Landmarks // ＦＯＲＧＯＴＴＥＮ by Hallmark '87

CASSETTES AVAILABLE HERE:
https://nightlighttapes.bandcamp.com/album/landmarks


(( November 3, 1995: Las Vegas, NV ))

A cathartic weekend trip to Vegas was just what you needed after working 6 days a week for over 3 months straight.

You end up going alone, most of your few friends you still talked to weren't available, and you were still trying to find the one true love of your life. Maybe you'd meet her in the entertainment capital of the world? Your hopes are high as you set your course for Sin City. As you approach Vegas in your '85 Nissan 300ZX, you tune in to 1140 AM to familiarize yourself with the glamorous city you're about to experience for the first time.

You check into the Stardust hotel and casino and drop your bags in your room on the 21st floor of the newly constructed hotel tower. After going casino-hopping for a few hours, what little money you'd brought with you was running out, and so were the daylight hours.

The excitement of the strip is starting to wear you out, so you make your way back to the Stardust around 9 o'clock. Back in your hotel room, you turn on the local news with a glass of whiskey in hand. The big story of the night is the impending demolition of the historic Landmark hotel and casino, which had closed a few years earlier. From your window, you could just make out the futuristic UFO-shaped tower's dark silhouette in the distance.

You realize how quickly this city is changing. New mega-resorts are going up, historic ones are coming down, and this is just the beginning. You know that in a few days, the Landmark would be gone forever, erased from the Las Vegas skyline in a matter of seconds, then turned into a new parking lot for the convention center. It would be forgotten to time.

Sleep isn't an option. Your mind is too busy dealing with existential thoughts and feelings of dismay towards the future for yourself and for the city you're staying in. Instead, you jump out of bed, grab your keys, and head to your car to take one last drive down the strip in the early hours of the morning. The crisp night air through your T-tops invigorates your mind, while the myriad of flowing neon signs and lights spark a feeling of nostalgia and melancholy as you realize that most of those signs and the casinos they advertise would be reduced to rubble within the next few decades, some sooner than others.

You notice your VHS camcorder on the floor by your passenger seat. Without hesitation, you prop it up on your open window and start recording...

digital memories