In Spain, Juan Tamariz is a household name. He can’t walk down the street without someone recognizing him and possibly even wanting to see a trick. Last night I had one of the greatest opportunities I’ve ever had. I got a chance to see Juan Tamariz perform live at the Magic Castle! From playing an air violin to scaring the crap out of people who are unfamiliar with his excited screams, the close to 2 hour show was nothing short of amazing. Tamariz has a very unique yet remarkable way of performing because he is very animated, very loud and loves to joke around but yet never comes off as obnoxious. I actually knew how to perform several of the tricks that he did last night, however, he brought new light to those effects simply with his style (and some very corny jokes… and yes.. I laughed at everyone of them). His performance made some of us tap into that child-like astonishment from the simplest things that Paul Harris talks a lot about. After his show started, I did myself a favor and didn’t sit there and “try to catch him” but instead just enjoyed seeing one of the world’s masters do what he does best… make us love magic more, help us love our audience and make us want to be better performers. Below is a picture of me with Mr. Tamariz.

I also got had an opportunity to meet and hang out with Aaron Fisher. This was also amazing because for quite some time I have been a little afraid of reading Aaron’s book, ‘The Paper Engine’. Why? I didn’t wanna look like a chump. This is one of the biggest reasons that I don’t perform in front of my magic friends. I very quickly realized that that has been a big mistake. Last night, Aaron kept asking me to “show him something” and I would keep evading him, admitting my fear.  Finally, I decided to show him something. I decided to do the only trick I could think of at the moment, Dai Vernon’s ‘Twisting The Aces’. The version that I did was actually Wayne Houchin’s handling from his DVD Art of Magic… or at least I thought I was doing that. Although Wayne’s instructions are very clear, I still somehow managed to learn it incorrectly… go figure. Aaron quickly helped me see what I was doing wrong and how to correct it.  I’m actually very relieved that I ended up showing him something. I know I’ll do more of that in the future because it was really helpful to get the type of feedback he gave me. Thanks, Aaron!