10 Questions About…

Three days at an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas over Memorial weekend is like visiting the inside of your oven. With the radio on. Actually, Punk Rock Bowling  2025 is amazing but during every day Langen, Jenny and I ask each other why we come.

Over 3 days, you can see up to 42 bands (I saw 35) on two stages between 1-11pm. There’s one water station, no building for reprieve but there is a tent for those who sunburn. Pabst Blue Ribbon is the drink of choice.

Between 8-10,000 people attend. I saw a few folks I knew from home and saw online that a few others were there too. It’s a lot of people but it’s a big space behind The 4 Queens on Fremont Street.

I wrote posts on each day for the Mostly MN Music blog:

• Punk Rock Bowling 2025 Day One: Music reminding us that Punk has been hating Nazis for decades
• Punk Rock Bowling 2025 Day Two: From angst to rebellion to self-acceptance the punk progression
• Punk Rock Bowling 2025 Day Three: We did it and it was worth it!

Or you can see all of the videos:

But how was the rest of the weekend?

It’s very easy to travel with my friends Jenny and Langen. I’m always thankful that they invited me last year. Both enjoy gambling, so they help me play the various games after the festival. (Super bonus – casinos are airconditioned and the festival ground is not!) I had my ups and downs, but I never really fluctuate more than $40 in either way. They are more adventurous players.

In the morning, I walked up and down Fremont Street getting my steps. In three days, between walking and dancing, I logged in 42 miles, numerous selfies with LV oddities and saw a few random bands.

Due to car issues (what rental car needs an oil change – I won’t give the name, but it rhymes with Mertz) and fire diversion earlier in the week, Friday was a drive day. Lily did most of the driving, which was nice. Nevada and California are beautiful, but you can go 100 miles without seeing a town of a giant animal statue. Again, gorgeous but I miss the roadside attractions of the Midwest. Of course, being in the middle of vastness does give you plenty of time for introspection. Lily and I are doing great – but the world could use a little help.

We landed in Las Vegas just in time for dinner. We met our friends Langen and Jenny. Yay. Langen, Jenny and I will be attending Punk Rock Bowling over the next three days. (I’ll probably post in greater detail on my music blog.) Last night we ate, walked around. Lily got a well-deserved rest. Three of us gambled; two won; one is smoking it! Once Lily emerged again, she and I paced Fremont Street. We decided it was like Times Square meets Mall of America meets State Fair.

News flash: Lake Tahoe is very, very pretty. The water is so blue, and the mountain ranges hold the lake like bowl. The mountains are brown and green, dark and snowcapped. I didn’t have an idea what Lake Tahoe would be like. We ate at South Lake Tahoe. It turns out there are lots of resorts that feel like they are in Northern Minnesota down the block from corporate casinos. Very weird. Again, the nature is striking but the vibe is weirdly dime store bougie. That being said, I bet there are pockets that I didn’t see that are downright fancy bougie.

Our afternoon of driving was interesting. The nature continued to be amazingly beautiful. At least that’s what Lily tells me. I was driving up and down the side of a mountain with people who clearly were more comfortable with near death driving than I am, so I never took my eye off the edge of the road. About 10 minutes after I handed off the wheel to Lily who police cars whizzed by – not easy on a 2-lane highway. We didn’t think much until a few minutes later, when we could see the smoke. We have the pictures and videos below. We weren’t afraid for ourselves – once we figured out how they were going to divert us. But scary to see how quickly the fire grew.

Well, due to an issue with the rental car (fuming to come later depending on resolution) and the fire, Lily and I were running late all day. Running late when you’re driving through a rural desert is being worried about finding food at the end of the day and driving in the dark old’ desert. Our lack of planning served us well when we ended up in Tonopah NV – during Jim Butler days. He was the founder of Tonopah. Apparently, he was in the area and had a donkey friend. One morning, the donkey was gone so he searched everywhere. He found him in this area and (as was told to me), like every angry old dude, he tried to throw a rock at the donkey. He bent down to pick up a rock. It was super heavy because it was silver. And so began the town. And we’re so lucky, we’re here for one night of Butler days. Karaoke all night long – one of Lily’s favorite things.

This deserves so much more than one sentence but the theme of Butler days this year is – Try That in a Small Town.

Finally, Tonopah is home to a very creepy Clown Motel. It is built next to a now defunct cemetery that is final resting place to many victims of a local plague and several fires. It has been featured in movies and comic books. It was too scary for us to stay there.