Terrigal, NSW

On Tuesday, 20 October, 2009, I finished working at Loews Lake Las Vegas after nearly 5 years in order to take a new Concierge position at Aria, on the Strip. I left early in order to go back and see my family in Australia. It had been nearly 2 years since I’d been back, and my sister is due to have her 1st child just after Christmas, and this new job probably won't allow me to get back and meet out new niece. So it was time, even though A could not join me.

After 13.5 hours from San Francisco I arrived in Sydney to have Dad pick me up from the airport. We went back to Concorde West to see Manuia, Kathleen, Aunty Trish and Nan. Dad, Kathleen, Trish and I walked over the railway to have breakfast at Three Spoons. 

Later that morning Nan, Trish and Kathleen drove me up to the Central Coast for K’s Baby Shower. I got to catch up with some of the female members of the family before J and I escaped to East Gosford to have a beer while the girls had their afternoon. I was pretty surprised by the fact that I didn't have jetlag. But that night at K&J's I slept like a log

Charlotte, NC

On 21 October we head back to visit A's family in Charlotte for 4 nights.  I have left my job at Loews and will start at ARIA at Thanksgiving so will do this and head back to Australia to see my family as well.

Reverend Horton Heat @ House Of Blues

Well this was not quite the night I had in mind, but it turned out pretty good anyways.

It was supposed to be Motorhead headlining, but when Dave and I got to the House Of Blues, a sign says they had cancelled (apparently because of a problem with Lemmy's voice). Bummer! They were offering full refunds for anyone, or half refunds for those that went into the show. We had only paid $10 for $40 tickets, so we were in front.

Reverend Horton Heat put on a good 2 hour show, including a cover of Ace Of Spades with Motorhead's drummer. I was surprised of the size of the crowd that stayed, and while they seemed to enjoy it, in the end they wanted Motorhead. I felt the same way. But a 2 hour show means I won't need to come back for the Reverend's real headlining show just after Christmas.

The Crap Facts:
This is my 292nd concert.

This is my 33rd concert at House Of Blues.

This is my 89th concert in Las Vegas.

This is my 89th concert in Nevada.

This is my 100th concert in the USA.

This is my 2nd Reverend Horton Heat concert.

A Bronx Tale & Enoteca San Marco @ Venetian

Thanks to the SNHCA, A and I got an invite to see the limited run of Chazz Palminteri's one man show "A Bronx Tale".

We had a little problem locating tickets, so our dinner was limited to splitting a pizza at the bar of Enoteca San Marco. Food was great, and I love dining in the Venetian's faux St Mark's Square.

I didn't know much about this production until about 2 weeks before we saw it. While skipping through the TV one Sunday afternoon, I came across the Robert De Niro directed movie version of this Broadway play. The movie was fantastic, and I was pumped to see the play. Palminteri had originally written the play back in the day, and was based loosely on his childhood. Apparently De Niro saw it and decided he must make his directorial debut with the 1993 movie.

In the play Palminteri plays over 15 different characters, and the performance was spot on. I wondered how he'd be able to pull it off, but he did so with ease. However I was glad to have seen the movie beforehand to give the characters more depth.

The show was in the Wayne Brady theater, which was just the right size for the performance. It was intimate and our seats near the center were great. I hope he gets the opportunity to come back to Vegas and perform a longer run.