We know you're probably already tired of hearing us ramble on about Vegas, but let us share a few links. Whether you're into retro, lounge, Vegas, Rat Pack cool or not, here we go:

Lounge lizards
Ever heard of Les Baxter or Martin Denny? Me neither, be these guys were king of the "lounge" music genre that so many young people found hip in the '50s. Check out the Ultra Lounge music collection here.

Deco-ration
We're nuts for Art Deco architecture and art. Why the hell do you think we live in Ashvegas? Check out some cool vintage posters here.
General vintage
This site has old casino chips, postcards, etc.

Vintage 2005
Want to hear a well-done podcast? Want to hear a well-done podcast on Vegas? Go to this site, Five Hundy After Midnight (it's a quote from the movie "Swingers"). The guy who does it actually lives in Minnesota, I think, but he mixes his knowledge and love of the town (he says he's been there some 20 times in the past eight years) with a few music tracks to give you a good show. Check it out.

Everything in Vegas these days is a copy of something else. There's nothing original. Still, already we miss it.

This is the Bellagio, one of the most luxurious hotel/casinos in Las Vegas. Or so we were led to believe, by everything we read before we left and by everything we were told when we got there.

The Bellagio is certainly a world class hotel. But to us here at Ashvegas, it's got a long way to go before it really earns our respect (and gets more of our hard-earned money).

A few examples: The bed wasn't fully made when we arrived. Pillows lay on the floor, or chocolates indiscriminately tossed on the bedside stand. One of the two fluffy robes in the room needed to be shaken of the pubic hairs from the wearer before. And the sunflower seeds and trail mix littering the floor should have been cleaned up before we stepped foot inside our room on the 27th floor of Steve Wynn's hotel.
The ceiling in the lobby, which features wonderful colored glass, wasn't as awe-inspiring as we were led to believe. The dancing fountain show was fun, but we were more than let down by the "conservatory," which was dominated by a giant fake Liberty Bell, a giant fake eagle and two giant fake eagle chicks.

So, a few things to consider if you're headed to Vegas and you want to stay at one of the most luxurious hotels in the world.

This says it all:

The clever Las Vegas advertising campaign tempts you to come and play and let your hair down, do things you'd never do at home, then leave and go back to your pedestrian life.
It's a temptation to walk on the wild side, only these days in Vegas, that's all just a show, like everything else in the desert city.

We just got back from five days in Vegas, and we had fun. But we left feeling a little cheated. Vegas is now so marketed to the masses that all it's quirky nature has delved underground. It has most certainly lost that old allure as an exclusive playground for the rich and famous.

There are more freaks on display in Ashvegas than what we saw in Las Vegas. Granted, we didn't really explore every single titty bar and aging casino, but still, we expected to see plenty of outlandishness on The Strip. It's not to be found. We figured it's gone underground, as the city continues to play to the lowest common denominator.

Instead, you'll find hordes of everyday tourists from all walks of life, from all over the world. Walking Las Vegas Boulevard, you feel as if you've been transported to a different country, not a different state (or state of mind). You'll hear every language imaginable and see more ethnicities than I can list here.

It's amazing how many people take their kids to Sin City. Kids were everywhere, in massive strollers and pouting on benches in the shopping malls and being drug through video poker machines and blackjack tables.

When we checked out, the couple behind us could have been a couple from a Leicester trailer park. Not that there's anything wrong with that. We just figured that if we traveled all the way across the country, we'd see a different breed.

I guess I new all this before going. I new Vegas was going to be more amusement park than elegant class. But I was hoping to find some pockets, some vestiges, of vintage Vegas.

Maybe I just didn't know where to look. I left with the feeling, though, that the glory days of Vegas had crumbled into so much desert sand, long ago swept away with the rest.