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Thanks to everybody who made the Vernon Sunshine Festival possible. Also a big thank you to the Marble Slab Creamery who sponsored my shows for the event.

In the morning I performed on the main stage:

Then in the afternoon I did 3 street shows:

The weather was PERFECT for an outdoor festival that day. I hope I get the chance to return again next year, I had a great time.

Last weekend I performed at Zellers as part of their “A-Z Event”. They were having a huge sale on items all over the store (check your local Zellers) and had a number of special events going on including the Westbank Rotary “Poop for the park” raffle sale, hot dog stand by the Westbank Food Bank, and Ali K. Zam providing a bit of magical entertainment.

I was hired to perform for 2 hours at the store entrance as people came in. For this event I decided to draw big crowds, perform visual tricks, and create as much of a “buzz” as possible. Well I’m glad I decided to take this approach because it went perfectly and the reactions were just wonderful.

[Ali K. Zam building the crowd at Zellers in Westbank.]

From my experience performing at festivals I was able to quickly build a crowd. I didn’t even get a chance to fully setup before I had a huge group watching on.

In this next picture I had a little boy help me use magic to make him a Magicians hat. I often reserve this for my children’s show, but since this was a family event I just knew it would go over well.

[Just a few tears in the tissue paper and it magically turns into a magicians hat.]

To finish off each of my mini-performance’s I decided it would be fun to predict what people came into Zellers to buy. I tried it with 3 different people at the end of the show and each time I was 100% correct! I had multiple people come up to me after they were done shopping to tell me just how amazed they were by the performance.

[Ali K. Zam predicting exactly what people came into Zellers to buy. For this show it was a haircut, shoes, and a Gloria women's.]

This show was such a blast to perform. I’ve already got some street shows like this lined up for some upcoming summer festivals. I can’t wait! As my public performance dates get closer I’ll post the show information here. Keep checking back for updates.

( Go to this contest page to enter the Zellers A-Z contest for a 2008 Ford Edge. You have to enter before April 25th.)

Last weekend I performed at a very special event called the Sunshine Dreams for Kids and performed some close-up mingling magic. More than 80 “special kids” - all “Sunshine Dreams for Kids” - from Penticton to Kamloops came to play Sunday at Scandia Golf & Games. This is the 11th Annual and for all these kids, it’s a real treat. Scandia has given a Sunday morning each year when these kids can come and play games to their hearts content, all with Scandia’s compliments.

I’d like to personally thank all the other people who got on board to support this event. Bunsmaster in Pentiction supplied free pizza and Coca Cola for supplying free drinks. Ace Plumbing and Airtec Heating provided oodles of toys which were given away as prizes. U.P.S. Westbank produced the invitations that originally were sent to all Sunshine Dreams for Kids who had received the Dreams in past years. And of course, all the volunteers who made the event possible (Thanks Karen!)

The Daily Courier wrote up a nice little article about the event. You can click on the image below to read the whole article.

Whenever I goto a birthday party show one of my favorite things is to see how the area has been decorated. For birthday parties sometimes just a tidy up has been done, other times I feel like I’ve walked into a Martha Stewart photo-shoot with everything perfectly placed, and occasionally parents goto the extreme and there’s decorations everywhere! That last one is my favorite.

Like I said in my Birthday Party Tips page, if you do nothing else, make sure you put something outside your house to let people know they’ve found the right place. The easiest way to do this is to mark your address sign with some balloons. If your front door faces the street, another idea is to get one of those door banners. Below is a photo of a great idea I saw at a party recently, they put out a chalkboard sign welcoming everyone.

Once again, for getting the inside of your house ready for a party I’m going to direct you to my party tips page it really has the bare bones of everything you need to know. Decorating your walls with playing cards, streamers, balloons, colored plates, cups, and napkins is the easiest way to create a magical atmosphere. Also, don’t forget the music, its the easiest way to let everyone know its party time!

The performance area can be decorated a number of ways as well. Again, the standard route is to just tidy up the area and make sure that toys and things are put away. Most of the time the kids will just on the floor, but having the kids sit on cushions, or sitting in kids chairs can work well too. Setting up a curtain against the wall to make the space look like a theater works well, or adding a curtain to the entrance way. Another idea is to give each of the kids a “ticket” to see the show at the start of the party, and you collect them back from the kids before they enter the room to see the show.

I hope you like these ideas and if you have anything to add please comment below!

Last weekend I went to Maple Ridge for a performance. I got to perform at “The Act” which was absolutely beautiful inside. I was performing in the Genstar studio as seen before. (the picture is from The Act’s website)

The staff there was wonderful to work with too. I spoke with them beforehand on the phone and arranged the details for setting up the room, lighting, and staging, and the gentleman that I spoke with was highly professional and when I showed up everything was setup exactly as promised. I love it when that happens

The event itself was a customer appreciation lunchon with a buffet and then some entertainment. I was hired to do some mingling magic during the lunch hour while everybody stood in line for their food, and while people were finishing up eating. After lunch I did a 45minute family stage show. The show was so much fun, and right from the start of the show they were captivated, and great to perform for. It was just one of those shows where you have instant rapport with the audience. I find performing mingling magic before a stage show helps so much because I already know the audience and little, and they’ve been given a change to get to know me and my personality. Here’s a photo from the event that my mom took for me. (Thanks mom!)

After the show I checked with the client and they thought everything was wonderful. All of the staff were super nice and very easy to work with. We took this group photo and they’re going to put it up on their office wall. Very cool.

After the show I like to mingle and hear people’s reactions from the show. I love hearing feedback from people and hearing stories about magic in other peoples lives. In fact, the next day after the show I received an email from a lady who was in the audience. She had this to say. (Name used with permission)

Thanks so very much for today (Saturday 2 Feb). Luncheon was lovely BUT YOU put the “icing on the cake” as the saying goes
Two deaths this past week… have pretty much made life miserable…YOU were just what I needed. I just can’t quite find the words to say enough on how grateful I am. Thank you for caring for people. Thank you for learning a skill that makes people feel great. What a wonderful world you help to make!

Thank you
June

Wow! Its great to be able to brighten people’s day’s like that. Magic has helped me so much in my own life, and I’m glad I’m able to pass it onto others as well.

I look forward to returning to Maple Ridge for another performance.

Again, I love magic. I just have to shout it out to the world. This weekend I had a show in Maple Ridge BC. I’ll talk about the show itself in my next though.

Today I got a chance to visit Clownin Around Magic Store in Grandville Island. I’ve only ever been to just a few magic shops. We got lost on our way though and we made it there just before they closed. I was able to pick up a couple things I didn’t want to order online because of the size. There wasn’t really anything too special but Joe who was running the counter stayed a few minutes after closing and helped me with a couple questions. It’s sad that physical magic stores are a dying breed, I never got the chance to hang out in a magic shop like lots of the stories i hear about from the old timers It’s all web stores, newsletters, and hyped up media clips. Oh, don’t worry Aaron, I’ve still got an order for you too.

I don’t really get a chance to see other performers very often. It reminds me of the PCAM convention. They had 2 big screens so everybody in the room could see fine. Even though sometimes I couldn’t tell what was going on, or my visability was limited, I chose to watch the people live instead of the screens. I can watch magicians at home on DVD or on my computer, but I dont get to see them live. Often the routines were things I had already seen on Tv/DVD before, and I didn’t go all the way to Calgary to watch it again on a screen, even if it was “live footage” heh.

Anyways, thats all for now. I’m posting from the hotel room right now, but once I get back home I have some photo’s I”ll show of my show and some other stuff that happened on my trip.

I love performing magic because it lets me do things that ordinary people don’t get to do. Two nights ago I had an amazing opportunity to help someone PROPOSE to his girlfriend! Lets call him David and Jessica. David and Jessica had seen me at a Christmas party back in December and they both loved my performance. He thought it would be the perfect way to do something unique and to pop the question.

Quite honestly, I was really nervous about it all. What was I going to perform? How was it all going to work? We talked back and forth by email and phone and arranged all the details in about 2 days.

The plan was he was going to propose over dinner at “The Fixx Cafe” just after they received their drinks. I would be at the bar having a drink until the right moment when he was to signal me over.

I arrived super early and brought my girlfriend along as well. We sat around playing with cards and showing some of the wait staff and the bartender some tricks.

They arrived, ordered drinks, and he motioned me over just as planned. I was really nervous- I never get that nervous anymore. I knew what was a stake though- they were going to remember this performance for the rest of their lives! I went up and pretended I didn’t quite remember which show they were from and I asked if they wanted to see some magic. They both eagerly agreed and I showed them some of my classic performance items. It felt great to perform. As soon as I went into my material I was calm, collected, a zen moment. Cards jumping around to impossible locations, flash mathematical calculations, and metal softening and melting between my fingertips- I was born to do this.

During my performance he made lots of comments and asked lots of questions, He was clearly nervous, nobody ever makes that many comments. But I was in the zen mastering the situation, nothing could shake me now. I finished my last regular item and prepared to launch into the big trick! I asked if they would like to see one more trick before I left, something new.

This was the big moment. I could see David reaching into his pocket and pulling out the ring box, not that Jessica noticed. She was busy listening to me set-up the trick. David knew exactly how the trick was going to work, we had discussed it at length that morning. I adapted a trick that I’ve only performed a few times especially for this occasion. She would win an envelope that “contained a description of a prize that she could take home and keep forever and ever”. She joked “Maybe it’s you inside” while looking to me, “That wouldn’t be a very good prize” I said as I laughed. I completed the routine and she won the correct envelope. I then excused myself from the table and instructed them to open the envelope together.

She had no idea what was in store!

Inside the envelope was, of course, a description of her boyfriend and how they are perfect for each other. She opened it up, and read it out. He pulled out the ring box, set it on the table and pushed it towards her. He then got down on one knee beside the table.

At this point I was back over at the bar with my girlfriend, the bartender, and the entire waitstaff. We all watched on. We were too far away to hear, but she suddenly through her arms around him and began to kiss. And kiss. And kiss. Another table in the back corner began to clap. He then went back to his chair, and that’s when she got up and went over and sat on his lap.

She said yes.

I’m just glad she won the right prize!