Post #95816 by SugarCaddyDaddy on Thu, Jun 10, 2004 10:12 PM

Back in 1996/1997 I was frequenting Las Vegas about every 5 weeks (for business), and on one of the trips there I was staying at The Tropicana. It was very slow throughout all of Las Vegas, I was there by myself and decided to go down to one of their lounges and enjoy a cigar and martini. While listening to (I forget the band's name) at the lounge directly outside of the entrance to the Folles Bergere at The Tropicana, I see in my peripheral and to my right two gentlemen, one older, one younger and the older one had his arm intertwined in the younger ones arm, and I didn't think much about it. I just figured that it was some older guy and his son/grandson helping him and wanting to sit for a moment and enjoy a cocktail. They quietly found a far off corner table, which just happened to be hidden from any light source and sat. It wasn't hard to find a table since there were only about 20 of us there at the lounge, which could have easily sat 75 or more people. About 10 minutes later I see the younger gentleman get up and hand the lead singer a note right in the middle of their song. I thought "geez, that's kinda rude". Within seconds the lead singer stops the song altogether and huddles quickly with his band. Another few seconds goes by and they get into a quick discussion with the young gentleman who originally handed them the note. Through this brief interruption, of the original 20 people that were in the lounge, about 8/10 people got up and left. The whole momentum of their "set" was thrown off and I myself almost got up and left, but hec, I was alone in Vegas and didn't have anywhere that I really wanted to go, so I stayed put at the bar. Well let me tell you, I'm glad I did! The lead singer gets up and announces that a "special guest" wants to sit in at the piano and sing a few songs....yes, it was Ray Charles! Wooohoo! For exactly 30 minutes Ray belted out his classics and performed as if he was performing for a million people! 15 minutes into his performance, I was amazed that no one else came over to the lounge, and selfishly enough, I DIDN'T CARE! The bartender told me that Ray did that from time to time there. Sort of his 'giving back to the people' and performing and making music because he loved it, not for the money.

Having Ray perform for a dozen people (me included) will always be one of the best (if not THE best) times that I've ever had in Las Vegas.

He will be missed. Thank god for recording technology.