Speaker 1: When did this become a Walmart? It's one more thing.
Speaker 1: I'm one more thing that reminds me I'm a little
Speaker 1: late to the party, I guess.
Speaker 2: But the whole gag where somebody goes hun a rant
Speaker 2: and the answer is, ma'am, this is a Wendy's right,
Speaker 2: does it never fails to amuse me. Right.
Speaker 3: It's always funny.
Speaker 2: Like my old buddy Brian the Umpire, you know, we'll
Speaker 2: be having lunch or something like that. His phone will
Speaker 2: ring and he'll be like, sorry, Jesus, give me a minute,
Speaker 2: Give me a minute. He'll talk, you know, for five minutes,
Speaker 2: then say wrong number every time.
Speaker 1: That is pretty funny. So I was in Vegas over
Speaker 1: the weekend, couple of things to clean up on one
Speaker 1: talking about seeing the Eagles and how they're almost eighty
Speaker 1: years old and they shuffle around the stage and talk like,
Speaker 1: you know, an old man, but then they sing and
Speaker 1: play fine, which I couldn't figure out. He did get
Speaker 1: a text from somebody who works with dementia patients, and
Speaker 1: music is stored deep in the brain. That's why people
Speaker 1: with dementia thrive and kind of come out of it
Speaker 1: when they hear music. Your ability to sing every word
Speaker 1: and remember every word hangs around long after all the
Speaker 1: other stuff, And that's one of the reasons they're kind
Speaker 1: of studying and trying to figure out what is it
Speaker 1: about the way we store music stuff, and can we
Speaker 1: do that for other stuff, to try to figure out
Speaker 1: how dementia works and everything like that. But it's clearly true, right,
Speaker 1: clearly true. It's just I don't know, it's interesting.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm sure I could recite, like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: the entire Declaration of Independence from memory if it was
Speaker 2: set to music. And I like the music, but I
Speaker 2: memorize all of it easily. But the fact that it's
Speaker 2: also your body movements. So you got this eighty year
Speaker 2: old guitar player. It's like his hands are shaken as
Speaker 2: he gets a pick off his thing.
Speaker 1: Or whatever, and then he just launches into playing like
Speaker 1: he's twenty seven years old. I mean, what the hell
Speaker 1: is that? But I don't know. It's a cool thing,
Speaker 1: and maybe that will be an answer to unlocking the
Speaker 1: way our brain's work and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1: Other couple other things about Vegas before I really, I'm
Speaker 1: sure I'm going to get criticized for being h I
Speaker 1: don't know what is the right term. We have fun
Speaker 1: with this looking down on people early later which elitists, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm gonna be criticized for being elitist, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, but saw the best street performance I've
Speaker 1: ever seen. And luckily I was there with my son, Henry,
Speaker 1: who's thirteen and he really hates Las Vegas, but we
Speaker 1: were there to see the concert. We saw a street
Speaker 1: performance of these I guess you'd call him acrobat. They're
Speaker 1: kind of breakdancer dudes, a bunch of black guys, which
Speaker 1: I got to mention because that was really a part
Speaker 1: of their act, was them being black and making all
Speaker 1: these racially insensitive jokes that really made people laugh. But
Speaker 1: just I've always been amazed by this kind of entertainment
Speaker 1: that is so unstructured. It's like the old Vaude days
Speaker 1: that you have honed your act one hundred percent around
Speaker 1: necessity of like are people stopping and watching? Are they
Speaker 1: staying and watching? Are they giving us money? And I mean,
Speaker 1: and you see, so you would learn what jokes work,
Speaker 1: what things don't work, and I mean you'd have to
Speaker 1: actually apply all that because it's the only way you're
Speaker 1: gonna make it function. And these guys had quite the
Speaker 1: honed act of getting your attention with loud music and
Speaker 1: breakdancing and all this different sort of stuff. And they
Speaker 1: were super fit dudes, and then stripping off their shirts,
Speaker 1: which I'm sure many of the women in the crowd enjoyed.
Speaker 1: And when it went to ask later to ask for tips,
Speaker 1: the one guy said, women, for a hundred bucks, you
Speaker 1: can go home with one of these guys. Guys for
Speaker 1: ae hundred bucks, you can also go home with one
Speaker 1: of these guys. We aren't gay, but one hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: One hundred dollars. But they were all black guys. In
Speaker 1: one of his lines that he kept repeating, he was
Speaker 1: building up to their ultimate trick bringing people out of
Speaker 1: the crowd, where he's gonna have a bunch of people
Speaker 1: stand in a line, and this other dude was gonna,
Speaker 1: in theory jump over them and talking about how horribly
Speaker 1: it could go wrong, they could get their next broken,
Speaker 1: all these different things. But he's going around into donating money.
Speaker 1: He's trying to build up the amount of money people
Speaker 1: were putting in the bucket as they go around and
Speaker 1: everything like that. Before they do their their trick, and
Speaker 1: and he said, you know, you should respect us. We're
Speaker 1: not on drugs, we're not listening to hip hop music.
Speaker 1: You know, we're all students. We're studying, and we're out here.
Speaker 1: We're trying to earn a lot honest living. So that's
Speaker 1: a good reason to donate. And if you don't donate,
Speaker 1: we're gonna come and break into your homes tonight. Oh
Speaker 1: my god. A good thing to say. But for the
Speaker 1: actual trick, and they were all just unbelievable freaking acrobats,
Speaker 1: the strength they displayed, and just all of them could
Speaker 1: do that thing where you just do a full flip
Speaker 1: on the on the pavement, which is just amazing to me,
Speaker 1: just I mean just just constantly just hopping and flipping
Speaker 1: around anything like it. But this guy, they cleared out
Speaker 1: the crowd and everything like that. He lined up the
Speaker 1: people he had him bent down and put their hands
Speaker 1: on their knees, so they were a little bent down,
Speaker 1: but there was six of them in a row. And
Speaker 1: then he said, take that last one off. I'm not
Speaker 1: feeling today and I hate to kill a guy. So
Speaker 1: they lose little guy out of them. That's a funny
Speaker 1: thing also to say but he went running down there
Speaker 1: on the sidewalk and leaped into the air and did
Speaker 1: a flip in the air, a somersault in the air,
Speaker 1: and landed on his feet and ran off down the
Speaker 1: sidewalk again, jumping over his people. And everybody was like,
Speaker 1: holy crap. And I don't know how much money they
Speaker 1: made off of there was six of them, but we
Speaker 1: gave him twenty bucks. I thought that was easily twenty dollars.
Speaker 1: With the entertainment. Oh sure in Vegas? Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: And I spider, if they do that all day, they
Speaker 1: could make some pretty decent money.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was just gonna say, I wonder how many shows
Speaker 3: the day they do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll come break into your house tonight. That's a
Speaker 1: pretty funny joke for a whole bunch of white people
Speaker 1: standing on the sidewalk. Yeah, you know, I took your
Speaker 1: early point. Though.
Speaker 2: That's so true about sports and entertainment and for all
Speaker 2: of the oh my gosh, to to see a great
Speaker 2: video of a guy taking down the Hollywood stars for
Speaker 2: lecturing people about politics and how you're the last people
Speaker 2: in the world to be lecturing people who work sixty
Speaker 2: hours a week to feed their families.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: You know nothing about real people in their real lives,
Speaker 2: and the effect of government policy on them is great
Speaker 2: and funny. But in show business and stuff, there's no sympathy.
Speaker 2: You either deliver the goods and succeed, or you don't
Speaker 2: and you fail. And those guys out there, like you said,
Speaker 2: nobody's saying. You know, it's not like they were in
Speaker 2: academia where they had tenure. No, they either bring the
Speaker 2: goods and get them people to give them money or
Speaker 2: they don't. That's meritocracy its finest.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and pretty impressive. Yeah. The uh, maybe you can
Speaker 1: explain this to me, Katie. The getting your picture taken
Speaker 1: with people who are practically naked on the sidewalk? What is?
Speaker 1: What is that whole thing? I've never had any inclination
Speaker 1: into it, like super hot almost completely naked chicks or
Speaker 1: super hot almost completely naked dudes who just stand there
Speaker 1: on the sidewalk, And you.
Speaker 3: Can not entirely sure why you think I would know
Speaker 3: something about.
Speaker 1: Well, maybe as a woman either, I found that offensive.
Speaker 1: I thought maybe as a woman you'd understand the dude part.
Speaker 1: Getting your picture taken with a practically naked man I mean,
Speaker 1: who do you show that to? And what is the.
Speaker 3: I think that whole thing's creepy, be.
Speaker 1: Honest with you, it's it seems obvious to me.
Speaker 2: It's the look how crazy things were in Vegas, because
Speaker 2: everybody who goes to Vegas tells the same sort of
Speaker 2: Oh you were crazy, you got so drunk, or playing
Speaker 2: cards till exa clock and look at this hot guy.
Speaker 4: Or no, I don't think it's a hanging out thing.
Speaker 4: It's maybe just like a look like a spectacle, look
Speaker 4: what I saw.
Speaker 1: Look how crazy things are in Vegas? Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4: Do they still It's been so long since I've been
Speaker 4: to Vegas? Are there still all those little escort cards
Speaker 4: all over the sidewalks?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Really, That's what I'm gonna get to if it's
Speaker 1: been a long time since you've been to Vegas, because
Speaker 1: it has changed over the years, and I just finally
Speaker 1: have recognized that. But the other side of the street
Speaker 1: performer thing, though, is funny. It was right before I
Speaker 1: got to the really impressive street performer that I was like, Wow,
Speaker 1: these guys are incredible. There was this guy. So now
Speaker 1: anybody can have a portable amplifier setup it used to
Speaker 1: be not that long ago, Like loud speakers and amplifier
Speaker 1: stuff are really heavy and expensive and everything, but now
Speaker 1: they're super light and cheap, and so you can get
Speaker 1: a really good amplifier speaker situation, don't it's not very
Speaker 1: much to carry it around and set it up and
Speaker 1: battery powered and do your thing. So this is this
Speaker 1: Hispanic guy singing in Spanish, and he had this thing
Speaker 1: set up on the corner, and he was the worst
Speaker 1: public singer I've ever seen. I mean, just like, not
Speaker 1: even close. Like I've known a few people that don't
Speaker 1: realize they have no rhythm or can't carry a tune,
Speaker 1: and they don't know it because they can't hear it
Speaker 1: in their own end. But this had zero singing ability.
Speaker 1: And he's out there in the corner completely alone. Nobody
Speaker 1: was gathering around him. I don't doubt anybody gave him
Speaker 1: a cent all day. How long would you do that
Speaker 1: before you realize, oh, I just I'm not making any
Speaker 1: money here.
Speaker 2: Probably wonder what's wrong was he was he strumming a
Speaker 2: guitar or anything he had he had, you know, backing
Speaker 2: tracks on CD or whatever you're singing.
Speaker 1: Looks they hammered. No, it didn't seem to be. It
Speaker 1: seemed to be putting out a real effort, but nobody
Speaker 1: was even slowing down to looking just made a request.
Speaker 1: And then I saw one family do in the street.
Speaker 1: It just looked like a family looked like a husband,
Speaker 1: uh wife, and then their kids playing music and they
Speaker 1: like full on music, guitar, bass, drums, everything like that,
Speaker 1: but the kids looked miserable. These little kids just looked miserable.
Speaker 1: Made me feel horrible for them, standing out in the
Speaker 1: hot sun, playing for crowd walking by because your parents
Speaker 1: made you.
Speaker 3: I guess I'm not down with that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I didn't read Jackson fivey vibe there, but so
Speaker 1: I have. I used to go to Vegas a lot,
Speaker 1: but I realized I haven't been to Vegas hardly at
Speaker 1: all in like twenty five years. I mean, it's been
Speaker 1: a long time, but I used to go a lot
Speaker 1: way back in the day and I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: It had and I've had a couple of people say
Speaker 1: to me recent years off Vegas sucks, I hate Vegas,
Speaker 1: It's awful. Everything like that. Really, I really like I
Speaker 1: hadn't really paid any attention because I hadn't been much.
Speaker 1: It is awful now it has changed into something different.
Speaker 1: It is Walmart with booze. It is just the unwashed
Speaker 1: of unwashed masses jammed together in their cross and tank tops.
Speaker 1: This is the elitist part. This is the elitiest part. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: this is the elast And that's not what Vegas used
Speaker 1: to be. I remember when, like I would go with
Speaker 1: people and there was kind of a thought that you
Speaker 1: kind of ought to dress up a little bit and
Speaker 1: look good and go around in a kind of nice shows,
Speaker 1: a nice dress. But it isn't. That is not the
Speaker 1: vibe anymore in Vegas.
Speaker 2: Really.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure it makes more money than it's ever made,
Speaker 1: but it's it's a different thing now.
Speaker 2: And it may have been a full decade ago that
Speaker 2: I first became aware that it. Vegas became a huge
Speaker 2: family vacation destination, right, And I remember back then it
Speaker 2: was like second to our Orlando, Florida still as a
Speaker 2: travel destination.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it is, it's a definitely a they went
Speaker 1: for a different price point and then I mean it's
Speaker 1: it's it's more like Myrtle Beach, South Carolina or the
Speaker 1: places like that. If you've ever been than it then
Speaker 1: you know Frank Sinatra and the rat Pack. Definitely, which
Speaker 1: is fine if that's what you want, but it's not
Speaker 1: the same thing as it used to be. And dirty.
Speaker 1: It just came off to me as like dirty and
Speaker 1: just I don't know, not where I want to walk
Speaker 1: around like Kent. Yeah, low RENI my hotel was dirty
Speaker 1: and smoky. I'm like a blast. If that's what you want,
Speaker 1: that's what you want.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I haven't been in ages, Judy. My wife has
Speaker 2: never been to Vegas, never been, and I keep saying,
Speaker 2: we're gonna go.
Speaker 1: You just got to see the strip. You've got to
Speaker 1: see the excess. It is something to see. There's still
Speaker 1: a couple of really nice places to stay. I talked
Speaker 1: to some people that are into Vegas, like said, unless
Speaker 1: you stay at Aria Bellagio and one other place, it
Speaker 1: is pretty dirty and grimy. But there are still some
Speaker 1: nice places to say that are just freaking insane. I
Speaker 1: mean how nice they are. There's nothing like that anywhere
Speaker 1: else in the world.
Speaker 4: It's been fifteen years, I think, but I really enjoyed
Speaker 4: the old strip.
Speaker 3: Fremont Street.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 3: If you're going down there.
Speaker 1: It's kind of quaint and and well old timey.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just like it felt just like a little less chaos.
Speaker 1: Uh, it was nothing but chaos. It was just shoulder
Speaker 1: to shoulder stumbling around Pug. A lot of smell of
Speaker 1: weed too, A lot of weed.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, weed is the thing now. Yeah, not with your money.
Speaker 1: I got other things I could do. Well, I guess
Speaker 1: that's it.