Buzz Aldrin after my performance in New York: “I used to think Saturn V was a miracle. But your show – this was a real miracle.”

I performed magic last week for NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin and a fascinating group of space tourism supporters.

Buzz let me use his ring for one of my tricks – the ring HE WORE ON THE MOON!

Without a doubt, that experience trumps all the other notable rings I’ve borrowed in the past, including a Super Bowl ring, and Ellen Barkin’s wedding ring.

I still can’t get over it. I held the ring Buzz Aldrin wore while walking on the moon. And he let me use it in my show. What an honor.

After the show he also allowed me [...]

Back in 2002, in London, England, I met an artist named Van Howell. I was so impressed with his distinctive style of illustration that I commissioned him to create a poster for my show.

The cast of characters that he included in the poster is impressive. I’ve received emails from people who own the poster, requesting information about each character. Fortunately Van provided me with a detailed schematic list that describes his inspirations. He went on a treasure hunt through the National Gallery in London to find the perfect cast. Click the links below to see many of the truly gorgeous originals.

First, here’s the outline view: [...]

A piano with a two-foot cutaway hole stood alone on the mezzanine of MOMA, New York’s Museum of Modern Art. I asked a security guard what the piano was for — he replied, “For performances. Come back later.” My family and I wandered off to enjoy other exhibits, and later rushed back to the mezzanine when we saw a large crowd surrounding the piano.

There was a person standing INSIDE the piano. Right inside the hole.

She was playing the piano and walking around the open floor, rolling the instrument in wide arcs. Her body was bent forward at the waist, at a full ninety degree angle, and her hands were flying up and down at a breakneck pace. [...]

Here is a gallery of some original Chan Canasta paintings. They were for sale through a Belgian art dealer I came across online. There are 21 images in this gallery – enjoy the vivid colors!

Nostalgic blog post! Growing up in Westchester County, I joined the Boy Scouts (Troop 174) and have happy boyhood memories of paging through the Boy Scout Handbook. Norman Rockwell’s scouting images were scattered throughout the handbook, and I fell in love with his painting style. To my knowledge, Norman Rockwell painted two images that included [...]

This art exhibition by Austrian designer Stefan Sagmeister is very clever and inspirational. The artist mounted 7200 bananas onto the wall, each at various levels of ripeness. It’s a Lego-like building environment, and the greenest bananas contrasted with the yellowest ones enough to spell out words: “SELF CONFIDENCE PRODUCES FINE RESULTS”

I have fond memories of Sunday mornings as a boy, searching the Arts page of the NY Times for the “Nina’s” hidden in Al Hirschfeld’s illustrations. It was a clever game of hide-and-go-seek, since Hirschfeld hid his daughter’s name so well, and in such whimsically obscure spots – in the folds of a coat sleeve, [...]