Back in the swing....

This week was interesting.  No beauty pageants, but fun all the same.

Tuesday was Mardi Gras.  Fat Tuesday, or as I call it Tuesday.  (Damn I love that.)  I was invited to perform for students at Penn State Harrisburg during lunch hour.  The whole atmosphere was very festive.  There was a great dixieland band and jambalaya and king cakes were on the menu for lunch.  Students didn't really have any idea there would be a magician, so I was just a little bonus.  All the students really seemed to enjoy my performance, and the band was really great. Fun time had by all.

Thursday morning, my killer cold from right after New Year's came back.  I swear, I honestly think I have the plague.  I had to heavily medicate myself for 2 shows this weekend.  The magic was pretty easy, I can pretty much do that with my eyes closed.  Saturday night's swing gig was a bit more of a challenge.

Friday night, I had a wonderful evening at my home away from home, Scott's Grille.  A pretty average night.  A few large parties made my evening a lot of fun.  Especially a quartet of diners in their late 50's early 60's.  One man let out several loud obscenities during my performance.  I often tell people, this is the greatest compliment.  Much more so than applause or stunned silence.  People are shocked and they forget proper decorum in a fancy restaurant.  

Saturday night, I was on stage with my horn and my buddies in The Encores Big Band. (encoresbigband.com)  It's a great band that has a light schedule so it fits in well with mine.  Saturday we were at the Valencia Ballroom in York, PA for a special Valentine's diner/dance.  So great to see people actually doing the proper dance steps to all these great old tunes.  One couple in particular had a really mean lindy-hop.  I had a special treat, during our last set, a lady came up to the stage and ask us to do a polka.  The rest of the band kind of laughed, I went nuts.  "Hell yeah, let's polka!"  I was tempted to put the horn down and go and show 'em how a fat guy from Pittsburgh can polka.  (It's a well known fact that when it comes to polka, I'm a bad mofo.)  We ripped though the beer barrel polka and boy the people loved it.  At our next gig, I may have a shill in the audience ask for a polka so I can go and dance.  Another fun part of the night came during our last tune, Things Ain't What They Used To Be, my buddy Jose' Johnson, (trumpet dude and kung-fu badass) shows off by soloing on trumpet and flugelhorn at the same time!  One horn in each hand, 2 measures, then switch.  Damn showoff.