That damn groundhog...

So 2 days ago, this stupid little rodent "predicted" 6 more weeks of winter. I never got what the big deal was with this. Does he have any qualifications? Where did he go to school? Does he just flip a coin? Either way, he's about as accurate as the guys on TV.

So this past weekend I went to the auto and boat show here in town. I like to go every few years and just check everything out. My buddy Mike tagged a long and made me cram myself in a Chevy Aveo. Which as you can see, was hilarious. Oh when will Detroit make a compact with enough room for today's plus size magician?





I also wanted to tell anyone in my area who sees this that I'll be performing Feb. 20 at the Carlisle Country Club for a very good cause. They are hosting a Mardi Gras casino night to raise money to fight domestic violence. It's going to be a very fun night with casino table games, video horse racing, Hors d'oeuvres and yours truly. The cost is $50 per person, or $90 a couple. Come out and see me and support a good cause. Email me for more information.

I hate January...

One day I'll find me a rich woman and she'll take me away from all this cold. Of course, then I'll bitch that it's too hot. I've been fighting a cold for the last week or so. That last little bit just won't go away. However, I know people who have it worse than I do, so I guess I'm lucky.

Yesterday, I had a wonderful time performing for executives for the Hershey Entertainment and Resort Company. This is the company that oversees Hersheypark, The Hershey Lodge, and one of my favorite places on earth, The Hotel Hershey. It was a business luncheon, only about 12 or 13 people. This is really the ideal situation for close-up magic. It was a business lucncheon held at a wonderful restaurant in Camp Hill PA called The Cellar. If you're ever in the area, I really urge you to check it out.

This weekend, I'll be taking a break from Scott's Grille to perform Friday night at the annual Dirt Trackin' Show at the York Fairgrounds in York, PA. This will be my 2nd year with them and I'm sure I'll have a blast just as I did last year. I'll be there Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday, 11-2.

Right now, I'm watching the inaugural parade. As a former band geek, I'm still a sucker for marching bands and boy were there plenty. I was actually drum major when I was a junior in high school, which makes me the head band geek. The coolest thing I saw in the parade was a group of astronauts marching, followed by a concept electric lunar rover. They were the last entrant in the parade and the rover stopped in front of the president and put on a little show. The thing has 6 or 8 wheels and just did a 360 as if to say, "Look what I can do, send me to the moon."

Yeah, I'm alive...

Man, I can't believe it's been over 3 months since I posted anything. The other thing is I've been getting a few emails from people saying "Where's your post?" The last few months have been pretty busy. I've moved, right downtown Harrisburg. One block from the state capitol, across the street from the river and a killer view. Quite a few gigs as well. Here are a few pics that you might find interesting.


As you can see, I've been hanging with royalty. Yep, I did a gig with the KING! Actually, this is Brad Crum from Halifax, PA. We shared the bill at a function a few months ago at Hollywood Casino here in Harrisburg. He put on a great show, it was tough for me to not sing along while I was doing some strolling magic. My mother was a HUGE Elvis fan, and even though I was 3 when he died, I remember it like it was yesterday. My iPod has probably 20 or 30 Elvis songs on it at any given time. Yeah, I think I'm pretty qualified to judge an Elvis tribute act. Brad is one of the best I've ever seen. His website is www.rememberelvis.com.

I'm an artist. My medium is sleight of hand and humor. This is Madame Olga, she's also an artist. Her medium, (no pun intended) is B.S., or HOKUM as she prefers. The lady behind Madame Olga is my friend Mandy Dalton. We usually end up working together once a year or so. Mandy is a very talented actress, clown, comedian, juggler, magician, and stilt walker. Oh yeah, and she speaks 5 languages. On top of all this, she's VERY funny. She predicts the future using her tarot cards, crystal ball, or even my big bald head. She's one of the most talented people I've ever worked with. You know, the kind that makes you insanely mad and jealous because they're so damn good at everything. However, on top of all this, she's extremely sweet and humble. Check out her website at www.mandydalton.com.




THIS little cutie is Jango. Her and I shared the bill a little while back. It was my 2nd appearance for statewide officers from AARP. Jango really stole some of my thunder. Only 3 little old ladies wanted their picture taken with the big bald guy doing card tricks. EVERYBODY wanted a photo with Jango.

And the really big shocker for 2008, this was the year I got ink! I had wanted to for many years, but when I found myself at a tattoo convention to see my pal Danny Borneo and his crew, I couldn't resist.

I really hope to try and keep up with posting on a regular basis. I'll have another post soon about upcoming appearances in January and February. Happy 2009 everyone!

The pretzel king of Philadelphia...

So this weekend, I made the trek to Philadelphia. (Norristown actually, a beautiful suburb of Philly.) To spend a few hours performing for an old friend of mine from high school. Sean Cannon called me a year ago to announce he was in the soft pretzel business and ask would I perform for his store's grand opening. Sean's a great guy, I've known him since we were about 11 years old. Back then our friendship revolved around which girls in our class were developing and who was tougher, Hulk Hogan or Big John Studd. This weekend was the 1 year anniversary of his pretzel business and I'm glad to report that he's doing very well for himself. The only thing I don't like about him is he really hasn't changed in the last 16 years. Seriously, not one bit. He seems to have that Dick Clark syndrome. (Must be something in that Philly water. Or maybe the pretzels.) And to cap it all off, we saw a DeLorean drive right by. Sweet!

Actually that day, I was double booked. I had been invited to perform at a wonderful dinner party by some friends Bob and Carol Smith. Invitations to this party were auctioned off for charity. And it worked out very well for me because it was sort of on the way home from Philadelphia. When Bob asked me to come and perform, he actually referred to it as a "dinner party on their deck." This really could not be further from the truth. Their home is one of 3 on the estate, the other 2 belonging to family members. The party was actually held in a pool-side huge pavilion in the middle of the 3 homes. Complete with 3 TVs, restaurant style kitchen, and a bar better than most restaurants, this place was like Shangri-La in the middle of farm country. I did my usually strolling magic schmoozing for about an hour and a half before dinner. After dessert, I did a brief demonstration of some of my favorite pieces I've been doing for years including Remember and Forget, and the Cups and Balls.


A very busy day, and a sore throat when I woke up meant most of Sunday was spent in bed. But, I did have to drag myself out to attend a meeting regarding a new venue for me. I'll be posting it here as soon as the details are ironed out.

The family of a legend

So Saturday night at What if in Hershey, I had a wonderful experience. As I approached a table of about 15 adults, teens and children, one man looked up and said "Oh, you must be the magician." I explained that I was and as I took out a deck of cards he asks me if I ever met Herb Zarrow. I stammered a bit as this is not a name laymen toss around, "Yes, I met him a few times." "He was my cousin" the man replied. This name will not mean anything to most of you. Herb was a marvelous magician who passed away a few months ago. Now, I'm asked all the time if I've ever met David Copperfield, Criss Angel or David Blaine. I have, and I wasn't that impressed. Let me assure you, meeting Herb was a much bigger thrill. How big of a deal was Herb Zarrow to magic? It's like saying you have a British cousin who plays drums named Ringo. Herb was not a professional magician. I believe he spent the majority of his life as an accountant. However, he is responsible for inventing one sleight of hand technique in 1940, that is still in use today. I won't go into the gist of it here, but it's fairly common when reading a magic textbook to see the phrase, "Place the deck on the table and do a Zarrow."

No one else in the family is a magician. In fact, Herb was a very humble man. They knew he was involved in magic as a hobby, and when pressed he would to a few card tricks for friends. But it wasn't until his death that they began to get an idea how important he really was. They were shocked when at his funeral someone told the family that "Every magician in the world would know exactly who Herb was, and how important he was to our art." I guess they just had to ask this big guy from Hershey if he knew. He did, and he was very honored to perform for them. A young man named Jonah asked me if I could do "Uncle Herb's move". Now, this is something that when done correctly, looks like nothing at all. I got up my nerve, and after dinner, I performed one of my favorite effects, Triumph. I included the move and they applauded loudly. Jonah looked up and said, "I didn't see anything." My only reply was, "Well, then your Uncle Herb would be proud that I did it right.

Busy weekend...

Well, it's been almost a month since my last posting.  But there really has been little to post about; until this past weekend.  

Thursday, magic buddy Scott Sullivan and I headed down to Atlantic City.  No, we're not really high-rollers, but we are big fans of Mark Kalin and Jinger.  They brought their show "Real Magic" to the Trump Marina for the summer.  This really has to be one of the finest magic shows I've ever seen.  A perfect blend of huge illusions and impressive sleight of hand.  Our favorite piece, known as the Wakeling Sawing in Half.  This is pretty close to the original presentation for the now classic sawing a woman in half.  Now this illusion has been performed and improved for decades.  Versions with glass boxes and even NO box have been performed on TV.  There is something special about Kalin and Jinger's performance.  Two spectators hold straps which secure Jinger in place at her neck and feet.  Steel blades are slammed through the middle of the box, (and the lovely Jinger) and the spectators pull the halves of the box apart. 

This past Sunday, I made the trek with my friends Amy and Amber to another seaside town, Baltimore.  On the agenda was a visit to the Maryland Science center to check out the exhibit "Body Worlds."  This is a marvelous exhibition of real human bodies through a process called plastination have been preserved and displayed to reveal the inner anatomical structures.  Remember the old Visible Man that we all had in 4th grade?  Well, this is the Visible Man, made from a REAL MAN!  Different specimens are displayed in various poses to display muscles, skeletal and circulatory systems etc.  Some were behind glass, but many weren't; so you're only inches away from a real human specimen to study various organs, muscles and body systems.  If you ever have the opportunity to view this exhibit, I highly recommend it.  You will never look at your body, or anyone else's the same.  www.bodyworlds.com

Ho Hum....

Well, it's been a few weeks and I figured I should put something up here. Not a whole lot to report. Just enjoying the hot humid days of summer.

As far as entertainment, when not providing it myself, I've been taking in a lot of movies. Most recently, The Dark Knight. If you read this and haven't seen it yet, shame on you. Drop what you're doing and go now! I hate to jump on the Heath Ledger bandwagon, but this guy did such a great job showing what a creepy villian the Joker really is. Bravo.

I also had a chance to get to see Billy Joel. My date cancelled at the last minute, so my pal Eddie joined me. What a blast! Billy is one of these guys who doesn't need to keep touring, but does so because he loves what he does; and that's easy for anyone to see.

In a few weeks, another pal Scott and I will hop a train down to Atlantic City. We'll be catching a show by a wonderful husband and wife duo, Mark Kalin and Jinger. I've seen them twice before and their show is well worth seeing another time. Since they're normally on the west coast, we jumped at the chance when we found out they'll be in A.C. for the summer.