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Grandview At Las Vegas
[triennial - points]
Notice: The views expressed below are not necessarily those of The Management & are subject to correction and/or revision at any time without notice by The Chief Of Staff.
We just got back last Saturday night (December 2, 2006) after a fun week in Branson MO, seeing the shows & generally goofing off. One show we wanted to see (John Tweed) was canceled because of sleety-snowy weather Thursday & Friday; so it goes. But we still got to go to... Les Brown & His Band Of Renown
Yakov Smirnoff
The Duttons
The Six [Knudson Brothers]
Mannheim Steamroller
Shoji Tabuchi
...all of which were outstanding -- & good entertainment values for the money (specially in comparison with the Las Vegas shows we've seen). Not only are the ticket prices lower than Las Vegas, generally speaking, but the performers put more into their shows -- 2 full acts separated by intermission. And whereas the Las Vegas shows all have cocktail bars in the theater lobbies, the Branson shows we went to all had snack bars with pepsi & popcorn & fudge in the theater lobbies.Yakov Smirnoff
The Duttons
The Six [Knudson Brothers]
Mannheim Steamroller
Shoji Tabuchi
Les Brown's band had 3 trombones, 3 trumpets, 5 saxophones (doubling on clarinets, bass clarinet, & flutes), piano, bass, drums. Les Brown Jr. stood up in front, did some vocals, & told some stories. I love big band music, so this Branson show was a highlight of the week for me. The Chief Of Staff enjoyed Les Brown OK, but her Branson favorites were Shoji Tabuchi & Yakov Smirnoff. We both greatly enjoyed The Duttons & The Six Knudson Brothers. Ditto Mannheim Steamroller, but that show was higher on my list than on The Chief Of Staff’s.
Mannheim Steamroller had 4 main performers in front (violin, keyboards, guitar/bass, drum set) plus a back-up ensemble consisting of 4 more violins, cello, viola, oboe & English horn, trumpet & piccolo-trumpet, horn, & 1 extra percussionist. Plus, the guitar/bass guy & the main drum-set guy also played recorders of various sizes, krummhorn, etc. Also, from the sound of the show I'd say they also had a bunch of recorded tracks going.
Shoji Tabuchi's back-up ensemble included 1 saxophone, 1 trombone (doubling on bass trombone & tuba), & 1 trumpet, plus electric guitars, electric bass, electric keyboards, etc. Shoji himself plays fiddle. The theater is a glitzy showplace, right down to the restrooms off the lobby. The men’s room has a full-size pool table, leather chairs, black fixtures with gold handles, & I don’t know what-all -- more like what I’d expect to see at The Gaslight Club than at a Branson show theater.
In The Duttons show, 1 keyboardist doubled on flute. Otherwise it was all fiddles, guitars, fiddles, banjos, fiddles, a cello, & more fiddles -- not that there's anything wrong with that.
All our show tickets were timeshare-tour freebies, timeshare-tour discounts, or 2-for-1 tickets from that outlet right there on the main drag kitty-corner across the intersection from The Titanic museum. We didn’t get to the French Quarter timeshare tour -- maybe next time -- but we did go to the Surrey Grand Crown timeshare tour, also the Festiva Stormy Point timeshare tour. (Didn’t buy.)
The show we didn’t see -- John Tweed -- was canceled because of sleet & snow that blanketed the area Thursday afternoon & overnight. Tickets for Thursday were supposed to be good for Friday, but the Friday show was canceled, too, so we went back to the ticket outlet for a refund.
When we got back to our timeshare after an evening out seeing shows, the message light on the phone was blinking. I phoned the front desk to get the message. The desk clerk said something had been delivered for me. I said, "I’ll be right down." The front desk person handed me a Branson discount coupon book that had been hand-delivered by the timeshare-tour headhunter who signed us up for the Surrey Grand Crown tour. It was full of BOGO coupons for Branson eateries & snackeries -- more than we could possibly use. We had 2 for 1 cobbler & ice cream at Penelope’s restaurant, BOGO "original" sandwiches at Schlotzsky's, & the 2 for 1 dinner special at Baldknobbers. Penelope’s was OK. Schlotsky’s was so good we went back for more with no coupon. Baldknobbers . . . well, the less said about that the better.
The timeshare where we stayed is The Colonnade -- on RCI Last Call. I’d been wanting to go to The Colonnade ever since I discovered (via TUG reviews, I think) that the place features free breakfast every day for everybody staying there. Free breakfast was still served every day during our stay. It was OK -- pretty good actually -- but not much variety. It was an augmented continental breakfast -- doughnuts, cold cereals, instant oatmeal, biscuits with or without gravy, English muffins, plain bagels, toast, waffles & syrup, bananas, milk, coffee, orange juice, tea, cocoa mix, peanut butter, jelly, cream cheese, margarine, etc.. On a smaller table next to the serving table are toasters for heating up the bagels, waffles, English muffins. A microwave was available for warming up the cold biscuits. The self-service gravy was in a crock-pot. After 7 days of that, The Chief Of Staff & I were both ready for some French toast or scrambled eggs.
Apart from the free breakfast, the place was comfortable, pleasant, and conveniently located off the main drag but pretty much in the middle of everything. We buzzed around town in the rental car we picked up at the airport in Tulsa -- driving 215 miles from TUL to Branson because we couldn’t find any bargain tickets for flights into Springfield MO, which is lots closer. So it goes.
The night before check-out, we gave the Colonnade front desk lady the Branson coupon book we got from the timeshare tour sign-up guy. The coupons are good through March 2007 & all of’m were still in the book except the 3 we tore out for meals & snacks.
-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
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