Our experience at the Grand Canyon was amazing. After another visit later in the day with the whole crew awake, we hit the road for Vegas. The band was looking forward to making our 2nd appearance in Sin City. All the kids at the Las Vegas Jam Band Society showed up at our last gig, and the night was awesome. This time around, the LVJBS actually put on the show, and we knew they rolled strong, so we were all feeling optimistic about the night.
Before the show, Mike, Colin and I were in the bar section of the club playing video poker and the bartender behind the bar was mixing up drinks like a pro. She's a bartender in Vegas… I guess she was a pro in the truest sense now that I think about it. Anyway, her buddy was sitting across the bar and next to us. She finished mixing a drink, and took a quick sip and exclaimed to him “Ahh, now that’s a fucking drink” The emphatic claim peaked my interest, and I asked her what it was. She explained that the drink is a Nigroni, and that it’s a “bartender’s drink”. I asked her for one, and she started pouring. The drink is equal parts gin, campari and sweet vermouth on the rocks… with an orange twist garnish if you’re fancy. Fortunately, gin is my booze of choice, and my go-to is a gin and tonic when opt for the hard stuff. I took my first sip of my first Nigroni, and I instantly knew it was my new fave. I enjoyed Nigronis for the rest of my time in Vegas, and have found myself ordering them when I am at a cocktail impasse ever since. It beats the hell out of asking for Jack and Cokes like everyone else on the planet.
With the West Coast on the horizon for hi8us, we packed up once again and lingered a little bit longer with our awesome crew of friends from Vegas. The night was definitely an emotional boost for us, and made after hours at the motel tons of fun. We were really starting to feel that vibe of being a band on the road at this point. We all had our tour legs under us, and our playing was really evolving into this tight little music machine again… we could all sense it. I had aspirations of doing some late night gambling that night, but it never happened. I recall Mike and me ending up on the couch with Travelly as the sun was coming up. We were eating a bag of those fluorescent colored mustard pretzel things that taste like heaven when you are banged up and we were washing them down with Torpedo IPAs. This all went down while half watching Marky Mark in his role as the frontman for Steel Dragon in the movie Rock Star. The irony was perfect.
jim
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