only 6:30. Okay . Out we tumbled, out where the Christmas tree stood, blazing bright here in the shadows. e epic white-pink ferris wheel pierced the twilight sky. It was suspended so close that it could crash down on us at any moment. Flashbacks of the Omnia next door , the cathedral nightclub with its disassembling UFO centerpiece hovering around a chande- lier… almost too much to bear aer stfuls of edibles …. “Let’s keep going,” Huxley implored. We lumbered into a cove of rockwalls and wa- terfalls, across from a fountain and oldschool, art deco entrance. A suitable stopping point, because my feet were stuck, knee-deep in sand. Body and brain, completely desynchronized. So I stood. It was a safe space to smoke through another Spirit-turned-joint, absorbing the un- dulating colors on the palm trees and towering facade. e whole place was a retro Wonder- land. e roses were very red. ere was no way we'd make it to the party. Not like this. e previous year we’d gone to downtown Vegas, was it the Neonopolis? Fremont St. Yes, e Nerd. A weird Planet Hollywood collector’s type bar (but stranger things, like a seven-foot, pink dildo-shaped riding bull). In the dim lights, the shopping center already looked like a shadowland, the kind of ruins transforming into a dystopia of punks and whores and people in jacked-up trucks with mounted guns. e whole place was dismal. It felt like cancer. By being in Vegas, it also felt somehow benign. Now I was sure of it, we would stumble right into that kind of slumbucket tonight with barely more sense than a drunk on the verge of blackout. What we needed was another quiet refuge…
at the Disco Show Continued from Page 36
fresh air was overpowering the impulse to hunker down, even if it was di cult to stand. We strategized around the table. “Man, I've pulled out a lighter and almost lit this joint up in the room three times,” he said. “I got two vapes, three joints…” “I gotta spliy for later…” “What did you call the phase, where it could go either way? “ e death state. It’s like when you take two bottles of Robitussin. ere’s a thirty minute window where you’re either gonna die or fall asleep, and then you're vomiting on the toilet… and then all at once it goes away and you tran- scend the death state.” “It’s the moment where you decide the trip.” We were delirious. Squinting uncontrollably. Not sure if even worth trying to describe the visuals. Fractals of cubism? My body was elec- tric, the thrill of complete and utter uncertainty fueling my adrenaline, balancing the otherwise dueling fatigue. Downstairs we followed our feet to the mini food court where we’d ordered coee every morning, where we knew the doors would lead outside, to the safe, secluded menagerie… It could be any time. 9pm. 2pm. Was it four? Midnight? Had we missed the party? It was
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HIGHTIMES LOCAL ▶
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