What Happens In Vegas Doesn't Always Stay in Vegas
Written by David Larose

This year, Wendy (O'Brien) and I were married 10 years and we talked about taking a trip to celebrate. After discussing our plans with some close friends, we came to a conclusion that Las Vegas would be our destination. Wendy had told me on several occasions that she had a friend with whom she had gone to school that had his own show in Las Vegas at the Golden Nugget Casino. His name is Gordie Brown. They attended high school together at L.T.M. and she has always said that if it were not for Gordie, she would not have graduated?? Not sure about how true this is but she's stuck with that story for our 15 years together. In her yearbook, Gordie wrote that he was going to marry her one day. They always remained good friends and once Facebook arrived it was even easier to keep in contact. She always told him if ever she went to Vegas she would indeed check out his show. Well here we are. Wendy and I, and our good friends Eric Clark and Debby Boyer planned and booked our trip to Sin City on the week of the 11^th of October 2015 to celebrate our 10^th anniversary as well as Eric's 50^th birthday.

When Wendy told Gordie when we were coming, he simply said here are tickets for all four of you and trust me you're going to have a great time!! The date of his show was Wednesday October 14th and it ended up being a red carpet event... Wow! What a time we all had!! We were invited on the red carpet before his show and met some very interesting people. Actors, singers and performers who he knew and who were very happy for Gordie's success. There were singers who perform in The Jersey Boys, Marty Allen, the comedian and many more. One person we met kept us in the Vegas limelight of who's who? Her name Diana Davis or double "d" for short, get my drift, who worked for the L.A. Flash. What a ball of fire she is and all that at the young age of 72. She was the one who told us that we should do this great publicity for the little town of Two-Mountains and the big city of Las Vegas and especially for Wendy and Gordie on how far and long their friendship has been going on.

Gordie is a fantastic performer. You name it and he can simply perform like that artist, from Sinatra to the King, Elvis and in my personal opinion he is the King of The Golden Nugget. The Wednesday show was a full house and he had the whole crowd on their feet applauding for more!!! The hour and a half flew by but he kept many of us wanting more. For us, there was a lot more. The after show is where we had a chance to meet with Gordie on a more personal level. We saw how humble he is with all his friends in and around the the Las Vegas scene. Once we had him to ourselves, the guy from L.T.M. was back. The half hour we spoke was like standing on the corner of 14th avenue and Oka road. All the lights and glamour just disappeared and all five of us just laughed about everything, a real time machine.

I never knew Gordie when they were younger so the stories that Wendy had told me were all coming together, smile after smile. I was happy to see Wendy being so happy to see her friend after so many years apart. The stage life is very different from our ordinary day to day routine, but rubbing elbows with Vegas stars was a lot of fun. We also met a really nice lady who was sitting on her own, so we got talking and found out that she was the mother of Murray Sawchuck, the magician known as Murray, that you might have seen on America's Got Talent. He made a locomotive vanish. We found out that Murray and his mom are from B.C., Canadian hey! So we hit it off pretty good and then got invited to Murray's show the very next day. Again, another great person and another great performer!!

Our vacation ended up being even better because of all the people who became our new Vegas friends. Thanks Murray for your invite to your show I'm glad you were able to make my shoe re-appear. Thanks Diane for the input on who's who, your funny and bubbly personality was just the thing we needed.

Lastly of course, Gordie, I want to give you my personal thank you for everything. For many it might seem like a small gesture but to Wendy and me and our good friends your warm hospitality and fantastic show was our final curtain to a great week!!!

Viva Las Vegas !!!

David Larose

For you that have not seen Gordie in action, here are a couple of YouTube links that will give you an idea on how talented and funny Gordie is. One is from the Letterman show and one is from Just For Laughs.

Gordie on Letterman (Nov 2006) - Gordie at Just For Laughs (Circa 2001) - Gordie at the Golden Nugget Commercial