NY to Vegas in just 18 hours!

It’s not always easy to travel. For me it seems to just get harder and harder. I had gone to bed the final evening of FFFF at half past four in the morning and was awoken by the alarm from my iPhone at 8 AM. I had a quick shower and headed to the lobby at 8:30 AM to meet the shuttle to the airport. It was a fun ride with friends and upon arrival at the airport I got a funny feeling it was going to be one of those days I won’t soon forget!

I approached the DELTA Airlines counter which seemed quite barren and was promptly told my flight had been canceled. No explanation for the cancelation but I was told I could get on the 6:45 PM flight. It was not yet noon and they expected me to kill the entire day in the airport. I explained how important it was for me to get to Vegas and they actually switched me to US Airways on a flight leaving at 2:30 PM … sweet!

Well I checked by only bag and headed off to the security where I was flagged as SSSS which means I get the full meal deal when it comes to be “checked”. I seem to get this a lot. Maybe it’s the hair? After my free rectal exam I went on search of food and found Ali Bongo and a few fellow 4fer’s hanging out and shared a table and devoured a Caesar Salad. I headed off to my gate a little ahead of schedule and I got a funny feeling it was going to be one of those days I won’t soon forget!

A super great guy named Lou asked me If I was planning to take the flight to Vegas. I replied yes and he said, it wasn’t looking good. There was a mechanical delay in Philadelphia and the plane would probably not make it here to make it’s connection in time. I explained how I had to get to Vegas as I HAD PLANS! He told me there was nothing he could do and I replied by doing a magic trick and saying nothing was impossible! Turns out Lou is a bit of a magician himself and we shared a couple of magic effects and I ended up in the first class lounge hanging out with Eric the bartender instead of a hard seat at the gate! When the plane did arrive there was still a small chance I could land in Philly and make my connection. The flight attendant, Annette, was also super cool and seated me in row 1 seat C, which is the closest seat to getting the hell off the plane! When the door opened I bolted for the connection but as I got close to the gate I could see no other people around and I got a funny feeling it was going to be one of those days I won’t soon forget!

The plane had left on time. I want to point out it is most likely the only plane to leave that day from any airport in the US that met it’s schedule. The airports were all at level Orange and almost every plane was delayed. I suspect it is some tactic employed by the Federal Aviation Administration to disrupt terrorists plans.

I was given a new ticket on the 6:15 PM flight and I sat back to listen to some music and practice some of the techniques I had acquired while at the FFFF. I had about an hour and forty minutes to kill so I took a little walk and as I headed back to the gate I got a funny feeling it was going to be one of those days I won’t soon forget!

That’s right this flight was delayed due to mechanical issues and we would be leaving around 8 or 9 PM … but hey that’s just a tentative time …

Around 8 PM we were informed of a gate change and headed to the other end of the airport. There I sat and made friends with a couple of folks from the UK. Maurizio, was an Italian guy living in the UK who was originally from Italy. He has a restaurant in Southport and apparently I have an open invitation to dine there some day. I am so looking forward to seeing his face when I walk through his door! Another reason to head back to the UK.

US Airways finally announced the arrival of our plane and were loaded up and ready to go at 9:30 PM. As we taxied out towards the runway I got a funny feeling it was going to be one of those days I won’t soon forget!

The pilot came on with a message from the flight deck. Seems we might be spending a bit of time on the ground before we were expected to actually take off. Ok it wasn’t that bad. We sat for about 30 minutes and we were finally in the air. I would like to give you a review of the flight, meal and attendants service but .. I slept the entire trip. Woke to find we had landed in Vegas and I was on my way to fun. After collecting my bag I headed to catch a taxi and on the way to the stand I got a funny feeling it was going to be one of those days I won’t soon forget!

I have traveled countless time to Vegas and have never seen a cue for the taxi’s so long that it took nearly a full hour to get a damn ride to the hotel!

I finally checked into the Orleans Hotel at 2:30 AM … which means from hotel to hotel my trip took a total of 18 hours! Oh I know I am being dramatic … there is that 3 hour time change so I was only traveling for 15 hours … geez what a whinner!

[ trivia from the brain of Shawn: most folks would think that DELTA Airlines got it's name from the fourth letter in the Greek Alphabet, or perhaps the term DEscription Language for TAxonomy which is a flexible method for encoding taxonomic descriptions for computer processing. You may have even thought of the DELTA Force of the US Military as it is so elite! Well you are all WRONG! DELTA stands for Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport! ]

FFFF

I have just been a part of an experiment in sleep deprivation, disguised as a magic convention! Obie O’brien and the board of the FFFF have obviously signed a secret contract with the US military to test the results of high mental and creative stimulation and lack of sleep. To aid this experiment they offer free beer, soda and Tim Horton doughnuts to see the effects of sugar!

OK, maybe it’s not an experiment, but it should be as I see friends who are in the Eighties strolling the halls at 5 AM with deck in hand looking to show, share and learn.

For those of you who are not aware. FFFF is Fechter’s Finger Flicking Frolic. It is the original close up magic convention and is an invitation only event with the best of the best in sleight of hand. Almost everyone who attends is expected to perform. This is my third visit to the event. I was invited first after winning the IBM sleight of hand award in 2001. It was quite exciting as I was also awarded the People’s Choice “Obie Award” which was quite an honor! I will never forget my first visit to the FFFF. I was asked to present on the final evening show and opened the second half of the evening and did my FISM act. I followed Rocco Silano who is a legend at FFFF and the man who made Roger Mayfarth’s D’lite so popular.

It was a lot of fun that first time. The next time I was able to make the journey was in 2005 and I brought with me my Shape of my Heart routine. I followed Rocco! So this year I brought some new ideas including my Torn and Almost Restored Photo and was asked to be on the final evening show again. This was a wickedly cool show as it had Paul Gertner, Daryl Martinez, Stephen Bargatze, Rick Merrill and Rocco Silano … oh yeah … I followed Rocco again! I would like to say there were another dozen acts on the bill and everyone of them was outstanding. I never dreamed I would be able to see that much great magic in one place … and to be on the show was a bonus!

Every year they honor an outstanding magician. This year it was my friend, Boris Wild. Boris is an amazing magicians and such a great person that it was easy to poke a little fun. I did a small mentalism effect and introduced the FFFF 2000 (Farquhar’s Fabulous Film Festival) which had only one official entrant in the category of short films with magic as the subject. I would try to explain the effect but it would probably not make much sense … besides the number one rule of FFFF is we never talk about what happens at FFFF … or was the fight club?

Next stop … Las Vegas …

[ trivia from the brain of Shawn: Rocco is a famous magician but most people don't know he is also the inventor of a small design for milk cartons to make them collapse easier. He holds a US Patent on this idea which has made him a few dollars since 1987!]

Greg Frewin Theatre

Well the day began quite early for me. Greg, my friend, tapped on the bedroom door at about 8 AM which in Pacific Standard time is 5 AM. For those of you who know me well … that’s usually when I’m going to bed! I got to see Alana, Greg’s wife and of course Ben and Megan their two adorable kids. I had not seen them in about five years and they have grown considerably. I can recall carrying Ben on my shoulder down the streets of Juneau. I suspect it would be quite a task to even get him onto my shoulders now!

After the kids were off to school I helped Greg and John load the cats into the truck for the drive to the theatre. OK, I really didn’t help a lot. But sometimes staying out of the way is really helping. They are some really impressive animals and to see them up close was fun.

When we arrived at the theatre I was surprise at the size of the building. I had only seen a pictures from the website and a couple of others that Greg had emailed when the construction had begun. It is huge, professional and I believe the line in Greg’s show that summed it all up was when he said to the audience …” I gonna give you twice the show you expected.” Truth is he lied. He gave me more than twice the show. I expected great as I expect nothing less from him, but this was spectacular. He had an audience of almost 300 enthusiastic people at 1 PM on a exceptionally sunny day sitting in a darken theater instead of at the Niagara Falls ( the reason they came to the area!) cheering at the top to their lungs! It was super fun …

To end the day we dropped by a Tim Horton’s and headed off the FFFF….

Flying …

Why is it whenever you think it’s going to be something, it’s almost always less than you had hoped for in the beginning? Have you ever wanted something so bad and when you finally got it, it wasn’t “all that”? How about, have you ever got on an airplane and thought to yourself, “this is going to be fine”.

OK, I know I complain a lot about flying. But you have to understand I spend a lot of time flying and I just haven’t gotten the hang of it being “FUN”. If you ask me, flying puts the FU in fun!

Check in was fun. The gentleman behind the counter was quite funny and shared a few jokes with me. Just as we were finishing up, guess who was checking in next to me today? Well no other than Gene Simmons of KISS fame. I did a little “something or other” for a film he did in Vancouver called Runaway, so I just walked up and said howdy. He pretended to remember me and I was on my way.

So, the plane is forty-five minutes delayed (that’s airline talk for late) and there is no announcement or apology. Think of it this way, if you were forty-five minutes late (delayed) arriving for your flight … do you think they will wait? OK. So it’s delayed no problem, I have internet and I am addicted to the World Wide Web. When the plane does arrive and I get to board I make it to my seat with no issue and I am ecstatic to see this is not one of those flights where everyone has a giant carry on bag that eclipses the one I checked in at the start.

I got into my seat by the window and hoped it would not be a full flight. Sometimes I get the person next to me who uses all the arm rest and pokes me in the ribs, other times the person is far too big for a single seat, or maybe they can’t help but pass gas because of age, once in awhile I get a person in front who puts their stuff under the seat instead of in front, or that person who somehow manages to get their feet under their seat so they keep kicking yours. This time I had it all! Oh and to top it off I had a guy behind that when I lowered back my seat actually reached up to the top of my chair and forcefully shoved my seat upright and then in a loud voice said “there’s not enough leg room back here for me, for you to be reclining!” The flight attendant came over and gave me a dirty look and asked if everyone would just compromise a bit since it was a short filght. Well I curled up tight to window and in a completely upright position …tried to sleep. Hey it’s was only four and half hours …

Chicago is a fun airport. Heck it even has a dinosaur! I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to my next gate. Surprise the gate was changed and the flight was delayed (that’s airline talk for late). While waiting in the terminal I practiced some new card stuff and attracted a crowd of folks who were fun. On the plane I was surprised to be greeted by the same flight crew …oh joy! I was given the middle seat in the back non-reclining row and this time just closed my eyes and waited for New York!

The good news I found my luggage in seconds and was greeted by an old friend, Greg Frewin who was taking me back to Niagara Falls for the evening and in the morning I’ll be visiting his theatre. Tomorrow will be an awesome day ..after all … I won’t be on a plane!

Magic …

Saturday was fun filled. Aside from the four and half hour journey to Washington! OK even the car ride was fun as we were following friends in another truck to our good friends Brian Cook and Becky’s place. The early evening was spent just hanging out and talking magic. It was a very productive time as Brian showed me a wickedly cool effect originally conceived by Robert Stevens with handling changes by himself. He also suggested using my matrixpress gimmick to simplify the routine and with some suggestions from Trevor Watters I had a full routine worked out! I will be using it for the next while to make sure it’s as good as it seems! I’ll be sharing the idea FREE to everyone who own a matrix gimmick in the very near future.

I have this new idea to have a secure area on my website to add ideas, tips and new routines for effects I have already sold. The idea is that after I have created and sold some of my effects I have found or been given additional ideas for the same gimmick. I have always wanted to share these ideas but didn’t know how to contact people from past sales. So, soon people will be able to go to my site and see video’s, upload .pdf files and leave comments and their own additions to many of my effects. How soon? Well for the past week I have been super busy building a new website. I have even built a new blog so it will be fully integrated into the site. The blog is also from WordPress so my next big task is to find out how to transfer / redirect this one into the other. Wish me luck!

Back to Saturday! We all headed off to Bothell, Washington. Nope, I’ve never heard of it either! We found the Northshore Performing Arts Theatre, nestled in this sweet little semi rural area and headed in to watch Spencer’s Theatre of Illusions!

It’s been many years since I last saw Kevin and Cindy Spencer. They are two of the nicest people you could ever meet. There show was fantastic. It is not just the magic! It’s the lights, the backdrops and professionalism of their very competent tech crew. They presented a few well known illusions and as a special treat we got to see Jim Steinmeyer’s latest creation, Walking through a Wall! It is a very clever idea but Kevin’s monologue to set the tone was super awesome. All the way home I kept repeating ” In the Autumn of 1914 …”. I guess you had to be there?

Keith Barber, their production manager, is a super great guy and arranged for my family and some friends to head back to the green room to hang out and share stories. (I also found out that Keith host a podcast with Andrew Payne, which is called go magic go.) Hanging out and sharing stories was lots of fun but the evening did not end there as we ran into Sterling Dietz and family and headed off to have a bite to eat. On the way to the restaurant it turns out Sterling got a few new trucks added to his “fleet” of touring vehicles! It was one of those moments you have to capture with a picture! The food was great and the company fun and it was great way to end an evening of magic …

Hannah

Well it seems like Hannah’s video is getting some pretty cool attention. Ok, not a viral video seen by millions, but she has over 800 viewers which is super exciting to her. It was my first work with my new Sony HVR Z1U and I then manipulated the footage a bit to make it black and white and darken up the image.

Hannah and I plan to make a whole bunch of video in a series called Wicked Tricks. The next video is an idea of Hannah’s and should be pretty cool. I’ll keep you posted when it is finished.

Over the weekend I had another chance to use my camera. I fact I used my Sony HDR A1U, Cannon GL-1 and the HVR Z1U to film good friends Trevor Watters, Lorena Paradon and Steve Hamilton. They rented a local high school theatre and with a little help from a student, Ian, we redressed the stage and made it look like a classy little theatre.

About fifty of Trevor and Lorena’s friends came out to act as the audience and we shot scenes from their show. We got in at 6 PM and were set to shoot by 8 PM. The taping lasted until 11:30 PM and we still had lots to film but the time had run out as we had to vacate the building before midnight. Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to load out then to load in?

Once we were out of the building we headed to Trevor’s folks place to set up again to film Brian Cook’s new instructional DVD on ReWarped. This was lots of fun too. Dave Watter’s has this perfect magic room and we used it as our backdrop. It comes complete with the hidden room behind the bookcase!

Now comes the fun part of editing it all to make it look like it was all shot in sequence….

Butterflies …

I’ve heard the expression used positively and negatively over the years. Performers before going on stage sometimes get a really ill feeling from nerves and describe it as butterflies. Carrie Bradshaw of Sex in the City fame used it to describe the reaction from finding the right mate. In fact she said “Some people are settling down, some people are settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than butterflies.”

Today I played with butterflies. OK not real ones, but paper butterflies in the creation of a magic effect for the Pangaea Arts Society’s current creation The Life of Paper. It’s an innovative new theatrical work developed in collaboration with origami artist Joseph Wu. Pangaea Arts will fuse the ancient art of paper folding with live theatrical performers from a range of artistic backgrounds, as well as renowned world music group Orchid Ensemble. The Life of Paper will be an visual feast, featuring a stunning world made entirely of paper, and combining elements of East and West.

The effect is basically a cut piece of paper is shaped to resemble a butterfly and then the artists uses a small fan to fan the butterfly to life. The butterfly then multiplies into two which flit and fly around the performer and eventually die. The artist then becomes the butterfly and from their hands hundreds of new butterflies emerge and fly.

The development team and actors were lots of fun and I really look forward to seeing the play in May.

Want to try to make a Butterfly? Easy Hard Insane

This is awesome …

I would like to thank my friend Glen LaBarre for emailing me the link to this incredible video on youtube. As the Father of a seven year old, I sometimes fear what kind of world I have brought her into and what the future holds for her. I know Hannah is a strong person and will overcome any roadblocks put in her path because of the teachings and lifestyles I and my extended family have provided. What I don’t know is what of this beautiful planet will be left for her if things continue the way they are today.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not a radical environmentalist, crazed conservationist, whale loving, tree hugging hippie or any of the other standard labels given to those that believe deeply in the environment. I’m just a Father looking at the past and comparing it to the projected future and I’m scared.

I have seen all the pro’s and con’s, listened to all the speakers and read lots of articles and all I know for sure is that things are changing. Weather for one thing! Just tell me this past year has not had some super odd weather! In fact these past few years have seen major changes in weather patterns. I’m not going to be the one to point a finger or offer a solution because I’m just a guy who does card tricks. What I can do however is make other people accept that things are changing and maybe one or two of them will be able to affect some change, or influence someone else who can help … all I know is this video gave me shivers …

and that’s a wrap …

I was pleasantly surprised to see my buddy Jim Thielemann has posted a few clips from the Fins and Skins show on YouTube. I hope you enjoy them.

Did I mention Jim rules !!!!!

Cheers …

Family and friends … all you really need …

I was away from home this weekend having a blast at Hank Lee’s and thinking how great it is to be able to do the things I do. How fortunate I am to be loved by so many and to have such great friends.

At the same time, back at home, my friend Mario was experiencing something so much grander, it’s hard to express. You see Mario is a super great guy with an outstanding family. He is a soft spoken, fun loving father of four and he devotes so much of his life to making sure his sons have the best.

His life has not been without challenges. Supporting a family of six is a challenge in itself, but he and his Wife Kristie have also basically adopted two young girls who’s Mother was less than capable of caring for their needs. They also have a son, Nickolas, who faces challenges that would destroy those of us with less strength. Nicholas is in a wheelchair and recently had surgery to correct an 86 degree curve in his spine. Many thought he could not survive the fifteen hours of surgery he would have to endure … but he did … and life is much better for our little hero.

After all these challenges Mario has found out he has Cancer. Not being the guy to sit down and act defeated he and his incredible family did something positive. They had a “walk, run or crawl for Mario” and by the looks of the photo’s I missed a very special event.

When it comes to conquering challenges all you really need is family and friends …

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