On the Return of Brave Odysseus

The Trip
I've been wanting to get away to some place that seems far away. Far away itself is just more than I wanted to deal with at the moment. The convenient moment arrived when I found out that Graham Nash and David Crosby were going to be at the Borgata.

Traffic unremarkable.

The view of Atlantic City just plain bizarre. You have to know where you're going, you can just meander around. And I could find no easy way to get to the ocean. Honestly.

The Hotel/Casino
RCW speaks highly of casinos. I like the fact that it's a little like Disney World - while you're there, you can completely forget the fact that the outside world exists, which is what I wanted. Even for just 24 hours.

I was going to try for two nights, but Saturday night would have cost a modest $400.

I liked that everything was scrupulously clean.

I didn't like the uniforms the cocktail waitresses had to wear. I know, I'm a fat old hippie chick, but casinos are definitely a man's world. And apparently, a man will pay to have some pretty young thing lean over to hand him a beer and show him her ta-tas. I should send Tinkerbell an email. I think she's missed her calling.

I also didn't like that the AC casinos are the only place in Jersey where it's still legal to smoke inside. They do a great job of ventilating it, but when someone's blowing smoke right in your face, it's hard to ignore.

I did like the restaurants. The food was great. The seating was really weird. Having been a singleton for a decade now, I've kept an eye out on seating arrangements when I go out to eat. I try not to go during the busy hours. I bring a book along with me. These days, it's my phone with Kindle on it. But I ended up in some very odd seating arrangements during this trip.

I went to "Noodles of the World" (NOW) for lunch and a beer. It was good. It did not rock my world.

I went to Bobby Flay's Steakhouse. This definitely rocked my world. I had the spice rub filet mignon and it was perfect. Uber delicious.

I went to The Metropolitan for breakfast this morning and fell in love with the waitress. When I rolled in, I said, "Coffee, lots of it, keep it coming." The coffee maker in my room ne marche pas. Cough. It may, um, have been operator error. Anyway, the coffee was great. So was the fresh-squeezed orange juice and the eggs benedict were absolutely perfect. I had also stumbled into The Metropolitan for gin and tonic. Very refreshing.

So - food was great. But just about everything about the restaurants was designed for two people.

In Which I Don't Get It
I avoided the casino. I know. It's crazy. But I already have puh-lenty of vices without added to them.

My family tends to run toward addictions and I just didn't want to add another one to the very long list.

I'm actually scared of gambling. I came to realize that this weekend. It just downright freaks me out. Plus I don't understand it. What do you get for your money? There seems to be no skill involved. The only thing I was interested in, even remotely, was baccarat and I couldn't find the table. Then again, I didn't look hard.

Yeah. I realize now that gambling scares the hell out of me. So I avoid it.

The Old Angels Sing
My God, these guys are old. It cracked me up that there were advertisements for a Peter Frampton concert featuring this photo:


So imagine everyone's surprise when this is the person who will show up on stage:
Granted, it's only been, what? Thirty-five years between the two pictures.

Crosby and Nash may not be able to sing the high notes anymore, but they still sing like angels.

There was very little in the way of repartee, although Crosby told a good story that will be called "Never Bet With An Englishman".

It goes like this:

"You know, you sing these lyrics so many times, you just start goofing around with them. Like in Stephen's (Stills) 'Find the Cost of Freedom'. Instead of 'the cost of freedom', sometimes when you practice you sing things like 'Find the Coast of Sweden'. And in 'Our House', 'has a very, very, very fine mouse', stuff like that. One show we were playing, we did 'Cost of Freedom' and Nash here comes up to me and says, 'Man, you sang 'Find the Coast of Sweden!' And I said I didn't and it went on until I said, 'I will be you a thousand dollars I didn't sing about Sweden. Well, we were recording that night. And the fucker has the check framed on the wall. Don't bet against an Englishman."

Nash hopped around a lot and Crosby stood as a stone wall. Quite the eminence gris. Graham Nash is 70 years old.

Oh, my God. We're all old.

The kitties did not miss me.

Dylan did. Sophie did, but only because she wanted canned food. I didn't miss home while I was gone. I spent the afternoon in my hotel room just because I could be completely alone.

Now. I need more coffee. And the great world spins on.