Babies and plots

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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.