Let's get the nasty little detail that brought us all together this past weekend out of the way - Michael Mirth has cancer.  My dear friend, one of my Magic Tribe, one of the Pair of 3, has fucking cancer (no, I will not excuse my language).   I met Michael at the Magic & Meaning conference 2 years ago.  At the time my goal for being there was fairly simple, I wanted a mentor.  I ended up with several, as I've mentioned before, but Michael was the first to step up - without knowing my full background and skill level, the man simply volunteered.  Since that time we've become solid friends, brothers really, and his advice has been invaluable as I've gotten back into performing.  So yes, on top of being a gifted & skilled magician, he's good people. It's been a grim few months - concerned for Michael, not sure how to help.  The whole "entire country apart" thing doesn't make it easy to just drop in and do things to lighten the ...

The number one question I get since going public with my return to magic is, “How’s the magic going?”  That’s a complicated question to answer, too complicated for casual conversation, really. I tend to fall back on, “It’s coming along.”  That’s enough for most people, who then smile, nod, and move on to how (insert miserable condition) the weather is. If I gave them the complicated answer, they would be forced to endure hours of backstory, references they don’t care about, and possible tears.  Actually, that’s an exaggeration - it wouldn’t be hours… Somewhere in the middle is the truth of my journey, and the one word that sums it up the best is “Learning.”  It really has been like going back to school part-time. I am, of course, learning the pieces that I include in my acts, but there’s much more to it than just “learning a few tricks.”  There’s script-writing, acting, movement, stagecraft - the list seems endless, but all equally important. O...

Funny how things work out.  When I started writing this blog I was convinced that it was going to be a travelogue of my journey from crap card-handler to somewhat less crap card-handler.  I was certain that it would be full of missteps, stumbles, and good laughs at my expense (I've always been a fan of self-deprecation).  I gave it a run for a few months before it morphed into more of an "advice from the Stars" piece, which was fine by me - I mean, how long can people stand a blog of negative put-downs?  Oh. Wait... Things shifted once again when I looked forward to spending time at The Magic & Mystery School's "Magic & Meaning" conference a couple of years ago.  In my mind, the proverbial shit got real, and I felt like I needed to as well.  "Getting real" meant getting a real show together, frantically trying to avoid the impostor syndrome.  By the time I immersed myself in ground zero of the Vegas magic world, I had begun to co...