hoover dam and lake mead

we started off the day right by eating vegan donuts for breakfast. those were as good as i remembered. then we went to the hoover dam. i have never had an interest in the hoover dam but since it's one of those things people say you must see and since i've been to vegas so many times without ever going to the hoover dam, i figured it was time and then i'll never have to see it again. we couldn't do the full tour because of a broken elevator. damn, it looks like i might have to come back one day afterall. the more you stare at the dam, the more amazing it is that such a thing could be built so you do become curious as to how they did it. going through the museum exhibit part helps put that together. why they would actually build a dam in the first place is better explained in the old museum facility where there's a big map of the states in the area and all the dams.

in the evening, we saw bjork at the pearl theater at the palms. i've walked through the palms before and it's just another damn casino. but the theater was really nice. just about every seat seemed like a good one and the sound system was nice too. there were just some annoying people sitting next to us. bjork is a very nice performer who thanks the audience almost after each song. some people couldn't help imitating her. every fucking time to hear people around me say "thank you!" over and over again in their pixie voice imitation of bjork was getting old fast. since bjork has a huge discography and i don't like her enough to buy everything, i wasn't familiar with all the songs she played but i was able to figure out most of the setlist. the band came on the stage first playing some kind of jazz death march. the musician setup was so different compared to when i saw her previously during the vespertine tour. i was keenly watching the electronic musicians because i had seen online a demonstration of this novel device called a reactable they're using. (there's also a good article at apple on the volta tour.) there wasn't much of an encore but overall the show was good so i'm not complaining. next time i see bjork, i should try to be up front.

[update: thanks to the bjork community online, i was able to find out what the opening piece is and the full setlist (plus there are pictures). she played more from medulla than i realized, which explains why i didn't know those songs as i'm not into the album at all. you can read about and watch a video of the opening piece at the volta tour blog.]