Posted on Thursday, 23rd June 2011 by Krys
I’ve just got soaked. It’s lunch time at work and I went to Subway to get something to eat. I’m now sitting here drenched thinking one thing – I miss the 100 degree heat of Las Vegas.
Anyone that follows me on Twitter will know that my week at the Celtic convention in the “bright light city” didn’t exactly “set my soul on fire”. Indeed, after a Tuesday night rant you would think that I hated the place. But we’ll come to that later. Lets start at the beginning.
Sunday morning, bright and early. Glasgow airport is full of Celtic fans. I don’t remember as many people dressed in green and white when we went to San Francisco last year, so I’m already anticipating a huge event. The flight into Newark (my usual method of getting to the US these days) is uneventful and the selection of movies means I don’t dig into my bag to get Playing For The Lostbhoys 2 out. We get off the plane pretty quickly at the other end and get through the usual security bits and pieces. But when we’re standing waiting to get baggage there’s the sudden realisation that one of us is slightly lighter than we should be. The missus has left her phone on the plane.
If you ever leave something on a plane, don’t bother trying to get it back. Seriously, most people aren’t interested. Amazingly we actually found someone who did go back onto the plane to have a look for us, but this was about the fifth person we’d spoken to and it was a good two hours after we’d got off the plane. The cleaners had already been on and had their pickings. The phone was long gone. So a quick message home to get the wheels in motion to block the SIM card and the phone and we quickly changed some passwords to more or less render the booty useless. I think that’s a Destiny’s Child song. My phone’s too booty-useless for you babe… Still, on the plus side we really WOULD be getting a holiday from the wedding planning since all the contacts were in her email rather than mine!
The flight to Vegas itself was another long one. The DirectTV “swipe your money” option wasn’t that appealing so a combination of snoozing and reading our epic book was in order. The early entries of my LostBhoys career are an entertaining reading as I did some decent research into our US tour and our Champions League opponents Braga. Contrast that with my “oh for f**k sake we’re playing Rangers AGAIN” in later months and I’ve had a timely reminder as to how it’s nice to play teams we don’t know as much about – at least from an interesting blog point of view.
“Oh look, the Hoover dam.”
The announcement from the captain meant we were nearly there. The dry looking mountains were completely different to those green mountains that we had seen at the start of our journey when we left Glasgow. But the best bit was when we were taxiing and the plane turned a corner… allowing us to see pretty much the entire Strip and all the famous hotels along it. I hadn’t realised how close the airport was. A short taxi ride along the back of the Strip later and the Riviera hotel and casino was soon in sight.
“It reminds me of the Barrowlands”
Big glass bit covered in stars… it’s all I thought for the rest of the week after the missus had pointed that out. I can think of nowhere more fitting to hold a Celtic convention than a place that reminds you of the Gallowgate.
By the time we get there it’s already Monday back home, so we’re understandably knackered. After checking in we got to the room and more or less crash out. Well, she crashed out, I went looking for food. I found food as well, as the Riviera has a comprehensive food court that has pretty much any kind of take away food you could want. So food in hand it’s back to the room to see what channels we have and get some sleep.
“2am. 5am. 6am. F**k it.”
I hate jet lag. For some reason, I can handle the 5 hour difference to the East Coast, but the 8 hour difference to the West Coast kills me. It was the same in San Francisco last year. So having had a pretty broken sleep we got up early to go exploring. First stop – Starbucks at the Fashion Show. The Fashion Show is a lovely big shopping mall between the main section of the Strip and the Riviera. Great place to go shopping, but so is pretty much every hotel on the Strip. Exporing the Strip we walked into the Wynn, the Palazzo, the Venetian, the Miracle Mile shopping at Planet Hollywood… then we decided our feet were starting to hurt and headed back. Well… we crossed the road to have a look inside the Bellagio. Then Cesars Palace and the Forum shops. Then the Mirage. Then Treasure Island. Then finally we went back to the Fashion Show and got lunch. Worst attempt at heading back ever.
Yes, lunch. That early start meant that we’d walked all morning and we were already knackered. We’d only got half way down the Strip too! We headed back to the Riviera, but since it was just across the road from Circus Circus we went and had a look in there too. It’s the only hotel geared towards families in Vegas. To be honest, I’m not sure I’d take kids there. I’m not sure I’d take kids to Vegas. But what do I know about kids?
Monday night was time for a show. I mentioned in my preview that we were going to go and see the Cirque de Soleil production Love – based around The Beatles music. I’ll be honest here, I’ve seen better shows from them. The music was as good as I’d expected, but then I’ve had it on CD for years. Don’t get me wrong, the visuals were really good, but there are better Cirque shows. For me, La Nouba at Disney World is the benchmark. Or at least it was. Another one on the Vegas Strip is Ka, which we went to see on Tuesday night and I thought that was fantastic. There’s no fewer than seven Cirque de Soleil shows in Vegas, but given the prices of them you’d need to do pretty well at the casinos to see them all! As it was, we got 25% off the Ka tickets because we’d been within seven days to another show. Not a bad deal to see the better show! But I’ll get back to Tuesday night in a minute…
Tuesday started brightly. Well, every morning in Vegas starts brightly, but in this case we were jumping on the tour bus that takes you up and down the Strip. Two days of hop on/hop off sounds good and to be fair the view you get from the open top deck is brilliant. I tried sitting downstairs for a bit just to get out of the sun, but you miss so much that it’s not really worth it. The bus takes you up and down the Strip in about two hours. It’s a good way to kill time, but it’s also likely to frustrate you if you happen to miss the bus and have to wait another half hour for the next one. That happened to us at one point when we’d stopped off at the Bellagio to get the tickets for Ka. We had planned to see ‘O’ but it wasn’t showing that night. Anyway, having missed the bus we quickly found out that it’s a hot place to be sitting about – even in the shade.
Missing the bus also happened to us after Ka. Having seen the show at the MGM Grand we walked a good bit of the Strip to try and find one of the bus stops. Some of them close at night, as is the case with the one nearest the MGM Grand so we had to walk further than we’d hoped. When you walk about the Strip at night you have to contend with the millions of people who want to hand you fliers for anything and everything. Millions really isn’t much of an exaggeration either, the Strip is packed with them.
I hate them. You get them at home, but it’s nowhere near as bad. Until Tuesday in Vegas the worst place I’d found for them was Benidorm – another place I’ve only been because of Celtic (it’s proximity to Seville meant it was a useful base!) I don’t want a flier EVER. I don’t want you tapping them on your pile and then pushing them in my face. Stick that in my face and I’ll stick it up your… Anyway, by the time we had got through several hundred of them, missed the tour bus by seconds, and then had to queue for a taxi outside one of the hotels, we’d had enough of Vegas. It wasn’t for us and if we could have gone home then we might have done just that.
Fortunately, Tuesday was also the day that others started to arrive. Prior to going to see Ka I’d been able to share a drink with Harper’s good friend Squire that I’d first met in San Francisco. That short time at the bar had perked me up from my “I really don’t get Vegas” mood that I’d been in even prior to the post-Ka battle on the Strip. He’d missed the pool party which had taken place earlier and I’d largely just watched because I was trying not to get fried. I’d never be forgiven if I ended up being burnt so close to our wedding. I’m willing to chalk up my reluctance to join in with things as one of the reasons I may not have had as much fun this year as I could have done. Won’t happen again, I’m sure as hell not getting married again!
With Squire already there, the Harper’s joining him in another hotel late on Tuesday night, and the others due in over the course of the day, I awoke on Wednesday determined not to let Vegas get in the way. Deco had assured me on Twitter that there was a knack to Vegas and that when everyone else arrived they’d soon make sure we saw that. First up, another two hour trip on the tour bus. Well, we’d paid for it, we were gonna milk it until it turned into cheese. By the time we got back, Chris and Jamie had arrived and were enjoying the company of the Houston Emerald and New Orleans CSCs who had one of the Cabanas next to the pool. This is where we spent most of the day – mainly because it was sheltered from the sun while still being able to enjoy the heat! Having not really met anyone new up to this point, mixing with others meant I got to meet fellow LostBhoys blogger Joe Chalmers as well as David “POTCCSC” Corrigan – two guys I’d spoken to on Twitter but until now had never met. It never ceases to be odd when you meet someone for the first time but can still chat away with them because you already know them. I do love the 21st Century sometimes.
I can’t for the life of me remember what we did on Wednesday night. We didn’t go to the cabaret night, but I do seem to remember playing Craps with Jamie and Gerry who had arrived that night. I’d love to say my failing memory was due to drink, but to be honest I was never that drunk at any point during the week. Another consequence of trying to behave myself pre-wedding I’m afraid.
“Craps. Crap.”
Craps is a complex game which can be quite daunting at first. My advise – watch for a while and then join in when you feel ready… to lose money. Me and Jamie had never played the game before, but Gerry knew what he was doing so we followed his lead. We lost. I played the game another twice before coming home, and another twice I ended up finishing with nothing. Each time I went in with a new tactic and each time I just threw my money away. Literally, my rolling was awful. The second time was a joke when I was throwing the worst possible throw three times in a row.
I’m sticking to Blackjack I think, at least when I did that I managed to double my money. The trouble with Blackjack is that the best table you’ll find is a $5 table. There appears to be one in the whole of the Strip and it’s almost always packed. If you get on it though, you’ll enjoy yourself. Especially if you get a table of people who are up for some fun – when I was on it “the craic was 91” as they say. Although I’ve no idea why they say that. The real trick is knowing when to walk away. I walked away when I was just over double my money and saw I was starting to lose. Squire didn’t and lost the lot. Even he agreed he should have walked when I did!
Top tip coming up. Thursday was the day that the guys first showed me that there’s a knack to Vegas as they had promised. We went for dinner in the Wynn hotel – taxi all the way, no walking – where you’ll find a buffet for $40 a person. Now, that sounds expensive for a buffet but it is by far and away the best buffet you are ever likely to go to. It’s restaurant quality stuff and has a variety of food types, from seafood, to Italian, to Asian to traditional American. I’m not a seafood person but even I was enjoying Sushi – Wasabi and all! So, stuffed from dinner, we headed back to the Riviera for the “green” night. The green night proved three things to me.
“The Kilkennys were excellent.”
I’m fairly sure I’ll get pelters for this one… I’d rank them up there with the quality bands I’ve heard that play “our” music – Charlie & The Bhoys, Gary Og, Shebeen, that kind of thing. Go on, tell me I have no taste! I was something of a latecomer to “our” music so I’m probably the wrong person to ask. The were seamless with Patricia Fearns as well. More on her later…
“Deco, Aurora CSC, God Bless.”
Seriously, he needs God to bless him. If he wasn’t showing us his scar he’d recently received in a car accident, he was falling off a dodgy chair. Actually, the fact he’s still with us probably means he has been blessed. We should all be thankful – the world would be a worse place without Deco. One thing is sure though – if God did bless him, he didn’t bless him with dance moves.
“I just can’t get enough. Lets all do the huddle.”
You can’t beat a good party with a bunch of Celtic fans. Everyone’s friendly, everyone’s getting drunk, everyone’s enjoying themselves. The addition of a few new songs to the party is more than welcome. In addition to the two above, Patricia was belting out “In The Heat Of Lisbon” and we were all joining in. I can’t wait to hear what we get next year.
Friday was something of a let down if I’m honest. Chris had woken up (or possibly not gone to bed) with a sore throat so the podcast was postponed. The dinner dance turned out to be a carbon copy of the green night, except with some food and everyone dressed up. I’d say this is my one criticism of the convention itself. I loved that they added the Australian anthem at the start of the night, in recognition of the clubs that had come over from there, but after that it was just too much of more of the same. It needed something to mix it up a bit that wasn’t there. Hugo, our usual compare for the night, playing slow songs for couples that were celebrating weddings or anniversaries didn’t help with the pace of the night. Don’t get me wrong, Friday night was still enjoyable, it was just… I’d heard it already. Maybe I’m being picky.
One other thing surprised me on Friday night. When Deco helped Harper get Chris presented with his signed LostBhoys t-shirt on the stage, the number of people who knew him, and LostBhoys in general, was far greater than I had expected. We’d been joking about it earlier in the night that we’d be lucky if 70 people in that room knew who we were! Well it was a lot more than 70…
Saturday was more proof of how popular LostBhoys actually is. When Bertie Auld is telling you how he knows what you’ve been doing and loves it, you just listen in disbelief. This man won the European Cup for Celtic and he knows what WE are doing for the club?! Charlie Gallagher had to be cut short to make sure he didn’t tell the whole story of his career so he could save it for a dedicated podcast instead. These guys were more than happy to talk away to us and I was kinda jealous that Chris and Gerry had the chance to talk to them – although I did get a photo with Bertie.
Now, I say kinda jealous because it was at this point Chris asked me if I’d do the Patricia Fearns interview. Chris had let others do most of the interviews because his voice was still knackered and he was hoping to save his voice for the Three Amigos bit later (a bit they decided to postpone until next week having already recorded so much poolside). Nothing complicated, just ask her a few questions about her experiences of the convention.
*CRASH*
You’d have heard the noise around the globe. That was my bottle. I should have done it, but I had no confidence in myself. I ended up dreaming about doing it on the plane home! I’ll need to practice my interviewing techniques – who knows, it might be useful some day. But in the end, Chris did it himself and even with a sore throat he did a fine job. Some people are just natural at it.
Saturday night was the final night for me and the missus. She’d gone shopping during the podcast recording but we were all back together to hit the Strip one final time. Jamie had suggested we all go for a meal on the final night and that’s just what we did. Nine of us down at the newly refurbished Tropicana for one of the best meals I’ve had in ages. Maybe I’m getting old, but I much preferred sitting around that table and chatting to everyone than just being in the bar and getting drunk.
These are all great friends of mine. Friends who only get to see each other for these few days in the year. So it was great to make the most of the opportunity. I would have loved to have invited every single one of them to my wedding, but it would have been too much to ask this close to the convention. Me and the missus were lucky to be in Vegas as it was. They did get us a lovely card wishing us all the best for the big day mind you. Now, if I’m honest, I normally hate greeting cards! They’re just so common place given that you can get them for practically any event and they are generally a waste that get discarded after a few seconds. But occasionally they mean a whole lot more and this was definitely one such occasion.
And then, it was time to go. A quick hop across the Strip to New York, New York where we left most of the group to enjoy the night, and then it was time to head back to the Riviera and try and get some sleep before the stupidly early flight towards the real New York. Once more the journey took forever, but it gave plenty of time to reflect on what an eventful, fun but odd week it had been.
“I’ll always remember that I had a swingin’ time”
Deco had been right, Vegas is a good place to go if you have the knack. But it’s an even better place to go if you have friends there with you. Whether that be the general friendship that all Celtic fans have with each other, or the closer friendship that being part of LostBhoys has given me, it’s that which has made the 2011 Celtic convention the great memories for me more than anything else.
The 2012 convention is going back to San Francisco. When I first heard that it was favourite on the recent Podcast my thoughts were “I’ve been there, I don’t think I’ll bother”. After Vegas I’m hoping that not only will I go with the wife (as she will be by then), but that as many of the LostBhoys as possible will be there too.
Krys (twitter @Krys1888 and for podcast and website updates @TheLostBhoys)
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