two seconds - magician from Marco Tempest on Vimeo.

In my "Out Box"

Dear Max,

I've tried to call you, I've asked your mom and I've emailed you asking you what you might like for your birthday. You don't want a birthday present? You don't want anything to do with me, that's the feeling I get. I'm sorry you feel that way. I am always here for you.

Love Dad

PS Buster (John) lives in Seattle, he was down here for a visit and told me he misses his family.

Charlie Chaplin's "Face On The Barroom Floor" (1914)

Me at 17, thinking that I knew something

Tom Frank • Back in the day, originally uploaded by Dai Vernon.

Rainy Wednesday Morning

Up early on a rainy Wednesday morning. Been feeling a tad slugish lately. Not really feeling sick, just under the weather. Went to bed with Polly last night. She goes to bed early (between 9 and 10PM because she is up at 4 or 5AM) I usually stay up till one or two in the morning. Anyways, I went to bed at 8:30 with my girl and got up at 5AM. Woke from a bizarre dream, where I was apparently (but not) robbing a bank. There were cops closing in to the left, more cops coming down the other street to the right. I am trying to put this gun in a trash receptacle, only it won't fit. . . anxiety, I wake up and start my day.

The timing of getting rid of my 1988 beater Volvo was good. After the wreck, my trunk wouldn't close right, now that the rainy season is here my shit would have got soaked. So after months of thinking about what kind of car to get; I end up the proud daddy of a Toyota Prius! Polly has enjoyed hers for the last 5 years or so and I have driven it often. It's a hybrid, half gas, half electric motor. Smooth ride and great gas milage. I can plan on confidently driving this vehicle for many years to come. Thinking about a cross country tour early next year. This car has plenty of pep and boasts 50 miles per gallon!

Life is good, just finished up a video project w/ my golfing buddy and magic friend Alfonso. Turned out pretty good for being done under the wire. Later today I"ll hang w/ Danny Sylvester helping him prepare for his week at the Castle in the Close-Up Room. He rarely has an opportunity in a formal situation to present his close-up act. So he's excited and I'm excited for him.

Live in the Classic City, II, MM by widespreadpanic

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Neil Young - Le Noise - The Film

A visit with my boy

What can I say, I love this kid; have since before he was born. My first born. 20 years old and living in Seattle, he's clearly on his own journey. Reminds me so much of myself at that age. Dropped out of high school, got his GED, moved away, with ideas of changing the world. We spent 4 days and 3 nights getting to know each other again. I asked him what he wanted to do while he was in town, we started by visiting a used bookstore where he picked up a book on the Kabbalah. It's interesting to watch as he discovers who he is. I feel bad for the way my divorces went down and how they effected my kids, but in the end they will all have to come to terms with who they are and who their parents are as people and as human beings.

We went to see a "Furthur" concert at the Greek Theater. With Bob Weir and Phil Lesh (original members of The Grateful Dead) celebrating the music of the Dead. It was great to share that night of music with Buster. The band was HOT and the set list off the hook. My heart so full of love and my son so tall and handsome. Life is complicated with it's twists and turns. Searching for answers and humbled by life's journey. It's all part of the experience. To revel in joy is to understand pain.

Jack Gywnne

, originally uploaded by kemon01.

02 Jun 1947 --- Irene Fredericks, stewardess for American Airlines, watches in amazement as magician Jack Gywnne levitates his helper and daughter-in-law Helen Gywnne during their East India levitation performance.

Oldie but a goodie!

Doc Daley's Last Trick • A favorite for years

Tom Frank • Magician, originally uploaded by Dai Vernon.

Goodbye Old Friend

Goodbye old friend, it was fun while it lasted
4 years and change, short of fantastic

Bittersweet to see you go
Redondo Beach
Marine layer blows

You were my car
My Transpo
My cigar lounge

I spent a lot of time in you
a couple hours a day

I've owned a lot of cars in my life
and they were all used w/ miles
I loved them all
They all made me smile

You saved my life and for that I am thankful
That woman on the freeway smashed into us
totaling her car and somehow you drove away
a bit beat up, you gave me another 6 months

All the music we listened to all the cigars I smoked
all the freeways and surface streets
castles and moats

Golf clubs in the back seat, street rig in the trunk
side view mirror held on with blue masking tape
cigar ashes everywhere

I will miss your non functioning speedometer, odometer, and sunroof
and the door that wouldn't close completely
you had character and you kept me out of trouble
because you had no pick up
there was not hot dogging

In the heat of the valley, in the dead of summer
you never let me down

I will miss you and your family
I have driven Volvo's for almost 20 years

Time to move on
Goodbye old friend

Wharf Rat

Old man down, way down down, down by the docks of the city.
Blind and dirty, asked me for a dime, a dime for a cup of coffee.
I got no dime but I got some time to hear his story.
My name is August West, and I love my Pearly Baker best more than my wine.
More than my wine - more than my maker, though he's no friend of mine.

Everyone said, I'd come to no good, I knew I would Pearly, believe them.
Half of my life, I spent doin' time for some other fucker's crime,
The other half found me stumbling around drunk on Burgundy wine.

But I'll get back on my feet someday,
The good Lord willin', if He says I may.
I know that the life I'm livin's no good,
I'll get a new start, live the life I should.
I'll get up and fly away, I'll get up and fly away, fly away.

Pearly's been true, true to me, true to my dyin' day he said,
I said to him, I said to him, "I'm sure she's been."
I said to him, "I'm sure she's been true to you."

I got up and wandered, wandered downtown, nowhere to go but just to hang around.
I've got a girl, named Bonnie Lee, I know that girl's been true to me.
I know she's been, I'm sure she's been true to me.

Furthur raises the Dead to new heights at the Greek - Entertainment - The Orange County Register

Furthur raises the Dead to new heights at the Greek - Entertainment - The Orange County Register

Arthur Buckley

Ella Fitzgerald - Misty

Sending this one out to my first born son, Buster. I used to sing this to him as an infant to put him to sleep, each night.

ESCAMOTEUR CUPS AND BALL PRINT FRENCH 1860 HAGUENTHAL

ESCAMOTEUR CUPS AND BALL PRINT FRENCH 1860 HAGUENTHAL, originally uploaded by Dai Vernon.