The Vegas switch-a-roo..

The Main Ingredient flew to most of the gigs we played.  Exceptions were some local performance in and around NYC and one odd gig where we took a train to Detroit.  This particular gig was at the Sands in Las Vegas.  Our plane landed, and as was usual, there was a smiling face with a "Main Ingredient" sign in their hands, escorting us off to a van.  We are driving down the strip and the familiar Sands Hotel comes into sight.  We all had a pretty long flight and as the hotel gets closer we start to gather our belongings preparing to get out of the van, but the van doesn't stop!  The driver keeps driving right past the Sands.  Everyone is looking at each other like what is going on.  Donna Brown is the keyboard player and Musical Director at the time.  She asks where are we going and the driver nonchalantly says our accommodations are further down the strip and not at the Sands.  Disappointment ensues and we accept the fact that we're not staying there.  We pull into a sleasy motel that is literally back behind some other buildings and we check into a room that has purple fur on the bed frame.  Michael Bailey screams "I'm not staying in no juke palace!"  The  Donna then insists that the driver take us all to the Sands with our luggage, which he does.  Donna calls up to our manager's room and lets him know that we're not staying in the motel and if he didn't get us a room we would be sleeping in the hotel lobby, which we almost did.  About 2 am, we finally got rooms in the Sands.  Someone on the promotional side of this gig had given our rooms to their friends and stuck us down the street.  It didn't work out for them fortunately for us and only because of Donna not backing down for us.