Thursday, August 31, 2006

My Office

Santa Monica

I could think of worse places to have to go to work. More of the same today, a few shows, pitch some trick decks, work with the music some more.

Came home after my 6-8PM set. Polly and Buster were at home with a jumbo pizza. Nice coming home to my people. I love them both.

Cerritos, CA

Back in 1986 after a difficult period of grieving the loss of my little sister Margie, I moved to LA (a bit of back story here. Polly and I were 21 years old, we got close and I had invited her to join me and move to LA with me. She's a smart cookie and decided not to). Anyway, Dan who had lost a little brother also, was instrumental in helping me find the joy in life again.

I moved to Cerritos, CA. A place that no one had heard of until the day after I moved there, a large airplane took out part of a subdivision and was on the cover of Time Magazine the following week.

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An Aeromexico DC-9 going down over Cerritos, California after colliding with a Piper Archer. All 64 aboard the DC-9, 3 on the Piper and 15 on the ground were killed. (August 31, 1986)

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On a lighter note, Dan was excited to show me the improvements to the Cerritos Library (and the dinosaur inside there). We used to check out many movies from this library and spent many a day in front of the TV watching 2 or 3 movies a day. . . for months we did this!

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Busta John & Dan the Man

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Danny and Me standing in front of the house that we lived in. It was a nice 4 bedroom house that we shared with Kenny Jones & Tracy Buck. Seems like a lifetime ago.

Omar a new fan & friend

I met Omar the other day. He's the only other magician that I've seen working at the Promenade. He reminded of a phone conversation that we had when I was back in Seattle. He had purchased a set of Phoenix Cups from me and had questions about busking.

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He worked the space, then I took over for the 6-8PM slot. He was back yesterday to watch me work. I had some nice sets working with the Chaplin music. Also showed him the "Funny / Not Funny" experiment with the audience. Worked well and strengthened the connection between me and the audience.

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Steve Spill

You never know who's going to walk up to you after a show. A few days ago Steve Spill (owner of Magicopolis a magic themed entertainment venue in Santa Monica on 4th Street) came up to me and invited me to check out the club.

It was nice of him to give me the full tour, backstage and upstairs as well as the history of his establishment. Cool place and a nice guy. I met him briefly in 1990 at the Brad Reeder Comedy Magic Bash.

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At 52 years old, Mr. Spill understands firsthand the pressure of a business with overhead, employees and all the pain and pleasure that can bring.

His application for a liquor license has been approved and the entrance of the club is about to be transformed into a magic bar.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Quote du Jour

“My life, my career has been like a roller coaster. I've either been an enormous success or just a down-and-out failure.”

- Judy Garland

Week in Review

Worked back and forth from the Promenade to Hollywood and Highland. Putting my half of the rent together in one dollar bills. Worked with James again on a slow Friday Night. Ran into a busker from Waaaaayyyyyy back.

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A 62 year old Escape Artist named Tim Eric. Our paths crossed in 1990 in Atlanta, GA. I was working the Punchline Comedy Club and he was working the Piedmont Arts Festival. I shot some great footage of his act back then and will post it this week.

Feeling pretty good about things. Went to John's new school to enroll him. All we need now are his transcripts and progress/report card and he'll be registered.

John • The son formerly known as Buster

Polly and I picked up John at the Airport Saturday afternoon. From there we took him Venice Beach, then home for a nice steak dinner. I think he likes his room and after a period of adjusting to a new city, I'm sure he's going to find his new life here is LA a satisfactory experience.

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Today we went into Hollywood, checked out the Sunday Farmers Market then went and saw

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View Trailer for Idlewood • Click Here

at the Cinerama Dome at the ArcLight Cinemas

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Polly made us another nice dinner tonight. It was a good weekend. We are so happy to have John here with us. He'll start school next week and have a whole new routine to get into. It's really great seeing him again. I love my boy.