July 19, Soldier Field, Chicago - I'm Performing for Special Olympics 40th Anniversary!

Yep! You read it right! I will be performing magic at Soldier Field on Chicago's Magnificent Lake Front from 12:30 to 3:30PM, this Saturday!

This event, honoring all of the Special Olympians of the last 40 years, is a great honor for me as I will be sharing the venue with some of the most talented performers in the world as well as these wonderfully skilled and talented athletes.

I've included their Press Release, below, for your reference.

About the 40th Anniversary
“Born in Chicago”
Special Olympics Chicago's 40th Anniversary Celebration Festival

This year, 2008, marks an amazing milestone — the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the first Special Olympics event. Chicago takes great pride in the history of this amazing global movement, having been the site of the first games at Soldier Field and the home to some of the early visionaries.

As an athlete, family member, official, volunteer, donor or other supporter of Special Olympics Chicago you know the power of our games, and what Special Olympics Chicago has meant to so many people. Just imagine how many lives Special Olympics Chicago has touched throughout 40 years, as the games have expanded from one day at Soldier Field in 1968 to thousands of competitions in 175 countries worldwide.

Special Children’s Charities/Special Olympics Chicago invite you to join us at the “Born in Chicago” 40th Anniversary Celebration Festival July 19 at Soldier Field! Come out to share your passion for Special Olympics Chicago with hundreds of other past and present athletes, families, volunteers, donors and other supporters.

The event will start with a traditional Olympic torch run, ending at Soldier Field and kicking off a day of live music, games for children, sporting activities, food and drink, jugglers, magicians, inflatable offerings and more! We will also be providing a family and athlete resource area with information from Special Olympics Chicago partners. In addition, we will be displaying photos from the past 40 years of inspiring Special Olympics games.

Festival admission and parking are free! No registration is necessary for the general public. If you are accompanying a Special Olympics athlete, please register the athlete, call Special Children’s Charities to request a physical registration form (312) 527-3743.

WHAT: Special Olympics Chicago 40th Anniversary Celebration Festival

WHEN: Saturday, July 19 – 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: Soldier Field Chicago, South End
PARKING: Free! Waldron Garage, just south of Soldier Field

I'll see YOU there!

Lee Darrow, C.H.

I Won the 2007 Talk Like A Pirate Challenge!

I just found out!

My thanks to the folks over there!

July & August - Picnic Time - Book Me NOW!

July and August - picnic months. Companies often do their employee picnics during these months here in the Northern Hemisphere - mainly because doing them in January would lead to frozen cold cuts and frostbite instead of the traditional sunburn and mosquito bites!

But July and August are also months for PARTIES!

And parties mean entertainment - and what better entertainment can you have than having your guests become the Stars of the Show, themselves?

No, I am NOT talking about karaoke - which some people contend is Japanese for "tone deaf," but HYPNOSIS SHOWS!

When an party gets to experience the wonders of their own minds, especially in a way that is embarrassment-free like my shows are, when they get to enjoy the free-floating deep relaxation that hypnosis offers, when they get to SEE their friends and family members discover their unique creativity and the depth of their senses of humor - that leads to a party that NO ONE will forget - even the people on stage with ME!

Even before being appointed to the Safety Committee that is helping to set the standards and practices for the entire stage hypnosis industry, I have worked hard to make MY shows fun and free from the usual attitude of "let's make everyone look like a complete idiot" and do my utmost to make my shows something that EVERY person attending will wish that they had been a part of when the show is over!

Different?

You bet!

FUN?

No question about it!

Now all you need to do is call me for available dates and rates!

Lee Darrow, C.H.
www.leedarrow.com
www.stagehypnosissafetyclass.com

George Carlin, 71, Comedian, Free Speech Advocate, has passed away

George Carlin, Comedian, Free Speech Advocate, has passed away
George Carlin, 71, has passed away.

To some younger readers, this may fall into the "who's he?" category.

Well study up, campers, because George Carlin was a Very Important Dude!

George started out as a fairly mainstream comedian, doing routines like the The Hippy-Dippy Weather Man ("Que Pasa? Que what you call your pasa, man! Tonight's forecast: DARK! Continued dark until morning, when it will get progressively lighter. Tomorrow's low, 58. Tomorrow's high, whenever I get up!") and on into one of the most important comedy routines of the 20th century - The Seven Words You Can't Say On Television.

This routine actually led to a Supreme Court case that eventually affirmed the Federal Communication Commission's "right" to "protect the public from profanity on the public airwaves," which is why TV shows "bleep" certain words. Those words were the ones George Carlin called the FCC out on, loudly, humorously and often.

He stood for Free Speech - the right to speak your mind, to stand up to the government without repercussion BY speaking your piece and brooked fools not lightly.

In other words, he had zero tolerance for bullshit and politicians, but I repeat myself, as Mark Twain (and Carlin) said.

Free Speech lost one of its most outspoken, and funniest, advocates this weekend. We should observe it by shouting those Seven Words from the rooftops.

I am willing to bet that Mr. Carlin would appreciate the gesture and return it with one of his own - middle finger fully extended to those who would quash the civil rights of ANYBODY, ANYWHERE.

Robert Lynn Asprin - Friend, Mentor, "Brother" has Passed away

What the hell do you say when you get a call from across the Atlantic, from an old friend, telling you that one of your best friends, someone that, although you'd had a falling out years ago, you still owed much of what's happened to you in your life, much of who you are today and much of what you've learned in life - died this morning?

How do you process that information that he was on his way to MarCon, decided to lie down to take a nap and will never get up again?

How do you handle the fact that you'll never get the change to try to make things right between you?

Bob was one of the most important people in my life from a lot of standpoints. He taught me to look at things in his oddly critical way, sort of. Taught me to question things, taught me to watch my OWN back more effectively, saving my life in the process, several times, and taught me the joys of filking, of the well-placed pun, the perfectly set-up practical joke and how to deflate a stuffed shirt when the situation called for it. And even though, compared to him, I am still very much a tyro at many of those things, I learned many a valuable lesson, sitting at his side, whether at science fiction conventions, surprising George "Mr. Sulu" Takei at StarCon 2 as his surprise Klingon Diplomatic Corps bodyguard, learning how to tell a good shaggy dog story, singing Irish drinking songs, exchanging bad puns or getting ready to step into the lists at a tournament in the Society for Creative Anachronism.

I learned to appreciate good Irish whiskey, a wide range of folk music, song parodies, women in a ways that had never been shown to me and an appreciation for the well-timed verbal riposte to an attempted jibe from some self-important jackanapes.

Yes, Bob was a flawed individual, but aren't we all - most certainly myself?

But Bob burned with a brightness that often outshone everyone else in the room. His wit, his joie de vivre, his insights and his sheer love of a good time could carry even the most depressed individual up out of the most suicidal thoughts and into the light. I've seen him do it on more than one occasion.

Yes, he had his demons - don't we all? And, like many who burn brightly, Bob's demons often were darker than those of those who could burn as brightly. But his brightness, overall, in my opinion and direct experience of him, FAR outshone his darkness.

Bob has left lasting legacies - his daughter Annette, his books, the ones he authored on his own and the ones he collaborated on with so many others and his legacy in the Dorsai Irregulars, a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing fan-based security and art show services to science fiction conventions which was originally licensed by fellow science fiction author Gordon R. Dickson, upon whose novels the group is based. This license continues through the Dickson Estate, proudly, by those of us who "wear the beanie," which is our term for the black berets that we wear and which we ceremonially bestow upon new members - members who included Gordy Dickson, himself, Robert Heinlein and his wife, Ginny, noted science fiction artist and winner of 12 Hugo Awards, Frank Kelly Freas (who designed the Dorsai Flag, seen on our berets) and many others.

Bob's impact on the world, especially the fantasy and science fiction world, will be felt for a very long time.

But his impact on the life of an unknown magician/hypnotist/mentalist from Chicago will last my lifetime - and throughout the lifetimes of many of my audiences - because Bob, along with my wife Nanci, later, was instrumental in teaching me how to ENTERTAIN. Bob by teaching me how to tell a story and to time certain kinds of jokes. By helping me select certain kinds of magic effects that I use in my act to this very day, because he KNEW that they would blow an audience out of its socks.

But most of all because Bob believed in me.

And to a young college kid who had grown up in the shadow of his musical prodigy brother - that meant more than almost anything else.

I know that one of my regrets in this life will be that I never got the chance to try to reconcile with him.

I also hope that he understands.

Shai Dorsai, my friend, teacher, brother, mentor.

You will be missed.

Stage Hpnosis Safety Class - Chicago 6/24

Yep.

I have knuckled under to the pressure and am going to teach the full four-hour course in Chicago on June 14th!

Because of some issues in the insurance field, and because of some other people who are trying to co-opt the entire safety initiative away from all of us for their own profits, I've decided to put the full course - the one I couldn't teach all of at the NGH 2006 convention because of schedule conflicts - on for any practicing stage hypnotists OR anyone who does lecture/demonstrations OF hypnosis.

Where: Crown Plaza Hotel - Rosemont, IL on River Road (near O'Hare Airport, with free shuttle service)

When: June 14th, 2008

Cost: $175

Early Bird Registrants get a $25 discount if they register by May 25th.

We accept PayPal, too!

Drop me an email for details.

The class will include a FREE copy of my book on stage Safety, Certificate of Completion, hands-on demonstrations, Q & A sessions on all portions of the course and much much more!

Register soon - seating is LIMITED!

Lee Darrow, C.H.


Author of the FIRST book on Stage Hypnosis Safety
Accept No Substitutes!

Vauseville Affair May 4, Portage Park Theater, Chicago

"VAUDEVILLE AFFAIR! May 4th!! Portage Park Theater!!!" 4050 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago. Starting 6PM, I'll be doing strolling magic, mentalism and maybe even hypnotism!

At 7:30, Silent Theater will take the stage with their unique brand of theatrical production - including magic, performance art and all sorts of amazing things!

Tickets are $30 for adults, $15 for students

SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR READERS OF MY BLOG! - Just say "Hypnotize Me" at the door for a special discount rate on your tickets - which could be up to ten dollars off the adult price!

Remember, you MUST say HYPNOTIZE ME to get this special discount rate!

For more information, contact Silent Theater, directly through their web page at:

www.silenttheatre.com/Vaudeville_Affair.html