Thursday, March 08, 2007

In my "In Box" • From my Dad

That smile is after a great ride on a Boss Hoss at Daytona's Bike Week. a Boss Hoss is a bike built around a Chevy V8 350 cu inch eng.

The bike has 512 hp, does 0-60 mph in 2.5 sec., weighs 1350 lbs and is a monster. What a great ride.

Enjoy,
Love, Dad
magician

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Huntington Beach • Surf City. . . Dude

Steve Bradford (venue manager and street performer coordinator for the Santa Monica Third Street Promenade) gave me a call recently about a new street performing opportunity in Huntington Beach. He's coordinating street performers for a new thing they're trying on Tuesday nights. I left at 3PM thinking that I could get there by 5PM. Think again. It took me 2 and a half hours to go 60 miles. Jeez! I don't remember it being that far when I lived there 20 years ago.

I finally got there and had a good time making people happy and some cash. We actually lived in Westminster a couple of miles inland from the ocean, but Huntington Beach was the closest beach to our house. Great memories taking cigar walks in the sunset. I did that almost evening.

Two decades have vanished into the past, but here I am again in Huntington Beach performing near Main St. & PCH

Surf City Nights Downtown Street Fair

HUNTINGTON BEACH-On Tuesday, March 6, from 5 – 9 PM, downtown Main Street will come alive with the sounds of live music, street performers, a farmer’s market, activities for the kids, specials from our downtown restaurants and sidewalk sales from our downtown retailers.

It will be the first of twelve Surf City™ Nights. The community-spirited event will continue each Tuesday until May22.

Surf City™ Nights is presented by the Huntington Beach Downtown Business Improvement District (HBBID), the City of Huntington Beach and the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau. The event takes place in the second and third blocks of Main Street and is designed to attract couples and families from throughout the region to downtown Huntington Beach.

"Surf City Nights will soon become the place to be on Tuesday nights in Orange County," said Huntington Beach Mayor Gil Coerper. "It's good for the city to have more family events downtown. The downtown merchants and city staff have been working hard to make the downtown street fair a success. We hope it will grow and become a Tuesday night tradition."

Surf City Nights is a result of downtown merchants’ and the City Council’s agreement on a proposal for a temporary closure of Main Street. As part of the plan, the Council also agreed to close the streets for five full weekends for major events through 2008. Watch for upcoming dates and announcements on the HBBID website, www.hbdowntown.com or the city website, www.surfcity-hb.org.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Monday

Monday morning brought a new week with it and the promise of even more fun than last week. I had a show at 11 AM for an Adult Daycare. Part of the Jewish Family Services of LA. Another valuable LA Lesson learned, just because the address is Santa Monica Blvd. doesn’t mean it’s ANYWHERE near Santa Monica. I had given myself plenty of time to sit in traffic on the 405 heading into town. I got lost and took a great tour of Beverly Hills. I drove down Rodeo Drive and gawked in store windows. It’’s all so beautiful here.

Got to the gig on time and did a good job for what I was handed. The smell of old people in a long room. They stuck me against the wall at one end with barely enough room to set up my table. They had a mic that sounded horrible, so I took the extra 3 minutes to set up my portable pa. I thought with potential hardness of hearing, that that would be good. It might have been if they spoke english. A lot of old russians. . . hey isn’t that a drink? No, that’s Black Russian. Anyway. . .

It was awkward. Because communication was an issue and the fact that I had very little room to move, I had to eliminate the card portion of my act. So, I put on the Chaplin music I’ve been working with did the majority of my act with out talking. After working that room for 20 minutes or so, I had agreed to go up to the Alzheimer's Unit and do another 10 -15 minutes up there.

I call these good karma gigs. The pay wasn’t much, I was just trying to make a difference in someone’s day. I like to think that I did, I got a lot of wrinkled smiles.

After the gig, I changed out of my suit in the parking lot. It wasn’t even noon, and it was already in the upper 70’s. Yeah, I was ready to put on shorts, a t-shirt, sandals and a buzz. I took surface streets home through Laural Canyon.

The afternoon was spent in pursuit of hedonistic bliss. After lunch I did some nude sunbathing and enjoyed a cigar. This is the life.

I had plans to see a screening later in the evening on the 20th Century Fox Lot. To avaid traffic, I left way early and had a corned beef sandwich at Factor's Famous Deli on Pico. I regularly listen to Creative Screenwriting Magazine’s podcast. The have a screening series and after the film there is a Q & A with the screenwriter. Last night was “I Think I Love My Wife” a new Searchlight picture Co-written, Directed and Staring Chris Rock. Both Chris Rock and his co-writter Lewis C.K. were very funny (both being seasoned stand up comics and funny guys)



View Trailer • Click Here

After the Q & A I saw Glenn Farrington in the audience. We chatted a bit on the way out.

Sunrise in L.A., originally uploaded by AlieN.

Weakend

Orange juice squeezed from the oranges off a tree in the back yard. Banana trees, with their big floppy elephant ear leaves. Hearty plants that regularly bloom in the winter and get scorched in the summer.

Day after beautiful day I do what I want, when I want. I fancy myself a magician, a collage artist, a writer, a director, an actor, a retailer and a manufacturer. . . and I do all of this without even leaving the house. . . isn’t that GREAT!

Last weekend was weak at the City Walk. A large cheerleader conference/competition at the Gibson brought lots of eye candy for dirty old men like me. The girls were very busy going from here to there. While they were spending money, very little of it was coming my way.

I wasn’t on the schedule for the City Walk on Sunday so I decided to try Venice Beach for a change of pace and hang oceanside. Learned a valuable lesson, don’t try and go to the beach on a Sunday at noon and expect to find any parking. Pissed, with time slipping away I went to the City Walk anyway. Strangely, I had the place to myself with good traffic. I did they best I could.

Saw Gary “Mysto the Magician” aka Sonny Bono while working. He’s in town auditioning his Sonny Bono Tribute Act for some TV thing called “Next Best Thing”. He was the last person in the world I expected to look up and see. He witnessed a pretty good show that ended up a $4 hat. Oh well, as I said, it was one of those days.

Monday, March 05, 2007


Greetings From Los Angeles, originally uploaded by Quartz City.

Friday Afternoon Session

I met Mr. Goodwin at the Castle and we walked down to Mel's Drive In near Hollywood and Highland. We called Alfonso and told him where to find us. By the time our food arrived Alfonso had joined us for a little afternoon magic session in Hollywood. Alfonso has been a fixture at the Castle since the old days. We talked about various eras at the Castle that could be dubbed as the "Good Old Days". We remember the era of the mid to late eighties. Hanging out with Dai Vernon and Larry Jennings made for some great memories I'll never forget. To us, those were the gold old days. We discussed the previous era of Vernon, Jennings, Skinner etc. . .

We talked about how the vibe at the Castle has changed. It doesn't have the same electricity that it used to. I don't see groups of guys huddling in the corner with their decks of cards out and sessioning. The dawn of another time I guess.

It was an nice afternoon that ended with the jingle jangle of linking rings in the Castle parking lot. I like these guys an hope to get to know them better. They really are quite good magician's and thinkers. I'm glad to know them. Alfonso lives less than a mile away from where I live. I think Billy lives in Ventura.