Cups

Wed. Thurs. Fri.

Another week vanishes like a silk in a closed fist.

Wednesday night, another evening of drinking, dancing and good times. Had a blast, as always. Had some very satisfying dances. The boys will be playing the Fremont Fair on Sunday, maybe I'll get in a few dances and the fair.

Thursday I did the Think Spot gig. 4 hours of strolling magic for their grand opening / open house. Felt good to get dressed up and meet some potential corporate clients. I love gigs with jumbo shrimp cocktails. . . yum. . . yum.

Friday, worked the market, had a few humbling shows. My best trick of the day was making a couple of audiences disappear. I've been teaching Brian Masters' friend Rebecca how to street perform. I told her that I was glad she got to see that happen. Even a seasoned veteran of street performing like me, isn't immune to the peculiar dynamics of busking. I could feel the lack of connection and commitment from the crowd and didn't do the cups or the rings. It was a good call because after a nice 12 minute set of cards and coins the audience stiffed me. In a word, humbling. I've been successful at re-wiring some of my brain activity. After that happened, I felt nothing but love for the audience. I was happy that they stuck around as long as they did. I did not let it effect my mood. It was friday, late in the afternoon. I tried to get one more show off the ground but for whatever reason it just wasn't happening, so I called it a day.

On the way home I brow beat myself a bit trying to figure out how I failed to connect with the audience. When I got home, I got a call from Danny Sylvester, "Sylvester the Jester", we had an hour long discussion about fickle audiences and the hit or miss responses that we sometimes get. It sure is a puzzle. I don't get it, the show before the one where the audience split, I rocked the crowd. I was successful in getting them to react, they loved it and the hat was good. Next show, I felt like I was performing for people who were watching TV. I couldn't get them to smile, laugh or react.

Hey, you take the good with the bad. You keep a smile on your face and love in your heart and go out there and get it right the next time.

I talked to Linnea this evening and were going to hook up at the Fremont Fair tomorrow. I decided to make her a collage tonight. I hope she likes it. I am looking forward to seeing her again. She is a fun and free spirit. An artist through and through.

I'll be busking the Fremont Fair this weekend

Spreading Joy at Pike Place Market

I met fellow named Brian Bern who took some nice pictures of me street performing last week. I think this guy has a great eye. He captures the essence of busking in a snapshot moment in time. Far out.

Ralph Steadman Artwork

Magician's last trick leaves 'em laughing

BY MARK BROWN Chicago SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

It was the promise of a magician's funeral, in particular the "broken wand ceremony," that lured me Monday morning to Drake & Sons Funeral Home on the North Side. I couldn't place the name of the deceased, had never heard of a magician's funeral and knew nothing of the broken wand ceremony, but the mind boggled at the possibilities.

Would they saw the casket in half? Skewer it with swords? Perhaps make the corpse disappear? Replace him with a pretty girl in a sequined costume?

As it turned out, nothing more flashy than a card trick was performed, but I hardly left disappointed. That was apparently often the case where Jay Marshall was involved.

Marshall, 85 and by his own estimation "one of the better cheaper acts" in show business, was the man in the casket, and the sign on its lid was enough to let you know his would be no ordinary funeral.

"Not the first time I've died," it read, a reference not to any powers of rebirth but to the tribulations of a stage performer.

The funeral parlor was full of people who know what it is like to have died -- on stage -- and to go back for more.

They were magicians, ventriloquists, comedians and carnies, and they were eager to share their stories about Marshall, who come to find out, was all those things and then some.

I felt better when one of Marshall's friends described him as "the most famous celebrity that nobody knew."

Early television performer

Photos of Marshall in the back of the room and an obituary from Friday's New York Times stirred my memory banks.

The photos showed a David Niven look-alike in evening clothes with a white sock puppet with rabbit ears on his left hand. "Lefty," as the puppet was known, made 14 appearances with Marshall on the Ed Sullivan television show. They opened for Frank Sinatra during his earliest days in Las Vegas and did the Jackie Gleason Show.

Their act combined magic and ventriloquism with a comedy born of his days in Vaudeville.

Another photo of Lefty atop the casket carried the caption, "I'm Speechless." Marshall previously donated the hand puppet to the Smithsonian.

But Marshall may be just as well known for the Magic Inc. shop he and wife Frances moved to Lincoln Avenue in 1962, where Marshall assisted and befriended generations of magicians. Several speakers said it was Marshall's willingness to treat every magician as a peer -- from the biggest international stars to 12-year-old kids -- that made him a beloved figure in his field.

Marshall allowed groups such as the Wizards Club to hold their meetings in the store, often punctuating downtime with his jokes.

"The jokes weren't always appropriate. They were always, always funny," said club member Keith Cobb.

Marshall's eulogy was performed by his youngest son, Alexander "Sandy" Marshall, who seemed to have inherited his father's showmanship and sense of humor.

Noting he was born within months of his father's discharge from military service, Sandy said: "For the first 15 years of my life, he referred to me as that god damned weekend pass."

Sandy said his father often observed that he had no problem with his own death.

"I just don't want to be there when it happens," he would say.

The breaking of the wand

Marshall was named dean of the Society of American Magicians in 1992 and was presented a wand, ancient emblem of mystery, to mark the occasion.

A fellow performer who goes by Aye Jaye was called upon to perform the broken wand ceremony Monday, officially marking the end of Marshall's tenure as dean. Breaking the wand was meant to be symbolic of the fact that without the magician it was nothing but a mere stick.

But first Aye Jaye did a card trick, using an audiotape with Marshall's voice that was one of the many magic teaching aids Marshall developed. The routine came complete with punch lines that produced the sought-after laughs.

Then Aye Jaye acted as if he was swallowing the wand, before pulling it out to reveal it was a trick wand that retracted as he appeared to put it down his throat.

Aye Jaye waxed philosophic, noting, "You've all died."

"Why the hell do we do this?" he said. ''For that one time we make it over. For that one great laugh. For that one great trick."

Aye Jaye got a pretty good laugh with this joke:

"Do you know what they call a magician who breaks up with his girlfriend?"

"Homeless."

Aye Jaye then told the story of the man who goes to see his doctor, and the doctor asks what's wrong.

"I can't pee," says the man.

"How old are you?" ask the doc.

"85," says the man.

"85? You've peed enough."

"Jay, you have peed enough," said Aye Jaye.

With that, he broke the wand.

Tuesday Night Session

Tuesday nights session was good. The evening started off with just Steve, Buster and me. I made pork chops, mashed potatoes and broccoli. We enjoyed our dinner over some conversation about magic and the South Center Session which I've missed the last few times. Steve filled us in on what we had been missing. Seems like some of the old school, Harry Lorayne stuff he's been practicing was a hit with Mayhew and Carpenter. I didn't have any doubt that it would. They're really some solid routines, entertaining and baffling. Guess, Buster and I will have to start going again. Actually, soon enough, Buster will be heading back to Cincinnati for the summer. I sure will miss him.

Chad showed up with his pal Mark in time to help us finish up the rest of the food. Mark is in to Mentalism and we talked about his views on Luke Jeremy, Darren Brown and Kenton's Wonder words. For a senior in high school (graduating this month), he seems to be well read with a strong point of view. Tim Flynn showed up. We weren't expecting him as he had told us that he was not going to be able to make it. It's a good thing he showed up, miss too many sessions and you loose your core member status. Rebecca was back for more fun. She made the South Center session Saturday night and even did a couple of tricks for the boys. Ryan was back, it's a shame, just as he's plugging into the scene here in Seattle fate has him moving back to Buffalo after a year here in the Pacific Northwest. I'll see Ryan tonight at the Owl n Thistle and we'll get in one last mini session before he heads out of town on Sunday. Wil showed up later in the evening and wowed the gang with a card routine he's been working on.

We had a couple of topics discussion after a round robin or two. We covered single card controls and forces. It's always good to get back to basics. With a new comer like Becca, it's good to give her some fundamental groundwork to start with. She is eager to learn and quick to pick things up.

All in all another good session. We went till about 1:00AM. I crashed after everyone left. Up at 6:00AM. Good thing too, because Buster overslept again!! This is happening too often these days. Must have something to do with it being the end of the school year. Whatever, he's a good kid and pulled off a pretty good trick at the session. "The box trick" a trick I taught him that I've been doing since I was his age.

The T. Frank Mint & RnT II to release the Phoenix Cups in Stainless!!

Another one gets away on ebay

Perhaps this is an item that the T. Frank Mint needs to do a limited run of next time I get the urge to manufacture.

Matters of the Heart Pt. 1

My date with Linnea went well. Before I left to meet her I was tossing the football with Buster. I was asking him how I knew if this was a date, or if we were just getting a beer, or if there was even a difference. Being 15, never having been on a date or even giving a shit about his nutty dads' pre date jitters, Buster was aloof.

We met at Fado an Irish Pub near Pioneer Square but opted to find someplace that we could enjoy the beautiful sunshine that was beating down on downtown Seattle. A short walk led us to Elliott's, right on the water. We got a pitcher of pyramid hefenweizer and took a table with a lot of sun. What a great day! Strangely, I felt very comfortable around Linnea. We talked about art and collage. We also talked about a mutual friend of ours named Mark McFee. We didn't lack for things to discuss as we swilled our beers. I brought along a book that I'm cutting up for a new collage it's a book of Ralph Steadman's art. It will certainly be a weird and dark collage. It was fun to talk to someone about collage, especially someone as pretty and vibrant as Linnea. We talked about our techniques making collage. I was getting such a kick out of the conversation. We talked about what kind of glue we use, where we got the images for out collages etc.

At some point we moved to another table, we were chasing the sunshine as it was beginning to go down. Not sure why, but I decided to do a little magic. Actually I decided to do something a little different. I performed the 3 Card Mental Problem without any success, but redeemed myself with the Zingone Mental Problem. I think she liked it, but the last thing I wanted to do was to bore her with the insufferable antics of a full fledged magic geek.

After two and a half hours of introductory good times, we agreed that we would visit the art museum sometime soon. FANTASTIC!! I am really happy to have met Linnea and I hope to get to know her better.

Matters of the Heart Pt. 2

I talked to my mom yesterday. She was officially accepted and placed on the heart transplant list. She sounded good but nervous. This is a big step by anyone's standard. She could get the call at anytime now. Mrs. Matthews, it's time to get your new heart. WOW!! That's some heavy fucking shit!

Monday was a good day

Started the day off running around a bit to pay some bills. The woman behind the inch thick glass accepting utility bill payments was overjoyed to see my stack of one dollar bills that she was going to that to count. I reminded her with a smile that I could have brought the rolls of pennies. She found no humor in me or my wad of cash. Did a little street performing in the early afternoon. Was surprised that I cranked out about a hundred bucks in a little over an hour. Not bad for a Monday. I thought about working more but thought I would quit while I was ahead. I wanted to spend a little time with Buster before meeting Linnea at 6:00PM.

We went outside and threw the football for a while. It was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies. We talked about his day at school and my performances at the market . Buster will be going back to Cincinnati for a month and a half during the summer.

I talked to Greg Irwin on the phone today and he said there may be some performing opportunities in China for me in August. There are a couple of adventures I am thinking about for late summer, China would be fun as would the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. Who knows if any of this will pan out, but it good to have options.

Collage Du Jour

Nice Thank You Email

Dear Tom,

My name is Julia Frost and I am the Production Manager at Suffolk Films Ltd in the UK. Our Seattle contact, Sam Wykes, liaised with you to arrange filming at Pike Place Market on Saturday.

I wanted to send you an email to say thank you so much for participation and contribution towards our educational filming project. It's much appreciated by us all!

Patrick, the Director, said filming went brilliantly and your performance was captivating. Thanks for taking the time out to do that for us.

Best wishes to you from me, Sam, Patrick and the rest of the Suffolk Films team.

With kind regards,

Julia
Suffolk Films Ltd
www.suffolkfilms.co.uk

Lucky and Blessed

I count my blessings daily. . . and there are many. I'm always surprised that anyone seeks out or finds the distant corner or cyberspace that is my blog. I feel a certain amount of comfort and strength in sharing my innermost thoughts, feelings, fears and triumphs. Thank you all for being a part of my journey. Thank you for your advice, thank you for your thoughts and thank you for. . . you. . . whoever and where ever you are.

Today I shared with the visitors of Pike Place Market the love and magic of who I am. It's a simple quest, to make people happy with my magic. I stood on that newspaper box and gave of myself. I looked into the crowd at the smiling faces, at the wide eyes of children and the dropped facades of adults. I could hear the murmer of, "How'd he do that" and "do it again". As the rings silently pass through one another, my heart filled with the notion that I was doing it for them. Not because I expected any money in my hat, or anything for that matter; but because it was what I was always supposed to do.

I am lucky to have a job that fills me with life. It's a simple dream. . . . I hope I never wake up.

Life. . . Love. . . & Magic