Here is an article about Andre' Kole that many of you may be interested in (July/August 2008). I don't remember if the link was ever posted before or not.

http://www.worldwidechallenge.org/2008/julaug084.html

Terry

Good article. Thanks for posting.

Thanks!

Thank you Terry. Wow - it would be one of my big dreams to see live a show of Andre and meet him personaly.

I coordinated three of Andre' Koles' programs in Kalamazoo- two at the beautiful three tiered Chenery Auditorium and one at the massive Miller Auditorium on Western Michigan University's campus. Same auditorium where the touring company of Phantom of the Opera was at. Andre' was an absolute delight to work with- extremely laid back- even dressed in a business suit hours before the program began. Hope I am not out of school here- but as all three of our programs were fundraisers for a local homeless shelter: Kalamazoo Gospel Mission (and we were financially successful in all three shows)- Andre' would accept no fees from us up front and we simply split the ticket take at the end after our expenses paid. Just fantastic that he would do that, he trusted us to do our jobs promoting the programs (and we did). I remember hauling Andre' on a moment's notice over to a local radio station to promote that evening's program, and of course, Andre' was terrific asking all the silly questions asked of him about "magic" by the excited WKZO DJ. At that evening show, of course, it was the DJ's head in the head chopper, so it made for great free publicity. Almost a total sell out in an enormous auditorium - we were thrilled. At the WMU show, it was Robin Hook "The Voice of the Broncos" whose head was in the chopper. All three shows over the years in Kalamazoo that I was involved with went absolutely flawless, not one single "glitch" in any aspect of the show- performance, timing, lights or sound. That is a true professional at work. I must admit my favorite effect was the Statute of Liberty vanish (Andre's was about 12 feet high if I recall correctly). I think Andre' designed it orginally for Copperfield obviously, I am not sure if Andre's walking on water was copied by Cris Angel or not (or if Andre' worked on it with him- probably the same method used). Andre's mystical milk in the lamp/bulb routine also was terrific- as were the other larger illusions performed. For one show Andre' parked his truck by a U.S. Army recruiting center/National Guard Amory by the airport before the Kalamazoo show (we had permission to park it there from a nearby businessman)- right after/the same week as 9/11- I then got a call from the Kalamazoo police to verify it was "magic" in this out of state truck parked so near to the row of Army vehicles... We were worried about the crowd that particular night- still almost had a full house and Andre' of course talked about 9/11 that evening and I think may have done a Blendo or something using an American Flag- can't exactly recall- but it was the perfect thing to do.

Loved the article, Terry! What a testimony Andre Kole has!

What an interesting personal connection, MagicBus!

I recall seeing Andre perform at what is now Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri years ago. He performed the walking on water feat in a large glass tank! I thoroughly enjoyed his performance!

I'd love to see him again! Now that I think about it, I need to find his schedule of appearnces.