When you wish upon a star, it makes no difference who you are, all your dreams will come true. Something like that.
Well Grasshoppers, your mom had a wish to see Celine Dion perform in person. You know, the voice behind the theme song to Titanic. When Leo Dicaprio on the ship bow is hanging onto Kate Windslett as she raises her hands in search of being set free, the background music is sung by an angel voice. Yep. That was Celine Dion. I believe the song won an Oscar.
They have built a special theater in Las Vegas at Ceasar’s Palace for Celine. All of Oprah Winfrey’s disciples journey to Las Vegas to hear Celine. Celine married her older agent Rene’, nursed him through cancer, had a miracle child and sings loves songs. Mercy. Mercy. How can you not like Celine?
Well we made the trip to see Celine. We did not leave until we were sure we had tickets. We could not get the tickets direct from the Ceasar Palace box office so we had to get them through a broker. We paid double the box office price. No price was to high to see Celine. Did I say that?
Well, we got to Las Vegas on Wednesday. Thursday night we were preparing to leave for the Celine performance. You guessed it. She cancelled. Something about allergies. TV interviewed an older lady at the airport who was leaving town to go home. She had planned to see Celine for 6 months and was leaving disappointed.
Well what about us? We paid extortion prices and traveled 1400 miles to see Celine. We were told by the concierge at our hotel, that Celine would probably be cancelled for the rest of the week. This can’t happen.
So I did what I always did in business, I didn’t take “no” for an answer. My bride and I wandered over to the Ceasar Palace box office to find out what the options were. Well, I learned I could not get refund directly for my cancelled tickets because my broker was the name on the tickets and he got the credit. I would have to wait until I got home until I could submit my claim to the broker. Then, good news. Celine was expected to be back the next night but there were no seats available. Of course! They were always sold out. While the attendant was looking at her screen, a block of seats became available. Apparently somebody had cancelled. Did we want the tickets? Are you kidding? Sign us up! These were better tickets, 5 rows back from the stage and a lot more expensive. We charged two tickets to Celine for Friday night. Whew! Think about this. I originally bought two tickets to Celine at double the retail price and I couldn’t get an immediate refund AND I had just charged two more expensive tickets to Celine for Friday night. Over $1,000 worth of tickets to see Celine and we hadn’t seen the performance.
Celines’s status on Friday remained a concern. With allergies, who knows? We checked the box office at Ceasar’s late Friday afternoon and they said she was in the building. In the building! That was nothing but good news.
I know the love of my life talked to her special angels and her dreams really did come true. The Celine Dion performance came off without a hitch. An audience of 5,000 watched a superb performance. She really does have a fantastic voice and the supporting cast along with big screen visuals made it a spectacular performance. I’d recommend it. Even to the non-Oprah disciples.
All was right with the world. The primary reason to go to Vegas had been achieved. Mom was happy. Dad was happy.
Actually this blog is dripping with sarcasm to make it interesting. The whole Vegas trip was really a delight and a good time was had by all. I’ve been promised a full refund on my cancelled tickets.
To my bride of 45 years, Happy Anniversary.
If you wish upon a star your dreams really do come true.
Love,
Dad(Just Chas.)