Las Vegas Was Once Fabulous— The City Without Foreplay pg108–109

Colorful companion to my memoir The Incompetent Psychic

Three Dancing Figures c1998 by author

Vegas was a very different place back in the 70s. There weren’t many rules to slow you down. It all changed in that one quick year. The Las Vegas Strip of yore — the era from Bugsy in 1947 through to Elvis in 1977 — was thirty years of free for all, celebrated in the songs of Frank Sinatra and the ravings of Hunter S. Thompson. Syndicates of ‘Families’ owned various hotels, and the rules were simple and easy to understand. Cavorting in unruly rat packs was tolerated as long as,

1. You were dressed to at least a moderate standard of glamorous excess,
2. No guest was inconvenienced, and
3. Nothing was stolen. At all. From anyone… but most especially from the casino. Even counting cards was considered a form of theft.

— From Chapter 5

I found this figure study that sparks hot memories of my showgirl roommates and g-string pool parties in the late 1970s.

An artist sketching from undraped models is a creative discipline akin to a musician practicing scales, an athlete pumping reps or a writer composing a daily blog. Most life drawing sessions begin with a series of one-minute warm-up poses so everyone can…