My Vegas Playlist . . .

In between Vegas planning right now . . . the trip is all set (Jan. 21st), plane tics purchased, hotel figured out (Encore) . . . it'll probably be a couple more weeks before the final details (dinner reservations) are hammered out.

So, being the ADD person I am, instead of working on something productive, I instead tried to hammer out a playlist that I could imagine listening to when I'm in Vegas in January.  My only qualifier for a song was that it had to make me believe I was in Vegas . . . evoke some kind of imagery.


If you have any good suggestions (beyond the traditional songs), leave me a comment or e-mail me:

The List:


'Pursuit of Happiness' by Kid Cudi . . . this song wigs me out . . . . I close my eyes and the beginning of the song makes me think I've just sat down in some insane limo . . . then quickly it switches me to standing with my face plastered against my hotel room window, eyes staring off listessly at the glittering lights . . . then it makes me almost weep . . . as I stand emptyhanded at a video poker machine, having just lost my last $100 and realizing I don't even have enough cash to catch a cab to the airport . . . but then I hang in with the song and I'm moving in slow motion, running, screaming, crazed that I just pulled off the biggest win of my life . . . I like songs like this . . .

'Sometime Around Midnight' by The Airborne Toxic Event . . . this song starts me off in the middle of some sort of "Friday Night Lights" setting . . . riding through West Texas in my beater pickup truck . . . . my old dog Rufus snoozing at my side . . . having just been dumped by my old lady and on my way to Vegas to blow every last dollar that I have so she doesn't get it . . . and then the rest of the song has me at some real Vegas dives . . . drunk . . . really drunk . . . but somewhat satisfied that I'm not so angry anymore.

'The All Spark' by Steve Jablonsky from The Transformers soundrack . . . If you've read any of my trip reports, you might see where I'm coming from on this one.  Cue this song . . . I'm sitting in the middle of the Mirage casino . . . . it's darker than usual . . . 2 a.m. . . . nobody really around except that tiny little Chinese lady who looks like she's cleaning up cigarettes . . . my head is bobbing up and down from exhaustion . . . .I'm down $4k . . . I only have $400 left . . . . so I stuff it all into a video poker machine . . . I take a deep breath . . . and bam, just as this music crescendos, the machine blinks at me.  With real eyes.  No shit.


"Just Breathe" by Pearl Jam . . . this song plays as I'm sitting in my room, counting up the money won from the day's events.  Glass of red wine and plate of animal crackers sit on the couch . . . and as I finish counting the money I call down for a taxi and take the red-eye out of town so I can get home early.

"Straight Line" by Clear Conscience . . . strip club . . . that's all I can say.


"Crunch" by Yes King . . . a good song that I would like to play as I enter some dump casino like the Riv, Circus Circus or Tropicana.  Let's inject some fun into this place kind of song.


"Thrash Unreal" by Against Me! . . . this song is one that should definitely play as I run through McCarren just after being unleashed from the plane . . . if, while running, I could light my hair on fire without lasting damage I think that would be cool too and fits with this song.

"Deeper Shade of Soul" by Urban Dance Squad . . . I'm moving like gooey syrup through the high limit room, off my rocker from accidentally doing shots of absinthe and red bull . . . I know that if I stop and sit down I will boot.  So I keep moving.


"Anagram" by Dousk . . . outside at Country Club . . . sunset . . . plate of fries . . . half finished pale ale . . . the whisper of promise in the air . . .

Main Song from Last of the Mohicans . . . Whale Jo and Jaco enter the main pit at Wynn . . . Whale Jo nods to Jaco as he slides into an open seat at the $100 min. BJ table . . . Jaco acknowledges with a point of the finger and strides towards the cage where he dumps off three bumblebee chips and takes the cash right at an open Wizard of Oz machine . . .


"Sound of Madness" by Shinedown . . .this song is playing in my head as I ride the elevator down to the casino . . . I'm coming off a four hour nap and have been on an increidble gambling run for two days straight . . . I clench my fist and sucker punch the elevator floor buttons . . . ooops.

4 comments:

Bruce said...

Hey Jaco - quite an interesting list. I love music and had to lookup a few of these bands. I don't think the TA crew is going to have much input here :-)
One song I love actually about Vegas is Little Bribes by Death Cab for Cutie. It's kind of something you'd be tapping your beer bottle to the first evening in Vegas when you're sitting at the bar in the casino waiting for the crew to all get together for dinner. Check it out.
Bruce

Jaco said...

Great band - have that song on my iPod - spot on pick.

Keep 'em coming folks - got some good e-mails with songs/artists I've never heard of and now am totally tuned into them - maybe I'll publish a reader list here in a few days.

Here's one I just can't get out of my head:

"We Are Rockstars" by Does It Offend You, Yeah? CRACKED OUT music that I've definitely heard in my head at 2 a.m. trying to stop playing slots . . . check it out.

Andy said...

I skimmed through the playlist a while back but didn't recognize anything right away...but upon second glance I see and old classic that's not so well-known: Urban Dance Squad. Nice! I love the first 30 seconds to this song especially...

bagadonutz said...

Good tunes. I will suggest - "When My Time Comes" by Dawes. Here's a line from the song - "you can judge all the world on the sparkle that you think it lacks.
Yes you can stare into the abyss, but it's staring right back."

Stumbled on your blog from TA - I read some of your blog posts from vegas and realized I read some of them a couple of years ago - I laughed so hard I had to print them out and carry them around at work.

I'll be in vegas same time as you Jan 22 - 26. Let me buy you a drink!