Real Music & Real Estate . . .

Yiddishe Cup’s bandleader, Bert Stratton, is Klezmer Guy.
 

He knows about the band biz and – check this out – the real estate biz, too.
 

You may not care about the real estate biz. Hey, you may not care about the band biz. (See you.)
 

This is a blog with a gamy twist. It features tenants with snakes and skunks, and musicians with smoked fish in their pockets.
 

Stratton has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post.


 
 

BEST SHOW IN VEGAS

by Bert Stratton


I was back from Las Vegas, attending a Shaker Heights brunch.  Several people asked, “Did you play?”

Did Yiddishe Cup play Vegas?

I wish Yiddishe Cup had played Vegas.

I had been in Las Vegas on vacation with my wife, Alice, and older son, Teddy.   I had played blackjack.

Monaco Motel, Vegas, 1962. Stayed there w/ my parents and sister. Caught Red Skelton's show at the Sands.

Monaco Motel. The Strattons stayed here in '62. Caught Red Skelton at the Sands nearby.

That was my second trip to Vegas. My first trip was in 1962, when a Vegas waitress predicted I (then-12 years old) would return to Nevada for my honeymoon.  That waitress was very wrong.

I prefer outdoorsy vacations.

On my latest trip I won $7.50 at blackjack at the Jokers Wild, then quit.  I could hardly breathe in the Jokers Wild –- or in any other Nevada casino — because of the cigarette smoke.  I hung around the casino parking lot, waiting for Teddy and Alice to finish up.

My favorite Las Vegas attraction is the Red Rock Canyon, which is similar to Zion National Park, but only 17 miles from Vegas.

The Red Rock performs daily in an original revue that is F’n Crazy!   Be a Part of  It!  Best Show in Vegas for the Past 900 Years!

***

Scouting locations for a Las Vegas School of Klezmer

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5 comments

1 Kenny G { 12.28.11 at 10:38 am }

Did you have a car there? We’ve gone back and forth about ever going to that city. Next bigger trip probably will be New Orleans. I’ve been waiting for the huge rebuilding to reach a certain point, and I think the time has come. Supposed to be lots and lots of creative, exciting new architecture there now. Whole book about it.

2 Garry Kanter { 12.28.11 at 11:56 am }

Great pool pic!

3 Bert { 12.28.11 at 2:25 pm }

To Kenny G:

Yes, we had a rental car.

4 Kenny G { 12.29.11 at 8:08 am }

If we ever go, total emphasis would be on dramatic architecture, shopping, entertainment, and restaurants, with some Jewish life thrown in. Casino or other gambling ventures? Probably not.

5 B Katz { 01.04.12 at 10:02 am }

On a trip to Vegas for a conference a few years back, I made a point of getting out of town to mountain bike each day.

Near one of the trails was Red Rock Canyon. I only drove the 14-mile one-way loop, but figured that if I ever get back to Vegas again, that’s the first place I’m going. Only this time to ride. It really is spectacular in every sense of the word.

Also worth getting out of town for is Boulder City. Erected out of the desert in the 30s, to house workers building the Hoover Dam, it has some neat trails thru the surrounding back country and an interesting history.

Another interesting site was the acres and acres of then-new housing that stretched out into the desert on the way out of town. I still remember the flag-festooned sales offices that fronted each development.

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