Luckily I’ve stayed busy with lots of shows and projects. August 9th I flew to Vegas with a buddy and we attended the Magic Live convention. There were over 1300 magicians there, many of which are some of the biggest names in magic. It was good to see old friends, make new ones, and make some contacts for upcoming projects and tours. I lined up some stops for my Germany tour next year and planned some tours for the US, Canada, and hopefully China. If I get any busier I’ll have to clone myself. It was nice to rub shoulders with some famous magicians like David Copperfield, Michael Carbonaro (seen left), Tom Mullica, etc. Once back home I played poker with some friends, helped my friend Mindi Bailey celebrate her 60th, met my friend Kevin Davis’ and the gang back from High School, and did many more shows.
August was also the release for my new puzzle ECRYPTIC. This three wooden piece brain twister is diabolical and definitely the hardest one to do from my puzzle line. See it here.
Come September I went to Austin and shot a few more episodes of Scam School. See one of those episodes below. After hanging with my buddy Brian Brushwood, I saw my cousins Roger and Alex in Austin and then attended the Texas Association of Magicians convention there Sept. 4-7th. Originally I went to simply hang out and see shows and friends but I was asked to do two mini-performances. The first was with my friend Brushwood for what was called Scam School Live. Myself, Brushwood, David Rangel, David Rowyn and Dennis Rogers all performed. It was a lot of fun to work with these guys! The next day I taught one effect from my first book during a lecture featuring many Texas performers. All of the proceeds from the lecture notes sold went to charity. The next day I manned my own booth for 6 hours and did very well. The highlight of the convention for me was seeing Ray Anderson perform at Esther’s Follies. I’ve seen the show many times and it never gets old because half of it always changes.
Once home my cousins Russell and Paula from England stayed with us a few days. We tried to keep them entertained and well fed. Of course I had many shows to look forward to. One was with two of my colleagues (one a caricature artist and the other a snake wrangler). Another fun gig was for my best friends’ the Trippi’s church where I did a stand-up show before Paul Salos (of AGT fame) a Frank Sinatra impersonator took the stage.
To cap off the end of the month I flew to Binghamton, NY to do a live online lecture for Reel Magic magazine. That live lecture has now been edited and made available for download. For $5.00 a month it is one of the best deals in magic for all that you get. See it by clicking the banner.