Well it was a great event filled with excitement, an unbelievable show, lots of fun and a little bit of drama. It’s 6am here and we have a 8:30 flight so no time to go into details but let’s just say in the end everyone was happy. I think I’ll let it go at that for now but will write some more this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I did save the day for a wealthy family who the MGM flew out here for the event, put up in a 14,000 square villa, and who were extremely unhappy. Now this had nothing to do with us but I overheard the problem (the hotel had promised to hook the family up with a meet and greet with Andrea which they never should have done as they had no control over this), so I took them under my wing and threw them into my group and took them backstage after the show. Needless to say the man was quite thankful. After the show we hung out with them by chance for a few drinks and I watched him drop $60,000 in 10 minutes as he tried to explain to me roulette. Next up was another $100,000 down the drain in the next 30 minutes. I don’t know how he ended up the evening as we went to bed soon after. He didn’t bat an eye but did ask me to tell his wife he was winning, ha ha. So we’re off to the airport, more later, God Bless.
Ok, I’m back, it’s 10:12 Denver time and we’re 30,000 feet somewhere over the Nevada desert. Anyhow back to our trip. Yesterday we had a pre show tasting at the Mansion. The Mansion is an invite only group of villas hidden right in the MGM Resort. If you don’t know how to get there, you’d never know it’s there. It consists of a dozen villas ranging in size from 3000 to 14,000 square feet. Most have their own pools and it’s very exclusive. After clearing security, we walked into a spacious courtyard decorated for Christmas like it was out of some movie. On the other side of the courtyard was a room or lounge we entered like a seating room complete with a bar, tv’s, tables chairs, couches and more. When you walked in you were greeted by hostesses serving Bocelli wine. We had 6 wines available and everyone enjoyed them. All the guests were very wealthy as if you were not, you wouldn’t be staying there. I mingled with the people I needed to connect with and then with some guests. Lori was her lovely self wowing everyone in the room. Soon Pete, Andrea’s handler, asked me when I wanted him to go get him. I looked around to see who was missing that I was expecting and asked him to give me 10 minutes. The 10 minutes went quickly and while I had some wine guests there, there were others such as our new friends who we were with that I mentioned above who were just staying there. It seems the hotel flew out all 6 of this group on a private jet and put them up in a villa to come to the show and meet Andrea. The problem was nobody told me and they had no access. When Andrea walks into a room all hell breaks loose. People start walking towards him trying to get as close as they can. We had a photographer on hand for taking general pictures but soon people were trying to get individual pictures with Andrea. Now this was not part of the plan at all. Veronica, Andrea’s wife, asked me who all these people were and I told her I had no idea who half the group was. She and I could see it was starting to spiral out of control, so I just took charge as I sometimes do. I started directing people away from Andrea while Veronica went and grabbed his hand. I said loudly “thank you, thank you, just a couple more pictures” and Lori decided who would get a picture and who wouldn’t. We then cut the whole thing off within a matter of minutes. Veronica was very thankful and whisked him out of the room with Pete. Next up I had Andrea’s mama who was left as they took him out. She too was visibly wondering what to do and where to go. I quickly took her and told her in my broken Italian that Pete would be right back to get her. She then hung out with me for a few minutes and thankfully no one knew who she was or they would have rushed to her as well.
Once mama (Edie) was gone, Lori and I relaxed and I overheard my new friend from above saying “he was embarrassed and very upset”. Upon hearing this I walked over and learned what he was promised and understood his frustration. I told him, his wife, mother in law, husband, friend and wife, to just stay there and relax. I quickly called Pete and told him I needed to add 6 people to the meet and greet after the show. Now being Vegas, we already had 24 people which is a lot for a meet and greet. In Robins group in Phoenix, I had booked 4. Anyhow Pete said no problem, whatever I needed, he’d clear it with Veronica and get it done. I then went back to Henry and his family and told him that I was sorry the hotel promised him something that didn’t happen but it had nothing to do with me or Andrea. When I told him I was going to take him after the show and get him and his whole family backstage for a quick photo, he was so relieved and thankful. They were all sitting close to us in the 4th row so I told him where to go after the show and that we’d meet then. He was still pissed off at the hotel and frankly if it wasn’t for me, they would have lost a customer who probably spends a few million a year on gambling.
After the show Lori and I gathered our group and took them back. She then waited with them while I contacted Pete to see if Andrea was ready. A few minutes later we rushed (almost ran) the whole group back to his dressing room. In the interest of time and being such a large group, I told them all that we were going to break into three groups and only do three pictures. You see after the show, Andrea is spent and needs to get out asap. I had Lori go in with Veronica and arrange the people around Andrea and then she took pictures with their cell phones. I meanwhile kept the groups organized outside his dressing room door only letting one group in when Lori sent one out. I’ll bet we handled 24 people in less than 2 minutes. Veronica even said to Lori, “are you sure, do we need to do more” and Lori said no that’s ok, get Andrea out of here. So she did. That was about it for the evening and Veronica was very happy and thankful how quickly we had the groups in and out.
We’re about to land so I need to run, it was fun but busy and a late night. Henry my new friend was a blast and I’m sure we’ll see him again. We’re not big Vegas fans because of the smoke in the casinos and hotels but the food is fantastic. There’s also too many what we call sheeple, people that are oblivious and basically stupid. I think you know what we mean. Not trying to be uppity here, it just is what it is. More to tell but no time, hope all’s well and Lori will post pictures later. I think our whole family will be with Andrea, Alberto, Cinzia and Veronica this summer in July for a concert in Italy. Have a good day and Go Bronco’s!