Better (Very) Late Than Never...

I know...long time no hear. I can't tell you how many times I've sat down at the keyboard fully intending to update this blog. However, the phone always rings or an e-mail comes in that needs to be answered right away...you know what I'm talking about. However, I'm going to certainly try to get back into the habit of updating this once a month at the very least, perhaps even more frequently if I can get the mobile blogging application on my iPhone to behave itself.

So, where do we start? I guess a quick highlight recap of the months since my last post would be in order. In late January, Sandy and I had the opportunity to perform for our first rock star. Jamey Jasta, lead singer of the metalcore band Hatebreed, hired us to entertain at his daughter's birthday party.

We had a great time with his family and friends. What's more, Jamey was extremely generous, giving us a large assortment of Hatebreed merchandise for my stepson (a hoodie, CDs, DVDs, posters, etc. - all autographed!), who was very impressed when he found out we were going to be hanging out with one of his heroes.

Most of my stand-up work is for private clients, but in March, I was on a comedy club bill that was part of a fundraising event for a conservation group. It was a large and enthusiastic audience (overly enthusiastic if you count the one drunk biker chick...) Also in March, my newest book for magicians was published, this one on the subject of restaurant magic.

In April, I had the honor of making special appearances at all of the branches of the Sikorsky Financial Credit Union as part of a special promotion for National Credit Union Youth Week. Themed "The Magic of Saving," the promotion was used to encourage the children of credit union customers to open savings accounts and begin to learn how to manage their money. Customers were encouraged to bring their kids as I performed close-up magic in the lobbies of six of their branch offices, making sure to also hit all of the talking points for the promotion while performing.

Sandy and I started back at Quassy Amusement Park for our seventh season at the end of April and continued there through July 4th. Shortly after the holiday, we left for the beautiful shores of Lake Tahoe, California, where I worked with mentalist Richard Osterlind, my friend and business partner, on a set of instructional DVDs on the subject of mentalism. Pictured at right are Richard and I on the set during the shoot.

We returned to Quassy on Labor Day and will finish out the season with eight shows this coming weekend. Just last week, I lectured for a magician's group in Ashland, MA on the subject of restaurant magic and we are also busily preparing for our shows at the Harwinton Fair (this will make it 18 years that I've been performing at this delightful country fair in northwestern Connecticut.) I also just signed on to do a series of Halloween-themed shows at the Beardsley Zoo for their Howl A Ween event. Watch their website for dates and times. I'm also still performing close-up magic at Ginza in Bloomfield every Sunday night from 6 to 8 PM so if you like great Japanese food seasoned with a little magic, stop by! (And, I should also mention that Sandy's there on Friday nights making outrageous balloon sculptures.)

Whew! I guess that's it for now. More sooner than later...I promise!

Ringing Out The Old

I know that many, if not most, are happy to see 2008 as just a fading image in the rear-view mirror, but it ended on a relatively positive note for Sandy and I. The number of holiday shows was down slightly this year no doubt due to the economic downturn of recent months (in fact, a couple of companies that had booked holiday parties in the fall cancelled their events entirely due to layoffs, etc.) but I did receive a number of last-minute bookings which turned December into at least a respectable month.

We ended the year by working First Night Danbury - two shows for very appreciative audiences who braved a snowstorm to attend (said snowstorm also doubled for us what normally would have been a 45-minute ride!)

Our two shows bookended two shows by Pete Mamos, a good friend and very funny hypnotist, and then it was off to a private show for two hours of walk-around magic before walking in the door fifteen minutes before midnight to watch the ball drop in Times Square.

Other notable shows during the holiday season were at the new MGM Grand Hotel at Foxwoods and a show in New York City for the Metropolitan Dog Club, hosted by Charlotte Reed, an international pet expert who has had numerous segments on The View. I also performed at the world headquaters of Subway for their holiday celebration this year. All in all, it was an interesting and productive month.

Those who know me know that music has always been a big part of my life so I was particularly happy to find a 10-CD box set celebrating the 50th anniversary of Motown under the tree this year. Entitled Motown: The Complete No. 1's, this set comes packaged in a box that looks like the original Motown studios and includes an amazing 191 tracks featuring the Temptations, the Four Tops, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and the list goes on and on. I grew up with this music and also spent 12 years playing a lot of these songs in my previous life as a broadcaster. They've all been remastered - these songs have never sounded this good - and it's great to have them all in one place.

Happy 2009 to one and all...

New Adventures

It's been almost three months since I've had the chance to add an update so while I have a few moments, I thought I'd fill you in on what's been going on since the last time we spoke.

The most exciting thing is that I've signed on to perform close-up magic every Sunday night at Ginza, a beautiful restaurant in Bloomfield specializing in Japanese cuisine. They have a number of Hibachi stations and wonderful sushi selections - and now there's magic every Sunday evening from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. Ginza is truly a destination restaurant worth the trip from just about anywhere and I've been having a great time there. Make sure to stop by and say hello.

In September, Sandy and I wrapped up our season at Quassy Amusement Park and started off October with two days at the Harwinton Fair. We've been there for 15 years now and always have a lot of fun. Later on in the month, I performed on two comedy club bills and did some walk-around magic at the Waterbury branch of the University of Connecticut. Speaking of schools, I was also the guest speaker for two psychology classes at Masuk High School in Monroe. We discussed the science of deception and why magic works. I also had the opportunity to bust out a couple of tricks for the appreciative students.

Another show of note, mostly because of the unusual venue, was doing some walk-around magic for the Rockbestos-Surprenant Cable Corporation as part of their awards dinner. The event was held at the New England Air Museum and it was very exciting to be performing while literally surrounded by history. Military planes and helicopters are all beautifully preserved and on display and the affair was held right in the middle of it all. It was quite a memorable event.

Despite the economic downturn, holiday shows are still coming in. The stock market might go up and down but the holidays still arrive despite it all. There are still some open dates, however, so if you're in the market for some entertainment for your holiday get-together, get in touch soon!

Summer Wrap-Up

It's been a short but eventful summer.

In early July, Sandy and I wrapped up the first leg of our run at Quassy Amusement Park with a familiar face in the crowd during one of the last shows. Not being able to place this person right off, I chatted briefly with him after the show and soon discovered that it was actor Anthony Edwards of Top Gun and ER fame. You just never know who you're going to run into!

In July, Sandy and I took the big show to Ocean Beach Park in New London where we participated in their "Magic on the Boardwalk" series. We've been part of this ongoing event for the last six years now - there are magic performances every Wednesday throughout the summer - and on a pleasant summer evening, such as this one was, there's no better place to do a show. Plus, the crowds who attend are great. They're there to see magic and they're always enthusiastic and gracious.

Later on in the month, I was scheduled to do an in-store promotion at an educational toy store in a shopping mall but the show was moved out of the store to the common area of the mall, creating one of the more unusual performing environments I've ever worked in. It was a good crowd, though, and Sandy and I had fun with the admittedly strange situation.

Also in July, I had the opportunity to work for Merrill Lynch, performing strolling magic for two huge employee functions in the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom in New York. It was a wonderful time and great fun to meet people from all over the country who were invited to these elaborate affairs.

In August, we were invited to perform once again at the Wolcott Country Fair where Sandy and I did two family shows under a big tent before returning to Quassy the following week to finish up this year's run (we'll still be there weekends through the end of September).

There wasn't much down-time to speak of this summer, though Sandy and I did get a chance to see Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick on one bill as they came through Connecticut. Also, we took a day trip to see the new museum that was built close by the site of the original 1969 Woodstock festival in upstate New York. Unfortunately, a power outage in the town of Bethel closed the museum for the day but we did stop by the festival site which has been preserved and marked with a sculpture. Unfortunately, the plaque on the sculpture had John Sebastian's name spelled incorrectly but the place still had an amazing vibe. You could almost still hear Jimi Hendrix's Star-Spangled Banner echoing off the surrounding hillsides. We're hoping to get back there and maybe even see the museum this time!

Holiday shows are starting to trickle in and once Labor Day is over, December will be filling up fast. We're also looking forward to our annual performances at the Harwinton Fair on October 4th and 5th this year.

Another Quick Update

I know...I know! It's been almost three months since I've posted but things have been busy, busy, busy. In fact, I have just enough time for a brief post (a show tonight and three shows tomorrow!) but I do hope to have more time for blogging as things settle down for the summer.

Since we last spoke, our season at Quassy Amusement Park got underway. Sandy and I added several new pieces to the show this year, including one where an unfortunate thing happens to a kid's sneaker while we're trying to clean it with a new gadget. It's very funny as I think you can gather from the picture - particularly from the expression on the face of the loanee as smoke starts to pour out of the contraption. Of course, everything is put right at the end and the volunteer's footwear is restored to good-as-new condition (or at least as good as when we first borrowed it.)

It was also graduation season which means lots of post-prom and post-grad parties. These are always a lot of fun but it also means staying up until all hours of the night. For example, I got home at four in the morning one day last week after doing two high schools in one overnight period. (As of this writing, I have one more to do before I can get back to sleeping during relatively normal hours.) In the middle of all the usual June craziness, my youngest daughter, Heather, graduated from high school after receiving a number of academic awards and scholarships. She'll be on her way to the University of Connecticut in the fall and we're very proud of her.

That's it for now. More developments as they occur...

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Klutz

March certainly began normally enough. Corporate clients this month included Pfizer and Northeast Utilities. I also had the chance to do a fund-raising show for a local high school which turned out to be a lot of fun.

Later in the month, however, during a performance for a regional convention of the Future Business Leaders of America, I lost my balance on stage (the back wall immediately behind the stage that I went to lean on to pick something up wasn't a wall at all but a projection screen) and took a bit of a tumble. I managed to return to my normally vertical orientation and finished the show, thinking at the time that my only injury was a bruised ego. As it turned out, however, two days later every muscle in my lower back decided to play freeze tag, which totally incapacitated me for the better part of four days. Needless to say, not fun at all.

I managed to block off an evening to take my daughter, Rebecca, to see Bernadette Peters in concert with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. Rebecca has very eclectic musical tastes for a 21-year old and while Broadway show tunes are not my favorite form, the concert was very enjoyable and it was good to have some Dad-daughter time. (She's pictured here just before showtime in front of the beautiful Providence Performing Arts Center.) Rebecca is a big fan of Ms. Peters and it was fun just to see her face when the star of the show took the stage. I believe she had a similar look when I took her to see the Backstreet Boys some years ago but, as the mind tends to erase horrible memories of the kind that only ten thousand screaming teens and tweens can create, I can't be totally sure.

A big highlight this month for me was the release of a long-forgotten recording of Simon & Garfunkel on their 1969 tour. This tour was significant for a couple of reasons. First, it was the only time they had ever taken a full band on the road with them and second, it was their last tour before they would split up the following year.

This tour was undertaken after they recorded the Bridge Over Troubled Water album. However, its release was still months away so no one in the audience was familiar with the new material, including the title song. In fact, Art Garfunkel introduces the song as a new one as the now-familiar piano chords begin. Now, I've seen Simon & Garfunkel together and separately a number of times and every time the intro to Bridge begins, the audience goes wild. However, on this recording, the song is met with silence; nobody had ever heard it. Art Garfunkel then proceeds to deliver a rendition that rivals the studio version and when he brings the song to its conclusion, it's total pandemonium. The audience's approbation literally roars out of the speakers and you realize that the audience at that time and place knew they had just witnessed the birth of a timeless song. It's an amazing moment and we're fortunate that someone dug this tape out of the vault and made it available.

The new CD is called simply Live 1969 and is only available at Starbucks right now (which makes me want to go into a music store and order a latte...) but it'll be in regular stores (i.e. ones that don't serve coffee) sometime in the fall.

See you soon...

Toy Story

February is usually a quiet month and this one was no exception save for the three tumultuous days I performed at Toy Fair '08, the Toy Industry Association's annual trade show at the cavernous Javits Center in New York City.

I was representing Melissa & Doug, whose quality products grace the shelves of high-end toy stores all over the globe. In recent years, the company has been moving into the magic set market. This year, it's introducing four new sets aimed at kids 8 and older that are more sophisticated and evolved than perhaps any magic sets since the legendary Mysto Magic Sets last seen in the 1930s and '40s.

My job was to demonstrate items from these four new kits to some of the more than 35,000 attendees from all over the globe. Of more than 1500 exhibitors, Melissa & Doug had the largest booth so, needless to say, things were busy, busy, busy for nine hours a day. Buyers who watched the demonstrations ranged from small buyers such as a lovely couple I met who owned a toy shop in a suburb of Dallas to heavy hitters from such companies as Amazon.com, Hewlett-Packard and others.

It was truly a great experience, I was treated exceptionally well, and I hope to be working on some future projects with the company.

Earlier in the month, I did a show for a school in North Haven that was celebrating its 50th birthday. However, due to some kind of miscommunication between the agent who booked the show and the client, they were expecting a clown to show up.

After I arrived and set up the show, the contact at the school asked me if I was going to change. Thinking she was kidding, I asked, "Into what?" Not to be deterred by something as banal as a joke, she said, "You're a clown, right?" Still thinking she was kidding, I replied, "It depends who you ask..." Her continued lack of amusement at my witty banter told me that she wasn't kidding in the least. I told her that there probably had been a mixup of some kind and that I was not, nor have I ever been, a clown. This news bulletin caused the contact to enter a mild freakout state. By the way, this is about ten minutes before showtime and children had alreadly begun to file into the auditorium. Since she had no choice but to let me go on, I decided the best revenge was to do a great show. You can read about the results here and here.

We'll talk again next month.