DIRECT TO YOU

Continuing to play with the images I shot in Vegas over New Years. I couldn't believe how many families were walking around, and especially the number of families with children in strollers. Vegas used to be known as Sin City, but it has really gotten kind of tame these days. More like a semi-adult Disney theme park than the Adult Entertainment Capitol of the World. The Strip no longer has that gritty edginess and I, for one, lament its passing.

However, the seaminess is always there, just beneath the surface. As you walk down the Strip, you will still be inundated by the down-and-out passing out discount cards to the strip clubs, massage parlors, escort services and other clip joints that lurk in the shadows a few blocks off the main drag. As I was having lunch at a sidewalk cafe outside the Paris, a billboard truck advertising "HOT BABES - DIRECT TO YOU" cruised by ever so slowly and stopped directly in front, blocking the view of the fountain show at the Bellagio across the street. The families walking by were embarrassed, little girls looking away and the little boys transfixed by the half naked babes, as their parents tried to quickly hustle them away. All I could think was "What the hell are these parents thinking, bringing kids to Vegas - God dammit, this is Sin City!"