OK so I'm fucked up, what's it to you?

It's looking good that I will be getting together with Linnea for a brew. We'll discuss collages, art, and tell each other about ourselves. How long will it take me to screw this up. It seems as soon as a woman I am interested in finds out I am a twice divorced father of four; them seem to vanish without a trace. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut and cleverly disguise myself a normal person. . . whatever that means.

Yesterday I had a 10AM meeting at Think Spot . Hopefully, I will be working their grand opening / open house this Thursday evening. This morning I had an 11AM video shoot with an English Film Crew doing an educational film. We shot at the Market. The project will be completed by August, at which time I should be getting a copy.

Only got in one hour today at the Market before it started raining. Oh well.

Collage Du Jour

Performance at my kids school

Thursday I drove over the mountains and did a show at Max & Hope's school, Cle Elum - Roslyn Elementary. I was excited about seeing the kids and spending some time with them in their class rooms after the show. Hope was out sick. It was good to see Max and watch him interact with his friends. My show was well received and got rave reviews from the kids. I asked Moira If I could spend the afternoon and evening with the kids, but she said no. No real surprise there, but still disappointing.

Collage Du Jour

I did this magic themed collage years ago.



Here is a close up. Notice the detailed cutting in the ribbons, I liked that I could glue that image down with a new background. I've been thinking about doing some more collage work. I always enjoyed cutting things out and gluing them down.

Dancing, Drinking & Deception

Another rocken' night at the Owl and Thistle Wednesday Night. Neil & Ryan were there along with the cast of regulars. We got there a little early for a mini magic session before the band started. It was an interesting evening of dancing. I danced with a couple of girls who did not dance. I was feeling confident that I could lead them, but this turned out to be a bigger challenge that I thought. At the end of one dance with Abby, a friend of Neil's, I dipped her and she fell on her ass. If this wasn't embarrassing enough it happened again during another dance later in the night. SHIT I dropped the same girl twice in one night, how the fuck does that happen. I never dropped anyone else before. Everyone was drinking pretty heavy. Even my dances with Julie were ugly. I couldn't figure out why on a couple of songs we just could seem to find the beat. My best dances were with Carie, my teacher and my security blanket. The bottom line with dancing is, as long as your having fun. . . it's all good. I was having fun. I finished up the night by doing Dingle's coins across to spectators palm for Erika. Neil and Ryan were watching and it got a great reaction.


Neil, Abby, Tom, Ryan


Dancing w/ Carie


Dancing w/ Julie

Poof! Now it's Friday

Tuesday night's session was fun. Wil Bryan performed a bizarre impromptu Ouija board routine as well as a card effect. Brian Masters and Chad were there as comic relief. Brian brought his friend Becky who is a beginner with aspirations to do some street performing. Ryan was there with some rubber-bands that he had permanently linked and gave out a bunch for us to keep. Neil from Scotland showed us some of the gambling stuff he's been working on. Professor Gizmo showed up with vanilla cream soda and Cracker Jacks. He did his 3 shell game for us again. He also brought over his guitar and gave Buster a lesson. Steve Ameden taught a nice Harry Lorayne trick. We missed Tim Flynn & Mark Jenson and hope to see them next week. As a topic for discussion, I brought up "Presentation". We did kind of a round robin going around the table, each trying to briefly describe our performing persona and presentation style. We scratched the surface on this topic. I would like to continue this discussion each week and combine it with the technical routines that we learn. Turning mere tricks into pieces we "perform" . . . now that's magic!

A closer look at a couple of my collages

I'm a big fan of Photorealism, the colors really pop on this collage.



There is an interesting story about the reoccurring theme of the ace of clubs in Picasso's work.

I met an interesting woman

Last week I did a show at the Market as part of their Sunset Thursday Artwalk. They shut the street down and put up a stage at the end of the street. There were artists exhibiting and selling their work in booths up and down the street. I'm not usually taken with most of the art I see. I came across a booth with a bunch of collages done in a style I had never seen before. It's called "Rip Art" and the artists name was Linnea.



We struck up a conversation and I told her how much I liked her work. I thought we hit it off pretty good. I told her that my hobby was making collages and that I don't see very much collage work. We talked a bit about colleges and mixed media art. I showed her a couple of tricks, we exchanged business cards and went on my way.

I asked her if she had any interest in seeing some of my collage work. I told her I could email her some pics. She said sure. Here are some pics that I sent her.







She liked my work and said maybe we could show out work together in a 2 person show. That would be really neat.

I would really like to get to know her better. I think she is a very interesting and attractive person.

Yesterday

Like most Mondays, I spent the morning catching up on things that needed to get done. Talked to Nigel the drug evaluator. Made copies of the piss test results. Put together a cover letter with a list of people that he could check with as collateral sources. Went to the post office and sent it to him. I like Nigel. Today I will call the lawyer and give him an update. I miss my children and look forward to seeing them more. I will be driving to Cle Elum on Thursday morning to do a magic show at their school. I have not had one overnight visitation with them in two years. I have complied with this court ordered hoop to jump through and I will jump through more if that's what they want. It has to end somewhere. . . or does it? Such a shame.

Worked the Market in the afternoon for a while. Still working on the dynamics and psychology of understanding my act and how I relate with my audiences. This is still confusing but less frustrating. It's my job to connect with them. I'm understanding that changes need to be made on the fly from audience to audience. The pace and tone of a show on Monday is different to that of weekend show.

Got a call from an old friend from high school out of the blue. Mark Mounts, we attended the School for the Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati in the early eighties. A school that both me and my son Buster got kicked out of. Those were the days. Mark and I got all caught up on each others lives and I hope we stay in touch.

Talked to Danny Sylvester about his situation at the Magic Castle turning into a tragic hassle. Evidently my humble efforts creating some awareness on a couple internet newsgroups seems to be doing something. Click Here if you want to see what I am talking about. He is getting emails and phone calls from people who like and care about him. He sounded better on the phone last night than when I talked to him the other day. Ron Wilson is a Cunt, there I said it.

John, the owner of City Fish at the market likes my act. He gave me a nice piece of Copper River Salmon which I took home and prepared with asparagus and rice. Buster inhaled his dinner.

Tonight is our regularly scheduled Tuesday Night Session at the Alki Beach Magic Studio. I think I will bring up the topic of presenting magic. Not necessarily "the presentation" or "the patter" but a bigger look at how we use our bodies, our voices and our eyes to connect with the audience. Don't think we've had a session like that yet. We'll see if there is any interest in that topic of discussion.

A Rare Treat!

After finishing up at the market Sunday evening, I went home, picked up Buster and headed to the U-District to catch "The Circus" at the Neptune Theater. Only two showings of this long forgotten masterpiece as part of the Seattle International Film Festival.



I never pass up on the opportunity to see great silent film comedies on the big screen. It always does my heart good to hear the sound of contemporary audiences laughing as heartily as the audiences that loved him way back when. The film was well received by a savvy film festival audience. Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, starred in, composed the music and sang the title song. . . . truly one of a kind, and one of my all time favorites.

Ran across these pictures on the web

Born Again Busker Pt. 2

Got to Pike Place Market at 11:30AM Sunday morning. Chris the bird man was working my spot. He had another half hour before Johnny Hahn would play the piano and sing for his hour at the corner of Pike and Pine. I was queued up to get in my first show at 1:00PM. No problem, plenty of time to get my hands warmed up, smoke a cigar, and take advantage of my free weekend minutes.

I chatted with Jim Hinde and a few of the other street performers. I was excited to tell them all about my new found enthusiasm for the art of street performing. I've been spending a lot of time lately, thinking of ways I can be the best street magician that I can be. Trying to identify and eliminate all of the negative and self defeating frustrations that can be the result of focusing on the money, audience response, or people leaving. Yesterday I felt like I was having a breakthrough. No longer did it piss me off when a family of 6 left 5 minutes before my pitch. I truly felt grateful that they had watched as much of the show as they did.

I talked to Johnny as he put his CD's away and his rain cover over his piano. I asked him how the people were. He didn't seem too happy and was apparently leaving for the day. Not sure if this had anything to do with his set or not. The traffic was light for a sunday, but it didn't matter to me. I was excited about doing the best show I could possibly do for who ever wanted to watch. I did two 15 minute shows back to back. As I was performing, I removed all thoughts of financial expectations. It was about the art. It was about trying to connect with the audience by coming up with shit off the cuff. Having fun with the people in-between my routines and performing the material that I know so well and love.

In the first half hour of performing I got three, ten dollar tips as well as a twenty, not to mention all of the ones and loose change!!! I can't remember the last time I got a ten or a twenty dollar bill from street performing. I believe that my frame of mind and being engaged with the material I was performing had a lot to do with it. My third show, a large portion of the crowd left without chipping in, but I didn't care. I told them as they left, thanks for the smiles and the good vibes.

No one queued up behind me and I worked for three hours straight. I had a great time making people happy with my magic.

What a bunch of SHIT!!!

Hey Tom, this is the Email I got from the Magic Castle. I can't believe it! After working there for nearly 20 years and recieving 12 nominations for performer of the year. 8 for parlour 2 for Palace one for Comedy and One for lecturer of the year. I guess all those people who voted for me don't count as much as the compaint letters. I have called Dale Hindman, but he hasn't called me back.

Your pal, Dan the Man (Sylvester The Jester)



From: "Ron Wilson" ron@uncannyscot.com
To: "Dan Sylvester" sylvesterthejester@hotmail.com
CC: "Dale Hindman" dhind7252@aol.com
Subject: Last week's show in the Palace
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 21:20:37 -0700

Danny,

I regret to inform you that I will no longer be able to book you to perform in the Palace of Mystery. We received many complaints from unhappy members who saw your act and even the host last Monday night approached me to tell me about the complaints he had received. Both Milt and Dale were present. One of the letters I received from a member was extremely bitter about your act, also criticizing whoever had booked the show.

Please contact Dale if you wish to take this matter further.

-Ron-

Pic Du Jour - From The Archives 4/13/03

My oldest and dearest friend in magic, Shawn Greer.

Born Again Busker Pt. I

Ever since the panel discussion on the "History of Busking" that I participated in as part of the Folklife Workshop Series, I am a born again Busker. It was Artis the Spoonman who spoke so passionately about how special street performing is, this backed up by Jim Page, Jim Hinde, Blue and my own thoughts on the subject really started a new found desire to overhaul the way I look at my art. I had become desensitized to the real magic of what I do, and lost some of what I liked so much about about street performing in the beginning.

I worked the Market yesterday, and in a way; it was like the first time I had ever played there. I was so full of gratitude and humbled that so many people wanted to hear what I had to say. Street Musicians have a gift of saying not what the people want to hear, but what they think they need to hear. It gets tricky when the message is about politics. In comparison, my show is light and fluffy but that doesn't mean I can't use the opportunity to say something.

I have a line I scripted into my coin routine where I am doing the roll out into the 5 coin star (balancing the coins on each finger tip) where I say, "Just as in life, creating the perfect balance. . it may take practice, patience and persistence. . . but in the end, it's beautiful". I follow that up by saying, "I'm one of 5 people in the world that can do this. . . and no one gives a shit".

Yesterday during my pre-pitch, I threw in some new feelings. I wanted the crowd to know how much I appreciated their kind attention. I told them all how much it meant to me that they would take the time to watch my show. Sure people still left before the show was over, and without contributing; but it mattered even less than normal. I loved my audience and I had a great day in the hat.

Woman's University Club

I had just finished a show at the market late Friday afternoon when a woman approached me. She asked f I would like to perform for a "Pike Place Market" theme dinner at the Woman's University Club at 6PM. We negotiated a fee and she gave me the address. It was only a couple of miles away. She kept looking at the newspaper box that I stand on wondering how we could get that to the gig. I assured her that a chair would do fine. I asked her if I should go home shave and put on my formal performing attire and she said she wanted me to look like a street performer from the market. I got to the gig and felt like a fish out of water. At the end I realized it's not how you look, It's how you carry yourself. I was invited to stay for dinner and enjoyed, crab legs, shrimp, mussels, salmon, asparagus, and a bit of prime rib. I did a combination of strolling magic and mini street sets between a few of the 8 top tables. My performances were well received and I handed out a bunch of business cards.



This is the room that I worked. Lovely.