24 Hours in Las Vegas or The “Other Sarah” of Phantom! - July 2010

When I found out my sweet friend Sarah Combs would be going on as "Christine" in the Phantom of the Opera, I started planning how & when I could go to see her. Sarah and I did a few shows together when she was a little girl and I haven’t seen her in over a year. She has grown into a beautiful young woman with more talent than I have in my little pinky! My best friend Kim figured out a day that would work for her, and we set the date. Sarah graciously offered tickets at a great deal, then Kim was able to get us a hotel room AND flights because of all of Jeff’s accumulated travel points. The Phantom is Kim’s favorite show so she was pretty excited too.

We left on Weds. Morning and arrived in Vegas around noon. I had a gift card for P.F. Changs, so we made that our first stop.
Checked into the hotel, then thought it would be a good idea to walk to the bus stop & get a day bus pass instead of using cabs. It was about 110 degrees and 2 blocks of walking convinced us this was a bad idea. So we walked to the nearest hotel & got a cab. Good thing we didn’t spend too much time trying to hail a cab because apparently it’s illegal for them to stop on the strip. We went to the Bellagio and checked out the beautiful gardens. It was refreshingly cool in the gardens and so pretty and clever.
We also saw a little bit of the fountains “show” but decided to come back later to see the full show. So we hoofed it over to the Coca Cola and M&M stores. Again, so hot! We were dripping after a few blocks. The stores were cute though.



We saw a few creepy characters along the way, some of whom were in costume, like creepy Mickey & Minnie Mouse.
Got another cab back to the hotel to have a snack (complimentary soda, cheese & crackers in our room…Thanks again to Jeff’s points!) and get cleaned up for the show.  Another cab over to the Venetian to pick up our tickets at Will Call. That’s when I saw this!!!It was SO exciting to see her name on the marquee! We were seated IN THE 7TH ROW! with just about 10 mins. until show time. The show was fantastic, with several elements we had not seen in the L.A. version. It’s shorter, at 90 minutes, but they kept the music that everyone loves. The house is made to look like a Paris opera house, very ornate, complete with mannequins in the box seats and the famous chandelier, only this one had 4 pieces to it, and the way it came together was very cool. They had some great special effects too. And then there’s our Sarah, WOOHOO! She was beautiful and truly an “Angel of Music.” Remember that high “E” that Christine sings at the end of the title song? Well Sarah nailed it! Who needs Sarah Brightman when you’ve got Sarah Elizabeth Combs! :-)  After the show Sarah showed us around ON the stage, including trap doors & cool set pieces (not allowed to post those pics), then we visited a little and took a few pics together.

After the show we took a look around the Venetian. The gondolas were cool, and we saw a few interesting stores. The pic below is the store where Michael Jackson reportedly dropped over a million, in one visit!
Kim & I really wanted to go to Serendipity for ice cream so we decided to eat in the food court rather than waste time finding another place for our late dinner. Then we walked over to Serendipity, got there at 11:05 only to find out it closed at 11:00. Boo. Sadness. Waaa! So we walked back to the Bellagio to see the fountains show. Very cool. The 1st time the accompanying music was Faith Hill’s “This Kiss”, so of course I loved that! The 2nd was to Elvis’ “Viva Las Vegas!” An appropriate way to end the night.

We went back to the hotel after midnight (still 100 degrees). Thursday morning we got up around 7:45 for our complimentary buffet breakfast, then headed to the airport. The trip was short, but oh so much fun, and I got to share it with my bestie!

Faith Hill Concert - July 24, 2010

A few weeks ago I started looking at tickets to see Faith at the Pacific Amphitheater at the OC Fair. Even the cheapest seats were not so cheap so I decided I'd try winning them on the radio. Never happens, right? I listened all day to GO COUNTRY 105 and tried numerous times to be the right caller, then just before 5:00 I got through and WON!  Woohoo!

That Saturday afternoon my friend Bruce & I headed down a little early so we could hang out at the fair awhile before the concert. Good thing! Parking was crazy! We had some not-too-artery-clogging fair food and walked around the fair a bit before heading over to the amphitheater, enjoying chocolate covered strawberries and some toffee. :-)The concert was supposed to start at 8:00 with an opening act, Jennette McCurdy, but no Jennette. No announcement. Then at 8:40 Faith came out!  She looked beautiful and her voice was strong. (Photo from OC Register) I did mention to Bruce though, that she didn't seem to interact with the audience much. I mean, she didn't chit-chat between songs. She was very gracious greeting the audience at the beginning and end, but that's it. I also noticed she seemed to be having problems with her ear pieces & monitors. She pointed to them more than once, first giving a thumbs up gesture, asking for them to be turned up, then later gestured for them to turned down. And the stage manager (?) had to come out about 4-5 times. It must have been frustrating for her. She did 3 cover songs, and since the concert was kind of short, I would've preferred to hear more of her songs. I like Faith a lot, and she's always been very sweet & funny in interviews, so I'm going to chalk it up to "not her best night".  She did sing her hits like "Breathe" and "This Kiss" and I thought she sounded great. (Another photo from OC Register)I had a great time with Bruce and still enjoyed the concert. (Remember, FREE tickets!)  Never did find out what happened to Jennette, but I guess she was supposed to be from 8:00-8:40, which meant Faith came out on time. I sure wish I could've seen Faith & Tim when they toured together a few years ago! They have some beautiful duets, like the one below.

Faith Hill & Tim McGraw - "Let's Make Love"

(Apparently the video can't be embedded, but you can click on the link.)