Song Lyric of the Day (Gram Parsons, on Las Vegas)

“Ooh, Las Vegas, ain't no place for a poor boy like me
Every time I hit your crystal city
You know you're gonna make a wreck out of me.”—“Ooh Las Vegas,” written by Gram Parsons and Ric Grech, performed by Gram Parsons, from the Grievous Angel LP (1974)

Today, I pay tribute to my work colleagues who are now gathered for our company’s annual convention in the “crystal city” described by Gram Parsons (1946-1973).

It’s the better part of valor, I believe, for bloggers not to comment on matters that take place in the organizations that pay their daily wages. But Las Vegas itself—well, that’s another matter.

Offhand, I can think of only four distinctive and beneficial contributions to American culture made by the desert metropolis:

1) The statue of Elvis Presley, with a guitar slung over his shoulder, in the Las Vegas Hilton;

2) The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s hit song, “Viva Las Vegas” (and the numbers he shared in the movie of the same name with the young Ann-Margret);

3) Bruce Springsteen’s equally electrifying cover version of said tune; and

4) Andrew Bergman’s underrated but hilarious 1992 film, Honeymoon in Vegas, starring Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker, James Caan—and featuring 15 skydiving Elvises in its climax.

(Notice a pattern here, folks?)

Sure, I’m bothered by any city where it takes a taxi to get to Sunday mass because it’s too long and too hot to walk the one-to-two miles from the hotel to church. And I have to admit I blinked when the pastor announced that one of every 10 dollars in the collection plate each week came courtesy of chips that were subsequently cashed in.

But I shouldn’t have been entirely surprised by any of this. After all, I distrust any city where slot machines are in airports, waiting to deprive me of my few and hard-earned dollars—to “make a wreck out of me,” as Parsons sings—even before I get to my hotel room.