What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas

After San Francisco, I had to wake up early to catch the first flight over to Vegas. Why? Because I was going to go see Kylie again! She was performing at Caesar's Palace and I had Row 7 seats! What!

Why don't I go to Vegas more often? I know people who go four times a year or more. This would be only my second time in Sin City. I stayed at the very central, but smoke-smelling Harrah's hotel on the strip.



It was convenient because Caesar's was right across the street, which of course in Vegas means it would take me about half an hour to get to. It's because everything there is so much larger than life. You'll see your hotel down the street and be like, "Oh it's just right over there!" Two hours later, you're still walking towards it.

Anyway, I met up with Philip and Ambrose who picked me up from the airport. The weather was sunny and hot and amazing. We hit up Serendipity first for lunch and frozen hot chocolates all around! Then I checked in, got myself together, and met up again for a pre-Kylie drink at their hotel, Trump Tower.



Yeah, their hotel was complete luxury. Their one bedroom suite was absolutely fabulous. But it would've most likely been wasted on me since I didn't spend much time in my $40/night room anyway. We had some champagne and then headed out to eat dinner at Mesa Grill. I had veal, yes I admit it. It was good, too. As was the wine, which got us all in the mood for Kylie, not that we weren't to begin with.

I was excited about this show because I got to SIT DOWN if I wanted to! Unlike the San Francisco show, I had plenty of room to move and dance around and to sit and rest if I needed. However, I didn't take advantage of it all too much since I was busy jumping up and down and screaming like a lunatic for more Kylie!!

It truly was a beautiful show. I can't wait to see the broadcast of it in a few weeks' time!

After the concert I met up with Dave and Vince, whom you might remember I went with to the Kylie show in San Fran. They too were in Vegas catching her for a second time. We wound up at a gay bar called Krave, where the dancefloor was packed. We were all gunned by this point, and when Dave disappeared, that's when Vince and I decided to bolt and make our way to Revolution, another gay club over at the Mirage.
Once inside there, we found ourselves dancing next to none other than Ke$ha!!



Okay, fine, she was behind a roped off area, but we were dancing beside the rope! Right!?

I ended up getting home around 3 or 4am, I really don't remember. It's not so bad, since I know someone else who was there ended up in a FOUR-WAY and didn't get back to his hotel until 8am. So, there's that.

I didn't sin quite as hard as that, but I did sin when it came to food. The next day all I could think about was eating at Thomas Keller's restaurant, Bouchon. I'm not sure why I was so obsessed with it. But I stopped off at the Bouchon Bakery and picked up some sandwiches for lunch, and omfg, they were delicious. I think it was mainly due to their in-house made bread. Wow, I am having continuous dreams about this sandwich!

We then hit the Fashion Show Mall, which I had not been to before. There were no real deals there as it's more high end and full of fancy shops, but we made up for all that when we hit up the outlet stores just outside of the strip. Loved it there!



For dinner, Philip picked out an izakaya spot. Leave it to him to find a good izakaya restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada. Who knew? Ichiza turned out to be a plethora of delicious dishes and treats. It's located in Vegas' little Chinatown, or as my cousin who lives in Vegas calls it, China Block, since it's barely a block long.



I had a few too many sips of the sake, because when I parted ways with them to head to the Cirque du Soleil show, Love, I was feeling completely knackered and just wanted to lay down somewhere and sleep. Fortunately, Love managed to keep me awake and it was a beautiful show that featured a parachute covering the entire audience at one point. It was more dance-oriented than I expected, and didn't have that much "Cirque" element to it, I felt. So, if you're looking for something more circus, then don't go to Love. However, if you love the Beatles and love watching dance, this is a beautiful show, for sure.




My final day in Vegas, I met up with my cousin Christina.

I grew up with her as little kids, and then she moved to Seattle. We kept in touch as we went through high school, and then she moved to Vegas to attend university at UNLV. She now resides there, works there, is married, and is a professional boxer. So it was wonderful to see her again and catch up. The last time I saw her was when she visited Vancouver for our grandmother's funeral, over a year ago.

She took me to see a five pound gummy bear:

And I dragged her to Bouchon for lunch, marking my third time dining there (I had gone earlier that morning for breakfast on my own!)

I didn't gamble, but maybe next time I go, I will. And there will be a next time! Mark my words! Vegas is so close for me to fly to, and relatively inexpensive to visit if you find the right deal. So, that being said, I can't wait to go back! Anyone want to go with me!?

Mommy Cat Hugs Kitten

I MET KYLIE MINOGUE!!!!

Alright, so on Saturday, it was the day of the concert. I had made it my mission to try and get a photo with Kylie and was determined to wait for her arrival at the venue around back. So Dave and I met up at 1:30pm and we headed over there. We found a little door with the sign "Tour entrance" on it. The woman guarding the door told us it was way too early and that Kylie probably wouldn't show up till around 5. Meanwhile, at the front of the theatre, people were already lined up to get into the show, which wasn't on until 7pm. It's because the tickets were general admission and these early birds wanted prime spots at the front near the stage.

So Dave and I walked around shopping, and came across this Asian Heritage festival, where I bought myself a polar bear hat. It's because on Kylie's Twitter, she has a photo of herself wearing a polar bear outfit for a fancy dress party, according to this site.



So we get back to the theatre at around 3:30pm. The "tour entrance" door is located around back, right beside a bus stop that smells like urine. There were two people standing there and I asked them, "Excuse me, are you waiting for the bus....or are you waiting for KYLIE?" To which, the young man replied, "KYLIE!!!" Turns out, they were a brother/sister duo from Brunei who were vacationing in San Fran. He is a huge Kylie fan, and is going to see her in Bangkok. He had no idea she was even in town, so when he saw the marquee with her name on it, he stationed himself at the Tour Entrance door at around 2pm and had been waiting ever since. (Hi Aaron, if you're reading this! It was lovely meeting you!)

So now there were 4 of us. Half an hour later, we were joined by one more person who seemed to be an autograph collector/dealer/seller guy, but who was knowledgeable and very nice. He told us we were in the right spot, as he had stood there a month prior and met Janet Jackson.

Anyway, it turned out the lady from earlier in the day was right. At around 5pm, a black SUV pulled up to the door and there she was in all her glory: KYLIE!!!

We were several meters away and her security guard got out first. Before he opened the door for her, he looked at us and smiled and waved us over to come closer!!! Who does that?!! So we scurried up and formed a quick line, Kylie jumped out, signed the stuff for the autograph collector guy, and then it was MY TURN!!

Me: Hi Kylie! Thank you so much for coming back to North America! Will you sign my program please?

She asked for my name and if it had one L or two, and I replied One.

I babbled on about meeting her in New York in the rain 2 years ago like it was something she ought to remember. Then I asked for a photo and she MORE! THAN! OBLIGED!

Me: Can we do a robot pose?

Kylie: What's a robot pose?!

In my head, I was thinking, Um only every single one of your dance moves, honey!!

But instead, I just got into robot mode and she followed suit. The photo was snapped, and then she laughed, "I don't know how robotic that was!"

But it was perfect. Sure, it was more Kung Fu than it was robot, but everything, that whole encounter, all of it, was bliss.

For as long as I live, I don't think I'll ever get tired of telling that story. I needed to blog about it just for posterity's sake.

After me, she moved on to my friend Dave, who got his photo with her too.

She finished up with everyone else, we screamed that we loved her and thanked her and she was gone. The security guards watched as we jumped up and down in total glee. Dave and I were literally shaking for a good 20 minutes afterwards. Absolutely unreal. And if that was the day of rapture, then I couldn't think of a better way to go.

Luckily, the world didn't end, and we got to see the concert in all its stunning beauty! I absolutely loved it, even though it was standing room only and my feet wanted to murder me, but it was well worth it all!

Kylie - San Francisco May 21 / In My Arms

Kylie - San Fran May 21 / Looking for an Angel

gold and glitter everywhere

I can't wait for the broadcast of the concert on British television in only a few weeks' time! They filmed it in 3D and it will be presented in theatres too, so I hope that we here in Canada get to see that!

Until then, we have YouTube:

Eating (San Fran edition): E&O Trading Company

I went for lunch by myself when I got to San Francisco last Friday. Around the corner from the hotel was the E&O Trading Company, which I was hoping to eat at last time I was in town but didn't get a chance to. Here it was, open and ready to go! As was I!



Philip had given it to me as a recommendation and since I know nothing bout San Fran restaurants, I took him up on the pointer and thoroughly enjoyed it! I started off with a genmaicha gimlet, of course. Green tea with alcohol? At 2 in the afternoon? Sign me UP!

For an appie, I had delicious butternut squash dumplings. My main was a pulled pork sandwich which came with root chips. All in all, a great way to have started my trip! Little did I know what was in store for me come Saturday...

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

I really did.

Tales of the City

Dear NYC,

I've been cheating on you. I've found a new love and I just might have fallen in love. Is it possible to love two cities at once? His name is San. San Francisco, that is. I know, I know, you've always cared about me and my love for Broadway musicals. But you can be so cold, so impersonal, so busy. You're always too busy, it seems. San Francisco on the other hand, has this romance about it that I can't quite place my finger on. Maybe it's the fog that rolls in over the bay. Maybe it's the cable cars or the Golden Gate Bridge. Whatever it is, it's won me over and I found myself floating up and down its streets imagining myself living there, wearing a beret, having a coffee in the Castro, strolling about in its warm spring weather they're experiencing right now.

So I arrived on Friday morning and checked in to the hotel in Chinatown. Sure, it smelled like rice but at least it was't cochroach infested like the hostel I stayed at in Chelsea all those years ago. I walked around, went for lunch and had a drink in the afternoon. I visited the SF MoMA, which I guess you have the upper hand on, since the original MoMA resides in your town.



I went to see the Tobias Wong exhibit which is currently showing there. It's the first time his work has been collected together and shown like this. It wasn't a big exhibit, it just took up a small section in one of the rooms. But, still, it made me a bit sad to see all his work and to know he is no longer with us. A life cut short, and who knows what else he would have come up with had he not passed away?



Afterwards, I met up with a friend and ate dinner at the Sears Fine Food diner. Yes I know, you have tons of cool restaurants, and I give you that. I can't resist your Spotted Pigs and Shake Shacks, so maybe the way to my heart is through my stomach.



However, San Francisco did premiere the new Tales of the City musical, which I attended that night. The lead singer of the Scissor Sisters, Jake Shears, was in attendance, as he wrote it. I saw him leaning against a wall and I just had to go up to him. So I ran up:

Me: Hi, Jake?

Jake: Yeah?

M: I just wanted to say thank you for writing this musical, and also for writing the song I Believe In You for Kylie!

J: Oh, thank you! What's your name?

M: (BrandNewWoo)

J: Nice to meet you. Are you going to go see Kylie?

M: Yes! Are you going to be there?

J: No, I can't. I have to stay here. (insert Jake Shears' frowny face here) I really wanted her to come see this but I know she's busy. I'll probably see her afterwards.

M: Well I'm really looking forward to this musical! I flew down from Vancouver just to see it!

J: (all apologetic) It's really long. I mean, it's still in its early days, but yeah, it's really long.

M: That's okay! I like it long!

We were then interrupted by another fan who wanted his autograph. I left, feeling great that he
was super nice. I was amazed that he was apologizing for the length of the show to ME. I mean, he's a rock star! And he wrote I Believe In You!!! I should have said that to him, "You know what Jake? I believe in you!" Darn.

The show itself was admittedly a bit on the long side. 2 hours and 40 minutes is not the norm for a musical, no. But still, it was fun, it captured the spirit perfectly of what San Fran must have been like in the 70s, and I think it did the Armistead Maupin book justice. Some of the songs I could have done without, but that's true for all musicals. With a simple set, the show managed to navigate the complex storylines from the book with humour and heart. If you're a Scissor Sisters fan, an Armistead Maupin fan, or a Broadway musical fan, you will not leave disappointed!

So, NYC, that was just my first day. Do you think you can keep up with that? I'm not so sure. I love you, but yes, I have been questioning our relationship lately. And wait till I tell you what happened the next day....

Until then,
Me

Gayest Weekend Ever 2011

I thought I had the gayest weekend ever back in September when I went to San Francisco for Folsom Street Fair and the musical Dreamgirls.

Cut to the May long weekend 2011.

I'm heading to San Francisco on Friday JUST to catch the world premiere of the musical Tales of the City, written by Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters!



I will be following that up with not one, but TWO Kylie Minogue concerts!! (first in San Fran, then the next night in Las Vegas!)



I also plan to see a Cirque du Soleil show when I'm in Vegas, so yeah, I think this all qualifies to make this the GAYEST WEEKEND EVER for 2011!!

See you all when I get back!!

Eating: Hapa Umi

Taking over the old Metro space down by the harbourfront, is the latest restaurant from the Hapa Izakaya folks. Hapa Umi is its name, and excellent food is its game!



Philip and I tried it out for lunch the other day and I ended up with a delicious award winning seafood chowder, while he had a fancy Bento Box. It's super close to my work, so I may need to head back there sooner than later as the food was wonderful, as was the service we got - it helped that Philip knew the owner, who was standing at the front greeting us!

Movies: Exit Through the Gift Shop

I wanted to see this film because when I learned a bit more about guerrila street artist Banksy, I was intrigued. Have you looked up his stuff? I quite love it. And the fact that he's all mysterious and people don't really know who he is, is kinda cool as well.







You can imagine my surprise when I watched the documentary and instead of it being about Banksy, it was a film BY Banksy and it was actually about a fellow street artist! I loved the footage of all these street artists around the world doing their thing. Some were graffiti people, with just your spray can; others used spray cans and stencils of images; then there were those that used paper or tiles or other materials.

A fascinating look at a subculture that I never would have been exposed to otherwise. If you're even just a little bit interested, then yes you definitely need to see this film!

SEE IT!

Tourist in Toronto

So while New York was packed with Broadway shows every night, gorgeous summer-esque weather, constant stimulation and over the top eating, my time in Toronto was quite different. First off, it seemed I took the blame for bringing with me the chilly cold and rainy weather. And though my dance card was full with friends to meet up with, it was a more relaxed and laid back vibe.

Momma and I spent a lot of time together, since he let me stay at his place for the majority of the week. We hung out a lot on Queen Street West, one day finding ourselves enjoying some Argentinian yerba mate tea, served in this special cup with accompanying metal straw. I think we stayed there sipping on our tiny cups of tea for about three hours that afternoon, just chatting, people watching...

We walked all about the city, finding our way to the new TIFF Light Box, where I took a photo with one of many Oscars.

We also stopped off at a popular bakery...

But seeing friends and meeting new ones was one of the biggest highlights of this trip. I got to surprise Michael by showing up at his apartment at 9pm and knocking on his door relentlessly until he opened it in a rage and then seeing the look of shock on his face when he saw me. I hung out with Joe and Yanick and Keiichi, visiting their museum/apartment and taking in all their artwork adorning their walls and sitting on their mid-century furniture. I met Jeff, the owner of an art gallery, when I went to play Dirty Bingo - which involved Bingo sheets like The Dildo or The Wandering Cum Shot (four squares together anywhere). I had coffee with the fabulous Steven, a beer with John Fleuvog ingenue Gonzalo, and rode the TTC with Derek in the driver's seat.

Oh, Toronto! See you again soon!

The Lonely Island

Here's some clips to help you get through your Monday!

Movies: Super

Rainn Wilson stars as an ordinary joe who turns himself into a vigilante / superhero. It definitely draws comparisons to the movie Kick-Ass, which is slicker and funnier. This film is more on the indie/gritty side, as well as darker. It has scenes that are a bit too grotesque for my liking, but then there are scenes where I laughed out loud because of Ellen Page and her demented role as the sidekick.

In the end, the movie is about a lonely man who makes the most out of his life and making every moment count.

Download It!

Movies: Sourcecode

Much better than Thor. Just don't think about it too much, or else it may not make much sense. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a soldier who goes back in time (sorta) to figure out who bombed a Chicago train.

Download It

I Heart Porter

Porter Air, that is! Oh how I wish we had a little airline like this out west, where we could fly to nearby destinations like Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Vegas. Instead, we have to claw our way across the border to try get any deals. Porter Air flies right out of downtown Toronto at amazing rates to places like the Maritimes, Montreal, and most importantly, New York City!!

The Porter lounge has all these free snacks and drinks for you to have! How fun!

And on the airplane, they feed you and give you free booze! Just like the old days!

While I waited in the lounge, I bumped into writer Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient)! That's him in this photo I snapped with my phone.

NYC Art Break

Standing tall in the middle of Union Square is this sculpture of Andy Warhol, since this was the area he used to hang out at, and the location of his famed Factory.

Then I came across this gigantic piece of art occupying space over at Madison Square Park.

Book of Mormon online!!!

You can hear the entire cast recording of Book of Mormon right now streaming on NPR radio!!! So exciting!!



Thank you Human Nature for the heads up!!

Be Eatalian

It seems like all the food I ate during my trip was Italian!

I had pizza with Momma and Derek in Toronto one night, and dined with Joe, Yanick and Keiichi at Mercatto over at Eaton Centre another night. It's a chain restaurant, but it was so good!




Once I got to New York, the only place I wanted to be was at Mario Batali's Eataly. When I read about this a few months ago, I knew that I just HAD to visit this place!

(photo taken from phude-nyc.com)

If you've been to Vancouver and London, I'd say it reminded me of Granville Island meets Harrods, all with an Italian spin. I know, it's just an overpriced supermarket, but still, it's pretty frickin' cool. I mean, if I lived in New York, I'd be inviting people over for dinner all the time! "Oh just let me go pick up some fresh pasta from Eataly!" or "Oh let me just go grab a cake from Eataly!" or "Let's order a pizza from Eataly!" Heaven. Also heaven? These cannolis that I treated myself to one night. I bought a couple, went out and sat across the street from Madison Square Park in the glorious New York spring sun, while taxi cabs and cars passed by me and I just savoured these treats. One was candied orange, the other was chocolate chip. Both were delicious.

I went to Eataly more than once. Other times I visited, I had some gelato, ate at their meat-focussed restaurant (as opposed to the pizzeria or the pasta place or the salad bar or the seafood only restaurant), and grabbed a prosciutto di parma sandwich. I didn't try out the espresso/coffee bar or sample anything from the rotisserie kitchen. There just wasn't enough time in the day! Definitely somewhere I have to return to!

But it wasn't all about Italian food, no. We ventured out for some soul food one morning, and ended up at the Pink Teacup, where I had a classic: waffles and fried chicken!

Another morning, we headed up to the Upper West Side to try out the famous Barney Greengrass deli. Known as the "Sturgeon King", the restaurant was also highlighted in an episode of 30 Rock (the one where Tina Fey and Jon Hamm go for a meal and she makes him wait in line and order from the menu). Upon a recent re-watch of that episode, it appears that we sat at the very same table that they filmed at!

As well, while we were waiting to get into the restaurant, who would come out the front door but Oprah's design king himself, Nate Berkus?!



Sadly, I was the only one who recognized him so I had no one to share my excitement with, and no one to comment, "Oh, he's kinda short!" He got in a nice town car with a nice looking man, presumably his partner. I wanted to shout out at him, "Nate, I have your bedsheets at home!" Don't know how well that'd go over.

But celebrity sighting aside, the food at Barney Greengrass was actually pretty tasty! We had these wonderful latkas smothered in sour cream, and I followed that up with one of their house specialties: a fried onion and salmon omelette. Their other specialty is sturgeon, which I'll have to go back and try since they are nicknamed "The Sturgeon King!"

I also hit up some of my favourite spots to eat in New York : The Spotted Pig (deviled eggs and that goat cheese stuffed gnocchi in brown butter omg i'm in love!!) and Shake Shack (and no, Chris and Calvin, I did not order a hot dog). Sadly, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck wasn't open - I missed their opening by a week! Oh how I am dreaming about their Bea Arthur ice cream cone!