A fun Las Vegas weekend

I’ve been having a blast since my sister Lori and her husband, Russ, arrived last Thursday. As it turns out, old boyfriend Tim was also in town last week, and so Friday after work the four of us headed over to one of my favorite cheap-o hot spots, Ellis Island. This place is a favorite for both locals and tourists in the know and you can’t beat their $1.50 big-ass brew pub stouts and $6.95 steak special. Yum! I wrote a Living-Las-Vegas article about it a while ago; give it a read if you want to kill some time at work today.

We had a great time at Ellis Island, and not just because of the beer. You know how some people are entertaining as hell, but they have no clue that they’re entertaining because they’re just being themselves? That’s my old boyfriend Tim. He’s a tough-as-hell fightin’ Irish carpenter with 101 stories to tell; usually they involve pressing his thumbs into somebody’s Adam’s apple. Suffice to say, his tales don’t end with, “and they lived happily ever after.” It's more like “and the last time I saw him, he was coughing up blood.”

Friday night Tim told us all how he misfired a nail gun and drove a nail into his wrist, yanked it out, worked for 8 hours doing carpenter stuff, and then went to the ER, where he told the nurse there’s no friggin’ way they’re giving him a tetanus shot because he’s afraid of needles. Yep, he’s a tough mo-fo, alright. And very entertaining.

Saturday Lori, Russ, and I got in some pool time at my place. What a gorgeous day! Hey, doesn’t it look like Lori’s skinny dipping? Where's your bathing suit, Lor? Ha!


I'm no Helen Mirren, that's for sure.


Saturday night we saw Jackson Browne poolside at the Red Rock casino out on the west end of town. OMG, that is definitely one of my favorite venues! I saw Peter Frampton there last year—here’s a review in another Living-Las-Vegas article, if you really want to waste the day. Anyway, Little Kathy, one of my dearest friends from college (SUNY Plattsburgh), was passing through town from Colorado Springs last weekend, and she’s also a huge Jackson Browne fan, so she came with us. Little Kathy is another one of those entertaining as hell people; I’ll save the details for another post, but take my word for it, she’s a trip and a half.

Jackson Browne put on a fabulous show! Of course, there’s a part of me that wished he’d play nothing later than 1980, but his latest album (?) (CD?) is actually very good; it’s just that the old stuff brings back all the wonderful memories. He did play a few of my favorites, like “For a Dancer,” “The Pretender,” and “Fountain of Sorrow.” Aaaaah… I still love him and don’t even feel the slightest bit queer for naming my son Christopher Jackson.

The nice thing about Red Rock is that you can get as close to the stage as you want. Lori and I snuck our cameras in—pretty cool, huh?




Sunday we did a little of everything—some more pool time, breakfast at the Pancake House in Green Valley Ranch (and some playing the Saratoga ponies in the race and sports book), and then we headed out to the Mountain Springs Saloon, one of my favorite biker bars.

After a couple of beers and some great people watching, we went back to town and met my buddy Hurricane Mikey at the M resort and casino. I had a nice dark beer and Mikey had some kind of gay-as-hell girly martini, then we all went back to Green Valley and had a big-ass meal at Lucille’s in the District.

OMG, I ate like a pig! The only downside to having Lori and Russ and Tim and Little Kathy all in town is there was a lot of eatin’ and drinkin’ going on. And the party’s not over yet—today is Lori and Russ’ 20th anniversary and I have a little surprise planned for them later. Shhhh…


Aren't they cute? Happy Anniversary, you guys!

I know you're wondering... where was beloved boyfriend during all this excitement? Well, we’re “taking a break.” Stay tuned. (Don't worry, there'll be no Bastard Boyfriend sequel.) (Yeah, I get that a lot.)