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.

My misadventure with Michael...

Yeah, it doesn't have the same ring as "My Dinner with Andre" or even "My Breakfast with Blassie", but it'll do.

Saturday, I spent the whole day in Baltimore.  First to the Apple store in Towson to get a small repair on my laptop; then I was off to Denny and Lee's magic studio.  Denny Haney has been a bit of a mentor for the last 7 or 8 years.  Always there with some advice on a new routine or idea, or anytime I need a joke or funny line.  I don't get there often, so when I do I like to make a whole day of it to visit with Denny and Baby, his pig.  Yep, pig.

The main event of the day is what's known as a magic lecture. Ordinarily, this is a guest magician traveling through the area giving a demonstration to other magicians. A lot of times, it works like this; "Here's a trick, here's how you do it." "Here's another trick, here's how you do it." These are usually pretty boring. I have enough tricks to last 5 lifetimes. Tonight was going to be something special and I knew it. Our presenter was Michael Vincent, from London. We've spoken quite a bit online, but had never met. Actually he was here for only 3 days, studying with HIS mentor who lives in D.C. (See kids, you never stop learning.) While Mike was setting up his projector and laptop, he discovered he was missing his remote to change slides. He asked where the nearest Apple store was. (Yet another reason I like this guy.) I told him it was 15 minutes away and I could take him. Of course, this was just a ploy to get this guy alone for about 40 minutes and pick his brain about magic. I didn't have to, as soon as we got in the car, he started to pick MY brain. Where I perform, how long I've been a magician, what kind of material. As we were leaving the mall with his new remote, I backed into a huge pole in the parking garage. Maybe I was in a hurry to get him back; or maybe I was still a little star-struck; maybe I'm a bad driver. Probably it was all 3. The car was fine, I was fine and most importantly, Michael was fine. Although, he seemed to acquire a bit of a taste for whiplash jokes. Our little misadventure aside, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life in magic. He fooled me with a trick that's been in my own repertoire for many years. He presents himself like an college professor, teaching the coolest subject there is, sleight of hand with cards. He's a fine gentleman, and my driving aside, I like to think I've made a new friend across the pond.

There are some wonderful videos at his site www.michaelvincent.co.uk  Take a look, and you'll see just how smooth he really is.

After Mike's wonderful talk, a few of us retired to a diner for a late night snack and to trade tricks. I had EVERY intention of being home about midnight or 1 AM. Well, some people at the diner saw the magic and asked to see for themselves. Long story short, I arrived home about 3 AM! Hence Sunday was NOT a fun day. Thankfully, I have a few days to recover before my next show. This weekend I'll be appearing at Scott's Grille in Harrisburg Friday night. Saturday after an appearance at a wedding reception, will be at What if in Hershey.

Where the hell's my camera?

Yep, it's gone. Last seen a few days after I returned home from Vegas. I loaded the pics onto my desktop computer and that was the last I've seen it. That's the reason there have been no pics the last few weeks. I won't buy a new one, because I know it's SOMEWHERE in my house. If anyone has any theories, let me know.

Last weekend was a blur. Double booked Saturday, big band concert on Sunday. (We should have pics from that soon, when I have them, I'll post.) As I said in my last post I was fortunate enough to perform at an 80th birthday party. This was for my 6th grade science teacher, Mr. Roy Dice. There were a few other people there who knew me when I was a kid. It was fun to show them what I've made of myself.

This weekend, I'll be taking off my from my Saturday night gig at What if, to attend a performance and lecture in Baltimore. The performer in questions name is Michael Vincent. He's from the UK and I've spoken with him quite a bit online and from what I've read and seen online, he is an excellent sleight of hand artist. I'm sure I'll report a bit on it next week.

I do have one pic to post. I took it with my iPhone this week. If I lose THIS thing, I'm really sunk.

This is my friend Lucia. She's 2 1/2 months old and drools a lot. Her mom carries her around like a football. I guess when you have 2 others at home, you aren't as careful.

Moviemania...

It's been pretty ho-hum this past week. Nothing but the usual. However, this past weekend I was able to take in 2 great movies that I wanted to share my thoughts on.

The Happening by M. Night Shamalamadingdong. (Yeah, I'm not gonna look up the spelling.) I really enjoy most of his movies. Lady in the Water from a few years ago was a joke, but most have been pretty enjoyable. I'm sad to see this getting mediocre to bad reviews. I really loved it. About halfway through the movie, I leaned over to my friend Eddie and jokingly made a point as to what was causing all the chaos in the film. It turned out, I was right. This movie is also filled with a lot more blood and guts than his other films. I won't spoil it for anyone, but I'll just make a point here. This movie contains a lot of death. At one point, you realize there is going to be a VERY gruesome death. I kept waiting for the camera to cut away. It didn't. There were quite a few times Eddie and I exclaimed "Holy SHIT" just out the shock of what was happening. Go see this movie, and be nice to Mother Earth.

Sunday, I was off to see The Incredible Hulk. As I said in a previous post, the last Hulk movie was not really a Marvel property. After that trainwreck, Marvel got the rights back and instead of starting from scratch, sort of just went off on a tangent. They ignore the horrible origin story Ang Lee concocted. When I was a kid, I was a HUGE fan of the TV show starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. (Ferrigno's monster and Gene Simmons were the source of many nightmares when I was 5.) I loved this movie because it is very close to that and even has cameos by the 2 stars. (Even though Bixby's been dead for years.) A few people have told me they aren't too crazy about the CGI Hulk. I'm not either, but I don't get why the Hulk gets such a bad wrap when these same people will go to see X-Men, Spider-man and Transformers and not bitch about the CGI in those films. Make-up and prosthetics have come a long way since the late 70's and I think it would be very neat to see what the special effects guys could do with a big body builder today.

Speaking of special effects as a big movie fan I should mention that just as I'm typing this, I learned of the death of Stan Winston. You may not know the name, but you've seen his work. Jurassic Park, Aliens, Terminator and Edward Scissorhands all featured impossible visions brought to life by this wonderful artist. Back in the days before CGI, Stan ruled the special effects world, and collected several Oscars for his work. We've lost one of the best.

This weekend will be exciting. After performing at Scott's Grille Friday night, I'll be hanging out and carousing with some friends to celebrate my 34th birthday. I believe plans include some rock and bowling. Anyone who would like to join us, the more the merrier. Saturday, I'm double booked. (One of my FAVORITE things.) I'm honored to be performing at an 80th birthday party for a dear friend, Mr. Roy Dice. Mr. Dice was my 6th grade science teacher and we reconnected a few years ago when I discovered I've been friends with his daughter for about 10 years. Later on that night, I'll be appearing at a private business function in Camp Hill. Sunday night, a concert with the Encores band at Adams Ricci Park in Enola. I'm sure I'll have a lot of stories and maybe a few pics.

Sessioning...

Sunday, I had a chance to attend a great little one day magic convention near Philadelphia. Hosted by a dear old man, Bob Little. He holds these small events every 6 months at a Holiday Inn. There is a lecture where tricks are taught, a show, an auction to buy someone's used props etc. The real reason I go is to experience a phenomenon that magicians call sessioning. Sessioning is basically a BS session. Guys sit around a table, each with a deck or some coins in their hands and show and teach each other tricks, moves, and new things we're working on. In this day and age, computers and the internet have affected everything, even this wonderful area of magic. There are countless bulletin boards, and websites where magicians trade ideas and such back and forth. But, there is no substitute for a good session. I had the opportunity to make several new friends, Nick, Matt, Ethan, (this little punk fooled me REPEATEDLY) and Marcus. It's also good to see several other friends, who I only get to see once or twice a year, and we normally only communicate via email and phone. A bunch of us got together for dinner at Friday's and the card tricks never stopped for a second.

My buddy Al Angelo (master juggler) was psyched to perform his "Boomerang Rubber Band" for me and a few other lucky attendees. This is merely a wonderful little deomonstration of inertia, gravity, and friction that really looks like magic. A rubberband is stretched on your fingers like a gun. When Al fired it at the floor, it bounced, and rolled right back to him, into his hand, and up his arm! This is about the coolest thing I've ever seen.

We also had a few surprise "celebrities" among us. So many people who see me perform ask me if Copperfield, Angel, or Blaine are my favorite magicians. They're usually surpsrised when I tell them no. MY favorite people, are guys you've never heard of, and probably never will. We were lucky enough to have the Dean of American Magicians, George Schindler drop by our little gathering. It was my first time meeting him and it was quite a pleasure and he said some very nice things about my work.

(Now, for my favorite moment of the day.) David Blaine, like most celebrities and businessmen has a large group of people on staff as his support crew and consultants. Two of them were in the area and decided to drop by. Daniel Garcia is one of these guys. Dan is 26 and is a brilliant performer, and has been consulting and creating for David Blaine for a year or so. Now some guys in our community look down on many young super talented artists. They say they don't respect the older guys that came before them and their style of performing. Enter Billy MacDonald. Billy is a bit of a legend to magicians in the PA/NJ/NY region. He's in his mid 70's and has been a lifelong amateur magician. He has studied with some of the greatest card mechanics of the 20th century, and it shows. When Dan met Billy, several gasps and expletives where heard coming from the table as Danny fell victim to Billy's ingenious sleight of hand. I LOVED IT! Afterwards, I asked Dan what he thought of Billy's work, "Unbelievable" was all he could say.

If any of my readers are in my area, I want to invite you to a great summer concert I'll be playing in. Sunday June 22, I'll be playing with the Encores Big Band at Adam's Ricki Park in Enola PA. The concert starts at 6 and is free, so bring chairs, blankets and enjoy some great big band music on a summer evening.