Vegas, 2002

This is a TRUE STORY.

When I tell you this -- you will not believe me, but here it goes.

Back in 2002, Teresa and I were out in Vegas with my parents. I was up around $3300, and because I'm a
degenerate gambler, and I also had some other friends staying out there
at the time-- I decided to stay an extra few days to gamble more.

Throughout the next 3 days, I ended up losing all of the money I was up -- and
sadly, much, much more. On my last day there, I was feeling fairly
dejected and decided that I would try my fate (just one more time) at
the blackjack tables.

Unfortunately, I simply trod water at the blackjack tables all day. At one point, Teresa stopped gambling and
said she was going to the magic store across from the blackjack tables
on the mezzanine. I continued to play for another 10 mins or so, when
all of the sudden I heard a crazy commotion coming from the main floor
of the casino.

I ran to the balcony and witnessed literally thousands of patrons screaming and running towards the escalators
towards the mezzanine. This was shortly after September 11th -- and to
be honest, I was freaked. I immediately turned to go find Teresa, when I
noticed that the gates to the magic shop were now closed. And in fact,
there were roughly 10 police officers forming a human tunnel into the
side door of the magic store.

I thought for a second - this isn't an emergency, there must be someone famous going into the magic
store!!! I ran to the cop that was closest to the side door and when I
looked up, Michael Jackson ran right past me into the store. I thought
'Holy crap!'

Through a window on the side door, I could see MJ and his entourage talking with the store clerks. I repeatedly begged
the cop, "please let me in." The unyielding cop told me to "Shut Up! No
one's getting in there buddy." I wondered where Teresa was at - when
to my utter shock - I saw that she was actually still in the magic
store. I told the cop "that's Teresa - my wife!" Again, the cop told
me to 'Shut up!' I screamed at Teresa again, and she looked through the
window and saw me waving -- of course, at this point, I was losing my
mind. I watched as Teresa had a conversation with a sharp-dressed
gentleman in the store. Two minutes later, the door opened and the
gentleman told the cop to let me in.
I moonwalked right by the cop and smiled. Teresa grabbed me and said "I begged MJ's manager to let you in. I told him you were a Michael
Jackson freak and was obsessed. He said 'No problem, but you can only
speak to Michael when spoken to. Pictures can be taken when he's done
shopping.'' It was quite surreal.
MJ shopped for awhile and was also practicing magic tricks with a heavy-set store clerk in a backroom for awhile as well. The room was so
quiet, and I struggled not to stare at Michael. At times, I could see
Michael's hands, and his hand's were so calloused. For some reason,
that is very strange to me. After about 35 minutes, MJ came up to me
and said 'Hello. How are you? I'm Michael Jackson, and who are you?'.
I told him that I was a super, big fan. I also might of got a little
carried away and said that I worshipped him. Ha! I also told him that I
once sang the 'Free Willy' theme song during my high school
presidential elections, and he said 'C'mon Jay.....sing it to me!!' So I
did just that! And I sounded atrocious. And MJ said 'That is my
mother's favorite song.' Michael and I spoke a while more: a tad about
about his great friend, Muhammad Ali and a bit about performing magic
for kids. In fact, Michael held out a deck of cards in front of me.
Michael asked me to 'pick a card, any card.' I picked a card (10
hearts), and Michael asked me to return it to the deck. I obliged.
Then Michael said "Was it this card?" as he riffled through the deck. I
was quite shocked when Michael showed me not just one of my card, but
the whole deck was littered with the 10 of Hearts. He repeated this
trick like 3 times. Hi-larious!

Subsequently, Michael signed my shirt, 'Love, Michael Jackson'; they snapped this photo of us, and I
got to shake his hand. I was thrilled to say the least.

Michael's manager (the sharp-dressed guy) proceeded to buy around $20K of merch.
Including a $19K King Tut fortune teller machine, 7 scary Michael
Jackson halloween masks (circa 1999), hundreds of magic tricks, etc.

Oh and the seven kids in Michael's entourage all put on the MJ masks and
started running around the store chasing and screaming at each other.

I told you that you wouldn't believe this!