TG Rocktober 2026 is in the can as they say in the movie business and the ladies that run it should be proud of yet another first-class event in Las Vegas. I arrived Wednesday evening and it’s a good thing I didn’t plan anything that night because Southwest was late as usual and the bellman at the hotel was nowhere to be found. After a half hour of waiting, I finally went to the front of the hotel and retrieved my luggage container I shipped ahead of time and dragged it to my room. I don’t know what was going on because this has never happened before so didn’t raise a fuss about it. No dressing this night just dinner as Duke and early to bed.
The official opening night of TGR 2026 was Thursday and the dinner started at 5:00pm so I took it easy in the morning, had a big late breakfast and started getting ready for the dinner around 2:00pm. The doors opened at 4:30 and I got there right around that time and started mingling with friends. The photographers were not ready when the doors opened so I postponed my session until later and headed for the bar. The nice thing about attending these events regularly is that you see people from previous TGR’s and catch up which I did right off once inside. Drinks in hand myself and a lady I knew from previous DIVALV’s found a table where some lovely ladies let us join them.
Dinner was served right around 5:30pm followed by welcome announcements and introductions along with recognizing and a special welcome for first timers.
This year TGR added an outing to a local comedy club not far down the road at the Rio hotel called the Comedy Cellar. I think there was about 25 of us that went but it’s hard to tell because the tickets were bought directly through the club, not TGR. It was a fun night with some up and coming along with seasoned comics. It was nice to sit back and enjoy some laughs with a mixed crowd that we represented a significant portion of. I liked that the club was off the strip so easy to get to and from other than a big UBER demand when leaving. The ride back to the Tuscany was just a couple of minutes and I enjoyed my conversation with the driver. When there is three or more of us in the car, I always ask the driver to sit up front to give the others more room. Crawling into the far back end of the SUV is not ladylike so I try to avoid it. The driver always agrees and I tell them it’s their punishment for something they did as a kid which breaks the ice and the conversation flows.
Of course, after the show everyone headed back to the Tuscany Piazza Lounge for more socializing arriving around 11:00pm. I stayed until a little after midnight and the headed back to my room to listen to the buffalo next door. It had to be a buffalo because nothing could make that much noise on the top floor of a hotel. It was next door somewhere on my floor and made a thump, thump, thump from time to time. Fortunately, even buffalo sleep and they were on my timeline so didn’t keep me awake.
