It's the middle of February in 1962 and my brother and I have made it to
Las Vegas, that wide-open town of gambling and show stars. We had heard
a lot about it and seen it featured in Hollywood movies. But to
actually get here and see it in real life...wow!
We had undertaken a one month odyssey to travel in the U.S.A. My brother and I both had saved up money and we were allowed time off from work sans pay. We traveled at a time when winter travel in the U.S. was just starting up. The places we saw and visited without the usual hordes of today was both enlightening and exciting.
Las Vegas at that time had a population of about 25 000 people and the famous strip was just being built onto. Downtown where we got a motel room for 2 nights for $25 was right next to the heart of downtown Las Vegas on Fremont Street and the Golden Nugget, Frontier, Fortune Club, The Pioneer, Monte Carlo, Sal Sagev Hotel, Horseshoe, Apache Hotel, Boulder Club, Las Vegas Club and the 1942 Union Pacific train depot.
The Strip then was a mere segment of today's Strip. Main attractions were the Dunes Hotel-Casino, the Royal Nevada, the Riviera, the Hacienda, and of course, the Sands. The Dunes was topped by a fiberglass statue of a sultan.
We were fortunate enough to get to see a show in the Copacabana Room of the Sands hotel featuring the Singing Rage, Miss Patti Page. Our tickets were about $5 each plus the cost of the meal.
The Copa stage looked out over a dining area of two levels that seated about 500 people. We were on the raised level so we were looking slightly down at the stage. I don't remember much about the meal but I do remember when the lights went down and an announcer introduced "that Singing Rage, Miss Patti Page"!
In the course of her remarkable recording career, Patti Page had sold approximately 100 million plus records, making her one of the biggest, if not the biggest selling female recording artist in history. She had 15 certified gold records and her recording of 'Tennessee Waltz', at ten million sold, remains, the biggest selling single ever recorded by a female artist.
She had charted a staggering 111 hits on pop, country and r&b charts ('Tennessee Waltz' was # 1 concurrently on all three charts), a feat no other artist in recording history could claim! Patti is probably remembered most for the multi-million record seller '(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window'.
The lady that was on stage in the spotlight was not singing about doggies in the window. She was dressed in a beautiful white sequined strapless gown and she proceeded to sing some her most beautiful songs. With the invention of the cordless mike she could move from the stage which she did as she strolled through the supper tables and sang her songs of love. Two of my favorite songs were Allegheny Moon and the Tennessee Waltz.
Then she looked up at the second level and said she hadn't forgot about us . As she ascended the few steps to our level, she started to sing, "Let Me Go, Lover!" Now I don't know if I give off some sort of aura but I am usually targeted by people in public places when they want someone captive while they perform. She made straight for me and sat in my lap and put her arm around me as she sang and looked directly at my eyes with hers. The spotlight was on us as were 1000 other eyes and I know that you have heard of 50 shades of gray. Well, I was 50 shades of red and yet, I was so glad that one of my all-time singing idols was singing to me, a recent farmboy from the sticks of Saskatchewan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbSEalRBHQc
Flash forward about 30 years and my family and I are in Valleyfair near the Twin Cities and we enjoying all the rides and attractions. We went to see a performance in an old style saloon. Now I had been warned by a friend who also seems to be targeted as I am, that the singer does single people out to sing to as it had happened to him.
Thus forewarned I found a table near the back of the "dancehall" where we could still enjoy the show but not be in any way too close to the action. All went well until the closing number when the lead singer started singing as she strolled directly to the back and singled my table out. She plopped herself onto my lap and started running her fingers through my hair and caressing my cheeks as she sang a torrid love song to me. Again I turned at least 50 shades of red. As she finished she leaned over and gave a kiss on the cheek and quietly and off-mike thanked me for being a good sport.
Now when I go to any type of event, I just hope that that bulls-eye painted on me isn't too obvious and that if I am again "cut out of the herd" to be part of the show, I will be a good sport about it!
We had undertaken a one month odyssey to travel in the U.S.A. My brother and I both had saved up money and we were allowed time off from work sans pay. We traveled at a time when winter travel in the U.S. was just starting up. The places we saw and visited without the usual hordes of today was both enlightening and exciting.
Las Vegas at that time had a population of about 25 000 people and the famous strip was just being built onto. Downtown where we got a motel room for 2 nights for $25 was right next to the heart of downtown Las Vegas on Fremont Street and the Golden Nugget, Frontier, Fortune Club, The Pioneer, Monte Carlo, Sal Sagev Hotel, Horseshoe, Apache Hotel, Boulder Club, Las Vegas Club and the 1942 Union Pacific train depot.
The Strip then was a mere segment of today's Strip. Main attractions were the Dunes Hotel-Casino, the Royal Nevada, the Riviera, the Hacienda, and of course, the Sands. The Dunes was topped by a fiberglass statue of a sultan.
We were fortunate enough to get to see a show in the Copacabana Room of the Sands hotel featuring the Singing Rage, Miss Patti Page. Our tickets were about $5 each plus the cost of the meal.
The Copa stage looked out over a dining area of two levels that seated about 500 people. We were on the raised level so we were looking slightly down at the stage. I don't remember much about the meal but I do remember when the lights went down and an announcer introduced "that Singing Rage, Miss Patti Page"!
In the course of her remarkable recording career, Patti Page had sold approximately 100 million plus records, making her one of the biggest, if not the biggest selling female recording artist in history. She had 15 certified gold records and her recording of 'Tennessee Waltz', at ten million sold, remains, the biggest selling single ever recorded by a female artist.
She had charted a staggering 111 hits on pop, country and r&b charts ('Tennessee Waltz' was # 1 concurrently on all three charts), a feat no other artist in recording history could claim! Patti is probably remembered most for the multi-million record seller '(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window'.
The lady that was on stage in the spotlight was not singing about doggies in the window. She was dressed in a beautiful white sequined strapless gown and she proceeded to sing some her most beautiful songs. With the invention of the cordless mike she could move from the stage which she did as she strolled through the supper tables and sang her songs of love. Two of my favorite songs were Allegheny Moon and the Tennessee Waltz.
Then she looked up at the second level and said she hadn't forgot about us . As she ascended the few steps to our level, she started to sing, "Let Me Go, Lover!" Now I don't know if I give off some sort of aura but I am usually targeted by people in public places when they want someone captive while they perform. She made straight for me and sat in my lap and put her arm around me as she sang and looked directly at my eyes with hers. The spotlight was on us as were 1000 other eyes and I know that you have heard of 50 shades of gray. Well, I was 50 shades of red and yet, I was so glad that one of my all-time singing idols was singing to me, a recent farmboy from the sticks of Saskatchewan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbSEalRBHQc
Flash forward about 30 years and my family and I are in Valleyfair near the Twin Cities and we enjoying all the rides and attractions. We went to see a performance in an old style saloon. Now I had been warned by a friend who also seems to be targeted as I am, that the singer does single people out to sing to as it had happened to him.
Thus forewarned I found a table near the back of the "dancehall" where we could still enjoy the show but not be in any way too close to the action. All went well until the closing number when the lead singer started singing as she strolled directly to the back and singled my table out. She plopped herself onto my lap and started running her fingers through my hair and caressing my cheeks as she sang a torrid love song to me. Again I turned at least 50 shades of red. As she finished she leaned over and gave a kiss on the cheek and quietly and off-mike thanked me for being a good sport.
Now when I go to any type of event, I just hope that that bulls-eye painted on me isn't too obvious and that if I am again "cut out of the herd" to be part of the show, I will be a good sport about it!
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