New York City -- Saturday Morning
The skyline of New York greets me through my open window presenting itself draped in sunlight and a cool nip in the air. It's gorgeous, and I'm glad to be here -- now that I finally made it!
You would not believe what it took to get here. I can't even believe what it took to get here.
My flight out of the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, CA was scheduled for 10:55 AM. I was flying Jet Blue. Up to this point, my only knowledge of Jet Blue was that it was the airline that got its front wheels stuck and was televised on every news channel as viewers waited for it to land and watch the wheels snap right off -- as every news analyst predicted. The pilot of that plane showed everybody up by making an expert landing and everyone on board exited unharmed. If that pilot didn't get a promotion, or at least a raise -- he was robbed. So...having never flown Jet Blue in the past, I figured I was in good hands. And to be perfectly honest, most of this wasn't Jet Blue's fault. It's just a shame that I have to associate their airline with this trip.
Upon my arrival at the Bob Hope airport I was immediately hit with a sign on the boarding pass machine informing me that my flight to JFK Airport would be delayed until 12:30 PM. All right, fine. I have work I can do on my laptop while I wait. I proceed through security. My bags get held up. My bags always get held up. I'm a magician. My case doesn't contain the normal stuff that most cases carry. And then I always get the slow and confused head upturn from the contents of the case to my face with a look of, "Could you please explain all the nonsense I see here in your carry-on?"
I finally get to my gate and work on the computer until our boarding time. Once on board, our captain informs us that our non-stop flight to New York would be making a stop in Salt Lake City, Utah. The reason was to re-fuel for safety's sake seeing as how JFK had to delay our flight due to heavy air traffic and weather. I'm still not sure I understand that, but I'm all for anything to keep me safe while I'm hurtling 590 MPH in a metal tube 35,000 feet above the ground! The bad part of it was that this meant we would be delayed even longer in getting to New York. We were originally supposed to be landing at 7:10 PM EST. Now, God only knew when we'd be touching down.
I hadn't eaten any real food all day, and during this flight I still didn't eat any real food. Nuts, cookies, and Doritos Cheesy Crunchy Mix (I don't even know if that's the right name for the concoction that awaited me when I opened the bag) made up my in-flight diet. Thank God for the bottled water and coffee. And apparently they didn't get extra rolls of toilet paper in Salt Lake when they gassed up, because toward the end of the flight each of the three lavatories had run out.
We finally land at JFK at 10:30 PM. After getting my bag, I grab a taxi to the Belvedere Hotel on 48th Street, where I'll be staying. Do I even have to mention the cab ride? It was expensive and too damned fast. I mean, I'm all for getting me to my destination quickly, but quickly and alive is what I prefer.
I arrive at the Belvedere at approximately 11:25 PM. About three hours later than I should have been there. I'm tired, I'm starving, and I want to unload my stuff in my room and get something to eat. I give my name to Julio at the front desk...and he can't find my name. He is on the phone with Hotels.com for, I'm not exaggerating here, 40 minutes until they were finally able to give him information pertaining to the room. Julio was very accommodating during the entire process. It was Hotels.com who dropped the ball.
By the time I had dropped off my bags, checked messages and e-mails that had come to me while I was in the air, and finally sitting in an all-night cafe eating a pastrami sandwich, it was 1:00 AM.
I really have been looking forward to this trip. Lots of good work will be coning out of it. Let's just hope the rest of the trip goes better than my first day.
--Shawn
Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805) 480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
The Magic Castle of the North
It's Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting in my hotel room in Martinez, California. For those of you who have never been to Martinez, it really is a lovely place. Downtown Martinez is quaint and very in tune with their past history. The environmentalist John Muir is almost revered here as there is everything from hotels to auto repair shops named after him. His actual home, now a historical landmark, sits right across the street from where I'm staying. The reason I'm here, of course, is to perform. And the place I'm currently performing in is California Magic.
California Magic is a theatre that has just celebrated its third anniversary and seems to be growing stronger as the months go by. You can visit their website and get an idea of what the place looks like and is all about by going to www.calmagic.com. But let me just tell you, the place is great! It's a wonderful venue for live entertainment and has gained the reputation among magicians as the best place to perform next to the Magic Castle in Hollywood. And Gerry and Laura Griffin -- the owners of the place -- are always gracious hosts and are always making sure you have everything you need. I have a good friend who owned and operated a comedy club for 8 1/2 years. He is also a performing comedian. All of the comics that worked his club went out of their way to tell him how much they enjoyed performing there because he knew the performers' mentality. It was great, they consistently told him, that a performing comic was running the club rather than a business man disconnected from the stand-up comedy scene who was only in it to make a buck. My friend treated them differently because he was one of them and kept their needs in mind. Gerry and Laura are exactly the same. They know the needs of the performers who work their theatre (Gerry is a performing magician himself) and they go out of their way to make them feel comfortable.
Last night's show was great. It was a smaller crowd (the first slow night they've had in many months, Laura told me), but their responses to my show made up for the size. They were really receptive and I had a great time performing for them. And the thing is, I wasn't even supposed to BE HERE this week. I had just finished working the theatre in February and was booked for a return visit in September. However, last week Gerry called me and asked if I might be able to fill in for Woody Pittman, also a comedy magician, who had to cancel suddenly to go to Europe. Well, I was home preparing for a trip to New York the week following the week that Gerry needed me, so why not? I only had to bump a couple of minor meetings, and I was on my way.
The drive to Martinez, actually any drive north in California, is a beautiful one. First the beaches and the ocean which then give way to wine country. Nice and relaxing. It gives me time to listen to music and think through my show, possibly working on new ideas that can be included. And then once you arrive here and take in the scenery, well it just makes for a wonderful visit. And if the audiences are good -- which they usually are here -- so much the better. The difference between the audiences at places like California Magic and the Magic Castle and audiences in, say, a comedy club -- which I perform in from time to time -- is that the audience in a comedy club isn't necessarily interested in magic. It takes a skilled performer to grab their interest quick and make them enjoy what you have to offer. At the Magic Castle, and especially at California Magic, the audiences are here for one thing...Magic. Okay, maybe two things -- dinner and magic. The pressure is off in these situations. Granted, you still have to be a skilled performer and offer an enjoyable show, but you don't have to convince them to watch the magic. That's what they've come here for. They are always instantly accepting. And the dinner at California Magic -- which is included in the ticket price -- is superb. It' such a refreshing change to eat good food when you're on the road, and I look forward to hanging out after the show, dining with the Griffins and their staff. It's a good time.
Well, have to go and prepare for tonight's performance, which I'm told is close to sold-out capacity.
Until next time,
Shawn
Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805) 480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com
California Magic is a theatre that has just celebrated its third anniversary and seems to be growing stronger as the months go by. You can visit their website and get an idea of what the place looks like and is all about by going to www.calmagic.com. But let me just tell you, the place is great! It's a wonderful venue for live entertainment and has gained the reputation among magicians as the best place to perform next to the Magic Castle in Hollywood. And Gerry and Laura Griffin -- the owners of the place -- are always gracious hosts and are always making sure you have everything you need. I have a good friend who owned and operated a comedy club for 8 1/2 years. He is also a performing comedian. All of the comics that worked his club went out of their way to tell him how much they enjoyed performing there because he knew the performers' mentality. It was great, they consistently told him, that a performing comic was running the club rather than a business man disconnected from the stand-up comedy scene who was only in it to make a buck. My friend treated them differently because he was one of them and kept their needs in mind. Gerry and Laura are exactly the same. They know the needs of the performers who work their theatre (Gerry is a performing magician himself) and they go out of their way to make them feel comfortable.
Last night's show was great. It was a smaller crowd (the first slow night they've had in many months, Laura told me), but their responses to my show made up for the size. They were really receptive and I had a great time performing for them. And the thing is, I wasn't even supposed to BE HERE this week. I had just finished working the theatre in February and was booked for a return visit in September. However, last week Gerry called me and asked if I might be able to fill in for Woody Pittman, also a comedy magician, who had to cancel suddenly to go to Europe. Well, I was home preparing for a trip to New York the week following the week that Gerry needed me, so why not? I only had to bump a couple of minor meetings, and I was on my way.
The drive to Martinez, actually any drive north in California, is a beautiful one. First the beaches and the ocean which then give way to wine country. Nice and relaxing. It gives me time to listen to music and think through my show, possibly working on new ideas that can be included. And then once you arrive here and take in the scenery, well it just makes for a wonderful visit. And if the audiences are good -- which they usually are here -- so much the better. The difference between the audiences at places like California Magic and the Magic Castle and audiences in, say, a comedy club -- which I perform in from time to time -- is that the audience in a comedy club isn't necessarily interested in magic. It takes a skilled performer to grab their interest quick and make them enjoy what you have to offer. At the Magic Castle, and especially at California Magic, the audiences are here for one thing...Magic. Okay, maybe two things -- dinner and magic. The pressure is off in these situations. Granted, you still have to be a skilled performer and offer an enjoyable show, but you don't have to convince them to watch the magic. That's what they've come here for. They are always instantly accepting. And the dinner at California Magic -- which is included in the ticket price -- is superb. It' such a refreshing change to eat good food when you're on the road, and I look forward to hanging out after the show, dining with the Griffins and their staff. It's a good time.
Well, have to go and prepare for tonight's performance, which I'm told is close to sold-out capacity.
Until next time,
Shawn
Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805) 480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com
Sunday, April 08, 2007
The Oscars of Magic
This past weekend (April 7th) was the "Academy Awards" of the magic industry. Held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, it is a black tie gala with a lot of celebrities both from the magic community and television and motion pictures. The event awards excellence in magic chosen from the many acts that appear yearly at the Magic Castle with the winners being voted on by the membership -- much like the Oscars. I had intended to go and had purchased tickets to the occasion months ago. It was only a few weeks ago that my editor at MAGIC Magazine found out that I was going and talked me into covering the event and writing one thousand or so words that could serve as a two page spread in our upcoming issue.
I realized that I would have to take my tux out of the closet. A tux that I hadn't used in a couple of years. Knowing full well that I had gained a few pounds over these last few years, I saved my self the indignity of trying it on, and just went straight to a men's clothing store to rent a tuxedo. I was going to rent a tuxedo! I don't think I've done that since my high school prom!
Two days before the big night, I pick up the tux and try it on. It's at that moment that I notice the coat has tails. Tails?! Did I order tails? And if I had, was I sober at the time? In thinking back to the picture in the book from which I had originally ordered the garment, I recalled admiring the way the coat "cut away" in the front on the model that was wearing my tux of choice. But that was the problem. I had only seen the jacket from the front. And nowhere in the book had I seen anything saying that the coat had tails.
Bottom line: Yes I had ordered the coat with tails, and yes, I had been sober.
I try on the whole shebang, and as the sales associate pulls the coat off the hanger to help me slip it on, he remarks,"Tails? I haven't seen anyone wear tails in a long time."
You know what, man? You're not helping.
"But," he continues before I actually have a chance to verbally reply, "it looks good on you."
I gaze at myself in the three-way mirror, and realize he's right. I look damned good.
The evening itself was a lot of fun. The awards show has had its ups and downs, accurately reflective of whatever current state The Magic Castle had found itself in in any given year. Currently, the Castle is enjoying a resurgence of popularity, as has the entire art of magic, and many A-list celebrity types are either becoming members or are happy to attend the awards ceremony as a presenter, of both. Steve Martin was present at this year's ceremony presenting two awards, as was Seinfeld's Jason Alexander. Both have been members of the Castle for many years, and Jason actually performed a magic act to sold-out crowds at the Castle this past year and killed the week he was there.
Jason did such a great job the week he was booked there that he ended up being nominated as one of the five finalists for Parlour Magician of the Year. And he took it! Jason Alexander won the award this past weekend, and can now add "Parlour Magician of the Year for 2006" on his already impressive resume.
One other great moment of the evening was when a very funny and talented magician whom I've admired for years, Mike Caveney, finally won Stage Magician of the Year. The reason I say "finally" is that every time he's appeared at the Castle -- in any capacity whatsoever be it lecturing or performing onstage or in the Parlour -- he has always been nominated. And he has always lost. He has been nominated 23 times, and has lost all 23 times. The running joke was that Mike was the "Susan Lucci of magic." But even Susan Lucci won an Emmy after 19 nominations! Mike finally won the award this weekend and accepted it to a standing ovation, which he richly deserved.
It was a great night. I finished the story about the ceremony for the magazine today and sent that off, and now I think I need to sign off here. Gotta return my tux tomorrow!
--Shawn
Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805)480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com
I realized that I would have to take my tux out of the closet. A tux that I hadn't used in a couple of years. Knowing full well that I had gained a few pounds over these last few years, I saved my self the indignity of trying it on, and just went straight to a men's clothing store to rent a tuxedo. I was going to rent a tuxedo! I don't think I've done that since my high school prom!
Two days before the big night, I pick up the tux and try it on. It's at that moment that I notice the coat has tails. Tails?! Did I order tails? And if I had, was I sober at the time? In thinking back to the picture in the book from which I had originally ordered the garment, I recalled admiring the way the coat "cut away" in the front on the model that was wearing my tux of choice. But that was the problem. I had only seen the jacket from the front. And nowhere in the book had I seen anything saying that the coat had tails.
Bottom line: Yes I had ordered the coat with tails, and yes, I had been sober.
I try on the whole shebang, and as the sales associate pulls the coat off the hanger to help me slip it on, he remarks,"Tails? I haven't seen anyone wear tails in a long time."
You know what, man? You're not helping.
"But," he continues before I actually have a chance to verbally reply, "it looks good on you."
I gaze at myself in the three-way mirror, and realize he's right. I look damned good.
The evening itself was a lot of fun. The awards show has had its ups and downs, accurately reflective of whatever current state The Magic Castle had found itself in in any given year. Currently, the Castle is enjoying a resurgence of popularity, as has the entire art of magic, and many A-list celebrity types are either becoming members or are happy to attend the awards ceremony as a presenter, of both. Steve Martin was present at this year's ceremony presenting two awards, as was Seinfeld's Jason Alexander. Both have been members of the Castle for many years, and Jason actually performed a magic act to sold-out crowds at the Castle this past year and killed the week he was there.
Jason did such a great job the week he was booked there that he ended up being nominated as one of the five finalists for Parlour Magician of the Year. And he took it! Jason Alexander won the award this past weekend, and can now add "Parlour Magician of the Year for 2006" on his already impressive resume.
One other great moment of the evening was when a very funny and talented magician whom I've admired for years, Mike Caveney, finally won Stage Magician of the Year. The reason I say "finally" is that every time he's appeared at the Castle -- in any capacity whatsoever be it lecturing or performing onstage or in the Parlour -- he has always been nominated. And he has always lost. He has been nominated 23 times, and has lost all 23 times. The running joke was that Mike was the "Susan Lucci of magic." But even Susan Lucci won an Emmy after 19 nominations! Mike finally won the award this weekend and accepted it to a standing ovation, which he richly deserved.
It was a great night. I finished the story about the ceremony for the magazine today and sent that off, and now I think I need to sign off here. Gotta return my tux tomorrow!
--Shawn
Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805)480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com
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