Living the Native Way

Mohegan Sun in CT

Sorry, I know I am still very behind in blog entries but I will catch up! So let's go back to Saturday, July 2nd when Evan played at the Mohegan Sun indoor arena in CT. I did a little homework and found out that the Mohegan Sun casino is the second largest in the United States. Construction of the casino began in 1992 by a group called the Trading Cove Associates with a goal of helping the Mohegan tribe financially. The TCA also provided the tribe with attorneys and advisors to assist them in gaining official recognition as a people. In 1994 the federal government gave the Mohegan's tribal sovereignty and they were able to open the casino. Today 95% of the gross revenue from the casino goes directly to the Mohegan tribe and 5% goes back to the Trading Cove Associates.

The theme of the casino is 'native american' but I feel like that is a contradiction in itself. I am sure the rugged lifestyle of living in teepees, wearing animal skins for protection and whittling weapons from tree branches was never meant to be a decorative theme for anything. To explain the layout of the casino, it is divided into 3 main regions defined as the Casino of the Sky, Casino of the Earth and Casino of the Wind. These regions are divided again into themed areas for playing slot machines, shopping, or eating; The Wolf Den, Earth Promotions, Indian Summer Entrance, etc.

The decor consists of an elaborate waterfall wall, animal skins stretched in front of twinkling lights, turtle shell carpet, a gigantic faux rock mountain and of course pictures of wolves everywhere. It was a disgusting reduction of the Indian culture. Would you take the precious traditions of your heritage and sell them to Disney to turn into an amusement park? I wouldn't, it would make me sick to watch people ride the "Mongol Massacre" roller coaster screaming out in laughter naively neglecting the important history behind the Mongol invasion of Europe. The metaphor might be a stretch but looking at wooden Mohegan artifacts pasted on a wall of simmering gold flakes while a Kasha song plays in the background felt wrong.

We had decided to gamble for a bit of the afternoon since we had arrived early to the venue. I am not a gambler. I once played a slot machine on a cruise ship for 15 minutes. It had eaten my $20 and I did not want to feed it again. That was the whole of my gambling past. But since we were there in one of the largest casinos we decided to give it a try.

Evan and I had set a limit of $40 for the afternoon and started at the slot machines. I had put $10 into a traditional looking, 3 wheeled slot machine and pulled down on the lever about 80 times before I was completely out of money. Evan then wondered over to a poker machine and put in $20. After 5 minutes he cashed out, I don't know if we completely understood how to operate the machine or else it was just kicking our ass in poker.

Evan dared me to be adventurous and try one of the electronic slot machines. They have different rules, instead of wagering for a maximum of 3 lines you can wager up to 30 lines and increase your biding amount. It was very confusing but I choose a machine that featured a native american and a wolf (clearly the most appropriate choice). I sat down, pressed multiple buttons and before I knew it I won $20! I had now idea what I did which meant I definitely couldn't replicate that luck so I immediately cashed out and moved on to another machine.

Evan had been told to try our luck at blackjack on one of the automated machines. We decided to play at the bar because they will serve you free drinks for up to 30 minutes as long as you continue to gamble while you sit there. I had a margarita and Evan and a beer and we watched our little pot of money grow and deplete in small waves for an hour until Evan started losing hard. We were down to $8 and Evan decided to gamble it all on the last hand. To our surprise we won and had over $40 to play with! I begged Evan to cash out but he had been bitten by the bug, he wanted to see if we could win more.

Just at that time, I turned around to see two house security men standing behind us watching Evan play. I wondered if the large win (relatively speaking) had triggered this response or if it was coincident. I again urged Evan to cash out and he did with our final wins at $30.05. We played $30 and left with a 5 cents profit. Not losing any money, I guess it had been worth it to spend the afternoon gambling although I wouldn't go out of my way to do it again.

Mohegan Sun Arena

It was time for Evan to get to work so we entered the arena. This was the first indoor venue that Evan had played on the tour. This meant that he got his very own light production. Normally Evan plays during the day when the sun is still out and lighting is not necessary but indoors he would be playing in the dark if it weren't for at least a spotlight.

Lighting definitely gives the performance a completely different feel. Evan played the same set, opening with "Woodpecker", then the Robert Johnson cover with Vivian and ended with "The Giving Tree". The bright light shone on Evan and commanded everyone's attention. I felt as if the lights empowered him, making his performance more emotional/intense.

We left the venue and made plans to sleep at the nearest truck stop. We fell asleep to an episode of The Office cramped in the back of our Ford. Ah, young luxury :)

DISCLAIMER: Evan wanted me to mention that the casino is a great resource for the Mohegan tribe and he worries that my statements above might be too harsh. I apologize if I offended anyone, despite what some might think I do like Native Americans and have the utmost respect for their culture. I only want the best for them since the original settlers of what we now call the USA treated them so poorly. I just don't know if a casino is the best way to smooth things over after a genocide.