Theres a lot more to Las Vegas than all the glitz and glamor of great hotels, shows, and restaurants. Theres also an interesting history unique to this area. During the great depression and prohibition, president hoover ordered the building of hoover dam driving the population from around 5000 to 25,000. It was mainly men from across the country looking for work, which might have sparked the mafia crime bosses to develop the casinos and showgirl theaters. Without getting dry here...the point I'm trying to make is that it wasn't the feds that drove the mobsters out of vegas...it was Howard Hughes that did that in the 60's. Buying the casinos at inflated prices was welcomed by the mafia, and they just thought they were getting one over on old Howard. Being the brilliant business man he was, it was actually his intent on reinvesting his money as a way to avoid extra taxation from the government. You accountants and tax lawyers feel free to comment here if this practice is still used;-)
Howard Hughes

Mobster Frank Cullotta

Mobster Bugsy Seigal

Im loving the east coast right now! Last week I was in DC and saw Pharaoh Sanders at Blues Alley. Omg! I almost got thrown out for getting too loud, because he played the John Coltrane song I used to always play on the juke box at the pool hall in Seattle several years ago. I went totally crazy! I think there must be some chemical in our brains that is released when were reintroduced to something we haven't seen or heard in a while. This also happened here in New York when I saw Bullets Over Broadway. They reintroduced songs from the 30's like Yes, we have no Bananas. Of course I went wild for this show too, especially because I was in the second row and could see all the actors expressions so well!