Just spent a day and a half at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas earlier in the week, working on a job for a sound company. Pretty depressing place to spend ANY time in!
I had to walk through the casino every time I went from my room to the site of the job. There I saw people who seemed to be holding out their last hope – playing against odds that they could not beat. Many people sitting in their wheelchairs, with oxygen tanks connected to their noses, smoking cigarettes with long ashes at the end of them, continually feeding the slot machines and pushing a button, hoping that a winner would appear on the screen. People sitting at tables looking grimly at their cards as they went over 21, and adding more chips to the pile in the center of the table.
Out on the street, which was blocked off for entertainment, Elvis was everywhere!
People were taking pictures of tons of Elvis impersonators. Showgirls were wandering the streets, collecting money for people to have their picture taken with them.
I took a detour the second day to go to the Mob Museum. It was good to know that a Chicagoan-the top Mob Lawyer, Marshall Korshak was the one that suggested that the Mob build a gambling city so that they could launder their ill-gotten gains through gambling!
It was also good to know that even Elvis has to check his messages occasionally!!
