Magical evening befits the life of killed showman

It could have been a night at Caesars Magical Empire or another of Las Vegas' many magic shows. Birds appeared from thin air, there was a fire-eater and a man pulled dry sand from water.

It was magic just like Chappy, magician Mike Ray said at Anthony "Chappy" Brazil's memorial service at Caesars Palace hotel-casino Wednesday.

"Chappy was the ultimate showman, and this is how he would have wanted it," Ray said. "He had a performer's spirit and I'm sure that he could hear the applause here today."

The applause came loud and often for the former member of the Magical Empire troupe who was killed in a head-on collision with Metro Police Officer Edward Jones early Saturday morning on Industrial Road.

Approximately 200 people, including the Monte Carlo's Lance Burton, gathered to remember the 33-year-old magician.

"I first met Chappy at the Darwin magic club and he made a big impression on me," Burton said. "It was probably because he stole my watch. I can still see him telling his friends that he stole Lance Burton's watch.

"What he actually did was give me a gift because he reminded me that I first got into magic to have fun and share magic with others."

Brazil grew up in New Jersey and eventually wound up in Las Vegas, a city known for the magic of Burton and Siegfried & Roy.

When he first arrived in Las Vegas two years ago Brazil won the part of Octavius in the Magical Empire and met Ray, Charles Bach and Ron Keck, who had also just been hired.

"We were all new to town and we did everything together," Keck said. "We roomed together, took holidays together and learned how to be better magicians together."

Magic came naturally to Brazil, Ray said.

"He was a much better magician than me," Ray said. "It would have been so easy for him to make me look bad but he never did."

Brazil is survived by his wife, Lorena, his mother, Virginia, and his sisters, Megan and Christie.

The ceremony concluded with Burton breaking a magician's wand which symbolizes the magician moving on to the next world.

If there are watches to steal in that next world Chappy should be OK, fellow magician Anthony Vaughn said.

"There are certain things that everyone will remember about Chappy," Vaughn said. "How much he loved his friends, his family and Lorena and how he stole watches.

"He once walked into a room with 24 people in it and before he left he had 18 of their watches. If he had been a criminal he would have been very wealthy."

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