RSS FeedMore marathon (plus, bookselling at the Bellagio buffet)
No big news today, besides the big fire on Tropicana that seems to be under control (my office window has an unobstructed view), so here’s another marathon story from the LV Sun:
It was 6:15 a.m. Sunday, and by then the New Las Vegas Marathon, which is actually the semi-new Las Vegas Marathon, considering this is the second year it has operated under new ownership, was under way.
You wouldn’t have know it from my vantage point at the intersection of Fourth Street and Gass Ave. Morning had not quite broken but it was so eerily quiet, you would have sworn it needed fixing.
Everywhere you turned there were sawhorses and reams of that yellow crime-scene tape that blocked traffic from getting through and clogged the main arteries of downtown like bad cholesterol.
Somewhere, somebody was making donuts. But not downtown.
The misty, dark gray of dawn simply would not go away. It was as if the sun forgot to set its alarm. I immediately thought of that Seinfeld episode where Jean-Paul, Elaine’s friend from Trinidad and Tobago, oversleeps and misses the start of the New York Marathon.
It was getting colder by the minute as a stiff breeze began to blow. Then off the in the distance, in the shadow of the Stratosphere, I could see red beacons cutting through the murky light.
It was the cops, followed by several vans and SUVs carrying the media freeloaders. About 30 seconds later, the low hum of their engines was followed by the shuffling feet of a single runner lightly scraping along the pavement.
I just thought of another gimmick run: let’s get together a group of bloggers, carry a lightweight laptop, and blog along the way. There should be enough wireless hotspots to blog at least every four miles. It’ll make for interesting reading.
Speaking of interesting reading, the publicity effort for Roll the Bones has reached a new phase: direct marketing. Sitting at the Bellagio Buffet counter today, I got into a discussion with a few poker players about the Harrah’s LBO. Usually when I’m out in casinos in keep a low profile; I only rarely (well, make that never) start passing out Roll the Bones postcards. After they asked me what I did, and why I knew so much about the gaming industry, I told them about the book, and they said they’d buy a copy. Nice guys.
So maybe doing book signings in casinos wasn’t the best strategy–perhaps I should ask the publisher to fund a tour of casino buffets, where I personally sweet talk patrons into buying copies of my book.
Seriously, this got me thinking that there are a whole lot of casino players who might be interested in a reading/signing event tailored to them. So if you work in casino marketing, and want a different kind of event for your players, contact me.
Posted in life in vegas
