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April, 2007 - Volume 9, Issue 4
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Welcome to the Purple Roofs Travel Newsletter! This Month's Travel Articles This month we have a great article from the Gay Travel Guys, Donald and Ray, about Jack Mitchell's new book - thanks, guys! Innkeepers - write us an article about your area, and we'll include it in a future issue of this newsletter with credit and links to your website and email addresses. Contact wheretostay@purpleroofs.com for more details.
In early January, we visited another of our long-time favorites, Las Vegas, again, and include here our favorite things about the city. We also visited Blue Moon Las Vegas, a recently renovated gay resort just off the strip. Special Offer Accommodation Notices As always, we also have our Late Availability & Special Offer notices (131 offers in 18 countries/regions) all at http://www.purpleroofs.com/lateavailability.html, or just check your favorite destination page - these notices are also right there on the regular listings. Travelers - Try a Home Trade Membership for Just $60 for 3 Years... ...and stay for free with other gay, lesbian, and gay friendly travelers around the world. More details on our Mi Casa Su Casa site at: http://www.gayhometrade.com. Seen Our Real Estate and Wedding Sections Lately? We've been beefing up our realtor, mortgage lender, and wedding vendor listings over the last several months, and now have over 440 real estate professional listings in 45 US states, Spain, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. We also have over 620 Wedding Vendor listings in 42 US states, Asia, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Mexico and the South Pacific. Check out our real estate professional listings here: http://www.gayrealtynetwork.com Innkeepers - Scam Alerts Our innkeepers have sent in a number of other scams they have received. They seem to share many of these characteristics:
So if you get a suspicious-looking inquiry, be very careful. Check with your credit card processor's fraud division if you are given a credit card number for a long stay, especially for multiple rooms, to be sure the card number has nit been stolen. And trust your instincts. That's it for this issue - see you next time! :) Mark & Scott, PURPLE ROOFS |
Editors' Notes
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We visited Las Vegas in early January, 2007. See our Las Vegas accommodations page here. In this month's travel article, we'll share some of our favorite parts of Las Vegas with you.
The City & The Strip
But we had no such problems this time around. We've been to Las Vegas at least 6 or 7 times since the early 90's, and have watched the city grow from a casino town to a world-class entertainment destination.
The Venetian's new expansion, the Palazzo, with a Beverly Hills type flair, is slated to open in late 2007 on the old Sands Hotel site, making it the largest hotel complex in the world. There are a huge number of malls, most of them themed and connected to the casinos - more on these later.
But the city's heart was never in it, and now, though there is still family fare available, the city has matured, and is learning to cater to more adult needs, from high end restaurants to great shows, both g- and x-rated. Speaking of the city, Las Vegas Proper actually ends just north of The Strip - the city has never been able to annex The Strip because of opposition by the casino hotel owners, so none of the revenue goes to the city directly. Accommodations
The owners have done a beautiful job with the conversion of this property into an upscale resort - the little touches are eveident everywhere, from new tile and paint to the many amenities the property has to offer.
All rooms have refigerators, televisions, cd players with mp3 ports, and private bathrooms; the larger rooms have flat-screen plasma TV's and walk-in closets. The downstairs halls and rooms have beautiful Mexican Saltillo Tile; upstairs rooms are carpeted.
You can bring your own laptop - the property offers wifi internet access in the rooms and common areas - or you can use the guest computer with flatscreen monitor in the internet lounge. The Resort also offers an innovative guest chatroom where you can meet other guys staying at the Blue Moon - just ask the front desk for a user name and password, go to the Blue Moon Resort's home page, and log in. The Resort also offers a full continental breakfast every morning, and plans to offer room service soon. They're also working on a shuttle service to take guests to and from The Strip. If you're looking for a gay place to stay in Vegas, the Blue Moon Resort is the place for you.
On the Strip
When we were there, they were enlarging this mall, adding a whole slew of new shops along the front facing The Strip. Aladdin also gets points as the site of Vegas's main gay bar - Krave - open Friday, Saturday, and Monday, 11 PM-6 AM.
There's also a cool, little-known tour here - look for a sign posted by the aquarium at the back end of the mall, near the cheescake factory. They offer daily "backstage" tours of the aquarium, including a look at the fish nursery, the anamatronic characters in the cheesy Atlantis show, and more. It's low-key, but fun if you like to know how hese things really work. And our guide was cute too. :)
The indoor rides are $15 a person (sharing a boat with four altogether); for $60 you can have the whole boat. Outdoor's a little cheaper, at $12.50 each. If you're in Vegas with your partner, give it a try - it's a romantic ride.
There are several other great restaurants here. Taqueria Canonita is a fantastic Mexican Restaurant overlooking the canal - ask for a seat by the rail, and watch the gondolas glide by every minute or two. The food here is top-notch, and the service great. Tao, just inside the main entrance to the shopping mall, draws you in with a beautiful circular entry, lined with stone tuns filled with water and rose petals. The inside is enchanting too, and the food was very good. At night, Tao also boasts a busy (though not gay) nightclub. And speaking of the entrance, check out the beautiful arcade that runs along the front of the Venetian (below) and the amazing ceilings just inside.
The hotel also has a Madame Tussaud’s wax museum and a Gugenheim-Hermitage art museum. The Gugenheim has an ever changing collection - once when we were here, this compact venue had the art of ancient Egypt. This last trip, they were showing the work of Robert Mapplethorpe - all of his work, from his mostly innocuous flowers to his full-on S&M work. It was great watching our guide, a sweet older (presumably straight) woman in her sixties, explain the beauty in his, um, darker works. :) Paris (below) has a cute shopping area, but it's rather small compared to the others, and nothing there caught us for very long – the coolest thing was the legs of the Eiffel tower that descended from the ceiling of the casino.
New York New York blends the shopping area with the casino floor, mostly successfully. The restaurants, by and large, were in a small area off to one side that felt like the streets of NYC – Gonzalez y Gonzalez in particular had great food, including fresh, hot tortilla chips and good mango and raspberry margaritas. The picture below, center is the mural over the reception desk, taken two weeks after 9/11. We published it in our original Las Vegas newsletter, and as we look back almost six years to that time when we were united as never before, it seemed fitting to include it here again. New York New York also has the Coney Island roller coaster.
Bellagio (below) and The Wynn also have upscale shopping malls. Bellagio's is a little too opulent (in a sort of grandma-meets-Bill-Gates sort of way) for us. And the Wynn, for all the money that was spent on it, lacks a central, unifying theme. You can see the money, but it doesn't speak to you like the Venetian's Italian charm or Aladdin's magic.
An older mall, Fashion Show has been recently updated, with a futuristic UFO thingy in the front and a huge flatscreen running constant commercials. But this is a fairly cool mall, with two Starbucks and an Apple Store, and occasionaly actual fashion shows. The picture at left is one of their Christmas season decorations - very Erte. And if you need regular mall fare (run out of underwear?) there are several department stores here too. Entertainment
There are also shows along the strip itself - the first of which was the erupting "Volcano" at Mirage (on the hour, hours vary - click here for more details). This was followed by the pirate battle called the Sirens of TI at Treasure Island next door - watch the Sirens battle the Pirates at 7 PM, 8:30 PM, 10 PM and 11:30 PM. But the best free show on the Strip is the Fountains of Bellagio - an energetic water show that takes over the whole lake along the front of the Bellagio Hotel, choreographed to music. This is a GREAT place to be on a hot Vegas afternoon or evening - shows are every half hour, 3 PM-8 PM m-f, every 15 minutes from 8 PM to 12 AM, and from noon forward on weekends. There are now five Cirque du Soliel shows in town. If you haven't seen one, you HAVE to go. It's hard to explain them to someone who hasn't been, but they are a mix of amazing acrobatics and feats of brillance, colorful, bizarre costumes, audience participation, creative and wild storylines, and so much more. Choose from: Mystere - at Treasure Island - the first Cirque show we saw, and still our favorite. O - at Bellagio - this one's all about the water, and was amazing too. Ka - at the MGM Grand - about two twins who embark on a desperate journey together - simply fantastic - in a huge theater custom-built for the production. This one is the most epic of the Vegas shows. Zumanity - at New York, New York - the late-night Cirque show, full of sexual innuendoes and a gay couple who do the most amazing things. But if you're a gay/lesbian couple and you sit up front, be ready to be called out! Very adult themed. The Beatles - LOVE - at the Mirage - the only Cirque show in Vegas we haven't seen - not big Beatles music fans. But whatever you do, see at least one, if not two or three, while you're in Vegas. The Venetian now has a production of The Phantom of the Opera in a custom-built theater. If you've seen the play before, you might miss the couple minutes they snipped out of the plot, but they're not really that noticeable (and wee've been three times before in other venues), and the production is well done and lavish. Over at Caesar's, Celine Dion is still performing most nights in her beautiful, custom theater. If you like Celine, go - it's a decent show, and she's a fantastic singer. But if you're just so-so about her, see a Cirque show instead - they're a much better package of singing and amazing content. There's also a pretty good drag show here - La Cage, the female impersonator review at the Riviera. This side of town is a little run down, especially compared to the newly revived center strip, but the show itself was fun. The jokes are a little old and tired, but Frank Marino is still entertaining as Joan Rivers, and the other impersonators were often wildly entertaining. The downside here – the show’s producers seem to be doing all they can to squeeze every last cent out of this show – $55 with all taxes and fees is the new low end rate with "Upgraded Seating Available". The once-intimate theater has been doubled in size since we last visited, meaning that you end up almost twice as far back in the theater now as you did with the worst table at the same price before. And the back of the theater is just row upon row of seats, without any rise in level. We were stuck behind two other rows, and directly in front of us was a very large man. So we say the show in glimpses (I’m not exaggerating here at all) between the heads of the people in front of us. Bottom line – unless you’re willing to pay the premium price for this great show, don’t go. Both MGM and Circus Circus have amusement parks. Next to the MGM, there’s a mall that has a movie theater, a Coca Cola store, and an M&M store that has about a hundred times more M&M memorabilia than I even knew existed. For trekkies, there’s the Star Trek The Experience ride at the Hilton. Gambling We stick mostly to nickels, but there are many of these machines around. Even penny machines have made a bit of a comeback over the last few years. But the major casinos are actually phasing out coins at most of their machines - instead, you put in a dollar or a piece of paper, play the game without ever hearing those coins crashing into the bin, and when you're done, you get another piece of paper. They're also doing away with the pull-levers on many machines. The net effect is a much less fun game, where you just push buttons, and watch as the machine eats your money. And because you don't wait for your winnings to come out, it goes even faster. The last couple of trips to Vegas, we haven't even bothered to gamble, because we've blown through twenty bucks in *nickles* in 15 minutes - that used to keep us busy for an hour or two. The casinos have gotten greedy(er) and we've cashed out. Fortunately, there are many other things to do in Vegas, and if you play the card games, these are pretty much the same, from what we can tell. Getting Around
There are also a number of trams between the hotels, a great way to avoid the heat. We rode on the Monte Carlo to Bellagio tram. There’s one between Excalibur, the Luxor, and the Mandelay Bay, and there's a new one that runs up the eastern side of the Strip from the MGM to the convention center. Have a great time in Las Vegas! Considering moving to Gay Las Vegas? Click Here for Agents. Planning a Gay Las Vegas Wedding? Click Here for Vegas Wedding Vendors. |
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Traveling in Our Fabulous World
Perhaps he is best known for his numerous special assignment photographs for the Arts and Leisure section of The New York Times from 1970 to 1995. When he closed his New York studio on December 17th, 1995, The New York Times published a full page illustrated article about his work and career. Annette Grant's opening paragraph stated, "They come in tutus and togas, in waistcoats and wigs, sweaters and jeans. They get there by limousines, on the subway, by foot. Virtually everyone who is someone in the arts has found a path to Jack Mitchell's photography studio on East 74th Street near First Avenue in New York."
Jack has had a few photography books published and "Icons and Idols" is our favorite. Edward Albee wrote the Forward. It features portraits that Jack captured including Angela Lansbury, Gloria Swanson, Tennessee Williams, Rudolf Nureyev, Leonard Bernstein and dozens of other entertainers, dancers and personalities. One of the all-time best selling covers of PEOPLE magazine featured a portrait that he captured of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Another wonderful book that he came out with is "Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Jack Mitchell Photographs" Both the DVD and the book can be purchased at Amazon. Jack and Bob recently retired and moved to Florida. We were fortunate to meet Jack and his life partner, Bob in January while we were in Florida and what an honor that was to hear their fascinating stories of living in New York City for all of those years and meeting and photographing so many interesting and captivating personalities. They have a beautiful home filled with so many wonderful memories from their past. And what a remarkable life they have lived together as a couple. We were invited to attend their 50th Anniversary last month however we were on our way to Palm Springs and was unable to attend. We will be visiting them again in January when we are in Florida again and cant wait. Congratulations to Jack and Bob! Always remember to have fun when traveling, meet new people and talk to everyone! TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS WORLD is written by Donald Pile and Ray Williams, Award-winning Celebrity travel columnists who write for gay publications from Coast to Coast. You can email them at: gaytravelers@aol.com or visit their webpage at: http://www.hometown.aol.com/gaytravelers. |
Award-winning, writer/producer/director Craig Highberger follows his acclaimed documentary, "Superstar in a Housedress" with this exceptional portrait of Jack Mitchell, a pivotal portrait photographer of the arts for more than four decades. His studio was in New York City. Through hundreds of his beautiful images, recollections from Jack and his life partner and manager, Bob Pavlik, as well as interviews with luminaries including Edward Albee, Clive Barnes, Merce Cunningham, Pattie LuPone and Ned Rorem, among others, Highberger reveals his fascinating life and the art world he documented for the New York Times, After Dark, Dance Magazine, and countless other publications.
More than just a fantastic photographer with an eye for capturing the essence of his subjects, Jack emerges as a true chronicler of the changing face of performance arts. This is the finest documentary that we have seen in years. Jack was the photographer for the American Ballet Theater for ten years, taking all the photographs for their souvenir program books from 1960 to 1970. He also produced souvenir book photography for Boston Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Pennsylvania Ballet, Houston Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and San Francisco Ballet. He has photographed most of the world's leading dance companies for The New York Times and for Dance Magazine.
Craig has worked extremely hard and diligently to create this absolutely fascinating documentary on the life of one of the most interesting photographers and together with his life partner, Bob, they have paved the way for future generations. This couple has made an absolutely wonderful life for themselves working together for all of these many years. Any couple, gay or straight would be envious of what they have accomplished as a team together.