On August 28th, Timotei and I, along with six other co-workers, went to the historic members-only Magic Castle. If you're like me and have never heard of it till now, it's a place where magicians mingle with other magicians and test out their tricks. So there are a bunch of different shows (large acts, small acts, close-up slight of hand magic) that guests can attend. You are also required to buy a meal.We got the dinner out of the way first. You are required to order a minimum of $15, but don't worry because everything on the menu is at least $30. I had the market fresh fish special which was orange roughy with baby carrots. It was kind of small, but incredibly good. I also had a glass of Napa Valley red wine to go with my meal. I hate wine, but this wine was drinkable. It smelled of fruit punch and tasted of not-so-horrible.
And so after feeling a little tipsy, a little goofy, we headed off to our first show. It was a famed international magician by the name of David Goldrake. He performed a mind reading trick and a perfume smelling trick, but the coolest thing was his escape from a straight jacket. It was the same as every other magicians S-jacket trick except that I was the lovely assistant that strapped him into the jacket. It was pretty cool.
The next show was a bit of a letdown. It was considered the "bigger" show and required a ticket to get in. It had magicians by the names of Kerry Pollock, David Kaplan, and Aaron Radatz. I enjoyed the dry comedic stylings of David Kaplan. His tricks were amusing and his non-speaking everything-goes-wrong routine was pretty funny and entertaining. However, the other guys felt like amateurs. All of their tricks I had seen elsewhere, but better.
After wandering around the castle for a bit and requesting a song from Irma, the piano playing ghost, we went to our last show of the evening in the Close-Up Gallery. There we saw Ivan Amodei who was by far the best entertainer of the night. He did some amazing magic with cards and cue balls and wand tips, all the while being quick witted and hilarious. I hope to see more of this guy in the future on TV because he was really great.
Anyway, it was definitely a cool experience and I can't wait to go again.
Presto,
Ricky
