Wednesday

As I continue work on my tan, I think about my art. About who and where I am in my life.

70 degrees and sunny with blue skies, doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Enjoying a cigar in the backyard working on the laptop.

Had a good time last night hanging out with a couple of street magicians. Daniel I had spent a some time with, another young man from Tucson named Seth joined in the dinner magic session. We talked about Slydini. Seth performed some of Slydini’s cigarette magic capably if not a tad fast. I showed him my wooden cigars, which he had never seen. I fooled the guys with a Slydini linking ring sequence that Cellini taught me almost 25 years ago. I was the 20 year old kid back then, now, I’ve turned into an old fart.

I enjoy hanging out with younger magicians. They all have that dreamy, inspired, gonna conquer the world look in their eyes. As for me at 42, I’m figuring out, that I have a favorite chair. . . another thing I didn’t see coming.

I see a little bit of me in each one of them. I remember what it was like to move around , see the world, and experience life though naive colored glasses. The world was my oyster.

Something about dealing with death, life, marriages and divorces, kids and child support, successful businesses gone sour and all the emotion that these things can bring. Shit, I’m lucky that I operate an any level at all.

I love magic as much as I ever have, and I love Polly as much as much I love magic and that’s A LOT! Life is grand even with the curve balls that continue to be thrown my way.

What do I have to complain about.

At the restaurant Daniel did some of his ball manipulation and some work with cards. I taught him the basics for the Le Paul Spread Pass, as well as introducing him to the SWE Shift. I did a few routines. I fooled Seth so bad with the Panoramic Shift during my ambitious sequence that he grabbed the deck and looked through the entire pack for a duplicate. I was flattered.

We wanted to shoot some video, so rather than shooting in the parking lot of the Sizzler, we took our stuff out on Hollywood Blvd. and had some fun.

Below, you can check out a couple of the clips I shot of Daniel working. Enjoy. . . unless your Chris Karney. . . for you my friend. . . I recommend a drink.