Saturday, February 10, 2007

Ouch

Loser

Rat Dog

If I had a gun for every ace I have drawn,
I could arm a town the size of Abilene
Don't you push me baby, beause I'm holdin' low
And you know I'm only in it for the gold

All that I am asking for is ten gold dollars
And I could pay you back with one good hand
You can look around about the wide world over
And you'll never find another honest man.

Last fair deal in the country,Sweet Suzie,
Last fair deal in the town
Put your gold money where your love is baby,
Before you let my deal go down

Don't you push me baby, cause I'm holdin' low
And I know a little something you won't ever know
Don't you touch hard liquor, just a cup of cold coffee
Gotta get up in the morning and go

Everybody's breakin' and drinkin' that wine
I can tell the Queen of Diamonds by the way she shines
Come to daddy on the inside straight,
Well I got no chance of losin' this time

Last fair deal in the country,
Last fair deal in the town
Put your gold money where your love is baby,
Before you let my deal go down

Everybody's breakin' and drinkin' that wine
I can tell the Queen of Diamonds by the way she shines
Come to daddy on the inside straight,
Well I got no chance of losin' this time.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Video du Jour • A. Robins, The Banana Man

As the week turns. . .

Wednesday, Vaclav and I returned to Dean Dill's Barber Shop in Glendale for an afternoon session. Again it was a great time. Pete Biro was there, as well as one of the Castle Managers, I think his name was Todd, a fellow named Jesse and of course Dean Dill.

I did the linking rings for the guys and they seemed to like it. Vaclav did a couple of tricks and Dean showed us an interesting prediction. He also showed us a trick called WOW!

The atmosphere is friendly and the quality of the advice great. I had a really good time and learned a few things.

Last night I had a good hour or two at the City Walk. Made some cash before the midweek evening traffic dried up. I sure will be glad when we start getting into the real street season. It's been a tough month. Chillier weather, rain and the Jan./Feb. doldrums have all posed their own challenges. But, I'll get over it and come out on top. . . . I always do.

This afternoon Aaron Fisher, Billy Goodwin and I are driving down to San Diego to see Rat Dog, Bob Weir's (From the Grateful Dead) Band play at the House of Blues. Road trip magic session with the concert tonight. I'm getting VERY excited. Should be fun.

On a less exciting note, I found out yesterday that I will not be working the Magic Castle. It's a shame that I allowed myself to let self defeating behavior of yesteryears figure into the mix. Tough pills, I've swallowed more than my share. But I keep a smile on my face, love in my heart and keep following my dream.

It's a good life and I'm gonna have fun tonight at the concert.

Peace Out

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Video du Jour • From the archives

Seattle Magic Back Room Session #1

Pics du Jour • 12/24/06 • Third St. Promenade


Magician #2, originally uploaded by Cem.

Pics du Jour • 12/24/06 • Third St. Promenade


Magician #1, originally uploaded by Cem.

The Fog

The fog rolled in as I drove towards Santa Monica. When I left North Hollywood, it was all blue skies, sunny and hot. I was dressed in shorts, sandals, and a Hawaiian shirt. I parked in the garage and was glad that I brought a change of clothes. This wasn't the first or the last time that I will change clothes in a public parking garage. Sometimes you just got to do what you got to do.

Now in sweat pants, shoes, socks, a long sleeve shirt and a knit cap; I head out into the increasing fog. The shit is just rolling in. Can't say that I ever been in this sort of thing before. Getting thicker by the minute, visibility drops from 100 to 50 yards. From Ocean Blvd. you couldn't see the pier or the surf.

With a lit cigar in my hand and my iPod in my ears I walked down to the water. I love walking. . . and I love cigars. Walking along the crashing waves has always been like a reset button for my psyche. It's a good life.

In my "In Box"

The next time you find yourself on a plane, sitting next to someone who cannot resist chattering to you endlessly, I urge you to quietly pull your laptop out of your bag, carefully open the screen (ensuring the irritating person next to you can see it), and hit this link.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Been gone one year today



Missing my mom with a smile on my face. I love that woman.

Mom & Tom

Alicia Keys - For All We Know

hmmmmm

Flat spots on the bottom of a pair of old shoes

Looking in the mirror and wondering. . .

What the fuck am I doing

Another beautiful day in paradise

Don't have to ask me twice

Guess we'll see

with the roll of the dice

whose been naughty

. . . and whose been nice


dunno

don't know

hell, I don't even care

just doing my thing

Monday, February 05, 2007

Whacky Super Bowl Weekend

Friday afternoon, after getting an oil change and filling up my gas tank, I got on the road to Las Vegas, where I would be meeting the Waxler and Weinstein clan for a high roller Super Bowl Weekend. 70 miles into the trip, it was not to be, so I turned around and headed back to Los Angeles.

I worked the City Walk on Friday night as well as Saturday afternoon. While doing my thing at the City Walk, I was honored to see Rick Merrill, Gene Anderson and Steven Bargatze in my audience. It was nice to see these guys again, and Gene was nice enough to give me a little constructive criticism. I had a pretty good day Saturday, and it just got better.

Earlier that morning, I remembered that the Copperfield Show was playing at the Kodak Theater Friday and Saturday, so I put in a last minute email to my old friend Chris Kenner (now Executive Producer of the show) saturday morning, asking if there was any way to hook a brother up for the 8PM show. He said, he would see what he could do. He said that I might have to watch from the sound board, but 10 minutes before show time he set me up with a front row seat. Chris came out to the box office personally to greet me. I gave him hug and told him how much I appreciated his time. As Chris is always busy, especially right before show time, he handed me off to one of his guys who walked me quickly through the back corridors of the Kodak Theater. I was told to wait minute. While I was waiting I felt an old familiar presence. I turned around, it was Homer Liwag. Having know both Chris and Homer for 25 years, it's been exciting to watch them rise to the pinnacles of show biz. I'm so very proud of them both. Even at an early age their talent and drive was undeniable.

I've always been a Copperfield fan and feel like a little kid each time I see the show. Before the show Homer commented that he had done all the editing for a pre-show and mid-show video presentation. It was a great show and I scored it high on freshness. That's probably one of the most important things I rate a show on. Did it look like the Copperfield was engaged with the audience? Did it look like he was having a good time? A big yes to both of those. This was the 5th show in 2 days here in LA at the Kodak Theater (Where the Oscars will be broadcast from).

I was struck by the beauty of this state of the art theater. Homer told me a bit about the architect and then the show was about to begin.

Afterwards, I would have loved to hang out with the guys but they looked tired after the 3rd show of the day, still having to load out and get on the road for Vegas; so we said goodbye and I left. . . . my heart all warm and squishy.

I had a great time!! Thanks Chris and Homer for the memories.

This pic was taken at last years World Magic Seminar.