Scantily Clad Vandal Defaces Iconic Symbol Of Loose Slots
Um, this is one you're probably just going to have to read for yourselves, but here's a taste: "[A] barefoot man wearing a barrel and a Santa's hat threw red paint on the front of the 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign and black paint on the back of it." Also: The man—named Joe Pepitone, although presumably not that one—"who was half-naked, said he had lost his job and gambling winnings." And: "Pepitone tripped and cried after defacing the sign, and he complained of ear ringing, so an ambulance transported him to a local hospital for treatment." Okay!
Looks like Joe's down to about a one-tool player.
That sign would look good in my renovated Trump SoHo hotel-condominium.
Is there a worse place on Earth?
No, there isn't
Hey, was he dressed in a barrel and Santa hat, or was he half naked?
Where exactly does one come across a wearable barrel?
The couture barrels from Loire ARE TO DIE FOR!
"Back in 1992, after Hee Haw was canceled, me and some of the other barrel-wearers from the show moved out to Vegas and started doing odd jobs. It was ok money. Not like Hee Haw, but people still needed an actor who could wear a good barrel.
We didn't gamble much in the early days; most of the casinos had rules about wearing barrels at the gaming tables. If you was in a show, it was fine, but you couldn't just walk into the Mirage or Caesar's off the street wearing nothing but a barrel and expect to gamble. You just couldn't. And those few times they did let you in, if you won, you'd have the problem of carrying your chips around. Case you haven't noticed, barrels ain't got pockets. You drop some chips, try to pick 'em up, next thing you know you're rolling ass over tea kettle down the middle of the strip and you wake up in a fountain somewhere.
Anyway, things loosened up in the late 90s and when the barrel-wearing work started to dry up we really didn't have no choice but to start gambling more. And waking up in fountains every now and then.
Around 2002 or maybe 2001, Taterknot came up with the barrel pouch. It was just a little pouch that sticks to your barrel, for your chips, you know. Well, it was like the floodgates opened on Niagara. You had barrel-wearers, most of us off Hee Haw and the hobo circuit, just rolling into casinos like they was giving out free shoes. Yeah, it was something.
But there ain't no future in gambling. I think we wanted it so bad just 'cause we were denied it for so long and then, like anything else, you get it and find out things is different. Now, I wish I'd never seen a casino. But until they bring Hee Haw back I'll be right here. Got nowhere else to go."
- Barrel-Wearer Joe Pepitone, from "All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Roll: An Oral History of Barrel-Wearing in the United States"
http://www.theawl.com/2009/12/tim-mckernan
has he been to Poland lately?