The last two months have been extremely eventful.  I’ve done 23 shows.  Given a few magic lessons.  Attended several family get-togethers.  Gone to a couple of wine tastings. Taken in movies at the theatre like Harry Potter, Tron and True Grit.  Remodeled our kitchen.  And sadly witnessed the passing of my step-grandfather Sam Seltzer.

Time has flown by this year.  To recap I began the year by throwing a surprise party for my wife’s 40th.  Then I began promoting my third book Bamboozlers Two.  Then I released my third DVD DiaMonte.  Then I flew to England to lecture and perform at the Blackpool convention.  From there I made my way onto Liverpool and Derby to visit my friends Graeme and Richey Smith and then went onto Leeds to see family.  The next day we made the journey to Chelmsford to attend the wedding of my cousin Adrian and his wonderful bride Laura.  I’ve attended over 100 wedding parties and this one was the best ever! See a party pic here.

Then I flew home and left a few days later to lecture in five cities across Australia and three in New Zealand.  Then I went onto Redondo Beach to see my friends Brian Gilliis, Sisuephan & Andy Hill.  While there Brian took me backstage at the Hermosa Beach Comedy & Magic club to hang out with Jay Leno.

Come April I turned the big 4-0 and released the Anniversary Edition of my DVD Pockets Full of Miracles.  Come May I witnessed the passing of my good friend Martin Gardner.  Mr. Gardner was an inspiration to me and thousands of others.

Whilst performing here and there I found time to release my new ZAP Wallet and take a trip out to Vegas with my friends Andy, Dave and Steve to see the comedy magic of Mac King and one of Lance Burton‘s farewell shows.  The last couple of months while doing all of this I was fighting an ulcer which led to insomnia and eventually I went to a doctor to solve the problem.

Once back in Texas I attended the TAOM convention with my pal Chris Smith and took in many good shows, hung out with friends, ate well and attended the hilarious Esther’s Follies show.  I did lots of shows throughout this time and did a jewelry store commercial too.  Then I embarked on my lecture tour across Germany & Austria where I performed in seven major cities and made many new friends.Once home my wife and I flew to California and I lectured at the Magic Apple in Studio City.  We hung out at Universal Studios theme park and the Magic Castle in Hollywood with some friends.  After this we met our cousins Rodger & Alex on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and toured the Mexican Riviera while eating well, riding dune buggies, horses, and zip-lines through the canopy of trees of the Sierra Madre mountains.

While my magic has been featured in lots of magic magazines I have never been on the cover of one until now.  Issue 578 of Revue De La Prestidigitation (a french magic mag) is the Diamond Jim Tyler issue.

It seems like many career highlights happened for me this year!    For example, I worked the holiday party for Woot.com a couple of weeks ago and they were so impressed that they decided to interview me and post it on their blog page.  I have been a loyal woot customer since their inception.

Currently, I am working on a couple of book projects and scouting locations for my next DVD. I am lining up future gigs and lecture tours.  Soon my friend Michael Doermann and I will release an Iphone App version of my book Bamboozlers Volume One and Dover books is currently laying out the softback version of my book Pockets Full of Miracles that will be retitled Close-Up Magic Secrets.  To cap things off I am doing a three hour gig tonight at at country club for a New Year’s Eve party.

I’m a lucky man to have so many loved ones and to blessed with so much work.  Happy New Year to all of my fans, friends and family!

OCTOBER: I flew out on September 27th to do my lecture tour across Germany.

This was quite a memorable tour!  Over 16 days I flew 10,000 miles and drove over 2200 miles across Germany and Austria. I lectured in 7 cities, 6 in Germany plus Vienna, Austria. Click here to see an interactive map that shows you the path I traveled. To date now I’ve performed/lectured in half the states in the US plus fifteen other countries.

The drives were often breath-taking and the autobahn was exhilarating. Imagine doing 100mph and having cars pass you like you are sitting still.  

Everyone was quite friendly and the food was good.  Each translator at my stops did a great job and I made a few friends along the way.

My tour organizer Michael Doermann was quite gracious having set upthe tour and treated me to lunch and dinner while in his company.  Mr. Doermann is a magic enthusiast, a professor, and had much success with creating Iphone apps.  He and I will we be working together soon on an app that I hope my fans and friends will appreciate.

Upon my return I had one day off, and then I hit the ground running, seeing how my calendar is full of shows.  Between Oct. 15th and the 30th I had nineteen gigs.  Some of my clients this month were Dads in the Hood, Gulfstream, Flight Safety Dallas, Medical Center of Plano, etc.

Today is Halloween, Oct. 31st and I am looking forward to helping my neighbor Brian put on his skull-face make-up, hanging out with my wife, sister Jodi and her boys- (my nephews Lane & Landen).  We plan on handing out candy to the little kids and scaring the bejeezus out of teen-age trick-or-treaters tonight.

I kicked off this month by attending the TAOM convention in Austin.  My good friend Chris Smith, CEO of MagicSmith, flew in to Dallas early so we could visit and drive down to Austin together.  Chris puts out some of the coolest products in magic today.  Check out his website at www.magicsmith.com.

We arrived in Austin Sept. 2nd and attended the Esther’s Follies show there on Sixth Street.  The show was incredible as always.  If you are ever in Austin, then you must see it.  Ray Anderson, the magician there, always steals the show.

The next day the convention began and so did my schedule of about 4-5 hours of sleep each night.  It was worth it because I enjoyed the shows and hanging with friends.  The talent was phenomenal including the likes of Max Maven, Jeff McBride, Chad Long, Whit Haydn, Eric DeCamps, Jason England, Michael Weber, Mark Mason, Arturo, John Lovick, Bill Malone, Danny Garcia & the gang, etc.  Plus my friend Fumio from Japan won the competition.

Austin was a great town to host the TAOM.  The city has such a pulse and night-life.  Walking down sixth street at night was one of the highlights just for the people watching.  Plus one could eat at any of the road-side food stands up until 2am.  I love the feel and vibe there.  Keep Austin weird!

I’ve performed many shows this month.  Some took me to places like the Crescent Hotel in Dallas and Southfork Ranch.  Recently I shot a commercial for a pawn shop based in Georgia.  The director wanted a magician dressed in the cliche attire sporting a tuxedo and white gloves.  I swallowed my pride and gave in but I also told him that putting gloves on a sleight of hand magician was like putting flip-flops on a track runner.  Luckily, the magic will be mostly done with green screen and camera edits.  I look forward to seeing the footage.

Now I am gearing up for my lecture tour across Germany.  After this tour I will have performed in 15 countries.  Two years ago I had never been to Europe.  Check out my route by clicking here.  I’ll tell you all about it upon my return!

This month took me to California where I lectured at The Magic Apple in Studio City for the second time.  The next day I accompanied my friends (The Fleischers) at Universal Studios which I’ve visited many times; the Simpsons ride is still my favorite there.  The next night I visited The Magic Castle in Hollywood where two of my favorite relatives (Rodger & Alex) joined for a fun-filled night.

The following day I boarded The Mariner of the Seas with my cousins.  This was my third cruise but first time to do so with Royal Caribbean.  It was very nice.  We rode dune buggies on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, we did nine zip lines through the canopy of the trees in the Sierra Madre mountains in Mazatlan, and went horseback riding in Puerta Vallarta.

Two of our excursions ended at tequila factories where we were schooled on the process of making this wonderful elixir from the agave plant and were forced to try sample after sample.  I brought home several bottles as souvenirs. There was also plenty of fun activities on the ship.  I attended shows, art auctions, the casino, the shops, the miniature golf course, the rock climbing wall, the swimming pools, etc.  I would recommend this cruise along the Mexican Riviera to anyone.

Anyone who has taken a cruise knows that they feed you very well.  Our group dined in the same restaurant most nights and I was entertained, for a change, by our server.  His name was Sharatkumar and he knew jokes, puzzles and how to make puppets out of cloth napkins.  After showing him a trick or two the first night it was “game on” each time we were there.  He and the rest of staff would gather around each night to see what new trick I had for them.

Upon returning I’ve done a few gigs around town, but I have mainly been focusing on several product-related projects.  I typically work on half a dozen projects at once and it is nice to wrap one of them up from time to time.  The anniversary edition of my DVD for Pockets Full of Miracles received a great review in the August edition of GENII magazine. 

These two months have kept me busy performing, traveling, writing, creating and teaching.  I’ve performed shows in Corsicana, Texarkana and all over the Dallas – Forth Worth metroplex.

I’ve just released a new tool for mentalists called the Z.A.P. Wallet.

A friend of mine in Bordeaux, France named Laurent has just informed me that the regional magic magazine there is running a special Diamond Jim Tyler issue about me and my magic.  

I can’t wait to see it.  My Bamboozlers column is also running in the Magic Menu magazine here in the states and in the Escomateur magic magazine in Belgium.

A while back the mentor to many a magic-star, named Johnny Thompson (aka The Great Tomsoni), who is a wonderful magician in his own right, offered to have me out to see Lance Burton’s show in Vegas for free.  Since Lance is retiring from the Monte Carlo in September I flew out with some friends to take advantage of this opportunity.  Lance’s show was great, and it was nice to hang out with him after the show.  It was very cool to be rubbing elbows with one my magic heroes.  One of the highlights of Lance’s show is the middle act which features the hilarious and super-talented juggler Michael Goodeau.  It was nice to speak with Michael as well.  I’ve been a fan of his work for years.

Just when I thought the trip couldn’t get better, the next day we were treated to free seats to the Mac King show.  Mac is my favorite comedy magician performing today.  I spoke to Mac for a while after his show as well, and like Lance, he is very down to Earth and friendly.  If you find yourself in Vegas, then his is the show you must see.  He performs at 1 and 3pm at Harrahs casino. This was a Vegas trip that I will remember always;  partly because my three pals Dave, Andy and Steve kept me in stitches the whole time.

My calendar is now filling up with many fun and exciting adventures that I’ll report about in the future.  And I’ve got some really cool projects that I am working on now.

One of the exciting things I have to report is the re-release of my book Pockets Full of Miracles in softback form.  I struck a deal with Dover books, where I’ve leased them the rights for a limited time, to reprint my book.  Dover may give the book another title, but the great thing is that it will be available in every major book store.  My books have always been available from magic shops or online sites like mine or Amazon.com.  This will be my first book to hit the mainstream.  Since I don’t have children, I can only guess that this is like seeing one of your kids graduate from college.  I’m proud to see that my book has taken on a life of its own.

Also, I’ll be lecturing at the Magic Apple on August 5th in Studio City so if you are a fan or friend in California, then I hope you’ll come and see me.

So life is grand and I am constantly busy.  The way I see it is that God put me here on Earth to get some things done.  I’m so far behind I don’t think I’ll ever die!

This month I performed many shows for companies such as Baylor Health, Siemens, Westin Hotels, Gulfstream and many more.  My wife and I celebrated our 18 year wedding anniversary.  We met in college in late 1988 and married in May of 1992.  My how time flies!  My magic appeared for review in:

GENII May 2010 (p. 84) Review of DiaMonte
MUM June 2010 (p.70) Review of Bamboozlers 2
LINKING RING May 2010 (p.116) Review of DiaMonte
MAGIC June 2010 (p.82) Review of DiaMonte

The sad news I have to report this month is the passing of my friend Martin Gardner.  Martin lived to the ripe age of 95. He had written more than 70 books, and was working on several book projects.  Martin wrote my favorite magic book of all time entitled The Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic.  Anyone who has studied magic, science, mathematics, skepticism or religion has probably read one of his books.  To the left is a 45 minute program that reveals some of the impacts of his work.  Martin was the biggest skeptic out there but couldn’t help but believe in God.  I hope they have Internet in Heaven because I’d like him to know that I will miss him dearly.

This month has been full of fun things.  I’ve performed many private shows this month, some for the Greenhill School, PRA Destination Management, and others.  I also kicked off the month by lecturing in Tyler, TX to a fun and enthusiastic crowd.  My magic was featured in several magazines this month:

LINKING RING April 2010 (p.36 & 113) Lecturing for Ring 15
MAGIC April 2010 (p.85) Review of Bamboozlers Two
MAGICANA April/May 2010 (p.22) Review & Interview

One of the big things that happened here in Dallas was the implosion of Texas Stadium.  I performed there as a kid back when I was in choir in my Elementary School days.  I met the famous Crazy Ray there (in a private suite) and he showed me some magic.  I attended a game there as a kid back when Staubach was the quarterback and Landry was the coach.  And I performed there a few times in the End Zone restaurant for some private events.  I didn’t realize until they were demolishing it just how many memories I had from there.

The big news is that I turned 40 this month. Yes, you read that right… 40!!!  Time flies when you are having fun.  I had a big party here with friends and food.  One of my good friends, Tony Trippi, DJ’d the party and kept things lively with his song selections and video mash-ups.  My friend Richard Dominguez drew caricatures for all of the willing patrons.  Everyone had a blast including myself.  I celebrated for many days with special dinners with other friends and family as well.  One dinner took me to Pappadeuax- which is always good, another was steaks the size of Texas at my dad’s place, and on my actual birthday I ate at the famous Nana Grill.  Now I just need to lose all the weight I’ve gained.

When I returned home from my tour of Oz I realized that I was nearly sold-out of my DVD titled Pockets Full of Miracles.  This means to date over 2000 copies have sold.  Wow!  I think the video has done well because it is real world working effects and there are 23 of them on the disc.  Most discs these days offer anywhere from 1 to 10 tricks.  So I just released what I dubbed the “Anniversary Edition”.  It is the same material, but with a slightly altered cover in a slim shell case.  You can see the teaser video below.

This month I began preparing for my lecture tour across Australia and New Zealand:

What an adventure!  Over 18 days I made 11 flights.  I lectured in 8 cities, 5 in Australia and 3 in New Zealand.  All in all I traveled over 25,000 miles on this trip.  Imagine making a complete journey around the Earth!!  Click here to see an interactive Google Map that shows you the actual path I traveled.

Some of the highlights were seeing the beautiful scenery and birds.  They have millions of parrots flying around there like we have blackbirds.  The wildlife parks I visited were my favorite part.  

Being so close to the animals and interacting with them makes you feel closer to God.  The people were amazing.  They were all super friendly and took great care of me.

I was surprised that people there don’t all talk like the late Steve Irwin or Crocodile Dundee.  They are all very English, having tea (instead of dinner) and drive on the opposite side of the road.  Most of Australia felt like a blend between California and England.  Australia is as vast as the US but only has a population of 21.3 million people.  

Most people live along the coast and the center of the Oz is simply desolate (the outback).

I hope to return one day and take in more of this beautiful country.  I regret not seeing Ayer’s Rock, Darwin, and the scenery along the Great Barrier Reef.  The tour was very profitable and I know I’ll return with another lecture in the future.  The amazing Sean Taylor who organized the tour gave my lecture a great review that can be found on this page.  For another favorable review by the great Paul Romhany click here.

Once back home I began catching up on work here and returned to performat Jackson’s Pottery (one of my favorite clients) for their big super sale.  April is looking good and I have many more projects and tours in the works.

I arrived back home on March 1st from my two weeks in the UK.  My internal clock is still on British time and I keep waking up at 3am because my body thinks that it is 9am.  Today is Thursday March 4th and I am packing my bags for my next tour that starts tomorrow!

I began the month of February by performing at the House of Blues in Dallas for an event held by the Red Cross, and another event for the Children’s Hospital in Plano for a group called Project Sunshine.  I helped to celebrate my nephew Landen’s birthday at Shenanigan’s in Rockwall and celebrated Valentine’s with my wonderful wife Kathy by eating at one of our favorite restaurants called Pappadeaux.

I flew into Manchester on the 18th and shared a cab with the famous card man / lawyer John Bannon on the way into Blackpool for the convention.  That night I met up with many fellow magicians at the Ruskin hotel where many pints of beer disappeared.  Blackpool is an amazing town with its famous tower, lots of shops and restaurants along the coastline, and has become an entertainment mecca featuring lots of unique street performers.  To add to the charm it began snowing while there and the town was blanketed with white for a couple of days (seen to the right).

My friend Graeme Smith (seen to the right) shared a room with me at a little B&B and the next day we kicked off our 3-day work-around-the-clock schedule.  My lecture that Friday night was well attended and I received much kudos from my colleagues.  See a video review here and another review by clicking here.  Saturday was a feeding frenzy at my booth (see the pic) and I performed a close-up show in the VIP room.  The next day was equally hectic and I performed 9 close-up shows in the famous horseshoe arena at the Winter Gardens.

I can now say that I was a headliner at the world’s largest magic convention in history with 4000 in attendance!  I had a blast.  I made many new friends, saw many old friends, and practically sold out of everything I took.  I performed along side the likes of David Williamson, Shoot Ogawa, Yigal Mesika, Mark Mason, etc.  My head is still spinning.  The convention was over the top with over 125 dealers from 34 different countries (seen to the right).  See some more pics by clicking here.

Luckily, a colleague named Ed Ellis, that I hadn’t seen in twenty years, shared the same B&B and we were able to catch up a little bit.  In the picture to the right you can see me teaching Ed my Diamond’s Dazzler move.  Ed is one of the top card men in the country and is billed as the “World’s Fastest Hands”.  He’s a hoot to hang out with and a great guy.

After the convention I went on to Liverpool and stayed with my friend Richey Smith.  Richey holds the Guinness World Record for performing the longest magic show (31 hours straight) without repeating a single trick.  Richey is like a hamster on crack that never stops thinking, talking or moving and I love that about him.  He and his wife made me feel at home and showed me around the town.  Richey has the gift of gab and knows many fascinating stories, especially ghost stories, like the one about Little Grace and William McKenzie in Liverpool.  Ask me about these spooky stories sometime.

The next day my buddy Graeme picked me up and took me to his home is Derby.  He and his wife made me feel comfy for the next two days with his kids, who call me Uncle Diamond, and we just  relaxed.  Graeme’s help at the convention and hospitality where a Godsend.  Graeme and his wife Shirley showed me around the neighboring towns, where I tried a turkish delight, a cornish pastry, introduced me to some fine Indian cuisine, bought me a piece of Blue John when touring Castleton and took me onto Leeds to stay with my family there.

My Leeds-based family and I made the four hour trek the next day onto Great Waltham to see my cousin Adrian get married to a wonderful girl named Laura.  I was so happy to be able spend some quality time with all of my family in the UK.  I did not tell Adrian and Laura that I was coming to wedding and they were pleasantly shocked!  These people live to drink and eat.  We all met in a pub the night before the wedding.  Got up the next morning and after our full English breakfast went onto another pub before the wedding ceremony at 2pm.  The wedding was over the top! Upon the conclusion of the ceremony, around 3pm- fish, chips and champagne and other munchies were served in the church!  At 5pm we had a nice lamb dinner and at 9pm they served another course of huge hams, cheeses, quiches, etc.  The rockabilly band was great and the party ended around 4am.  Adrian and Laura are a beautiful couple, a match made in heaven, and I wish them all the best (pic on the right).  The bonus for me was meeting my new extended family, like my new little cousins Oliver, Charlie and Lotta from Oslo, Norway who were my shadows all night long after showing them some magic.

The next day I spent the day at Laura’s parents home there in Essex and hung out with everyone including her brother Robert and his girlfriend Silje who also live in Norway.  Laura parents Graham and Geneen have always made me feel like a part of the family even prior to the wedding and I now miss them all.  I’ve put a bug in their ear that they all must come and stay with me now.

So now I’m back in Texas and gearing up for my big tour of Oz.  I will lecture in five cities across Australia (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane) and then onto three cities across New Zealand (Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch).  I fly out tomorrow and get to look forward to over 17 hours of flying on the way there!

Somebody slap me to make sure I’m awake and then pinch me!  Is this really my life?

I kicked off the month by lecturing for the Fort Worth Magic Club.  Check out their review here. The rest of the month kept me busy performing for Hyatt Hotels, Shaw Industries, the Mira Vista Country Club, Farmers Branch Senior Center, Betty Ford Clinic, countless more private parties, and planning future shows and tours.

One party was for my friends the Nortons who would come to see me in my “restaurant magic heyday” at Slider & Blues where I worked for 9 years.  I’ve stayed with them in New York a few times, but this time the party was here and we celebrated their mom/grandmother’s Catherine’s 90th birthday with my magic to cap it off.

Another party had me at the 50th wedding anniversary of Jim & Barbara Davis.  I lived next door to the Davis’ throughout part of Elementary, Middle and High School.  Luckily, I’ve kept in touch with the whole Davis clan and consider them as good as family.  It was a thrill for me that they got to see me in action, and not just winging it as I do sometimes when hanging out with friends.

Some of the big news this month was the release of my new instructional magic trick DVD titled DIAMONTE.  For more about the effect see the video teaser below. The DVD, for the past two weeks, has been ranked as one of the top ten best-selling effects in the magic world market.  Brad Davis, of the Davis clan, owns Frozen Fire Films and did all of the video production for the DVD.  If you need a first class video production team, then there is no one finer and more affordable.