SDE in the USA 2024: Day Three
NYC to Vegas
SDE is in the US to see Duran Duran and Tears For Fears! (If you haven’t read Day Two, head here)
Our two days in New York were sadly over and today was what touring musicians call ‘travel days’ when they are on tour. Part two of this trip was about to begin – and, in truth, the main reason for it – going to Las Vegas to see Tears For Fears play at the FontaineBleau resort hotel!
As noted previously, there was a lot of construction going on in and around JFK and because of this some uncertainty over how long it would take to get to the airport via a cab, never mind having to pay another $85! So I finally made an effort to establish how the ‘AirTrain’ worked to JFK and it was rather straightforward in the end.
It just involved getting an local F train from Manhattan to ‘Jamaica’ in Queens. But you do a last minute switcheroo to an E train at ‘Forest Hills / 71 Av’ and get off at the ‘Sutphin Blvd – Archer Av – JFK Airport’ stop (so good they named it three times) which is where the connection to the AirTrain is (so called because it’s an elevated train, like airport shuttle services). It takes about 20 mins to get to JFK on the AirTrain (and costs $8.50). Now I know how to do it, I won’t be getting a cab from JFK ever again!
It would be the New York Marathon on the Sunday, so as we exited our hotel. the street was full of runners, presumably getting some last training in before the race proper. We later discovered there was a Las Vegas marathon on Sunday as well!
The flight was of course an internal, domestic flight (via Delta), but we had the longest queues for security at JFK today on the whole trip. It was going to take five and a half hours to get there, since Vegas is well over 2,000 miles away from New York and there would be a three hour time difference, to boot.
It was cool seeing the Manhattan Skyline (great a-ha song) from the plane as we made our way up to the cruising altitude and the Delta aircraft was quite nice in the Comfort+ cabin. The main criticism with Delta was what you might loosely call the ‘food’. For a flight of that length, and especially in the equivalent of premium economy, I was expecting something semi-decent. But there was no hot food at all and nothing cold that was in any way healthy. For the whole trip, we were being offered just nibbles: ‘chips’ (crisps), corn crunch-type snacks, gummy bears (this is a flight full of adults). Sugary, or salty, crap, basically. Rookie error, I guess, since Anne looked around and saw many people had brought their own, more healthy, snacks (sandwiches, fruit etc.).
To give them their due, the in-flight wi-fi was much cheaper than Virgin and, most importantly, actually worked, so I did a bit of work and later made use of the decent in-flight entertainment, rewatching Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia which I know very well, but it’s always a pleasure seeing Al Pacino and Robin Williams perform in that movie.
On our descent into Vegas we got great views of the Vermilion Sands (great Buggles song) of the Grand Canyon and then some of the strip.
I have been to Vegas once before, a long time ago (2000) and it’s a crazy city. The airport has fruit machines all over the place. We cabbed it to the Fontainebleau which I was pronouncing in French since that’s how it’s written, after all, but it seems most Americans call it ‘Fountain Blue’ and the cabbie gave me a slightly withering look, as if I was a schoolboy practising my French. It was a $29 flat fair from the airport which seemed okay, although we’d later discover that Uber is by far the cheapest way to get around Vegas. I later regretted not hiring a car, even though we were only going to be in town for two days, because we ended up spending a fortune on cabs.
It’s hard to convey the scale of the Fontainebleau hotel. It’s ridiculously big. It cost $3.7 billion to develop, is 67 stories high and has 3,644 rooms. There were two shiny, brand new Aston Martins parked in one of the foyer areas (and liberally dotted around the inside of the hotel). On day four, when we left, we ‘found’ another area of the hotel that had about 15 vintage Aston Martins on display. A whole car museum, effectively, we had not come across. The hotel features its own shopping mall, 26 (count ‘em) restaurants, a conference centre, multiple bars, pools, spas and ‘wellness’ centres and of course a near 4,000 capacity theatre [the “Bleaulive Theater”] where Tears For Fears were playing!
This was the only day of the trip where I didn’t go record shopping. I tried. An early afternoon cab to Target near MGM Grand to try, yet again, to obtain the TFF exclusives, ended with a member of staff once again telling me they “don’t do music”, with a look that said “are you mad?” This was the equivalent of a Tesco local – a shrunk down Target that only had ‘essentials’ (we can argue about how essential the new TFF album is!).
The concierge had incorrectly assured me that it was the biggest Target in town, which turned out not to be true at all. We had a walk down the strip for a while and then headed back to the hotel for something to eat. In the ‘foodcourt’ area on level 2 we saw a Tears For Fears fan contingent and went and said hello to Kyrie and her friend (main image). Many of them were going to multiple shows but we were happy to wait until Saturday to see the band play.
A quick drink in the bar and then up for some well earned shut-eye. Our body clocks were taking a bit of a battering and there was more to come tomorrow, since the clocks go back an hour in Nevada! Our third time change in four days!
Stay tuned for Day 4 on SDE, tomorrow.
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US Airlines only have to provide hot food on international flights. During domestic flights they offer mostly prepackaged snacks. My family flies JetBlue frequently between San Diego and Boston which offers ham or turkey and cheese rolls, and various snack boxes for sale and also offer smaller packaged snacks and non-alcoholic drinks for free. They are now flying from New York and Boston to the UK.
Living in the US you get used to long distances. I grew up in Cornwall and Bristol seemed so far away, London was twice the distance – 4.5 hours on a train. Now I live in San Diego and will drive 8 hours to get to SF or Grand Canyon, or fly 5 or 6 hours to Boston and consider it normal. The 10 or 11 hour flight to London or 14 hours to Sydney are much longer and taxing.
Hope you enjoyed your travels and experiences. Seeing DD and TFF within 3 days must have made it worth it.
I love these travel diaries. Great to read a bit about the person behind the mighty SDE and also the diary of a collector which is something we can all relate to. Can’t wait for part 4 and hopefully a story about the Den Bosch record fair too. Keep up the good work.
If we’re talking about the Manhattan skyline, then we’d be remiss if we didn’t include the late, great John Miles in the discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE50EG57cHU
Seriously how do you do it? So many time zones, such long flights. And new you’ll be coming to the Netherlands for the biggest record fair in the world, respect.
It’s been a busy few weeks, for sure! :)
Otto, think of us poor Aussies whenever we travel. I just did Perth to Singapore 5.5 hrs, Singapore to Vancouver 15hrs, Vancouver to Sydney 15hrs and Sydney back to Perth 5hrs….. in cattle class. I still don’t know what day it is:):)
Great trip though!
I love Vermilion Sands – captures the feel of Ballardian futurescapes perfectly.
Love the Record Runner t-shirt! Shopped there since 1988 when I was at NYU. John who runs it is a legend. :)
Glad you’re having fun. Vegas is a crazy surreal place, hope the setting up of the F1 isn’t causing you issues.
Off topic, I love the Manhattan Skyline song. So much so, that when Kings of Convenience covered it as a B Side in the early 2000’s, when they played Union Chapel they were asking for songs to sing, I hollered that, and they played it, awesome stuff.
PS I am gutted Sarah McLachlan’s tour got postponed, was looking forward to seeing her next week here… hope she gets better soon.
Paul, get an Uber to one of the big Walmarts such as the one near the airport. Lots of coloured vinyl exclusives. And only about $27 each even for double albums. I bought Metallica, Nirvana and Van Halen exclusives last July and brought them back between my knees on the plane.
Jack Nicholson would be proud of you for holding them between your knees….
Normally, I wouldn’t be caught dead in a Walmart, but do indulge online every November with their Black Friday sale–in the past I’ve scored colored Billy Joel albums for $15 and also Prince, Goldfrapp, Journey for cheap, as well. This year the sale’s starting Monday the 11th.
Your mention of the New York Skyline made me think of the great Garland Jeffreys song by the same name. He is a NYC singer/songwriter and contemporary of Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Laurie Anderson, etc. He’s been suffering from dementia but in an effort to give his work more exposure, his wife recently completed a documentary called The King of In Between. I highly recommend checking out at garlandjeffreys.com.
Loved your description: “It’s hard to convey the scale of the Fontainebleau hotel. It’s ridiculously big.” That’s like, total Vegas. Bummer about your Target adventures (so far?). If you didn’t get a copy of the TFF exclusives before you left the US, I can get them for you.
Hi Paul, you can check the Target website to see in advance if the store you are visiting has music, and specifically the title you want in stock. You just type in your zipcode.
I looked up the zipcode for the Fountainbleau hotel in Las Vegas: 89109. Unfortunately it doesn’t look good to pick it up locally, but the website as of 11AM says that Songs For A Nervous Planet on CD is available for same day delivery (for a $9.99 delivery fee).
Maybe you can have it delivered to your hotel!
I got the CD but not the vinyl. You’d think Target might stock up, given they’re in town!
Hi Paul
I was in New York myself last weekend running the marathon , just got back today !
I had been to academy records & I read your articles & headed down to book off on my last morning before flying , got a great Led Zeppelin used cd box set of all their albums ,have them on vinyl & all the boxes but this is great to have & an AC DC bonfire one I have already but the one I have is a lift off box & this is the cheaper version book effect -delighted with both !
Picked up some great used vinyl in academy records from €5 to €35
I also got some Inxs Rocktober vinyl in Barnes & Noble not released in Ireland
Thanks for all the tips ,enjoy the rest of the trip !
Eddie
Nice! I saw that Led Zep box, actually!
Off topic, but what the heck. I saw the original Insomnia with Stellan Skarsgård, but never considered the remake, since I find American adaptations generally pointless. I never realized Nolan directed, so perhaps I’ll check it out sometime.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip and the show!
Excited for you Paul. Safe home for your return.
Never forget that Manhattan Skyline is also a rather beautiful song by Julia Fordham.