Carlsbad Art and Culture

Tired tourist and disgruntled employees meander through the brightly colored hallways of the many themed casinos of Vegas. The fake sounds of winning jackpots seduce each new wave of eager gamblers. Women in short skirts waddle up and down the narrow walkways, bouncing off each drunk like a pinball who has had one too many knocks. A smile is as rare as a row of lucky sevens and a tip is given only when you are on top. As your wallet shrinks, your bladder aches and you eyes burn, the seldom seen sun dips below the dominating glow of the strip. At any given hour, the pulsating casino rooms are alive with chaos and mopey patrons. Happy is a word rarely used and hour is just another nickel dropped into an unforgiving machine. Along with smoke and the stench of booze soaked carpet, heavy eyed addicts overflow into the streets in-route for their next fix. A variety of themes loom over the strip using super deals and mimicked cultural gimmicks. The Bellagio boasts its ceramics by Picasso and the Venetian’s Grand Canal snakes around the priceless collection of the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum. Paris showcases the Eiffel Tower and Caesar’s Palace gets historical with the Arc de Triomphe. New York, New York replicates the tiny cafes and restaurants of city life along with reproducing NY’s cityscape and Statue of Liberty while real live lions tear plastic bones and bounce punctured balls at The Mirage. Each casino is surrounded by those of the side streets who force porn into your hands like the young kids slanging chicle in the streets of TJ.

Priceless art hangs in the casinos, but the real art lives in the streets, works in the bars and drives the taxis. Each local performs their daily routine with dreadful anxiety. Nothing is candy-coated, seen in the homeless with “why lie, I need beer” signs and escort ladies with beaded Rockstar slogans on the back of their jean jackets. The pain and hardship of Vegas explodes in your face like the emotional struggle of a Van Gogh painting.

My goal of observing the true emotion of the strip, finding a Van Gogh painting and experiencing Cirque du Soleil’s LOVE theatrical show was completed by the third day. Vegas is a trip!