Viva La$ Vega$

Damn is it ever a fun town, and hot! It was 104 when we stepped off the plane.

We stayed at the Mandalay Bay, which is located at the bottom of the strip. Our room was on the 25th floor and looked straight up the strip. It was beautiful at night, and enjoyed setting a couple of chairs at the window and relaxed with a drink or two looking at the view before going out.

The Erasure concert was fantastic!!!!!!! Haven't enjoyed a concert of theirs that much since the Phantasmagorical Tour in '92. They played all their hits, including Hideaway (a favourite I'd never heard live before) and Stop! (Q's favourite) plus tracks from the new album. Fortunately they wisely ignored everything done in the past 10 years. That's a long slump for a band, but they've finally pulled out of it. Andy looked very, umm, "positive", but good nonetheless. His new hips seem to be working just fine.

One thing I didn't expect to see were the number of straight people there. I'd say it was at least 70% straight, which is so odd to see at an Erasure concert. I figured if anything would pull the boys out of hiding, that would be it. I don't think that many of them straight folk were clued in either. At one point I leaned over to Q and gave him a hug and a big kiss. Apparently that totally shocked the man beside me. Now this guy was there with his girl, and was singing along to every single song Erasure played - including Hideaway (which is about a gay boy coming out to his parents and being rejected.) I didn't see his face, but Q said it was priceless. I thought it was great.

After the show we started talking to these boys from San Diego, and we all decided to find one of the few gay bars in the city. After walking around forever, one of the guys ran into a divey motel to ask where the gay bars were. The 80 year old man behind the counter directed us back the way we came, past the Hard Rock Hotel and into Burger Mary's. Apparently it's some sort of gay hamburger chain.(???)

When we walked in the doors, we saw all these "Welcome to Las Vegas Pride" posters. Some Pride, all the ads were behind closed doors. No posters to be seen anywhere. Well, even though the bar was trashy, the drinks were cheap and the company was great. Gotta remember to email those boys. Want to go down to San Diego sometime.

Sunday night we found the other bar. This one had a drag show going on. The 3 queens on stage were awesome! I'm so used to the trashy shows here in Toronto (except Sofanda - I like Sofonda Cox). These gals put on a very entertaining show. One of them did this whole can-can routine which had everyone hootin' and hollerin'. It was a great last night in Vegas.

Oh, I didn't even mention the shopping at the Outlet Mall (40% off of everything), and the awesome food at Roy's, or Rita Rudner, or the casinos, or the Hoover Dam, or the light show on Fremont St. So much to see, so little time. Didn't even get to the pool.

We are so totally going back.