I am always proud to bring new talent to The Session and this year my friend Matthew Wright was a big hit. He performed his original magic in all three shows and for many, was a highlight of the convention. Here’s a video of him performing his amazing Poker Face routine in the evening show on the last day of the convention. I hope you enjoy his presence, clever routining and enjoyable performance as much as we did when he performed it live.

FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2010
After arriving in Bristol the day before to do magic at Illusions Magic Bar, I travelled by train to Gloucester. Thankfully, the snow had disappeared. From the train station I took the taxi to the hotel, set up my things in my room and sat down with Andrew, Danny Garcia, Mark, Alex, and Ray. Eventually, conventiongoers dripped into the Holiday Inn and so the pre-Session commenced. We had dinner and shook hands with old and new friends and at some moment the cards came out and the sessioning began. Ideas, routines, nuances, and sleights started to interact between the Sessioneers. Anyways, around 4 a.m., I fell asleep, dreaming of Ace Assemblies and the magician’s version of Card on Ceiling…

SATURDAY JANUARY 16, 2010
After having little sleep and a lot of English breakfast we started sessioning yet again. Registration opened at 11.30 a.m. and somehow my badge ‘disappeared’ and I had to wear a badge with a big “Z” on it…

The Session line-up consisted of Joshua Jay (USA), Brett Bishop (USA), Chris Mayhew (Canada), Thom Peterson (USA), Mark Elsdon (UK), John Archer (UK), Rune Klan (Denmark), Danny Garcia (USA), Danny Buckler (UK), Steve Falkner (UK), Rodney James Piper (Spain), Alex Rangel (USA) and Matthew Wright (UK). I know what you’re thinking: guaranteed a good time!

At 1.30 p.m. Andi Gladwin and Joshua Jay welcomed the seated conventiongoers and shortly after this announcement, Danny Garcia started The Session off. Mr. Garcia showed us ‘Greed’, a multple bill change, ‘William Tell’ (ninja style card effect), ‘Static Sandwich’ (a nice handling of this plot), ‘Timeline’ (a mystery card effect), ‘Stretch’ (an effect using a rubber band and a finger ring), ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ (a bill penetrates both strands of a rubber band one at a time), and ‘Butterbill’ (a three phase routine where a straw penetrates a bill). All these tricks (except for ‘Greed’) are impromptu, easy to do, magical, and fun to perform. Typical Garcia-material and an excellent and funny lecture to start The Session with!

The Session on Creativity was scheduled at 3.30 p.m. Mark Elsdon, Noel Qualter, and Daniel Garcia were questioned by Andi on creativity. How can one be more creative? How does a creative process look like? So what are the rules when creating magic? There are no rules! You can create anything you want! Daniel Garcia took the initiative and demonstrated the creativity in the room by a collective magic session with a shoe as starting point. Questions: what can be done with a shoe? What are the properties of the shoe? I thought that this event was very useful for the magicians in the crowd who wanted to be more creative. Again, the best things to be creative is keeping a notebook, reading (not only magic books), and sharing ideas with close friends (which is essentially sessioning).

Inspired by the previous event, I did a little card routine at the Magic Bar, which was set up for enthusiasts who want to show their magic to other magicians. Great fun!

Brett Bishop had a lecture at 6.30 p.m. He started off with an interesting effect using some powdered cherry flavoring and a bottle of water, named ‘Oh Yeah!’. The powder disappeared and appeared in the bottle of water. Other tricks he demonstrated were ‘Trans’po Boy’ (an unusual transposition found in The Session booklet) and ‘Go Cut Me a Big Switch’ (a matching effect with a kicker using a jumbo deck and a regular deck). Of course, this effect can also be done with a mini deck instead of a jumbo one. Furthermore, Mr. Bishop taught us ‘For Jack’, a very cool packet trick, and ‘Ringside’, where a coin and a ring change places on several occasions. ‘King’s Cross’ is a flourishy tranposition of a selected card and the four kings. All in all, a great lecture! Brett is such a nice and funny guy. Did you know he can classic palm a jumbo coin and fngerpalm two decks of cards?

After some more sessioning and an enjoyable dinner, we were invited to step in “Rune’s World” at 9 p.m. During this talk, hosted by Josh, Mr. Klan told about his career path and how arrived at the moment where he is now a Danish celebrity. We saw some hilarious footage of Rune from his Danish television show “Hokus Fucking Pokus”. Rune did a linking ring in a tank filled with water and a giant cups and balls where he produced a person at the end! Furthermore, Mr. Klan performed an awesome coin and bottle routine and also bedazzled us with CoinRUNEque. I told Rune afterwards that I definitely got inspired concerning the comedy in my magic and couldn’t wait for Rune Klan’s book!

From 11.30 p.m. till late was The Session Uncut. Let me start of by saying: what happened at The Session, stays at The Session…

Are you ready for a small overview of this event? Are you sure? Alright, here we go. This event was hosted by Andi Gladwin. Steve Faulkner performed a escapology routine and Matt Wright did a very cool lottery number prediction with his wizard puppet, Eugene (in no way related to Mr. Burger). Brett had a very interesting take on a Chad Long effect with a very surprising ending (I have to see a therapist about that) and Mark Elsdon had a hilarious bit with book titles (such as How to shit in the Woods). Andi was kind of thirsty because after every act, he got some shots of sambuca…

As a conclusion to this event, a female magician was invited who could make things disappear. And she had interesting handling on the LePaul Spread. Her work was a but angle sensitive so she flashed now and then. Nonetheless, she did an excellent act and got an erected ovation by the magi in the room…

After this exciting event, we went to the bar and continued sessioning and exchanging routines and ideas. I don’t know why, but after every effect I produced a royal flush as a kicker. I went to bed way too late and went to bed with a smile because I heard so many good stories told by Éireann and Alex Rangel…

SUNDAY JANUARY 17, 2010
I got up pretty early and had some breakfest. After a short stroll in the dealer hall, we seated to see Thom Peterson lecture at 10.30a.m. The Amazing Guy, introduced by Kerry Scorah, made an entrance from beneath the table. He began the lecture with ‘Surprise’, a ring in a chocolate egg. He continued with ‘Spooning’ and ‘Revenge of the Spoon’, two effects that fit perfectly together. The former effect was a spoon bend (perfect in a theater setting) and the latter utilized the out-to-lunch principle. ‘A Fish Tale’, a routine with a plastic fish and cards: I still think the routine is a bit weird, but the basic idea can applied to other effects and venues. All effects were from Thom’s lecture notes (they look awesome!). To close his lecture, Mr. Peterson performed ‘Psycho’. Basically, the spectator picks a card, shuffles it back into the deck, clutters it across the table, and finds his own card. Very cool!

After getting some coffee and showing some weird Dutch card magic, I was ready for the flash talk. However, Ray Kosby had taken my seat. He apologized taking my seat. Eventually, I made Ray rise…that’s a magi joke… Anyways, Chris Mayhew could not make it to do the flash talk, so instead Super Mario did the flash talk. Super Mario demonstrated an interesting card at any number, which was also published in last year’s Session booklet. What? You weren’t there? Tsk tsk…

Shortly after Chris’ flash talk, the convention continued with the next event, named, Your Strongest Card Tricks. A survey was done among thousands of magicians to the questions: What is the strongest card trick you do? What is the strongest card trick you have seen? And the same questions were applied to non-card tricks. I think this was very useful. It made you rethink the card magic you perform for laypeople. For magicians, you can perform the most technical routine with a triple kicker. However, for your paying audiences I think you should perform effects that can be described in one sentence. David Blaine’s ‘Card through Window’ was one of the outcomes of strongest card trick that you’ve ever seen. Eventually, performers did the card effects that came out of the survey. Thom Peterson demonstrated his handling of Doc Daley’s ‘Last Trick’. I did a handling of wrong-card-changing-to-right-card, Mark Elsdon performed an ‘Out of This World’ and Rune Klan did a card effect where a card travels back to the deck. Danny Buckler told a story about Rich Purpura and how your material should fit with your personality. The result of the survey will appear on The Clog in the near future.

The lecture of Joshua Jay started at 3.30 p.m. Watching Josh perform and lecture is always a delight. First he explained ‘Hitchcock’, an effect he performed last year at Blackpool. I just love this routine. The whole presentation is something I really like. Followed by ‘Cornered’, a bill switch idea that has many applications. Besides explaining ‘Signs’ and ‘Voodoo’, he taught us ‘Prediction Piece’, a matching corner prediction. And to end the lecture, Mr. Jay performed ‘Transporter’, an interesting take on the classic card to wallet. Overall, an excellent lecture!

What I liked, it’s immediately after the lecture, magicians started to talk and try to adapt the material to their own personal style. “What if you did this?” or “What if you used an other prop?” or “How can I add an engaging presentation?” or “How can I make women through their money to me?” Oh, when looking for some books in the dealer hall, Christian Schenk invited me to do thirty Mercury Card Folds. In exchange I received a Phoenix Deck and I might be changing brand of cards.

At 7 p.m. Alex Rangel and Matt Wright rocked the bar with the Bar Magic Show! I believe this was a great idea and was very well received.

The Session Gala Show commenced at 8p.m. Danny Buckler was the Master of Ceremony and as the MC he had this Shakespearian aura, which I really liked. Mr. Buckler started off with a Six Card Repeat, Thom Peterson did a bit where two bills were torn and found in a Chinese fortune cookie. Matt Wright did a coins across, where the last coins floats from one hand to another and an amazing card bit on Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface”. Dynamo performed a multiple selection in such a manner only Dynamo could do. Alan Hudson performed an interesting balloon act where he predicted the sequence of popping by a participant. Followed by a very cool thimble on routine on music from the ‘90s. Those were the times… After the interval Mr. Buckler performed a book test and to close the gala show was John Archer, being hilarious as always. He started off with a story and continued with a very funny Bank Night routine. Mr. Archer closed his set with a blindfolding act where he correctly described three pictures drawn by three participants.

A quick note: Rodney James Piper plus a camera equals hilarious footage.

We sessioned in the bar til the depth of night. Fooling The Amazing Guy with my card at any number, performing every card effect from my upcoming booklet, and just laugh a lot and having fun!

What is so nice about The Session, you can have a chat with the performers, sit down with them and share magic. Also, the events they have always differ, which I really like. And of course, there is sufficient time between the events, so there’s plenty of time to session.

In conclusion, I had a great time! I even think it was better than last year’s convention. It was great fun seeing old friends and making new ones. Thanks to the Andi for organising it (with help from Josh and Kerry). My roomies Dennis and Leann. All the members from TSD who attended The Session, the whole Session 2010 line-up, Ray Kosby, JR, Lee, Nicolas, Christian, Ollie, and the crew of Scotland (better known as the “Nine of Diamonds”). And thank you to you who inspired me and/or shared your routines and ideas with me. A big thank you to the birthday gang from Chippenham who made my performance at Illusions legendary. Thank you Sam, Alan, Sylvie, and Mark for a good Thursday evening!

But I owe a huge thank you to the family who came out to see me and do some magic for them. Last year I did a magic act for them (it was the guy’s birthday). And this year the whole family came back to see me. They all remembered my name and the birthday guy was still talking about the Ring Thing I performed last year.

You made it this far…now put The Session 2011 in your agenda. See you there!

Joshua Jay will be lecturing at the following places and I will be traveling with him. We’ll have the complete Vanishing Inc. line of exclusive with us and hope to meet some of you during the tour.

16 – 17 Jan: The Session, Gloucester
18 Jan: Newcastle
19 Jan: Manchester
20 Jan: Blackpool
21 Jan: Sussex
22 Jan: London (International Magic)

We hope to see you there!

Ever wanted to ask Andi Gladwin anything? Nope. Us neither. But we thought it would be a lot of fun anyway.

When iTricks asked Vanishing Inc. co-founder Andi Gladwin to host their iTricks Clinic, they decided to run things a little differently. So, join iTricks this week to truly ask Andi anything and you will get an answer.

- Ask him about some technical sleight of hand
- Get his advice on a routine that you’re working on
- Ask him about marketing, branding, or get some tips on your website
- Find out what it’s like running magic’s hottest new magic store
- Ask what his favorite brand of syrup is
- Ask about getting your magic published
- Ask him anything!

There’s no holds barred. Ask Andi Gladwin anything at 2 p.m. EST on July 11 at www.itricks.com.

[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!

Andi and I are stoked. We’re on our way to country music central; Nashville, Tennessee. Too bad neither of us like, let alone respect, country music. So scratch that whole “stoked” thing.

We’re having a blast on the road though! Today we drove past a sign alerting us to an attraction known as The KY Action Park. “Andi, am I dreaming or did that sign just say The KY Action Park?!” How could we possibly let an opportunity like that pass us by? We didn’t.

It was more of an innate curiosity than anything that took us five miles off the road to hunt this place down. With a name like that, we just had to know what it was all about. It turns out it’s a place with go-carts, bumper cars, and an activity that can only be described as a cross between a dry waterslide and a bad idea not even Johnny Knoxville would touch. It was essentially a hundred year-old concrete bobsled track that enabled individuals with a death wish to race down on modified toboggans with wheels, avoiding as much road rash as possible on the way down. I had never seen anything like this before, although Andi tells me he saw one as a young lad in England with his family. Apparently his father really wanted to go on it but his mother simply would not allow it. A “domestic disturbance” then ensued. Luckily for me, Andi inherited his father’s desire to risk his life in the name of questionable activities. The sun was beating down on us with its incredibly warm rays; what a wonderful day to die.

The ride up the hill was on possibly the world’s oldest chairlift. We literally saw people, including young children, walking faster than us. Believe it or not, this chairlift was actually more frightening to ride than the cement cemetery we were about to slide down. When we got to the top, we were met by a girl whose sole job was to keep us alive by preventing us from crashing into others on the track. Andi and I took this opportunity to alleviate that nagging question still rattling around in our heads. “So, um, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly does the ‘KY’ stand for?” I asked the girl with mixed anticipation and fear. She looked at us for a moment like we were morons and snapped:

“Kentucky!”

This was a wonderful indication that Andi and I had passed state lines.

Anyway, there was no contest, Andi whooped me hands down in the race. His did his father proud.

Our lecture tonight in Nashville was at the It’s Magic magic shop (www.itsmagiconline.com). Wow! What a stunning stunning place. It was easily the best looking magic shop I had been to. And if the looks weren’t enough, the owner and manager each rounded out the overall badass feeling of the shop. If you’re ever in the area, you really have to stop by and check it out (and ask to see Jeff Bjorklund’s Hermann the One Eyed German, no really, it’s a kickass Pass). Their lecture room was as posh and stylish as the rest of the shop, so Andi and I were definitely feeling like rock stars in this place (the groupies and narcotics might have had something to do with it as well).

During the lecture we were reminded several times that we had entered the Bible Belt, and on occasions, the Bible Belt Buckle. We’re still not really sure what that meant or how it affected card tricks, but we thank them for bringing it to our attention.

Afterward, we got to meet Stephen Bargatze. Although he just introduced himself as “Stephen with a ‘PH’”, so since he wasn’t wearing the tux that I’m used to seeing photos of him in, I had no idea it was him until after he left. I feel bad now, I like his work.

We hit up Steak & Shake after the lecture with an old friend of ours, Terry Hedges, and some of the other attendees. I think the waitress was afraid of us, but that’s fine because it gave us more time to jam out ideas with the boys. There’s nothing like late night eating and creating.

It’s going to be an early morning tomorrow, we have an eight hour drive to Canton, Ohio ahead of us. We also lose an hour because of the time zones. Wish us luck!

Tyler Wilson