Calico Day 3 Part 2 Video

R.I.P. Prince.....Calico Day 3

He protected our home and gave pleasure to tjhe kids. He was afraid of fireworks on the 4th of July and would dig holes in the lawn. He was a master of escape. He most especially had a special relationship with Cynthia. He outlived his sibling puppies and passed today at 16 years old due to age and heart worm coplications...get your dogs tested and treated. RIP Prince!
This "face" was made by the window and rafters at our stage. I lit up the back curtain and greeted us when we arrived this morning.
Here is a picture of the show programs from our shows over the past umpteen years. There were more once upon a time but someone cleaned the backstage and tossed them. these are from 1999 until now.
A standing ovation...pose.
Here is a family that themed themselves as Alice in Wonderland. Super nice folks and they win first palce every year.
Here was a fun costume that fit the Victorian Halloween theme.
Jim and Olivia fine tuning their new stunt. Video to come.
Victor had quite a challenge today. The man who did most the tying of the knots for Victor's $400 rope tie is a professional scaffold tier. He cut off Victor's circulation. But that did not deter Victor...
Even if he had to loose his pants to get out.
Find Alf>>>>>>(This was our smallest crowd today. )
Anti Monkey Butt.

Baby Anti Monkey Butt Powder fan.

Mild weather was in store for us today. What started off slow turned into a very busy night indeed. Saw more old friends and fans. I can't believe how many people come up just for our show. It is indeed flattering. Sadly, outside my Aunt and Uncle and Cousin Pam, none of my southern Cal living brothers or sister could make it out to see us. I really hoped we could have seen them since we don't get together very often due to our different lifestyles (us on tour all the time, etc.) We missed you guys, if you are reading this....We will be in Hemet in November if you can make it.

Ever wonder what we watch on TV when we get back to the hotel while everyone is taking their turn with the shower? Mostly the Food Network. Chopped, Sweet Genius, Iron Chef, etc. Doing that now.

One more day down here then that long 55mph drive up to Northern Cal.

A moving letter

Even though I have already posted something for today (see the post below this one) I just had to share what has to be the best letter of recommendation from a client I have ever gotten. You have to know the man who wrote it. He is a no nonsense man that will not pad a sentence with necessary anything; a straight shooter that can intimidate Chuck Noris. At the same time if you are a straight shooter to hi and give your best he is the nicest man you an meet. (If there are any typos they are mine as I transposed this myself.)

LAUREL COUNTY FAIR

PO Box 455,

London, KY 40743

606-878-2262

www.laurelcountyfair.com

To whom it may concern:

Please accept this recommendation for the Kent Family Magic Circus without reservation.Victor

Kent and his family have performed at the Laurel County Fair consecutively more than any act

we have ever booked. The show is seof-contained and cost effective, and I would not be making

this recommendation to another event if it were not heart-felt.

Event committees are often stretched in many directions and do not have time to oversee the

responsibilities of the acts we book. Victor Kent and his family do not require your supervision

or monitoring. Simply show them the area to set up in, give them their shows times, and walk

away rest assured that everything will be alright. However, you might want to stop back by and

catch one of the performances just so you can be proud of yourself for making such a wise

choice.

Each performance of the Kent Family Magic Show is varied, draws large audiences, and engages

children and adults. Victor's ability to interact with the audiences is second to none. His family

members are as personable as they are talented and will surely please your committee and

patrons.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you need any more information. But I can save you the time it

would take for you to call me by simply saying, you should book this show.

Sincerely,

C.Douglas Phelps, Manager

Laurel County Fair

Calico Week 2

Week 2 in Calico. The drive up was faster than normal because we weren't hindered by the stupid laws that restrict speed and lanes for vehicles pulling trailers. We had left our trailer at Calico for the week. It acted as a bill board for our sponsor, Anti-Monkey Butt Powder. On the drive we were treated with a blast from the past...a patriotic VW.

We are so excited about a new stunt Jim and Olivia came up with. The two pictures below don't do it justice so I will try and get a better shot tomorrow...maybe even a video. Olivia climbs a pole and Jim balances here on his chin. SO Cool!

The kids had a little time to stroll the park a few times. Victor found fascination with the old canon. He loves guns. Especially historic ones.

The professor, Dr. Valadez.

Can you tell it is a Halloween Haunt event with this beauty?

Strangely, in spite of this being Halloween weekend it seemed slower this weekend than last weekend. Still we filled every seat and had standing room only at both shows today. It was a great day.

Calico Postings

HUGE CROWDS! We have been incredibly blessed this year in that everywhere we performed we pulled in great crowds. In some places the size was relative to the market. For example in Winchester, KY on a weekday after a heavy rain the fair had less than 100 people on the grounds and we had most of them at our show...huge for the situation. But for the fairs and amusement parks we worked this year the crowds have been relatively and visually large.

Here is a picture of a Calico crowd and this was from one of the smaller shows. I am happy to report that many people have come year after year just to see us. I don't say that to brag. I am just reporting what no less than 50 people told me personally. I also took straw polls before a few of the shows asking, How many of you is this your first Trip to Calico?...your first Ghost Haunt?...your first time seeing us? How many of you have seen us many times? Some folks even sent us some pictures...the ones with me and my nails and Jim juggling fire were sent to us by one such fan.

Once every five years we do our old time photo. Amelia and I are in our show costumes Jim, Miles and Victor are partially in their costumes and partially the shops. Olivia is in a shop costume. Victor is as happy as a tick on a hound dogs back since he has two guns in his belt, a bag of loot in one hand and a stick of dynamite in his other hand.
Fan sent picture. Human Block head.
Another fan sent photo. Awesome.
As we waited in the car line to get into the park on the first day we saw Alvin and his buddies frolicking around.

Amelia was too short so she jumped and I timed the shot just right.
My Aunt and Uncle from nearby Barstow are a couple of our biggest fans and always make time to come over to Calico and see us.
On a whim Jim decided to balance the 78 lb bed of nails on his face during the show. A hundred phone cameras appeared in the hands of the audience as he did it.

No post today.

Sorry, I won't be posting much more than this. I am suffering from a bought of ennui

and loneliness inspite of having people around me....perhaps it's the "entertainer's virus" that many comedians suffer from. So maybe after we get back on Monday...after I fix the water heater at my house. Gosh darn it, I want to say how I fee about the house and California and such but many people close to me think I should keep that to myself so I will....but reluctantly....or maybe it's the mood talking. I just look forward to leaving home again next Thursday to come back down here to the huge crowds we have been enjoying.

Beautiful Calico

Well, today was set up day. We also did two shows. Since it was a Friday of the haunt it was slower than tomorrow will be. Next weekend will be crazy busy. We had all the chairs full at the first show and that plus many standers in the second...maybe around 250 at the second show.

We saw many of our old Calico friends. Belle even got to see her old buddy, Big Boy, a toy poodle owned by our good friend Janet who gave us Belle last year.

I will post pictures tomorrow.

There was a little frustration today. Victor's shoes were left behind so he had to perform in his socks today. And the bolts that hold the legs to our fire cage were likewise left behind so that was cut today. Luckily, Walmart had some bolts that might work. We shall see.

Early start tomorrow. Bye.

Barstow, Ca

After a long drive down to southern Cal we have arrived in Barstow, CA. I call it a long drive in spite of the fact it was only 8.5 hours and compared to most of our driving this summer that is a short drive, because we had to do it at 55mph because we are pulling a trailer and we had to stay in the raggedy beaten-up right lane behind diesel-smoke spewing trucks the entire way. Gotta love California laws.

For most of the trip each of the kids took turns napping. They also did their home school work. I envied their slumber. I never was able to shake the morning sleep out of my head and I am looking forward to slamming down a burger and crashing for the night.

I wish I could report something exciting. The radio news day sure was a full one: Qaddafi was killed today (everyone-France, the rebels, Obama, etc- are tripping over themselves taking credit for it). Michael Jackson's doctor's trial is going on in SoCal. And the Governor of Cali signed a cap and trade bill today that should kill business in California once and for all.

On the dog front, Belle was excited to be on the road again. At every gas stop she got so excited. She loves to go romping around the greenbelts around gas stations and leave her mark. Grant it if the mark is a solid mark we pick it up. She took to her favorite spots in the van and seemed very content to be on the move again. She's a travelin' dog!

I am looking forward to seeing old friends and relatives. We have been coming here for 15 years so we have made many friends over those years. We have also had relatives here since I was a child. It's always good to see them.

On the road home.

No pix today sorry!

We did an 11 hour drive from Roswell to Kingman, AZ....we are just on the boarder with Cali. I am going to have to readjust my mind to accept driving only in the right lane at 55mph or face a $1000+ ticket. Read today Cali is outlawing anyone under 18 from using tanning beds. Not that I think they are a good idea but shouldn't that be between a teen and their parents...why is the state involved? Oh, yeah they think we are stupid and need a nanny. Before we left the oil change place lowered my tire pressure and refused to but more in because Cali law forbade them from doing that. (We keep it higher because we pull heavy stuff.) Nanny state love.

OK that was a rant...sorry.

I have one more rant though. We can't seem to escape hotels owned by a certain race. I am not racist. I love all races but nearly bar none these guys squeeze us for every cent they can manage. We are staying at a middle of the road hotel...not the best, not the worst. The guy at the desk made a big to do about giving me a discount of $10 per room. I went on line to find out he is actually overcharging me by $4.00 per room. The website said, "Pet friendly"...the registration card says, "no pets". When I informed the man we had an ADA dog (after registering) he wanted to move us to a different room, he wanted to see my ADA card ( I showed him) he wanted to charge me $10.00 more. Finally I put my credit card back on the desk and said, "you can't ask for the card, but I'll show you. You can't change the room. ADA dogs get FULL access. You can't charge for an ADA dog. Each of these or even questioning about the dog, according to the law, can garner fines of at least $500 for the individual and again for the company.

One friend has become so angry in dealing with hotels where the owners are of that race that if he smells a typical odorous food of this race or sees a person of that race in a hotel lobby he will go somewhere else. Sadly very few hotels are owned by other races anymore, even many of the big ones.

I rant here because this summer I had been cheated or lied to by hotels like this so many times I have become tired of it. RV time I guess.

All Done in Roswell.

Here is a picture of sunset through the fence at the fair. Since this is the last day I often say, "we have made parole". This picture fits doesn't it?

After months and months of constantly on the road with a short stop home last month we are really truly almost finished. We will go home but we have two trips to SoCal for shows at Calico at the end of this month.

The wind was mostly quiet today. Only a little mutton chop burn at the first show.


Jim chats as he sit's in the air.

The first round went to Lukas, the rematch went to Nick
Nick left a lasting impression on Lukas.
Artsy picture.
Boy to bunny.
Fire whip.
reactions.



We enjoyed large audience. We had crazy weather. We got to explore the secrets of Roswell. We added a couple of things to the show. We added a bunch of new fans on Facebook and in real life. We added "stalkers". We had a good time. Texas and New Mexico were welcoming and friendly. We made lots of memories.

Eight Show Day and a TV invitation

Victor has been doing handstands everyday and now on everything. He's even beginning to do them on stage. Here he is practicing backstage.

Today started off cool and NOT windy as we set up and performed five 30 minute shows for school kids visiting the fair. But as we finished the last show the wind kicked up and stayed in 29mph+ for the rest of the day. We took a break from the fairgrounds for lunch and relaxation but had to get back for 3 more regular show by 4:30. The wind died by 6 in time for our 6:30 show so no loss of hair for me today.

While on relaxation I got a call from a TV show filmed in Nashville and we have been invited to perform on it. I won't leak details now but we are mulling it over.

Olivia had a tough day...at one point she turned around not seeing me and walked plum hard into me, then while at the store she had her face up close to the milk door and as I opened the door her little fingers were pinched as she held the wrong side. Then at check out the bag holding bars on the rotating bag holder bobbed her once. Then later on at the fair she was walking a low brick wall in between shows and slipped off scraping her leg.
We bandaged her up and as long as she doesn't see it she is fine.
OK so I am not so good with the knocker thingy.
Lukas is proud of his heritage and has enough of a sense of humor to run with it. But an old Indian lady came up to him after one show and gave him a dressing down calling him racist. He has three different tribe bloods in him and is card carrying. She claimed he wasn't setting a good example. He tells me he visits his family on the reservation and the kids his age their run around like gangsters so by all accounts I would say he is definitely a better example than them. You also could not meet a better friend, nice guy, friendly, hard working, people loving, God fearing young man. So in my book that lady needs thicker skin.
OK, so Jim's diabolo got stuck in a tree during performance.
In a real tall tree. In garnered a big applause.
After the show it took about 20 attempts but his other diabolo saved the day and knocked the other one out of the tree.

Apparently this guy gives out flu shots for food. Or maybe he was just standing near the sign?