A Beautiful Summer Day...

Rebecca reminded us all today that this time 365 days ago we were on tour, with blizzard like conditions.  Who would have figured that we’d be driving to a show and seeing cars in the ditch 4 days before JUNE!!!  Crazy crazy crazy.  But these are the trials and tribulations of life on the road.

I was trying to suppress this memory… along with driving through 2 tornadoes.  Okay Rebecca I know… you drove through the first tornado while Mr. Magic slept in the back of the van… If it makes any consulation I was dreaming about driving through a tornado.

BTW: Sorry for the late posting  long day.

brrrrrrrrr

brrrrrrrrr

Gearing up for a week of meetings in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  Looking forward to finally meeting a few voices of The Children’s Wish Foundation that I have had the privilege of speaking with for the past three years!

My upcoming flight to Winnipeg got me thinking it was time for a DISASTERS FROM THE ROAD! PICTURE FLASH BACK (okay the title still needs work.)

For years we played THOMPSON which is about 8 hours north of Winnipeg (aka : might as well be the North Pole!)  The only road there is notoriously bad… We’ll we popped a dozy of a tire and had to continue driving the 150 km until the tire was completely destroyed.  :)  Good times.

Here’s proof:

BLAST FROM EVIL TOUR PAST…

Changing the tire ILLUSIONIST STYLE (aka everyone else is working as Rebecca says!)

Sweet Success!

The “AFTER” story … we drove another 100km to a tire shop to get a new one for the trailer.  Got pulled over by a police officer.  The reason.  A Suspicious Ontario Van.  Turns out he’d seen the show (didn’t help my ego) and was really helpful finding the tire shop!

Best,
Ryan

LOOOOKKKKKK OOOOOUUUUTTTTT!!!!!!

PICTURE FROM TOURS PAST…

WOW … almost eaten by a ferocious tiger!!!!  At the airport in Halifax.   What?

In 2007 we were out on tour with the variety show (Myst!que Variety Spectacular) with my good friend Kyle Cameron and one of the funniest craziest people I know; and cool juggler Steve Seguin.

Let’s pull back the curtain…thats better.

Hanging out in Los Angeles!

Really busy day today, apologies for a small post here…  This is a group shot of us in Los Angeles driving up the steepest hill to get to the sign.  Then trying to balance my huge telephoto lens, camera (and yes there is a fill flash used to…) on a tiny 3 inch cheap little tripod.

In the process of fiddling with the entire make shift setup on a really steep hill.. we got this capture.  Yes, calm down… I have nice legs. I know… I get it a lot.

Nice Legs!

UPDATE:  Andrew sent this photo along, this was pre ‘bring-out-da-flash.’  Thanks Andrew!

Final Bows in Auckland New Zealand. (Thanks Andrew Rudd!)

Anywho pretty cool capture by Andrew from backstage… our final bows in Auckland, 7 shows in 3 days – packed to the rafters each show.  You’ll see the New Plymouth Theatre below… one of my favs from the tour.

New Zealand was a real blast, the saying over there is “Sweet as Bro” or “wicked as bro”  etc.  Something I picked up right away (I get addicted to little sayings, sometimes I’ll get a fun sounding word stuck in my head for days … like pomegranate) Anyways.  This “Sweet as bro” became part of my language and I remember getting back home in Canada a few weeks later in an elevator and the dude asked which floor.  I said the number followed by “Sweet as bro.”

Suddenly there was awkward silence.

I think he thought I said “Sweet ass bro.”

Haven’t said it since.  Works in NZ… not so much in Canada.

In 2007 we got a call from my good friend David Matthews and volunteer firefighter in the town of Alexandria, MB.  We always have the privilege of meeting up with him on our Western Tour and this year he asked if we were up for a challenge.  One of the biggest challenges we’ve ever faced… make a full size firetruck disappear?  Without hesitation or any further knowledge I accepted.  We had only a matter of hours to get everything in place and be back at the Television studio for an afternoon interview, promoting the next days performance.

We hit the deck running.  

It was a cold, wet and rainy day for September.  We found a suitable location in the heart of the prairies.  All we needed were some firefighters, extinguishers and a fire truck.

The concept was simple.  One continuous camera shot, the two firefighters standing in front of the truck would shoot the extinguishers and as soon as the smoke cleared the firetrucks would be gone.

The good news is that it worked, in fact it looked amazing.  The bad news is we can’t share it with anyone because when we reviewed the footage we discovered that the fire extinguisher chemical dust had destroyed the tape!!!!  Much to our disappointment, however we did have a lot of fun with our firefighter friends and good friend David Matthews.  There maybe a chance to get the video tapes restored, we have located a company in Vancouver that can attempt to restored damaged footage.

I wonder if they’ve ever had footage of a firetruck disappearing?

The look of disappointment - reviewing the damaged footage!

PICTURE FROM TOURS PAST
2006 Western Tour:

I believe the words that came out of all of our mouths were “Holy $*%! was that a buffalo at the gas station?” The irony here is that we were about 1 hour outside of Fort McMurray, AB which if memory serves me correct, was formerly called Wood Buffalo.  We were driving past the only gas station (and last sign of civilization for nearly 2 hours) and there it was.  A big, brown, beauty (?) of a buffalo.  Turns out he was on tour travelling up there to be part of a festival.

Now we really shouldn’t have been that surprised (a touring buffalo – is that more weird than a magic show?) but  truthfully the area in Northern Alberta is privy to wood buffaloes… but to see this HUGE thing out for a stroll at a gas station was pretty attention demanding.

Unfortunately times flies by and so do memories… so I can’t remember this buffalo’s name.  However what I do remember he was pretty darn famous and had been in many movies.  (Apparently its rare to be a domesticated buffalo… who figured?  My pet gazelle thought that was hilarious, a domesticated buffalo…. ha)

When we roll into town we understand people tend to look at us funny.  6 people jumping out of a van.  The usual question is “Are you guys a band pray tell?”  apparently “Magic show” is an unusual response.  Imagine however touring a famous Buffalo.  AWESOME!  I am sure this guy is full of wonderful stories.

He’d be a great one to sit down with for coffee.  Maybe leave the Buffalo in the trailer…