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!