The Bird Man Cometh
November 26, 2008
I recently stumbled upon some old photos and videos that I took in Las Vegas at the turn of the century. Most of the media found were taken between 1999-2001.
The city has changed a great deal in that time. Some would say for the better, but I personally wouldn’t go that far.
At the beginning of this decade, one of my favorite hotels was the Tropicana. The price was always right, and the location simply could not be beat. It was a great home base for my gaming at the Mandalay, Luxor, NYNY, and MGM. To this day, it still has one of my favorite pools.
While the Trop has been rumored to be flirting with the wrecking ball for some time, and it has fallen decidedly out of favor with the “hip” crowd … to this day I still have an affinity for the place. It still has a bit of the old Vegas vibe, and I am not just talking about the 50 year old carpets.
At the beginning of this decade, one of the staples of free daytime entertainment in this town was the “Bird Man of Las Vegas”.
The Bird Man is a famous guy here in town. He has moved his show all over the Vegas Strip, appeared on TV numerous times, and from what I understand, he now does his show at the Hawaiian Marketplace near the Polo Towers.
I haven’t seen him recently, but I do still remember hanging out in the Trop lounge eight years ago, and watching him and the animals do their thing.
I’m not sure what compelled me to do so, but during one perfomance I pulled out my trusty camera and recorded his entire show. The video above was recorded by me personally on January 10, 2001. YouTube has a 10 minute limit, so I had to cut out the final 5 minutes, but you get the gist.
Given the amount of porn on the internet, you may not find a video of a ten minute bird show interesting. I probably wouldn’t either. It is just a bird show like you would find in any theme park across America.
Still, this is the Bird Man of Las Vegas. He’s our bird guy. There is some historical value in the milquetoast video. YouTube has only been around for so long, and it’s not easy to find shows from this long ago.
As the old makes way for the new in this city, it’s probably a good thing to archive small pieces of history here and there, because in this town, you never know if something you like will still be here tomorrow.
Just ask anyone who enjoyed playing five dollar 3:2 Blackjack on The Strip …
Written by MedicLuvsLasVegas on November 26, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Thank you for posting that, in a time of so many un entertaining things, this was fun.
I might be amused easily but nice show.
Thanks again