Vegas Redux

"Walk into any Washington party and The Question inevitably comes: "What do you do?" It's a rude but efficient query, a way of quickly establishing your place in the hierarchy of the people worth talking to -- or not. The conversation flows or falters depending on the answer, complete with a proffered business card or a swift escape to the bar ....

"There's a level of impatience that is striking," says philosopher Alain de Botton. "The feeling you get is, 'Who are you and what can you bring me?' The timeline is particularly short and almost aggressive."

Washington is full of very bright, highly successful people who act like spoiled, greedy children."

-- Roxanne Roberts in the Washington Post, August 1, 2004

How true. Another reason why for all of its crassness, middlebrow entertainment, silicone ta-ta's and exploding volcanos, I find Vegas refreshing.

A few things I discovered during my short stint in Sin City last week:

1) I prefer Downtown to the Strip, which is crowded and expensive. All of the gawking tourists on the Strip waddling slowly in their knock-off Tevas and fanny packs make me want to scream. And I'm not gullible enough to pay the artifically-inflated (just like showgirls' breasts) prices on everything from the cost of using a day spa ($27 at the Mandalay Bay) to sipping the weak tropical drinks at the Bellagio ($12).

2) Vegas has a gritty, unfinished quality once you get past the Strip and Downtown. Actually, much of Downtown is still quite rough around the edges. Drive a few miles north, south, east and west and you'll see lots of construction, hastily-built tract homes, unnatural and water-wasteful green lawns and golf courses (this is the desert, remember), and miles and miles of sere land and red prehistoric mountains. It reminds me of the more desolate parts of Southern California in the early 1980's.

3) My favorite hotel in the area is still the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Casino in nearby Henderson, despite the construction through the end of the year (management is building a new wing). Both richly-appointed and relaxed, it's got more class than the supposed creme de la creme Bellagio, Dale Chihuly or no Dale Chihuly.

Favorite quote: "What happens in unincorporated Clark County, stays in unincorporated Clark County." (From a recent gossip column in the Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Housekeeping note: The photos I posted on this blog look fine on my home computer, but they seemed really murky and dark on my office computer. Do they look that way to you? I may have to change my photo settings. The picture of the gondolier in the Venetian was the worst in this regard, so I deleted it.

Other news: I'll be attending the four-day UNITY journalism convention, probably the biggest gathering of journalists of color - or of any journalists, for that matter - in the world. I'm going to attend some writing seminars and work at my company's job booth (one of more than 2,000 exhibitors), as well as volunteer a bit for AAJA, of which I'm a member. Oh, yes, and work the "after-parties" and other networking events.

With more than 7,000 people expected to show up at this once-every-four-years event (just like the Olympics!), it's a major see-and-be-seen event. Both President Bush and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry will speak. As will Secretary of State Colin Powell. Kerry speechifies this Thursday, and Powell and Dubya take their turns the next day.

How much you wanna bet that Bush won't take questions from the audience?! Of course, I wouldn't blame him. Being in a room with thousands of journalists, you gotta be careful what you say (wink).

Of course, journalism bigwigs and bigheads will also be there, including Connie Chung, Time Warner Chairman and CEO Richard Parsons, New York Times Chairman and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

As you'd expect, security in this already locked-down, hyped-up, safety-obsessed town, will be amped up a few notches.