Being a part of the unique community and subculture of jugglers I got to experience something special today. I had the opportunity to attend the first annual Santa Cruz juggling festival. I taught an intermediate four and five ball site-swap workshop. Many familiar faces and friends were there. In attendance were, Chris Garcia, Matt & Lisa Hall, Noah. While I was there a Fox affiliate in Monterey County asked me for a short on camera interview. Afterwards we headed over to Renegade juggling store. It's actually more of a warehouse / manufacturing facility. At their facility the manufacture all sorts of things from clown noses, rings, clubs, and diabolos.
My job as a magician is to distort the way people perceive things and present it as art. Inversions do the same thing. An inversion is a word or a name written so it reads more than one way. I initially discovered inversions from reading the Vernon Touch during my trip to Malaysia. I was excited about it and wanted to show Kat the concept. Coincidentally, Kat discovered them for herself at the same time while I was away. To check out more facinating inversions check out Scott Kim's site.
Between birthday parties, Boy Scouts Magic Month and Chinese New Year's celebrations, it's been a busy season. Due to the slowing economy the majority of bookings were referrals and repeat bookings. It was quite challenging trying to out do ourselves from previous years. I had to come up with new tricks to impress the same crowd. It was especially hard because the audience size was 500-1000 people in 3 of these celebrations. We had to do things that played bigger! Perhaps next year we'll have to do a few full sized illusions. Wish I had pictures of the crowds at these events. We did 2 shows at Washington High School with the bleachers completely packed out with people spilling out onto the gymnasium floor. For added flair, we added fire juggling and costume changes to really make it a visual show. I've got several more scouting events and Chinese New Years events still coming up and hope to post photos of those events.
Have you ever wanted to fly? Children dream of flying all the time. When it comes down to it I'm still a child inside. For my Christmas / Birthday gift Kat gave me one of the most magical experiences ever: she gave me a gift certificate to experience indoor skydiving. I guess it was the only logical gift to get since every time I would pass IFLYSF.com I'd mention the place. As a self proclaimed adventure seeker, I'm always up for a new experience. I tried the same experience in Las Vegas many years ago and it was just as exciting this time. I've gone horseback riding, windsurfing, sailing, spear-fishing, bungee jumping, cliff jumping, and ridden my bicycle down a full flight of stairs. The next adventure I'm contemplating is actually jumping out of a plane and an underwater torture escape.
If you're ever worried about loosing your camera, here's something you might consider doing. I came up with this idea a few weeks ago. Take a picture of your computer with the word processor with something similar to the image below. If you're lucky some honest person might look through your camera and see the image and return your camera. I just don't import the image onto the computer and it stays permanently.
I started off last week performing at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. It was an awesome experience and I found out my friend Ted a fellow juggler and member of the IJA live out there. Ted came to see my show. Afterwards, I hung out with him and his juggling buddies. I got the chance to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Parthenon. I especially enjoyed the design of the building, you'll notice that the windows are made to look like the sharps and flats on black piano keys. The ariel view, I was told, is in the shape of a bass clef. The Parthenon in Nashville is the only full size replica. And it was located directly across from my hotel. Unfortunately it was close on both days I visited, so I only saw the outside. If you want to see more pictures of my trip check out my Facebook.
On November 18th, I'll be taping another television show. After seeing some of my magic, a television producer and friend connected me with someone who host their own television show. When I find out when it airs, I'll be sure to update this post. After seeing some of my magic Marc Potter said, "your magic is light years ahead of other magicians, and you're the Anthony Robbins of magic."
It was exciting performing at Oracle Open World this year in San Francisco. My last trade-show was in sunny Vegas. I performed 4 hrs a day. Alot of work went into the customized presentations. I created three highly technical effect that highlighted the company's name and key features. I'll post a video of some of the performances soon. After performing I met up with some Chad Long, Danny Orleans, Scott Tokar, and Dennis Debont. These are the guys who I admired when I started performing 10 years ago. At the age of 30, I'm the youngest among them and fortunate enough to learn from these seasoned trade-show performers. There were so many magicians there it was like a magic convention. Combined these guys have been doing over a hundred years of performing experience.
Recent Comments
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Celeste said:
[this is good]Congratulations! It must have felt absolutely thrilling and divine to see your name in stars and to fulfill this lifelong... read more
on Magic Castle Passes - Hollywood Magician - A life long dream fulfilled... -
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Awesome, and this makes me think of a kid in a candy store!!! Happy Fathers Day Dan. read more
on Renegade Juggling Supply - Santa Cruz Juggling Festival