Matt's Notes
Viva Las Vegas
2001

We left JAX Internationl Airport to meet our friends Jackie & Joe in Phoenix AZ on April 9th. From there Jackie & Joe drove us to Laughlin, NV where we spent one night at Harrahs Resort & Casino, If Bugsy Siegel & Meyer Lansky were alive they would be proud of this place, 14 Super Casinos and not one gas station or super market. The next morning we drove the 95 miles on in to Vegas and checked into a Best Western across from the airport and about a mile from the strip. We took a shower and cruised over to my friends house Ronny Wiesers, its called "Rancho Ronny". Ronnys a wild man that owns Rollin Rock Records. You can check him out on the www.rockabillyhall.com site.

The joint was jumpin!! Musicians from all over the world jamming, the press and lots of interesting people. I played drums with Dave Crimmen, a great entertainer I had met at the Rockabilly Fest in Jackson Tenn, the summer before. Bob Timmers from the rockabilly hall of fame, Dennis Dewitt,Fred Hopkins (Blue Suede News Mag.) Tony Wilkensen & Family all the way from Sweden (American Music Mag.). MGM in its heyday could not have came up with a more interesting group.

My friends Jackie & Joe were not used to being around a bunch of true music freaks and they had a ball. After doing the usual sight seeing, we got down to the bizz. of Rocking at The Gold Coast West Lounge. Man what a blast!! Saturday night after getting back from rompin & stompin on stage we had a message that Barb's mom had passed away, so we split for Phoniex ASAP to get back to Florida.

In all we missed 13 flights but what a great time. If you want to hear real Rock, Blues, and Rockabilly and like to see a lot of young tattooed Chicks, Don't miss the yearly Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Fest. A Sidenote Dave is Dave Crimmen (davecrimmen.com) from San Francisco area and he asked Matt to back him on drums Thursday night during Viva Las Vegas and then Dave's band backed Matt on Friday. Viva Las Vegas 2001:

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