Bill and Chelsea listen as mom Hillary sings

Photos by Jan Dacri)

THE BILL & HILLARY SHOW

Jan and I were invited to attend a cool event, a rally with the Clinton's. Hillary, Bill and Chelsea were in fine form at this event, we were among close to 5,000 people who jammed into the high school gym to cheer and scream and laugh and spend a couple of hours with this amazing family - and it was easy to imagine them back in the White House, which would certainly be a change over the current two oil men we have running things there now.

We were in the front row, so we had a great opportunity to not only watch them and observe the way they all interacted with each other, like any close-knit family would, but we got to speak with them, and most important, I now have another great playing card autograph for my collection.

I have a most unique deck of playing cards, with autographs of some notables, like Milton Berle, Mickey Mantel, Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis, among others.

I now have one with potential historic potential, it's signed by Hillary and Bill (who I didn;t realize until I met him, is a leftie).

First I asked Hillary to sign it, which she did...	Then I asked the former president...he reached for the card...	He asked me if it would disappear...  He smiled and signed it ABOVE Hillary.

Should Hillary win, which very well could happen, then I have a playing card that is signed by 2 US presidents.

Bill Clinton wearing his XanGo tie.

Here's the card; it's a blank faced card from a deck of Magic Castle playing cards.

When Hillary was speaking, Bill and Chelsea would often whisper something between them and watch Hillary, you could see the bond they share, it was a rare, intimate evening (with thousands watching, yes) but it gave all those present a chance to see beyond the sound bites and rhetoric and just witness a mother, her husband, and their daughter, all of whom just happen to comprise the most recognizable family in America, a former President and his wife who just might end up becoming the first woman president. Watching them interact together was the best part of the night. Jan captured the night with some amazing photos.

You can watch them now, it takes a bit of time to download them (it took me one minute on my computer on a high speed connect). Be patent, they are really worth it. Watch the slide show now.

MEMORIES OF AN AMAZING MENTALIST

Anyone even remember Kreskin? He was the prominent "Mentalist" entertainer (really just a guy doing magic tricks and a hypnosis act but packaged expertly as a mentalist who did mind things) back in the 60's and 70's.

Many people (magicians) decide to re-invent themselves and suddenly, POOF! There are no longer magicians, they are now known as "Mentalists".

Same thing, different label.

But back in the dqy, Kreskin was a true entertainer, and he was on television nearly every day, or so it seemed. Merv Griffin loved him, Carson had him on a lot, and

Mike Douglas enjoyed him, too.

I worked with him once, (what a weird experience that was) on a show where we shared the bill. We were both on the Mike Douglas Show once. His big thing in his

show was to have his check hidden, and if he couldn't find it, you didn't have to pay him. When we did the show together, I had a duplicate set of glasses that looked

just like his, and I switched them in his dressing room before the show. We both had a good laugh over that one. I laughed a lot more than he did. He still found his

check, but not before he had that moment of sheer panic while standing onstage before he spotted me standing offstage in the wings, waving his glasses in my hand.

He walked to the edge of the curtain, speaking to the audience, and without missing a beat, he put his hand behind himself, and I reached over and placed the glasses into his hand. Audience never knew anything happened.

I just spoke with Kreskin, first time in almost 20 years, we laughed about that experience together.

CELEBRITY CHEF CONNECTION

As I mentioned last week, I taped an appearance on Celebrity Chef Connection, a fairly new show based here in Vegas.

The show tapes in the kitchen of producer and writer Barbara Nosek, who I am happy to say, along with her co-host Debbie Hall, will be writing for us beginning next week, in our all new FOOD section.

You can visit their web site and watch (and listen) to the interviews and get the recipes that are prepared. My garlic-heavy concoction was prepared just before

Barbara had to rush off to do more interviews (she is a busy and well-respected journalist, writing for several papers in Vegas and beyond) and she no doubt ate a lot of breath mints on the way.

The big feature of their web site is the interactive audio/video Internet show that features a top chef and other food/wine guests each week, and your questions are

invited.  Their programs also include food-loving segments spotlighting news, entertainers, events, books, contests, conventions, and reports from foodie cities everywhere.  So, check out my interview and recipe for our family's "Secret Sauce" right here.

VAN HALEN COMES TOGETHER ONCE AGAIN

Saw Van Halen in concert last weekend, a wild concert, the first time David Lee Roth appeared as the front man, and although I liked Sammy Hagar, I have to admit

that Roth did an amazing job, if he would just stop smiling that big phony smile. Actually, my seat in the 5th row allowed me to see great detail, and it looked like his

face was plastic, so he probably can't stop smiling. Eddie Van Halen was in fine form as well, plucking and strumming and screeching the guitar with great skill and

flawless timing. His smile is genuine. He's obviously happy to be onstage with his brother Alex on drums (could be the best in rock) and his young son Wolfgang

playing bass guitar. He brims with pride every time he looks over at his son, and together they are making music that sounds exactly as it did back in 1984, which was when they all played together. COurse, Wolfgang was not an original member, the band is older than he is. Bassist Michael Anthony completed the original line-up,

but he was replaced for this tour (and forever). Seems he had some not-so-nice things to say about the Van Halen brothers, and then went out on tour with Hagar and did Van Halen songs, which basically sealed his fate as a traitor and ex-band member.

The sound was off the charts, crisp vocals and guitars, the ultimate rock concert of high energy blow your face out rock and roll, and after over 2 hours of non-stop full sensory assault, the boys did an encore of "Jump" and the noise level was so high that the windows all shattered and grown men were seen weeping. It took me 2 days for my hearing to return to normal. What a great experience it was.

BEST OF 2007 ROCK & ROLL

I got an email from "Joel R" asking me what the best music show was that I saw in 2007. I can't begin to pick just one, they were all wonderful. That said, a few stand out in my mind as the best of the best. Allow me to share the top 3 with you.

Definitely at the top of the heap would be Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone. I've written about all 3 concerts we saw in 2007, and if you missed any of those (check archives) I'll summarize here; high energy, great music, party-like atmosphere as Peter, the rock legend from Manchester, England, is such a real entertainer, in addition to still having the voice and looks, his humor and strong connection he has with his audiences makes his concerts unforgettable experiences. I know. I've seen him a number of times, since the 70's when he was on a show with Donovan. He seems to get better with age. Like fine wine.

Next would be another Englishman, a Liverpool native called Gerry Marsden. Gerry and the Pacemakers has only played in Las Vegas twice in their entire history.

Jan and I were at both. He's another full-service entertainer, loads of personality and funny, and when he sings his hits, Gerry knocks them out of the park.

It was a great year for music shows, with an emphasis on classics, oldies acts, always a thrill to see the original legendary bands.

Bob Seeger come to mind right off, as he sounded pretty much exactly as he did in the 70's and 80's, when I would drive to Detroit to see him perform, probably saw him a dozen times back then. This show was full of the same energy and great music. And the completely gray hair. The only thing missing was his famous crowd surfing he often did.

MAGIC IN VEGAS

Magician and actor (and daredevil) John Calvert, now at the ripe age of 96, still going strong, and he was honored by the magicians of Las Vegas (The Fantasma Ring 275 and Roger Dreyer sponsored it) and it was a grand old time, as magicians and celebrities came together to honor a man who has spent the better part of the last 7 DECADES entertaining on the world's stages and movie screens.

Various magicians performed and spoke about John, and then John and Tammy took to the stage and performed some of his classic original magic.

I reported on this event before, yes, but we just found a couple of additional great photos from the night.

Peter Reveen and John Calvert discussing facial hair

Peter and Coral Reveen with John