Tyroni's Update

As many of you will know, Tyroni's Italian Cafe in Bartonville has been a regular performance spot for me for the past nine years. Starting this month, we'll be making some changes in my schedule there.

So please note that if you were planning to come see me at what would have been my normal spot this Wednesday, April 1, I won't be there.

Rather than the same monthly spot I've been doing for some time, I'll be appearing on "special-event nights" that will be announced through the Tyroni's website and mailing list.  I'll also be announcing my dates here on my blog, on my Facebook page, and my other social media. Stay tuned for further updates for specific dates and times...

Magic Word Newsletter

Here's a LINK to my latest newsletter. And if you'd like to be on my email list to receive my newsletters directly and keep abreast of my latest activities, visit my RESOURCE PAGE to sign up where it says "Free Ebook".

Great New Event Planning Resource

If you're planning an event at which you'll be selling tickets, you'll want to know about a great new online ticketing solution called EveryEventGives.com.  Not only do they offer all the same services at the same price as the leading online ticket provider, but they also donate $0.50 out of every ticket sold to the charity of your choice.  And they're constantly adding new event services and resources, so make sure you check them out!  A great way to simplify your event planning and give something back to a worthwhile cause.

New Restaurant FREE SHOW Contest

Would you like to wow your friends by winning an astounding free magic show from yours truly? I'm currently seeking to develop relationships with a couple of new restaurants for regular close up magic performances and in-house promotions. And you can help! I do have a few candidate restaurants that I'm talking with now, but I'm looking for other ideas as well.

Here's the Contest:
Do you know someone who owns a restaurant that would like to dramatically increase their repeat business? Or can you think of a restaurant where you'd like to see me perform?  If you suggest a restaurant and your suggestion turns into a regular performance spot for me, I'll treat you and your guests to my Close up Magic Show (ideal for small, intimate groups... and is guaranteed to blow them away!), and it's on me!

My restaurant magic promotions are geared to help the right restaurants increase their business, generate powerful word-of-mouth advertising, and leave customers absolutely raving about the great time they had, and just dying to tell their friends about it. In addition to my unforgettable magic and my ability to make customers feel they've been treated like royalty, I also provide a variety of valuable promotional tools, publicity, and marketing services. It's literally a no-brainer PR, marketing, and promotional campaign, all at a price that's ridiculously affordable for what I offer.

Ideal Restaurant Candidates:

• Within 40 miles of Canton (could include Peoria, Morton, Macomb, Galesburg, East Peoria, Pekin, etc., etc.)
• A fun, friendly atmosphere bar and grill, sports bar restaurant, or other similar entertainment-oriented eatery. Family-friendly but with a bar crowd can also work.
• Prefer locally owned, but chains with strong local ties might also work well.
• Should have a strong, loyal following but with some room for improvement.
• Preferred customer base:  upper middle income, professionals.

So have you got the perfect place in mind? Think you've got that free show all sewn up? EMAIL ME your suggestions today!  Send as many suggestions as you like, and if one of them turns into a new performance relationship for me, you'll get that FREE CLOSE UP MAGIC SHOW!

Winners will be announce here on my blog, as well as on my Facebook page and other social media sites.

More Fun with Garry and Gina

Here I am with Garry Moore and Gina Morss on News 25 Today from earlier this morning.

Post by News 25 Today.

On AM TV

Tomorrow morning is my monthly appearance on WEEK-TV's News 25 Today.  If you're up early, be sure to tune in!

Article on Successful Corporate Events

Here's an article I just found on what it takes to make a successful corporate event.  It's entitled:
"That last 10% makes a corporate event succeed or fail", and it has some straight-forward advice about attention to details that really apply to planning any type of event.

Miraculous Rescue

Several police officers called to the scene of an accident in the Spanish Fork River in Utah all claimed they heard a mysterious voice calling them to rescue a toddler from a car submerged in water.
Here's a link to the FULL STORY.

The Magic of Mindfulness

Mindfulness practices and meditation have recently become quite popular for stress relief and a variety of other health-related benefits. Mindfulness simply means the practice of paying attention to the experience of the present moment. Being mindful can simply entail stepping back mentally and noticing the specific elements of your present moment experience, paying attention to thoughts, feelings, sensations, and other aspects of present moment awareness.  (As opposed to getting lost in mind wandering and being caught up in a focus on past, future, worry, anxiety, judgement, guilt, and other negative mental and emotional states.)

The magic of mindfulness practice is that it allows us to fully appreciate whatever we are experiencing right this moment, and brings peace of mind and a much healthier state.  While this might seem a bit abstract, it also has some very practical applications as well.

Over the past several weeks, I've used a form of mindfulness meditation to significantly reduce and manage some rather severe flu symptoms.  Over the holidays we spent a lot of time with family members in intimate, enclosed spaces, many of whom were battling the flu bug that's been going around. My immune system apparently succumbed to the constant contact, and I came down with a really nasty case of the flu.

 

I began experiencing a hacking cough, fever, nausea and upset stomach, and a splitting headache.  In practicing mindfulness, in each case, I simply discipline myself to relax and pay attention to the particular discomfort, becoming aware of it as a sensation in my body, and also similarly become aware of my breathing and how it feels in my body as I take each inhalation and exhalation.

 

Even my seemingly relentless coughing has been calmed by this approach.  Almost without exception, as I become aware of the discomfort, I begin to realize that without being fully aware of it, I've been "resisting" the pain or discomfort.  For example as I experience the nearly unavoidable need to begin coughing my brains out, as I begin to pay closer attention to what I'm feeling in my body, I notice that I'm resisting the coughing by constricting the muscles in my chest, abdominals, and lower back, and that as I become aware of this, I can also feel that the tension itself has significantly increased my need to cough.  As I become more aware of the tension I'm holding, I'm able to release it, my breathing becomes less constricted, and my need to cough decreases, sometimes even going away entirely.

 

With the headaches, I also focus very specifically on the exact location and sensation of the pain and discomfort.  Almost without exception, I find areas where I'm resisting and holding tension, often in my facial muscles, neck, shoulders, etc., and to the degree that I can locate them and just "notice" them rather than resisting, I'm able to relax and relieve the discomfort.

 

The same is true with the other symptoms as well.

 

I've written briefly about a similar experience with this in my book: A Call to Magic - the Artful Science of Transforming Self and World.  http://bookShow.me/147932034X

 

Try this practice the next time you have a headache or other discomfort and see if you can learn to relieve your own symptoms through mindfulness.  It's certainly been a magical practice for me.

Magical First Wednesday

This Wednesday is the day -- you know the one -- the day you can see my astounding magic at Tyroni's in Bartonville.  The last two months have been bad weather, so if you've missed me, be sure to be there this Wednesday, March 4.  I'll be there from 5:00 to 7:30 PM.  Hope to see you then!