Pic Du Jour

Pics Du Jour - From The Archives

In 1987 after moving back to Cincinnati from Los Angeles. I lived in a 4,500 square foot loft in a downtown ghetto. It was the entire 4th floor of a building. There was a service elevator that opened into my living room. On the lowest level was the American Case and Luggage Company, an old manufacturer. It was during this point in my life where I courted my first wife. She moved in with me at the loft.







This room was used primarily to rollerskate and skateboard.

Spent the day shooting guns

Yesterday was spent in the company of Mr. Paul Volkman. Local magician and man of many talents. Over the last year or so that I have come to know Paul and his wife Pat, we have discussed on many occasions the opportunity to go out to the range and shoot some guns. I hadn't been shooting in years but always found it a hoot when I had the chance. Paul and Pat are leaving for Africa later this month to go on Safari.

They live in a beautiful gated community in Woodinville and the morning drive out there was great. We got to the range and Paul wanted to "sight" in his rifles for the upcoming trip. We started out with the the 30 ought 6 rifle at 50 yards trading off between 150 & 180 grain military and hunting ammo. Paul tweaked his rifle sights as I looked through a mini telescope type device at the target and reported what I saw. By the time I got to shoot, he had the firearm performing at top notch. KA POW! BLAM! I fired as I squinted through the large scope and placed the cross hairs. A nice cluster of bullet holes for my first 5 shots. Not bad. We moved on to the 223 Rifle, same procedure using a 55 grain mix (wt. of bullet grain. . . whatever that means). More fun at 50 yards. Then Paul brought some 22 caliber pistols. A couple that looked like toy Lugers, and couple of Olympic 22 Pistols with wooden form fitted handles. No kick, Didn't do so well with these. Difficult for me to effectively use the pistol sights instead of the scope. Popped off a bunch of rounds. Then on to a serious handgun an old WWII Military issue 45. WOW, powerful weapon! Once again at 50 yards I had trouble hitting my target. So I walked up to the target and point blank popped a cap in that targets ass! Great fun as I plowed through a few clips.

Back to the Rifles. We moved the target to 100 yards and worked the same tow rifles as before. I was nailing it! Later we moved the target to 200 yards. This was my last cluster of the day with the 30 ought 6, at two hundred yards (A VERY long way away). 9 out of 10 shots landing on the target!



After our day of shooting the Volkman's invited me for cocktails and dinner at their home, we had a wonderful time. After dinner we all went to Monday Night Magic where I performed a 10 minute set to ope the show.

Becky

A month ago a charming young lady moved to Seattle from the Chicago area. She's a friend of Brian Masters. Becky expressed an interest in learning how to do magic and street perform. Since then she has become a regular member of the Alki Beach Magic Studio, Tuesday Night Jam Session. The other day while performing at the market I challenged her to get a crowd. I said, "You don't need to do a whole show and the purpose with this exercise is not to make money. I wanted to see how she did with the notion of stopping that first person and doing a trick or two. She did extremely well!



Becky aka Astrid, is a breath of fresh air. At 19 years old she will be attending college here in Seattle. She bought a set of linking rings from Market Magic and I will be teaching her the Jack Miller routine that I perform. The other day while she was practicing at home, somehow she managed to slice her finger on one of the rings. This is a trick in itself! How the hell do you cut yourself on something smooth and round?

We've been hanging out a bit lately, we went and saw the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the other day. Last night after a nice walk on the beach we watched some magic videos. I like Becky. She seems mature beyond her years and I find our conversations stimulating and interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing her again at the session this evening.

Got to visit with the kids!

It worked out well that I had a show in Roslyn and I got to spend the day with the kids in Cle Elum and Ellensburg. We went into Ellensburg to try and see a flick, earliest show was at 4PM on Fri. and I had to drop them off at 5:30PM. I picked them up at 11:00AM and we had a great day together. I love my kids and I am continuing to fight to see them more. You shouldn't have to fight to see your kids. That's fucked up. My kids love me, I love them; we all want to spend more time together. I've been meeting with a lawyer who will do some work for free! Right on.



To see more recent pics of my kids click here