SAT. JUNE 29, 2002

So you threw all of your eggs in last Saturday’s big lottery basket and what do you have to show for it? Bupkis. Well don’t rip off that rabbit’s foot pendant just yet because Saturday night Aids Services of Austin is hosting its annual Viva! Las Vegas fundraiser at the Austin Music Hall. {ital}Viva! Las Vegas{/ital} offers all the fun of big time gambling without the obnoxious neon, dry desert air, and scary mobster types. You will however, get to sample a Vegas-style smorgasbord of great food from over twenty area restaurants like Mirabelle, Gilligan’s, Castle Hill, and Jean Luc’s Bistro; enjoy fabulous lounge acts like the Sin City Diva Show, Peter the Adequate, and The United Court as well as main stage shows featuring Carol Channing (live and imperson), The Roustabouts, and Mommas Boys (luck be a…uh…lady?). If you meet the mark of your dreams, you can get symbolically hitched by the Kang at Elvis’ “Love Me Tender” wedding chapel and furnish your honeymoon suite with loot from the silent auction. At the end of the evening when you’ve eaten too much, drank too much and blown all of your money on craps, you’ll rest easy knowing that you money went to a good cause. In the the immortal words of Rosie Perez in “White Men Can’t Jump”, “Sometimes when you lose you really win.”