I just got back from an awesome trip to Vegas. I went to play in the Oxford Pro Am and took my wife and my oldest son.
My son brought his bagpipes and intended to play them on the strip. We were so busy and dog tired that we ended up going out on the last night we were there at his insistence. He didn't seem to be intimidated at all so he and I went to try and find a spot, which wasn't easy. There was noise competition everywhere as you can imagine. Eventually we did, but when he started to play it became obvious there was something wrong with his main reed. He did a quick fix job and played a few tunes. It was "ok" but he was struggling to keep it going.
I was standing there taking a couple of videos when a couple came over and asked if my son took requests. I told them that if he knew it, he'd play it. The husband, who was already really emotional, then said that his brother had just died and that his last request was for him to find someone to play Amazing Grace on the bagpipes in his memory.
Sure enough he knows that tune and so he played it for them, twice. They stood there while he played hugging each other and the woman came over and handed me a $20 and thanked him profusely. They were both in tears. It was a really surreal experience for all of us.
Out of respect I didn't take a video of that incident but I did take this one right afterwards, it's a little choppy in a couple of spots, but Trew really belted this one out considering the reed issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ko5Yuk9E4On the way back to the hotel he was stopped twice and given cash to play. He made $30 in the space of 15 minutes!
It was an amazing trip. Our team ended up in third place in the three day tournament played on Wolf and Snow Mountain at Pauite. To top it all off I met an existing client and his son for a drink when I found out he was at Caesar's speaking at a conference. The next night I met a friend of his who wants to move a bunch of business to us in our office down south. The trip paid for itself...in SPADES!
I didn't gamble one cent.
