Bill books buskers for Comdex boogie

Two obscure Australian buskers have been catapulted into the big time after the world's richest man, Bill Gates, booked them for a gig.

Darryl Wood and Santos Bonacci were surprised to receive a personal invitation from the Microsoft chief asking them to perform their Latino routine before his Comdex keynote in Las Vegas this weekend.

Bonacci was determined to play it cool. "I am very, very excited, but then again, it's still only a gig. We're keeping a level head about it. We play to 40,000 people a day in the Bourke Street Mall anyway, so it's about the same numbers in one hit," he said.

Details of the commission have not been disclosed, but it's safe to assume that Gates is paying the lucky musicians slightly more than loose change for the gig.

The musicians came to the attention of Gates after their manager emailed Microsoft some MP3s from their CD.

Anthony Chidiac, owner of Opulent Multimedia, which acts as the buskers' agent, said: "I got this email from Bill Gates saying could we play at his keynote."