A man walks up to the dispatch podium at the old Riviera sometime in 2014 or so and asks if his cell phone has been found. The guard looks the man up and down stares at his face as if strikes a cord in his memory. The man looks like a three day drunk in the midst of a huge hangover half a sleep and longing to not be awake..
“No,” the guard says staring at the computer where the items are logged “but we did find you ID and credit card,” “My ID is missing ?” the man said with a confused smile prying his wallet out of his back pocket where it had been for days. “Oh crap,” he said pointing to the spot where his ID and card had been.
He hadn’t remembered his ID and credit card were missing but even half asleep and hungover after a three day party he realized his phone was missing….Technology and its effects on society is always changing. What we consider sacrosanct today is tomorrows obsolescence. What seems like science fiction today’s is tomorrows fact of life…..

Today, tomorrow and Tuesday or Things change Bro

by Royal Hopper
When I was 15 or so I can remember having a conversation with a conservative with teen about Star trek and the wondrous communicators they talked to each other on. We talked about the wonder of our grandmother’s rotary dial phones that you could kill a rhino with they were so heavy and the wondrous new touch tone land line phones with their array of buttons that would surely be the standard in personal communication for centuries to come.

We talked about the wonders of our parents new VCRs and how nothing would ever replace them and the 9 channel cable deal their friends parents just got for their house or the glory of bell bottom jeans and Ocean Pasific t shirts. We were both nerds from the opposite sides of the social divide and it was mostly bull but ….
After much back and forth about the futility of trying improve the human condition we both reluctantly agreed that had held devices that allowed you to talk across thousands of miles and such similar things were likely centuries away and man kind could do without such things for now and get over all you future freaks live for now…….
Last week I left my cell phone on the charger at home plugged into the front USB port of my computer and quietly inside I lost my mind. Outside I was calm and cool and collected inside I was lost and felt naked and unconnected. I barely use the thing except to talk to my wife and daughter and take pictures but I felt Fng naked without it ….I remember Disco and Punk and bell bottoms and leisure suits and suede jackets and Ocean Pacific. I remember when classic Rock was just Rock. I remember making popcorn on the stove and heating up food in the real oven. I remember the day when VCRs were cool and new. I remember when van Halen wasn’t played on the oldies station I remember making sure I had a pocket full of quarters for the pay phones that were once everywhere…and I felt lost without my cell phone…

One day your phone will be the size of a watch..not linked to a watch mind you just the size of one and the boxy device you keep in your pocket will talk to our colonies on the moon or take pictures of things that happened yesterday.
Nothing is so permanent that it is forever not even the stars……everything man made changes ..everything ..every year until one day the changes are old and it changes again

Thats life in the City of Sin and everwhere else
Love You Sinners take Care

The sky is gray in the desert and you make your daily drive to your mortgage paying endeavor …It gives the gray concrete and neon on the City of sin a rare manic quality as they wonder what to do int he face of these strange gray things dropping water from the sky… This is the desert and we don’t have time for things like weather ..We are to busy chasing our tails 

 It rains in the desert you know or look for what you need not what you want

 

by Royal Hopper
You see a man ..a shaggy bedraggled man in a Guns and Roses T Shirt frowning as he leafs through the contents of a trash dumpster as the drizzle of rain assaults his antiquated but well kept form the cigarette hanging from his lips Nicki Six/Slash/ Keith Richards style bobbing up and down as his search for something intensifies.  Its not the plastic sheeting in the dumpster that he searches for and the rain intensifies and begins to soak him. The very thing that would keep him dry is not what he is looking for….

As the light turned and the flow of traffic moves on out of the corner of your eye you can see the man having a Eureka moment perhaps finding the things he believed but it is not the plastic sheeting that could keep him dry….as the traffic slows you sneak a peek behind you at the man.. He looks disappointed and exasperated and then looks up at the sky as if he has just realized he is being rained on. As he bends down to pick up something ..perhaps the plastic sheeting ..the car behind you pops his horn a little reminding you that this is traffic in the City of Sin and you are on your way to work ….Sighing a little you drive on…

As the weather lightened up homeless camps in the city exploded …with tents popping up on every inch of open land and just as quickly disappearing when it started raining perhaps moving underground or in doors.

As you near the last stretch of road before your workplace you see a homeless camp that was full of tents the week before. They are mostly gone but there is a lone man you see snuggling up next to a fence laying on the bare sandy ground preparing to take a needed nap. He notices the rain which is intensifying but not yet pounding and looks up at the sky..appears to sigh and pull something from the ground over him and go back to snuggling with the fence.
That is the thing about this city. The thing people look the hardest for is not what they really need at the time …They will get soaked to the skin in the rare desert rain storm before they will give up the search for the the thing they want …..
a day and a half later in the morning the wife and you head out of town to go hiking in a National Park. We..you love the city ..but some times you have to get away from it ……That is life in the City of Sin

 

For a brief few days a year Las Vegas is a pleasant calm place you can camp outdoors in
Weather wise anyway ….For a few days its not to hot or cold and there is spring.
Spring in the desert is like ..the neon of the city ..beautiful in small isolated spots ..with occasional splashes of color ..but mostly the same as it always is.
Everyone knows this especially the City’s homeless who take this rare opportunity to camp outdoors until the city’s finest or angry property owners run them off. I drive past a dry plain drainage ditch on my way to work that covers one small corner of the city of Sin. Now that spring is here the tent and sleeping bags have popped up like mushrooms on wet grass almost like a small city. This time of year before the oppressive heat of the desert literally drives them underground they come out in the open….

Spring in this desert is like the neon of its city’s streets . Brightly colored and filled with artificial promise.

By Royal Hopper

You Drive past a ditch an isolated patch of dirt and dust

and spot a sea of places people live when they must
have someplace and have none
Firt you notice a tent surrounded by scraps
of paper, old food , liqour, space blankets and maps
a dog, a crow and a man taking a nap
then you see a sleeping bag laying in the sand
and a bicycle loaded with booty propped up on its stand
a collection of rags flowers and newspapers next to a pack
another tent another bike
a dumpster turned over and the remains of a mike
a comforter and the ground a box of donuts with the donuts all gone
a pillow some dirt and on and on and on
A quarter mile or more in the bottom of the ditch ist sides and top
it has always been it always is so and aint never gonna stop
so just go home and let me say again
This aint a place to begin
This aint Nebraska, Canada or Belgium
This aint Paradise.. Its the City of Sin
Love You Sinners

Sometimes things are not exactly what they seem and sometimes they are..

 

By Royal Hopper 

 

You are pulling out of your driveway headed toward the mortgage paying destination past the International Food and Beer festival you see a car with an advertising banner on the back swerve as you pull into traffic ..He straddles the lane markers as he swerves back and forth like an absent minded ner do well who just cant make up his mind.
This goes on for several blocks until you spy one of Las Vegas finest writing a ticket to an unlucky motorist the swerving Joe as we shall call him suddenly straightens up slows down and drives with an almost painful care before taking the first turn he sees and carefully driving away from the police officer and the big stadium full of beer drinkers and food lovers.

Now it could be the driver from this car is new town and was just checking his map while he was swerving from lane to lane unable to decipher which was his turn was.

Or it could be he had such an immense respect for police officers he immediately slowed down so he could wave as he passed by and found his lane and drove straight to maintain his steady wave as he drove. Or he was drunk as a proverbial skunk. Stoned out of his freaking gourde or tripping hard on artificial joy. It could be that he drank many beers and the Beer festival and was spiking a 3.0 breathalyzer as he made his way back to his friends nearby apartment and away from one of Las Vegas finest while he was to busy writing a ticket to notice this driver was in major DUI territory.

You see a man fairly well dressed sifting through a collection of free drink and dinner coupons in a local casino. He doesnt smell. His clothes are new and his shoes unscuffed and freshly polished. His eyes clear and he carries himself like he belongs. Probably middle class and certainly not homeless. The man shuffles his feet uncomfortably and averts his eyes from your gaze. Then he spots a convention goer gift bag with some edibles and sundries and he snags it seeming to know security isn’t going to sweat a free give away bag laying on the floor on a busy night. He shrugs as you pick up another a few feet away and hand it to him as if to say “dude you have no idea the day I have had.”
Maybe he is part of a charity scavenger hunt and free stuff is on his to do list or maybe he is from some innocent land where there are no free give aways and he is so fasinated with it he has to take one home. Or maybe he has gambled away his vacation money and is trying to scrape together enough for lunch so he can use his last $20 for cab fair to the airport on his way home.

Las Vegas is what it is ..Neither Dark nor light ..Just force and money and alcohol ..fantasy and reputation…..
We have said it before but it bears repeating as we approach the spring of this new year. The City does not make your demons. It merely lets them out. Gives them sanctuary …Calls them to action _ however you want to put it . The City of Sin is a lot of things but it is not an aberation. It is us..set free of pretense ..of social camoflogue and social uniforms
It is the hangover you feel after drinking five shots all the while knowing you were past your limit at three ….It is the guilt you feel when you meet a girl named after a desert and are certain she is really into your old ass and wake up in a hotel room with most of your stuff missing and all your vacation money. Dude she half your age … and out of your league. You should have known better.

It is the guilt you feel when you have spent all you mad money and have to scrounge gift bags like a panhandler to eat lunch.

If you have a gambling problem dont come to this city genius or dont gamble more than you can afford not even a penny. If you have a drinking problem either stay home or stick to stick to coffee and tea. If you are a couple having problems for F@@ks sake dont come here. Millions of peopel come here every year have a good time and go home intact be one of them.
Sometimes life in the City of Sin..is eaxctly what it is
Love you Sinners
Take Care