What happens in a cliché, stays in a cliché

September 2, 2009 7:43 PM

Las Vegas. September 23rd. Night time. You. Me. Cortex. Let's do this thing.

cortex and I are in Las Vegas Sept 23-25, he on the cross-country tour (which now has its own site) and me, I'm there for Interbike (fulfilling a childhood dream). I'm busy in the day doing convention stuff and the night of the 24th is the Mobile Social ride, but my 23rd night is free.

I don't think cortex has ever been there, but I've been there many dozens of times but I'm not the biggest fan of Vegas. I know someone can prove me wrong and suggest a cool place to hang out and talk that isn't filled with depressing old people gambling away their retirement while smoking their way into emphysema.

So Las Vegans, tells us where and when, and we'll be there.

posted by mathowie to MetaFilter gatherings at 7:43 PM (37 comments total)

Best callout ever.
posted by iamkimiam at 7:47 PM on September 2 [1 favorite]

Interbike is fun, esp. if you like drinking microbrews and hangin' with dudes with beards. Please write about your experience there!
posted by Mister_A at 7:59 PM on September 2

I know someone can prove me wrong and suggest a cool place to hang out and talk that isn't filled with depressing old people gambling away their retirement while smoking their way into emphysema.

you say that like it's a bad thing.

anyway, i was recently taken here by some locals, you guys would like it, I think.
posted by jonmc at 8:00 PM on September 2

Hell, jon; I want to go there right now, fuck Matt and the other guy.
posted by yhbc at 8:03 PM on September 2

You guys should go see Bite.
posted by shammack at 8:04 PM on September 2

OMG Bite! That's awesome, in the way that Queen of the Damned (the motion picture) was awesome.
posted by Mister_A at 8:07 PM on September 2

holy huge ad for tour de cortex on the right! mine eyes!
posted by NikitaNikita at 8:12 PM on September 2

That huge ad for Cortex's tour has a nice, professional background!

It really clashes.
posted by Pronoiac at 8:22 PM on September 2

Stop by Circus Circus and see Esther. She'll wheeze her life's story away at you, her corneas as yellow as the underside of the thick nail she uses to flick half the cherry off of her Pall Mall, just past that slow leak in the valve on her latest oxygen tank — the ember has a way of glowing a bit brighter before burning out, like your hopes a second prior to yet another bag of mixed fruit coming up on the slot machine. Terrifies the new hires but she seems a little blase about the whole thing. If I were her, I guess I would be, too.
posted by adipocere at 8:37 PM on September 2 [2 favorites]

I killed the placeholder Butts Lol link on the sidebar (it was not a genuine buttslol.com link, natch), so I guess the site is out of beta now.
posted by cortex at 9:02 PM on September 2

Cortex and Mathowie in Vegas?

Either this is the most ingenious reality television show ever, or I'm missing the party of a lifetime.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:44 PM on September 2

Charlie Vegas is a pretty great Thai restaurant on the ass end of the Downtown area. (Well, really, a block or so off the casino exploszion, but it gets emotionally squalid in a hurry.)
posted by klangklangston at 10:38 PM on September 2

I don't live in Vegas but I go there often for groceries. Firefly, recommended on the green once or twice, is one of the few places that doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. Mojitos by the pitcher and yummy tapas woo hoo!
posted by a22lamia at 10:43 PM on September 2

what happens in cortex stays in cortex.
posted by allkindsoftime at 10:55 PM on September 2

I know someone can prove me wrong and suggest a cool place to hang out and talk that isn't filled with depressing old people gambling away their retirement while smoking their way into emphysema.

You don't have to go crazy, just because you're in Las Vegas. Think of your time there as a chance for you and Cortex to practice moderation.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:18 PM on September 2

"We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can."

Someday, I tell myself. Someday.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:43 AM on September 3 [1 favorite]

Attn Cortex: It would be lovely if you could link your itinerary on the meetingmetafilter.com site to the meetup threads.
posted by desjardins at 6:07 AM on September 3

Perhaps if you call out the Cortex Across America Tour like that, his appearances should be listed separately from the other, non-cortex, meetups. I was really wondering how he was going to go from Boston to San Francisco and back to Portland, Maine in the course of two days.
posted by yhbc at 6:11 AM on September 3

Night time. You. Me. Cortex. Let's do this thing.

Very Ocean's Eleven.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:28 AM on September 3

Vegas is a place where millions of suckers fly in every
year on their own nickel, and leave behind about a billion dollars. But
at night, you can't see the desert that surrounds Las Vegas...

But it's in the desert where lots of the town's problems are solved.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:43 AM on September 3

Yeah, desjardins, totally. That is on the to-do list for today.
posted by cortex at 6:57 AM on September 3

Okay, so who's paying my plane fare to Vegas?

Anyone?

Goddammit.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 7:08 AM on September 3

desjardins & cortex: The meetup threads are all linked on the wiki page, if that helps.
posted by Pronoiac at 12:52 PM on September 3

Our favorite hangout when we were living there was the Crown and Anchor on Tropicana. It's far enough off the Strip as to make it virtually invisible to tourists. I don't recall that there is a single slot machine in the place. I do recall that they pour a mean Guinness.
posted by JeffK at 1:28 PM on September 3

Hmm. There's not a single member from Vegas here? I was hoping in the next couple days we could arrange a meetup.
posted by mathowie at 3:45 PM on September 3

I think Moe Green was a member.

Until they put a bullet in his eye.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:33 PM on September 3

It's funny because your dates are around my and NortonDC's wedding anniversary, which means it must also be around jonmc and pip's anniversary (since we were there for our anniversary when they were married in Vegas). Ah, back in the old days NortonDC and I would have considered making a quick flight out for this (mathowie and cortex in the same room!) but alas I can't picture the kiddo in Las Vegas. Dammit!
posted by onlyconnect at 7:04 PM on September 3

While you're there you should avoid other less speakable things (funny).
posted by tellurian at 10:03 PM on September 3

Donmateo and I will make sure we schedule our weekly trip to town for the 23rd if you get something together.
posted by a22lamia at 8:27 AM on September 4

What kind of place are you guys looking to meet up at? Any idea how many folks will be there?

Want something on the Strip, or off-Strip?
posted by Driph at 2:18 PM on September 9

Dunno, not many so far, and no idea!
posted by cortex at 6:21 AM on September 10

Hmm... for an interesting place to chat and have a drink that's not too far from the Strip, but not on the Strip, I recommend the bar at The Artisan. Plenty of room, nice patio out back, quiet enough for conversation, good crowd, and they even stock a few decent absinthes.

'course, make sure you visit the Pinball Hall of Fame sometime during your stay, too.

I've been in Mefi lurker mode for the last decade, but I'm definitely up for joining ya'll on the 23rd.
posted by Driph at 10:49 AM on September 10

SPOILSPORT/CHANGE-OF-PLANS ALERT:

Vegas is off for me.

For not-going-out-of-my-mind reasons, I'm actually going to work in a couple of days in Portland, and this is one of the few practicable spots to make it happen, and we're sort of lacking a coherent Vegas plan so far and Matt has the Interbike stuff going on anyway and, and, and. I hate to bail, but I want to not lose my mind.

I'd love to figure out a more Vegas-specific plan some time and get down there, since I've never been, but this is out for me, so it's up to Matt at this point for the 23-25th.

Sorry!
posted by cortex at 8:55 AM on September 13

Hell, jon; I want to go there right now, fuck Matt and the other guy.

Well, guess you're stuck with just Matt, now.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 5:01 PM on September 13

Bah! Ah well, if Matt and any other folks still want to meet up at the Artisan, I'm down.
posted by Driph at 10:19 AM on September 14

I'm going to be there for Interbike still, but it looks like I'm pretty busy covering the event for Bike Hugger. They're throwing a short ride and party (with tons of free schwag giveaways including a brand new free bike) on Thursday the 24th. There's more info here on the Mobile Social site of theirs. You can sign up on that page then you just show up on a bike, wearing a helmet, ready for a 5-10 mile leisurely tour of Las Vegas.
posted by mathowie at 5:53 PM on September 20

well it's far too late but I live in vegas now
posted by yodelingisfun at 6:35 PM on September 28