Vegas Royalty

So, The Stardust in Las Vegas has died. Murdered to make way for a modern resort that will cost billions and is projected to be completed in 2010. But I ask that we take a moment and think about what we have lost. Some might think it was just a trashy tinsel building from a trashy tinsel town, and part of me is inclined to agree with you, but there is always that other side. The other side says that this hotel and casino was a record breaker in many ways from the day it was designed. It was the largest in Las Vegas for a long period of time, the venue that brought us Sigfreid and Roy, had notorious and public mob connections, and was given the largest fine ever issued by the Nevada Gaming Commission. This building as shady as it sometimes was held a wide variety of entertainments and was ever changing to please the public. It housed the famous and long past Aku Aku Polynesian restaurant with the even more popular Tiki Bar. At one time the hotel was the pinnacle of prestige, but like so many of the places and people made popular in that era it grew to be more of a symbol for the times. Never with out grander, the hotel once sought after by Howard Hughes, it went out with as much excitement as it came in. So we bid farewell to The Stardust, with all the trashy Las Vegas glamor that it held on to from the time of movie stars and the mob. Never again will anyone imagine that Elvis has walked those famous corridors one last time, day dream about the Rat Pack, or go to see Wayne Newton croon with perfect hair to a drunken crowd. There are still remnants of The Stardust around, and I am sure there always will be. You will always be able to visit those things in museums and know that some parts of Vegas will never really die.

By the by, James Brown was finally buried on Saturday in his daughters back yard. I'm not going to say anything about the choice of resting because I am just relieved he has finally been laid to rest some where.

Bury Your Dead

In all the Anna Nicole business the nation seems to have forgotten something. It is slightly understandable since Anna has eclipsed all forms of news since her death. Now the country is a buzz with the possibility of murder in her story so I am sure we will continue to hear about every Anna moment on the news for a very long and undetermined amount of time. But as our attention has been forced on Anna there is another fallen celebrity we seem to have forgotten about. Not that I spend my time fretting over celebrities, but when they are shoved in to your face repeatedly you are often forced to notice what their most recent exploits are. The fallen and too soon forgotten celebrity however was not shoved in my face, in fact a very small news link drew my attention and forced me to follow. After reading it, and feeling rather disgusted, I must say, "Will some one please, PLEASE, bury James Brown?" I mean come on! The king of soul died on Christmas, I can honestly say that he died last year and he remains unburied. He is also facing his own babies daddy issues, a common occurrence these days bringing up the concern about why these people are role models yet again. Baby daddyness aside, can we please respect the man, his music, or just the dead itself enough to either cremate him or bury him already? So far 2007 has been a celebrity obsessed necrophiliacs dream come true.

Speaking of celebrity tripe, will some one please tell the pope to lay off Bob Dylan. The man is a world changing figure representing free thinking, activism, poetry, music, and just the possibility of the greatness of life itself. What is so wrong with that? The last pope liked Dylan, but according to the new pope the last one was wrong and Bob Dylan is a false prophet. I just want to know why the one person in contact with God, according to the Catholic faith, can not take a solid stand on one man. One very great man, at that. Surely if Dylan was a false prophet then it would have been known to the last pope. Hmmm, I think the new pope should just admit that it is he himself that can not appreciate Dylan's words, and quit sending mixed messages.

And now that I have disagreed with the pope very loudly and openly I shall call it a day.