AROUND TOWN: Chills and thrills with the magic masters

Halloween is High Holy Season for many magicians. Our friends Jack Gould and Kathleen Carpenter recently hosted a party ostensibly celebrating several milestone birthdays among the guests (70, 60, 50) and the night included entertaining performances by a handful of mentalists, card manipulators and the local maestro himself, Eugene Burger. (Among the other guests: my all-time favorite magician, of course and for all of the obvious reasons, Robert Charles; Gordon Meyer; Jeanette Andrews; Sandy Marshall; and the fast-talking, fast-fingered swindler Richard Turner.) Coming up next week is a special treat: Robert, his "Magic Chicago" co-star Benjamin Barnes and rising star Jeanette welcome Eugene for two late-night Halloween shows. Visit Magic Chicago for more information. Plus, checkout this terrific Chicago Tribune story by Kevin Pang from today's newspaper.