Roger Catlin | TV Eye

Report from Row 20

The guy next to me on the plane West began the flight with so much coughing and constant clearing of the throat, I thought for sure the embodiment of avian flu had buckled in right here on row 20.

When all that settled down, he began doing odd things: rubbing his hands together until they were warm and then rubbing his face; scratching his scalp with such vigor it shook the whole row. Then there was the hammerjack of his knee.

I know we’re supposed to report unusual behavior but this is just weird.

The Sights of Vegas

Got a room with some pals at the Stardust, drawn to the old school charm of the longtime landmark on the strip – and the weird, free showroom bar where halfway through of beers, the English group The Fortunes (or what was left of them) burst on the stage to sing a medley of their hit (“You’ve Got Your Troubles, I’ve Got Mine”).

No such luck this time. Didn’t get tickets to the Stones at the MGM Grand as originally planned – we thought we’d score last minute tickets out front of the sold out show at cut rate prices. (No go: One guy had a pair of $500 tickets he was offering for half that; another had $250 tickets he wouldn’t sell for less than $125. We went to dinner instead).

The entertainment at the Stardust – billed as Dueling Pianos – was not Daffy and Donald Duck from “Who Killed Roger Rabbit?” (though I would that it was). Instead it was a couple of piano pounders more of the school of that hopelessly square duo Will Ferrell used to perform on “Saturday Night Live.” Among their selections we heard were “American Pie,” “Sweet Child O’Mine,” the inevitable Billy Joel and the Chicken Dance.

It made it easy to go up to the room well before dawn.

The view from the sixth floor had all the neon sights a Vegas fan would love. But it was better this morning, when you could see the desert and mountains beyond the strip hotels.