. . . of Black Friday — today was also Record Store Day, on which record companies release limited edition vinyl discs to independent record stores exclusively. I snagged this 7-inch edition of “Duquesne Whistle”.
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Track by track commentaries on one of the greatest of all Dylan albums, one of the greatest of all albums by anybody:
O, Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fidelis)
. . . was a great success. The turkey took about two hours longer to cook than it was supposed to, but emerged from the oven a thing of beauty.
The rest of the meal was fine, too — Jae’s garlic mashed potatoes, the chorizo stuffing, some peas, a store-bought but excellent pumpkin pie, and way too much Beaujolais Nouveau.
I crashed immediately after the pie — Jae went off to join a poker tournament and afterwards stayed up all night gambling. Youth in action, while old age dozes — comme il faut.
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. . . featuring the saddest man in Las Vegas.
Shopping for the Thanksgiving feast completed, Jae and I headed to The Strip.
Dinner first on the terrace at Mon Ami Gabi.
Yes, that is a bottle of Tavel on the table in front of me, to go with our oysters, mussels and sea scallops.
Then it was off to Bill’s Casino for a poker tournament. Note the hopeful gleam in my eye in the picture above, as we waited for the tournament to begin. Jae got knocked out early, holding two pair and getting his massive bets called by a guy on a flush draw, who put Jae all-in on the turn. He made his flush on the river.
I reached the final table and got knocked out in fourth place. Only the top three places paid, making me, officially, the saddest man in Las Vegas.
You can see in the picture above that I’m holding up manfully after the devastating loss — I got knocked out by a woman from Kansas who only plays in a home game with her lady friends. On my last hand, down to just a few chips, I went all-in with a pair of fives. She called me with a pair of queens, which held up. Oh, those ladies!
Jae meanwhile had wandered around the casino playing recklessly at various table games — and winning. He left $70 up for the night — I left $30 down. That’s Las Vegas, brother.
Click on the images to enlarge.