Lionel Richie Rocked Terex's House
Or...The Dragon did this fun thing while in Vegas

Yesterday, I promised I'd tell you of some of the fun stuff I did in Vegas. It wasn't all work, you know. The trade show closed each evening and the attendees were kicked out. Those of us in the press, though, were invited to various booths to continue working, but the "events" were usually geared toward retaining our attention, if you know what I mean. (read: they weren't supposed to be boring)

An equipment company called Terex rented a ballroom at The Mirage, hired a cover band, set up four large open bars (there could have been more, if you catch my drift), set up several food stations, hired some dancers, bought a ton of silly hats and plastic bling for guests to wear...

Oh, yeah...they also booked Lionel Richie to play for us. It was fabulous. He played Brick House. I boogied like a freak. It was as if I'd been transported back to age 12.

I have to hand it to Lionel; the guy played to the audience very very well. I mean, he's in a room full of construction workers (and some of their wives), so not a lot of them are wanting to hear Three Times a Lady, Truly and Ballerina Girl, but these are really big hits for him. So he played those, but he played abbreviated versions of them in a medley that the ladies went nuts for and the men tolerated very nicely. I was impressed. And he jazzed up Dancin' on the Ceiling and really played up the Commodore tunes that the audience was begging to hear. It was a great performance. When he got to Brick House toward the end of the set, that crowd was in a frenzy.

Lionel Richie, I tip my hardhat to you.

I'm still drafting an appropriately professional-sounding thank-you note to Ronald... ;)

Tomorrow: I'll describe in great detail the Barry Manilow concert! Yow!!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: Lionel Richie, Terex, Mirage