From: "Professor Twist" <samriklown@hotmail.com>
To: balloon@balloonhq.com
Subject: Soap Boxes and Me
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 16:13:59 CDT

>From: "Franklin" <franklin@tcp1.com>
>Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 15:12:54 -0400
>
>In answer to your post, I am a full time Magician and a balloonist second,
>The restaurant I work is on the coast of NC strictly tourist. the crowd
>changes every night, No problem, been there for 2 years see no reason to
>change now.  My experimenting is limited to my workshop. Magic is first 
> >and foremost with me and has been since 1970.
>
>regards
>
>Franklin

Question,have you ever encountered a situation where you have had to defend 
your magical abilities because the crowd before you has recently been 
exposed to a magical hack, you know the kind;they gaff their tricks 
practically begging the audience to notice how they're done, they lack in 
most of the entertainment abilities that most of us have spent years 
developing, they stand before you in their "resplendent glory" unashamed of 
their mediocrity. I've been doing magic for almost 21 years now, and let me 
tell you this has happened to me.
Now for the balloon tie in....the same thing happens here. I am not calling 
you a hack, before dander flies, and fur gets all out of sort, I am just 
saying that the same thing applies to balloons as it does to magic. I have 
had to work hard to reeducate the folks in my city that balloons can be a 
valuable commodity (you see, most people see these magicians who dabble in 
balloons and associate that experience with the next one they are going to 
have, they don't know from looking at you, and could particularly care less, 
if you are a "full time Magician and a balloonist second" that moment of 
time they are with you will affect their judgment later.) Whatever field you 
are in, if someone is "just dabbling in it" the lay audience doesn't know or 
care, they just see what they see. As my father always says "Perception is 
reality", and as a person perceives something to be so shall it be. I am a 
magician, balloon artist, storyteller, face painter, and sometimes juggler 
(I say sometimes because my skills are not really up to par for performing, 
and thus will not present them in public for pay, 'cause I know they are not 
good enough.) There is no problem with choosing one skill over another, for 
years I was a magician who dabbled in a little bit of everything, then one 
day it dawned on me, what I do, my actions, affect others, whether I want to 
accept responsibility or not.
Keep twisting, man, but be the best darned magician/twister you can be.
I know what I am talking about, I have, in this city I live in people who 
are guilty of everything I have mentioned above, and it does make it hard 
out there, both as a magician, and balloon artist.
Once again, I intend no harm or offense, and I shall now surrender my 
soap-box for the next person.

Professor Twist
(and yea, sometimes they leave out the "s" in my name!!)
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