A Daily Dose of Nothing

Yesterday my girlfriend, grandmother and mother and I went to Atlantic City to see David Copperfield. The show was supposed to start at 3 pm with seating taking place 90 minutes earlier. There were no "assigned" seats as it was maitre d' seating. This is usually a good thing because you can give a tip to the maitre d' and usually get closer to the stage. The maitre d's at Caesars just asked how many were in your party and quickly led you to your seats. There was no chance to tip. From about 1:30 to 2:15 about 90% of the people were seated in the rear of the theater. We asked a maitre d' if "there was anything they could do" to get us closer. They said they could do nothing to get us closer so we chose to sit in a booth. We saw some people tip the maitre d' in hopes of sitting closer, but they were in the same row as us. From about 2:30 to 3:00, anyone who came in got taken towards the front since the back was full. We all wondered what the seating system was at Caesar's and even asked a waitress if she knew. We figured if we ever go there again we'll show up about 10 minutes before show time.

Speaking of show time, it was supposed to start at 3pm, but didn't begin until about 3:20. By now we were sitting in our crummy seats for almost 2 hours. Finally the show began, but unfortunately with an old trick Copperfield performed on a TV special of his years ago. Throughout the show David threw in absolutely terrible jokes. If I wanted to see a comedian I'd go back in August to see George Carlin, but I was here to see magic and was disappointed with all but two tricks. The first being one in which David tells a boring story about his grandfather, the lottery, and the car he always wanted. Three people were chosen randomly by throwing Frisbees into the audience. One actually landed in the booth next to use. The 3 people each gave 2 numbers and a personal bit of info about themselves. David goes on to show a locked box, which contained a cassette, piece of paper and two license plates. The cassette contained the 6 numbers and the personnel info about each person. The paper had the numbers and personal info written on it. The two license plates each had 3 of the randomly chosen numbers on them. Aside from the story, I thought the trick was the best of the afternoon. The other illusion I liked was 13 audience members were chosen randomly and then put into a "box" onstage. They all disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the audience.

I doubt I'll ever go to see David Copperfield again, especially at Caesars. Out of 5 starts I'd give him 1. To make matters worse, it took us 6 hours to get home; it should take less than 2, due to a brush fire that closed 27 miles of the Parkway.