reverse direction.

Once I pick the right one, the echoing click - click of my shoes on fake marble will accompany me to my door, where I will put my card key in backwards, get annoyed that it's not working, then realize it is working and I'm just being an idiot. I'll get the door open and pour into the room, every last cubic inch of my belly filled with Bread Pudding and Guinness. I'll turn on the alarm clock for the next morning, start up the computer intending to check email, and then collapse into bed for the night, before the machine even asks for the fourth password.

The alarm will go off at 6:00 AM; I'll ignore it until 6:45, then panic because I have to meet folks for breakfast at 7:00. I'll roll out of bed, shower, get dressed and be only 10 minutes late.

It should be against the law to wake up at 6:00 (or 6:45) in Las Vegas.

But this isn't just Vegas. It's CES. And after I make it to the convention center, I'll spend the next 9 hours standing in three square feet of space, shouting at hundreds of people as I demonstrate awesome products in my employer's booth. At 6:00 PM, we'll slowly make our way back to the shuttle bus that will get us back to our hotel a few miles away in an hour. I'll go up to my room, do some other work, change, desperately beg my abused feet to go back into another pair shoes (as they howl their swollen objections), go downstairs for dinner, and the whole process will start again.

This happens every year at CES. And I love every minute of it.

Unfortunately, that leaves little time -- or mental energy -- for blogging. Thus I give you Star Trek Book Week Part II: Electric Boogaloo.

I know we're already 4 days into the week, but I didn't set the CES schedule.

Two years ago, CES meant you got my 5 part series on credit card arbitrage. Exciting stuff, I know.

Last year, though, I hosted the first Star Trek Book Week. I published my reviews of autobiographies by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Grace Lee Whitney, and Nichelle Nichols.

This week, continuing in that fine tradition, you can expect to see reviews of autobiographies by William Shatner (again), James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George "Oh, My!" Takei and finally a little bit of a surprise.

So while I may fall behind on my Entrecard drops, there will still be plenty of fascinating things to see here at Cromely's World. And I promise to stay awake long enough to read all your comments.

And next week, I can start work on my posts for CES 2010. And try to work off the Bread Pudding.

Tomorrow: Up Till Now, by William Shatner.

A room at the Venetian

A couple weeks ago I stayed at the Venetian. Often regarded as one of the 3 nicest hotels on the Vegas strip, the Venetian has great dining, atmosphere, and attention to detail in the public areas.

I was a bit disappointed in the room, though. It was definitely nice. It was big. The automatic curtains were very cool, but there were a lot of little things that put me off. If I had this room in a normal hotel, I would be thrilled with it. But the Venetian is a luxury resort and the room did not live up to that. It's not major issues -- it's in the details.

The room was a lot like Ikea furniture -- it's almost something I like. It's almost really cool.

But it missed it by that much.

The little room in the bathroom with the toilet spelled like mildew. The fabric on the colossal L-shaped couch was worn. The night stand lights could only be turned on or off from one side of the bed. The air conditioner could only get the room down to about 75 degrees. The DVD player was set up for only the living room TV. There were lots of little things like that. It sounds like I'm nitpicking, and maybe I am. I just expected more. If it was one or two of these things I wouldn't care. But it the dozens of little issues just annoyed me.

The worst was the alarm clock. It was unlike any other alarm clock I've seen in a hotel. It was complicated to set and even more complicated to turn off. It also had a nap function.

Now the nap function might seem like a good idea. It's so you can have it go off in a 20 minutes or an hour, or some other time frame, rather than assigning a clock time. I'm not sure how you turn it on, but apparently I turned it on quite a bit.

I went to bed at 2:00 AM and (I think) set the alarm clock for the following day. I drift off to sleep until the nap function went off 20 minutes later. Some random button mashing in a darkened room and eventually turned it off. 20 minutes later, it woke me up again. This time I yanked the plug out of the wall and threw it to floor. Twenty minutes later I discovered it had a battery back up. I had to turn on the lights to deal with that.

The next day, housekeeping had set they damn thing up again.

It was like Phoebe trying to get rid of whining smoke detector or Batman trying to get rid of a bomb.

There were some nice things about the hotel. Room service was great and almost on time. It was also reasonably priced for a Vegas strip hotel . This whole meal for 2 cost about $87, and was a ridiculous amount of food.


The bath tub was huge.

The first day that I left the do not disturb tag hanging, housekeeping left a note saying they didn't service the room due to that sign, but if I wanted the room serviced all I had to do was call and they'd take care of it. They did.

Of course the next day they forgot to leave that note. I left the room at 1:00 and since there was no note I figured they'd be back to take care of it. But they weren't . That evening, I called housekeeping and they took care of it with no problem. Again, the problem with the hotel was little things.

I liked the hotel and like the room. It just didn't live up to its billing or potential.

Mystere in Vegas

I saw Mystere in Vegas a couple weeks ago. It was a great show.

Mystere is Cirque Du Soleil's oldest show in Vegas. It's been running at the TI, often playing to sold out crowds, for more than 10 years. Like all Cirque shows, it is a mix of music, song, acrobatics, gymnastics, dance, and artsy stories.

This show is more primitive than other Cirque shows. The theme is not as tightly woven into all the performances as it is in other shows. The theme is more of a broad framework into which they drop different acts. It seems that any act could easily be replaced by another on a moment's notice.

The performers also where less clothing than in other shows (except, I imagine Zumanity). It's nothing that would violate most local ordinances, but it is different. There's simply a lot more skin.

At the end of the show, there performers remove their masks and wigs for the curtain call. They are allowed to be seen as individuals and "normal" people on stage. Normally in a Cirque show it seems individuality is discouraged to maintain the effect of the otherworldly story they are telling on stage.

The performers acting as spotters in the acrobatic maneuvers are more obviously acting as spotters. And the acrobats themselves did make a few mistakes.

Overall the performances was fantastic, however.

There is more crowd work and audience participation in this show. The clown wanders about to entertain the audience. If you don't want to take a chance on being part of the show, avoid the first and last rows of the lower section of seats. Also avoid the aisle seats. You may want to avoid the lower section altogether.
The crowd work itself was a bit risky. They put some folks in embarrassing situations. They sprayed one woman in the face with water (soaked her pretty well, too). At one point the clown reached down the back of one girl's dress, fiddled with his hands, and pulled out a bra, which he then twirled around. Of course he had palmed it so he was not actually involved in disrobing her, and it got quite a laugh. But it was a bit risky, especially since she looked to be only 14-17 years old (though I am pretty bad at that guessing game).

When it was introduced in 1993, the show was edgy and completely different from anything anyone had seen in Vegas. It ushered in an new era in Vegas entertainment, and spawned other hit shows in the Cirque family (O, Zumanity, Ka, and Love).

It still has that feel. It's more raw and not as refined as the more recent shows. This must be a choice they've made because it could have adjusted in the past ten years. But it looks today much like it probably looked when it opened.

If you are attending your first Cirque show, go to Ka or O first. You will be amazed and the skill and technique on display. If you are a Cirque fan already, and haven't seen Mystere yet, go see it. It is valuable not only as a great show itself but in understanding the creative evolution of Cirque Du Soleil over through the year.

In other words, it was a great evening.

Nothing has changed

I about this last summer. After tonight, I can say it is still true. The best dessert in Vegas is still the bread pudding at Nine Fine Irishmen.

Grand Sierra in Reno

I'm in Reno for a few days, and, well, it's not Vegas.

My first real experience with a casino town was going to Comdex in Vegas in 1998. I've been to Vegas more than 20 times, mostly on business. And Vegas has ruined me for other casino towns like Reno.

I'm staying at the Grand Sierra Resort (formerly the Reno Hilton) and the remodeled rooms are fantastic. The desk have a huge surface, there are leather chairs, modern lighting, and a large LCD TV on the wall. The bathroom has beautiful and stylish fixtures. The bath towels are as tall as me and they're even soft.

Sure, the pillows are terrible. And reception on the TV is pretty poor. The sink splashes, and the power connection for the desk is on the floor. But I can't complain too much.

Afterall, I'm only paying about $40/night.

That's right. This room is dirt cheap, but is nicer than rooms I've had in other cities that cost 4 times as much.

But the hotel itself (despite the ongoing remodel) is old. It near the airport and isolated from the hip, young casinos like the Peppermill and the Atlantis. You can see them in the distance, but they're not really walkable. So you either rent a car, take a cab, or drive your own car to escape the Grand Sierra.

Then again, the rooms are $40/night.

The casino downstairs isn't particularly compelling. They have all the standard games, but they have a lot of empty space. They just don't have enough tables and machines to fill the floor. The crowds are also pretty thin. There is very little action going on the casino.

It actually kind of sad. There's now vibe coming from the floor. It's just blah. Of course that's much better than that heaping pile of depressing that is the Tropicana in Vegas, but it sad nonetheless. And unlike the Vegas strip, you can't just walk to another place.

Did I mention that the rooms are dirt cheap?

I did play some in the casino. I dropped $100 on Black Jack in about a half hour, and anther $20 on the slot machines in the 25 minutes. It's what I budgeted when I knew I was coming here, so it's not a big deal.

The past few years, it seems the only place I can win at the tables in the MGM Grand in Vegas. It must be good luck for me. I get clobbered whenever I play somewhere else.

So while my hotel in Reno isn't particularly exciting, if I ever want to go somewhere and just lock my self in a hotel room for a week, Reno will be at the top of my destination list.

Mandalay Revisited

Last week I spent 5 nights in Las Vegas working CES. It is a thoroughly exhausting show. Fortunately, I had a decent place to get some sleep -- the Mandalay Bay.

Two years ago, when I last commented on this property, it had really gone down hill (What?! No bath salts?!). Since then they have remodeled.

The cleaned the halls and redid the rooms in a darker, more subdues color scheme. It's a pretty nice look. Previously they were going for a light, tropical, airy, and wicker-y look. Now, they've gone for a cooler look with darker colors and more comfortable furnishings.

The bedding is also new. It's soft, supportive, and comfortable. They replaced the fuzzy old TVs with flat panel, high definition TVs. They even included HD channels.

My king, non-smoking room had two chaises - one that's left handed, and one that's right handed. It was little difficult to type on the computer while reclining on the chaise, but I suppose Vegas resorts aren't exactly focused on business use. Even so, it was surprisingly comfortable.

The rooms even had clock radios that dock with an iPod. And they even fixed the issue with the hot water in the shower.

The internet connection was spotty, and I couldn't get a decent connection on my Sprint EVDO card. There were nights I was desperately internet deprived.

The had some funky looking lamps, but the odd thing was the change to the bathroom. They cut a hole in wall above the bath tub and installed frosted class.

So now, I'm looking forward to my next CES just so I can stay at Mandalay Bay again.

The white balance in this pictures is terrible, but it should give you an idea of what the rooms look like now.

Private space stations today

Did you know there were already private space station prototypes in orbit? I had no idea.

What has long be the province of governments is now in the hands of private enterprise. In this article, Wired Magazine tells the story of Robert Bigelow, founder of the Budget Suites hotel chain.

He's a billionaire and, he's nuts. He's obsessive about privacy and security. He's funding his own quests to identify UFOs and potentially real extraterrestrials.

And he is building a space station. The prototypes are currently orbiting the planet.

It's easy to snicker at the James Bond theatrics at the headquarters of Bigelow's eight-year-old company, Bigelow Aerospace. It's even easier when you find out he's trying to build his very own space station. An inflatable space station, to be precise — a massive bouncy castle meant to expand when it gets into orbit. It will be the first privately owned destination in space, and Bigelow proposes to rent it out as an orbital research lab, a training facility, or even a tourist hotel. Sure, have a chuckle. But here's the thing: He's actually doing it.

In the past 16 months, BA has successfully shot two Hummer-sized prototypes of the station into orbit. Dubbed Genesis I and II, they're circling the globe as you read this. The last one went up in June, blasting out of Earth's atmosphere on the back of a modified Soviet-era SS-18 missile. It was launched from a space complex in central Russia, ISC Kosmotras, the rocket-for-hire venture run by Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

...More

It's a fascinating story. I wondered how someone get to the point where they start with little money, become a billionaire, decide to build a space station, and then actually build it.

As it turns out, he's from Vegas.

The Vegas Vibe

Nothing sets the mood in a Vegas hotel room quite like a giant soaking tub with a pomotional pciture from the movie "Backdraft" hanging over it.

The Best Dessert in Vegas

It's the bread pudding at Nine Fine Irishmen in New York New York.

The first time I had it, I hadn't planned on dessert. By the waitress talked me into it. It was so good, I couldn't stop eating it. I was so full, I was almost in pain, but I still couldn't stop eating it.

Tonight was my fourth try with this dessert. It's still so good it almost makes me cry. My girlfriend helped too, but between the two of use, we still couldn't finish it.

My girlfriend did order her own dessert, but decided mine tasted better. Her's was the Bailey's Creme Brule. It's made with some creme brule mixed with pure Bailey's. You could almost get a buzz from the dessert a lone.

An Old Machine

I'm in Vegas for the weekend with my girlfriend and we took a walk through the Miracle Mile (formerly Desert Passage) in the Planet Hollywood Hotel (formerly Aladdin). In the Vegas Souvenier store they have this replica for sale:




I walked right up to it and said, "Wow. Cool. It looks just like the ones I used to play in the bar when I was a little kid."

My girlfriend just looked at me with a horrified expression on her face as she contemplated everything that was wrong with that sentence.

The seventies were a different time, I suppose.

Well, it is Vegas...

On a roll in Las Vegas -- they're too lazy to walk
Even fit tourists rent scooters in sprawl

By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS -- There's lazy, and then there's Las Vegas lazy.

In increasing numbers, Las Vegas tourists exhausted by the four miles of gluttony laid out before them are getting around on electric "mobility scooters."

Don't think trendy Vespa motorbikes. Think updated wheelchair.

Forking over about $40 a day and their pride, perfectly healthy tourists are cruising around Las Vegas casinos in transportation intended for the infirm.

...

"It was all the walking," Simon Lezama, 27, said as he sat on his red Merits Pioneer 3. Lezama, a trim and fit-looking restaurant manager from Odessa, Texas, rented it on day three of his five-day vacation, "and now I can drink and drive, be responsible and save my feet."

...

Michelle Bailey, a slender, apparently healthy 22-year-old, used a scooter to get around a recent pool tournament at the Riviera hotel-casino. "Four-inch heels," she explained with a laugh, pointing to her lipstick-red pumps.

...

More

Originally see on Fark.Com

I was kind of appalled when I first read this. The more I think about it though, the less I have a problem with it.

In city know for being an adult Disney Land, why not rent a wheel chair? The entire tourist trade is all about self indulgence, whether it's the food, the loding, the gambling, or the entertainment. If people want to really spoil themselves, go for it -- in Vegas.

Just don't run over my foot.

Oh, and if you are riding a wheel chair because you're lazy, and you are actually physically fine, leave the chair in Vegas.

How I spent my last night in Vegas...

Steven Wright puts on a heck of a show. He did 90 minutes at the Orleans. Disjointed, random, and cerebral, his language-based humor is hysterical. Some of the material he did was 20+ years old, but it still holds up.

I'm not sure if Vegas was part of a tour for him, or if he booked the three shows because he wants a new car. Or just wanted to play some cards.

What better way to ramp up for Steven Wright than to bowl a few frames? We stumbled across the bowling alley about an hour before the show.

Big Shot...

...But a legitimate one.

I saw Billy Joel in concert at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on 2006-04-09. He put on an awsome show.

In fact, that concert is the primary reason I came to Vegas this weekend. It was worth it.

I've been a fan since the mid-eighties, and while his style has changed, the quality of his music has not. From his start in the early 70s, he writes with a raw passion and energy that makes the songs just jump up and grab you. His career spans decades with good reason.

Billy Joel is a superstar. How do we know he's a superstar?

1. He put on a 2.5+ hour concert, without a break.
2. By song two, the show had turned into a sing-along.
3. The audience sang his last encore for him.
4. He took one of his most popular songs, Big Shot, and by changing only his gestures and posture, and putting on a backwards baseball cap, turned it into a Gangsta Rap performance.
5. He did random Elvis impersonations.
6. He made a room of 12,000 feel like a room of 12.
7. I watched him on stage, instead of him on video the whole night.
8. He didn't play his most popular songs, or even open with his hits. He played the songs he felt like playing.
9. The king of Adult Comteporary asked a Roadie, named Chainsaw, to get on stage and sing AC/DC's heavey metal classic Highway to Hell (not to be confused wiht Weird Al's Nature Trail to Hell). Chainsaw was really good. Billy played guitar.
10. He looked like he was having the time of his life.

I saw him in 1989, as well. This time, while he didn't have the same energy, he made it a more intimate performance, and had complete confidence about him.

Absolutely awesome show.

Check out Jon's blog for his take on the concert.