Posted by gregrio on 04-03-2005

This was a great trip...everything went perfectly.
I checked into the RIO Sunday morning, got my favorite corner room for the week, good shows, weather was warm-sunny and breezy, took my normal
$1,500. bankroll down and brought $3,000. home.

RIO's room re-decorating continues...
Power outage notices between 3AM-6AM, one day a week, are still going on.

For those who remember the overhead, vine covered, grape trellis thingie in
Masquerade Village...just in front of the bank/cage.................it's gone.
Years ago, that area used to be The Pit and the vine trellis hid the surveillance cameras. The Pit is long gone and all last week, crews were
dismantleing the huge steel I-Beam framing. That area of the Village was roped off/closed from 6AM to 5PM...I could only play 9.6 Double Bonus and a few other games there day side...did lots of my slot play at the PALMS.
All's back to normal now...the area really opens up without the trellis work but I miss the cozy atmosphere it created in that area...

Midweek, all the properties were scrambling (to do something Tech. wise) to
prevent some counterfeit Ten Dollar Bills going round from locking up the computers in the machines.
They'd close off groups of machines for and hour or so as they worked on them.
Fortunately, it didn't stop me from gettin' real lucky on Texas Tea,
Cleopatra, and a $5.00 WOF just before dinner on Wed. evening.

Room service coffee in the mornings, Tilted Kilt Pub munchies "to go"
late in the evengs, my corner room with two walls of floor to celing windows, and I was a happy camper!

I saw lots of shows as usual...FAB FOUR, WE WILL ROCK YOU, DAVID BRENNER, FOREVER PLAID, ELTON JOHN, EROCKTICA, FROBIDDEN VEGAS.
Here's some views on the NEW ones I saw:

FOREVER PLAID: Gold Coast (dinner/show)
First table, center front...the boys picked on me!
Their harmonies are better than the first time I saw the show, years ago,
at the Flamingo.
There's a new look to the small stage, real good sound and pianoman along
with a stand-up string bass player.

February 9, 1964...Enroute to pick up their custom made plaid tuxedoes,
they were slammed broad-side by a schoolbus filled with eager Catholic
teens. The teens were on their way to witness the BEATLES make their U.S.
television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show and miraculously escaped
uninjured.
The members of FOREVER PLAID were killed instantly.
It is at that molment, when their careers and lives ended...........
and the story of FOREVER PLAID begins.

Through the Power of Harmony and the Expanding Holes in the Ozone Layer
in congjunction with the positions of the planets and all that
astro-technical stuff, they are allowed to come back to perform the show
they never got to do in life.

FOREVER PLAID is a GREAT little show!!!
The only disapointment was the Gold Coast's Cortez Room doesn't offer their
Prime Rib dinner as one of your dinner/show choices any more.
Steak, Fish, Chicken dishes are now available.

DAVID BRENNER: Las Vegas Hilton
What a relaxing, entertaining, funny, evening!
It was like having your fun nextdoor neighbor over for a drink,
yackin' up a storm, but you can't get a word in edge wise.

Small, sharp looking little showroom with a short video intro...then David comes out from behind the curtain and starts tellin' stories, not jokes,
stories.
He's topical, currant, with lots of Tonight Show and Vegas stories from
past years...I'll see him again.

EROCKTICA: RIO
For those who don't know, Greg Thompson produces shows in Las Vegas.
SkinTight is his, the 'canceled' Showgirls at RIO was his and now he's
trying again with Erocktica. It's and adult, topless show with a live
Rock'n'Roll band that shares the Scinta's showroom...late night.

It was everything I expected........pretty poor.
The live band...U.S.U.K. is half U.S./ half British members...hence the name and are good at playing copy tunes...lots of great Classic Rock'n'Roll but the
vignettes, costumes, choreography are pretty bad...

First come, first serve seating and you can either sit by the band and can't see the stage very well...or...sit where you can see the stage, but the back of the band...
I had to see it, won't see it again and can't recommend it.
(not that most of this board see's shows like that) or any shows for that matter....lol, YOU GAMBLING CRAZED VEGASJUNKIES!

FORBIDDEN VEGAS: The Westin
This show (I thought...) was right up my alley. It pokes fun at many of the shows, properties, celebs, and owners in town.
Simple little show, four members, pianoman....kind of a Saturday Night Live gang..........
Quick-change costume/vignettes, comfy theatre seats, but you (I) couldn't catch all the words.

The 'gags' are in the lyrics of their songs and it's hard to hear them clearly.
When you're doing a character...using their voice/accent...it's hard to
enunciate clearly...I missed alot.
The show was OK, but I felt I only heard half of it.

.....................THAT'S IT! Next trip early June.