Say hello to your Uncle

I can't believe it's almost the Fourth of July. It's that time of year where I turn into my Uncle. That's right, it's Uncle Sam! Your favorite stilt wearing fictitious Father of our Country's Brother. The history of Uncle Sam is a bit convoluted and I'm sure you can read the wiki articles on Uncle Sam and on Dan Rice.

One story is that Uncle Sam was originated by Dan Rice who was a clown and may have been the model for the first Uncle Sam illustrations. All political jokes aside about politicians and clowns, it does explain Uncle Sam's nimbleness on stilts.

Here is a rather cool Uncle Sam I know.

So have a safe Independence Day and remember that all fireworks are illegal in Chicago and some people have to get up very early on the 4th to drive to a suburban parade.

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Edd Fairman is a Chicago Magician who specializes in making you look good.

Summer Time and the living is...busy?

As June starts for second base the phone at the Wizard of Sorts office starts ringing off the hook. Myself and Erin, Manager of Sorts, have been fielding calls and emails from people scrambling to book me for last minute gigs.

To misquote John Van Buren, "Book early and book often." I already have several events booking in 2012! So, that brings us to the Jack 'O Lantern pictured left.

You should be planning your Halloween party now! I know, I know. Boooo! And that's not the ghostly kind of, "boo." It is more of a bad call, yell at the referee type of, "boo." I more than anyone would like to be thinking only of warm summer days spent at the lake shore and not thinking of fall weather, turning leaves and cool weather celebrations.

When I asked one of my agents how many full time magicians there are in Chicago, he said, "Good ones?" Of course. "Eight." No way there have to be way more than that. Right? Then we started listing names and I think he is right. There are very few of us. There are a few (I only know of one) good part time magicians in town but they are even rarer.

I hear what you are saying. You are saying that you can go to Google and search for "Chicago magician" and get a dozen results. But remember what he said, "Good ones." Of course that's just his opinion but he books many events so he has lots of experience.

With so few good magicians available it is imperative to plan early. My first weekend in October is already completely booked with a two day festival. I expect the rest of the month to mostly booked by the end of July and Christmas events start booking in August!

So, call now to book your:

• End of Summer celebrations
• Back to School Days
• Awards nights
• Christmas
• New Years

events.

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Edd Fairman is a Chicago Magician who specializes in Corporate and College events and may be available for your next event. If you call ahead.

I predict: I will be wrong.

For those of you not following the news, a magician has been very highly covered recently in the media. You didn't read it? Or you didn't realize he was a magician? Harold Camping the Rapture Preacher is just a bad magician. Or more accurately he is a bad mentalist.

A quick note for those not in the know: A mentalist is a magician/performer who does tricks that seem to involve mind reading, esp, predicting the future, finding lost items, divining thoughts of others, etc. A mentalist however does not solve crimes or look like Simon Baker (well not many of them).

Those of you have seen my show (You haven't seen my show? Why not? What's up with that?) know that I do a few mental magic tricks. I divine a thought of word. I miraculousness create a math equation who's sum is the spectator's thought of number. I generally do not predict the end of the world or some other giant, easy to prove event (see my post on Lying). This is one of the ways Harold Camping went wrong. The other?

When it all goes wrong:

Occasionally I have missed the math equation in my show. Once or twice I've filled in the 16 squares with numbers that should all add to the thought of number with gusto and then when I preceded to solve it, I was wrong. It happens. Magic is an art not a science. Math, of course, is a science but I'm not up there doing math. I using math to entertain. (Never thought I would say that...)

Anyway, what Camping did wrong when his prediction fizzled was, he didn't move on to the next thing. He disappeared for three days. If you get your prediction wrong you have to keep moving. Here watch Sylvia Browne renowned "psychic" and finger nail enthusiast dance around her wrong predictions here:

Man for an older lady she can move! I disagree with Roger Miller, I think you can roller skate in a Buffalo Herd.

Did that video make you a bit sad? I hope so. Harold Camping makes me said. But as a showman, a bit of a huckster, and a lover of the ridiculous, I don't want to see him go into hiding. I want him, Charlie Sheen, and Donald Trump to be on Celebrity Survivor together. Ooo the laughs they give me. I want to see Harold Camping host a new version of You Bet Your Life.

Seriously though, it is a great tradition among magicians to debunk pseudo- sciences. We know most of the methods they are using. In Camping and Sylvia Browne's cases I think the method is called wild guess. The practice of debunking was popularized by Houdini and is currently being carried on by the Amazing Randi, Penn Jillette, and others. I love to fool people. I love to make a bit of money from doing it but I hate when charlatans use magic tricks to bilk people. Several Camping followers gave away all of their money and possessions. Some gave all their money to him! And well as Creed said:

So what's the point of all this? Harold Camping makes me laugh and also makes me sad. I guess he is a really good clown.

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Edd Fairman is a Chicago magician who specializes in comedy for corporate and college audiences.

Don't I know that guy?

A few weeks ago I was working a First Communion party at the Saddle and Cycle club. For those of you who don't know this is a big event in the Catholic community. When a child finished their CCD classes (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) and take part in the Eucharistic for the first time they are considered a full member of the Church.

Usually they have a rather large party after Church with a meal and entertainment. So, I was getting ready at Club and in walks a man who looks like Mayor Daley. But I can't be sure if it is him because I've never seen him in person and he looked thinner than I remember him. So, I jokingly say to a guest near by, "Boy that guy looks familiar. I think I know him." She says, "That's Maggie's Grandpa."

Now I'm thinking it must not be the Mayor or she would have said so. Eventually I meet the little girl who's party it is. At a first communion it's easy to spot the celebrate because they are usually wearing all white. I know what you are thinking at this point, "You didn't know who you were there to perform for?" Well, on these large events there can be two or three layers of agents, party planners, and coordinators. By the time the information gets to the entertainers it is often wrong or incomplete. Anyway. I say to Maggie, "Boy your Grandpa looks like the Mayor." She says, "That's because he is!"

Of course I made it seem like I was just kidding around and had a laugh.

This actually reminds me of a game a friend of mine plays called, "What's wrong on this talent sheet?" Often times it's small things. Sometimes it's big things like the address of the venue, the venue's phone number. One time I was working a gig with this entertainer and our "agent." The agent introduces us to the contact saying, "This is Jen." The contact person says, "It's Jill." For the rest of the event the "agent" kept referring to the contact as Jen. It was hilarious.

I once had an agent send me to a country club a week before an event and another send me to a wrong club with a similar name. Once when arriving at a club where I was scheduled to do walk around close-up magic I see a sign that says, "Magic Show 2:00PM." I asked the contact who was doing the magic show. Well, I was surprised to find out it was me! I somehow pulled 20 minutes of material out of the small close-up case I had with me.

Like the Boy Scouts say, "Be Prepared." But it's impossible to be prepared for every conceivable scenario. So, I figure when I am not fully prepared to cover an agent's, party planner's, or coordinator's mistake, I just get creative.

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Edd Fairman is a Chicago Magician who specializes in Comedy Magic.

Kicking the Tires

Last week I had to say goodbye to a very important piece of equipment. Lucille, my dear old, 2003, Hyundai Accent.

As you can see she was a red headed beauty but her lack of air conditioning finally got to me and I couldn't take it any longer.

Strangely enough, I was really sad to see her go. We had been through so much tog

ether. One time she and I drove 14 hours straight from Chicago to Washington DC. We drove home in snow storm from some tiny town in Indiana ending up at one point facing the wrong way on the entrance ramp to the highway because we had spun around on the ice and snow.

But like most women her age, her worst fear has come true. She has been replaced by a younger woman.

Say, "Hello" to Bettie. Bettie is a 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring Edition. When I bought her, I told my Mother I had bought a small station wagon. She said that it sounded like I was turning into a suburban dad. It couldn't be any further from the truth. As soon as I heard that I went onto Cafe Press and ordered a bumper sticker that reads, "Devastation Wagon."

Much of my blog is about the adventures I have out there bringing magic to the people. So, I am sure there will be an up coming story or two featuring Bettie.

Edd Fairman is a corporate and college entertainer who travels the country performing magic shows. Much of the time he drives.

Hastings Nebraska here I come.

April 7 through 9 I will be traveling to Hastings Nebraska to perform my comedy magic show for Hastings College this will be my first foray into the Corn Husker State, only the second time I have flown with my show props and equipment, and the first time I have flown with the newest TSA rules and regulations.

Forget Carry on

If you think you have had trouble going through security imagine packing a brief case with among other things a bowling ball, 8 10 inch stainless steel rings, several lengths of rope, scissors, a knife, a gigantic deck of cards, all sorts of electronics for sound, and a kiwi.

The only things from my show I can actually carry onto the plane are my regular deck of cards, a clipboard, and my sharpie markers. I have one of those new awesome stainless steel sharpies and I doubt that could even be packed in a carry on bag. I can't even carry on my kiwi! I guess they are afraid I will assault the crew with high amounts of fiber and Vitamin C.

Which reminds me of a terrible joke

I heard this joke on Prairie Home Companion, a great source for wonderful, terrible jokes. A coyote is coming down the jet way to get onto the plane with a dead raccoon in his mouth. The flight attendant says, "You can't bring that on the plane." The coyote replies, "But this is my carrion."

I'm not sure how well that joke works in print but it works well audibly. I know what you are thinking. "That's terrible." But I know you will be telling that joke sometime soon! Don't deny it. Though I don't tell jokes in my act; I do comedy. So, don't worry, I won't be telling you about dead raccoons on stage anytime soon.

I just came for the pudding

I look forward for performing for the students of Hastings College and getting to visit the Queen City of the Plains.

About the Author

Edd Fairman, Wizard of Sorts, is a Chicago Magician who travels the country performing for colleges and corporations.

There's a potato in your eye

So you may or may not know but I am of Irish decent. James Fairman came from Ireland in 1774 and settle in Schuylkill County Pennsylvania. And you probably do know that Thursday is St. Patrick's day. Which is an Irish/American Holiday. I suppose if the term "Irish Americans" existed 230 years ago my family probably would have been called that. But it didn't and what they were called was much worse.

So, on Thursday many people will be out to celebrate what they think Irish and Irish/Americans should do; drink until stupidity. Anyone reading this who knows me, knows I enjoy a glass of whiskey just as much as the next guy but there should be limits. As Charlie Sheen has taught us, public intoxication of all forms should be avoided at risk of loosing one's livelihood.

I will be out with my friends Thursday evening celebrating at the bars of Lodge Management on Division Street. You will be able to find us at Mother's, Mother's Too, Shenanigans, Bootleggers, The Lodge, and The Hangee Uppee. We will be easy to spot as we will be on stilts and "wearing the green." Please come down and see us, raise a pint (or maybe even two) to Eire and mind your P's and Q's or I'll stick a potato in your eye.

About the Author: Edd Fairman, Wizard of Sorts is an Irish/German/American Chicago Magician who performs for corporate and college events.