Blog
I still perform magic from time to time, and i have a huge collection of magic props. Recently, I came into possesion of a magic guillotine trick that was completly destroyed. I'm far from a master craftsman, but I took my time and got the thing working again. A beautiful piece. I don't know if I'll ever perform it, but hopefully someone I know will be able to use it at some point. Some people say putting a volunteers head in a guillotine is not politically correct. Maybe. I certainly wouldn't do it at a school show. But I'm sure it has a place somewhere.
Today instead of performing a show I got to watch one. I visited the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax, a place I've been able to perform several time, to see the Backyardigans Live! I have a 3 year old son, and he loved it to say the least. Oddly I found that I liked it too. There was great video screen integration in the show and the dancing was well choreographed. I'm not used to seeing a theatre where the isles are filled with kids dancing during a show. I'd find that very distracting if it happened during my show. But for this it was appropriate. If you have kids it's probably one of the best shows going!
Entertainment for Hockey Tournament
Tonight I was in PEI performing at a banquet at a hockey tournament. Events like this are great as the players all have a chance to relax and enjoy the show. Tonight I was doing hypnosis, so they also got to enjoy seeing their team mates and opponents being a part of the show. I had a great time, and can't wait to perform here again next year!
I recently attempted to break my second Guinness World Record. It's for the most throws of a chainsaw while juggling 2 balls and a chainsaw. It went very well. Now to get my pack together and submit it to Guinness to see if they'll make it official. The pack has to have video, letters from people who saw the event, and a ton of other information. They lay out exactly what is needed so it should be easy to get. I have the kit almost ready to go, just burning the DVD as i type this! As far as I'm concerned i have the record, so the Guinness nod is only a piece of paper, but it will be great to get that piece of paper!
A lot of people ask me what my favourite part of entertaining at Corporate Events is. Well, there is a lot of things I enjoy about corporate entertainment. But probably my favourite part is hearing the stories from people after the show. Several years ago I did an event for a large communications group at Oak Island Inn, a beautiful hotel on the water here in Nova Scotia. The star of the show that night was a guy who was brand new to the company. He didn't know many people there. He was hilarious and the fact that he was such a great volunteer gave him an opening to talk with almost everyone in the company. When I talked to him a year later he said my show was the single greatest key in moving his career forward so…
For the last 10+ years I've performed my hypnosis show in a theatre in Sackville New Brunswick. It's a small theatre, but every year I have the best audience there. Not that my other audiences suck, far from it. But at this show they always seems to be so excited that I'm there, which makes me happy to be back. This year was no exception, thanks to all who came out!
I arrived in Charlottetown at 5:30am, My hypnosis show was scheduled for 9:30. In order to make the show with ample time I had to get up at 7. When the show ended I grabbed lunch and headed straight to pick up kiddo from daycare. I've got his cousins staying with us for the weekend. So fun. Mario Kart time! Exhausted Mario Kart time, but fun.
After the world record attempt and the crazy amount of media appearances last week I was able to head to Sunday River in Maine for a few days of skiing this week. I performed at the resort over Christmas, and now the hill was full open. They even had 2 feet of fresh powder waiting for us when we woke up the last day. The whole crew went pretty hard the whole trip, early mornings and late nights. Now I'm about to get in my car and drive 10 hours to Charlottetown to perform at a school at 9:00am. I'll be tired, but the show must go on!
Well the record attempt happened today. I did what I think was 157 throws and catches of the chainsaw. I'll have to review the video to be sure. The crowd was huge. At one point I had 5 microphones on. It was amazing to have so many TV crews show up. Now to submit my evidence to Guinness and see if they approve it. Fingers crossed (but at the sametime I don't know how they could not approve it...).
I'm having a crazy week. The media for the world record attempt this weekend is going very well. Daily Planet is doing a story on me, as well as interviews with CTV, Global, CBC, and newspapers from coast to coast. I've been on a lot of radio stations as well. It's crazy as I've also performed my hypnosis show everyday this week! No rest for the wicked. I'm so pumped to begin the Outdoor show Friday. I'm doing 5 shows total. Going to be fire eating, walking on broken glass and a ton of juggling. I'll be ending each show with chainsaw juggling, my true fav...