finneyThis month has been full of events.  I kicked off the month by working an event at a millionaire’s home in Dallas.  Then I had gigs for La Finca Chiciquita, a golf tournament, shows at the Marriott in Plano, Stonebriar Legacy, plus many more private events.  My travels also took me to Austin to work a wedding party for the Rozell family at the beautiful Hummingbird House

While in Austin I saw my cousins Rodger and Alex and we dined at The Oasis.  Also while in Austin I reconnected with a friend from my days in elementary school.  His name is Justin and he owns a tattoo parlor in Austin.  He’s a great guy and an amazing artist.  Father’s Day was spent with my two dads (Jimmy & C.E.);  we all had a good time together and ate too much.

farquhar-dj-romeroMy new Diamond Deck has been selling well and I am currently shipping them all over the world.  I had no idea that my promo deck would be purchased by card collectors globally.  Click here to see a video review of the deck.  Plus, the video production team I hired is fast at work editing the footage for two new upcoming instructional magic DVDs.  I hope to release the first DVD sometime in August.

The most fun I had this month was hanging out with many of my friends and colleagues at the International Brotherhood of Magicians convention in Dallas from June 28th – July 2nd.  It was held at the Sheraton in downtown Dallas and a few of the evening shows were at The Majestic theatre.  Each day was filled with events from morning to night.  Typically I’d awaken around 9am and go to bed each night around 3am.  Two lectures stood out in my mind; one was on writing stand-up comedy and the other was on marketing with social media.  Dana Daniels was my favorite performer who does his act with a parrot.  Dana is hilarious!

lovellIt was nice hanging out with my friends Shawn Farquhar, Chip Romero, Daniel Garcia, Alex Rangel, Chris Smith, Steve Bryant, Dave Magee, Burton Gilliam, Jeff Davis and family, Sam & Buzz Sawyers, James Munton, Alan Ward, Dal & Cinde Sanders, etc.  One of the highlights for me was having some talk time with my all-time favorite magician Tom Mullica who wrote the foreword to my last book- Bamboozlers Two.

Attending these conventions really recharges my batteries.  I have some new routines to work on now but mainly I just want to do the things that I do even better.  To the left are several convention pics of myself with Michael Finney, Farquhar & Romero, Simon Lovell and lastly Tom Mullica.

mullicaThe absolute best thing that happened at the convention was watching Michael Finney talk about his charity as he auctioned off a poster signed by the top comedy magicians of our day.  He expected it to receive $1000 tops but it went for $3600.  As Finney began to sob so did the entire audience.  I love being part of a brotherhood that thrives on giving back and making others believe in magic!

The June issue of MUM magazine features a story about me, a snake and how I had to think on my feet at a past gig.  The humorous story was written by my friends James and Jelita Munton.  Also my friend Brian Brushwood featured some more bits from my book Bamboozlers Vol. Two in this new Scam School webisode seen below.