Last night, we cabbed over to the Rio to take in a show. Penn & Teller, amusing and amazing, as expected. It was pretty neat, because before the show, they had a jazz duo playing, while everyone in the audience signed an envelope on the stage (which was later used in a trick.) Halfway through, we figured out that it was Penn playing the double bass (he had his hair down, with a hat on... looked very "Slash"-ish,) though we weren't completely sure if it was Teller on the piano (if you took away the dude's earrings and glasses, it could have been... but they appeared on stage at the same time a few times, so we don't know for sure.) Okay, I just googled it, and the piano player is, indeed, Mike Jones, but the bass player is simply known as the "Mystery Bass Player". So we're half right! Yay for us!
It was a cool show, and definitely funny at times, though I did find them a bit over the top at times with the commentary. Stuff like religion and politics don't need to be in a magic show, and in general, those jokes were the least well received by the audience. While no one "booed" there were definitely some, "Aw, no he didn't!" groans that answered.
Other than that, it was fun. It was neat how everynow and then they would explain how certain tricks were done, and even show ya how to do it, albeit in a rushed and confusing way. It's unlikely anyone will actually be able to go home and reproduce them, but ya never know. Jeremy was happy to get his pic with Penn, and Penn was happy he could actually stand up straight for once (he's a tall dude!)
I will say, though, that the Rio is a dump. At least compared to the Pallazzo and the Venetian. Basically, off strip, everything is a dump. It almost feels like leaving the tourist resort in a 3rd world country--the resort is beautiful, but then you see how the locals live, and it's like, blech. Only this is Las Vegas! I'm sure there are nicer areas off the strip besides those that we saw (we were only a mile off...) but man... it was depressing. I'd rather leave here thinking it was all glitz and glam, so we'll have to tour the strip tonight after dark (THE STRIP, not off the strip... you just don't go there....) Even the Tropicana, which was built in the 50's, was wayyyy nicer than this place, which is a lot newer (1990's...) It's part of the Harrah's family, and isn't too far from the Palms (which, from what I understand, is a nice hotel.) It was really dumpy, though... The people who gambled there were all smoking endlessly, and obviously lost all their money there, since they were dressed like bums. The waitresses were dressed especially skanky (all waitresses around here wear short skirts and low tops, but these were made of lace, didn't cover them completely, with thong bikini type coverage underneath... And most were older, or at least, looked older... At least they were really nice.)
In their masquerade village area (where all the restaurants were) they had a open floats suspended from a track on the ceiling, where girls (and guy) would dance as loud music played. For some reason, there were lots of families with babies there, most younger than Jeremiah, and they stopped to watch the "show", while standing amongst a cloud of second hand smoke (some were smoking as they held their babies... so sad.) The worst meal of the week was had there, as some Japanese place. It was a "good deal" for Vegas--$16--but it was TERRIBLE. It was worse than food court food... Yuck. The service was even worse, so Jeremy left the smallest tip I think he's ever left. Oh well.
And that's about it. Today is our last full day here, and it's kind of rainy, so who knows if we'll get to venture outside the resort at all. We've got Blue Man Group tonight, Mystere (Cirque de Soleil) tomorrow, and that's it! So this will probably be my last post from Vegas. See you in VA!
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