Magic!

El Drusso

2011-10-09T21:37:00.002-04:00

I am now appearing pretty much every Saturday at El Drusso's - it's a magic store at Discover Mills mall with a full theater in the back. I am doing my full show there - not the kids show, but my show for adults (though it's still family friendly!) Check with me before you go just in case, though - there are a few Saturdays I won't be there.

Theater show coming up!

2011-04-30T08:47:00.000-04:00

Details soon ... but some friends of mine and I have booked the Academy Theatre and will be doing a show there on June 4th. This should be interesting!

Library Show

2010-05-18T07:09:00.002-04:00

I have a public show coming up on Thursday, June 17th, at 7:00 at the Powell Library in Newnan! I don't do that many public shows so I hope to see a lot of folks there. I've performed at this library before and they have a really nice library and a great place for shows, so it should be a lot of fun!

The address is 25 Hospital Road, Newnan GA:

View Larger Map

Balloons!

2010-03-15T08:39:00.002-04:00

I went to a party at a friends house yesterday. We brought our kids, and I knew there'd be a handful of other small children there, so I brought balloons with me. I figured it never hurts to have something with me that will keep all the kids happy and occupied for a while! And there turned out to be about five little ones there, so it was handy.

A friend of mine took this picture of me tying balloons ... that's my son with the balloons sword, shield and helmet. He's always delighted when I pull out the balloons so that makes me happy to see!

Back to blogging!

2010-03-13T21:54:00.002-05:00

I'd been ignoring my blog for a while and just doing "what's the magician up to" posts on my facebook page ... but hey sometimes it's nice to write something a little longer, so I thought I'd go back to this blog!

I have been doing a lot of Blue and Gold shows lately - I enjoy doing shows for the scouts. My son is four and I am a little hopeful he'll be interested in the scouts once he gets to the first grade. And MAN have things changed ... I remember doing the pinewood derby when I was a kid, and as I recall we put our cars on a slope and cheered them on. Now there's tracks and timers and all SORTS of cool things! So as a nerd, needless to say I'm all for that. But jokes aside, it was impressive - and you should have seen the cars these guys made!

I have become president of the Georgia Magic Club this year. I've been involved heavily with that club for a while, I met a lot of really good guys through it, and it's been fun being president so far. We are trying to set up a club show now, so hopefully in a few months I'll have a full magic show to tell you about!

Monkey Joe's

2009-08-10T08:32:00.002-04:00

My family and I went to Monkey Joe's last night. Lots of inflatable goodness. I ended up with my three year old son, my two year old daughter, and my three year old niece in some sort of inflated ring with a pole in the center. We were running about and tackling each other. At some point two other kids came in, maybe four or five, and they just joined the game. (I looked and couldn't see their parents ... so just figured the heck with it, hopefully they won't sue me for being gleefully tackled by their kids.)

It turns out that having five kids tackle and jump on you is actually surprisingly enjoyable.

Frank again

2009-08-03T06:54:00.001-04:00

Xander's favorite stuffed animal is a little cat he calls Kitty. We like Kitty. We have several spare Kitties in a drawer so when Kitty gets dirty we can clean it and Xander doesn't know it's been swapped. And if one gets lost we can find another one. Kitty has been his favorite for a very long time now. But Bolt (from the Disney movie) has been sneaking into the picture, and in the last week or so Kitty has been replaced by Bolt.

I like Kitty better. Well, actually I somehow just dislike his favorite being a marketed named animal, I find I just preferred his stuffed animal being more uniquely his. Or, to be really honest, I guess I just preferred the UNnamed marketed animal. I dunno, I can't justify it, I just preferred Kitty.

So in an attempt to rectify this, Kitty has been in the Frank stories lately I tell Xander when he goes to sleep. So this is where I have failed in something. The point of a bedtime story is to get the boy quiet and calm and restful. Frank stories don't do that well, but he demands them and doesn't want to be read to afterwards, so it's the last story. And the Frank song helps but still, I think we need to figure that out.

So to tie all this together. Last night Kitty went on the offensive and attacked Frank, which I demonstrated with Kitty who basically attached himself to my face Alien facehugger style and then proceeded to completely demolish me in many other ways. This made the boy laugh so hysterically he collapsed on the bed unable to breathe.

I totally stink at getting him all calmed down and ready to go to sleep.

Frank

2009-07-29T07:53:00.001-04:00

So a while ago, around St. Patrick's Day, instead of reading a story to my son Xander I made one up. It was St. Patrick's Day, so I told the story of St. Patrick and his snake removal service. I can't remember if Frank was in the first story or not, but Xander wanted to hear it again the next night, and sooner or later Frank showed up in the stories. Frank essentially carries snakes around and throws them at people. St. Patrick stopped him. The snake throwing thing made Xander laugh, so now the stories pretty much just revolve around Frank.

So now Xander won't let me read to him any more, though he will listen to Piper's stories. But every night he runs to bed, climbs in, and waits very eagerly for his Frank story. So I make up a new one every night. Xander is in a lot of them now which he likes, and I'll ask him questions and take the story wherever it goes based on what he says (he tends to want to shoot Frank with a gun a lot. Frank blocks the bullets with a snake, usually.) The stories really aren't very good, but they make the boy happy. And now they get followed with the Frank and Xander song which also changes every night.

It's kind of challenging to come up with a story every day, but fun - sure they are terrible stories I'm sure, but it's fun. The only problem is that they get the boy worked up and excited, so I'm trying to figure out how to do this without getting him worked up. That's how the Frank and Xander song started, which helps but I'd rather he not get so excited.

On the other hand, for however long this lasts, it's really wonderful to see how much he loves having me make up a story for him every night.

Library Show

2009-07-27T07:47:00.002-04:00

I'll be at the Smyrna Public Library this Thursday at 7 if anyone wants to come see a free magic show! I'll be in the community center. The library address is
100 Village Green Circle, Smyrna, Georgia

I think this is my last library show for the summer. It was fun doing them, I really enjoy library shows!

Star Wars Insider

2009-06-23T08:29:00.002-04:00

I'm in the Star Wars insider with my son!

My son loves R2 and my stormtrooper armor. He's three and pretty small, so when I was repairing R2 one day I just stuck him inside. He helped. It was fun, and I took some pictures of it. And later, he saw the Stormtrooper armor and was fascinated by it, so I put it on him which just made his DAY. We sent a picture of him in R2 and another of him in the armor to the insider, and this month they printed them! We're on page 74, in the fan section, of the issue with Yoda on the cover.

My son was rather interested, but when everyone started making a fuss over the pictures he got really excited and proud. That makes me happy.

Museum event!

2009-05-08T09:33:00.002-04:00

On July 11th, the Southern Museum is having a "Night at the Museum" event, based on the movie, for a fundraiser. Everything in the museum will be coming alive. It should be fairly cool.

Here's the web page:
http://www.southernmuseum.org/se_night_at_somu.html

There will be (among a LOT of other things) a pretty good Star Wars presence there. I know there will be several Stormtroopers, and if I can work out the logistics of it, R2-D2 will be there - that's the fully drivable remote controlled one I built. So come see us!

R2 repair

2009-03-29T21:57:00.003-04:00

This picture amused me ... R2 burned out a foot motor at a charity event. I finally got it fixed, and have tightened the chains to boot so he drives much more evenly now (I hope!)

This picture is after the foot has been rebuilt and remounted, and I'm preparing to solder the wires back in so the remote system in the body will control the motor ... I think it's the nerd equivalent to working under the car.

Fanboys

2009-02-20T08:52:00.002-05:00

The movie Fanboys is finally coming to Atlanta! As fanboy, I'm pretty thrilled.

Several of us are going to be doing things at the UA Northpoint Market movie theater (6500 Northpoint Parkway, Alpharetta, GA) tonight, I think from around 5 to 7. There will be several R2 units and multiple stormtroopers.

So come see us!

Antinomy

2009-02-18T08:25:00.002-05:00

A while ago I got published in a magazine, and was bragging about it in this blog. Well get ready to hear it again about the same magazine. Just deal with it. I'm all excited still.

WEB LINKS!
http://www.antinomymagic.com/issue14.htm

Plus this one says it's articles from "some of the sharpest minds on the magic scene". They probably were not thinking of me at all, but I choose to believe they DID.
http://www.magicproshop.com/antinomy-magazine-book-p-12161.html

WOOOO! I'm all psyched!

Stormtrooper son

2008-12-29T08:46:00.003-05:00

My armor was out ... my three year old son was fascinated by it ... so what can I say.

There are more pictures of him here. This was a pretty exciting moment for the boy I think ... he was delighted about this!

Toys for Tots

2008-12-22T19:11:00.002-05:00

R2's first public appearance went great! We helped collect a lot of toys, R2 performed pretty well all in all, and I'm just delighted!

Here's two Marines with R2 ...

Toys for Tots - Best Buy!!

2008-12-17T12:23:00.001-05:00

I messed up - I will be out with R2 collecting toys on Sunday, Dec 21st, but it is at the Kennesaw Best Buy, not Toys R Us! Still on Barrett Parkway, though.

Folks should be there from 11 to 4:30. I'm not quite sure when I'll be there, but I will shoot to be there from 12 to 2 at least - depends somewhat on R2's batteries!

Best Buy Store 501
850 Cobb Place Blvd Nw
Kennesaw, GA 30144

Toys for Tots

2008-12-11T19:56:00.002-05:00

I almost forgot to post about this! On Sunday, Dec 21st I will be collecting toys for Toys for Tots. I will be at the Barrett Parkway Toys R Us in the afternoon.

The 501st will be there, so there will be multiple stormtroopers and other costumed characters. I will NOT be coming as a Stormtrooper - I am bringing R2-D2!

So if you want to come see R2, Stormtroopers, and who knows what else - I'd sure love to see you there!

(I'd been planning on having R2 talk through my normal sound system ... which won't be there ... this evening and for a few upcoming ones I am frantically trying to get a remote controlled sound system installed!)

I'm in print!

2008-12-03T07:06:00.000-05:00

I got a magic magazine I really like in the mail yesterday. So I opened up the envelope, took a look at the cover and my name was on it.

THAT'S RIGHT! I'M IN PRINT!

I submitted a routine to these guys a while ago, never heard back, and figured that meant they thought I sucked and had no interest in my routine. So I was totally surprised to see that not only am I in the magazine, but my name is on the cover! (Along with about 10 other guys, but MY name is on top of the list!) So I'm just thrilled.

The magazine was Antinomy - I'm in issue 14 which isn't on their site yet it seems. But soon!

So that combined with me being in the Kidabra magazine a few months ago and I'M FAMOUS! WOOO!

Which basically means last night I spent 15 minutes running around the house with the magazine crowing about it while Karen tried to continue faking enthusiasm. It was a fairly awesome moment.

2008-09-05T19:55:00.001-04:00

So McDonalds is totally awesome.

First, they have STAR WARS toys! Way cool. So we went there today so that my kids Xander and Piper could have happy meals. Which featured R2-D2 on the box! AND they had a R2 toy! A little R2 bobble head! Can you get any cooler? I think NOT! It was great! Except Xander wanted the toy. Can you imagine? Heck no! It was R2! I almost had it, too, except that my wife stepped in and said Xander had to have it. Mean! So I'm sending her back tomorrow for more.

It's OK, though, we went to play on the big play set and we were the only ones there. And I noticed a sign saying adults too! So I took off my shoes and Xander and I played in the big playset for a long time. I always wanted to do that and it was JUST AS COOL AS I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WOULD BE!

So when I left I placed a dollar slightly out of sight way up high in the play set. I figure some little kid that evening was going to have a nice surprise later.

Magic competition

2008-08-26T12:44:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I went to a magic convention. I had a pretty nice time, got to see some magicians I like, and entered the stage competition with R2. It was his big public debut, so that was fairly exciting!

It was HARD getting R2 there and back. Getting him in and out of the car is a three person job. My wife and I did it once by ourselves, but that was even harder. Getting him on and off stage was hard. We had to go first because of some issues there. His front foot loosened and the slightest crack stopped him, so since it was a segmented stage he couldn't move much. But it went great. I didn't win (the guy that did was AMAZING) but I did well, had a good showing, and I made some friends out of it.

It turns out that you really CAN'T see squat when you're on a big stage with spotlights on you, by the way.

I liked having a competition act. I think I will keep competing, but I think I will come up with a new act that doesn't have R2. It means I won't have that noticability factor that R2 gives, but ... well, it won't take massive help to get him there and on stage, either!

Trophy!

2008-08-09T20:08:00.001-04:00

I finally got around to photographing the trophy I won for Magician of the Year! Frankly it's not a great picture so I'll have to try again, but hey. Plus it shows of the backdrop I'm taking to shows now!

I'm still very pleased to have won that - it's quite an honor.

Needless to say my son, who was outside running about at the time, had to get in on the picture ...

I think this picture is my favorite:

Magic Convention

2008-07-27T20:37:00.002-04:00

I just came back from a international magic convention in Kentucky. It was a week long and I got to see a LOT of magic acts from guys I've wanted to meet for a long time, so it was great. I saw some stuff that blew me away, too!

This guy won the competition they held:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=N5Ke822_syY
Recorded it is so-so, but trust me, live this was an ASTOUNDING act. Smooth and just brilliant card handling. The other standout act to me was this one:

http://www.greatkaplan.com/moviesO.html
He was very funny and a very nice guy as well.

For me ... I now have curtains! I have wanted them for a while. This means my living room show will have a stage curtain backdrop, which looks really nice and helps really transform the room.

I have been using a raccoon puppet for a while and I got a new puppet ... it is quite a few steps up from the raccoon puppet. I need to rescript the routine around the new puppet, though, so that will be a while before it goes into the show!

Jackson County

2008-06-04T07:05:00.002-04:00

I did a show last night in Jackson County which went pretty well. I had a really fun time doing it and I put in a new (short) piece that ended up going quite well, so that made me happy.

It also occurred to me that there is a better placement for my sound system ... I think I'm going to rework R2-Q5 innards to put the new system inside him. I use it to make him talk, so it makes more sense to be in him anyway. Wish me luck finding time to do that! I need to build a wooden framework to hold the system as well as the receiver in R2-Q5, so it won't be quick, but it'll be nice when it's done!

Repairing R2-Q5

2008-04-23T06:44:00.003-04:00

R2-Q5 needs periodic repair ... so I had the dome off, the innards out, and ... well ...

Fun with photography

2008-04-14T08:02:00.002-04:00

I forgot one anecdote about the pictures we took last night that are in my last post ... we took the pictures outside for the light. While I was setting them up, two folks came by to talk to us about their church, they were giving out lightbulbs (which was rather clever I thought) and wanted to tell us about their church.

So I did what came naturally. I levitated them.

The levitation was right there and all set up for the pictures - so I asked one of them to sit on it, which he did with good humor even though he wasn't sure what I was up to, and I levitated him. He wanted to see what it looked like, so I levitated the girl he came with. While I was getting her on it a handful of their friends came by to see what was going on. It ended up being quite an enjoyable few minutes!

New pictures!

2008-04-13T21:30:00.002-04:00

I took some pictures of the magic show ... well, actually my wife took them for me. It's handy to have a photographer wife! These are on the magic page now, but I thought I'd write about them anyway.

First, the serious picture ...

Lots of props, nice. We rearranged things a bit ... my son, Xander, was fascinated. Every time he saw a new prop he'd yell "Look! Look!" and run over to check it out. It was actually kinda fun.

We finally opened the car door (we did this outside) and he was delighted to get to sit in the driver's seat and steer. He says that RULED.

This is me clowning around with a chicken ... I ended up really liking this one.

And a few people sent me pictures of me performing ... that made me really happy. So I put some of them up. Here's two of my favorites ...

Spice Radio

2008-04-04T21:52:00.002-04:00

Well today was something. I was in Norcross doing a show. I passed Planet Bollywood, so I stopped in (they remembered me! I was very pleased.) I walked around afterwards, I had some time to kill before my show so I thought I'd see if there was a nice place to eat there. I passed a place that looked interesting, they had several signs about being a booking agency and lots of Bollywood posters. It looked like they did larger acts, but I've performed backstage before (at the Dalton Arena) doing stuff for the VIPs, so I figured why not and went in to drop off a business card and say hello.

They had a radio station in there as well - it was these guys: http://spiceradio.desibuzz.com/

They really didn't have anything that fitted my talents, but they were VERY pleasant people, and asked if I'd like to go on the air. So sure, why not! I was not prepared to go on the air and I didn't have anything ready, but when an opportunity drops in your lap ... go for it!

The DJs, Hassan and Bulbul, were really nice, gave out my phone number, and I did a few little tricks for them. The tricks I did weren't really good ones to do over the radio, but ... hey.

So that was a really fun thing to have happen - thank you SO much to those folks for giving me that opportunity!

Music

2008-03-25T21:32:00.001-04:00

I've been working on adding music to my show ... I've been working towards that for a while, but deciding where to use music and what it should be has been a slow road. Hopefully worth it, though.

I have a secret fondness for Bollywood musicals ... I grew up watching Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly with my folks, and while they don't really make stuff like that anymore here, a while ago I discovered Bollywood does! So I am working on two music tracks - an American one, and an Indian one. It's fun and I'm enjoying it - it'll be a blast when it's done!

Restaurant Magic

2008-03-25T21:27:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I table hopped at restaurants - that's how I got started, though, going from table to table at restaurants performing magic. I still do them from time to time, but not regularly any more. I did a table hopping job on Easter, though, and I was really looking forward to it - I did it last year, it was fun and everyone was nice, and I like restaurant magic. It's really close and personal, and if I might be immodest, I have some pretty darned good stuff to perform.

It was a BLAST. I had so much fun it was just amazing - and I think it showed as everyone seemed to laugh and have a great time right along with me. The concierge told me a lot of folks asked about me when they left - so I feel even better about that!

New trick

2008-03-20T09:23:00.002-04:00

I've been practicing a new trick a lot this week, the piece by piece restoration of a torn card. It's fairly difficult, but I just really like the way it looks. I am not yet sure if I ever want to show it to anyone, it has some rather interesting limitations that I don't think I will detail - but if the right situation comes up, it should look really nice.

We also turned our TV off yesterday. My wife and I just don't watch very much TV, so we started wondering why were were paying a cable bill for something we didn't use much. I figure if I get some Handy Manny and Wiggles DVDs to keep my son happy, we won't miss it at all.

Yay dogs!

2008-03-18T06:40:00.002-04:00

A follow up to that ... we got a new dog! We went to the shelter and found a dog that seemed really laid back. We played with him for a bit, and my two year old son played with his tail and his paws, stuck his hands in the dogs mouth, and poked the dog in the eye. The dog could have cared less. Don't get me wrong, we aren't going to let Xander abuse the dog and we stopped him as soon as we saw him (for example) poke the dog in the eye, but a two year old doesn't know that's wrong yet, and it was REALLY good to see that the dog was so laid back. And my son really seems to like having a dog, so it's been an all around wonderful thing.

He's a 65 pound black lab mix. We found out that it's very rare for black dogs to get adopted, so that made me even happier that we took him. He's a sweetie and is fitting in well. He clearly wasn't really treated well before given to the pound - among other things he doesn't really know how to play. We're working on that. :-) He's been a great addition to the house, though, and at bedtime he already has been seen making the rounds checking on the kids. My wife and I like that.

We named him Thurston. I asked Karen if we could name him Elvis, since he ain't nothing but a pound dog, but she said no.

Here's a picture I took of my family plus the dog ...

Dodged THAT bullet

2008-03-10T09:03:00.002-04:00

My wife and I have been talking about getting a dog from the local animal shelter. I haven't had dogs in a while, and miss them - and when I did a show for a family with a miniature dachshund just like the one I had, I missed her a lot!

So we were thinking of doing that soon - and then coming home from a show a hungry cat started making advances and mewing at me. We have a cat, so I brought some food outside for her, and my wife managed to pick her up and bring her in. She didn't have a collar but was clearly a sweet cat and clearly a indoor cat. So I was worried that we'd end up with a new cat meaning no dog ... but we found the owners and now we are going to the shelter to see what's there. We aren't in a rush, but we do want a shelter dog or a rescue dog ... so wish us luck!

Magician of the Year!

2008-02-19T06:44:00.002-05:00

I got the trophy for being the Greater Atlanta Magician of the Year last night! I'm pretty pleased about the whole thing. There are two local magic clubs, the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American magicians. They do two rounds of voting, and pick one person each year to be the Magician of the Year (MOTY) - and this time they awarded it to me. It's just amazingly cool. I remember first seeing this trophy years ago and thinking it'd be so nifty to win it - there is one massive trophy that gets passed from MOTY to MOTY each year (since the 1970's) and this year it's in my house!

So now I just have to find a nice place for it where my toddler won't get to it!

SWEET!

2008-02-12T08:51:00.000-05:00

The new Star Wars TV show has been officially announced - and a movie to go with it!
http://starwars.com/theclonewars/news/announcement.html

I'm all excited ...

Kid To Kid

2008-02-05T10:17:00.001-05:00

I'll be at the grand opening of a new Kid To Kid store on Thursday, February 7th - so come by, check out the store and see some magic! (And get a balloon animal!) The store is at 2953 Cobb Parkway in Kennesaw. I'm really looking forward to it - the store sounds great, plus my wife is going to come by with my kids.

My son is two. Yesterday he found a deck of cards, spread them out on the bed, and told my wife to pick one. I am so proud of him I can't even express it!

New tricks!

2008-01-29T08:22:00.000-05:00

The armor repairs held up very well, so I'm pleased about that!

I put a new trick into the show recently and it's been going well. I added a new middle to the routine with Rocky the Raccoon - I really like that routine, but it was just missing something in the middle, and I finally found something I really like that fits nicely and adds what I thought was missing. So I'm really pleased about that.

I'm now working on another routine - it's a really nice routine where I tie someone into a coat and have them escape from the ropes. It's funny, and I enjoy doing it, but I always felt the ending wasn't as strong as the routine itself - so I now have a new ending to it. I'm currently practicing it, I want to roll the new ending in soon but I have to get confident with it first!

Armor repairs!

2008-01-26T18:36:00.000-05:00

The shoulder bells on my Stormtrooper armor were giving me problems again. I thought I'd fixed them up, but it turns out I only improved the situation, I hadn't fixed it - they still popped off from time to time. So today I had another round of armor repairs and here's hoping I fixed it for good this time!

Well, probably not for good. The more I wear it the more little repairs I need to make from time to time. Had to fix up something in a glove as well. But it's all looking good again. I really hate it when something happens that removes the illusion that it's real. I worked quite hard to make it look real!

I also touched up R2-Q5. He has silver pinstriping on his dome. I used automotive pinstriping, and the ends of it come up from time to time. He's painted with an enamel paint, and earlier I tried superglue to hold down the pinstriping. Which it did ... but did you know superglue has a reaction when it hits enamel paint? I didn't. So today I glued down more pinstriping (with a different glue!) and touched up his paint.

So we'll see how it works - I have a show in Athens tomorrow that will test all of my new repairs out!

And while I'm on the subject ... R2-D2 is almost done. The body is finished, all I need to do is finish wiring in the remote control system. The feet are all fixed up and he's fully motorized, which is GREAT. I just have a lot of speed controllers and receivers and batteries to install. I need to mount them and decided to make a wooden container to hold everything (one for the body and one for the dome) but it's too cold for woodworking so that's on hold. But next week looks like it has some nice days so I'm hoping to get a bit done. I can't count on much simply because I usually decide to go work on something, then my two year old son tells me he wants daddy to play with him, and frankly my son just about always wins that one - and I wouldn't have that any other way. Good thing I'm not in a rush!

Magician of the Year!

2008-01-16T07:06:00.000-05:00

There are two magic groups in town, the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians. The two groups jointly give out a "Magician of the Year" award to one Atlanta magician, it's a huge trophy that has been going from person to person since 1971. And for 2007, I got named the Magician of the Year! I'm really excited about this - it's really something that I'm very proud about.

Newnan Library Show

2007-10-12T09:04:00.000-04:00

The library show was last night and it was a blast! They had 409 people show up, which they told me was crazy big - especially for a weekday night in a school week! So I was delighted. I suspect that might have been the biggest audience I've ever performed for!

Everything seemed to go really well and I heard a lot of pleasant comments afterwards, so that was pretty nice. There were a few things I usually get adults to do (like take a polaroid picture of the levitation to give to the person I float in air!) but I couldn't reach any - but fortunately for me there was a really nice young man in the front who helped out every time, so I appreciated that quite a bit!

It makes me think maybe I should try to do more library shows ... I normally stay pretty busy doing birthday parties and I really like doing those so I haven't tried to book library shows very hard. But ... library shows are a heck of a lot of fun, so maybe I will!

Library show!

2007-09-06T08:05:00.000-04:00

I've been booked to do another library show, this time in Newnan -
http://www.newnan-coweta.org/
The show will be on Thursday, Oct 11th, at 7:00 pm. It's free to the public, so I would love it if lots of folks came by!

I finally got around to another round of armor/R2-Q5 repairs. There was a lot of chipped paint on R2, so I did some repainting there. My shoulder bells occasionally fell off, which was very annoying I can tell you! While it's not a big deal, I really don't like having things like that happen. So I completely reworked how they were hung. I've replaced the fabric straps with leather straps, and replaced the velcro holding them on with heavy-duty snaps. I'm counting on this being a permanent fix - they'll be getting a trial this weekend as I'm doing two shows, so we'll see what happens!

R2 progress

2007-08-23T11:10:00.000-04:00

I've been doing some more tinkering with R2 - with a second baby, it sure is tough to find time, I'll tell you that! But I attached the skin, and have been adding some details ... then I got together with some friends, and I decided to temporarily attach the legs and feet and just see what it looked like. I was really happy with it, I'll tell you that - and he seemed to be quite a hit. Especially with my toddler! So you have to bear with my son being in all the pictures, just enjoy the R2 shirt. He was fascinated with it. I'm so proud!

People

2007-08-06T09:31:00.000-04:00

I was driving to a show yesterday and got a reminder of something that's hit me before. I looked over and saw a family in the car next to me. They'd gotten something to eat, and were having lunch while driving.

So a very minor flash into someone else's life ... but what interests me so much is that every once in a while I see something and for some reason it really reminds me that over there is another interesting set of folks, with their own life, their own concerns, their own interests and I'll never meet or talk to them. But they exist and are just as important as all the folks in my own life.

It ties into a quote I heard, and while although I no longer remember the actual quote or who said it I remember the gist of it. Look at any movie scene - say a cowboy shootout in a saloon. There are the two leads, hands over their guns, about to enter a life or death fight. Now look at the background. There is a guy, no lines in the movie, his only job is to hide behind some scenery. Remember, to THAT guy, he is the most important character in the movie. To everyone else, he's an extra - but to HIM, he is the most important character in the room. This is an episode of his life, and everyone else is just extras to him.

I try to remember that. I try to treat everyone else appropriately to that thought - and I have to say, that when you talk to folks and treat them with respect, it's just amazing how nice everybody is in return. Most folks will bend over backwards for you - as long as they know you'll bend over backwards for them as well.

So this is a bit rambling, but it's one of those thoughts that is fun to think about. So I thought I
would share it.

New baby!

2007-07-23T11:54:00.001-04:00

My wife and I have a new little baby girl! We've named her Piper, and her 20 month old brother seems to think she's pretty cool so far.

I scheduled some time with no shows so I could have more time at home for the first few weeks. This turned out to be a good thing - my wife and I were at BJ's with the kids and it rained quite heavily. BJ's has a large sign in the parking lot, and the sign blew down on our minivan and did quite a bit of damage. The car is being fixed, but it's been several weeks and it's still being fixed! The really bad part is that this is the only vehicle I have that I can get R2-Q5 into. So for the first few weeks that was OK as I had no shows scheduled, but I've had to tell a few Star Wars shows that I couldn't bring R2-Q5 after all as I currently don't have a car that I can put him in! Hopefully I'll get my minivan back soon!

Cake!

2007-06-02T09:10:00.000-04:00

I had to share this picture ... I did a Star Wars show a little bit ago. The mom really did a fantastic job setting the room up and making a great environment for the party. The crowning touch was the cake - she had a cake made up with me and R2 on it!

I love this woman!

Clone Wars cartoon

2007-05-28T07:48:00.000-04:00

There is a sneak peek of the upcoming Clone Wars cartoon on starwars.com -
http://www.starwars.com/video/view/000478.html
It looks GREAT! My wife and I don't have TV - we have a set but we just never watched much television so we just turned off the connection. When this comes out we may have to reconsider that. :-) Or visit some friends once a week!

Stories

2007-05-22T07:32:00.000-04:00

The forum went quite well. It was outdoors - I just entertained folks as they went by. I had one lesson to learn - I planned to do about ten minutes for folks. In my mind, I figured they'd be moving on and I'd get a new crowd and do about ten minutes for them. I was limited to stuff that could be done surrounded and had no reset time so that I could just keep performing without having to stop, so I could only bring certain tricks with me but that fit with my plan.

So I gathered some folks, did my ten minute set and I discovered the flaw in my plan. No one left. :-) I suppose that's a GREAT problem to have, they liked what I was doing, but ... I ran through all the routines I brought with me, ran through some I brought that I hadn't planned on doing, and then just just warned them I was going to start repeating and went for it. Fortunately that went pretty well!

Another public show!

2007-05-18T08:03:00.000-04:00

The library show went wonderfully - there are even pictures of it on my site now, under the Star Wars section. Everyone was in a great mood and laughed and was really responsive - so I was very pleased with how everything went.

I'm doing another public show on Saturday May 19th at the Forum, on 5155 Peachtree Parkway in Norcross. That will not by my regular show, it'll be closeup magic. As folks walk past I'll gather a small crowd, do some effects, and repeat. I'll be there from 1 to 4.

If you're in the area ...

Library Show

2007-05-08T22:48:00.000-04:00

Want to see my show for free?

I am doing a library show Saturday at the Fayette County Public Library at 1821 Heritage Parkway, Fayetteville, GA (maps.google.com will tell you how to get there - http://tinyurl.com/2s9eng ) at 2:00 on Saturday. They are doing a Star Wars day and called me up and asked if I would do the Star Wars show, so … I recently found out there would be more Star Wars stuff after my show, but I have another show afterwards and can’t stay to see it. I’m a bit disappointed about that, I wish I’d known about it before I booked something else!

Card Trick

2007-05-07T09:10:00.001-04:00

This was a very interesting card trick ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE
Someone sent me the link. I watched the first half and thought "Cheesiest trick EVER!" But then the second half ... well, that part made it worth sending the link about.

Babies and plots

2007-04-20T08:16:00.000-04:00

My new provider is working GREAT - I'm very happy! My old one was fine until about two buyouts in a row happened, so I was sorry to see that go away, but it's nice to be stable again.

My wife's second pregnancy is going well, and I'm very excited about it! Babies rule. Our first child is now a toddler, and it turns out that toddlers rule too - he is so much fun! He can say a few words now. One is "shoe". If we ask him to get his shoes he will get all excited and run as fast as he can to get them because he knows he's about to get to go play outside. Yesterday he ran all the way up the stairs (with me right behind him to make sure he didn't fall) which is a laborious process for a little guy - but the whole way up he was excitedly saying "Shoe!" So needless to say my wife and I were pretty much wrapped around his little finger.

So that's my personal news! Show wise, I have a routine with a rope that gets pulled through a coat that a volunteer wears - I love the routine but it always seemed to have an anti-climactic ending. So lately I've been rewriting that routine - it's got a similar structure, but now it has a plot and some new props. I'm going to try the new script out tonight and see how it works. That makes me nervous - I get comfortable with a routine and completely shaking it up always leaves me hoping I remember to do everything I've planned out! But I think it's a really good change, so ... we'll see what the audience thinks of it tonight!

Web changes

2007-04-03T07:11:00.000-04:00

Well THAT was fun! My ISP got bought out and seems to have been shuffling things around a lot...I wouldn't mind, but I keep finding my web pages down, or email no longer working, etc, and they keep not bothering to tell me until I call to find out what's changed this time. So as a result I've just finished moving everything to another provider. I'm blogging about it because if you've emailed me in the last few days and never got a response, or if you saw my pages down, that'll be why! (I think I lost a days worth of email in there somewhere!)

Hopefully everything will be smoother from this point on ... I have some other pages hosted with my new provider and they've all been fine. So it's nice to have everything with one provider.

Copelands

2007-02-20T07:01:00.000-05:00

I'll be performing at Copelands tonight, Feb 20th, for Mardi Gras - from 6 to 8. I haven't been doing much public restaurant work lately, so come on out! It's a good restaurant and I've got some cool stuff to show! It's at 3131 Cobb Parkway in Atlanta.

I'm going to see the Thrasher's play hockey Saturday night ... that's the one funny thing I found when I started performing magic. If my wife and I make plans, I have to make sure I make them well in advance, put them on my calendar, and not take any bookings that afternoon! I'm looking forward to seeing the Thrashers play, though - my wife actually got me into it. So I'm relatively new to hockey, but I've really been enjoying it!

New personal record!

2007-02-12T07:44:00.000-05:00

I've been doing two shows on most Saturdays lately, which has been quite interesting. I originally would stop between shows in a parking lot and reset things for the next show, but as I did this more I started changing things so that I could reset the show while packing it up, so as I left the first party I'd be ready for the second party. (That now works easily for everything but ONE trick ... so I don't always do that one, even though I love it!)

So last Saturday I had two shows, and got a call about a third show. It just worked out, it was right after my second show and in the same area, so I took it. That's the first time I've done three shows in a single day - I was quite pleased!

The other interesting thing is that they were all totally different shows - one was a birthday party, one was a Boy Scout Blue and Gold, and the third was a corporate event. They all seemed to go quite well, though - I certainly hope that everyone had a good time!

R2!

2007-01-01T07:52:00.000-05:00

I got a lot done! The middle foot is in, and raises and lowers electronically (so it's set to be hooked up to a remote control later.) Then I got curious, so I took all the bits I've been working on and hooked them all up. The legs move from two leg to three leg position electronically fine, the only big piece remaining is to figure out how to have the foot hinge to the leg - the hinge has to lock in both two and three legged mode, so it's not as easy as one would think. But check this out!

R2!

2006-12-21T07:06:00.000-05:00

I have a bit over a week off from everything ... so I'm quite excited about that. It's not often that I get that much time off, although I usually try to arrange it over Christmas so it happens. So, this means one thing - R2 building! R2 is actually close to done if I were to just stick all the pieces together, but where's the fun in that?

So over the next week I'm going to try to give R2-D2 a third leg that extends mechanically. Wish me luck!

Rewrites!

2006-12-10T21:32:00.000-05:00

This was a busy weekend for me! I did a corporate show Saturday and two Star Wars shows Sunday. (The corporate show was quite the shindig - I was impressed!)

The two Star Wars parties were interesting. I'd been tinkering with the script, and since I had two shows in a row I rolled out the new script. Several routines were totally refocused - the same trick but with a different routine presenting them - and the show itself was changed in focus. I thought it flowed better this way, so I'm pleased with it. It's always fun changing the show up. It keeps me on my toes, and every once in a while I hit on something I'm really pleased with. :-)

I also have been thinking about the show I'm presenting now and the show I had a year ago - both were good shows, but about half the material has changed in the last year. I really have fun trying new tricks, and the show keeps changing as a result. Hopefully for the better!

Coolness!

2006-12-03T19:27:00.000-05:00

I did two parties Saturday, both for repeat customers which is quite nice, I always appreciate that quite a bit.

When I went to the first show, they walked me into the room where I would perform, and in the back was an eight foot long banner with my logo on it! I was totally blown away! I have never had anything like that happen before!

They'd found some magic imagery on the web, added my logo, and it looked great. And after the show they rolled it up and gave it to me! The father told me how to make a frame for it, so I am going to do that and might start using it as a backdrop. I'm totally delighted with this, that really was the coolest thing I've ever had happen during a show!

Star Wars magic

2006-11-29T07:35:00.000-05:00

I worked at a restaurant in Douglasville last night. I work there sometimes for another magician. I had been doing a trick with six Star Wars action figures - I just tried it out for several weeks to experiment with a magical concept and see if it would work. It did, and I stopped doing it eventually.

My magician friend told me people had asked him about it. I hadn't expected that - but when folks start asking about a trick I usually try to pay attention! So I started performing it again last night.

I showed my son his first magic trick!

2006-11-23T17:46:00.001-05:00

Yep! I can now prove that I can fool a one year old baby!

He was busily emptying the laundry baskey (he loves to take things out and put them back) and he handed me a dirty bib. So I tossed it back into the hamper. He took it back out and handed it back to me. I tossed it back into the hamper. We repeated this a few times, then I took the bib, and put it into my left hand and held my left hand shut in front of him. He grabbed my fingers and opened my hand ... and no bib was there!

He had a VERY confused look on his face.

I'm very proud of myself.

Jeff Dunham

2006-11-22T07:18:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday my wife and I went to see Jeff Dunham at the Punchline. I like him a lot, he's very funny indeed and I got tickets quite a while ago. Good thing, too, as they sold out!

When we got there, our seats had been given to someone else. Evidently they had double-booked our seats, which they weren't sure how it happened but there it was. So they sat us in the balcony. I was a bit iffy about that at first, but what the heck. So we got up there, and sat next to a guy and his son. They actually walked us through the offices and whatnot to get there, evidently it's a private "VIP" sort of thing. I started talking to the guy we sat next to, and found out that we knew each other slightly through the magic community and had friends in common, so we were chatting away in no time.

Now the interesting thing is that he also knew Jeff Dunham, and Jeff Dunham actually came up to say hello. So that was WAY cool. I didn't really have anything interesting to say and it was brief, don't get me wrong as it wasn't a huge deal, but it was pretty cool. After the show we passed Jeff Dunham again and talked to him for a few more seconds. For the record - not only is he funny as heck, he's a VERY nice guy.

So what started out as a misfortune turned into something nicer than I'd intended ... I was pretty happy about that!

Thanksgiving

2006-11-20T16:59:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving should be fun - I don't have any shows booked and I am spending the whole weekend with my wife and baby. Although I am planning on spending some of it working on the Rocky routine and another routine that I'm excited about. Gotta have SOME magic in there!

I also finally finished working on my garage - I now have a decent workshop in there. We got a new minivan, which is really nice - the Star Wars show finally fits nicely in my car, and it's wonderful for my son - but it wouldn't quite fit in the garage. Which means I suddenly had a space to build out a workshop.

So ... now that it's done, I am looking forward to getting back to R2. I am setting aside some time around Christmas and am curious to see just how much I can get done!

Rocky again

2006-11-13T07:02:00.000-05:00

I have been working a bit on Rocky the Raccoon ... he has some new props. It's still the same routine, but now it's new and improved with more props! My wife and I found a little cell phone, some binoculars, a blindfold, and a top hat. I haven't yet attached the top hat, but I tried the rest out at a really fun party I did in Smyrna and had a good time with them. The kids recognized the cell phone (we got it at Build-A-Bear) but that's OK. I might paint it, though, to make it less recognizable.

I haven't yet really converted the routine, I'm just playing with it a bit, but there's one more big piece I need to do and script before I really rewrite the Rocky routine. I'm quite looking forward to doing that. I also still need to operate on Rocky and add magnets inside his skin so he can "hold" some of the props ... Rocky isn't looking forward to that part.

Halloween

2006-11-08T18:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, October was a busy month! I don't know why exactly, but Halloween seems to be the busiest time of year for me. I think I set a personal record for the number of shows I did in a single month!

I have a new routine called the "Lie Detector" that I tried out at a few parties. I think it has potential ... but after working with it I think it's going to get a much smaller spot. I'm planning on rewriting my routine with Rocky the Raccoon, and I think I'm going to use the lie detector as a prop in that routine instead of by itself. I have been planning on reworking the Rocky routine for a while - it's a fun routine with a nice trick (cutting him into thirds and restoring him) but I've had some ideas lately that I'd love to try out, so ... I am going to use him with the same trick but a whole new routine.

So I've been shopping for props ... so far my wife turned up a little top hat that is just Rocky-sized. I love it! I have to figure out how to attach it to his head, but I am thinking magnets might just be the answer. He hasn't got any arms either, so if he's going to do anything with props like that I suspect magnets might be the answer!

Club_Show_Flyer_Revised.PDF (application/pdf Object)

2006-08-14T07:57:00.000-04:00

This is pretty early notice, but I thought I'd go ahead and mention it. In early October, the local magic club is going to be putting on a magic show. It should be pretty good - I know everyone in it and I'm looking forward to it myself!

Club_Show_Flyer_Revised.PDF (application/pdf Object)

I will be doing some of my Stormtrooper act in it - I think there will be about 10 different magicians, all doing 8 to 10 minutes. So I hope to see a decent crowd there!

IBM Ring 9 - Board of Directors

2006-08-04T07:22:00.000-04:00

I'm involved in a local magic organization, the International Brotherhood of Magicians. It's a fun group. We are doing a public show on October 8th -
Club Show

So if you are interested in magic and want to see nine different local magicians (including me!) doing a short act, you can't beat this show!

I'm planning on doing some routines from my Star Wars act, I figure I might as well be different. So I'll be there in Stormtrooper armor with R2-D2.

Criss Angel

2006-05-30T21:43:00.000-04:00

Boy I need to post more often!

First, about the MS Walk. I raised $350! I was really pleased by that - I was not at all sure when I started standing at a Blockbuster in Stormtrooper armor how it would work, but folks really seemed to enjoy the balloons and magic, and they were quite generous. So I am VERY pleased with the amount I raised.

And Criss Angel's show is starting again on A&E, 10pm on Wednesdays. He's a pretty good magician! I like watching his stuff so I figured I'd mention it. The larger effects he does tend to be visually stunning - not in a pyrotechnic flash-bang way, but just in a "wow, that looks COOL!" way, and I am very impressed by him.

Multiple Sclerosis

2006-04-15T11:04:00.000-04:00

I am participating in a 5K walk on April 22nd to fight Multiple Sclerosis -
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/gaa/home/

I have done this walk for the last five years, and been in Stormtrooper armor every time for the entire walk. So wish me luck!

This weekend I am working with a local Blockbuster Video. They have been really friendly and supportive, and have allowed me to stand outside the door collecting money. So I went in full armor and have been tying balloon animals and doing magic while taking donations. 100% of what I collect will go to MS, so wish me luck!

Trading Spouses

2006-04-15T10:59:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine was the traded spouse on Fox's Trading Spouses. She was the "Star Wars Mom". We get together perodically at a local Star Wars fan club - http://www.hothlantarebels.com/ It's a fun club, we just meet, hang out, and crack jokes mostly. Fox had us meet a few times for them and they filmed us. I was on a few seconds in the first part with R2-Q5, and I brought my Stormtrooper armor and put the Star Wars Mom's husband in it. So I was on a decent amount in the second episode. My wife Karen was on, and if you looked carefully you could even see my baby! So that was fun for us to do and to see.

Trading Spouses

2006-03-20T15:24:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine is a Star Wars nut (imagine that!) and when the TV show "Trading Spouses" looked for a Star Wars fan, she applied. And she got it!

So, the short version of this is that there is a local Star Wars club that she and I are both in. The TV show had us meet three times and filmed us, once with Judy (my friend) and twice with the traded spouse. I brought some toys - R2-Q5, some of the parts for R2-D2, and the second time I brought my Stormtrooper armor and put the other spouse and Judy's husband in it.

So that is going to be on television Friday night (March 24th) and the next Friday (the 31st) - it's a two-parter. I have no idea if they'll make us all look like raving lunatics or not, so here's hoping! But it should be fun. I also have no idea if I'll actually be in the final edit or not, or which night I might be on, or anything ... but I thought I'd brag about it anyway. It was actually pretty fun to do.

They also interviewed me briefly about Judy, which was interesting...I thought of all SORTS of clever and interesting things to say after the interview was over. During the interview, naturally, I really couldn't come up with much.

http://www.fox.com/tradingspouses/ has the details...the "Hornaday Family" is my friend.

Two shows

2006-03-19T10:42:00.000-05:00

I got a call from a friend of mine (Mimi from http://www.atlantaclowns.com/ ) who had a conflict arise and needed someone to cover a show, so on a few hours notice I went and did a cubscout show. It was fun, but scout shows are always fun. I redid one of my favorite tricks so that it's using a slightly different method (the newspaper trick I close with, which is an effect I just love). So I tried that out for the first time. I suspect no one but me would have any idea that the trick is any different, but it is the small things that make tricks truly baffling. I think it works even better now, but it's hard to tell sometimes!

I did a birthay party in Gray, Georgia (near Warner Robbins) Saturday. That was very cool - I did my Star Wars show, and the son was dressed as Anakin, his mother was Padme, and his father was a Jedi. I got a huge kick out of that. They did the costumes really well, too! They had set up a large tent for the show, and there was an R2 cake that was three dimensional - I think it was two feet high and about as big around. They gave me a slice to take home and it was some good cake!

The nifty part about all this is that I got to drive our new car a lot - my wife and I bought a minivan, which makes hauling our son around easier and also makes taking my Star Wars show out a lot easier (there is a lot to bring with that show.) I also just got a GPS unit that attaches to a PDA, and that has just been wonderful. For the Scout show, I took 75 to get there. There as a major wreck on 75, and the overhead signs said 4 lanes were closed. So I just got off on 285, and the GPS recalculated my route. 285 had a wreck and came to a stop, so I just got off on the next exit, and it recalculated again. It was wonderful! There weren't any traffic problems getting to Warner Robbins, but it was just great to have a device that tracks where you are, how far to go, and gives directions. That's been a wonderful gadget to have.

Chammps

2006-02-28T22:19:00.000-05:00

I just got back from performing at Chammps. It was a good night - a lot of friendly folks were there. I ended up working almost 45 minutes late - I had a request list of folks wanting to see me and I can't walk out and disappoint a bunch of kids wanting balloons and magic! So I stuck around for a while longer.

It was interesting when I got there - the place was closed for a private party, and there were folks outside waiting for it to open up. So I just started early and helped the folks waiting outside pass the time a bit faster.

One little boy was so excited to see me that when I got to his table he ran from across the room and jumped into his seat. But then he got VERY shy and hid in his daddy's lap! But I noticed he was wearing a Star Wars shirt...and I just happen to do a trick that uses six Star Wars action figures. THAT really got his attention and he forgot to be shy. So that made me happy.

Magic news!

2006-02-27T11:09:00.000-05:00

My name is Evan Reynolds. I'm a magician in the Atlanta area, and have been thinking lately about doing a blog to keep track of my magic shows. I thought it might be fun! So here it is.

I have just done two Blue and Gold banquets. They were a blast - scouts always make a great audience, they're nice folks and I love doing shows for them. They were pretty different shows though - Friday I did my Star Wars show, and Saturday I did my normal show. They both went pretty well. This is the first time I've done my Star Wars show for that big an audience - I think that Banquet had about 60 scouts and maybe 15 adults. (I've done large shows before, just not for the Star Wars show as that's a relatively new show for me.) It went pretty well, though - I was very pleased about that. I had figured it would - I know my material is good, and so far that Star Wars show is about 75% the same as my normal show. It just has a different setting. Ideally over the next year the two shows will get more and more divergent until they are almost completely different shows, but you have to start somewhere.

For the second Blue and Gold I actually stole a bit of my Star Wars show - I brought six scouts on stage and put Star Wars props on them, and had a prediction routine. I have been having a lot of fun doing that. It's a neat trick - I feel like I need to make the actual revelation of the prediction stronger somehow, though. I will have to put some thought into that. I'd worked hard on that routine, but sometimes until you see how something plays you can't tell the weak spots. It's a great bit I think, I just believe there is room to improve it. So that will give me something to think about over the next few weeks. It's hard to come up with this stuff sometimes!

I'll be at two restaurants this week coming up besides my normal O'Charlies job on Sundays - I'll be at Chammps from 5:30 to 7:30 on Tuesday the 28th (that is right off exit 8 on 400) and I'll be at Max and Erma's from about 5:30 to 8:00 on Thursday, March 2nd. That's near where 285 crosses 400, off Mt. Vernon Road. Come see me!