What a privilege to be performing in such a beautiful place! Everyone here – the staff, administration, and technical crew – were great to work with. We were told that our tickets had been selling well since September 07 (about 800 already sold by November 07) so they were expected a fairly full house. We were almost at capacity – and there’s not a bad seat in this place!
Load in and set up went very smoothly. Mary Havey and her team were awesome – and a real joy to work with. Doors opened promptly at 7:30pm and the crowd began to flow in to find their seats. Andre and Kathy Kole arrived around 6:30pm so we brought them backstage and into the Green Room to visit and grab a quick bite to eat. Keith got them to their seats once the doors were opened. All of our other guests also arrived in spite of crazy Los Angeles traffic!
I was really pleased with the show. I thought it looked good, the lighting was beautiful, the sound was crisp, and the audience was responsive. We’ve already received several emails from audience members – families – sharing their comments with us. And in the lobby afterwards, I had the chance to visit with many, many people. Once I wrapped up in the lobby, Cindy and I went to the Green Room to visit with our guests – Jim Steinmeyer and Frankie Glass, Andre and Kathy Kole, Margaretrose and Lloyd Robinson, Rick Marcelli, and Peter Kaikko and his lovely wife. We’ve added so many new illusions to the show since most of the people have seen us so it was good to hear their comments and feedback. After all, two of the most brilliant minds in magic were in that room – Kole and Steinmeyer!
This morning, we were up to make the journey to Big Bear Lake for our Sunday afternoon show. Big Bear Lake is only 140 miles from Long Beach BUT it’s almost straight up the mountain. We tried to find a “truck route” but none of these roads were all that great for trucks. As a matter of fact, the road we were on had several warning signs saying that truck over 30′ were not advised to take this route. We’re more than double that but we made our way up the mountain slowly. There weren’t very many descents, we only climbed…and climbed…and climbed all the way to 8500 feet from 82 feet! I had no idea this place was so far up in the mountains! Once we hit the summit, we descended back down to 6400 feet and the city of Big Bear Lake. I’m NOT excited about the trip DOWN from here on Monday!!
This is a beautiful resort community situated on a huge lake. The roads are not very big and the lodges are tucked away into the woods. There was no way to get the truck and trailer into these places so we dropped the trailer at the Performing Arts Center.
We checked into our hotel and then found an excellent Thai restaurant in town called PONGS. The food was amazing – and it was Ethan’s first taste of Thai. It was nice to just sit around and relax….until I got attacked by a Grizzly Bear!
