Newsgroup Post • Magi-Fest Review

Greetings from the light of the full moon,

Under the Arizona sky...Sing it Bro Paul!
How's life in Margaritaville? Blow the conch at moonrise!

A few thoughts on my mind and wanted to share some comments.
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First of all, Thanks to Tommy for this forum and for sharing his life with us all via his blog. Tommy, you are an inspiration and a joy, to be your friend and watch you live and grow up?, and share it all so openly, honest and real. Your mother Adrie was like a mother to me, the home on Observatory Ave., the meals shared with her, Norm and all the family and friends who were around. I remember the time I used my grocery stocking skills to rearrange her pantry. That became a story. Great memories of her enrich my life.

I have been lurking, yet I really enjoy reading the posts and conversations...recently Payne and Zingers posts about the role of character in our presentations I found insightful. I've been wanting to post, feeling like speaking up at times, yet I don't make much time for this type of thing (computer work). However I recently read an article in the January Linking Ring magazine about the ethics of lurking and it provided another impetus to write. So I write...

Hey Brett S. and Brian C. and Robert S. Good to see you all at the Magi Fest! After 20 years, it was like a three day reunion with lots of old friends from Cincy and Ohio areas, and meeting some new magi friends too. Highlights for me were competing in the close-up contest (I didn't even place...it was a humbling experience and inspiring too. I learned a few things to make it better next time in that arena). One of the reasons I decided to go was to be able to work for my friend John G. at his booth booth...I love magic books. This also lead to an opportunity to meet many magi as they shopped the dealer's room and to enjoy many interesting conversations. Another reason I went was to see Dave Williamson, Tim Conover, and Rich Bloch. I haven't seen Dave since perhaps my last Magi Fest twenty years ago. Tim and Rich are praised in the community as top dog entertainers in their markets. I was not disappointed and really enjoyed seeing these guys work.

Dave was the jester comic headliner, Tim was the coin master at the close-up table and a southern preacher of mentalism on stage, and finally Rich was a typical attorney doing magic tricks, nevertheless enjoyed. Overall, it was a great convention and time to see old friends and make some new ones, to see some great (and not so great) magic, to perform and sell books...to do all these things, wow!

It was a very good time!

Best magic to you all,

Shawn Greer