You're So Money

Ladies & Gentlemen,

I submit for your approval the assertion that Vegas is dying a hipster death. It is as if every sojourner to the city has decided they are Vince Vaughn playing out their role in Swingers. And it is some off Broadway acting if I must say. I am talking to you sir, the man in the Ben Sherman shirt that is left un-tucked; I know you came to Vegas to drink with your buddies and meet ladies but must you accomplish this goal with so little effort at authenticity and decorum?
There is a reason the service has gone down in the town and it is because swarms of cheap thrill seekers are inundating restaurants of a fine reputation and running service staff ragged. The expectation that the clientele will be hip restaurant pro's has been abandoned and thus the industry's willingness to offer a higher level of service has gone with it.
Ladies, don't think I have forgotten about you. Must you look like a lady of the night? It's like Vegas is the equivalent of Halloween and everyone can dress as something as long as it's inappropriate level reaches costume proportions. I am a fan of flesh and the allure of a sexy dresser but I have seen some of the cocktail servers and showgirls look classier and well put together, and at least they are getting tipped!
I hate to sound like some old termagant, railing on about the decline of an empire and the good old days, and I am sure some of you will be thinking "The lady doth protest too much", but I simply long for the days when Sin City wasn't jaded by the pursuit of Sin. In fact the pursuit was just as enjoyable as the attainment of it. Now we have muddled the equation, money+booze+sex= a Vegas weekend. Somewhere along the way we lost the nuances of this formula, somewhere in there elements of refinement must mingle with the baser aims.
I love Vegas, I suspect I always will, and I know that it will always draw elements of a darker nature and can accept that but as Camus says of man in revolt, "only so much, only to this point, and no more."
For now I must stroll the streets of Sin City sifting my way through the base to find the divine. I was recently rejuvenated when Tom Jones sang "Sex Pot" while gyrating his 68 year old limbs at his show and then introduced and aging but iconic Tony Curtis as his guest for the evening. A little taste of the Vegas of yore was enough to redeem me. I suspect I will have navigate the city by walking around and kicking away the tasteless elements of Vegas just as I do the naked escort leaflets that litter its streets.

~D