For someone who's quite a bit older than most of you reading this site, this summer will mark the 25th anniversary of a first in the life of this 80's baby turned blogger and all around good guy. There in 1994 during that time of innocence and curiosity known as childhood, I flew out with family, relatives and cousins to the first of what would become nine trips to the city of
Las Vegas. Little did I know that it would become my favorite city, outside of my neck of the woods.
This first excursion to this worldwide capital of all things fun for adults was back when the city attempted to follow in Disneyland's lead to market itself as a family destination with themed resorts on the strip when the most appealing thing was the sound of coins in the casinos, which also doubled as my greatest envy until I turned 21. It might not have worked out the way the city intended, but Vegas was on the verge of a major growth spurt with its area population nearly doubling in the quarter century since that very first Vegas vacation.
The thing I refer to by the simple social media hashtag of
#DCVegas has become a near annual tradition for over a decade, having traveled there eight times in the past twelve years since 2007, and having had a slew of memorable experiences in something I consider my own Super Bowl. And combined with that 1994 excursion when I was too young to roam the casinos, the next time I make that one-hour plane ride from the Bay Area to Southern Nevada, it will represent my milestone tenth trip to Las Vegas… maybe perhaps it will come soon - stay tuned to see if that goes down this year.
Ten years ago this fall, I went to Sin City to celebrate my birthday on a Friday the 13th, and the next night I walked down to MGM Grand to soak in the charged atmosphere of a big fight in boxing when Manny Pacquiao knocked out Miguel Cotto. Months earlier, a movie premiered in the same summer of 2009 as
Avatar, films from the
Harry Potter,
Twilight and
Transformers trilogies, Disney's
Up and
2012. But unlike its star-studded counterparts, those who appeared in a R-rated comedy set in Vegas were not quite as well known, but in the end gave its stars and the true star of the movie in the world's greatest adult playground a greater spot in the stratosphere.
Inspired by true events that a friend of the movie's executive producer experienced,
The Hangover told the story of a group of four friends who called themselves the
Wolfpack, and who took the 4-hour drive from Los Angeles through the Inland Empire and the Mojave Desert, and up I-15 to Las Vegas for a weekend's bachelor party weekend. It was supposed to be a celebration of one of their own spending the last hours of their time as a bachelor before heading back home to tie the knot and say "I do" to who would become his lawfully wedded wife. Instead, what happened when Phil Wenneck, Stuart Price, Alan Garner and Doug Billings arrived at that suite at Caesars Palace and the hours afterwards would become one of the many great tales that can only happen in Las Vegas.
A night and weekend of unbelievable twists and turns as often as a chaotic night at the casinos ensued after that toast on the rooftop, with Phil, Stu and Alan having no idea of what they did the previous night, and no idea in hell of where Doug went just before his big day at the alter. From their hotel suite in ruins and a joyride in a police car, to a Chinese man portrayed by Ken Jeong surprising them on the Strip and one of their own getting hitched to a stripper who then gets to meet her baby, and of course Mike Tyson playing piano... it made for a most memorable weekend in a place where what happens there usually stays there, but instead made its way to a record summer at the box office and into the pop culture realm of 2009, producing two more films afterwards.
While Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms would see their stock rise thanks to their roles in The Hangover franchise (as well as Real World & Challenge alum turned Hollywood big shot Jamie Chung also appearing in the trilogy as well), the man who benefited the most from being in the cast of a movie that garnered tremendous critical and commercial success and a trilogy that made $1.4 billion in receipts was a largely unknown actor from Philadelphia named
Bradley Cooper. His acting career began twenty years ago with a guest spot on
Sex and the City, followed by his first movie role alongside fellow newcomers Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd, cast members of '90s MTV sketch show
The State and a slew of other notables in 2001 cult favorite film
Wet Hot American Summer.
Cooper then began to garner recognition playing Will Tippin on
Alias, and having a supporting role in
Wedding Crashers a few years before
The Hangover made him a household name. Afterwards, Bradley played a fledgling writer in
Limitless, a rookie cop on
The Place Beyond the Pines, a bipolar husband in
Silver Linings Playbook, an FBI agent in American Hustle, and an Army soldier in
American Sniper. His work in these films garnered him critical praise and four Oscar nominations... and in the same year that Sniper became 2014's top-grossing movie, Bradley went onto Broadway portraying Joseph Merrick in
The Elephant Man, earning him a Tony Award nomination.
Last year, America fell in love with Bradley once again when he produced, wrote and directed his first film, as well serving as the co-lead actor, in the modernized 2018 update of the classic musical romance tale,
A Star is Born. The person who joined him as co-star of the film was the one and only Lady Gaga, who marked the tenth anniversary of her discovery to the world in a memorable guest cameo on
The Hills by appearing in her first film in an acting role.
The movie features Cooper, who plays hard-drinker & country singer Jack Mayne who suddenly finds himself in love with female singer and waitress Ally Mayne, portrayed by Gaga, and everything that transpires between the two of them. Dave Chappelle and Andrew Dice Clay also star in the film as is veteran actor Sam Elliott, and talk of that remake was first discussed in 2011. Clint Eastwood was slated to direct back then, with Beyonce, Christian Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith and Tom Cruise being considered to star in the film before the project was stuck in limbo until they finally settled on Bradley and Gaga.
A Star Is Born debuted last summer at an LA film festival and dropped in theaters in early October, garnering nearly $450 million globally, much acclaim for the performances of the lead actor and actress and elements of the movie... so much so that the National Board of Review and American Film Institute shortlisted this film as one of their Top 10 Films of 2018. Of course, it was a leading nominee at this year's Academy Awards and at the Golden Globes garnering Best Actor and Actress nominations for both stars, as well as a Best Supporting Actor nod for Sam Elliott.
And of course, there's the song that added more to Gaga's ten-year legend and showed another side of the man who once had to tell his wife in the Hangover that he would not make Doug's wedding date. "Shallow" was the lead single off of the A Star Is Born soundtrack and was prominent part of the film several times, including when Jack invited Ally to perform it on stage. The power-ballad was written from her perspective which, as the song's
Wiki entry notes,
"...with the self-aware lyrics asking each other if they are content being who they are." Music critics loved it and so did everyone else: #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week after Gaga and Bradley performed it on the Oscars, for which it received Best Original Song honors just as it did at the Golden Globes, adding to it winning the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance Grammy.
