Kats Goes Cowboy: ‘Urban Cowboy’ meets ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ at Gold Coast

Monday, Dec. 6, 2010 | 1:15 p.m.

There are tricks of any trade, including that of mechanical bull operator. One is: When operating a mechanical bull, apply deftness, dexterity and a “feel” to your craft. This will help to avoid pushing the motorized behemoth one count too far.

As mechanical bull operator Daniel Elison, who works for the company MechanicalBull.com of the great town of Burley, Idaho, says, “You don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Especially the young woman in the red dress. And the other woman, in the black dress.

Formally attired, these two, and they have both boarded the gyrating plaything at the Buck ’n Ball at Gold Coast, the wild after-party held each night after the crowd spills out of the Thomas & Mack Center after the National Final Rodeo.

They put on quite a show, as one might imagine. But first I had to ask: Why are two women donning slinky dresses more suited for a holiday gala than a country hoedown riding a mechanical bull at a rodeo party?

“She said, ‘I’ll do it if you do it,’ ” Keri Michelle says. When asked to corroborate this claim, her friend Trisha Bogden says about the same thing. She also claims that, “The better you tip ’em, the nicer you are.”

Bogden speaks of the mechanical bull operator, of course, though Elison says the Arizona Ballroom is not a haven for gratuities. Bogden says that she did tip $10, and she was given that tip-to-avoid-being-tipped advice by a guy who operates the mechanical bull at Stoney’s on Las Vegas Boulevard South.

Bogden has ridden that bull once. Michelle has boarded it three or four times, but never in a dress. These gals weren’t even supposed to be at this event, and certainly didn’t leave the house expecting to be riding a mechanical bull in front of a few dozen whoop-it-up cowboys throwing back Crown Royal shots at an NFR event.

The women had actually attended a National Guard holiday ball earlier in the evening, across the hall. It was the annual holiday gala for the 777th Forward Support Company in the 221st Calvary Squadron of the Nevada National Guard. There were a cluster of formally dressed military men and their beautiful dates hanging around the mechanical bull in what looked like a collision between “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “Urban Cowboy.” It was, in some instances, a Debra Winger Bonanza.

Thrown into this Gold Coast party stew, across the hall, on the hotel’s second level, was a cha-cha dance party titled “You’ve Found Manny.” Who Manny is, where he was and who found him, exactly, is not known, and the selfless invitation of a couple of cowboys to lure ballroom dancers over to the Arizona Ballroom was met with deaf ears.

No problem. The party raged on, its raucous musical accompaniment provided by the Scotty Alexander Band. Alexander is a well-known Vegas performer. Not long ago, he was a key musician in Wayne Newton’s orchestra (I met him about 10 years ago at the Stardust, if memory serves) who is a wonderful fiddle player, guitarist and singer. He shouted at the audience, “How many beer drinkers we got out there?!” When the response was not robust enough, he repeated the question -- louder -- apparently not noticing that a good many partiers were going for the hard stuff.

One such man opted to dance with a giant, inflatable Crown Royal bottle. He staggeringly spun the balloon-like booze effect around a few times, and it did bring back some murky memories for some of us who danced the Crown Royal two-step a few too many times. I asked him for his name, and he says, “I can’t give it to you. Seriously.”

He’s a the rare partier who is somewhat shy about his public buffoonery, which is something to be respected.

Upon leaving, I bounced into the National Finals Tonight talk show at the hotel’s showroom. I knew it had to be connected to the rodeo when, as I walked by, I heard one of the co-hosts -- Dan Miller, Don Gay and Joe Beaver bulldog this effort -- say, “Wes, was it the first go-round or the second when a flank strap wrapped around your neck?”

Didn’t catch the answer, but it seemed an important question, in the greater context. They were interviewing Wes Stevenson, one of the sport’s bareback stars and best spokesmen. The room was packed, and even the newly crowned Miss Rodeo America McKenzie Haley of South Dakota was seated near the front.

Around midnight, the room emptied. Some were going up to the party, to see Scotty and even some of our finest military personnel. And, maybe, some cha-cha dancers.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.