Las Vegas Weekly

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Microsoft’s private party at Marquee amounted to a lot of men in suits standing around talking on Thursday, the first night of the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show. Maybe the crowd stayed off the dance floor because the DJ was playing music off a Mac. (That Microsoft sticky cover wasn’t fooling anyone!) Maybe the guys were too busy with the buffet—lamb chops, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, gourmet sliders and other delicious treats (it certainly kept me busy for a while). Or maybe the lack of energy stemmed from a simple lack of female dance partners. Just when I thought the party couldn’t be more full of nerds, I discovered the outdoor area, opening to an endless sea—okay, pool—of them.

Nevertheless, the party did get rocking about three hours into the night. Hooray, open bar, and hooray, talented DJ that can successfully mash up Pitbull and Guns N’ Roses. Unfortunately, just as the party began looking more like a typical Las Vegas club night, with its business crowd finally dancing and dotted with women ... it was last call. At midnight.

About the same time of night the Microsoft event came to end, the party was just beginning Saturday at the Palms, where the Playboy Club hosted Evil Angel Video’s AVN Awards afterparty. Once more, the room was dominated by testosterone, but these men were more readily looking to mingle with the opposite sex. (Tip: Just because a woman is on her knees at the end of a walkway at a porn party does not mean she’s giving ’em out free; she probably just dropped something.) Though the music was fairly similar, the Evil Angel crowd was much looser than Microsoft’s nerd herd. Scantily clad booties were a-bumpin’ and geezers were a-grindin’ from the get-go. I felt like I was stuck somewhere between a wedding reception and a Dance Floor Dale video. I imagine that’s what it’s like partying at the Playboy Mansion. Hef’s club has definitely done its job.