By Royal

 Think about the City of Sin inundated with waves of pony tailed marijuana fans, T-shirt salesman hocking shirts bearing iconic portraits of world leaders, people shucking and jiving for money, shoving their resumes in people faces and important people rallying their troops for an  barrage of upcoming November battles.
That’s exactly what happened this week as Clark County’s ( that the county where Las Vegas is) version of the democratic convention. 
“End our Calamitous War on Drugs Re-legalize Hemp to Create Jobs Fund Gifted Education Fully Support Our Veterans,” read one sign posted in the Convention Hall on behalf of congressional candidate Stephen Frye.
While Beau Biden ( a military vet) wowed the democratic crowd with a warnings about how the role of government in this nation will be shaped by the next election Las Vegas continued to be Las Vegas.

The Vegas Dilemma Beer Versus Light Beer photo RM Hopper

 

In Vegas all things cheesy and out of date, naked and/or drunk are not looked down upon. In the city that gave you Metal Elvis, Karate Elvis,  Asian Elvis and Impressionist Elvis ( I kid you not) the same city which gave you burlesque Pirates, phony volcanoes and streets full of cartoon characters, the same city where old acts go to die (just ask Andrew Dice Clay)  people who live in the past are celebrated, cheered and even admired.
So in light of this I have something to say to the gentleman who came to Vegas rocking that late 70s stoner chic look, salt and pepper pony tail, stoner T-shirt, bell bottoms and all.
“While pony tails and bell bottoms don’t go with gray hair, seriously dude as someone who had 17 Ocean Pacific T-shirt as a teen including a purple one the seriously don’t) Rock on 70s stoner dude…”
When I was 17-years-of age lots of guys had long hair feathered in the sides and often wore Ocean Pacific T-shirts long bell bottoms blue leans, pony tails and manly looking 70s style mustaches and flip flops, but I haven’t been 17 for 33 years and the look is over my friend trust me. That being said if that is how you Roll and more importantly how you roll then I say again Rock on 70s Rocker dude ( actually I was never really a stoner my parents were strict and my old man ran the best scary strict dad routine on the Gulf Coast.)
There is an old saying in Las Vegas I may have had some part in beginning (okay maybe its not that old) Lots of people here talk to themselves its not a big deal. The problem comes when you answer yourself especially if you answer yourself in a different voice like the gentleman I saw walking down Flamingo Road in Sin City this week. He was having a hell of an argument with some invisible friend or another and from the looks of it the invisible friends was winning the argument, of course he could have been a really scruffy badly dressed  ghost whisperer with a stubborn ghostly client but I kind of doubt it. Or another very young attractive woman who among other things stood in the lobby of a local hotel giving directions to people who hadn’t asked for them and who weren’t going in that particular direction.  
Along that same vein I have noticed yet another trend in couples more specifically when same friends go out there is trend for one to be dressed to the nines and the other to look what might be generously described as frumpy.  Guys sometimes call this the wingman theory. Perhaps the theory is that if one of them looks sharp dressed and the other looks like a six year old on his first sleepover the sharp looking one may score as the guys in my generation put it.
Of course this belies the fact that you see many female friend couples dressed in the same paradigm. I wonder if this paradigm applies to those people like the gentleman above who have conversations with imaginary friends. Is the imaginary friend better dressed than their frumpier more tangible buddies.

 

The afternoon commute home from the City of Sin because its cool

and this is my blog. Photos by Royal

Ah well we can only assume that somewhere in the far flung future some far wiser, far more famous and better dressed pop philosopher will provide the long awaited answer to this riveting question.

Such is life in the City of Sin

Til Next Week

Take Care