bieofvegas

[bieofvegas]

Mirage Tigers and a Dolphin

[bieofvegas]

"Vintage" pictures of the Mirage volcano. Yes, these are mostly water. Why? Because I was truly fascinated by the amount of water pouring from the top of the structure and the different looks to it depending on the light. The last picture of the erupting volcano IS a postcard I picked up a few years ago. It's so much better than the ones I tried to take. The picture just above it was taken, at night, from the plaza in front of The Venetian Hotel Resort..which is across the street and a ways north of The Mirage.

[bieofvegas]

This will be disappearing in the future...

This is the Mirage Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas. It was dreamed up and built by Steve Wynn a few decades ago. It, and several other of his properties, have been owned by the MGM company for a long while. A month or so ago, there was a news report that MGM has sold the Mirage property to the Hard Rock International company. The report said that it's possible that the current hotel, along with the iconic volcano, will be demolished so the Hard Rock can do it's own visual thing. So, in the interest of "preserving" some of my memories of this lovely place, I present pictures, from my camera (and maybe an old postcard or two) of the hotel, the volcano and Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden area.

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I’m a bit bored, so I figured I might as well make a contribution to Halloween even if it is several days early.  The dolls are from Mattel from their Haunted Beauty Collection.  I think there were a few more dolls in the collection, I could afford only these first two.  And once upon a time, I had a decent photo-editing program that allowed me to use the dolls against different background photos, and I could add fun-stuff clip art to the picture.  It was fun while it lasted.    The third from the bottom picture is the entry way of an old residence.  All of those decorations are currently in storage.  The last two pictures are simple...just the dolls showing off.  They’re NOT in storage, but they’re also not going anywhere near the entry of this latest apartment.

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From the early 60s..post apocalyptic/Cold War stories.  I’ve been carting them around with me since I first bought them.  One has a publishing date of 19623.  I’m surprised that they are still in one piece, albeit very fragile one-pieced

[bieofvegas]

Things from the past in the now...

In case any of my followers are reading, or re-reading, Diana Gabaldon’s series of OUTLANDER books...you will have seen that character that keeps cropping up after Claire and Jamie arrive in North Carolina is named Phillip Wylie.  He’s the creepy jerk who thinks he should be with Claire.  Anyway, from the first time I saw his name, I thought it seemed very familiar.  Now, years later, I have finally realized WHY that name is familiar.  Back in the Cold War days/years of the late 50s/early 60s there was an author by that name.  He wrote a couple (probably more) books on the aftermath of a nuclear strike on the U.S.  I say there may have been more books, but I have only two...as I recently rediscovered as I was looking for something else.   I probably got these in the early 60s and I remember, now, the chills I felt when reading his version of the aftermath of The Bombs falling on us.  I think I may have to struggle to re-read them...struggle because the print is very small and my vision these days truly does not like small print.  I’ll post the picture I just took of the books...they’re small paperbacks...well read and starting to come apart paperbacks.  Does anyone remember paying 60 cents for a book???   Anyway, now I can my mind to rest.  I just wonder if Herself knows of the 1950s Phillip Wylie?  She is quite the researcher and she may be aware of him.  I’ll have to put a question on her Facebook page...when it’s back to full operations.

[bieofvegas]

Too bad that’s not really Captain James Tiberius Kirk.  A whole lot of years ago, the Hilton Hotel (now the Westgate) had a large area known as The Star Trek Experience devoted to Star Trek....mostly for The Next Generation.  There was Quark’s Bar, there was an interactive “ride” sort of thing, which was a lot of fun, and there was this chair of Kirk near one of the features.  I even sat “on his lap.”   

[bieofvegas]

Star Trek premiered today in 1966.  I remember watching it, in color (whoohoo!) with some friends on their set.  I was hooked from the beginning.  Several years later, I got my son hooked and he received the action figures for Christmas one year.   The Vina doll (as the Orion Slave Girl from The Cage episode) is from Mattel.  I got her about 5 years ago.  She’s “posable”...that means she’s got joints where Barbie dolls don’t usually have joints.     

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Chad Everett...not really known as singer, but back then it seems that everyone on television made at least album.  This one is actually pretty decent.     Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night.  I think I bought it mostly because it was recorded at The Greek Theatre in LA, and I had been there on several occasions for other events.  It does have some good stuff....including the ORIGINAL version of Red, Red Wine...not that other version that got all the airplay.  I had a friend who wouldn’t believe me when I told her Neil wrote it years before.  I had to pull out the album to prove it.   Vikki Carr...this is just one of the several albums my dad bought.  He and my mom saw her in concert and really enjoyed it.  Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass.....again, from my dad.  I don’t know why he stopped with these few albums.

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How’s this for variation?  I will admit it, readily...I do like Disco.  And the “smooth jazz” sounds.   Male singers....I met Mr Goulet once a few years ago, managing to actually sound coherent as I had a lovely conversation with him...he was very sweet and graciously spent a few minutes talking to me.   Mac Davis....I “flirted” with him back in 1981 during a taping of The American Music Awards Show.  He was flirting with me as well.  I wish we had been able to actually talk to each other.  Jim Nabors...what a magnificent voice he had.  This album was one of my mom’s favorites.

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Some of my earliest albums.  Big bands, Polynesian, SURFIN’, and saxophones!   You’ll see other genres in following posts.

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The last two shown here are recordings of steam locomotives with whistles, rail noises and background noises.  They were, at times, used to combat the loud rock music of neighbors.  He’d put on one of the albums, open the window near the stereo and turn the volume up!    He and my mom had their own house by then so at least there wasn’t anyone pounding on the walls or ceiling while the trains rolled.    

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Some of the albums my dad collected.  I guess the eclectic taste in music rubbed off on me.  I don’t know why he suddenly “got into” Spanish/Flamenco music, maybe it was because of the Carmen opera.  But the flamenco albums are from years later although he still listened to the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee series.     

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Vintage Vinyl Albums...movie soundtracks

A few of the vinyl albums I still have in my possession.  Over the years, I have had to sell off some of the collection, and while I do have still a goodly number, and there is another number in my storage unit that I don’t have room for in my apartment, I am determined to hang on to what I have left.  Some of them are from the early 50s when my mom and dad started buying albums.  I’ll post some of them as I go along with this goofy idea I came up with.    

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A few more album covers, but not all of them.  There are a few that I didn’t photograph, and a few that I need to re-shoot.     The album for The Robe came out several years after the movie...it might have been during a re-release.  The original release was back around 1953, and I remember seeing it from the back seat of my parents’ car at a drive-in in Wichita, Kansas.  It really made an impression on me, and I was thrilled when I finally got it on DVD.    The Slipper and The Rose was a re-telling of the timeless Cinderella story.  Richard Chamberlain was the prince and a lovely English girl was Cinderella.  It’s got some beautiful music so I bought the album.    XANADU might be the last soundtrack album I bought on vinyl.   I saw the movie when it first came out, mostly because Gene Kelly was in it.  I was so delighted when his character, Danny McGuire from Brooklyn, seemed to be a re-creation of his character from a movie he made with Rita Hayworth in the 40s....Cover Girl.  I fell in love with the rest of the movie, but seeing Mr Kelly on roller skates once more made my heart happy.

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Yes, there are two soundtrack albums for GWTW...the first one is from a re-release of the movie in the early 60s.  The second is from another re-release in, maybe, the late 70s.  I HAD to have it mostly because of the cover art.  

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This first batch, as you can plainly see, is a collection of Disney movie soundtracks.  They were purchased back in the 70s when the movies were re-released and my son was small.   He loved to listen to the songs.    OH...that weird picture at the beginning of this particular post is the album collection....all sorts of music from classical to the soundtracks to groups and singers.  I have very eclectic tastes, as you will see IF I keep up with my idea!!