[Insert Name Here]-ini, Come On Down!

Professional deities Luke Dancy and myself are making a very special trip to California for two reasons: 1) to put on a spectacle of spectacular proportions with spectators, in the form of a dual magic lecture, and 2) to get on The Price is Right before Bob Barker retires next month.

Truth be told, neither Luke or myself have any idea how to win Mr. Barker’s games or his beauties, but we know precisely how to win over audiences of all types: use explosive magic containing cutting edge techniques and innovative presentations. We’re bringing this style out west for a special one-time-only Showcase Showdown lecture featuring us both!

If you don’t recognize us from this very Clog, how about from our books and videos? Luke Dancy’s Magic IV the Eyes DVD was widely acclaimed for popping eyes out across the globe without even a second thought for putting them back. And my book, Dominatricks, thankfully received rave reviews from every major periodical across the board for its fresh and lively techniques, presentations, and use of the word “gazebo.”

We would love to tell you all about ourselves and our magic, but thought these gentlemen would do a better job:

“Luke Dancy is one of the new voices in magic, one we’ll be hearing a great deal more of. His ideas are refreshing bursts of creativity that both enchant and stimulate.” David Regal

“Part magical innovator, part North American sasquatch, Tyler Wilson is primed and ready to hold the magic world upside down by its ankles and shake it into submission. Only then will he return to the forest.” David Acer

“Luke Dancy is a new, clever force in card magic and his gaffed card work is beautiful and doable. He fools me on a regular basis.” Joshua Jay

“When I read Dingle’s Deceptions I thought, ‘My God.’ When I read Magic of Paul Harris I thought ‘Thank God.’ When I read Dominatricks I thought ‘Finally: the next leap forward’. I’ve waited a long time. I’m very happy that I didn’t die before this came along.” Steve Mayhew

Even with all the high praise, it must be noted that this lecture is NOT for everyone. Those looking for untested pipedreams which are only minor variations of every other magic trick out there, will be sorely disappointed. This lecture is only for those who are interested in new approaches and new plots to fool laymen and magicians alike, brutally punishing them with laughter in the process. Our routines with cards, coins, candy, Post-It Notes, finger rings, etc., are ALL audience proven. This means you’ll not only learn how to perform them, but also the subtle nuances detailing how to get into, and out of, each routine as well.

Our material has been published in nearly every major magazine in the last 3,000 years; including MAGIC, Genii, Channel One, Antinomy, and Half Baked, but have been polished in the bars and restaurants we have worked over the years. Along with the regular tablehopping gigs, we also perform at various corporate events, private parties, and world class resorts.

With these credentials, you can be sure this lecture will not only be among the most informative you’ll ever have attended, but the most entertaining too.

Plinko anyone?

Having spent the last two and a half weeks with a windy Tyler, it’s apt that we finish off the tour in the Windy City. The drive to Chicago was fine; it was especially comforting to know that this was our last long drive of the tour. Everything else was as easy as Chicago pizza pie (which is very tasty by the way).

We arrived in Chicago late Saturday afternoon, ready to lecture on Sunday afternoon. Given that we were a day early, we decided to stop by Midwest Magic, where the lecture was held, and say hi to the guys working at the shop. That was the plan, but as soon as we entered the shop, we saw a long wall full of filing cabinets that opened out as far as God’s filing cabinet in Bruce Almighty! We pushed the Midwest Magic guys out of the way and headed straight for the cabinets where we spent the next three hours ignoring everyone in the shop and rummaging through the forgotten books and booklets to join the car full that we had already purchased on the tour.

When the shop closed, we tried to hide inside but the workers forced us out and pointed us into the direction of our hotel (I’m not sure why they pointed with their middle fingers, but it was probably something to do with the fact that we ignored them and went for the books instead).

One we had settled into the hotel, the evening was dedicated to just one thing: clearing out the rental car. I felt somewhat like a homeless guy who had lived inside his car for several weeks as I emptied the cheap gas station food from under every cavity that the car had available! We ended up filling two boxes full of used drinks bottles, crisp packets and every other bright and colourful food packaging that took our eye in the many gas stations that we visited! We also had to find a way to pack all of the books that we purchased into our cases, meaning that both of us had to sacrifice some clothing items just to make room for the books!

We arrived at the shop early on Sunday morning so that we could check out the remaining filing cabinets and were then created by Caleb Wiles and Bill Smith who we spent some time with in Indianapolis. Apparently they enjoyed the Indianapolis lecture so much (which was good because Caleb was part of that lecture!) that they felt compelled to drive to Chicago to see it again. In reality, I think someone had told them about the filing cabinets.

The lecture itself went well. We were honoured and surprised to see some of Chicago’s elite turn up, including Ed Marlo, Heba Haba Al, John Bannon and Simon Aronson. While I had met both John and Simon before, this was the first time that I actually got to hang out with them and show them my magic so, thank you John and Simon for taking time to come out and see us!

With the lecture over, it was time to go to the airport. But, not before Midwest Magic owner Tim Felix took us for some traditional non-vegetarian friendly sandwiches as a goodbye meal. Bother Tyler and I made a lot of friends in Chicago and it was great to catch up with some old ones too.

I’m on the plane home now, thinking back at how much fun we had. Given that we’ve written so many posts about the tour, we’ll get back to our normal schedule and maybe come back to a few more posts in a month or so where we can give you our retrospective thoughts on our first lecture tour

The tour is almost over. We have one more lecture to go and you can be damn sure we’re going to do everything we can to make it the best lecture yet! We’re in the Cincinnati hotel room at the moment, just two minutes away from the US Playing Card Company - we’re so close I can smell the ink from here. Actually, after further investigation I take that back … the smell is coming from the bathroom.

Tyler is asleep at the moment so I’m taking this opportunity to read up on some new magic to try and fool him with later. I came up with a Progressive Ace Assembly earlier and I’m pretty pleased with it. I was almost tempted to wake up Tyler to show him, but I decided to be kind and wait until he’s awake; that way he might be more willing to watch it!

Last night’s lecture was at the famous Hanes House of Cards. I’ve heard a lot about the place so was eager to see for myself. To get to the lecture room we had to walk through the shop which was full of magic books and you guessed it … cards! Once through the shop, we walked through another room which contained some machinery that looked like it came straight out of Willi Wonka’s factory and then to the lecture room, which also contained some of Wonka’s old machines. Too bad Veruca Salt wasn’t there.

Even though Veruca didn’t turn up, we did have a big crowd for the lecture. This time I ended up giving an impromptu workshop on my Fan Change from Sometimes its Hard to be a Cardman. We sold out of that booklet a few days ago and since a lot of people wanted to learn it, they asked me to go through it with them during the lecture. It’s always great to see people progressing with your magic as you’re lecturing - after all, that’s what its all about. It was also good to have Tyler on hand to help people out and speed things along.

After the lecture we were asked to sign the under side of the table that we performed on. It was good to see some familiar names also on the bottom of the table including the Clog’s very own Luke Dancy, who has lectured at the shop before. After a few photos, we went to eat with some of the attendees who taught us their guess-what-colour-the-gumball-is-before-it-comes-out-of-the-machine game. The answer was red. It’s always red.

Anyway; it’s that time to bring this blog post full-circle again. Tyler is starting to wake up and I have an Ace Assembly to show him. See you in Chicago!

Aaron DeLong (he’s the one in the pink above … we finally got a photo of him!) is not only our co-organiser for the tour, but also a great host! He had booked us to lecture in his hometown Columbus, Ohio and allowed us to stay in his house with his fantastic family. We’re on the road now onto Cincinnati, Ohio but since we have around an hour to our arrival I have plenty of time to tell you about our time in Columbus.

Every time we told someone that we were lecturing in Columbus, they responded with the same thing: hang out with Tony and Rosie Miller. So, we did! Tony (the one on the right of the photo above) and Rosie were a fantastic help during The Magicians Ltd Cookbook project (which, incidentally we’re almost out of stock on this tour - they’re selling like hotcakes!) so it was great to be able to meet them in person. They came to the lecture and then took us to a restaurant afterwards to treat us to some Columbus all day breakfast!

Aaron and Brendan were at this lecture too. Given that this is the third lecture they’ve been to on this tour, we’ve declared them as our most hardcore fans! Luckily for us, they don’t throw their underwear at us while we’re performing.

Typing away in the car is making me a little nauseous and as a wise man once said; man who get nauseous from typing away in car: stop.

Ohio, baby – yeah! Our lecture in Findlay, Ohio went really well so we’re glad to be back in Ohio. First off, we’re at our buddy Josh Jay’s hometown and we’re ready to rip things up! Since we’re here, it’s only polite to give some facts:

The amount of land area in Canton is 52.378 sq. kilometres.
That explains why we got lost.

The amount of surface water is 0.036 sq kilometres.
That explains why we didn’t go thirsty.

Canton elevation is 1,100 feet above sea level.
That explains why we didn’t drown.

The approximate number of houses is 36,527.
That doesn’t explain why we couldn’t “borrow” anyone’s wireless networks when we got lost!

This time though, thanks to Tyler’s crazy good direction skills, we managed to find our way to the shop. I have no idea how he did it, but he did it well!

When we started the lecture I looked down to find a bowl of red M&Ms on the performance table. I love M&Ms … especially the red ones so started chomping away, of course throwing the odd one to Tyler to catch between his teeth as he was introducing us. It seemed weird that the club had provided us with only red M&Ms, but I thought nothing of it. I like red ones.

The lecture was fun and I enjoyed myself. Aaron DeLong (he’s the one who took the photo above) and credit-monster Brandon Williams (he’s the one that pretended to help Aaron take the picture) had made the drive out to see us again so it was fun hanging out with them too. We’re all staying at Aaron’s house when we lecture in his city tonight, so that’s going to be fun.

We also met a chap named Mike Skutt (he’s the leftmost person on the photo above … he’s not shy like Aaron and Brandon). He had mailed me a couple of times to arrange the closest place to his house to come see the tour. I’m glad we worked things out because Mike is one heck of a creative guy! He showed us some fantastic magic and I certainly enjoyed jamming out some ideas with him. So, thanks for showing up Mike – can’t wait to hang out again when you’re in England!

We’re on the drive to Aaron DeLong’s house in Columbus, Ohio now. I just asked Tyler if he knew why we got the red M&M’s and he reminded me that when the bookers asked if we had any special requests, we asked them to provide us with a bowl of red M&Ms. We were only joking, but the guys at Canton thought we were real-life divas. So, sorry for being divas Canton … but we certainly enjoyed them though!