A Little Graduation Magic

It's graduation time… and a victory cheer heard around the world is required! My awesome little brother from Big Brothers Big Sisters graduated from U.C. David California this week. He was the first in his entire family to make it past high school. This super shy kid, turned world dominator has interned for years in the State Senate, ran a fraternity, ran student government, swam, wrestled, acted, earned his Eagle Scout and much more. It's WILD! We have created a monster!

In all honestly, I'm so proud and honored to call him my brother. To me, "brother" has so many meanings from the obvious to "fellow man," "honorable person," "good neighbor" to "soldier" and much more. He accomplished his graduation goals with amazing determination. Today is an awesome day to get motivated and be in awe of those taking over everywhere!

Congrats Josh.

If you want to see a little bit of our journey in Big Brothers Big Sisters, check these clips out:




If you feel like donating to BBBS to make a huge difference in a kids life, please donate here!

Inside a magicians mind - success story

I was recently featured on MSN in a series called "From the Streets." It showcases unique people and entertainers from around the country that have come from the streets or perform on the streets. Of course, I no longer practice on streets and keep "street magic" reserved to pranks and publicity, but it was a very fun afternoon to spend with the MSN crew making this short documentary.

The main message is taking what might appear to be a "struggle" and realizing that it is really a tool or training for something bigger. Enjoy!

 

Rich Life - SLO Magazine

I was recently interviewed by SLO Life Magazine about my career as a magician and the final interview was published today. The direction certainly ended up going more in line with this motivational site, rather my magic site! So, I thought I'd share it with you!

The interview started off discussing my magic and the highly popularized viral video prank where I remove my head and startle people on the streets of San Luis Obispo. It's created quite a media frenzy for me.

Here's the video if you missed it! Below the video is the current interview. Enjoy.



You can visit SLO Life Magazine and see the article there are well.

The Jeff Probst Show will Motivate

I'm pretty excited for Jeff Probst and his new show "The Jeff Probst Show" because he's a heck of a guy and I believe it will be a positive type of show like Ellen - as apposed to the unhealthy drama, shock, hate and gossip found all over television networks. I'd bet that this show will motivate and inspire it's viewers.

If you are wondering how to see his show live, you can get tickets to the Jeff Probst Show!  Jeff is very well known for being the host of Survivor, but this will certainly change his public image fast. I'm thrilled for him and this show.

This is from my academy awards where I joined Jeff

for dinner and enjoyed doing magic for him once again.

From what I know about Jeff, he'll dig for the real answers and will not hold back asking the tough questions. I also think he'll be positive and encourage the best for everyone. The vibe I'm getting is this show is all about discovering greatness in people. How cool is that? We need more people and shows like this. I look forward to amazing guests, stories and audience participation... congrats Jeff!

UPDATE:
I attended Jeff's first show taping and was blown away at the level of care given by the staff. They take great care of their audience and realize that the audience help make the show. In fact, I heard from the warm up comedian, who is Jeff's long time good friend, that Jeff insisted on a quality room for all the guests and had to fight a lot with the network to get it! There were games, snacks, photo-booth, massage chairs, music and entertainment. In addition, it's the only show in LA that allows you to take photos. Even though this is probably more to do with all of us helping the show be marketed, it's nice to see a show let go of some of the over-control associated with other productions. Oh, I almost forgot... I took over Jeff's spot and did some magic for the audience!

To the show itself.. Sure enough, my hunch was right. Jeff really digs for the connection between people, the WHY associated with choices and discovering greatness all around. He is very interested those people who don't just talk about ideas, but those who act on ideas and follow through with them. Each show ends with a segment that lets women ask questions to men about why men do the crazy things they do.. and another segment called Audience Ambush where he chooses one audience member and gives them a challenge and goal to accomplish in one week that typically fits the theme of the show. The main guests come on and it's a very comfortable and personable vibe as apposed to hype and marketing of books you see so often on other shows. Jeff gets right to the questions people at home are likely to ask. In fact, he randomly tosses out the mic to audience members and gets opinions throughout the show.

All in all, I'm super excited for this show and for Jeff. He wants to inspire and motivate people to reach for greatness. His tagline says it all. "Life's an adventure. Let's talk about it." Thanks for listening.

A Day with Pay It Forward Author

As a motivator, I love to meet other motivational magic makers that have taken different paths in their magic making journey. As a motivational speaker and magician, I'm interested in publishing material that is suitable for the audience and followers in this area of my life. Currently, I've produced a wonderful amount of DVDs and books on various subject but nothing as of yet pertaining to attitude and life. I was fortunate to attend and be a co-presenter at a book publishing event and seminar where I got to meet the author of Pay it Forward, Catherine Ryan Hyde! Her highly successful story became a movie many are familiar with and spending an afternoon with Catherine was very interesting. She brought a ton of her various books and we all shared business ideas to motivate new authors in their journey to press or digital books publishing. It was a real treat to be part of this event and meet the lady that started it all!

If you are interested in learning more, Catherine Ryan Hyde has a foundation called The Pay It Forward Foundation. Her ongoing collection of books can be found on her Amazon Author Page. If you are a Twitter fan, you can follow her on her Twitter page.

It's amazing to hear the behind the scenes to top selling books and the change in the publishing industry. It's enough to make you want to avoid traditional publishing completely! You'd think a best selling author would have it easy. However, Catherine hit top, then bottom then top again. Most importantly, she encouraged us to have a focused attitude to continue forward and adapt regardless of the roadblocks life or business throw at us. I just hope this small mention of my fun afternoon with Catherine reminds us to Pay it Forward. It's a wonderful thing.

Social Services Keynote Speaker

I was extremely thrilled to attend a conference for the state of Indiana this month! 

I've done a lot of work with at-risk youth, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Social Services over the years and it's very rewarding to be able to share my observations as the Keynote Speaker at a conference in Indiana. In attendance were case workers, lawyers, social workers, potential adoptive parents, board members from different groups and various youth organizations. As it turned out, a police officer (RIGHT in photo below) who had previously seen some material of mine suggested to the board to have me come out a the presenter. He made it to the program and we had a fun magic session afterwards. He seemed thrilled and was a blast to entertain and brainstorm with.

After setting up audio/visual equipment the first day, I had an afternoon to explore Indianapolis which was getting in high gear for the racing that weekend! I took a tour of the famous Children'd Museum where I came across a different type of motivation and education. 

Unusual Performances

I love unique performing opportunities that let me add in a touch of life and motivation and this month brought me a handful. Although these are not necessarily related to at-risk youth or motivational keynote programs, a couple highlights were helping to arrange a Magic Series at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and presenting a lecture for musicians at a retreat/music camp. Although most of my appearances are at corporate or private parties, these events were so fun to be part of!

The Caltech Magic Series will be going on all month if you know anyone in that area! See the attached poster and images from some of the groups in the various areas I demonstrated tricks at. It was a little different to entertain or trick engineering geniuses. They tended to treat me as a science project that they couldn't solve. In the end, they typically gave into the "force" and had a really good time and soaked up the messages that were layered in the magic;)  Many faculty and staff brought family and children as well. It was a fulfilling evening to mix it up in a different setting like this. Thank you Caltech for having me help make this possible.

Next was the music camp lecture. The very unusual lecture I was honored to do for the music camp consisted of an hour performance preceded by a lecture on the similarities between music and magic. Most misunderstand and assume magic is "just" tricks and that you just go buy them... while most understand that music must be learned and mastered. The same applies to the magical arts. You have to practice like mad to master the most basic looking things. If you want to fool your friends, you can certainly buy some pretty neat self working "tricks". However, if you want to do the effects legitimately, you better be prepared for a lifetime of struggle and commitment! We also discussed the various forms of magic and the business of entertainment. Here's a photo after the symphony the students put on the next day at the music camp! Thanks to the SLO Symphony for having me come out. If you want your kids to learn from some incredible musical masters, check out the annual summer camp. Kids came from well outside of California to be part of it.