Weekend Update before Christmas

(MICHAEL GRIMM BLUE MARTINI GIG UPDATE, SCROLL DOWN. 2nd UPDATE, LATIN BREEZE, SCROLL DOWN ALSO)

Been a crazy few days, 'eh? Below, first, just down from my house, corner of Paradise and Windmill, 2:45 pm, Wednesday. Then, below that, my front yard at 5:15 pm.

I still have snow in my yard, LOL! Lost a large limb on my big pine tree in the back yard, too. It cracked at the trunk about 15 feet up from the weight of the snow and is hanging down to the ground. It'll be chainsaw time this weekend. We've been in Vegas 16 and a half years, never seen anything like this.

LATIN BREEZE RETURNS TO THE GOLD COAST

(Click the above graphic to enlarge) Tomorrow night (Saturday, the 20th), doors open at 9:30 pm. They also return for New Year's Eve. Rob Mader, Gil Kaupp, and Tom Delibero are in this lineup. I'm gonna go tomorrow night and get some shots.

Also worth noting, Michael Grimm will be at The Blue Martini tonight at 8 pm, and the Ovation Showroom in Green Valley Ranch tomorrow evening at 6:30 pm. I'll have to see if I can get over to Blue Martini tonight.

MONDAY AT THE PALMS: FLAMENCO OPENING

An email from Jerry yesterday:

My Friends,

As a special treat this Monday night, I will be having a FLAMENCO show from 9:15 until 10:00 pm. We will then re-set for Santa Fe & the Fat City Horns starting at 10:30. If you have never experienced or enjoyed a real Flamenco show, be our guests this Monday evening. No smoke, no mirrors, no effects...heart and soul poured out on stage.

Spread the word! The artists are:

Briseyda Zarate – al cante, baile y palmas
Assieh “La Mora” - al baile y palmas
Bobby Solakov - al toque Guitarra
Joey Heredia - cajon/palmas
Artoro Nazzari
Carissa Hernandez

These performers are part of a troupe called "Fuerza Flamenca"

- JLopez

Recall Jerry's fabulous two-night Flamenco production at Lake Las Vegas in Sept 2007? Click here and here. This will be a memorable event Monday night as well. Be there.

ALSO OF NOTE: PANEVINO IS STARTING REGULAR LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

246 Via Antonio Avenue Las Vegas, NV 89119 (at Sunset Road in Marnell Corporate Center). Sunset at Gilespie, actually. Looks out across Sunset on the runway at McCarran. Cheryl and I have eaten there. Very nice, indeed. Click on their newsletter link for entertainment schedule info (scroll down).

BELOW: OFF-TOPIC, APROPOS OF NOTHING

I stay in email contact with my late Dad's former Florida nursing home roomie, John. Cat is a quadraplegic who types on a laptop with a little stick thingie with his teeth. He sends me interesting stuff all the time. To wit, from the other day:

The Emma Maersk

Country of origin - Denmark
Length: 1,302 ft. Width: 207 ft.

Crew of 13
Net cargo - 123,200 tons
Engine - 14 in-line cylinder diesel engine (110,000 BHP)
Cruise Speed - 31 knots
Cargo capacity - 15,000 TEU (1 TEU = 20 cu. ft.)
First Trip - Sept. 08, 2006
Construction cost - US $145,000,000+

Special silicone paint applied to the ship bottom reduces water resistance and saves 317,000 gallons of diesel per year, Think it's big enough? 207' beam means it cannot fit through the Panama or Suez Canals. It is strictly transpacific. Check out the cruise speed: 31 knots means the goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on a China-to-California run. So this behemoth is highly competitive when carrying perishable goods.

This ship was built in five sections. The sections floated together and then welded. The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has 11 cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously.

ERRATA

I've gotten numerous emails and phone calls. Yeah, I passed the Metro PD Crime Analyst written exam and made the next round -- Oral Board Exam on Jan 5th. There were about 100 examinees at the test Tuesday morning. The saga continues...

FRIDAY NIGHT: MICHAEL GRIMM BLUE MARTINI GIG

What a meat market! Place was jammed! And, the agenda was not about music, really. The ambient noise level had to be 90dB or more.

Stage lighting sucks (all RGB LEDs, and they never throw up any white light, which just makes an oversaturated mess for pictures), but at least the booze is lovingly lit, LOL.

Sounded great as always, even with the distracting din. Michael will be at Green Valley Ranch (Ovation Showroom) tonight with the big lineup, including The Big Easy Horns. They start at 6:30 pm. I'm gonna go cover the Latin Breeze return to the Gold Coast tonight. That'll be fun. Look for shots from that tomorrow.

LATIN BREEZE RETURNS!

Gold Coast showroom. The charts were snappy fine. Rick Arroyo's arranging, I understand (he's the keyboardist). Really, really nice band. Great singing and great authentic Latin groove. Last night Dave Phillipus was on trombone, and Glenn Colby on trumpet alongside Gil. I'll simply let the photos tell the story: