I won’t bore you with stories about breakfast except to say we went to Blueberry Hill again. It was great again. How this place gets a 3.9 rating on Yelp is beyond me.
The morning session was at times a bit mind boggling, mind blowing, and mind numbing. We heard an interview with Penn and Teller and also a lecture about under appreciated Black magicians which were very interesting. There was a very impressive mentalism performance by an act named Mind 2 Mind. I don’t think many of the men in the audience concentrated on the act after the female part of the duo walked through the audience. (see below)
Patrice here. Do you believe that nonsense he just said? Ask him to name one of their tricks and see if he can name any.
Lastly and most sobering was a talk about an attempt to end piracy of magic books and tricks. Apparently the pirates not only have stolen money but have also threatened the investigator with extortion and threats of physical harm. Yikes!
The afternoon sessions were great. I learned some great tricks to do plus some others that although I can’t do were interesting to learn the secrets.
Dinner was also a show. Yes we went to Benihana. We joined Bill and his son Bill and 4 other friends from back home, John, Connie (who told us about Magic Live) and their friends Gary and Cindy. It is always a lot of fun watching and listening to the Benihana chefs and tonight was no exception.
When I asked my magic buddy, Mike, if he wanted to attend Magic Live, he scoffed at the thought of staying at such a cheap hotel as the Orleans. I have to admit that he was right in many respects. Of interest there were a couple of things that made the hotel desirable. For example the hotel doesn’t have any pressure filters in the shower so you get a real blast which I really like. Also the water temperature is extremely hot. I love a hot shower. Newer hotels tend to limit the water pressure (money saver?) and temperature (possibly to avoid injuring guests and hearing from attorneys?) so the Orleans has my vote in regards to the shower. Interestingly this morning Owen noticed that the cold water from the sink was hot. I’ve been to numerous locations where hot water is a rarity (LAX for example) but I’ve never seen any location where the cold water is hot. Well, not until today.
The closing show was one more treat to top off a great 3 days of magic. It is late and I don’t want to bore you with details of the show. Actually I need my editor to proofread my posting and she is fading fast so we need to call it a night.
Tomorrow it’s back to home. I am always happy to return home but I have to admit this trip was very special. I look forward to returning next year. Thanks go to our friends who made it a unique event. Treating us to dinners, driving us to locations, waiting in line to save us seats, gifts for our grandson, showing us the lay of the land for the convention, is too much to fathom. What a wonderful group of friends. I am really blessed.
No trips planned for the near future but if we head out of town I promise you’ll be the first to know.
Ciao
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 