Sounds like a rock band

So you might be wondering what's up with Four Sevens and a Fruit.

It's to mess with my mother. I was in Vegas for a conference for a few days, and she came for the weekend. We found an excellent penny slot machine and we kept hitting four sevens and a fruit, which we thought was such incredible luck, until we figured out we only got forty cents out of it from a $1.80 bet. But she thinks four sevens and a fruit sounds like a rock band, and told that to each and every person who sat next to us. First we'd hit it, then she'd yell out, "FOUR SEVENS AND A FRUIT!!!!" Heads would snap in our direction, and then she'd turn to the person next to her and say, "Sounds like a rock band, doesn't it?" She said this to the same lady four times. Until the lady finally piped up with her own Four Sevens comment, to which my mom proudly smiled.

We won $145 off of $20 in eight minutes, and lost the whole thing within an hour. Not bad entertainment for an hour and eight minutes, especially for someone who hates gambling.

I must report that Barry Manilow was freaking great. I mean, what a classic person to see in Vegas. He was genuinely nice and a good performer. Now I remember why I wanted to be a lounge singer when I was a kid. He kept mentioning how important it was for people to stop into the hotel lounges and see unknown acts, because that's how he started out. He said to go in, listen, and put $10 in the piano tip jar. And that's exactly what happened to me when I played at Cinnamon's when I was 18. I would play his freaking songs and there was one particular customer who would always put $10 in my tip jar. When I go see shows it makes me a bit sad that I didn't end up being a stage performer, but what was I going to do, go live in Las Vegas? I don't think so.