VIVA Las Vegas!

[CharleyH]

I've been trying to describe Vegas to Lauren, who has never been there. I keep saying, "It's more than gambling honey, it's more than Elvis, more than Liberace's fleet of glittery cars and even more than tacky, it's more than the phrase 'westward ho!"

Lauren pulls out an architecture book with the title: Las Vegas: the success of excess.

I laugh, 'Nooo, Vegas isn't just about the neon, either!'

If you were to put Vegas into words: prose or poetry, how would you describe it to my poor baby who has never experienced the joy of Vegas?

 

[Epmd607]

I've been trying to describe Vegas to Lauren, who has never been there. I keep saying, "It's more than gambling honey, it's more than Elvis, more than Liberace's fleet of glittery cars and even more than tacky, it's more than the phrase 'westward ho!"

Lauren pulls out an architecture book with the title: Las Vegas: the success of excess.

I laugh, 'Nooo, Vegas isn't just about the neon, either!'

If you were to put Vegas into words: prose or poetry, how would you describe it to my poor baby who has never experienced the joy of Vegas?

Las Vegas is a scorching hot, dry vagina.
If you went down on this vagina,
you'd get grit in your teeth.
The pubic hair surrounding the vagina would prick your tongue and cheeks.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Las Vegas is a scorching hot, dry vagina.
If you went down on this vagina,
you'd get grit in your teeth.
The pubic hair surrounding the vagina would prick your tongue and cheeks.

.....and it can only get worse as the scores of extravagant fountains dry up.

sorry CH, if you're a Vegasophile but the Nevada cattle farmers mean more to me than the gamblers and showgirls.

 

[CharleyH]

.....and it can only get worse as the scores of extravagant fountains dry up.

sorry CH, if you're a Vegasophile but the Nevada cattle farmers mean more to me than the gamblers and showgirls.

Not offended, Tess, only been there once in my life, actually, but I thought it much more campy or pastiche-ridden than I could possibly tell my honey from my own POV.

EPM's take is interesting.

 

[Tzara]

Diva Las Vegas

is a place like Disneyland, envisioned
in a Tijuana Bible, scarred
by grandiosity and greed, gold and glitter,
where they pat you down for tact
before they'll let you leave the airport
to wander through a wasteland
where Madame Sosotris cold-decks her cards
so you only lay down Coins, always inverted,
'cept for that first, your Signifier—Fool.




I think of Vegas as the most American place I know, unfortunately. It's like our national park of Glitz, with the motto "In Gold We Trust."

 

[CharleyH]

Diva Las Vegas

is a place like Disneyland, envisioned
in a Tijuana Bible, scarred
by grandiosity and greed, gold and glitter,
where they pat you down for tact
before they'll let you leave the airport
to wander through a wasteland
where Madame Sosotris cold-decks her cards
so you only lay down Coins, always inverted,
'cept for that first, your Signifier—Fool.




I think of Vegas as the most American place I know, unfortunately. It's like our national park of Glitz, with the motto "In Gold We Trust."

lol - so true!

Love the whole poem, but especially LOVE THIS Tzara:

where they pat you down for tact
before they'll let you leave the airport

Gorgeously funny.

 

[bflagsst]

Diva Las Vegas

is a place like Disneyland, envisioned
in a Tijuana Bible, scarred
by grandiosity and greed, gold and glitter,
where they pat you down for tact
before they'll let you leave the airport
to wander through a wasteland
where Madame Sosotris cold-decks her cards
so you only lay down Coins, always inverted,
'cept for that first, your Signifier—Fool.

Le Mat the Gambler, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the turn of tables, and the deep slots swell
And the profit and loss.
A dealer in Vegas
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and hit 'til 22
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the Keno pool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel on the floor at Caesars,
Consider Le Mat, who was once handsome and tall as you.

 

[Tzara]

Le Mat the Gambler, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the turn of tables, and the deep slots swell
And the profit and loss.
A dealer in Vegas
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and hit 'til 22
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the Keno pool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel on the floor at Caesars,
Consider Le Mat, who was once handsome and tall as you.

You forgot that section's title: "Death by Wager."

*segue*

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like gamblers euthanized at roulette tables;
Let us go, through certain destitute retreats
While muttering repeats
Of luckless nights in all-night cheap hostels
And sure-thing wagers that never fell:
Cheats that swallowed us with tidy arguments
Of insidious intent
That led us into overwhelmed temptation...
Oh, do not ask, "Why, dimwit?"
Let us go back for a revisit.

In the room the women come and go
Hawking forms to play Keno.

 

[CharleyH]

You forgot that section's title: "Death by Wager."

*segue*

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like gamblers euthanized at roulette tables;
Let us go, through certain destitute retreats
While muttering repeats
Of luckless nights in all-night cheap hostels
And sure-thing wagers that never fell:
Cheats that swallowed us with tidy arguments
Of insidious intent
That led us into overwhelmed temptation...
Oh, do not ask, "Why, dimwit?"
Let us go back for a revisit.

In the room the women come and go
Hawking forms to play Keno.

Mmm.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I love Las Vegas and have been several times I love it's glitz and glitter, it's fountains and it's themes. I love it's casinos where I was first taught how to use the roulette wheel and the free drinks all night just for sitting at a fruit machine even if you're not playing it! I love the grandeur of the dam and thrilling helicopter trip down the Grand Canyon and horse back riding through snow in the desert. I love it's cowboys (some that don't look old enough to have left their mothers) that flock to ride the bulls in the rodeo, although when I found out they make the bull buck I wasn't so happy! I am presuming that is true! I love how when the American people found out we were Brits they loved our accent and couldn't do enough for us. I want to go on the glass bridge and would have done last year if illness hadn't made us cancel our trip. When I am strong enough we will go again albeit not in June ... that was a not to be repeated mistake!

 

[PandoraGlitters]

Picked his bones in whispers.

This is gorgeous.

 

[bflagsst]

This is gorgeous.

PHLEBAS the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep seas swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

-TS Eliot

 

[PandoraGlitters]

PHLEBAS the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep seas swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

-TS Eliot

Ah! Didn't recognize it.

 

[CharleyH]

One last time, Vegas
Listen to me, listen now
Roll dice, bring back life

 

[UnderYourSpell]

much as I love going to the casinos in Vegas and on cruises I have never set foot in a casino in this country

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

They say
what happens in Vegas
stays in Vegas.
Is that why we decided
to have that Elvis impersonator
marry us.
Those vows stayed in Vegas
along with overweight Elvis
and the vulgar glitz
allowing us freedom to
play the field as we wish,
you with your secretary
and my sister
and me with my dentist
and tennis coach.
Let's go back to
The Graceland Chapel
to see if Elvis is still there.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

An Elvis impersonator came and sang to me on my doorstep here in England once, it was broadcasted on the radio for Children in Need

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Thank you all for your descriptions. I must confess that the most fascinating thing I have encountered during my research of Vegas was the Boneyard. Truly poetry-worthy, where Vegas goes to die...

http://www.revellphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/DSC5162-Edit-sm.jpg

Wow. Amazing photo.

 

[Angeline]

Thank you all for your descriptions. I must confess that the most fascinating thing I have encountered during my research of Vegas was the Boneyard. Truly poetry-worthy, where Vegas goes to die...

http://www.revellphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/DSC5162-Edit-sm.jpg

Tony Bourdain did a show on Vegas on his No Reservations series. They showed the Boneyard (and there was a Sammy Davis, Jr. impersonator there!). Definitely fascinating.

I've flown through Vegas a few times. It's startling to fly west over the Rockies, which are huge, and then the desert and see Vegas in the distance like the biggest truckstop in the world. I've never gotten closer than the airport between flights and that was enough for me.

 

[EroticOrogeny]

Vegas is fun to visit, but wouldn't want to live there.
Too hot and I'd rather have to deal with the faults here - no earthquakes likely.
The Las Vegas Shear Zone is now inactive, but ongoing Basin and Range extension could lead to earthquakes.

 

[Angeline]

Vegas is fun to visit, but wouldn't want to live there.
Too hot and I'd rather have to deal with the faults here - no earthquakes likely.
The Las Vegas Shear Zone is now inactive, but ongoing Basin and Range extension could lead to earthquakes.

How's western Appalachia, EO? Nothing big predicted there, I hope. Biggest problem moonshine?

 

[EroticOrogeny]

How's western Appalachia, EO? Nothing big predicted there, I hope. Biggest problem moonshine?

Not much known risk there. Closest large quakes were Charleston, SC (1866) and New Madrid, MO (1811). The latter is where Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri come together, and continues to manifest some seismic activity today. It may be a consequence of the Mississippi Embayment, a structural depression which extends to there from the Gulf of Mexico. Its probably the source of the earthquake I felt one Saturday morning, when I was a student in Champaign, IL. (1968). The Charleston quake is more mysterious and I've seen no tectonic cause associated with it. Quebec, particularly along the St. Lawrence, is another area with high seismic rick in eastern North America.