Last Call Reflections Kurt Russell on the 4th of July! I couldn’t think of a more patriotic way to kick off the holiday and to celebrate the biggest 2013 movie(of 1996) than to watch Escape From L.A. of course after re-watching escape from NY. One thing that separates Russell from other action stars is that even his terrible movies are even hokey/corny MST3K riff-able good. Even though it’s been closed for years, I was in the area of Largo the day before, the day of and the day after it caught fire. I stood there and smelled the ashes of what was one of my favorite casinos in Vegas. It was my regular place for a long time after I discovered those cheap cheeseburgers and fries they had for a few bucks. I always had a root beer float to go with, and they always served it in a red coca cola tumbler. It was conveniently located far enough from the strip to hit after a night of reveling. It was the casino I was at before some mylar balloons took out the Bellagio transformer that new years, making the whole Ocean’s 11 plan to take out a casino look ridiculous. And I was also at the final week of Largo before they closed, when people were taking things off the walls & buying out the logo shop. It was always packed with what I’d call college crowd patrons. It was always cool that the small area they had for gaming included some felt tables and a sports book, that also served at the bar lounge. Standing across the street, I could still smell the ash and sulfur from the fire extinguished the day before. I have stories about Cozemel’s, Breeze and Terribles, but focus! I stared at the remains pondering the Mayan apocalypse that had passed. And Escape from L.A. made me think of apocalypse movies in general from Road Warrior to Zombieland, etc. A big reason why people go to Vegas is to do something that our minds(really) won’t allow us to do back home. And it also reveals something about a person by what that big objective is. Drinking, prostitution and bachelorette parties, but also the big bowling tournament, or an expensive celebrity chef dinner. It could even be rides, shows, yadda. One of the best birthday presents I ever got was from a girlfriend who not only checked a room @ Largo for the night(long before someone in marketing decided to name it staycation), but decorated the room in my favorite holiday style: Halloween! Buildings can be rebuilt by new owners, but can they ever capture the locals’ quaintness of the previous business? Their goal is more likely a larger quarterly profit off of first timers instead of decades of loyal bargain necessitated customers. I have read many books on Zen that describe in details and many different methods of appreciating the moment. I sat there staring at Largo instead of being at the first night of the viva Las Vegas rockabilly festival before making my way to the Strip. I had so much to think about, largely where my life could be heading and the many, many great times I had in Vegas. Society wants us to stop daydreaming and get back to the grind. But, a place we lived, a school, hometown, a job, a hangout, a circle of friends, there are a few things in life that are fleeting and make us think about what we have done or can do with the little time we have left before it’s gone. In life, did we get to do what we wanted to before our faculties leave us? Is it too late to tell the people we loved what we wanted to? Can we leave a legacy that transcends bulldozers and vaporizing status updates? Good people can form happy little communities of tribes after the next corporation has built above our affordability. And I still use the red tumbler I gangstered from that birthday meal.
