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JesterMan Veteran user Maryland, USA 319 Posts |
I'm not sure how I missed putting this in before, but here goes...
I was born in a little shack in Tulsa ---No, wait, that was someone else. (Tulsa, yes; shack, no) Sometime during my 15 years or so living in the Philadelphia, PA suburbs, I became interested in the magical arts. Most often, I credit a seminarian interning with my father with truly sparking my interest. He taught me what I lovingly refer to as the trick that every boy must learn to get into puberty (The 3-piles/21 card trick). It was a couple/few years later that I began my earnest studying, oddly enough by visiting a shop while waiting to see another form of entertainment-said shop owned by a reputed magician-hater. (I think "The Wiz, the Best There is" still cringes at the mention of his name. The guy was a 'load'.) I bought a small wonder, and then went back, and back, and back, until I got a job there in my senior year of High School. (Bryan Dean was also employed there.) I performed all over the Philly area at many birthday parties, hospitals, eldercare centers, and churches, etc. While working at the shop, I began to perform at some restaurants. I quit the shop around this time (just before my 18th birthday-1977), and opened a small store in an indoor flea market for the x-mas season. Plans to move into a 'real' mall vanished when my even younger buddy pulled out of the venture- he decided that he liked being a kid better than being an entrepreneur. I stuck around Philly almost another year, then moved to MD, but continued to perform at times in PA, while getting into 'the market' around DC. For a brief while in the late 70's, and early 80's, I was exclusively earning money from magic/entertainment, and other endeavors of a sleazy booking agency/ shop. This was when Spazzo The Clown was 'born'. This was the same shop where I met and worked with Alain Nu, and John Kennedy (they were not involved in the Sleazy aspects of the business!). I briefly ventured out into my own entertainment agency, which was beginning to grow while I was in college, until I worked at a summer camp (Where I met a very young Mark Sicher), then went to study in Europe. After my return, I performed sporadically, including teaching magic at another camp in Maine, performing in California while studying there, and then back on the East coast. I had the chance to perform a little in Taiwan over parts of 1988-89, while living there. I again performed sporadically in the DC and Baltimore area, and even a bit over 9 months in Florida, until I went to Japan for two years in 1997-99. While there, magic (and clowning) were much appreciated by the base community, though the pay scale was drastically lower than I had become accustomed to in the DC area. I was one of three magicians and three clowns on that base, and I performed regularly. When one clown left, I recruited, and the other clown and I mentored a new clown. I recently made the decision to make a career of entertainment. I am now performing at three, and possibly soon, 4 restaurants a week. My goal is to be completely independent from my current job, and a 'professional entertainer'. In 2003, entertainment generated over 50% of my income (magic and balloon sculpting). (Only 26 years after I thought it would happen). A quick shout out to nums for letting me see that you really can make a living at this. Prior to meeting him (and Mrs. nums). JesterMan came about as a response to wanting to be able to perform and dress in a silly manner, but without the need to always get into Spazzo, as that lowers the number of performances I can do in a day (having to switch between clown and magician). The name started as a screen name elsewhere, and evolved into my stage name. (It was between that, and B-Rad the Jester) 'He' is now my main persona. This is likely more than you ever needed, or WANTED to know, but... That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it (with all necessary bows to Colin Quinn, wherever he is). JM
JM
Balloons, Magic, Mayhem & More! www.AArdvarkEntertainers.com www.JesterMan.com "... destined to take the place of the MudShark in your mythology... " FZ |
Chrystal Inner circle Canada/France 1552 Posts |
Hi JM
Wow! Great introduction and thanks for telling us about yourself! Welcome to the Café and please don't hesitate to post or ask questions of your own as it's a friendly place. Grab a chair and a cup of coffee, make yourself comfortable and be prepared for lots of informative reading! Enjoy! |
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