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dimanche, août 31, 2008

Lost Check

Imagining sending a check to someone and never receiving a confirmation it was received. That's what happened to one of my clients. Deborah sent me a check on June 21st, 2008, for an event to be held for her son Evan on August 2nd. It never came in the mail so I told her to resend it and issue a stop payment on the check. On August 28th, I checked my mail and look what I found. It took ten weeks to get this from San Francisco to Fremont.... Note the bottom of the check was also completely shredded. I've hidden the checking numbers to protect her account information but you can still see the bottom edges. Blog at www.danchanmagic.vox.com

2:55

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samedi, avril 12, 2008

Living the Dream

It's 12:31 am and I have just finished up paperwork as I write this. Life is happening so fast and I've been meaning to blog much more. It's been a long day with two shows in Marin County and one show at Parkside Library in San Francisco. Pat the children's librarian has invited me to perform almost 10 time in the last 10 years! It's been that long...

Today Pat reminded me of the time we met. I was at the library waiting to watch another performer, he was late and stuck in traffic. Not only was he late he was extremely late! I didn't want to step in because, I didn't want to intrude on another performer's show. I did offered to do balloons because the children were getting restless and because it would be a shame if he was a no show. He finally arrives after being 30 minutes late. Then he causes a girl cry during the show. Needless to say he was never invited back.

On a happier note, one of the families there told me that they grew up watching me perform. The father told me that I was his family's favorite entertainer at the library. They really are my number one fans! (with the exception of Emily, a seven year old, who ran up to me after her birthday party telling me, "I want to marry you".)

Reflecting back on where we've been the last few years have been amazing. My wife and I browsed through all our gig photos and were amazed how we've been blessed to perform at almost every library, museum, zoo, country club and corporation in the Bay Area. We've also got many opportunities to perform out of state and over seas. But for those of you who are envying our lifestyle, it's not always that glamorous. Sure I'm the boss and we get to sleep in while most people are commuting to work, but we're usually working most Saturdays and Sundays. We take care of our video editing, photoshop, marketing, advertising, promotion, and medical insurance. And to top it off, on my days off I usually practice, read and learn 6 to 8 hours a day.

We've also been to cities we've never really knew existed or cared existed such as Ripon, Escalon, Gonzales, Locke, Aromas, Prunedale, Pajaro, Salida, plus countless others. (Sure, the people out there are appreciative, but try getting some good food out there.) There have been the 5 gigs days, the 450 mile round-trip commutes, and 85 gigs over 2 months with only one or two days off. It's no wonder I logged over 30,000 miles last year on our shiny new Accord. I'm not really a workaholic as my wife claims, I just enjoy what I do. As I sit here, she also reminds me that since we've gotten married we have not had one real non-work related vacation. Our last "real" vacation was our honeymoon! I've had 16 hr work days with show starting at 10am and the last show ending well past midnight. Even though the drives are long and the workdays are tough, the smiles and the response from the audience is why I do it.

Recently, I've had the chance of a lifetime, a cruiseship gig off of Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas. I've been talking about cruiseships for the last 5 year, but in the end I turned it down. The timing wasn't right. It would have required committing 3 months away from home. I would have missed watching James grow up. I'm thinking when James starts walking we can travel as a family. Maybe I'm dreaming, but this crazy dream has taken us so far.

"In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight."

3:11

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dimanche, janvier 20, 2008

San Jose Magician of the Year, Stage Magician of the Year, People’s Choice Award

This year I competed in several magic contest. The preparations were time consuming and much thought was placed in what routines to perform. Well all the hard work has paid off. I won the people's choice award in both the close-up and stage contests. The over all winner was announced today at a banquet and award ceremony. I was awarded stage magician of the year and also overall magician of the year for San Jose. Much thanks to my beautiful wife Katie for her watchful eye and critique. I'm looking forward to competing in other contest around the Bay Area.

7:08

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mercredi, janvier 09, 2008

Impossible Objects...

I once mentioned seeing a deck of cards inside of a bottle to Katie and months later she surprised me with some magic of her own. (Note: the bottle is a really Sobe bottle, uncut, the only opening is through the neck of the bottle) Below that is another type of impossible object. Enjoy

6:22

1 Comm.

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http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/index?section=contest_sweepstakes&id=5509750

samedi, décembre 22, 2007

Cirque Contest

A while ago I got an email from Jeff Raz the director of the clown conservatory and current clown touring with the Cirque du Soleil's "Corteo".

"ABC7 and Cirque Du Soleil are running a contest and looking for entries...

Entrants can win a day behind the scenes at Cirque Du Soleil, meet the cast & directors, and spend the day with the Cirque family.

We are looking for people to show off their talents, whether it is dancing, singing, juggling, acrobatics, anything goes!

Just submit a 1 minute or less video to ABC7 (details attached)

The videos will be sent to a casting director with Cirque and they will pick the top 5 videos. Those five videos will then be placed on abc7news.com and the public will vote for their favorite."

WINNER: Winners will receive a day long experience with Cirque du Soleil during one (1) Bay Area performance of KOOZA. Prize also includes two (2) Tapis Rouge tickets to see one (1) Bay Area performance of KOOZA. ARV of prize: $599.00 US

Guess what:
I received an email saying I've made it to the final voting round.

Please vote for Dan C. From San Francisco and help make my dreams come true! (Please note there is also another Daniel C. from Martinez)

The voting period will last until October 1^st. Just follow the link below to vote!

You can see my video here:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=contest_sweepstakes&id=5653455

Thank you for voting,

Dan

7:29

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jeudi, décembre 06, 2007

Baby James

On December 4th, Katie started contractions at 2am in the morning. We took off to Washington hospital in the morning. The next day on December 5th at 1:58 baby James came into the world. I'll write more once I get caught up on sleep and paperwork.

8:00

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mardi, novembre 27, 2007

Google gig...

Today was our 40th performance this month! And we're still not done! Supposedly there were over 10,000 guest at Google's annual company picnic at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountainview. I reunited with friends I lost touch with that now work with Google, Stanley and Josh, both of whom I haven't seen in years.
As we did our walk around set, the masses arrived via car, shuttle, bicycle (bicycles that all looked the same) and also conference bicycle. If you haven't seen a conference bicycle. It's a bicycle that seats 7 people all facing each other and only one person get to steer. There were carnival games, poker tournament, circus classes, face painting, tattoos, swag, and of course food. I'll write more and post pictures when we get a chance.

6:09

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jeudi, août 02, 2007

Body Language, Insight, and Psychology + God's Grace

My wife has an exceptional memory, usually. She can tell me where everything is and where I left things. But being five months pregnant, things have hit hard. Since the pregnancy she's forgotten her phone at Pastor Jame's car, her keys at our cousin Cathy's house, and today (just as we retrieved her keys from Cathy's house) - her purse.

Today we had lunch at Chipotle's. We then head off to a public library show in Pacifica. Right after the gig she realized that she lost her purse/bag. She runs though everything out loud in her sharp mind. Almost immediately she places where she took it off. At Chipolte's! (She had to since she pull out a coupon and $1.36 from her bag.)

We frantically realize "everything" is in there. Two wedding gift cards, a Costco card, phone, debit and credit cards, driver's license...and that was just the beginning! Now were thinking "holy expletives"! I immediately call Verizon to suspend the phone service. We try calling her phone many times. Out of luck. I call Chipotle 's to check if they found it. We finally get the phone number after calling 3 different Chipotle locations and my brother.

I start praying to God that we'd find favor and to know what to say. After talking to the manager on the phone, who claims to not have seen the purse, we give it one last try. With my wife's confidence that she left it there, we head on over to see if they missed it.

(Now I'm thinking if you're working minimum wage, in a fast food joint, you're probably not going to want to give anything back if you find something.) I tell my wife to stay in the car for the first few minutes. As I approach the counter, I tell the lady the situation. She is ringing up customers but she pays a light attention to me. I appeal to the good in her by telling her my wife is five months pregnant and she's losing her mind. Also telling her there are things in there that are irreplaceable. They didn't find anything she says. (Performing full time, stealing watches and giving them back I have developed a sixth sense.) I then press to speak to the manager. I give the manager my business card, at the same time tell the him that we'll give a reward (appealing to the human nature) if everything comes back. For sake of completeness, I ask for his card and phone number.

We walk out into the parking lot and are about to get into our car. With in seconds, the manager miraculously comes out and asks us what it looks like and asks us to come into his office. (Keep in mind he has had no time to talk to anyone else right after talking to us.) He says there's a bag left in the office.

Giving him the glory, and thanking Him for his grace and wisdom, we head of to dinner.

2:42

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lundi, juillet 30, 2007

Kat the Acrobat featured in the Redding Newspaper

On July 6th, Kat and I performed two shows, for audiences totaling over 400 people, at the Redding Public library. A few weeks later when get a flattering thank you letter from the Head of Youth Services. Enclosed in that letter was a full-color newspaper clipping (4"x7") of Kat and Ira Morgan performing the linking rings.

4:18

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