This could surpass all others to be the #1 concert experience on my list...

Let me just say that I've never seen three guys rock a stage as much as Muse. If you've been wondering where I've been, I've been obsessing over seeing one of my top favorite bands live in Las Vegas.

When they came out onto the tiny Joint stage at the Hard Rock, I knew this was going to be special. They've only recently begun to have a following in the US. I got to chatting with the guy sitting next to me (who also sold me my tickets on Stubhub) who said that he and his wife routinely follow the band around the world. He said it was 'a once-in-a-lifetime' experience to see them perform in such an intimate setting. They just saw them perform a couple sold-out shows in London where the crowd was 90,000+. The Joint was 4,000 people. Yeah, that's like Matt and the boys performing in your bedroom. If your bedroom could hold 4,000 people.

As soon as they came on, they immediately got the crowd into it with their new single "Uprising". It's quite a powerful, rebellious anthem and totally set the mood. I wasn't sure if the crowd was going to be made up of hardcore fans or just passive fans who were there for the other bands, since it was a holiday radio show put on by 107.5 FM.

Definitely hardcore fans.

Muse ripped through 12 songs without even a pause between songs to say hello. It seemed that they were trying their best to fit in as much as they could within their allotted time. The entire crowd sang along to many of the songs, the most moving of which was "Time is Running Out" from Absolution. Unfortunately, that was true for the concert too, because they were quickly approaching the end of their show with a strong performance of "Knights of Cydonia", one of my favorites on Guitar Hero. :)

I don't really have a go-to favorite Muse song. They are one of those rare bands that I can throw on one of their albums and listen to it in its entirety without skipping tracks. I was particularly happy that they played "Hysteria", as it has been one that I've heard is ridiculous live. And it was.

Photo credit: www.Vegasdeluxe.com

I can't even describe in words how well the songs translate into a live performance. You just have to experience it for yourself and be in the moment. If the songs sound like they are powerful on CD or on your iPod, multiply that by eleventy hundred and that is about what it's like in person. Some people have commented that any band can sound good when some of their music is pre-recorded. That's the rumor that circling on some sites. Of course some of the music is pre-recorded. Muse is three guys, with Matt Bellamy playing most everything besides bass and drums. It would be impossible to recreate all of the intricate layers of music live. In this concert, Matt did start out "United States of Eurasia" on the piano... even though it was sort of a sad upright piano, not very fancy, when he's used to grand pianos. To see Matt's hands create the riffs in such a fury is a trip! Same with Dom on the drums. A person next to me commented that he has never seen anyone play like that in his life. It's totally a must-see concert.

Setlist included:
Uprising
Unnatural Selection
Supermassive Black Hole
Resistance
Interlude
Hysteria
United States of Eurasia
MK Ultra
Starlight
Time is Running Out
Plug in Baby
Knights of Cydonia

Red Rock NCA

As part of my brother's birthday weekend in Vegas we also visited the Red Rocks National Conservation Area. This trip was turning out to be great for two engineers and a geologist! Red Rocks NCA is about 17 miles west of the Strip and supremely tucked away in the hills. You wouldn't even know it's there if it weren't for the Red Rocks Casino (where we usually stay) who boasts trips to the park via either bike, hiking, backpacking, or horseback riding.

The park has a 13 mile scenic loop with nine or ten parking areas that serve as the trailheads for many of the trails. The park is absolutely beautiful, although I doubt I would say that if it had been 110 vs. 65 degrees like it was the day we visited. We walked and took photos of various sights. The visitor's center has the geological history of the area, where it was quite fascinating to learn that the entire area used to be under a shallow sea. At the time, Nevada was the western coast of what is now North America. The park offers one of the best examples of the Mojave Desert plant and wildlife all in one convenient location. So, if you've been pondering about the lizard known as Chuckwalla or what a Joshua Tree looks like, but were too lazy to seek them out yourself, this is the place for you.

I intially went on a little trail jog (I can't say run, because it was actually more of a trot), but stopped when I encountered many signs that depicted people falling off cliffs in unnatural positions. I suppose they were trying to point out that you really should be an experienced climber or Spiderman before attempting to proceed.

"They died to make the desert bloom"

Celebrating my brother's birthday in Las Vegas has become an annual event. This year I flew in a day later than they did and when they picked me up at the airport, we continued southeast toward Boulder City and Hoover Dam. If you are going to go to Vegas, you really should take a couple hours and go see this Historic National Landmark. Besides, it will save you some $$ from the casinos!

I visited Hoover Dam in high school, but I have to say that seeing it now, after learning more about dams and engineering in general, it really takes on a whole new life. I can't even imagine what it was like for the workers back in the day during the Great Depression who came out to Black Canyon to build what was the largest dam in the world at the time. There weren't any roads, houses, electricity, homes, etc. In fact, the first summer was so brutal that many workers died. That is when the government stepped up and developed what today is known as Boulder City. It's still the only city in Nevada that does not have legal gambling.

Seeing the sheer size of the dam gave me chills. The dam architecture is Art Deco style, which you can see in the intake structures, the powerhouse, and even the elevator shafts. It's unfortunate that we don't seem to put in the same artistic detail on projects today. We also wouldn't be able to build such a dam today due to cost and environmental red tape. Hoover Dam cost a mere $48 million.

Here's a picture of me standing on the dam. We parked on the Arizona side (where it's free!) and walked across to the Visitor's Center, which is on the Nevada side.



This dedication sign also gave me chills. The scroll reads "They died to make the desert bloom" which really is true. It sounds like such an absurd reason to die, but it's truly heroic. Without this dam, it is possible that the City of Las Vegas and many other cities in Southern California may not be as prosperous as they have become because there wouldn't be a reliable source of water. The Hoover Dam project was conceived to store water from the Colorado River, which was highly unreliable. The volume of water in the river is dependent upon the snowpack in the Colorado Rockies and it was known to vary widely from year to year. Therefore, the dam was installed to create Lake Mead, the largest man-made reservoir in the United States.



This brings me to another sad fact. Lake Mead is currently at 47% of normal capacity, which further highlights the need for water conservation and other sources of water. You can see how low the lake is in this photo. The white ring is the rock that is now exposed that used to be underwater.



One of the more dangerous types of job on the dam was that of the High Scaler. The High Scaler would rapel down the side of the canyon carrying a 40-pound pneumatic drill and dynamite. He would drill a hole, stuff it with dynamite, light it, and then jump away when it exploded. The point was to break down the rock to more solid rock that would be suitable for placing concrete. Coincidentally, this is also when the hardhat was invented. Workers below were tired of being pelted with rocks, so they took two baseball caps, put them together front to back, and dipped them over and over in hot oil to harden them. They worked so well that that contractor who built Hoover Dam (Six Companies) started making them for all their workers.

This is a statue to salute the High Scaler.



I have tons of pictures and could keep going on and on, but I will end this post with one more photo looking down stream. You can see on the sides that they are currently building a bypass bridge over the canyon. I heard a rumor that once that is done, they won't allow traffic on the dam. That makes sense, but would also be sort of sad. So, if you have the chance, go to Hoover Dam now!

Snow in Vegas?

We went on our "Annual After Christmas Vegas Extravaganza" on December 26th. We were so glad that the bad weather had scooted out of the area by then because a friend of mine made the trip on Christmas Day and it took more than 8 hours in the snow and ice. Yikes.

Lately, we have been staying at the Red Rock Resort, which is way out west of the Strip in Summerlin. It's a super-nice community and is very laid back compared to the hub-bub of the Strip. In fact, we also had free rooms at Steve Wynn's newest hotel endeavor, Encore, but thankfully we decided to stay at Red Rock anyway. We went to check out Encore on Sunday and it was wall to wall tourists. People with video cameras, people with fanny packs, people with babies in papooses. There were literally 1000 people in line ahead of us to get our car out of valet. Okay, maybe not 1000, but more like 997. The only place not busy was the bar. How odd, I thought. So, we had a seat and began playing some VP. The bartender asked what we wanted to drink, and naturally we ordered assuming it was FREE. Wrong! The bartender said it would be $13.50 for a beer and a bottle of some fancy-schmancy water. Huh? Turns out that they don't embrace the free drinks at the bar policy like EVERY PLACE ELSE. You can only get free drinks on the floor, where there was a total of about 2 cocktail waitresses. Check please!

This is how Red Rock looks in the snow. My slot host sent this photo to me before our trip. Does this really make you want to come to Vegas??? They might want to re-think their marketing angle.



When I go back to Vegas in three weeks for my brother's birthday, (what gambling problem?), we're going to take some time and visit Hoover Dam. I'm actually looking forward to nerding out for a bit and learning all about it. I heard there are ghosts there of workers who met an untimely fate!