Blind Logic

Thursday January 31st, 2008 - LaCrosse, WI/Lake Villa, IL

Time continues to fly by. It’s already the end of the first month of 2008 and I spent time reviewing my goals and what I did to achieve them. I did some good things but there are a lot of things I need to improve on in February. Time management is a big issue but we are all fighting that. I need to keep my eyes on my goals and not get distracted by stupid stuff.

The problem is I like a lot of stupid stuff. Farting around with sports cards isn’t going to help me get any comedy bookings or develop my Uranus business but I sure do enjoy it. It relaxes me and it’s a treasure hunt as I look for good deals. I now have a nice inventory as I won a few Ebay auctions and it will keep me more than busy as I get them all in order.

I don’t need to buy any more for a while but it will be fun sorting the ones I did buy. I’ll get them ready to resell and either set up at card shows or use them to practice having my own Ebay auctions which is something I want to learn anyway. I think it will be useful for helping build traffic to the Uranus site at least that’s what I tell myself now. We’ll see I’m able to pull it off but at least it wasn’t the huge collection I bought before. This isn’t bad.

I had a gig in LaCrosse tonight and stopped in Milwaukee to have lunch with my friend Lynn Miner. Lynn is a former professor at Marquette and a true winner. He has written 26 books now and spends his time lecturing on fundraising for colleges. He is also one of the top magicians in the area and took one of my first comedy classes years ago. He’s a pro.

Lynn told a great story which is typical of show business. Recently he was asked to do a magic show for ‘a few people’ while he was on one of his lecture trips. He said he would and when he got there it was a crowd of about 1500. That’s a lot more than a ‘few people’ and makes it a bit of a hassle to adjust on short notice. That wasn’t the kicker. 1300 of the 1500 were BLIND. I can’t believe they didn’t tell him that on the phone but they didn’t.

Things like this happen all the time. Some imbecile thinks it’s a good idea to book a gig for an entertainer and doesn’t have a clue it’s not the right situation. Lynn said he laughed when he heard it but he had to pull off a show. He said he pulled off some mentalist tricks and the audience loved the show but it took all of his years of experience to make it work.

I can sure relate to that situation. I’ve had a lot of times when the scenario was about as difficult as it gets but I still had to pull off a show. Magic for blind people is a challenge I am sure but making stupid or drunk or foreign people laugh is no picnic either. That’s the part of show business they never put in the brochure. It’s definitely not for the squeamish.

Tonight’s show in LaCrosse wasn’t anything like that. It was at a new place that started comedy a few months ago and it was an easy gig. They were smart to hook up with one of the local radio stations and make it their night. I had to do a phoner in the afternoon and it was packed when I got there. I worked with a guy named Tim Harmston who I’ve worked with before. He’s very funny and a good guy too so that made it even easier. I didn’t want to have a killer drive tomorrow so I drove home right after the show. 514 miles. I’m tired.