vicarious living with magic and g'aunt tina!

After those two courses of Legendary Golf had whet my appetite, I had thoughts of getting supper before the show started at the Comedy Magic Cabaret.

That didn't happen.

By the time I found the place, there were two restaurants I might have dined at, but they were pretty busy.

As it turned out, this place was even more so, but I already had my ticket, so I stayed.

That worked out just fine!

Sure, I wore my face covering and kept that mask in place as I was shown to my seat.

The hostess had given me two options and I had taken the one less surrounded by others: the top row, stage left, with me in the first seat.

I was eventually joined by a couple from Chicago, but we kept the empty chair between us.

By that time, my order of spinach-artichoke dip had arrived, so the mask was off and we three chatted, as folks on holiday are wont to do, about the usual stuff: where are you from, how did you hear of the show, what else are you doing while on vacation.

Guess what?

It turned out the guy was an electrician who regularly did work at the naval station at Great Lakes, Illinois, where I had spent the summer of 1977 - small world!

I took that as a positive sign that I was right place, right time!

And guess what else?

The show was delightful!

Kerry Pollack performed for more than two hours, with a lot of funny business going on: kidding around and doing shots with 'Grizzly', a 46-year-old birthday 'boy' on the front row with wife, 'Grizzlette'; kidding around with another guy on the front row, 'Sparky', wed for 48 years to 'Sparkette'; kidding around with a young couple who'd met two days earlier on the beach and clicked because they had the same name (Lonnie, guy from CA, and La-lani, gal from Hawaii); kidding around with disk jockey Bob, "with one 'o'," from Detroit; kidding around with the "babe island" on the middle section of top row.

Hahahaha! Hahaha!

But it was the promise of magic that had lured me in... and that promise was fulfilled!

Magic with lotto balls, assisted by the charming Lalani as Kerry wore a silly, oversized, red turban (like the one that Johnny Carson used)!

Magic with cards (bearing the faces of famous people, like Nikola Tesla, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo Da Vinci!) in sealed envelopes being transported from the envelope in Lonnie's hand to the envelope in the hand of an EMT named Frank!

Magic with cards and lots of other audience members!

And it was one of those card tricks, with everyone there participating, that I liked best.

People were in pairs, so Kelly (the magician's wife) worked as my partner for that one.

Here's how it went: I first assured the four cards at my seat were unique and they were, as I had 8 of hearts, 8 of spades, 7 of hearts, and 2 of hearts.

As the dealer, I was then instructed by Kerry to turn the cards face down and shuffle them, then to tear in half the stack of four cards.
One half-stack was placed on top of the other half-stack to form a stack of eight torn cards.

Follow me so far?

Okay, this is where it gets a bit hectic!

I dealt Kelly the top three 'cards' from the stack of eight, then I fanned out the five in my hand so she could slide her three in, anywhere between the topmost and the bottom card in my hand.

That meant I again had a stack of eight torn cards.

I then dealt her a card that she put away into her pocket.

Now, I held a stack of seven torn cards.

From that stack, I then dealt her three cards; she took those and traded them to other couples, after which I fanned the four in my hand and she slid the three different cards in, again placing them between the top and bottom cards of the ones I held.

Still with me?

So, I again held a stack of seven cards, three of which were new to me, all face-down.

The fun really started, as I "burned" the top card (placed it on the bottom of my stack), and tossed away the next one!

Now, I held a stack of six cards.

I kept on "burning" the top cards and tossing the next until I was left with only one card.

When I turned it over, it was the 8 of hearts, one of my original cards.

Then it was time for Kelly to pull forth the card she had squirreled away earlier...

and it was the matching half of my card!!!

For real!!!

All over the room others gasped as I had, when the card in their dealer's hand matched the card that had been tucked away!

What marvelous magic!!!

Such a sense of normalcy in the air!!!

So much fun for the entire two hours!!!

Now wonder Teller endorses Kerry!

I'll have to remember this place is here... and write about on Tripadvisor!

Now, to try to settle down so I can sleep tonight!