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All You Need is “LOVE”

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

Part I

I recently returned from a quick getaway in Vegas. Fun times. Then, BIG news coming up!

But first, a bit about my trip.

I hadn’t been to Vegas in about eight years. I had forgotten about the spectacle that is Las Vegas. Not only are there lights everywhere and clunky, glamorous escalators strategically placed to coax you into hotels while you’re trying to walk somewhere else, but there are people standing every 15 feet, usually in some outlandish costume, trying to lure you into some restaurant, shop, bar or casino. (Well, everything pretty much is a casino, and the ‘restaurant,’ ‘bar,’ or ’shop’ aspects are sort of incidental.) Kinda funny. For the first couple of days, anyway.

Don’t get me wrong. I went for about four nights with one of my girl friends and we had a great time. We got the buffet craving out of the way the first night, so we wouldn’t be compelled to over-eat during the whole trip. Good thing we did that. However, we wound up at the snazzy new Mexican place, Dos Caminos, at the luxurious new Palazzo hotel the next night!

Stupendous food, and great service, as a zillion managers in the gi-normous dining room kept wishing us a good evening and checking on our dining experience. They explained that they had occasional server traffic jams at times because it was their second night open. Wouldn’t necessarily have made much of a difference to us, as I did mention that the food was incredible, yes? Very good, and as a pre-emptive apology in case of any inkling of sub-par service, they gave us a little coffee-whip-cream-cinnamon-dessert-drink thingy on the house.

High marks for Dos Caminos. So much for not pigging out in Vegas two nights in a row! The portions were huge, but what can you do when you want to try new stuff? We rationalized that we were walking a few miles a day, going up and down the strip checking out hotels and their shops and attractions during the day.

So we pulled back the next two nights by going “small” (in Vegas, that’s a relative term, of course), starting with dinner at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. Surf-theme-y, cute waiters, Buffet videos and music. And for a Vegas-y touch, a girl who slides down a makeshift rapid and splashes into a giant margarita glass, and gets swept up by a giant fish-hook. Yummy food. And lip-smacking margaritas, of course! We also checked out Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grille, and the best thing about it was the name. Love the song too, but even the videos played in the joint seemed to have every old-home-boy Country artist other than him. The fried macaroni was tasty, but heck, you can get that in Chicago nowadays, too.

We shopped, we spa’d, caught Rita Rudner in a hilarious show, and did I mention we ate??

But now, for the best part: In the middle of the trip, we had tickets for the Cirque du Soleil production of “The Beatles: LOVE.”

Oh. My. Gawd.

Now, you know I’m a Beatles fan in a big way. I don’t care what kind of music you like or if you’re not much of a Beatles fan. There is something in this show for everybody. And it is—pardon my French—f’ing MIND-BLOWING.

To say that it is “gorgeous,” “amazing,” or “breath-taking” are trite descriptions, considering what you get to see. But it is all that and more. Take my word for it.

It is part circus, part dance, part gymnastics, part play, even some break-dancing, “STOMP,” shadows and light, smoke and mirrors, video, and body-less feet marionettes thrown in! Based on the music of the Beatles, newly mashed-up by famed Beatles producer George Martin and his son, Giles, you get to meet Lucy, Jude, a funky afro’d Lady Madonna and all her “kids,” and the Fab Four on rollerblades doing stunts the Lords of Dogtown wouldn’t dare try. And of course, Sgt. Pepper strides in and out, every so often.

There’s a human horn section, drums and accordion in his Lonely Hearts Club Band. Let’s not forget the white, whispery airborne rope dancers in the “Octopus’ Garden” segment, or the red, boxy British phone booth made into a trampoline for one of the most energized, thrilling sections in the show. “Breath-taking” is an understatement. Or maybe just incorrect. I couldn’t breathe during that part at all. Keep your eyes on the spikey-haired tatto’d guy fifty feet in the air on some kind of half-circle contraption, swinging higher and higher, then all the way around and around…with no nets.

It is aerial. It is ethereal. Someone’s f’d-up acid trip dream, a human cartoon journey from World War II to the ’70s. John, Paul, George and Ringo are right there with you, shadow-boxing, jamming and screwing around in the “studio” on opaque drapes as you eavesdrop on their session outtakes.

The combination of it all is such an overwhelming theatrical feat, it had me on the verge of crying for the first half hour, til the scary aerial stuff started. (But you know, cool-scary, not cover-your-eyes-or-get-up-and-leave scary. Don’t leave!). Then for the rest of it you just smile with joy, and can’t believe you have to exit to go out into the real world.

And then there’s the gift shop…

I might not get back to Vegas for another eight years, but it will be for less time. Can do without the lights, sneaky escalators and street sellers. But can’t do without seeing “LOVE” again!

Part II

Oh, I did say I had news, didn’t I??

As you may have read, I will be leaving my pals at 100.3 Love-FM after 21 months of being the go-to fill-in jock for an exciting full-time gig as the Midday personality at The New Fresh 105.9!! But I won’t really be leaving them, as both jobs are in two different towers of the same building.

This opportunity at Fresh is the number 1 dream job for me, to be your friendly-neighborhood Midday jock here in my hometown of Chicago! The people are great, they’re one floor up from my longtime part-time job at Jack-FM (formerly Oldies 104.3), so I get to stay with the company in two different capacities, and you’re sure to dig the modern tunes.

See you Monday, February 25th and every weekday from 10am-3pm on The New Fresh 105.9!!

Musical selections for today: “All You Need is Love,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band;” “Get a Job,” the Silhouettes!