Finally I have done it.  The wife was away today so I set my brand new Sony DSC-H9 camera on top of my tripod and started to film some of my magic effects.  The very first one is a floating bill.  Very awesome trick.  I've been studying and performing magic for 15 years now.  I always say "I do the cool magic...not the stuff you see on stage, like with doves and magic assistants".  I think a lot of magicians give the art a bad name by being super-corny.  If you've seen David Blaine or street magicians, that's more my style.  My magic is close-up, interactive and in your hands.  It's perfect for trade shows, parties, happy hours, etc.  I work best when I can float around and mingle with small groups so that everyone can be involved.

Last weekend I did a show in Faribault for the "Health Finders" fund raiser.   Thanks Pauline & Paula (reporter and publisher).  Click here to see my blog on it.  

Enjoy the video

I learned this technique from Mozart.  Well..from the Amadeus Mozart film.  Take a song you know well, lay upside and cross your arms.  Then just play as normal.  It really works.  Looks like your some prodigy, but it's really easy.  Check out the video below.

My daughter Rylie is five and a half years old.  I recall picking her up from the nursery when she was a new born and getting anxious as I did so.  I always got so exited to see Rylie again, after being at work all day.  Well, it still happens.  I get so exited as I drive to pick her up from the Northfield Montessori every day.  I'm always exited to give her a hug again.

Rylie has always run to me when I pick up.  When she was smaller she would run and jump and I would pick her up and throw her...as you might see in the movies.  It's awesome.  She has always made a scene that catches the interest of the other kids.  It's gotten to the point where they all tell Rylie when I'm walking in the door so they can see what she does.  Recently, she's had a fist full of drawn pictures for me, all of what have "I love you Dad" written on them.  I've collected them all.  I need a bigger box to keep them all.  I decided to run my camera last week as I picked up.  Here's a sample of the experience. 

One of my worst takes ever.  But, I was too tired to re-try.  I also wimped out and skipped over 2 solo's.  Anyways...here I am.  Playing on my new Yamaha Portable Digital Grand YPG-625.

I grew up with this Northfield Raider mascot on everything.   It was on the basketball courts, painted through out the schools, on our jerseys, etc.  It wasn't until I was a junior or senior in high school did I think to question what it was or what it symbolized.  I actually didn't put two and two together about a "Raider" referring to the James gang that raided our town in 1876.  But why is he depicted of Asian decent?  Who came up with this guy?  There's got to be some history out there about this.  Please let me know if you have any guesses or actual historical background. 

I could only find this version of the Raider.  I believe the school decided a few years ago to remove his sword.  I've drawn it back in here.  Of course, the original version didn't included a basketball either.  Note: The original Raider-Swordsman has both hands up at shoulder level, holding the huge sword over his right shoulder.  Without my little drawing example, and the addition of the basketball, it would be hard to envision the original Raider emblem.

Finally, does anyone know what the high school year book's name means?  "Norhian"?  I have a guess but want to see what people think.

I've decided to sell of 6 of my neon beer signs.  I put them on eBay with local pick up only.  If you or anyone is interested in making me an offer outside eBay, just let me know.  Click below to go to eBay. 

I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I found a large story and a photo of me doing card magic at the "Health Finders" gala on page 3A of the Sunday edition of the Faribault Daily News.  What a great event.  It was well attended and very classy.  I was able to walk around the crowd and entertain individual tables while they had dinner.   I was able to turn the "oh crap a magician" look into a "I can't believe what I just saw" look.  That's why I do what I do.

I did have to question the placement of this story.  Please don't confuse it's elegance and philanthropic tone with the murder and drunk driving story found on the left rail and the sex sting story on the right rail.  But heck, I work in the news industry.  There's only so much room on a page to fit in all the local content.

FARIBAULT - Magician hobbyist Tim Freeland delighted diners at Saturday night's "An Evening Under the Stars" HealthFinders 5th annual gala.
He did card and other slight-of-hand magic tricks. Those attending the gala, however, knew there is no magic cure to the issue of families and individuals without health insurance.

"The need is so great," said Rae Crumsby, co-chair of the HealthFinders Board of Directors. "When the free clinic started in the summer of 2005, it was open one night a week. Now it's open two nights a week for three hours each night, but we are scheduled out with appointments a month or more in advance."

The photos on the left and right are of my friend Todd Melgren taken in 2006 when he turned 30, I believe.  The middle is of the infamous outlaw Cole Younger taken in 1876 after the raid.  I'm trying to find a photo of Todd looking straight on, but I thinking the resemblance is uncanny.  Maybe it's not right on, but it will be when Todd is in his 50's.

I recall watching the posthumous George Harrison induction ceremony on VH1 in 2004.  Price was inducted into the RHOF as well this night.  At first, I thought it was such an odd pairing of artist on the stage.  I mean, Prince up there with guitar legends Tom Petty, Jeff lynne, Steve Winwood & Eric Clapton....how was he going to do?  Everyone was up there for the final song of the night. Was Prince going to "represent"?  I always considered Prince to be a musical genius and an expert at so many different instruments, but I didn't expect this. 

About half was through the performance you can see George's son Dhani look to Price and smile as he took center stage.  Price continues to shred out one of the best solo's that I've ever seen....for the entire 2nd half of the song.  He was making his guitar "weep" for real.  The poetic ironies of the event are uncanny. 

But, I have just one question.  After the song ends, Price throws his guitar up into the air.  It doesn't come down.  What the??  AND, at about 4:50 in, he actually has someone's hands catch him as he falls backwards while he's playing.

Prior to our marriage on June 29th 2007, Lori and I picked out a ton of photos that nicely captured family from both sides. I had a lot of scanning to do. I put together this photo-show, burnt a copy to DVD and played over all the TV's at our reception. It went over very well. So, here it is, for everyone to see. I love you Lori.

NOTE: Un-click the little volume icon to hear the "stock" music.

Congratulations to my brother Andy and sister-in-law, Sara Freeland for giving birth to their third boy this week.  Kermit Andrew Freeland was born Tuesday February 26th at 10:15pm.  He was 8 pounds, 20".  Kermit's two older brothers are Jake and Gus.  Jake's birthday is on the Fourth of July while Gus's is on New Years Eve. That's amazing!

I have not had the chance to ask my brother if this name had anything to do with Leap Year?  He was just three days away from being a leap-baby.  That's was I was hoping for.  Leap-Hop-Frog...I think you get it. 

Kermit is a Freeland Family name.  Below is a photo of the first Kermit.

Come on guys...you love the movie.  I can't explain it.  My wife asks why I think Caddy Shack is so cool.  I didn't like it when I was a little boy, but when I could understand the humor, I went crazy for it.  "What does that sign say?.....no bare feet.....What does THAT sign say......no fighting.....well, then, what does it mean....no fighting....you owe me one gum ball machine".  What a bunch of ridiculous lines.  But, they were timeless.  I took a screen shot of that sign and had it replicated.  Yes, it was copy-write whatever.  But, they sold like hot cakes on eBay.  Here's the screen shot and a photo of the tin sign that I had made. 

The Day before I got married in 2000 I put together a speech for my Dad at the grooms dinner.  I spend about a week writing and re-writing a tribute to my father, Al.  I have always been so proud of Dad and wanted to do a public eulogy-like speech on his accomplishments.  When the night came, we were at the Chart House in Lakeville and there was no privacy.  It was loud, we were mixed in with the public and a band was playing.  I didn't give the speech.  Later that evening I approached him and told him what happened.  I gave him my notes.  He told me he had written a dedication to me and was unable to give it.  I got those notes.  Later on, after reading my dedication he told me his only prayer was for me to have a child that would write a speech about me, like that, some day.  I've attached the speech here.

Dedication to Dad at my grooms dinner. 6-19-2000

Wouldn't it be awesome to have all NHS yearbooks scanned for online viewing...and searchable by name?  Yes it would...but is very time consuming.  I started with just the senior photos from my senior year.  You can click here to view or download the originals in Flickr.  I'd like to enter all the names as Flickr tags so you could search for a person by name. 

In the spring of 2004 I came up with a great idea.  I was standing in the back yard of my house and looked down the neighbors back yards in my block.  It seemed that almost half had one of those gigantic wooden play fort swing sets, maybe of which were Rainbow Play-systems.  Rainbow is the "Cadillac" of forts and can be denoted by their trademark red, yellow and blue striped canopies.  Rainbow is very expensive.  So my good friend Chad and I got together and went to work for Rainbow installing these sets.  Out goal was to learn about the product and either try to re-sell Rainbow or make our own models.  Well..it didn't take long to rule out manufacturing and we hooked up with Outback Play-systems in Wisconsin.  We bought by the truck load and installed all over the twin cities.  There was some rewarding about putting these fun little kits together.  It paid pretty well. 

After installing these for just one summer, I ended up here.  I had wrecked my right shoulder.  Four years later I had the surgery.  I held off for so long hoping it would go away only to ice the pain away every day. 

Well, I'm back and available to install should anyone be in the market.  Just shoot me an email to learn about the various brands on the market.

Don't Let this happen to you....Call us!

Here's a photo from 1979 of Chad, Andy and I building our first fort.