I stay so busy these days that I’m bad about updating this blog.  I’m happy to see things returning to somewhat normal.  We have a long way to go though.  Since March I have been working out 3 days a week with a personal trainer named Brandi who lives 5 minutes away and has her own personal gym.  Her and her husband Deacon are two of the kindest people I know.  I treasure my workouts with Brandi.  She pushes me to do things I didn’t know I could do.  I’m slowly turning body fat into muscle and I’ve lost 10 lbs.

September was slow with shows but I had the time finally to finish writing Bamboozlers 4.  The artist Ben Vincent has finished his illustrations too. I’m in the slow process of laying it out now.  Each of the volumes contains 75 effects.  I’ve laid out 48 of the bits with my buddy Tony who is a graphic designer and one of my best friends.  This volume promises to be the thickest yet.  It will also most likely be the last volume.  Also, my Bamboozlers playing cards have been selling well.

October was nuts with shows.  I think it was the busiest October I’ve had in 35 years of performing professionally.  I did 28 shows.  The majority of them were at a cool venue in Dallas called the House of Spirits.  It was a haunted mansion with a few jump scares, puzzles to solve, special cocktails, weird variety acts and more.

November was equally busy with lots of projects and shows.  I had to travel out of state for a couple of them for my clients.  I traveled to New Orleans for a wedding.  The couple were entertainers and so were most of the guests.  It was one the most interesting weddings I’ve ever attended.  The second line parade was epic and looked like something out of a movie.  I bet we walked 5 miles that day all dressed up.  It was nice to see much of New Orleans and get a feel for what the French Quarter was like.

I also took a trip to Austin where I saw Esther’s Follies which is always a blast.  Plus I filmed more episodes of Scam Nation.  The episodes will release sporadically over the next several months.  My Scam Nation videos now have about 19 million views. See one of my episodes below.

Also I’ve been learning to dance.  I began dancing months ago at Cowboy’s Red River.  I’ve been taking lessons at Sons of Herman Hall in Dallas.  I’ve always felt socially awkward dancing but this is helping to build my confidence.  I’m starting to get the hang of it.

December is shaping up to be one of my busiest ever too.  Wish me luck!

I’ve spent the last few months doing shows and lots of travelling.  It’s nice to see things are opening up again.  I spent a couple of days with my cousins Rodger & Alex at their lake house on Cedar Creek Lake.  Rodger grew up there and I visited frequently because it belonged to two of my favorite relatives who were my great aunt and uncle Bonnie and Harlan.  We had a great time visiting and kayaking on the lake.

A friend and I visited the Texas Chainsaw Massacre house where the original movie was filmed.  That film is still disturbing today.  Many people believed it to be real.  We stayed at the adjacent Antlers Inn which is unique in its own right.  If you’re ever near Kingsland, TX then you must see both.  We went on from there to visit an animal drive-around safari where we saw giraffes, deer, etc.

Later in the month I did my one-man show in Addison, TX at my buddy Joe’s theater.  I’ve done my show there about 6 times now and each month it is sold out with the 52 seats.  I could pack 100 in there but I try to space folks out and keep it more intimate.  I’ve been getting nice reviews.  I appreciate immensely all of the help that Joe and his team have given me.  His team runs the lights, sound, music, etc.  The next show is Friday September, 24th.

My new book Mini Magic Marvels has hit the shelves.  This is my third release with Dover Publications.  They make sure my book is found worldwide in bookstores and online.  The book is a collection of easy to do magic effects.  I’m proud of the way it turned out.  I’m hoping that when the world is more open that I can schedule some book signings in stores.  You can buy a signed copy on my site here.

My friend converted an ambulance into an RV and we visited Boise, Idaho.  It reminded me a little of Seattle.  From their we went on to Wyoming where we took on the breath-taking views and camped out in Yellowstone for a few days.  We went onto the Dakotas as well.  We stayed with a nice couple in Rapid City, SD and had to see Mount Rushmore. I can now proudly say that I have performed for four former Presidents and literally left them stone-faced.  Being a huge classic movie buff I was happy to visit the monument since it is where the epic ending takes place for the Hitchcock film North by Northwest starring Cary Grant.  We also drove through parts of the country where Dances With Wolves was filmed which is another movie favorite.

One night in Rapid City we walked around the town and found a different bronze statue of each former President on the corner.  The 10th President John Tyler is supposedly a relative.  The last picture here shows me standing next to the statue.  I think I see a resemblance!

From there we went onto Colon, Michigan “The Magic Capitol of the World” to see the Abbott’s convention and the famous magician graveyard.  We stopped at water falls, caves, the Potato Museum, Atomic City, Deadwood (which I loved), a hot air balloon festival and more.  After that we visited an Amish community as we passed through Connecticut.  We did New York and visited Times Square.  Plus we spent a couple of days in Salem, MA to learn more about the nefarious witch trials.  Many people were tortured and died for silly religious beliefs.  It was a very eye opening tour of several states.  Frankly I’m glad to be home back in Texas.  After this tour I can say that I have now proudly performed in all 50 of the United States!

I am still working on editing Bamboozlers 4 and my artist is fast at work trying to complete the last drawings.  I’ve been fortunate to have lots of shows as of late but things are still not anywhere close to what I consider normal.  Luckily I have poker games and friends to hang out with in my downtime.

It’s nice to see things returning to somewhat normal.  I’ve been busy with lots of private parties.  Most of them are still small, roughly 5-20 people, but performing for a live audience once again is nice.  I’ve done some Zoom shows and lectures and have more in the upcoming months.  I’ve also returned to playing poker with folks and seem to be doing well in tournaments.  I am at Drakes in Dallas at Lovers and Inwood every Sunday night from 6:30-8:30pm.  It’s an amazing place with a great atmosphere, terrific food and live music.

I turned 51 a the end of April.  I wanted to have a big party for my 50th last year but the pandemic prevented that.  So this year I went all out.  I had it catered with Tex Mex, a margarita machine, my DJ friend Pete Cormican worked it, my friends Josh and Vanessa Ayala did fire-eating, Jobi the Monkey came and I did a little magic here and there.  It was nice to see many old and new friends.  The party went on until the wee hours and I got lots of great compliments from the attendees.

April 1st my new car arrived!  Prior to that my good friend the home builder James Taylor helped me deck out my garage in prep for this beautiful piece of machinery.  I long awaited my customized C8 hard-top convertible Corvette.  I’ve had many sports cars but this is the sexiest by far.  Due to the shortage in parts these cars are very rare.  This one turns heads and I love it.  Click the pic to the left to see it in high-rez.

At the end of March I returned to doing my large theater show.  It seats about 50 people.  The theater could seat 100 but I like to keep people spread out and for the show to be more intimate.  The shows received great comments from folks.  I will repeat this again on May 30th.  The previous shows sold out and the May performance will do so soon.  It’s a private theater in Addison near the airport.  If interested then contact me through my site.

I recently updated the Magic Shop area of my website to include lots of downloads.  Almost all of my instructional DVDs have now been converted into downloads.  However many of the DVDs include a special something that you may need or want.  So when buying the download you might opt to buy both since the option to do so is not that much more.  My DVD Pockets Full of Miracles has been chopped up into various segments since the DVD taught 23 routines.  See all the downloads here.

My buddy Brian Brushwood of Scam Nation fame recently uploaded a video to his channel teaching 11 quick easy to learn tricks.  I’m featured in the video many times.  I think I’ve done about 60 episodes now.  See the video below.

Shows have been slow coming so I am hard at work in the office.  I’ve been shipping orders nonstop for things like my new Ten Grand Prix, the Bamboozlers Deck, the Bamboozlers books, Magic Money, Diamond Marked Cards, 7 Lucky Dice, etc.  Ten Grand Prix is spreading across the United States and my friends are coming up with different handlings.  See my buddy Rick Wilcox above do his presentation for Ten Grand Prix.

One exciting thing due out soon is the new Labyrinth Puzzle Box.  It’s a beautiful box that was a collaboration between myself and Brian Brushwood of Scam School fame.  Inside, if you can open it, one will find two Bamboozlers Decks, some Delta Dice and a Golden Ticket.  If you present that ticket to Brian or I in the real world (not virtually) we have to show you a trick or buy you a drink.  This is our second puzzle box together, after the Black Diamond puzzle box, and I love all the thought that went into it.

Two more releases that collectors will be thrilled to learn I’ve just received is the gold-gilt edged Bamboozlers Deck and some uncut sheets of the Bamboozlers Deck.  Only 111 gold-gilt decks exist and only 25 uncut sheets exist.  These will sell fast.  I cannot wait to frame my uncut sheet of the Bamboozlers Deck.  It will make a nice presentation for 52 fun and challenging bar bets.

For years I’ve been meaning to convert my instructional magic DVDs into downloads.  I have now done 7 of them.  Checkout DiaMonte, Sweet, Collateral, The Squeezer, Diamond Jack, Telekinetic, and Quadrare Caan Opus.

Also, for those that are wondering I am trying to finish writing Bamboozlers Volume 4.  Each volume contains 75 routines and I have written 70 of them for the upcoming volume.  The artist has illustrated about 50 of them.  Once I have everything I can begin editing and laying the book out.  Once I order it will take months to receive back from the printer but I do expect to have the book in hand later this year.

With the pandemic scare my shows have slowed down considerably. Luckily I’ve had some shows during the holiday season, but most were for small gatherings where the folks masked up. I’ve stayed busy mostly working on projects. Most of October and November were spent packaging my new effect Ten Grand Prix where a stack of one dollar bills all magically and visually change to one hundred dollar bills. The trick is being well received and got a great review from the guys at Wizard Product Review. See that video above.

Another big release is my new Bamboozlers Deck. This has been on my mind for over 10 years. During the downtime I was able to work with the artist who illustrated the Bamboozlers books Benjamin Vincent, plus the mentalist/graphic artist Phill Smith to design my new cards. The artists and I all work well together at bringing my vision to life. It’s a deck that features a different bar trick or challenge on each card. The deck is gorgeous!

I was happy to see many family and friends during the holiday season. Like the rest of the world I’m ready for things to get back to normal. We are all social creatures. I did do one big virtual show for a hospital raising money to support itself during these times. After my show they had a huge auction for things like weekend getaways, wine packages, etc. I bought a large piece of quartz that I now I proudly display in my home. It wasn’t cheap but it was for a good cause.

Happy new year to all my readers, friends, family and fans!