Viva Las Vegas 17: Part One

Hello everyone!

I had the great pleasure of going to Viva Las Vegas 17 this year, and it was a blast! I was by myself most of the time, except for Friday night into Saturday I got to spend with my bestie and maid of honor Nicole :-)

I arrived on Thursday afternoon, checked in to my hotel, and immediately got to work. I zipped from the Gold Coast over to the Orleans via shuttle bus. The excitement was building with each second I spent on that bus, and when it pulled in front of the Orleans, I walked in and immediately took in that uniquely sweet smell that only Viva seems to provide.

Let the fun begin!

It was great to see everyone there, decked out in their rockabilly and vintage best! I felt so exhilarated being back, it was surreal.

I checked out the vendors, who were out in full force with their amazing wares! I managed to nab a Steady pencil skirt in a gorgeous soft pale yellow that has legs, eyes, and all sorts of silly random prints on it. I also nabbed my usual VLV shirt, as well as the VLV grocery bag. After making the rounds with the vendors, I somehow managed to stay up until 11 PM (2 AM Eastern!) to see the amazing Kim Lenz. I am glad I told myself “NO!” and forced myself to rally against what my own body was telling me, because she was fab!

The next day, Friday, I got up “early” to make sure I could nab some tickets for Nicole and me for the burlesque showcase. Yes, I am a girl, and I love burlesque. It is so much fun and there are so many women from different walks of life that are all there to celebrate their bodies and just have an awesome time. Who wouldn’t love that?! I managed to nab great seats on the left side of the stage four rows back. I couldn’t wait!

Next was a meet up I had with some girls from a Facebook group of plus sized ladies so that we can sell our clothing and it is catered to our sizing. We met in one of the girl’s hotel rooms at the Orleans, and I started to lay out the approximately 12 items I brought. I labelled them, talked with some fellow members, and shopped a bit. But only 35 minutes later, we were kicked out by Orleans security. It was a whole debacle and shocked the hell out of all of us. We left there upset and concerned. It was all very unfortunate :-(

After that, I tried to find something else to fill my time until my friend Nicole arrived. It was 3:35 PM. The Charles Phoenix slideshow had started 5 minutes ago! I ran over to the showroom and was able to nab a seat. I had never seen him before, but he came as highly recommended by a fellow rockabilly friend in NYC, Lucirene. And guess what? He was hysterical, interesting, and entertaining :-)

I just knew I had to make Sunday’s slideshow too!

My friend Nicole made it around 6 PM, so we hung out in the hotel room while we got ready. Even just hanging out getting ready is fun with Nicole :-)

We made it to the burlesque showcase at 9 PM. There was a wide array of amazing acts like Roxi D’Lite, Angie Pontani, Cleo Viper, and who I was most excited about: Dirty Martini. I couldn’t wait!

Roxi D’Lite was one of the first, and possibly one of the best performers of the night. Her racy S&M performance was certainly a stand out!

Gal Friday and Peekaboo Pointe had such a cute “fight” routine!

Angie Pontani had a very elegant, very beautiful ballet routine. It was rather ethereal!

Cleo Viper had a truly vamp routine, it was badass. And my goodness is she stunning!

And last but not least: the amazing and incomparable Dirty Martini!

All the ladies came out for one last bow, to a round of deafening applause. It was a great way to put the top on the Friday that was at Viva Las Vegas 17!

And no, we didn’t finish the night there: we had some drinks, gambled a little, watched some fabulous jive/stroll/swing dancing, and made fun if things such as this: