Vegas weekend: Carmen Electra, H.L. Mencken, and Meghan McCain
Have to admit that I did not work hard this past weekend. I did not intend to work at all. I had fun. I live in Vegas, and mostly my work is fun. I get to enjoy Vegas all year. But this weekend I had friends in town and events I wanted to be at for reasons not work-related.
Of course, I did do some work, if you can call it work. I made it to “Crazy Horse” with Carmen Electra. She looked fabulous, and that is hard for a 37-year-old woman being framed by young dancers barely into their 20s. But Electra has enough energy and joy in her role to make the moments she is on stage bring the production to life. Sadly, there are not enough of those moments. The show is far duller than I remembered it. The full topless views have increased over the last year, as if uncovering the dancers covers that this show is dedicated to sensuality and aesthetics from another era. Every number goes on too long (the full length of a song), continuing after the presentation and dance moves have been fully exhausted. The light projecting off the bodies of the dancers reminds me of dated psychedelic films. Andy Warhol would be a fan of “Crazy Horse.” On the other hand, fans of Warhol’s movies are very few, and for good reason. “Crazy Horse” has the same problem: all surface with little to hold your attention. The variety act has gone from a mini-Michael Jackson doll to a mini-Elvis Presley doll. The worst numbers I think are supposed to be the comic relief: cabaret-style songs with a topless dancer pretending to sing about being a naughty girl who is looking for a man with a big wallet.
“Crazy Horse” has some of the best-looking showgirls to be seen on the Strip, and I am told that the dancing talent required to appear in the show is incredible. But “Crazy Horse” is too attached to its traditions to keep up with Vegas in 2009. One hopes with that much beauty and talent on staff, a better show than “Crazy Horse” can be created. Electra is worth seeing, but otherwise the happy-to-be- middlebrow approach of “Peepshow” works far better. Tonight is Electra’s last scheduled night.
My favorite adult show of all time in Vegas is “Fashionistas,” created by pornographer John Stagliano. After the show closed in 2008, Stagliano became a social friend of mine, and so I no longer cover him for that reason. Therefore, I did not intend to write about the dinner he invited me to on Saturday night for a libertarian convention called FreedomFest, billed as “The World’s Largest Gathering of Free Minds.” But I can’t resist.
In a case brought under the Bush Justice Department and not dropped by the Obama administration, Stagliano has been indicted on charges of distributing obscenity. On the other hand, I got the feeling a lot of the people around us would be happy to see him rot in jail despite all the calls for freedom. Liberal values were frequently mocked by the speakers. And one of the keynote speakers, some cable anchor whom I had never seen or heard of before, explicitly referred to “left-wing” social liberalism as being part of the agenda ruining the country. While one would think there would be a lot of calls for freedom at FreedomFest, a war against cap-and-trade and marginal tax rates were really what the libertarians talking wanted to embrace. (Shouldn’t there have been at least one “freedom-lover” calling for the charges against him to be be dropped, or am I just biased as his friend?)
“Obamaism” was frequently invoked and applauded by the well-heeled crowd that I estimate was about 1,000 folks. But because Barack Obama has only been president a few months, I searched for a definition among everyone I met there. Most people seemed as unclear as I am about its meaning, but despite working as an applause line, as a word, “Obamaism” is really just finding its legs, they admitted.
Adjacent to me was Steve Forbes. Though inches from each other, Forbes and Stagliano did not speak together. That would have been an interesting conversation to hear and tell you about. Forbes did, however, give a speech to much applause and calls for him to run for president. He sounded like he was running. He was upset about the status quo and taxes — very upset about taxes — but said he has faith in the American people.
Then came the inductions into the freedom-lovers hall of fame. I perked up when H.L. Mencken was inducted. I wonder if the Sage of Baltimore would have approved? Thoughts?
But my favorite moment was at the end (before a Beatles tribute band came out to play “Twist and Shout”). Everyone was asked to sing the festival’s theme song “Freedom and Gold.” So, indicted pornographer John Stagliano and former Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes (two men who probably agree on little outside of hating marginal tax rates) were brought together by the power of music and lyrics supplied on the back of the menu (and yes, that chicken breast at FreedomFest was free-range). And all sang: “Now who are the enemies of liberty’s soul? Taxation, inflation and government control.”
Meanwhile, although she turned me down for an interview, so I do not know if she was at the FreedomFest banquet, Meghan McCain was in Vegas this weekend sending out Tweets. Sunday night, her final Tweet: “Off to see peepshow, already saw the sexy, sultry, amazingly fetishy zumanity. Hope Holly’s bump and grind is just as good!”
One wonders if she would be this honest if her dad was in the White House.
Source: Los Angel