Whew!!  When this month is said and done I will have performed 23 shows for 23 different clients.  The nice thing about performing in Dallas for over the last 20 years is that I have a great client base.  Most of my shows were for repeat clients who hire me year after year.  It’s much like seeing family for the holidays!  I’m lucky in that many of my shows are at great locations like III Forks, Ruth’s Chris, the Dallas Arboretum, a suite at the Dallas Stars game, and some of the nicest hotels in the Dallas area.  This month I performed for such celebrities as former-mayor Ron Kirk and Mike Massey (one of the world’s best trick shot champions).  If you read Genii magazine, then you saw the write-up of one of my latest creations called Ghost Writer which I’m sure will appear in PFM2.  For now I am looking forward to Christmas and spending some time with my family.  So to all of my readers out there…. have a great holiday season and a wonderful new year!!

This month I finished writing my new book!  But there is still a lot of work to be done.  I’ve hired an artist, recently found a good editor, found a print house in New Jersey, and so I hope to have it all finished by April.  Stay tuned.. because this book is going to be slick!

I flew to Detroit, Michigan to work John Luka’s 2-day close-up convention.  I worked along side David Acer, Jon Armstrong and John Rodgers.  I performed, lectured, gave a workshop, manned my dealer’s table and hung out with some very interesting guys like my friend Kozmo.  Everyone there was great.  And I hope to return to Motor City again someday to see more of what the town has to offer.

One of the highlights this month was a spectacular private party.  At this celebration I entertained gold medalist and basketball star Lisa Leslie and the actress, singer and former Miss America Vanessa Williams who were just a couple of the guests amongst a very enthusiastic crowd.  I’m a lucky man!

My first column called Bamboozlers appeared in the third issue of Street Magic Magazine this month.  The column will showcase things that will be featured in my upcoming betcha/magic book of the same name.  The book will be geared to anyone who has an interest in jokes, puzzles, betchas or magic that can be done with things found in a restaurant or around the house.  What I’ve learned over the years has come from the sharing of others, so it makes sense for me to pay it forward.

I kicked off this month by working for the professional golfer J.J. Henry and his wife Lee’s foundation called Henry House.  The Henry House fundraiser was quite a spectacle and I enjoyed warming up the crowd before the country singer Pat Green went on the stage.  I also worked a grand-opening for a new Mercedes-Benz dealership.  This month took me to the Belo Mansion, Jerry Jones Mansion, and the Crow Mansion where I entertained their V.I.P. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (seen to the right) who was among other enthusiastic guests.  Jerry Jones, who owns the Dallas Cowboys, loaned me his Superbowl ring to perform one of my pet routines with.  And the Crow family, who was very kind, gave me a copy of Clarence Thomas’ new best-selling book which he kindly signed.  This month found me doing a few school assemblies and working some great Halloween parties.  I attended a great lecture given by my comedy magician friend Tom Burgoon.  Also, as of this month, I’ve become a columnist for the new magic magazine called Street Magic Magazine.  With my job life never fails to remain interesting!

When not doing shows- the month of August kept me mostly busy preparing for my multi-state lecture tour.  From September 3rd through the 13th I had quite an adventure. Along my tour I stopped in Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, and finally Mississippi.  I had a blast, made some good money, some new friends, saw lots of interesting places like Graceland (the home of Elvis Presley), the Ringling Circus and Art Museum, the Cà d’Zan Mansion (seen to the left), and the winter homes of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.  All in all I drove 3700 miles roundtrip.  I have now performed my magic in 22 of the 50 states in the U.S..  One day I hope to have knocked out all fifty.

In the past couple of months work has been plentiful and I’ve done shows for several restaurants, the Frisco Roughriders, Alliance Data, Texas Instruments and several private parties.  One performance had me as the opening act for a belly-dancing show.  This was my second time working for this particular group and they were a terrific audience.  Try not to conjure up images of me belly-dancing because I simply stuck to what I am good at.  Besides if I were to start belly-dancing all of my tricks would fly out of my pockets and somebody besides myself might get hurt! 

Now that I am back at home, I am working on a stage show and trying to finish my bar betcha book.  Plus, I have some other exciting projects that I will divulge in the near future… so stay tuned!

This month has kept me busy performing and writing.  For years now I have been collecting notes on bar betchas, jokes and stunts done with everyday items like toothpicks, utensils, bottles, napkins, etc.  Other books have been written on the subject but I’ve always wanted to produce my own.  I’ve collected so much material that I think if I put 100 routines in each book I’ve already got enough stuff for five books, so I think I’ll produce a series.  I hope to be finished with the first book by the end of the year.

The big thing this month was attending the S.A.M. Magic convention in Dallas.  I participated in the World’s Biggest Magic Show which was fun, attended many good lectures, bought some new toys in the dealer’s room, and witnessed many great evening shows.  Although this was the Society of American Magicians convention, I must confess that the oriental performers stole the shows this year.

As I am growing older I’ve learned to appreciate the down time at conventions so that I might visit with other magicians.  I had fun hanging out with my buddy Steve Bryant, Daniel Garcia and others.  The two guys in the picture are huge talents in magic that I am proud to call friends.  Greg Gleason (to my left) is currently a successful cruise ship magician and Dave Thomas (to my right) produces several magic stage productions.  We’re all lucky to be living the dream!!

Whew!  Things never seem to slow down.  My wife and I celebrated 19 years of being together in May- fifteen actually married.  We realized that we have been together for more than half of our lives!!  Work has been plentiful.  I’ve performed for CompuCom, General Dynamics, Anheuser-Busch, Albertson’s, EDS, and for various other private clientele.  One gig had me working for the first time at the impressive Pizza Hut Park Soccer Stadium in Frisco for the Mayor of Frisco. 

Wanting to see my friends I threw a big party at the end of June.  My good friend Kathryn Nordstrom read tarot cards and mystified all who met her.  It was good to see some of my clients, who I consider friends, show up and partake of my hospitality for a change.  With more than 50 people in attendance I always regret not having the chance to visit with everyone.  The big hit, as I predicted, was Miki the Monkey!  Miki stole the show.  And according to the Planet of the Apes movies one day soon these primates will be running things around here!

I kicked off this month by auditioning for America’s Got Talent.  There were lots of contestants with various talents, so we’ll see if they call me back.  I was thinking the other day about how I’ve opened for some of the biggest names in show business.  I’ve opened for Santa Claus, Elvis (look-alikes), the Easter Bunny (who recently upstaged me at an event) and now Jay Leno.  Mr. Leno and I were hired to entertain at the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center’s big charity event that has now raised about $2 million.

I performed at Southfork Ranch for the Texas Football Association.  I flew to Lubbock and then drove to Portales, New Mexico where I entertained the international students and their professors at Eastern New Mexico University.  I’ve performed at the Rough Rider baseball stadium in Frisco a couple of times this month.  I drove to Franklin, TX where I entertained the Texas Angus Association on the impressive 11,000 acre Camp Cooley Ranch.  And I did a couple of shows for Toll Brothers home builders where I actually stood in a framed home with no walls to entertain potential buyers and the residents of the new community at Twin Creeks in Allen, TX.

I turned 37 this month which means that I have been performing my magic for 21 years now.  People always ask me, “So what do you do for a living?”  I don’t think it is an insult.  I believe that is hard for people to fathom that one can actually make a living doing something like magic.  Sometimes I have a hard time believing it too.  I know that I am lucky to be doing what I love for a living.  Life flies by in an instant so I recommend everyone follow their heart’s desire.

This month has kept me busy performing mostly.  This month I’ve performed my magic for Wells Fargo, University of Texas at Dallas, Citibank, I.B.M., Jackson’s Pottery, the Frisco Rough Riders and many more!

My wife and some friends of mine witnessed the stage and magic of Andre Kole for the first time.  Mr. Kole has many wonderful ideas and has created several illusions for some of the top magicians of the day like David Copperfield.

Two of my gigs this month took me to the fabulous W Hotel.  This hotel is THE hot spot in Dallas right now.  It is just across the street from the American Airlines Center located downtown.  At one show in the Ghost Bar (where Justin Timberlake had hung out the night before), guests were amazed by me and the glass balcony that made one feel as if they were hovering several floors above the busy streets below.  The other show there had me working on the pool deck which features an infinity pool that looked as if it was spilling over onto the street below us.

I never know who I’ll bump into at my shows, but this month I met Robert Loggia the actor who has been featured in such big hits as Big with Tom Hanks and Scarfacewith Al Pacino.

This month has mainly kept me busy rehearsing new routines.  I was fortunate to do more work this month for Park Place Lexus who has become a regular client.  I also attended two fun lectures, one by the gaff-card king and poker chip magician Don England, and the other by my good friend Jeb Sherrill (the prince of the Zombie Ball). Towards the end of the month I attended the famous Austin Magic Auction for my first time and placed the winning bid on several books, some magic posters and a few new toys. 

A couple of my routines found their way into the top two mainstream magic magazines of the day.  MAGIC magazine featured my Singing Cardbox article that teaches magicians how to make their card-boxes play music upon opening them.  And GENII magazine featured a review by David Regal of one of my latest marketed routines called MYTHOS.  I’ve been a fan of Mr. Regal’s magic for some time and his work as a writer for such shows like Everybody Loves Raymond, so when I read his words of praise I was taken aback.  He said of my routine and I quote: “…a classy version of a brilliant bit of card magic, a performance piece that might very well be the highlight of an act.”

This has been a fun-filled month.  First my Mythos routine with mirrors appeared in this month’s issue of S.A.M.’s MUM magazine.  Then two of my products (my Mirrors DVD and SentiMental Postcards) got great reviews in this month’s issue of I.B.M.’s Linking Ring magazine.

We kicked off the month by traveling to L.A. to visit some friends and the Magic Castle. The Castle was wonderful as usual and I had the chance to rub elbows with many celebrity magicians like Brian Gillis, David Roth, Mark Wilson, Max Maven, John Carney and Sylvester the Jester.

Then we traveled aboard the Norwegian Star for an 8-day cruise of the Mexican Riviera.  We visited such ports as Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa and Cabo San Lucas.  All of the ports were beautiful.  We had a wonderful time!  This was our second time aboard the Star and we took in all that they offered like the great restaurants, every evening show, art auctions, etc.  The highlight for me aboard the ship was hanging out with my friend, the super-talented magician, Shawn Farquhar.