Be honest now, who thought I’d still be doing this 20 years later?
Seriously, who even thought I’d still be doing anything 20 years later?
Never bet against your Uncle Swan, o ye of little feathers. (But not Sacheen Littlefeather. That’s a can of worms I don’t want to open, especially on Thanksgiving.)
Last year’s Thanksgiving Day post leaned heavily on Las Vegas: the reasons that brought me to reside in the Entertainment Capital of the World, and the things I was only then beginning to appreciate about my new neon hometown (to borrow a phrase from YouTuber Las Vegas Gal). There will be a lot of Vegas in this year’s list also, as I’ve come to love even more people, places, and things in this one-of-a-kind desert metropolis. But there’s still much that I’m grateful for in the greater, wider world, so there’s a bit more of that sort of reflection this time around.
Just a brief introduction to what this is all about, for the benefit of any newcomers who’ve found their way here for the first time. Every Thanksgiving for the past two decades, I’ve posted in this space a list of 26 items — one for each letter of the alphabet — for which I am particularly grateful. These 26 items are not intended to be comprehensive. Instead, most of them represent, by way of synecdoche (I’m sure there’s an app where you could look that up), many other people and things that I hold precious, even dear. It’s just a mechanism for compelling myself once a year to think deeply about all that truly moves me to gratitude.
Some mean too much to attempt to find place for them in this little exercise. The Daughter, whom I love with the ferocity of a thousand suns and would sacrifice anything for, tops that list, along with The Son-In-Law and the two Little Dudes, the second of whom arrived since the writing of the previous post. Others find their place in the subtext within the list, or simply transcend it. They know who they are, and what lofty status they hold.
And with that said, let’s forge ahead. (Have I really done 20 of these? Wow.)
On Thanksgiving Day 2023, I’m thankful for…
Ahsoka Tano. I’m not a huge Star Wars guy. I’ve made no secret these past 46 years that I never completely understood all of the fuss about what we now call Episode IV: A New Hope (what I’ve called from the jump, a super-cute Carrie Fisher plus a bunch of derivative space opera and oblique Jack Kirby references). But I have very much enjoyed several of the latter-day spinoffs, especially The Mandalorian and its brand-new companion series, Ahsoka, starring the sublime Rosario Dawson in the title role. There’s a statue of Ahsoka Tano in my living room. Not everyone gets that kind of recognition.
Buckaroo Banzai. I was honored this year to write a One-Day Special quiz for the online trivia site LearnedLeague about The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension — a film that, unlike the aforementioned Episode IV, I have loved since the day I first beheld it, goggle-eyed, in a local movie theater. If you don’t grok the unique sensibility of Buckaroo Banzai, I can’t explain it to you. I also can’t explain why there’s a watermelon in the lab.
Cats In Space. People who know me IRL have heard me opine more than once that good music stopped being made by 1989. Of course, this comment is intended to be facetious. There’s plenty of excellent music being created even today, by artists whose careers began long after the ’80s ended. Case in point: the delightful British rock band Cats In Space. When you listen to a Cats album — and you should — you can detect their influences: Queen, Styx, Boston, a little ELO here, a little Supertramp there. However, you won’t hear anything that sounds exactly like any of those bands, or anything that sounds like a tribute, nostalgia, or novelty act. Cats In Space are legitimate unto themselves, keeping alive the classic arena-rock flavor but adding their own modern interpretation (and considerable musical chops) to it. Try their most recent album, Kickstart the Sun, or Diamonds, a 2021 selection of their best catalog numbers re-recorded with their current lead vocalist, Damien Edwards. If you enjoy any or all of the bands I mentioned earlier, I strongly suspect you’ll dig Cats In Space.
Dita Von Teese. The undisputed Queen of Neo-Burlesque, Ms. Von Teese (her birth handle is Heather Sweet, which seems like a perfectly appropriate name to me, but what do I know?) has been almost single-handedly reinventing the art of cabaret for the past 30 years. She earns huge props from me for helping to keep alive (along with graphic artists such as Olivia De Berardinis, Jim Silke, and the late Dave Stevens) the legacy of 1950s pinup legend Bettie Page. Ms. Von Teese recently premiered a new show in the Jubilee Theater at Horseshoe Las Vegas (formerly Bally’s), utilizing some of the famous costumes from Jubilee!, the last of the old-school Las Vegas revues. The show has drawn rave reviews, and I’m looking forward to seeing it next month.
Esther’s Kitchen. If your entire perspective of Las Vegas is strictly bounded by The Strip and Fremont Street, you’re missing a ton of the sweet spots Neon City has to offer. One such spot is the Arts District, an 18-block swatch of Downtown Las Vegas that’s home to numerous restaurants, quaint shops, and entertainment venues. Among the excellent eateries to be found in the Arts District is the newly expanded Esther’s Kitchen. It’s nominally an Italian restaurant, but it’s nothing like any Italian restaurant you’ve ever tried. The menu is seasonal and constantly changing, but you’re sure to find something you’ll love.
Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Since it was topped out back in 2008, the Fontainebleau has been the tallest building not only in Las Vegas, but in the entire state of Nevada. Also since 2008, the Fontainebleau has been a ginormous, empty blue husk at the north end of The Strip. A victim of the Great Recession (and probably some mismanagement along the way), the Fontainebleau, while mostly completed, never opened. In the years since, the property has changed hands several times (and names at least twice), while locals wondered if the monstrosity might just get imploded someday. But in fact, the Fontainebleau was reacquired by its original developer in 2021 and has undergone a flurry of construction and redesign since then. It’s now scheduled to open — at long last — on December 13. People who’ve seen the inside say it’s magnificent. I’m eager to see for myself.
Glittering Lights. Every holiday season, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (not to be confused with the recent Formula 1 contest, the Las Vegas Grand Prix… don’t get me started) transforms its racetrack into a drive-through electric spectacular called Glittering Lights. It’s a two-and-a-half-mile cruise through more than two million… well… glittering lights, in the form of cheerful holiday images. Put some classic carols on the car radio, and get into the spirit of the season. If someone as notoriously Grinchy as your Uncle Swan enjoys it, you might too.
Huntridge Theater. I’m not old-Vegas enough to recall when the Huntridge Theater on Charleston Boulevard was a happening joint. That said, I was privileged earlier this year to take a fascinating tour of this historic building, which began life in 1944 as a movie palace, then segued into its second act as a performing arts venue in 1992. The roof of the vintage structure — built during wartime with wooden support trusses rather than then-rationed steel — collapsed in 1995. Efforts to save the facility ultimately failed, and the Huntridge shuttered — seemingly forever — in 2004. Then in 2021, a local developer purchased the Huntridge and vowed to restore it within three years. The theater’s iconic Art Deco neon sign was relighted for the first time on April 7, 2023. Soho Playhouse has signed on to operate the theater once the reconstruction is complete, and will book it for live performances.
Injera. Among Las Vegas’s many hidden gems is its Ethiopian corridor, which gained official recognition as a cultural district this year. “Little Ethiopia” is home to around 90 restaurants, shops, and other businesses owned by members of Vegas’s 40,000-strong Ethiopian community. If you love Ethiopian food — and I do — it’s the neighborhood where you can stuff your face with spicy meats and veggies, all transported into your mouth with injera, the spongy, slightly sour flatbread made from teff flour that doubles as both an accompaniment and a utensil.
Juan’s Flaming Fajitas. Las Vegas is also home to some of the finest Mexican cuisine you’ll experience north of the border. Although Tacos El Gordo (four Las Vegas-area taquerias) is my local go-to for quick Mexican bites, when I’m in the mood for a sit-down feast I might head to one of the three locations of Juan’s Flaming Fajitas. When they say “flaming,” that’s not just marketing-speak. They mean actual fire. The fire of deliciousness.
Karen Avenue is a largely nondescript street running east-west from the general area of the Las Vegas Convention Center. It makes my list because the one non-nondescript fact about Karen Avenue is that a section of it — the part between Joe W. Brown Drive and Maryland Parkway — was recently renamed Liberace Avenue, in honor of the late pianist once lauded as The World’s Greatest Showman. At the peak of his lengthy career in the late 1950s and early ’60s, Liberace was the highest-paid entertainer on the planet — a planet that at the time still headlined people like Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, and Elvis Presley. I never saw Liberace perform live, but I remember watching him countless times on television when I was very young. It’s nice that Vegas finally got around (35 years after the man’s death, but who’s counting?) to honoring someone whose name spun box office gold for decades on The Strip.
Leilani’s Attic. My love for all things Hawaiian knows no bounds. I spent my earliest formative years in Hawaii and still regard it as the place where I’m “from,” to the degree that a constantly transient military kid could be “from” any one place. Part of the appeal to me in relocating to Las Vegas was the city’s status as “the Ninth Island,” where many Hawaii residents vacation, and where many former islanders come to find paying jobs and affordable homes. One of the greatest assets of the Ninth Island is Leilani’s Attic, a treasure trove of Hawaiian foods and beverages, as well as clothing and souvenirs. It’s my local resource for saimin (Hawaii’s version of noodle soup) and Hawaiian Sun juice drinks, among other treats.
The Marvels. Don’t believe the pouting keyboard warriors who trashed the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe without even bothering to view it. (Here’s a tip, fanboys: When you begin a screed about any entertainment product with the words, “I haven’t seen/read/listened to [INSERT TITLE HERE], but…,” your opinion lost any credibility three words in.) The Marvels proved itself — to this person who actually bought a ticket — fun, engaging, and heartwarming, with the interplay between the three leads alone worth the price of admission — which I, unlike many online pundits, actually paid. Is it the MCU’s best film? No, not by a long shot. (The villain, in particular, is tragically underwritten… which can be said of the villains in at least half of the MCU outings. It’s neither a new nor a unique problem with this film.) But not every MCU movie has to be Avengers: Endgame or Black Panther, nor could they all be. The Marvels is very good for what it is — a mid-tier film in the Marvel canon. If that’s the sort of thing you like, you’ll probably like this one. I certainly did.
The Nest, my not-terribly-clever code name for the Vegas iteration of Casa de Swan. It’s taken over a year, but it finally feels fully and completely like home. It even has a thermostat on the wall with its own name on it.
Outlet shops. The Las Vegas North Premium Outlets are right in my neighborhood. I’m not really an outlets shopper, but every time I pass, they appear to be doing a land-office business. Plus there’s a Cheesecake Factory.
The Palms. Thought to be on the verge of extinction as recently as a couple of years ago, the Palms — the off-Strip hotel and casino that was once home to both a Playboy Club and a season of The Real World — appears to be thriving under the new ownership of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. It’s the first Las Vegas casino to be owned and operated by a Native American tribal band. (The casino at Virgin Las Vegas, formerly the Hard Rock Hotel, is operated by the Mohegan band out of Connecticut, but the property is owned by Virgin Hotels.) The new owners reopened the buffet — it’s a pretty decent one, in an era of vanishing buffets — and maintained most of the better dining and imbibing venues, including the iconic Ghostbar. The Pearl Concert Theater is a great place to see a show; I caught Cheap Trick there on their current tour.
Queen Latifah. She’s had stunning success as a music artist and as an actor. Her current TV venture, a retooling of the classic crime series The Equalizer, is pretty solid — though I’ll admit that I prefer the film series starring Denzel Washington… because Denzel. Props to The Queen, though, for doing it her way.
Repeat champions. Speaking of Queens, all hail to the Queens of the WNBA, the back-to-back world champion Las Vegas Aces! What an exciting (and sometimes crazy) season the Aces put forward on their way to their second consecutive title. Even the mid-campaign, season-ending injury to newly acquired superstar Candace Parker, and the equally season-ending arrest and subsequent banishment of super sub Riqana Williams, couldn’t derail the Aces as they marched to collect another trophy. When “Tha Point Gawd” Chelsea Gray went down during the Finals, the team rallied to finish off the archrival New York Liberty, almost without missing a beat. I can hardly wait to see what happens as coach Becky Hammon and all-World forward A’ja Wilson (the Finals MVP, who should also have been the regular season MVP) lead the squad in search of a threepeat in 2024.
The Scarlet Witch. I might be referring here to one of my all-time favorite comics (and later MCU) heroines. But I’m actually referring to the crimson Subaru that replaced my previous vehicle (nicknamed the Blubaru, for reasons you can probably guess) at the end of last year. She’s red, and she does a ton of technological tricks that seem like magic. What else could I have called her? (She answers to Wanda — as in Maximoff — for short.)
The Tropicana. I’m going to miss the old Trop, which as of recent events is officially doomed to be razed in the near future, to make way for the new stadium home of the soon-to-arrive Las Vegas Athletics of Major League Baseball. The Trop was my go-to lodging spot when I came to Vegas as a visitor, for the better part of a decade. In fact, I enjoyed one final stay at the Trop last year when I pulled into town as a new resident, while I waited for the truck ferrying my belongings. So long, old friend. We’ve shared many good times and made many cherished memories. I hope the implosion isn’t too painful.
Uzo Aduba. I read in an interview that the talented actor, who recently headlined the reboot of the TV series In Treatment, got her breakthrough role as Crazy Eyes in Orange Is the New Black in an interesting way. Apparently, Aduba auditioned for another role in the same show. When her agent called, they had “bad news” and “good news.” The bad news: Aduba didn’t get the role she’d read for. The good news: The producers wanted to cast her instead as Crazy Eyes. To which Aduba said that she responded: “What was it about my audition that made them think I’d be right for a character called Crazy Eyes?” Whatever it was, it was worth two Emmys. Indeed, Aduba is the only performer to win a “Best Supporting” Emmy for both comedy and drama for the same role in the same series. Sometimes, as Mick Jagger once noted, you don’t get what you want, but you get what you need.
The Venetian Theatre. In the past year, I saw five terrific concerts in this gorgeous venue: ZZ Top; Styx; Smokey Robinson (when you can see a legend, go see a legend); Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band (when you can see a Beatle, go see a Beatle); and Earth, Wind and Fire. I also saw the national touring company of the Broadway show SIX here. I’m hoping to see many more shows at the Venetian in the years ahead.
Watch Art Grand Exhibition. This year, for the third time, I was privileged to be hired by the world-renowned Swiss watchmakers Patek Philippe to narrate the audio guide to one of their Grand Exhibitions. I first narrated the Grand Exhibition held in New York in 2017, then provided the English-language version of the guide to the Singapore Grand Exhibition in 2019. This year, Patek Philippe took their display to Tokyo, and I again got the call to narrate the English-language guide. I now understand far more about the craft of artisan horologerie than I ever imagined that I would. If you ever get to see one of these periodic exhibitions, I highly recommend that you check it out.
X. I’m just going to give the letter X the year off. I’m not really thankful for anything — or anyone — related to X (regardless of what X may or may not have been called previously) this year. (If you know, you know.)
“Ya Mo Be There.” If I hear this song one more time, ya mo… well… not burn this place to the ground. Maybe I’ll butt-dance in my seat instead.
Zippy’s. After an interminable period of years since the original announcement, the Hawaii-based diner chain Zippy’s has finally opened its first location in Las Vegas. The day I considered stopping in, the waiting queue wrapped around the building. I’ll definitely get there sometime soon, after the initial furor dies down a bit. That’s assuming, of course, that it dies down. People here on the Ninth Island have been waiting an awfully long time for a Zippy’s.
And of course, as always, friend reader, I am deeply grateful for you. I appreciate your time and attention. My hope is that you’ll be inspired to list a few of the things and people you’re happy to have in your life, and give grace according to whatever belief system you subscribe to. I hope you’ve had a most excellent Thanksgiving, and that you’ve been able to share it with at least some of the people for whom you’re the most thankful. May we all be here in 12 months to be grateful yet again.