Everything Hinges upon

the correct color...
My wife painted the main bathroom's vanity.
Thus we must change the color of all the fixtures... We (she) chose a brushed nickle look for the new fixtures. So, after five trips to various hardware stores to fine an exact match for the old hinges, well we became a little "unhinged!"
We heard about painting the hinges, and that is exactly what we have done.As you can see, the hinges were a solid antique brass, and now... well they are a silver/gray!

Magic Session at Bruno's

Met up with Rick Anderson, Mark Jensen, and Jose Floresca lat night. Why Bruno's? Because that is the name of Rick's Photography studio where we meet. Rick is what I would term a Master magician, having been involved heavily in magic for about fifty years...
He has awesome insights into magic as well as the proper sleights to perform at an extremely high level of magical competence.
It is often difficult to session with him because he moves so fast paced that I cannot grasp all that he wants to impart.
Jose wanted help with some coin moves and a routine in Rick's Lecture notes. I was happy to see Jose Begin to grasp the inner workings of Rick's teaching. I also enjoyed learning them as well. I say learning them but that is actually incorrect, it will take months and years to actually learn them... Am I willing? Or will I be like so many others that won't put in the time and practice, have the diligence to master the moves!?
Magic can be very frustrating as well as rewarding. It is a craft full of peaks and valleys. Last Saturday I was on a peak as I went to my high school class reunion. I performed walk around close up magic and really had a great time! A valley often follows a peak performance. Also a valley can occur as you begin to work on newer and harder magical sleights. Often times I have regrets about not pursuing this art form earlier in life... but be that as it may, I am where I am!
Like my friend, and mentor Tom Frank often says, I get to bring love and joy to the rest of the world!

Tootin' My Own Horn... Or?

Last night my wife and I went out to a pub called Jacks in Renton. My high school class of 1977 was having a reunion, our 33rd. We meet up every year for some reason, and we also invite other years around ours to join us. I think we had around forty alums show up.
Well, a lot of my class mates are on facebook and have noticed some of my posts about magic etc... so, one thing led to another and well.... I can't leave home with out it!
Cards and rubber bands were the order of the night. I had a great time entertaining one and all. Those that would sit still long enough to be entertained that is, not sure my lovely wife appreciated me not giving her as much attention as she deserves, ah, the wife of a magician... lol...
I love being the under dog. People haven't seen the caliber of magic that I have learned over the years. (Thanks, Tom, Steve, Michael, Mark, Jose, Oz, Gazzo, Jay, and others)
I don't want to brag, but somewhere along the line, some of my magic became top notch. I was asked to come over and do a card trick for a table of people by a young woman named Mary Skagen. I graduated with her brother, and well... how do you get a magician to show you a hundred card tricks??? Ask him to show you one...
Anyway, as I arrived at the table, I could sense/feel the skepticism... The men were looking at me with "that" look in their eyes... I don't know if it is disdain, or a feeling of, "o.k. magic boy, this better be good." It took only one trick, my opener to get them to realize, this magic boy is pretty darn good! The Biddle Trick is my opener, and involves the spectator finding their selection in their pack in their hands.. after that, well gravy, with One eyed Jack Sandwich and Paper Clipped. After performing Paper Clipped... it's all over!
Now people begin to ask for my business card.
Great fun!here I am having my friend Kimmy, who is one of the organizers for our class sign a card, which I lost in the deck and promptly stuck to the ceiling!

Disarming a crowd with wonderful, non challenging magic.
I only stuck one card on the ceiling... the barmaid came over and cautioned me that the ceiling panels have a tendency to fall down...
Kimmy and I had great smiles on our faces, and now her name is stuck high upon the ceiling of Jacks Pub
A friend of mine brought his 12 year old son and his wife. They had to sit in a different section of the pub... I noticed them and went over and did a short "set" for them. His smile and laughter was all the reward I needed!

I think my wife had a nice time in spite of me. She was the most beautiful woman there.

A little bit of this...

A little bit of that...
All work & no play... makes Tim a dull boy...
Actually I am rarely accused of all work...
Been walking my mind thru another time...
Our daughter has a boyfriend... Nice boy form church, adtually the pator's kid, I know... PK's... scary...
He is a nice young man and very respectful. They had their "first date" today. A picnig at flaming Geyser state park. Nice first date, no pressure... funny though. He was still at our home at 10 pm when I told him, time to go home...
Gotta have some balance...
on another front...
Last Tuesday at our clown alley meeting I performed my "children's birthday magic show"...
I don't do a lot of childrens shows so I used this as an opportunity to polish it up a little.
It was a good time and lasted about 40 minutes...
I have a negotiation going on for a gig in Dec. It is getting interesting talking with prospective clients. I heard from them about two weeks ago, My friend Chad Reibman turned them down because of a prior... He recommended me and we spoke for about 25 minutes on the phone, they had watched my promo dvd and liked what they saw and the cleanliness of my act.
Now that I am sending them a contract they want to come watch me perform somewhere. While I understand their interest in getting the best magician for their buck, and want to make sure that whoever they hire isn't just some "uncle Bob." It is a little frustrating to feel like I am jumping thru hoops for people. (Roll over, play dead, sit boy, sit!)
And, I am getting to the point that I don't really care if I get the gig or not because I don't Need it. I would like to get it, it would maybe get me more gigs, and I am being as pleasant as possible, but... I told them that most of shows are private affairs like theirs would be, and I cannot just invite people to them.
I emailed them a list of references, We'll see...
My older brother called me last week and informed me that he is getting married on August 29th!
He wants me to perform at his wedding. I told him for weddings I usually only do One trick, anniversary waltz. He said that his fiancé would like my show and so would some others. Well, alrighty then! I'll do a show. We'll work out the length etc. later.
Heard back form the people that "Might" hire me for the Dec. gig.
Hi Tim,

Thank you for the references, I’ll send out emails and give them a call and we’ll go from there.

Thanks
Looks liek I probably lost that one. Oh well, here's what I know.
It is there loss. I have a rocking good time magically.
Low price and quality magic and entertainment.
I don't like jumping thru hoops and I am too old for it anyway.

Fire In The Sky

Left Friday morning for Ocean Shores... we have spent nearly the last 6-7 4th O' July celebrations at the Ocean with our friends the McDowells at their beach home on the canal.
It was a nice 3-4 day get away!
Surprisingly I did NO magic!
Kind of a break if you will...
I helped Dale and Jean work around their place, mowing the lawn, and refurbishing their pontoon boat. Dale and his neighbor Neil had already had the boat taken all apart, we just had to apply glue and lay the new carpet down. Yeah right. Always sounds easy... but it took WAY longer than expected. Measure twice cut once. Sanding and filling cracks and holes. I enjoyed the work.
We had a lot of help.
The 4th O July is always a favorite holiday for me, lasting memories of picnics with my mom and siblings, fireworks all day, fun in the sun!
Those days are long past. In my early twenties I used to be the pyro maniac. Had a connection that could get me nice three inch fireworks for a decent price. Of course I was playing men's competetive softball in those days and most 4th O July's were spent in a tournament somewhere. I would bring out some great fireworks and light up the sky wherever we were playing that week!
Nowadays I do not like to spend the money to light on fire.
We got lucky this year at the Ocean. it was very windy, but it was a nice wind that blew the smoke away from us rather than into us like years past. We set up "shop" near a group that had built a wonderful shelter for themselves and... these guys must have spent about five thousand dollars on fire works. We got to see a great show!