Quote du jour

"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading"

 - Henny Youngman

The Hollow Men by T S Eliot

                             I

    We are the hollow men
    We are the stuffed men
    Leaning together
    Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
    Our dried voices, when
    We whisper together
    Are quiet and meaningless
    As wind in dry grass
    Or rats' feet over broken glass
    In our dry cellar
   
    Shape without form, shade without colour,
    Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
   
    Those who have crossed
    With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
    Remember us-if at all-not as lost
    Violent souls, but only
    As the hollow men
    The stuffed men.

   
                              II

    Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
    In death's dream kingdom
    These do not appear:
    There, the eyes are
    Sunlight on a broken column
    There, is a tree swinging
    And voices are
    In the wind's singing
    More distant and more solemn
    Than a fading star.
   
    Let me be no nearer
    In death's dream kingdom
    Let me also wear
    Such deliberate disguises
    Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
    In a field
    Behaving as the wind behaves
    No nearer-
   
    Not that final meeting
    In the twilight kingdom

   
                   III

    This is the dead land
    This is cactus land
    Here the stone images
    Are raised, here they receive
    The supplication of a dead man's hand
    Under the twinkle of a fading star.
   
    Is it like this
    In death's other kingdom
    Waking alone
    At the hour when we are
    Trembling with tenderness
    Lips that would kiss
    Form prayers to broken stone.

   
                     IV

    The eyes are not here
    There are no eyes here
    In this valley of dying stars
    In this hollow valley
    This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
   
    In this last of meeting places
    We grope together
    And avoid speech
    Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
   
    Sightless, unless
    The eyes reappear
    As the perpetual star
    Multifoliate rose
    Of death's twilight kingdom
    The hope only
    Of empty men.

   
                           V

    Here we go round the prickly pear
    Prickly pear prickly pear
    Here we go round the prickly pear
    At five o'clock in the morning.
   
    Between the idea
    And the reality
    Between the motion
    And the act
    Falls the Shadow
                                   For Thine is the Kingdom
   
    Between the conception
    And the creation
    Between the emotion
    And the response
    Falls the Shadow
                                   Life is very long
   
    Between the desire
    And the spasm
    Between the potency
    And the existence
    Between the essence
    And the descent
    Falls the Shadow
                                   For Thine is the Kingdom
   
    For Thine is
    Life is
    For Thine is the
   
    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    Not with a bang but a whimper
.

Importance of Sessioning

Some of my fondest memories, in my life in magic, have been sessioning with other magicians.  As a 14 year old kid in Cincinnati, every Saturday morning, my pal Shawn Greer would pick me up in his shitty, little red Chevette.  We would make the trek across town to our mentor, Larry Pringle’s house.  There we would meet with Larry, Ken Bierly, Roscoe Harrison and sometimes Paul Swinford would come over.  This went on for years and created a strong foundation for my study in magic.

What do you do at a session?  Perform, learn, grow and feel the power of entertainment!  The best sessions have  people with a variety of skill levels.  This is nice because if you have the knowledge and skill you can help others.  If you are a beginner you have the best opportunity to get fooled badly AND a great opportunity to get pointers on how to do it better. . . or just right.

The important thing is that everybody participate.  Sitting around a table is best.  Close-up pads, optional.  I usually feel that close-up pads are for pussies.  Derek Dingle taught me at an early age, that you should be able to do your best work on a wet bar.  No one really wants to perform on a wet bar, but his point is good.  A close-up pad doesn’t reflect real world performing conditions when you’re out and about.  Everyone should participate.  I am particularly fond of the Round Robin.  A must at any session.  A Round Robin is where you go around the table and everyone does a trick.  This is important for growth.  Of course no one is forced to do anything they don’t want to, but the session is about going out of your comfort zone for the purpose of bettering your magic.

Sometimes you just want to see how a trick looks and feels before showing to the public.  Sometimes you want a critical evaluation of what you are doing.  Both are extremely helpful.  In between group sessions Shawn and I would session several nights a week till the wee hours using harsh and slurred phrases like, “Flash!  or FLASH LIKE HELL!”.  We were unrelenting and learned how not to flash.  

It is not uncommon for new magicians to focus completely on what they are doing technically.  They stare at their hands, mumble their words and forget who they are performing for.  I remember my dad asking me as an 11 year old, “who are you doing the trick for. . . me or you?”.  Good lesson to learn early on.  The magic session is a terrific place to come out of your shell.  There is safety, concern and love of the art at a session.  

When I was a kid,I took magic lessons from  guy named Paul Rolling who worked at Haines House of Cards in Norwood, Ohio.  I must have been 10 or eleven years old.  My folks had just divorced  and my mom wasn’t really dealing with her grief and anger so well.  As for us four kids, we all just did the best we could.  I found a home at the magic shop and became a fixture.  Cincinnati had a great magic scene,  and I felt like Alice in Wonderland.   At some point the sessions left Larry’s basement and we met Saturday afternoons on the stage or in the back room of Haines House of Cards.  

There I would hear of the epic “back room” sessions across the country both current and past.  Names like Dia Vernon, Ed Marlo, T. Nelson Downs & Malini.  What round table in Chicago?  Magic Castle!  What’s that?  As a youngster I romanticized what it might be like to hang out with Dai Vernon at the Magic Castle.  A decade later that dream would come true when I moved to LA.  I was 21 years old and lived with Sylvester the Jester.  It was a non stop magic session for 2 years.

I owned magic shops for a dozen years and couldn’t begin to count the number of sessions that were held in the back rooms.  A right of passage, entrance to a welcoming world of like mined people. What could be better? During my shop years, you never knew who was going to come in.  People like Sal Piacente, or David Ben, Stephen Minch, Robert Giobbi, Johnathan Pendragon, Mike Ammar, Lee Asher, Aaron Fisher and a ton of people you never heard of, but who were great! It was common to see a sign on my shop door that said, “In the back room, ring the bell”.  I had installed a wireless doorbell to inform me that customers wanted to enter.  When my last shop, Seattle Magic closed, at the request of Tim Flynn & Steve Ameden we continued the sessions at my Alki Beach Magic Studio.  For the next two years, every Tuesday night (I don’t think we missed one) I hosted a session that grew into an amazing weekly event.  Friendships formed, tricks learned and polished, cocktails and beers consumed, cigars and cigarettes smoked and cards shuffled.

Magic sessions are only as good as the people there.  Are there those who want to share their knowledge?  Anyone looking to learn a new trick, sleight or subtlety?  Who just wants to have fun and talk magic?  I DO!

Now it’s your turn.  Pick up the phone call a couple of your magicians friends. Set up a time to meet at your house or a coffee shop, or a bar. Get your cards and coins, color changing  knives and packet tricks in your close-up case and get it going!  Bring something to take notes or a video camera.  Keep track of what you’re learning and do it again next week and log progress.  It’s not about blowing smoke up your ass, it’s about getting better at what you love.  Make it as good as it can be. . . then make it better!

Wedding Trip Video

Touch

There is magic in everday life,
you just have to find it

hidden behind a couch or at the bottom of a closet
magic is where it shouldn't be
or couldn't be

or mabey isn't

did it disappear?
will it come back?

who knows what it means?
why or how it happens?

But it does
With the sun rising daily
the birds will sing
and children will smile

There is this gift called mystery
and the giver of this gift the magician

Happy New Year!!!!

2012 is done and 2013 has just begun.  What a year of ups and downs, highs and lows, ins and outs.

The most significant event of the year was marrying Polly on 12/21/2012,  "The Armageddon Wedding!"  We were married on Sunset Beach on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.  It was a small intimate affair with only a few friends in attendance.  The week we spent on the island was just great!  I had never been there, Polly had lived there for a couple of years 15 years ago.

I met Polly when we were both 15 years old attending the School For The Creative & Performing Arts back in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Who would have guessed that she would become my third wife.  Seems like a lifetime or two ago.   I never figured I would marry again after such a horrible divorce last time, but here I am today with a new outlook on life, love in my heart and a smile on my face.  Time does heal all wounds.

So, we move forward into the unknown.  Opening up our hearts and our lives to see what the future brings.

Here's a little 1 minute wedding video teaser till I finish editing a longer version.  Enjoy!



Polly and I are committed to leading healthier lives, modifying our diets and exercising more.  We spent an hour today doing HOT yoga.  It was great to sweat puddles and stretch our muscles.  We're looking to do it again every day this week.  Already sore from our workout and my night at work.

I rocked it hard this evening and put together  the remaining funds for last months child support payment.  All in all a GREAT start to the year!

Tomorrow night I will attend the 50th Anniversary Celebration event at the Magic Castle.  Funny to think that I've been working there on and off for the last 25 years.  Oy.

I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year and hope that all of your dreams come true!