Box Tops -- "Neon Rainbow" (1967)

But in the daytime, everything changes

Nothing remains the same

Along with one-armed bandits, neon lights are probably the most iconic symbols of Las Vegas.

There's even a Neon Museum, which possesses more than 150 old Las Vegas neon signs, including this famous Hacienda Hotel sign:

I'm not sure how many of the newer casinos and hotels in Las Vegas use neon lights -- they may have been replaced by LEDs or some other new technology.  (By the way, neon lights often don't contain neon.  Many neon lights are filled with argon -- another inert gas which is much cheaper to produce than neon -- and mercury.)

I hardly ever go outside at night on my annual trips to Vegas.  But I always go out in the daytime and take long walks.  

If you stay in a big Las Vegas Strip hotel like I always do, there's not much nature to be found -- there are no leafy parks or creekside trails.  You have to walk along the busy and noisy Strip or adjacent streets that are almost as busy and noisy.

This year, I stayed at the Encore, which is the northernmost of the newer Strip megahotels.  There are a couple of older hotels that are further north.

One of them is Circus Circus, which was built in 1968.  It's been renovated several times since then, but it still looks pretty dated from the outside.

Here's the famous "Lucky the Clown" marquee at the entrance to the hotel.  It dates back to 1976:

The Riviera, which was the Strip's first high-rise hotel, opened in 1955.  It has had various owners over the years, and those owners have filed for bankruptcy three times.

Here's a picture of the Riviera that I'm rather fond of -- pretty artsy, n'est-ce pas?

The Riviera looks like a very low-budget operation.  It offers $1 blackjack, which is an endangered species these days:

"Crazy Girls," a topless show, has been running at the Riviera since 1997.  Here's a bronze sculpture that promotes that show: 

In case you can't make out the words above the sculpture, it reads No "IFs" "ANDs" or . . . . -- you can fill in the blank, right?

The butts of the seven thong-clad female performers depicted in the sculpture are shiny because they have been rubbed by thousands of luck-hungry gamblers as they entered the Riviera casino.

A little west of the Strip is the Trump Hotel Las Vegas, a 64-story luxury hotel and condominium that opened in 2008:

I stayed there a few years ago, and it was fabulous.  There's no casino, which is fine with me.  The rooms -- which were built as condos or timeshare units -- are spacious one-bedroom apartments, with full kitchens and enormous bathrooms.  (The shower in mine -- which had shower heads on each end wall -- was large enough to have held a basketball team.)

There's a sleazy little strip of businesses between the Riviera and the Encore.  For example, there's a reflexology practitioner:

I was very curious about this business -- just not curious enough to actually go indoor skydiving:

This church, which stands just off the Strip, appears to be fighting a losing battle against the many vices that are taking place 24/7 all around it.  But maybe it will prevail someday:

Directly across the Strip from the Encore is the Fashion Show Mall, one of the largest enclosed malls in the country.  It has a Macy's, a Neiman Marcus, a Nordstrom's, and a Saks Fifth Avenue, plus some 250 other stores.  

And it has a huge oval-shaped structure named "The Cloud," which seems to float above the mall:

Diesel is building a store at the Fashion Show Mall.  The outer walls of the unfinished Diesel store are covered with these very odd billboard-type signs:

What does all that mean?  You've got me.

Just to the south of the Encore and its sister hotel, the Wynn, is the Palazzo -- which is the sister hotel of the Venetian.

You see all kinds of people walking up and down the Strip.  For example, this young man was promoting some sort of money-making opportunity.  (The odds are that business was, is, or will be a client of mine someday.)

Here's what that shirt says: "Are you going to be able to retire within 5 years?  I am . . . To learn how to QUIT that 9 to 5 contact me at" -- followed by a website URL and 800 number.

When donkeys fly!  This guy may be out of work, on welfare, or in jail in five years.  He may possibly be dead, although he's young enough that the odds against that are pretty high.  But it's more likely that he'll be six feet under than he'll have made enough money from whatever business opportunity it is that he's flogging to other suckers to be comfortably retired.

I thought about buying this T-shirt for my older son, who was scheduled to be married a week or so after I departed from Las Vegas:

But he knew it, I knew it -- the whole world knew it.  What would have been the point of rubbing it in?

"Neon Rainbow" was released by the Box Tops in the fall of 1967.  It was a moderate hit, but didn't do nearly as well as the group's previous and subsequent singles -- "The Letter" (which made it all the way to #1) and "Cry Like a Baby (a #2 hit), respectively.

Lead singer Alex Chilton was only 16 when this song was recorded.  (Think about that, boys and girls.  You're the singer of a band with a #1 single, and you're 16 years old.  My, oh my!)  A few years later, the Box Tops broke up and Chilton co-founded Big Star, one of the very best power-pop groups ever.

On March 17, 2010, Chilton had a heat attack and died.  He was 59.  (I had a very mild heart attack exactly four weeks later.)

All three of the Box Tops hits mentioned above were penned by Wayne Carson Thompson, whose parents were professional musicians who worked for KWTO-AM in Springfield, Missouri.  Thompson also wrote a number of country songs -- including the classic Gary Stewart hit, "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)." 

Here's "Neon Rainbow":



Click here to order the song from Amazon:

Blood, Sweat & Tears -- "Go Down Gamblin'" (1971)

Down in a crap game

I've been losing at roulette 

Cards are bound to break me

But I ain't busted yet 

If you read the previous 2 or 3 lines, you know about my annual business trips to Las Vegas.  (If you didn't read the previous 2 or 3 lines, click here and you can remedy that.)

I do better than 99% of the gamblers who go in search of Lady Luck at Vegas casinos.  That's because I don't gamble when I go to Las Vegas -- I don't bet a penny.

Years ago, when I lived in San Francisco, my friend Rick and I used to hop on a cheap bus and head to Reno to pay blackjack every so often.

We were disciples of Professor Edward O. Thorp, whose groundbreaking book, Beat the Dealer (which was published in 1962), proved that it might be possible to overcome the house's advantage in blackjack by counting cards.

Viva Edward O. Thorp!

Thorp's strategy worked better in Reno casinos than in casinos in Las Vegas or most other cities because there were a number of casinos in Reno that used only one deck for blackjack.  (The more decks the dealer shuffles together to deal blackjack, the less significant is a card counter's edge -- also, the harder it is to count accurately.)

Rick and I had only one rule when choosing a blackjack table: always choose a table with a female dealer.  You're no more likely to win or lose with a female dealer, but we liked women better than men.  (And we still do.)

After we had played for half an hour or so, Rick would admit something to the dealer.

"You've probably figured this out by now, so I might as well be honest," he would say in a solemn voice.  "We are" -- dramatic pause -- "professional gamblers."

This never failed to get a laugh from our dealer.  I seriously doubt that it caused the casino management to monitor our play more closely -- if anything, the casinos probably dismissed us as clueless rubes.

Which I sort of was.  But Rick was pretty good.  He rarely climbed back on the homeward-bound Greyhound with less money than he came with.  Often he would go home up $100 or $200.

That may not sound like a lot of money, but we were playing mostly to amuse ourselves.  Also, to take advantage of the 99-cent "steak"-and-egg breakfasts the casinos offered during the wee hours of the night.

Viva cheap steak-and-eggs breakfasts!

The last time I bet in Las Vegas was in 1998.  The 49ers (led by Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young) were playing the Redskins on Monday Night Football, and were giving only seven points.  I was sure the Niners would PONE the Redskins, so I bet $10 on the favorites.

The 'Skins took a quick 7-0 lead, and I was kicking myself.  But the Niners ended up winning 45-10, proving what a smart guy I was.

Viva Steve Young!

So the next day, I go to the sports book to collect.  In the line next to me is a young guy who is basically a gopher for a client of mine.  (I'm guessing he made maybe twenty grand a year.)

We're congratulating each other on being such smart football guys.  I pick up my $10 in winnings, and he picks up his $500 in winnings.

That's right -- he had bet $500.  And yes, even though I had won, I did feel like a huge loser with my stupid $10 bet.

"Go Down Gamblin'" is on Blood, Sweat & Tears 4, the group's fourth studio album.

Blood, Sweat & Tears was founded by musical genius Al Kooper in 1967.  The group's first album, Child Is Father to the Man, is simply fabulous -- one of the most distinctive albums of its era, and still a delight to listen to today.

But some of the members of BS&T didn't think Kooper was the right guy to be the band's frontman, and he was forced out of the group after that album was released.

BS&T considered Laura Nyro, Stephen Stills, and Alex Chilton as replacements for Kooper.  I don't see Stills being a good fit for the group, but Nyro and Chilton (he was post-Box Tops but pre-Big Star at the time) would have been very interesting choices.

Judy Collins reportedly recommended David Clayton-Thomas, and he was given the job.  The group's eponymous second album -- the first to feature Clayton-Thomas -- made it to number one on the album charts thanks to its three hit singles ("You've Made Me So Very Happy," "And When I Die," and "Spinning Wheel," all of which reached either #2 or #1 on the singles charts).

That album, which was produced by James William Guercio (who had previously produced the Buckinghams and would eventually produce nine albums for Chicago), beat out Abbey Road for the "Album of the Year" Grammy.

David Clayton-Thomas (third from left)
and the rest of Blood, Sweat & Tears

If David Clayton-Thomas were an actor, you would say he was a "scene chewer" -- which is a term applied to a thespian who overacts.

Clayton-Thomas growls, he yells, he sings falsetto, he interjects "Lord, Lord!" and he generally goes way over the top in his BS&T recordings.

If you don't believe me, I offer "Go Down Gamblin'" as Exhibit A.

But despite Clayton-Thomas's chewing the scenery, it's not a bad song -- to the contrary.

Clayton-Thomas's 2010 autobiography

BS&T's brass and rhythm sections are technically very accomplished and they really cut loose on this recording.  The horns are used very effectively to fill in the gaps in the first two verses and choruses when Clayton-Thomas isn't singing.  But all that is merely a warmup for the eight-bar bridge that begins at 3:08 and leads into the final chorus.

It's barely 15 seconds long, but it's the most powerful 15 seconds of horn playing I've ever heard on a rock record.

It should come as no surprise that Clayton-Thomas wrote "Go Down Gamblin'" -- the lyrics of the song are just as over the top as the singing.  If you don't believe me, I offer as Exhibit B the lines that follow the lines quoted as the beginning of this post:

'Cause I've been called a natural lover
By that lady over there
Honey, I'm just a natural gambler
But I try to do my share

Here's "Go Down Gamblin'" -- play it LOUD!



Here's a link you can use to order the song from Amazon:

Dead Kennedys -- "Viva Las Vegas" (1980)

I'm gonna give it everything I've got 

Lady luck, please let the dice stay hot 

Got coke up my nose to dry away the snot

Viva Las Vegas!

I bet you're thinking to yourself, "I don't remember Elvis singing about coke and snot when he sang this song in the 1964 movie of the same name, which co-starred the always effervescent Ann-Margret."

To quote Edward Leo Peter McMahon, Jr. (whose 30-year run as Johnny Carson's second banana on The Tonight Show began shortly before Viva Las Vegas hit the theaters), "You are correct, sir!"

But we're featuring the Dead Kennedys' 1980 cover of "Viva Las Vegas" (which appeared on the Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables album) and the Dead Kennedys always did things a little differently.

In case you're thinking that Dead Kennedys is probably the most tasteless name for a rock band ever, I have three words for you: Sharon Tate's Baby.  That was the name of an Austin punk band that was formed in 1979.

But let's not dwell on that unpleasant subject.  Instead, let's remember these lines from "Hey Girl," by Gruppo Sportivo (a Dutch pop band with an Italian name that sings in French and English):

She said, "You're nose is running, honey"

I said, "I'm sorry but it's not"

(If you don't get the joke, read those lines out loud a couple of times.)

I try to put thoughts of snot out of my mind every chance I get, and I bet you do, too.  

(Hey, I'm really in a betting mood tonight!  That's what going to Las Vegas for a few days will do to a guy!)

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables album cover

I've never snorted cocaine, so I don't know what it's nasal ramifications are.  However, I was once backstage at a Tubes concert (thanks to a day-old press pass I had found at the Harvard Cooperative Society's main Harvard Square retail store) and sniffled as a roadie walked by.  

He stopped on a dime and stared at me intently.  "You got any cocaine to share?"  he demanded.  "No?  Then no sniffling!"

Anywho . . . Las Vegas is a colorful place that never fails to delight the senses.  

I go to Las Vegas once a year to attend a trade show that my law firm exhibits at.  I enjoy it, although I have no desire to go more than once a year.

Now that there are casinos almost everywhere, Las Vegas isn't as unique as it once was.  But it's still the only place I know with an airport full of slot machines.  (The airport slots supposedly are the worst-paying slots in town.)

Viva airport slots!

I'm not a slots guy, so I was more interested in this sign, which was in a prominent potation in the airport:

Viva Britney!

And I was even more interested in this sign:

Viva machine guns!

In recent years, the trade show has been at the Wynn, which is a relatively new and extremely posh resort.

Viva Wynn!

This year, my room was actually in the Encore, the Wynn's adjacent sister property.  It is equally posh.

Viva Encore!

The Encore is either 52 or 63 stories high.  The top floor is numbered 63.  But not only is there no 13th floor -- a not uncommon practice -- there's no 40th, 41st, 42nd, 43rd, 44th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, or 49th floors.

That's because the number four is a homonym for death in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese.  (One wonders, of course, why the Encore didn't skip the 4th, 14th, 24th, 34th, and 54th floors as well.)

The Wynn and Encore are known for their nightclubs, which are reportedly the most profitable clubs in Vegas.  The flagship club at the Encore, which is called "XS," is huge -- 40,ooo square feet.  (It holds up to 3000 guests.)

Viva XS!

The shopping at the Wynn/Encore complex is a little rich for my blood.  Here are a few of their stores:

Viva Cartier, Hermès, Chanel, Dior, and Vuitton!

There's even a Ferrari stores, although they don't sell real Ferraris there -- just Ferrari-themed jackets, and caps, and T-shirts, and jewelry, and toys.

Here's a photo of a Ferrari I can afford:

Viva Ferrari!

Here's the Wynn's swimming pool, where the trade show's opening-night cocktail party was held:

Here's a picture of my room at the Encore.  (As far as I know this is a pretty standard room -- I certainly didn't pay extra for an upgrade.)

I can't imagine how much money they spent decorating the Wynn and Encore.  Here are a couple of wall hangings from the Encore:

And here's a Jeff Koons sculpture, which is located right in the middle of everything:

Viva Jeff Koons!

Here's the Dead Kennedys' cover of "Viva Las Vegas":

Click here to order it from Amazon:

Filter -- "Hey Man, Nice Shot" (1995)

I wish I would have met you

Now it's a little late

(I recently stumbled across this song, which I remember hearing years ago, and decided to write about it.  I had no clue that the event described below inspired it.)

In the early 1980s, the state of Pennsylvania realized that it had been deducting too much money for Social Security and Medicare from its employees' paychecks.  

It was clear that figuring out how much should be refunded to each state employee was going to be a big job.  A firm named Computer Technology Associates ("CTA"), which was owned by a Harrisburg native named John Torquato, won a $4.6 million contract to help the state straighten everything out.

A Dwyer campaign flyer

Based on an anonymous tip, the U.S. Attorney opened an investigation of state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer's role in the awarding of the contract.  the feds eventually alleging that he had accepted a $300,000 kickback from Torquato in exchange for using his influence to see that CTA got the job.  Torquato, his lawyer, and several others were also indicted.

Torquato and his attorney, William Smith, pled guilty and cooperated with the government in exchange for receiving lighter sentences.  Prosecutors offered Dwyer a deal as well -- if he pled guilty to one count of receiving a bribe (which carried a maximum sentence of five years) and resigned his position as state treasurer, they would drop the other charges.

Dwyer insisted he was innocent and rejected the plea bargain.  But a jury found him guilty.

Dwyer was scheduled to appear before Judge Malcolm Muir for sentencing on January 23, 1987.  The day before that, he called a press conference.  Most of the reporters who attended assumed that he was going to resign from office.  Instead, they were treated to an impassioned but rambling assertion of innocence from Dwyer: 

[M]y life has changed for no apparent reason.  People who call and write are exasperated and feel helpless.  They know I'm innocent and want to help.  But in this nation, the world's greatest democracy, there is nothing they can do to prevent me from being punished for a crime they know I did not commit. . . . 

Judge Muir is noted for his medieval sentences.  I face a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison and a $300,000 fine for being innocent.  Judge Muir has already told the press that he, quote, "felt invigorated" when we were found guilty, and that he plans to imprison me as a deterrent to other public officials.  But it wouldn't be a deterrent because every public official who knows me knows that I am innocent; it wouldn't be a legitimate punishment because I've done nothing wrong. . . . 

I ask those that believe in me to continue to extend friendship and prayer to my family . . . and to press on with the efforts to vindicate me, so that my family and their future families are not tainted by this injustice that has been perpetrated on me.

The Dwyer family

Dwyer's remarks then took an unanticipated turn:

After many hours of thought and meditation I've made a decision that should not be an example to anyone because it is unique to my situation. . . . I am going to die in office in an effort to . . . see if the shame[ful] facts, spread out in all their shame, will not burn through our civic shamelessness and set fire to American pride.  Please tell my story on every radio and television station and in every newspaper and magazine in the U.S.  

Please leave immediately if you have a weak stomach or mind since I don't want to cause physical or mental distress.  Joanne, Rob, DeeDee -- I love you!  Thank you for making my life so happy.  Goodbye to you all on the count of three.  Please make sure that the sacrifice of my life is not in vain.

Dwyer then opened a manila envelope and pulled out a .357 Magnum revolver, holding the gun with the barrel pointing straight up as he told the crowd, "Please, please leave the room . . . if this will affect you."  

Some people pleaded with Dwyer to put the gun down, while others ran to get help.  Dwyer urged everyone not to come near him, saying, "Don't, don't, don't, this will hurt someone."  

Dwyer suddenly put the barrel of gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger.  He was dead before his body hit the floor.

There were five TV station cameras at the press conference.  I'm going to provide a link to video of Dwyer's suicide, but you should think twice before you click on it.

Click here if you'd like to view the video of Dwyer's suicide.

Dwyer was 47 when he died, leaving a widow and two children.  He attended Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, which I visited with my son (then a junior in high school) in 2012.

Budd Dwyer and his wife are buried here

"Hey Man, Nice Shot" was the first single from Filter's first album, Short Bus, which was released in 1995.  Filter's frontman, Richard Patrick, had been the touring guitarist for Nine Inch Nails, and Filter's music will likely remind you of Trent Reznor's music.

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana had committed suicide a year before Short Bus was released, and there were rumors that "Hey Man, Nice Shot" was about Cobain's suicide.  But Richard Patrick insists that the song was written several years before Cobain's death.  

The Short Bus album cover

Patrick was watching TV when Dwyer killed himself.  He was a 22-year-old living in the Cleveland suburbs, and the gory video made a big impression on him.

The tone of the song is very odd.  I can't figure out what Patrick's point of view is, but he doesn't seem to care much about Dwyer.

Here's a footnote to this story.  Patrick's older brother is actor Robert Patrick, best known for his role as the shapeshifting robotic assassin who battles Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2.  

Here's another footnote.  A full-length documentary movie about Dwyer, which was titled Honest Man: The Life of R. Budd Dwyer, was released in 2010.  

In that movie, William Smith -- the lawyer for the businessman who allegedly bribed Dwyer, who was  himself a defendant in the case -- admits that he gave false testimony against Dwyer in order to get a lighter sentence.  

Here's the trailer for the movie:

And here's the video for "Hey Man, Nice Shot":

Click here to buy the song from Amazon: