She's 18 She's beautiful and She's Mine!

A person only turns 18 once. But you can be 29 for as long as you can get away with it.
Princess Cynthia has been making the most of her "coming of age". On her actual birthday last week the little ones decorated the house and made birthday cards for her. Sorry Hallmark our family is into crafts and do-it-yourself. Her friends at school gave her flowers and various trinkets and gifts and her mom made her a rice-krispies three tier "cake" with a gallon of vanilla bean and a gallon of cookies and cream ice creams.

She also wanted to do a repeat of her 16th birthday and take a couple of friends to SF to tour about and eat. I, her dad, was invited as tour guide, money bags, and as her friend. Imagine that, a teen, uh, um adult daughter who wants to hang ouot with her dad.
Since I am recovering from that chest cold tat's been running rabid across the country I have to admit that waking at 7 am to drive into the City was not appealing. The energy having a cold zaps was another concern. The was a 30% cahnce of rain too.
We hit pockets of drizzle from time to time during the 3 hour drive. But any thought the possibility of a bad day was completely washed away after we passed through he toll plaza for the bay Bridge. We noticed the line we were in as we sat in the toll plaza traffic was a little slower than the other lanes but if you know the SF Bay Bridge toll plaza traffic changing lanes can be difficult as the other drivers are demons and filled with road rage for anyone trying to "cut" in front of them so I just road out the longer wait. The reason for the wait, we noticed, was because the toll agent seemed to have animated conversations with each car the pulled up to pay. His hands and body movement suggested he was passionate about whatever he was saying.
When it was our turn we discovered a very happy, full of life, middle-aged man from some Caribbean Island (by his accent). He greeted us with great vigor and asked where we were headed (not like a border agent might ask but like a friend asking) so I said we were headed for a day in the City. He asked if the girls in the back were my daughters. Instead of trying to explain they were my daughter and her friends, I just said, "yes."
He turned his attention to them and said, "Now , girls. Obey your dad. The bible says to obey your parents. And remember, no boyfriends." He said then turned his attention to me, "I have a 22 year old daughter a UC Berkley and she has no boyfriend. If I found out she had a boyfriend she would be in big trouble." We gave each other a fist bound and he wished us a good day. The girls laughed and all agreed today was going to be special.
The plan was to pull into Pier 35 parking lot and leave the car for the day. The rest of our travels would be by foot or by local transit to avoid the outrageous parking prices. (SF is only hurting their tourist trade with the crazy prices they are charging for parking, occupancy tax at hotels etc. )
Just to get it out of the way allow me to mention that it would drizzle or sprinkle all day with moments of sunshine. It was either really cold where jackets were required or really hot when the sun popped out. So through out the day it was a symphony of peeling layers off or piling them back on.
First stop was Pier 39. The girls and I split ways so they could hit all the shops and get T-shirts, and other trinkets. It was too early for entertainment on the stage there so to my chagrin we missed out on that treat. But by the time we finished with the pier various street performers were materializing along the wharf.
One other thing anyone coming to Pier 39 can't miss out on is the great view of Alcatraz and the sea lions that make their home on the boat docks.

The sea lions were sparse today but there were a few to sound out the familiar bark that makes up the sounds of Pier 39.

Along Fisherman's wharf there are a ton of gift shops and novelties to visit including the wooden pirates near the end of the wharf.

I took advantage of the great seafood along the fisherman's grotto area and had a calamari vinaigrette dish. It was scrumptious. The girls passed instead going for a thrible chocolate-caramel apple.

And of course we enjoyed the free sample of chocolate at Ghiradelli Square.

While walking about the wharf we saw a new concept in travel. The Segue tours. Instead of bikes or scooter or even a tour bus you go an a Segue and are shown the sights. The lead man (tour guide) has a wirless mic and each rider's helmet has a speaker so you can get the whole tour bus effect. So like ducklings following their mother they meander the streets of SF.

We caught the Cable car down at the wharf and we fortunate to get a standing spot. It really is the only way to truly experience the cable car. If you don't know how it works the best way to describe it is....there are a series of cables that are constantly running under the streets of SF. The cable car has a device that grabs the cable and takes the car for a ride. The brakemen have clutches and breaks to control the speed and or stop the car. At various points the car is released from one cable and grabs the next continuing on it's journey. Timing and skill is involved in being a brakeman or operator of the cable car. I was able to hop off here and take a picture of the girls because our car ended up stopping at a cable change spot and missed the cable partially because the rains brought a pile of sand down a hill and it was interfering somehow. The road we are blocking was slowly filling up with cars and the steepness of the hill and narrowness were making it impossible for people to back out. The funniest part of the whole thing was this all happened in front of the cablehouse/cable car museum (the brick building behind the car). A few of the impatient drivers volunteered to help push the cable car the 3 or so feet forward that allowed the operator the grab the cable again. I am glad it happened because had it not we would have had less a story to tell.

When we pulled into the Powell street terminal area the girls immediately noticed a big shoe store. Need I say more. The next thirty minutes was spent there. They found a few other stores but were drawn to the Ross store. We spent another hour and a few dollars there. Though I do admit they found some cute outfits. Ross was running a promotion getting patrons to donate a dollar to the American heart Assoc. and every time someone did the clerk would get on the loud speaker and say, "Julie just donated a dollar to the American Heart Assoc....WooHoo!" That went on the entire time we were in there. Before long we were joining in the woohoos.

In Union Square.

I had to have a Stanley Steamer while in Union Square. It's my wife's favorite. We used to have these often when we were dating 22 years ago. This picture is for her.

China Town..Oh my China Town.

Lots of shops and every shop owner ready to offer you a deal. "Only $30.00" you'll like it." "Do you want to have the soup too? It's only $3.95 more. That's cheap." Every store was the same. The shop keepers were ready to make that deal.

We had a great lunch though and rolled out of the shop as we worked our way across own back to the piers.

At the end of China town you step onto Columbus Street the "Little Italy" of SF. Cafes line the streets and the smell of Italian spices fill the air. We noticed that for the light drizzle that was coming down there sure was a lot of water in the street. Apparently one of the storm drains up the hill was clogged and was spilling out....

We noticed as we were zig-zagging the streets heading back to the piers that we were passing awfully close to Telegraph Hill home of Coit Tower. So we decided to visit the tower. Telegraph hill was crazy steep. We climbed and climbed and with two of us recovering from colds he wheezed and wheezed and coughed and hacked our way up the hill. At the top we discovered a sign with and arrow, "Stairs to Coit Tower". They too were steep and there were hundreds of them. At the top of those steps there was the driveway for the tower and across that road was more steps....the girls posed for a pix here.

Coit tower in the background.

After Coit Tower (which we did not climb up..they want $5.00 to climb a few hundred more steps..............) we painfully walked down Telegraph hill and found our van. My legs were shaking as we climbed down the hills that were as steep going down as they were going up.

Once in the van we worked our way across town to the ocean. The Sutro baths are ruins of an old resort from 100 years ago. It too had stairs so I stayed in the van as the girls climbed down.

The frolicked about for a while and saw a couple sitting enjoying the ocean view so they decided to create the moment for themselves and made the photo of Jess and Julie mimicking the couple.

Afterwards it was Ocean Beach and the foam of the ocean.

The foam looked like clouds and the wind caused the foam to float across the ground. Sometimes a strong breeze would cause a piece of the foam to break away and roll like a tumble weed. It was nice.

The girls ran bare-footed and their toes turned red. It was cold.

Cynthia loves herself.

From there it was dinner in Japan town. That almost didn't happen because there was no parking spot anywhere. My can is too tall for the underground garages and the street spots were filling up fast. Just as we were about to give-up Cynthia spotted a spot and the evening was saved. Noodles and sushi were the order for the night.

The Case of the Missing Snake

2:45PM
Homebase, CA
Mami had just returned home from shopping. Princess Olivia and Princess Amelia gleefully brought the brown paper bag which was stable shut and resembled a large paper bag lunch into my office and reported to me that they had the mice. That's right mice. Live mice. That's what snakes eat. Think of it as vermin control.
I took the bag opened it and delivered one fat and juicy to Mr Squeezers cage. Mr. Squeezer is our boa. He's still a baby, only 18" long. Mr. Squeezers was in his hiding spot, a hallowed little log. But his senses are keen and he was aware of the arrival of his lunch much the same way you would be aware of a hot pot of fresh coffee being brewed.
I then took the bag to Buttercup's cage. I chose a big one for him and took it by the tail. After sliding the screen-door of Buttercup's cage back I dropped his food in. I busied myself transferring the other mice to a temporary plastic holding cage, that would be a refrigerator for us. That took a few seconds. I was surprised after a while to see that Buttercup had not come out of his hiding place, a large hallow plastic rock, to eat. I shrugged and walked off to watch my hands.
I came back and still no sign of Buttercup. By now his nose would be sticking out the hole in the rock. The mouse had made himself at home and was running in and out of the rock, up and down the tree like thing, and around the water dish. I opened the cage and lifted the rock. Every bit of me was expecting to see the fat 3' long ball python as I lifted the rock. And much the way a parent would panic when they turn and find their child not where they were supposed to be my blood ran cold.
I wasn't frightened because the absences of Buttercup in his cage meant we had a snake on the loose. I was afraid that Buttercup could be hurt or held up in a place where he won't get the warmth and nutrition (mice) he needs. he could die.
The call went out and eveyone's priorities from that moment on went into looking for Buttercup.
Miles' room is where the snake is kept so it was his room that was first torn apart. Every piece of furniture moved. We discovered that Miles didn't always put his dirty socks and other clothing in the hamper but behind furniture and boxes. (They may have started in the middle of the floor and through constant negclect slowly migrated to these places.)
His room was virtually gutted. We ingnored places that it was impossible for the snake to get into like an old powered amp with it's totally sealed cabnet and closed totes.
As James continued the careful search in Miles room the rest of us spread out and searched the rest of the house. The sewing nook , the little kids' room, behind the TV in the living room. No room was left out and no piece of furniture was not checked under and around. No snake.
Everyone who saw him was sure Miles had replaced Buttercup after the SoCal Trip the night before. They remembered him trading snakes out of the travel cage and into their home cages. Still to be on the safe side I sent Cynthia out to check the van in case he made his break while in travel.
4:30PM
After quite some time we all exhausted our guess and places to search. The excitement had tired me in my weakened state from my chest cold so I retreated to my bed. We decided to wait the few minutes until Miles got home to see if he had any ideas.
Being a Christian family we have many times found that a quick simple prayer asking for direction helps. Well that's what I did while on the bed. Immediately I hopped up and went into Miles' room and went directly to a closed tote on a high shelf. I pulled it down. As I pulled off the top and I noticed the lid was loose, not snuck and locked in place. I pulled it completely off and there looking up at me was a confused ball python. He was cold and very happy to be in warm hands.
Buttercup is Olivia's snake and they are bosom buddies. There could be no closer friends in reptile-human relations. She loves Buttercup like your little girl might love a bunny or a kitten. When I handed Buttercup to her she was so happy and so relieved we had found him. She held him for an hour.
Finally Buttercup was returned to his cage. A new pin catch was installed and he had a wonderful filling dinner of mice.

SoCal Shows (2) Updates.

We are back from SoCal. I didn't make a blog entry on Sat. night because I was exhausted. It has been a long time since I had a bad cold, especially while performing...I had forgotten how debilitating it is. All my energy was focused on doing a great show that when it was done there was nothing left....I slept. I wanted to do the blog on Sunday when we arrived home but the cold took it's toll again. We also would've preferred to got to church while in SoCal on Sunday but the kids felt sorry for their old sick dad and let him (me) sleep in very late so we got a late start to our drive home. Enough about that blasted virus.

Poof Too! was the name of Saturday Night's show. It was a fundraiser for the local Odd Fellows and it was their twentieth annual. Unlike Friday night there were six acts on Saturday.

Below is a photo-journal of the weekend.

(Not int he photos are Dennis Forel, the producer/MC and Phil Van Tee....Phil (Who was battling his own bug) showed up too late for me to get shots of him and I am not sure how I missed getting any shots of Dennis....shame on me.)

Scott Land Marionette master...his show was perfection. His characters, that he makes all himself, were adorable. Well put together and professional show.

The Bornstein Experiment (Kimberly and Jeff) very funny, very impressive mentalist routine. Nice people.

David Zerbel (Shown here in the green room preparing his show) a very polished performer...tonight he was the manipulation act...very well done. But his magical talents are all over the art all the way up to illusions.

The Kent Kids goofing off in teh green room.

Jim and the Tech Crew....every tech crew I take a picture of in any state has the same pose.

Me with Maseo and his lovely assistant Stephanie

Brenden the Stage Director..very kind man.

It never rains in California....my eye!

Talking about Eyes...Olivia goofing around with faces...Cynthia loved this one so much she took a picture of it.

Micky D's toy fun!

Cynthia and Mami showing off a 2010 costume. (Mami was yanked out of the kitchen to do the pose...CC was fresh from a show so one with makeup and one without. )

SOCal Show Night 1 Magical Nights

We left home base at 4:30AM and drove a little over 9 hours to Hermosa Beach, CA in the rain. Fighting a chest cold we arrived around 2pm at the theater and set up. The first night is a fundraiser for a local school and tomorrow will be a fundraiser for a service group.
We are sharing the stage with five other acts...a manipulation magic act, a marionette act, a mentalist act, and a comedy magic act. We are the illusion part of the show.

I have to admit I was pretty exhausted all day but we were able to pull off a pretty good show. It wasn't our best show ever but it was good.

Out of all the acts the newspapers choose our family act's photo for the calendars and advertisements for the show. I will scan them and post them here when we return.

One of the performer's wife didn't like the idea of our family, or any family, homeschooling kids. She was happy we sent them to public high school but when I told her it was because they had interest in band, athletics, and ROTC she became belligerent about anyone wanting to attend jROTC. "All war (visa vi all military)is evil and is a sin against God and man". It really wasn't a discussion. She just asked about our education process then preached her opinion not allowing an exchange of ideas. The she marched off leaving me and another performing just standing there staring at each other wondering what just happened.

That was it for excitement.
More to come.....

Magic Castle Pictures

Cameras are not allowed in the Magic Castle. They have a house photographer so private cameras are a no-no. So pictures with Tony Curtis, Hugh O'Brien, Tippy Hedren, Mark Wilson, and the number of other wonderful stars of screen and magic didn't happen. However, I did get a few shots outside and when Founders Irene Larsen and her brother in law Milt Larsen, the architect of the Castle agreed to my request for a picture my camera was allowed in for a snap shot of us together. Though I have more pictures to add I will do that after our next trip to Socal for shows this coming weekend.

I regret I forgot to get a phot with my friend Gentry and with JC in front of the castle.

I think hanging out with my dear friend JC (who was battling the dregs of a cold this weekend) may have caused me to catch his bug. I have begun my regiment of cold/flu fighting procedures that I hope will (as it has done so many times in the past) beat this bug. Most of my kids have had or have the cold so the odds are hard against me. Lack of sleep and the long drive home didn't help things...me thinks!

Creative young Magician David Minkin. very Clever.

Magic Castle 3 Homeward Bound Thrills

What a night. I didn't expect a Tuesday night at the Castle to be as wonderful as it turned out to be. We saw most of the act last night but I just had to see Dand Minkin's act on more time. His creativity is fabulous. I was joined by JC (of course) and Gentry Stanley the producer we worked with on the Discovery project a few months back. Gentry was looking good and healthy and dashing in his suit. I was surprised to find out he had worked with David on an MTV show a few months ago.
We also caught other acts but David's was once again the highlight, though Chuck Jones' act tonight was even better than it was last night.
The thrill of the night was to meet fellow Scotsman, Ron Wilson, long time Magic Castle entertainment director, president and many other titles. Though I am 300 years removed from Scotland my ancestry is my pride. We hit it off. With him was Milt Larson, the architect. He was the man who took the once 6000 sq ft house and turned it into 22,000 sq ft. He designed and built the place over the years adding this and that from various mansions, restaurants, schools, etc to the walls, tables, whatever at the castle. Being a handy man myself we clicked and spoke of various handy man things. Irene Larsen, founder of the castle, Bill Larsen's wife, was there looking as good as she ever did. She loved my stories about my children performing in my show and we hit it off well. She even shared a very funny joke with me that would be out of place in this blog. I learned so much about the history and lore of the castle as well as a few secrets and lost secrets (which I will write about later....not magic secrets mind you).
I have a long drive tomorrow so I will end here for tonight. Though I much more to add and photos to boot.

Magic Castle 2

Slept in today...and why not we ran a late night last night enjoying a very robust and well attended evening at the Castle. Lunch saw us at a soup and salad place and dinner was at the Castle...very classy!
Since my traveling buddy, JC once apon a time lived inn the area we visited his old digs and met some of his old neighbors. He was overwhelmed when we arrived onto his old street. In fact, he stood in the middle of the street with his hands on his hips staring and pointing and telling me about who once lived here and who once lived there. I had to shout at him several times before he realized he was in the path of the truck. Getting over a pretty bad cold JC had a tough morning and had to rest quite a bit throughout the day. He seemed to improve as the day went on. His excitement about being here was apparent in his non-stop reminiscing.

The famous TV magician from the 1950s-70s, Mark Wilson was at the Castle tonight teaching classes in the Inner Circle room...area for members. We chit chatted with him quite a bit. I bought one of his illusions from him a few years ago. A number o other famous people within magic circles were at the Castle tonight...Shoot Ogawa, Chuck Jones, David Accer, David Minkin, Gold Finger and Dove, and many others. Though in general it was a very quiet night and unlike last night it was easier to get into shows. JC and I did some performing for lay people as well and brought a few smiles out. After all the castle should be a complete magical experience. One couple were turned away from one the only show that filled up a full room tonight so JC and I did a few things for them. It was a lot of Fun.

Only disappointment was a buddy of mine from the Discovery shoot a few months ago was supposed to show up but work held him up and he couldn't make it. The embarrassing thing was he called while I was in a show and I thought my phone was on vibrate...it wasn't I rushed to get it turned off...first time I've blushed in a long time.

Tonight was also the once a month time for potential members to audition for the board and hopefully become a member. The main bar area was packed with folks from the yuong (21+) to the middle aged waiting to be judged on their skills. You could feel everyone's nervousness.

Though we left at 10:45 two hours earlier than yesterday I am more tired today and look forward to the sleep. I miss my family but I must admit the hotel is quieter than home.

Magic Castle !

Sunday started at 4:30 AM. JC was running late so our drive to LA didn't start until close to

6:30. Being Sunday, however, made for easy driving and we made Hollywood in just over 7.5 hours. Most of the central valley was cloaked in fog and to our surprise the mountains that separate the central valley with the LA Basin had snow on them.

It is cooler here than it was last year but I blame that on Global warming. I also blame global warming t my need to go on a diet.

After resting up we made the Castle just before 6PM. Dennis Forrel, balloon artist/magician/producer met us there. He would hang out with us for most of the night. To our surprise Tippy Hedren (The Birds) was at the castle and Tony Curtis was having a book and art signing event there. Though I didn't stand in line to meet him I did have a moment with him where as he was being wheeled by (he is chair bound) a young lady stopped to shake his hand, he kissed hers. He looked up at me, I gave him a thumbs up and he gave me a smile. He gave me a foot to head look over, I was wearing my tweed jacket, wool vest, sottish hat look. In the modes of meeting people I felt like we had met.

When JV alerted me Tippy was there I walked over to meet her. Sleep deprivation and my slow mind was trying to formulate a greeting (I wanted to avoid say, "loved you in Birds.) She was speaking with someone and I though I had a few seconds more before she would turn to meet me. My mouth got tied up because I tried to say, "I don't mean to interrupt." "Excuse me." "I loved you in the Birds." "I loved your work." It's nice to meet yoy." etc. But what came out was an amalgamation of all those phrases and sounded like a babble. She laughed. We shook hands and I apologized for beign tongue-tied. She walked away laughing.

I performed impromptu magic quite a bit and my nail in nose was a hit. I did the balloon swallow as well and it quieted the room I was in. Tippy saw that and now I think she is convinced I am weirdo.

I was brought up on stage to assist Matt Marcy, comedy magician. It was the late show and he had a few drunk heclers. The portion I helped with went very well and I got lots of back slaps and "good jobs" from the audience after the show.

Saw John Carney, Brandon Scott, Kerry Ross, Matt Marcy, and Danny Cole do their stuff. Danny's Show was as creative and original as always. A couple of his new things interfed with the execution of a couple of his old things. But, wow, what a creative guy.

Also met Hugh O'Brien who played Wyatt Urp on TV along time ago. He was one of JC's magic students many years ago.

Slept in late this Monday morning so we missed the free b-fast. Going to hit some local places for shopping and eats.

Gold Sox and Canada

Our calendar is filling (PTL).
Here is the Public summer tour (private and corporate shows not listed):
I also want to mention that we are in negotiations for many dates beyond what is listed.

June 12 Gold Sox Baseball Game (In between innings entertainment and Strolling) Marysville, CA 6pm.

June 21-23 Tehema Libraries (Red Bluff, Corning and Los Molinos) Though we rarely do shows this small any more Sally at the T.L. took a chance on us 15 years ago when we were trying to get know in our area and has booked us every year. 10 AM

June 28-July3 Swift Current, SK Canada Frontier Days

July 6-10th Laurel Co Fair in London, KY (our 3rd year).....mmmm love them Weaver's Hot Dogs and can't wait to visit Sanders Cafe (KFC birthplace in Corbin). These people are the reason we want to move to Kentucky.

July 12-25 Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, KY (our 3rd year) We love the Jones and Gonzales family they too are why we love KY. Great fun!

August 2-15 Quassy Amusement Park, Middlebury, CT (our 2nd year)...always a pleasure to see the great folks of CT and of the Quassy family.

August 17-23 Delaware County Fair NY...the manager Gary and his family came to see us perform at our unprecedented second year at Ulster Fair last year and booked us on the spot for 2010...BTW that's what Quassy did the year before.

September 16-19 National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, IA (our second year). The history of this event is amazing and the people are aways very good audiences.

We are still working on bookings for WI, MI, NC, IN, and possibly TX. We will post them when things are inked in and not just penciled in.

Those in the know (this will sound cryptic to some): The DVD was FedExed today......they will have it in their hands tomorrow morning. What an adventure.

Let me know via email Kent@victorkent.com if you can come out to the Magic Castle on Sun the 31st or Mon. or Tue. Going down to play.

Updates and Pictures:

Recently we performed an all school invitational show at the Municipal Auditorium in Oroville, CA in our hometown. We introduced a few of our new things for 2010 including our Tribute to Eddie Foy and the Seven Little Foys. Titus, my disabled son's, class came to the show and his teacher took these pictures. We designed the costumes to match the Foy's costumes of 1913.

Eddie Foy and the Seven Little Foys.

Updates:

2010 rehearsals are in full swing and James has arranged the music for the opening number to be recorded by a small orchestra. The current version we have taped done on the piano has my part out of sinc with how I sing...not sure the musical term so watching it on tape is very awkward...

Please keep magician JC Dunn in your prayers he has been hit hard by that chest cold going around. He and I are planning a trip to LA this weekend, a tradition we do yearly.

Wowzers! Magic Castle H1N1 Canada TV

"Wowzers", as the gang from Scoobie Doo might say.

First "Wowzer": I am heading south to Hollywood this coming Sunday through Tuesday (Jan 31- Feb 3) for my once a year pilgrimage to the Magic Castle with my good friend and magician buddy, JC Dunn, life time member. It's always a treat to see old friends and make new ones and catch the wonderful acts. If you are in the area please let me know so we can meet up and share a little magic at the Castle.

Second "Wowzer": While down in Hollywood it was my hope that JC and I could go to the Children's hospital down there and cheer a few sad faces up with some tricks. But, just moments ago, I was informed by the Volunteer Services at the hospital that due to the H1N1 virus all activities like oura are currently banned. The woman explained that they didn't even get to do Christmas...No Santa Claus due to the H1 N1 hysteria.

Third "Wowzer": Things are shaping us for us to perform our show in Swift Current, SK, Canada the last day of June through the first weekend in July. There are a few hoops to jump through to get our animals through...turns out our snakes and bunnies are fine but our doves and cockatoo will have to be "papered-up" (health and import documentation) and possibly vet inspected at the border. Then there is the whole tax thing. And for our first time I might asked to be paid in Canadian dollars since the US dollar has fallen through the basement....thank you Mr. Bush, Obama, and Bernehke. I just read that many countries are choosing the Canadian dollar over the American dollar as investments. OK, I'll stop whining.

Fourth "Wowzer": A production company, once again, has expressed interest in using our family for a possible Docu-drama TV show. It would be blast to do a TV show, not to mention the exposure for our show and a boost for bookings. We are doing some home video taping of our rehearsals, practices and show related stuff for the producers. Even some interviews....we learned a lot form our past experiences that might help make this one's results better. I've learned, like a puppy whose had his nose slapped a few times too many, to not get my hopes up since TV is a very fickle media. We may still be "Too Sweet for TV".

Fifth "Wowzer": On the note of "Too Sweet for TV": I written a manuscript that we will either send off to be published or self publish via lulu.com about our family, our show, and our travels; the ups, the downs, and everything. Our family history and story is weaved around the thread of our four days with Discovery Studios and their taping of our family and show only to be left on the cutting room floor because we were "Too sweet for TV". Imagine that, by those standards most of the 1950s-early 1960s TV shows, and the Brady Bunch would never have been allowed on TV. Unless of course Greg was a drug addict, Marcia and Jan were lesbians, Cindy had a part time prostitution thing going with Peter as her pimp and Bobby was rock star who was struggling with his weight while Mr. Brady was having an affair with a guy (wait....never mind too easy) and Mrs. Brady was a closet drunk who had relations with Gerhaldo the pool boy...and they didn't have a pool. Boy do have an imagination! I should be a network boss.

On another note: our most ambitious expansion in a long time is going very well. Our new show for our three show rotation is going very well....Mami has been added to juggle a plunger, a spatula, and a baby doll (representing a wife-mother juggling life) and perform a very cool Seance Illusion, Jim is adding some new balancing and more extreme juggling, Amelia has added that new Mind reading affect I discussed in my last entry, Olivia is making TWO snakes magically appear, Miles will be doing more with he walking globe and adding a couple of new bull whip stunts and lasso tricks, Titus will make animals appear with specially made props to compensate his disabilities. We will also do a three man fire-eating routine. We have put our Impaled Illusion into the show and Cynthia gets to be the lucky one to balance then get impaled by a sword. And finally we have the whole salute to vaudeville with our tribute to the Seven Little Foys...dancing, singing, 1910s jokes, and original Foy music with some music rewritten by James as the Sheet music for certain songs are no longer available.

Princess Amelia's New Mentlist Trick

Princess Amelia, our family's mentalist, always wants to try new ways to read peoples minds. She currently does five differetn routines on stage during our show.

Below is a routine she and I developed over the last 24 hours.

Imagine this. You are invited on stage. You give us a dollar bill and as a receipt a quarter of the bill is torn off and given back to you...it contains the serial number of the bill. The rest of the bill is imeadiately wadded up and burned...all hands shown cleaning empty. As it burns Princess Amelia (no one stands near her) looks into the flame and then writes the serial number of the dollar bill onto a whiteboard. You read the number aloud confirming it is the same number of the bill that burned. Never once does she touch the bill nor does she ever get to look at the bill. She writes the number in full view of the audience and all is open for inspection (the white board, the pen, the ashes, the can the bill was burned in, and the surviving quarter of the bill that you have been holding the whole time.


Well, when she performed it for the whole family to get their reaction it was a hit. No one knew how she did it and all of them have been around this kind of stuff their entire lives.


Quiet cool!

Press Release from Quassy Park about us...

Hi Victor

Here’s where I’m headed with the 2010 story
Thanks again for the help

RON

MIDDLEBURY, Conn. – It will truly be a family affair this summer when Victor Kent, his wife, Mami, and seven children perform at amusement parks, fairs and festivals across the United States.
“It will be great to have the entire family on the road,” Victor said from his home in Oroville, Calif., where the Kent Family Magic Circus has been rehearsing for its 2010 tour.
As the veteran showman discussed the upcoming excursion, he was extremely excited to announce that the couple’s 12-year-old son, Titus, would be part of the act this year.
“Titus is disabled and will be joining the show on tour for the first time,” Victor pointed out. “He loves it (performing) and is doing an all-school show this week in our hometown in front of his special ed class and other students.”
The Kent Family Magic Circus returns Aug. 2-15 to Quassy Amusement Park’s Lakeside Theatre after a highly-successful, two-week run at the park in 2009.
“Mami has not performed as a regular with the family for 13 years,” Victor asserted, as she stayed home to care for Titus. She will be doing some juggling as well as an audience-participation “haunted house illusion” in the new production.
A Little Vaudeville
Also new to the Kents’ repertoire is an opening segment in tribute to Vaudeville legends Eddie Foy And The Seven Little Foys.
“It’s basically a short opener for our 2010 show,” Victor said of the production. Foy was a soft-shoe comedian in the glory days of variety entertainment during the early 1900s and worked with his seven children as well.
“We found some old footage of them performing, so we’ve incorporated a little dance and some jokes – not to mention a ton of money on authentic costumes and music from the era,” Victor explained. So we would get it right many hours of research were involved.
The Kent Family Magic Circus kicks into high speed from there with the tempo and style of shows audiences have raved about.
“We’ve simply added more talent and some new stuff for this year,” Victor continued. “One new act is the $100-100-foot rope challenge, which is one of the funniest routines we have.”
Escape Artist
Up to four audience members – children or adults – have the opportunity to tie up 9-year-old Victor Kent Jr. with 100 feet of rope. If the young escape artist can’t get out the mangled series of knots encasing him in the time allotted – the same time it took to tie him up – the Kent family will pay out $100 to each participant in the rope-tying act.
“I haven’t spent a dime as yet, except for the rope,” Victor quipped.
The other Kent children taking the stage this summer are: Jim, 20, Cynthia, 18, Miles, 16, Amelia, 7 and Olivia, 4.
Both Jim and Cynthia became members of Victor’s magic show before they were 5 years old. As for Victor, he has been performing since he was 7 and became a professional entertainer as a teenager.
“As each of our children joined the show, it meant leaving a toddler crying at the door when we left to go perform,” he said of incorporating the youngsters into the act. “It broke my heart leaving them behind, so I found ways to put our toddlers in the show. Some of them took to it like fish to water, while others were a little goofy onstage.”
‘Jugglin Jim’ – A Phenomenon
While performing at a summer fair, Jim, 10 at the time, met a juggler who started teaching the youngster some routines.
Enthused about his newly-discovered art, Jim worked up an act of his own and began performing in the family’s show in 1999, bringing variety to what was generally a magic-only performance.
Today he is known as “Jugglin’ Jim” and wows audiences with a variety of stunts using pins, flaming wands, spinning tops and a unicycle.
Quassy audiences were awe-struck last summer when he balanced a wheelbarrow and six foot stepladder on his chin. (This year they will have a 10' ladder with them.)
Between shows, Jim entertained the park crowds as a stilt-walker and juggler, engaging guests along the walkways and in the restaurant with his unique talents.
The Kents will again bring their unique walk-around style of entertainment to the park again this summer with, stilt-walking, juggling and costume character appearances in between the stage shows.
The Act Is Born
In 2003 the Kent Family Magic Circus was officially born, making a transition from what was formally known as the Kent Family Magic Show.
“By the time the kids turn 10, they each decide which direction they want to go with the show,” Victor reflects.
Cynthia turned to clowning but is also an integral part of numerous illusion acts. The current production is billed as being a “magical, Vaudeville, variety, circus-like show.”
Meet ‘Indiana Miles’
Then there is “Indiana Miles,” who has become a master of the bullwhip by snapping a finger trap out of Victor’s mouth with a single stroke.
“He has caught me accidently with it (whip) on occasion,” Victor said of the act.
The most memorable incident was when the fall of the whip hit Victor on the head.
“The fall (the long part that connects the whip body to the cracker) came around my head and face, and as the cracker made its ‘crack,’ it hit the finger trap. It was a once in a lifetime shot and quite hilarious.”
A startled Victor was uninjured by the miscue though the cracker of the whip – traveling 900 mph – left some “road burn” on one cheek.
Victor, Jr., Amelia and Olivia all have their place in the show as they assist with illusions and some of the circus-style acts.
“Because the kids have grown up knowing we have to be on the stage, they are ready when it’s time to perform,” Victor said of the children.
No DVDs or iPods
The family performs around 300 shows a year, with a huge schedule usually piling up during the summer months at amusement parks, fairs and festivals.
And while countless hours are sometimes spent in the van between stops, the children are not entertained with DVDs, video games or iPods.
As a result, Victor says, they are forced to do “old-fashioned” things such as keeping journals, reading, drawing pictures and occasionally listening to old time radio shows on cd.
Cynthia, an AP student, has had a massive amount of summer homework to take with during recent July and August tours. The other Kent children are also expected to keep up with their studies in between shows.
“Our children attend a Christian school from kindergarten through grade six,” Victor said of their education. They are home schooled during grades seven and eight and then go to public high school.
“They go to high school for different reasons,” he pointed out. Jim went for band, while Cynthia, a natural hurdler, attended for sports. Miles, on the other hand, is the athletic captain for the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at school.
Academically, the Kent children are all 4.0 students.
“We have what we call the first-time obedience rule in our household,” Victor noted, “so if I’m counting out loud the kids know it’s too late.
“As a Christian family, we base our beliefs and attitudes on our faith. In large families such as ours, the older kids help a lot when it comes to taking care of the younger ones and the young kids learn to respect their older siblings. That makes traveling a lot easier.”
During the extended periods away from home, Victor calls Mami at least three times a day.
The family also collects butterflies during its summer tour – acquiring them in as many states as they can.
Numerous families they have met throughout their travels have also adopted the Kents through their Web site blog.
What To Expect
The Kents will be rotating three different shows during their 2010 Quassy appearance, allowing guests to return to see different illusions and circus-style acts.
“It doesn’t matter what you perform, so long as you entertain the crowd,” the veteran performer noted. “Someday we’ll settle down in one location as the kids develop outside interests. I’ve learned to constantly adjust and accept wherever God takes us.”
For more information about the Kent Family Magic Circus visit www.kentfamilymagiccircus.com.
For more information about Quassy Amusement Park visit www.quassy.com

Update: Recordning Studio plus

A few weeks ago I discovered Cynthia was blessed with an awesome singing voice. We wanted to add her version of "Down to the River" to our show. But we needed two part harmony to go with her. To hire singers for the road is expensive in so many ways. So we went into Wylde Side Studios in Oroville, an honest to goodness professional recording studio in Oroville, CA and had Cynthia record the song then record the harmony. Using computer software the harmony recordings were altered to sound a bit different from her voice and voila we had her harmony section. We will continue to search for a couple of good male voices to harmonize with her and record them. But for now this will do.

The Bear in the green room.

It's a secret but we have several big things in the works that I hope to share with you all soon.

Buddy, JC, and I will make our yearly pilgrimage to the Magic Castle in Hollywood Jan 31-Feb2 come and lets us sup.

Don't forget God loves you all and has a plan for your life if you let Him. He's never let us down and has changed our lives. Give Him a chance....and I'm not talking Religion for I'm talking relationship and changing of you from inside out.

Show #1 a Success

Though the Municipal Auditorium is an echoey building it is an honor to perform in one of the oldest and honorable buildings in Oroville. It's a pale shadow of what it was; it once had a facade that looked like a giant juke box and had a second mezzanine level. But with the history of what was once known as the Exposition Building, built to house the annual Orange and Olive Festival of 100 years ago, and has seen famous vaudeville act, boxing tournaments, and the march off of the Dough Boys en route to the battlefield in WWI, it was and honor to perform there.

We produced this show for the school children on Oroville and invited all the schools..at only $2.00 a head it's not like we are going for a gold mine or a profit. We just like to take this time each year (during our slow season) to give the community an inexpensive way for schools to have fun. A lot of the stuff in our show can't be done on school grounds anymore due to the zero tolerance for fire, machete, axes, etc. Hard to believe kids in this area used to take squirrel guns to school with them and go shooting rats near the river on their way home. So much has changed.

Today's show went well. With so much new stuff there were glitches but the audience was generally unaware of them. The biggest glitch was the need for everyone in our cast to be mic-ed up. The opening Foy routine played well but with the echoey building the music over played the singing voices in the opening song. The jokes, and silliness got laughs and the dancing was charmingly bad...exactly what the Foys did a hundred years ago.

Victor's $100 rope tie challenge ended with me relinquishing $400 of products from out magic shop as Victor failed to get out of the rope but only because the ropes were hung up in his pants and he refused to drop his drawers so daddy had to pay.

Mami, aka Juggling Mama, juggled well and received much applause from the welcoming crowd. her largest audience in 13 years.

Titus was thrilled to perform his animal tricks as his class room showed up with full enthusiasm. It was nice to have him in the show. During the show he like to watch the show but his view was blocked by a backdrop and that set him to crying. Fortunately the audience was unaware as the music drowned out the crying. Had he been able to see the stage better he would've been happier. This is one of the difficulties of working with a special needs child.

The local news showed up and filmed nearly the whole show and interview many kids from the audience and then me afterwards. I will see if I can get the footage.

A good start to what promises to be our best year ever.

First Show Of 2010

After a forced relaxation of nearly one month we perform our first show of 2010 on Friday the 15th. We will introduce and test run our "Salute the Vaudeville and Eddie Foy & the Seven Little Foy". Over the past year a ton of research on the Foys including Internet research, Foy's Autobiography (very rare and hard to find), and the Foy Biography (also rare and hard to find), as well as researching their early music and obtaining original sheet music and even an old Vitaophone video of the Young Foys performing was found. Chasing down music original to the Foys was tough work but we found some in mp3 format on line, others we had to have musicians recreate from the sheet music and one piece, "Greatest Father of the All" the first song in our routine, written by Bryan Foy and William Jerome, had to be recreated by James (my son). He wrote it by ear and had a Friend play it on the piano keeping that old 1900s feel.

Then of course there is the costumes. We took old photos of the Foys in 1913 and found or made patterns that best reproduced the costumes. We then hired a seamstress, Jane Miller, and had her make the costumes up. Finding the right shoes has been a task and we are still in the process there but for now everyone is in patten leather black.

Next each of the kids had to learn to tap dance. And though they are still new to it, and it shows, it's all good, because that was the charm of the Foys...they weren't great dancers either. As they matured a few got pretty darn good. Victor Jr. will even be doing his Foy Counter part, Irving's, Cossack dance. Miles will attempt his rendition of Eddie Foy Jr's Rubber man dance.

We've kept the humor and even added the idioms and language of the era. Cynthia will tell a joke Madeline Foy used to perform in the form of a gruesome version of Little Red Riding Hood. Victor will do an old Eddie Jr mind reading joke. Jim will play the guitar in the form of Richard Foy's mandolin playing for the "Bye Bye Baby" closing song.

Finally since Foy was famous for his drag (entirely different to today's drag) I will appear as Eddie did with his kids in that 1913 publicity picture. Eddie was in his 50s when he undertook this venture with his kids and I am in my 40s. He was famous for his physical, acrobatic dancing. I think the age disparity helps put me as a lousy dancer in line with him as an old dancer thus equalling us out a little bit.

We will video the show for educational purposes but will not post it unless it is in some way outstanding.