VIVA Las Vegas Rockabilly weekend Archives

Sorry for the delay on getting my VIVA posts up, work has hit me with so many project since coming back from Viva that I have not really wanted to touch a computer by the time I get home. Now I’m blogging AND watching Mad Men at the same time so that I can catch up on all the fun things in my life while I have a little break from work.

Thursday-VIVA officially starts

Since we already checked in the night before, all we had to do was zip down in the am and get our bracelets for the weekend, and start all the fun.

Pictures are courtesy of Dean Villafuerte and myself

Checked in, now what’s next? Ahh yes “Sweet Pea’s Hooch and Smooch”. This was an afternoon of awesome bands, dancing and the totally adorable hostess “Sweet Pea” keeping the party hopping from band to band.

It was here that I was introduced to the awesome band “The 44s“. Their sound was Blues with a Rockabilly twist and boy were they good, no sorry..amazing (fyi this word will be used a lot)! My husband and I are huge blues fans and when we saw the one band member break out the harmonica we knew we were in for a wild ride. If you ever get a chance to see these guys live..do it! Here are a couple of pictures of the band.

Up next was a band from Brazil that mixed Brazilian music with Rockabilly called “Annie and the Malagueta Boys” and man oh man they were amazing also! The lead singer Annie was not only really talented but also super gorgeous.

Now while the bands were playing the dance floor was busy with dancers but nothing matched the couple pictured below. They danced all weekend long and I swear to almost every song played AND they were really really good. I was in awe of their talent and even though they were a teensy tiny bit older than me lol they could dance circles around me. Mental note, must work on endurance for next year 🙂

But then, just as my friends and I were about to turn our attention back to the band, the gentlemen dropped to the floor in the splits and then came right back up…THE SPLITS! WHAT???!!! Amazing! Luckily my friend Dean was ready with his camera and managed to score the picture of the weekend, as seen below.

After seeing the splits and amazing bands my brain was about to explode from how awesome my afternoon was going and I have not even mentioned that there was a Whirling Turban get-together with Lisa Freemont and the Creator of Whirling Turban herself “Katherine Robinson” at the same time. So there were lots of amazing dresses at the event and lots of staring from Liz at each dress as well.

My drooling made me parched (lol) and so I went and got the famous VIVA drinking glass for this year filled with Tiki Rum punch..yummy! This plastic boot (not glass) is a great souvenir from the weekend and sure does come in handy for transporting drinks from your room to the Casino 🙂

Here is my friends enjoying a funny moment during the Hooch and Smooch with our drinks. I think the Sailor Jerry rum went straight to our heads…already 🙂

After we finished catching the fun at the H&S we headed for a bite to eat next door at the Irish Pub and then by the time we were done, the Vendors were open! OMG complete insanity was the word I would use, another blogger attributed it to “The running of the bulls” and boy was she right. People were grabbing 10 clothes at time, trying things on in the aisles, reaching over you to grab something you had not seen yet etc etc. I was exhausted after about 10 minutes in the mess and so I decided to call it quits. If I did not see the vintage dress, then I can’t miss it when it’s gone right?

Here are some pictures from the vendors, selling everything from Vintage to reproduction and lots of other goodies.

The Evening

Sadly I have no real good pictures from the evening but to show you that I was there, here is a blurry dancing photo of me getting my dance on and a really funny photo bomb with my friends Dean and Charlie. Oh and this fun pic of my husband with this beautiful girl and the fascinator she made herself.

Saturday nights music

The musical highlights for me, I will say were two acts in particular.

1. The Janis Martin Tribute with Marti Brom and Rosie Flores. I love Janis Martin and her songs like “My Boy Elvis” and hearing these two very talented ladies bring her music alive on the stage was a real treat.

2. Ruby Ann…amazing!!! She is another awesome talent and she puts on a really good show. I could see her again and again for sure.

Hope you enjoyed my Thursday overview of Viva, stay tuned (hopefully sooner then later) for my Friday fun.

As you might of read in 2 posts ago, I attended for only my second time the HUGE “Viva Rockabilly Weekender 16” in Las Vegas over the Easter weekend. My first time there, was fun and very overwhelming as I was not expecting how really big this event really is. This time though I was more prepared and ready to get my party on, which I did…a lot 🙂 Now it’s time to share my experience, so here is my first post on our first day…Wednesday.

My Husband and I actually flew in Tuesday night and stayed on the strip for one night so that we could just zip over to the Orleans where Viva was being held the next day and get ahead of the crowds. This system worked out great, as we were able to get into our room in the am on the Wednesday, right before the crowds started to come in and boy did they come in. Hello lines!

After we unpacked and freshened up we jumped on the shuttle that ran to the strip and headed directly for our first stop…Gordon Ramsay Burgr for a bite to eat.

The below image is from our menu, right before we see what there is to offer lol!

The last time I was in Vegas in January we ate here (my husband is a HUGE Gordon Ramsay fan) and we loved it..a lot. Our waitress was amazing, the food outstanding and the price was really good. So we knew we had to go back while we had some time before Viva officially started. I’m really glad we did because we A) got our exact same waitress (who remembered us) and B) our Food was just as good as the last time, so no flukes here. Here is a pic of my hubby enjoying his Hells Kitchen Burger and our Truffle parmesan French fries…yum!

(Picture is actually from January, but we pretty much ate the same thing)

Up next…Gordon Ramesy Pub and Grill for a “after we just ate and drank…drink” lol. We were not able to get into this pub in January so my husband was very eager to try it this time. Lucky for us, it was not busy and we cozied up to the bar for that drink and the most amazing homemade pretzels…ever! Oh and my hubby also convinced the bartender to ask if we could see the kitchen and meet the head chef, and he did! Here is the picture with the head chef and us (it was like Christmas for my husband).

Eating and drinking done, back to the Orleans we go to get ready for the “Pre-VIVA All Star Rock & Roll Show & Dance” the first party of VIVA (even if its not the weekend yet).

The Lineup for this show was awesome as you can see from the poster above so it was a “not to be missed night”, plus all my friends were now in from Toronto and this was our official kickoff party!

Here is some of my ladies 🙂

Outfit note for me (the tall blonde in the middle is me lol): Bettie Page skirt and top and Dolly bag purse (which you sadly can’t see). Photo Courtesy of Dean Villafuerte

The evening was awesome, especially RCA/Vik Recording artist “Joe Clay” who rocked that stage like he was on the Ed Sullivan show again! I loved watching him perform.

Here is a pic of one of the bands we danced the night away too as well (sorry no name, we had a hard time hearing who the bands were that night).

Photo Courtesy of Dean Villafuerte

After watching about 3 bands and dancing my feet off and drinking a lot of $3 draft beers it was time to go to bed for the official weekend was just about to start.

Up next…VIVA Officially Begins!

Tag: VIVA Las Vegas Rockabilly weekend

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