Randy and I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Sin City with our friends, Cenote and Venus where we attended the Burlesque Convention and had a stupendous time observing the stage stars of yesteryear and the future stars of tomorrow! Here's the backstory on how we got there:
Cenote is a CPA and one of his clients, Gerri, (pictured here with Cenote) used to be a Burlesque star in the 1950's. Several weeks ago, Gerri mentioned that she was going to attend a
Burlesque Convention in Las Vegas where she was to be honored, along with some other former stars and judge the Miss Erotic World 2008 competition. Cenote probably said something like, "Oh man, that sounds like a blast." To which Gerri probably replied, "Well, you should come and I'll hook you up at the Convention". And that's how we got to Vegas.
We flew in Thursday night, checked into the Paris hotel and casino, freshened up and then headed over to the Wynn for sushi at Okada. It was a beautiful restaurant. Had a 30 foot waterfall in the middle of it. Ate a lot of sushi and then left for the Palms casino where we hooked up with Gerri and her friend, April March (also a former legend of Burlesque, pictured to the left with Cenote). This opening night event was the highlight of our trip. There were about 12 different acts who performed. We saw everything from what I would consider very traditional burlesque to comedy/camp performances. They were each wonderful in their own way.
Here are some of the performers we saw:
The next day, Venus and I enjoyed a relaxing day poolside while the men gambled. We also wandered around the Burlesque Bazaar at the Palms. Their were vendors peddling their wares, selling corsets, riding crops, fans, feathers, pasties with tassels... all kinds of stuff you'd need to be a burlesque performer. A lot of the ladies wore these big flowers in their hair. Venus and I are modeling the look here:
We hooked back up for dinner and Gerri and April March joined us at N9ne Steakhouse at the Palms. This was my favorite restaurant. The steak was delicious and we had fiddlehead ferns for a side vegetable. Did you know you can eat ferns? They were crunchy and had a slight pickled/vinegar taste to them. I thought they were pretty tasty!
Saturday, we checked out of the hotel, wandered around the Forum Shops at Caesars and the shops at the Bellagio. Picked up a little gift for our boys, then it was time to head for the airport home. It was a fantastic, fun adventure. But after staying up till after 2 am both nights, this Cinderella needs some sleep!
