News from Mark Mitton

My puppeteer friend Tim Lagasse got married to the lovely Melissa Johnson last week. I have known Tim for a long time. Many years ago he helped me on one of my shows at the New York International Fringe Festival with shadow puppetry and other special effects, so when he asked me to perform at his wedding, of course I was delighted!

It was an amazing Halloween-themed event. Our mutual friend James Godwin – a puppeteer and performance artist – officiated, there were puppetry and burlesque performances, and costumed guests did a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. I was dressed like a surgeon and performed psychic surgery on James: I produced Melissa’s ring (and lots of gory stuff) from his stomach, and then “killed” him. It was so much fun!

The New York Times wrote up the whole story in its Vows section today, and you can see a slideshow there too.

Here I am demonstrating a hypnotic effect with the happy couple.

My friend Thomas Fraps, together with the magicians from The Flicking Fingers, organizes a magic festival in Munich every summer. This year was the third time I performed there, and I worked with British comedian Noel Britten who is known for his hilarious walking tours of Bath. Three months a year, he and his wife work with orangutans in Borneo.

For the longest time, I have wanted to travel to Galicia in the northwest of Spain. When magicians Mago Anton and Luis de Matos invited me to perform at a festival in Santiago de Compostela, the destination of the 9th century medieval pilgrimage route the Way of St. James, of course I jumped at the opportunity. Santiago is a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it was so much fun to perform there on the steps of the cathedral. Mago Anton was a gracious host and he took me to the mysterious headquarters of the Galician Professional Magicians Association, which has a hidden library and secret passages.

Here are some highlights of the festival:

One of my long-time clients is a couple that loves to throw lavish parties at the nicest hotels. They always ask me to provide them with unique entertainment. We have put together some really great shows for them over the years.

This past weekend they had a big party with a ‘Razzle Dazzle’ theme. It was spectacular. We had an amazing young contortionist who shoots a bow and arrow with her feet, incredible juggling twins, and a gold-painted acrobatic duo that balances on top of each other. In addition, we had a singer, three showgirls and a sexy strongman to mingle with the guests. The piano player was flown in from the Four Seasons in London. All the entertainers were a huge success and the client was absolutely delighted.

Check out the photos of the festivities below, or click here for a bigger slide show:

It’s not every day you get invited to perform for the rabbi of The Big M, but that is exactly what happened last night when I did a magic show at the birthday party of Karen Berg - one of the founders of the Kabbalah Centre and the wife of Rav Berg. The fabulous Wunmi and her multicultural afrobeat band got the festivities started. Then there was folkdancing. After that I performed a stage show with lots of audience participation. I made Rav Karen’s lipstick appear inside a sealed envelope inside my wallet. I also pulled a big flame from a man’s tongue. Then the party continued with more dancing. It was a beautiful celebration.

Take a look at these pictures or click here for a bigger slideshow with captions:

My good friend, comic juggler Michael Davis, put together a variety show over the weekend at the Napa Valley Opera House, an old and beautiful vaudeville theater in Napa. The show featured tapdancer Joe Orrach, hula-hoop artist Mat Plendl, comedian Scott Meltzer, and juggler Katrine Spang-Hanssen. We had an absolute blast, and so did the audience!

Here is the poster for the show:

And here are the performers backstage:

My mom had knee replacement surgery in Duluth, MN recently. She is recovering nicely. Susanna and I went to stay with her for a few days for Mother’s Day. While we were there, my old friend John Bushey, a fellow magician and a very talented teacher at Piedmont Elementary School, asked me whether I would do a show for Grandparents’ Day at his school. Of course I agreed. It was an absolute blast! Quite by coincidence, one of the kids that I brought up on stage turned out to be the grandson of the local news anchor (since 1970), Dennis Anderson. I could not resist having my picture taken with him and John. Then I went around the classrooms and performed more magic and the kids went wild and had me sign their hands and foreheads. That night I joined my friends from the local magic club at John’s house for a pizza party.

Here are some photos from that day:

My friends from The Big Picture, an organization that runs innovative high schools around the world that I’ve blogged about before, were in town recently for a conference at the UN Plaza Hotel. Designer Marc Ecko gave a great talk about the work he does with high school students in his Sweat Equity Enterprises (SEE) program, where he teaches them how to design clothing, shoes and watches, among other things. After that I did a show to pump up the crowd, and then it was time for dinner. Everyone had a great evening and we got the conference off to a very animated start.

This is what that the show looked like:

Susanna and I just returned from a cruise to the Bahamas with John Mayer on the ‘Mayercraft Carrier’. You may remember that I performed at John’s birthday party last October. This was a 3-day rock festival at sea for 2,800 of his fans. Not only did John do three amazing shows, he also had many other talented artists (Bob Reynolds, David Ryan Harris, Brandi Carlile, Martin Sexton, Soulive, Cooper, among others) perform on board. It was an absolute blast!

Check out this slideshow or click here to see a bigger version with captions:

The Kennedy Center in Washington DC has free shows for the public every night of the year on their Millennium Stage. For the past 8 years, my friend Sean Grissom, a.k.a. the Cajun Cellist, has put on a Holiday Vaudeville show there in December. I have participated in this show many times and it is always a lot of fun. This year we had a record turnout!

Warming up the crowd

Fun with the kids

Levitating with the Sushimat…

With Sean Grissom and the Alexandria Kleztet

(last 3 photos by Jim Pekar)