Something ain't work'in in my life

It's always fucking something I tell you. If it's not one thing it's another. This morning as I tried to turn the heat on, the rude awakening, the reality wake up call said, "You sorry piece of shit, today just isn't going to be your day." OK so we're out of oil. I call the oil guy and ask if they deliver on the weekend, he says he does not, so I place an order for another 100 gallons on Monday. Now all I need the the $328 so that I can pay for the last 100 gal. and get the partial refill of a large 600 gallon tank.



While in my bed trying to dream of new and exciting ways to conserve heat there was a loud angry knock at the door. I was cold and not getting out of bed, especially to anyone whose knock sounded like that. Nope, not me. Later after showering and dressing I went to the door to see if any evidence of foul play occurred on my premises. In deed there had. I found the card of Detective from the King County Sheriffs Office and immediately thought the worst. Hell, she looked 18. . . or maybe it was those college kids all those texas hold-'em junkies, well. . . that was destined to go down that way. Kids playing a very grown up game in mixed company. Dumb as me, really. Never thought of it like that, but I guess the truth is out now. Not the brightest crayon in the box.



Anyways, I'm freaking in the cold and wondering what to do. Part of me wanted to start packing boxes. Another part of me wanted to crawl back under the covers. I called the guy back and he said he had some child support papers for me. I asked him if handcuffs would be involved, and he assured me that his days of doing that were over. Said he was happy to deliver paperwork to people. Seemed like a nice guy. I agreed to pick them up downtown next week. As I type these words, I look at them and I truly wonder, If I am the biggest fool in the world. I going to go downtown and their gonna pin the fucking Kennedy Assignation on me or some shit like that. . . this is BIG.



Too cold to street perform, hands and fingers have trouble below 50 degrees. Got to do it though. Need the cash. Maybe I should eliminate some of the more technical sequences from my performance. FUCK!!!!! Smile. . . . .

I'm gonna have a bite to eat than see If I can make any magic happen. What else can go wrong. The day is still young!

Tuesday Night Magic Session

Fist session in 3 weeks due to my many travels in the month of February. Jose, Paul Volkman, Mark Storms and Nash Fung attended last night's session at the Alki Beach Magic Studio.

We missed Tim Flynn who was celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary! Congrats Tim and Mrs. Flynn!

Alos out was Steve Ameden who has been sick for over a week now. Get better pal, hope to see you next week if not sooner.



We jammed on cards, coins and cups and balls among other things.

Street Performers and the Social Contract

By Robert Zimmerman

Mr. Zimmerman is a feature film producer in New York City.

Albert Owens is a rugged-faced black man with a wonderful sense of humor As he says, “I have an emotional need to make people laugh.” For 10 years he has performed stand-up comedy every day on the streets of New York City. In less than 15 minutes he can gather over a hundred laughing people, and hold them to watch his entire act. No one is required to pay admission, yet when he passes the hat near the end of his performance he invariably collects between 50 to several hundred dollars. People give gladly.

Joe “Joey-Joey” Colone once worked for a circus. He is a skilled juggler, sword swallower, and unicyclist (sometimes all at once!). Each day during good weather he can be found performing in New York City’s Washington Square Park. As with Mr. Owens, he requires nothing from his audience but that they laugh at his comedy and gasp at his stunts. Yet, before he finishes a performance, he can easily collect over $200, given eagerly by people appreciative of his skills.

Both these men are part of a wonderfully talented subculture of street performers that exists in every major city throughout the world. They work for no one but themselves, require no one to pay them, and yet earn a good and productive livelihood.

Street performing has its drawbacks, however. Because street performers are considered outside “normal” society, they enjoy few legal protections and often are harassed. In addition, there are no official laws or rules to enforce good behavior from within or without.

Harassment is the main problem. All street performers fear the police, who often not only prevent them from earning a living but can seriously harm them as well. “My only review in The New York Times came about because I was arrested for attracting too large a crowd,” says Owens. The police handcuffed him, confiscated his equipment, and jailed him overnight.

“I try to tread lightly where the police are concerned,” says Victor McSurley, a music composer who plays his new-age music daily in Washington Square Park. “Often the police will ask me to move on, for no reason but they’ve had a bad day.”

Being considered outside the law causes other problems. The performers, having no recourse or protection, can be harassed by hecklers, the homeless, and the disreputable characters who thrive on the vulnerable. The homeless and insane often interfere with performances, and can even pose a physical threat. All the performers can do is use this harassment as a tool for improving their repertoire.

Thugs and extortionists are another problem. Following one of Joey-Joey’s performances, a man came up and demanded “his share” of the earnings. Without this share, the man threatened to break up Joey’s next performance. Joey shrugged and ignored the threats. “This happens all the time. I can easily handle him in front of a crowd of 500.” And calling the police over did not help. The officer shrugged as well. “I don’t see anything happening. Call me when something happens.”

Being outside the law also means there are no established rules of behavior for the street performers themselves. At the center of Washington Square Park is an unused fountain. “It’s a natural amphitheater, one of the best places in the world to perform,” says William “Master” Lee, kung fu comedian and juggler. Around its circle are several steps, allowing people to sit and watch. It is possible for almost a thousand people to enjoy a performance.

Competition for access to this space became intense in the 1980s. The number of talented per formers had grown so large that they began to trip over each other. “You’d be working the foun tain, and another performer would set up right next to you, and steal your audience. That could get pretty ugly,” says William Lee. “They go too long,” says Albert Owens. “I want to get out there and perform.”

However, unlike their problems with the police and hecklers, this was a situation the performers could do something about. They didn’t hold protest demonstrations; they didn’t demand government action and laws; nor did they use force among themselves to solve the problem.

Instead, they talked to each other and worked the problem out among themselves. They now wait their turn for access to the fountain, and introduce the performer who follows them. Newperformers are allowed time and space to perform, though not during the prime slots. If they are good, however, they will earn the right to the best slots. As William Lee says: “If you’re a good performer and can attract and hold a crowd, we can’t stop you from performing. All we do is accommodate each other.”

Common respect for their dignity as human beings led them to establish reasonable rules that all could agree with. No government agency did this. Nor are these rules enforced by law. The performers did it themselves to improve their working conditions without submitting to control from an outside source.

A “Social Contract”?

A finer, more obvious demonstration of John Locke’s concept of the “social contract” cannot be found.

Meanwhile, the homeless, the thugs, and the police harass and interfere with these free souls, refusing to allow them to make their way peaceably in a difficult world. It is as if certain parts of society have decided that the social contract does not have to include everyone for it to be just.

Locke said that when legislators deny the people their share of the social contract, and “. . . either by ambition, fear, folly or corruption, endeavor to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people; by this breach of trust they forfeit the power, the people had put into their hands, . . .” (The Second Treatise of Government, paragraph 222)

While it is unfortunate that there are those who act to harm the social contract, either because they are incapable of participating in it (the homeless and the insane), or because they are willing to destroy it (the violent and the criminal), no social order is perfect, and such individuals exist in all societies.

It is the function of the social order to prevent these souls from harming others. In New York City, however, society no longer does this. Instead, represented by the police, government no longer applies the social contract equally to all citizens, and even allows some citizens to wield power arbitrarily over others. This indicates a breaking down of the social contract and, as Locke describes, the eventual failure of all government.

Dead

Frye Art Museum • Click Here

Spent the afternoon at the Frye Art Museum with Linnea. We had a good time taking in the cool art and a hummus plate at the museum cafe.



The Frye Art Museum is a neat place, hidden between 1st hill and downtown near James and Terry. It was my first time there and certainly not my last. Free admission and free parking make it an even easier choice to visit. Maybe I'll take Buster there this weekend.

Weekend Cash

When I returned home from Cincinnati, not only was I broke, but I was shy $400 on my rent and owed another $271 for utilities. Between the Street Performing at the Market and working the Fenix I got it all together. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can start paying off the mountain of debt I have.


Full Size • Click Here

Quote du Jour

"You may not realize it when it happens,
but a kick in the teeth
may be the best thing in the world for you. "

Walt Disney

An open letter to those who care

Dear Friends and Family,

I need your help. For the last two years I have been fighting for overnight residential time with Max (8), Hope (6) and Liam (4). As it stands now, I am allowed 10 hours a month with my kids. My ex wife, Moira, has been very successful in turning our children into strangers to me and Buster. It breaks my heart daily and this may be my final stand until they are old enough to sort it out for them selves.

I am sending this email to people who know me and have seen me with my kids or know what kind of parent or person I am. My kids mean the world to me, and the last few years have been the toughest in my life. I want to see them, and they want to see me; but Moira and her high dollar lawyer have convinced the courts that throughout our entire marriage I was a crazed drug addict with no concern or regard to my family's welfare or safety.

What I am asking of you is some of your valuable time. If you want to help me in my fight, I need a letter from you stating your honest and heartfelt first hand observations as to my parenting abilities.

Some of you provided a similar letter a few years ago in my initial fight. The reason I need a new one is because things have changed since then. At the time Buster was living with Cricket. In the year that he lived with his mom, he flunked out of The School for the Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati. In the last year and a half he has become a straight A student. This should speak volumes to the court I would hope.

Some of the recipients of this email knew me in Cincinnati, others have only known me since my move to Seattle. Regardless of our connection I am not asking you to do anything other than speak the truth. If you think that I am a good father and that it is in the best interest of my children to be able to spend the night at my house and have a normal relationship with with me, then I respectfully ask for your help.

Please write a letter to the judge telling him how you feel. This document must be notarized and sent to me in the next 30 days.

Send To: Tom Frank
3002 Alki Avenue SW
Seattle, WA 98116

Thank you very much for your time, interest and support. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

For a full detailed account of my life and struggle, visit my on line journal, it starts in 2001 before we moved to Seattle.

http://www.ballvase.com/tfrank/weblog/tfblog.htm


Thanks again

Tom Frank
206.335.1545

King Kong

Buster and I went to see King Kong at the cheapies last night. It was GREAT. I loved all 3 hours and 7 minutes of it. Very cool depictions of a 1930's New York City. The relationship between beauty and the beast captured beautifully.



Good script, good acting, great effects and productional value. All in all an extremely entertaing evening.

Bad Ass Video Clip • Click Here

King Kong won three Oscars last night: Visual Effects, Sound Editing & Sound Mixing; then he killed 16 audience members and destroyed the theater. Wish I could have been there.

Funny or not funny?

Humor Coach

While at the World Magic Seminar I came to a humbling realization. I'm not half as funny as I think I am. Or to be more to the point, I am the only one who finds most of my humor funny. It's genetic actually, my father and I once defined true Frank humor as humor that only the person who's telling it gets. . . make sense?

I asked Steve Ameden to be my humor coach while at the convention. I would spew some stupid shit I thought was funny, then look at him and say "Funny or Not Funny?" at which point he would tell me, matter a fact which it was. The purpose of this was to identify what was and was not funny. There were a few bugs in this system, as comedy is highly subjective and what is funny to some may not be funny to others.

This experiment continued last weekend as I street performed at the market. Jake was standing around watching me and I asked him to do the same thing. I let in a few of my audience members and before long they were actively participating in this strange "on the fly" evaluation of my act.

This experiment (which started out as a joke. . . that I thought was funny) blossomed into it's own sort of thing. In Gazzo's booklet "The Art of Krowd Keeping" he explains the problems of starting a show too soon. This has always been a bit of a problem for me. Last weekend, I did my card tricks to gather the crowd, I would start to go into the cups, when I would break character, look at the crowd and confess to them that I am not as funny as I think. I asked them to help me in an theatrial experiment in the understanding of comedy. I explained to them the whole funny, not funny thing. I further explained that at any point I may point to someone in the crowd and ask them, "Funny or Not Funny". I added that they did not need to wait for me to ask and they could offer up their opinion at any point.

I was amazed at how well this worked! Not only as a bit, but as an actual way to help me understand what is and isn't funny to most people. The biggest unexpected benefit was, that I was connecting with my audience in a new and profound way. It opened my show up in a new way and slowed me down.

At the end of the weekend I tried a few shows using all of the data from these experiments to remove all the jokes that were not funny.

Fellow Pike Place Market Buskers

Johnny Hahn



Slim Pickens • The Jake and Annie Show



Slim Pickens Video Clip • Click Here Takes a minute to load.

Joe the Juggler • Balancing my wand on his nose

In The News • From the BBC

Jailed killer's magic books ban

Shaun Tuley is imprisoned at Frankland jail A maximum security prisoner has been banned from reading magic books - in case he picks up escapology tips. Prison authorities told convicted murderer Shaun Tuley he was not allowed to buy the conjuring guides on grounds of "operational security problems". He told of the ban in a letter from his cell in HMP Frankland, County Durham, to prison newspaper Inside Time. A spokesman for the Prison Service said: "The titles requested were not thought appropriate."

Tuley, who murdered a 20-year-old prostitute in September 2000, said he had been "refused permission on grounds of 'operational security problems' to purchase a selection of books on the subject of magic, sought in order to be able to pursue my hobby whilst serving a life sentence".

Attitude

He asked other prisoners with a "like-minded passion for magic" to correspond with him. Magic Circle spokesman David Beckley said: "I can't understand the Prison Service's attitude - unless this man has asked for books on escapology. "Magicians do have skills which enable them to deceive but this is only in an environment which is controlled by the magician himself."

"The Prison Service should change their minds. Having something objective which he can focus his mind on could actually help him become a model prisoner. It's a great hobby."

WMS • day 2

At 1:00PM Steve and I headed into the theater at The Orleans. It was a nice room that seated 900 with theater seating (as opposed to a room with cocktail tables) .

Mark Kornhauser was the MC for the show and did a nice job. I've always liked his casual delivery of comedy magic. He is relaxed, polished and very funny. His ventriloquist bit had me laughing out loud

Here was the line up (in no particular order)

Les Arnold & Dazzle: A funny comedy magic duo. Dazzle was very funny with her over the top dancing and comic take on the classic magicians assistant. Mr. Arnold was a good straight man. What I liked most about this act was the comic relationship between the two.

Here's the rest of my review: Bla Bla Bla bla bla bla.

Other acts on the bill were Peter Gossamer, Dana Daniels, Erix Logan & Yuji Yamamoto

Not sure why I don't feel like writing. . . but I don't.

The show was good, well balanced and professional. There was a good mix of Comedy, Illusions, Magic and Sex Appeal.

Other events that day included:

Teen Contest

Michael Rubenstein Lecture

Dick Koornwinder Lecture, a tribute to Fred Kaps

David Roth Lecture

Curtis Kam Lecture

And bowling with the superstars of magic

Steve and I missed some of the events as we were preoccupied. We sessioned with Roger Klause at the bar for over 3 hours. What a time that was. I've known Roger for 20 years but never really sat down with him like this. He showed us a TON of stuff and shared many interesting stories of our art's past. What a cool guy. Incidentally, he was the guy who insisted on different occasions that The Professor and Ed Marlo watch my act. THanks for the fun adventures Roger.

This session was one of the highlights of the convention for both Steve and me!

On the way home • by Neil Young

When the dream came
I held my breath
with my eyes closed
I went insane,
Like a smoke ring day
When the wind blows
Now I won't be back
till later on
If I do come back at all
But you know me,
and I miss you now.

In a strange game
I saw myself as you knew me
When the change came,
And you had a
Chance to see through me
Though the other side
is just the same
You can tell
my dream is real
Because I love you,
can you see me now.

Though we rush ahead
to save our time
We are only what we feel
And I love you,
can you feel it now.

To listen to song Click Here