Treasure your pleasure

msreddinvegas:

Brent, Wow, you brought me to tears.  Thank you.  I truly needed that today.  And buddy, you keep on keepin on.  It’s amazing what you do to…especially when it is so easy for people like us to get caught up in a scene and spiral out of control.  :)

brenteyestone:

Las Vegas is rife with iconography. It always has been. Depending on whom you encounter, they will likely link some sort of cultural figure toward their relation to the city. It could be the ghost of Sinatra or even the ghastly Celine Dion. Hell, if you go off my parents’ most recent visit, they might mentally connect some weird ventriloquist named Terry Fator to their mental image of the place.

I imagine most people seek to tie maximum pop culture iconography toward their experience with the place. It’s just easier to go back to Geico or the cell phone store you work in back home and say that you saw Cher or some crappy magician out there. And naturally, a lot of the marketing is geared toward blowing these artist in residency’s stints out of proportion to make them all sound like they rule over Las Vegas itself.

I can’t even recall how many times I’ve been out there at this point. And perhaps that frequency dulls the perceptions that would normally impress someone passing through… But for me, the true “Queen” of Las Vegas is my buddy Jennifer “MsRedd” Affronti. It may seem unorthodox given my career, but I actually draw a ton of inspiration from this great lady.

She’s captured here doing a burlesque routine for Viva Las Vegas 14, an event held there last month. The routine is, of course, completely fantastic. Yet what I continually draw fuel from is most specifically Jennifer’s constant work ethic. It would cripple most people… and it goes largely unseen and under-appreciated.

Working for my own “thing,” it’s sometimes super easy to encounter days where discipline toward the work here simply goes out the window. Simply put: I’ve got nobody riding my ass. Ever. I become aware that I’m not getting done what I need to at times, but who’s going to say anything?

It’s in these particular moment where all I need to do is check in to see what “the Queen” did that day or is currently working on. Most often, it’s rather inhuman in scope and instantly gets me off my ass, super motivated. She reminds me that no matter where you are with your career, you still need to hustle.

Anyway, enjoy the eye candy. It’s back to work here…