Thursday, April 28, 2011

A Very Unusual School Show

In Hampton, VA, we went to a school where they had never before allowed anyone like us to come. However, the principal was only going to send about 100 of the students to the assembly. That was fine with us. It was going to feel small considering we were in the auditorium that seated 850. We were okay with it though. Right before we began, one of the youth pastors said that it was an even smaller crowd. When Brock walked out onstage for his first illusion, he noticed that only the first 2 rows of the middle section were taken...35 people in that big auditorium.

Then, as Brock was onstage doing his first effect, one of the youth pastors came running up to me backstage. He nervously began, "I don't know what is up with this principal..." "What is it?" I interrupted. "Every single person in the audience is special needs and he needs to know that!" The guy said pointing his finger back at Brock onstage. "Yes, he does," I replied.

I went out onstage and informed Brock. He took it like a champ. He seemed to know exactly what to do. He could not change any of the show since he was already onstage and could not set up anything new. However, he adapted a few things. For example, he had me turn the music down. He did not touch the students that came onstage as volunteers even to put them in the right spot as he usually did. He allowed them to stand wherever they wished. The only thing that he did not know how to adapt was the envelops trick. This is where he gives three students an opportunity to choose an envelop. One has $100 in it. In the end, Brock always wins the $100. Of course, he gives them a consolation prize, and then he talks about making the right choices. He did not see how to do this with special needs students, so he gave one of them the money. They all ended up loving it and the principal was very pleased. She said to call her whenever they were offering another school assembly. In the future, she would let her whole school attend!

After it was over, I asked how Brock seemed to know what to do. We had never done a show exclusively for special needs people. He said that on the way to the school that day, he was reading his Magic magazine. He happened to be reading an article about how to do a magic show for special needs people. Wow! That was totally God!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Biggest Month Ever

We just had the biggest month we have ever had in the last 12 years of doing this. We went to Hampton, VA where we did school shows and a big 2 hour show each night Monday-Wednesday of the first week. Then, we drove to Virginia Beach and performed that Thursday night. Then, we drove 7 hours to Charlotte, NC to perform the following night. We left early Saturday morning in order to hang out with our friend, Will Graham, at the Cove in Asheville, NC. We got tickets to tour the Biltmore Mansion there. Brock, me, and our intern, Andrea, were joking around as we first began the tour. Brock kept asking everyone where Walt Disney slept or where the Elvis albums were displayed (acting as if it was their house). After about an hour walking around the huge house, we were done! Our feet could not carry us any further. I think we would have enjoyed it more if we had done it on the front end of that week instead of at the end. However, we met up with Will after that and had a great time.

Then, we came home and had one day there. Monday we drove all day to DeRidder, LA. We did 3 school shows on Tuesday, 2 school shows on Wednesday, and a big 2 hour show Wednesday night. Then, we had a 6 day stretch where we did 7 shows in Florida, Texas, Missouri, and back to Texas. Whew! It's making me tired just thinking about it.

We were definitely pushed to our limits, but we made it! Now, we leave Friday to go on a two week vacation. I will tell you a few stories from this last big month...