If you've never seen it before...

When I was a child I saw a street magician banging on the Chinese linking rings to draw a crowd at Bush Gardens. It is my absolute earliest childhood memory, I was still in a stroller. I can close my eyes and see it still to this day ... very vividly one ring passing through the other as if they were made of butter. I have loved magic since I was born.

If you've never seen it before ... you may never get to see it again! That's how I start all my street shows, some people may think it's just to draw a crowd - but it's not. See, I've never seen that magician ever again. That is the nature of a street performer ... one day we are there doing our thing, the next day you have no idea where we are. One day we show up at high noon, another day we are there at six. One day we work till midnight, the next night we go home at seven.

So now I'm starting a blog, that way I'll be able to better record what goes on at my shows. On the streets, anything can happen and usually does. I'm sure my fans will enjoy reading about what it's like to be a real performer, and other performers may want to see some of the behind the scenes stories and tales. I hope to get something out of it myself, I'm just not sure what.

I do know that there are quiet a few magicians that are running blogs ... it seems to me the biggest difference in mine and the ones I have seen is that I am an actual full time pro, and not just some part-time amateur with wild visions of magic should be - I'm basically tired of armchair magicians telling people what works and what doesn't when none of them actually go out there and do it, and if they do they do it on weekends thinking that makes them an expert. Spend 20 years on the streets, and really pay your dues - I don't mean working for dirt in a bad location either, I mean really busting it out for absolutely nothing ... when I was younger, I hitchhiked to California and back with nothing but a deck of cards. My magic was bad, my pay was worse, I slept under interstate bridges, and was lucky to get one good meal a day. That's paying your dues, and I can assure you mine are paid in full..

JoeJoe