Where I Stand - Paul Anka: Diverse entertainment ensures good times ahead in LV

HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE the feeling a performer had when he hit Las Vegas back in the days when entertainment was king and the people came from all over the world to see the entertainers? To paraphrase Charles Dickens, it was "the best of times, it was the best of times."

This "Tale of One City" was really like something out of a storybook. Everywhere you went, up and down the Strip, there was sparkle in the showrooms, laughter in the lounges and a palpable sense of being caught up in a million-kilowatt extravaganza.

The town was charged with incredible energy ... not just when the infamous "Rat Pack" was appearing and thumbing their collective noses at conventional society. That put the whole energy level up another notch, enough to power Hoover Dam and damn the cost. But on the nights when they were not in attendance, when the showrooms were populated by your ordinary, normal "Gods of the Entertainment World," it was still an entertainer's town like no other on earth.

The food was cheap and plentiful, the rooms reasonable, the atmosphere carefree. The people who ran the showrooms knew that the hotels were "entertainment driven." Of course, gambling was still the reason there was a Las Vegas at all, but from the little old lady who sat at the slots with her paper cup full of nickels to the high roller with the high pile of chips in front of him looking to draw the case ace, the entertainers supplied the other attraction ... the break in the rhythm. And if you went home a winner, that was nice, but oddly enough, it was a bigger thrill to tell the folks back home that you sat this far from Tony Bennett and he sang directly to you.

Imagine the looks of envy you would get when you could say that Elvis tossed a scarf into the audience, and here it is, complete with sweat marks. It was a conversation piece that far pre-dated the blue dress with the stain, and it made you someone special.

Las Vegas today? Different, very different. Today, the hotels are the stars. They can duplicate Egypt, Monte Carlo, New York and Paris. Bring the kiddies, too. We've got more activities for them than any theme park in the world. Are you listening, Mickey and Minnie?

The showrooms now accommodate extravaganzas. We can knock your socks off with a spectacle that rivals anything you can imagine, and much of what you can't imagine. A sweat-stained scarf from Elvis? Nice, but we saw the sinking of the Titanic on stage, and white tigers disappear.

Food? Yes, we've got food, but we now call it a gourmet dining experience. Some of the finest chefs in the world have gravitated to Las Vegas and gambled on the fact that the plate of the visitor has become very refined. It's a gamble that is paying off handsomely.

Whereas before, it was the mainstream pop talent that became headliners and magnets for the tourist -- today you can find rock acts drawing in a younger, hipper crowd and filling the showrooms.

Country artists are also in demand. Thirty years ago, the word "Grand" would be associated only with the "Ol' Opry," and not the huge hotel on the Strip where they pack 'em in like bees in a honeycomb.

Vegas, from an entertainer's standpoint, is still the land of opportunity, the gold at the end of the rainbow. The future looks even brighter than the past, as more and more people throughout the world are made aware of its uniqueness as a resort, a vacation haven, a high-end destination and a place where the odds of your having a great time have been increased a hundredfold since the "good old days."

I'll end this little reflection with a quote from an anonymous philosopher who said, "Nothing is more responsible for the 'good old days' than a poor memory."

I can't vouch for my memory anymore, but I do recall we had some great times back then, and I look forward to many more in the future from this wonderland in the desert known as Las Vegas.

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