March 2010

With only two weekends left the Arizona festival has been fun as always, but we've been hammered by bad weather. One Sunday we couldn't open due to flooding in the parking lot and the following Sunday we were hit with hail and high winds. I thought this was a desert?

2010 is looking like the busiest tour in a while, and that's a good thing.

There will be two separate trips to Ireland. The first in late April to Belfast for the Festival Fools and then in June I'll head back to Cork & Dublin for the Street Performance World Championships.

July will be spent in Western Canada at the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival and its related events.

But not just the folks out west will get to enjoy the fun, Ottawa and Sault Ste Marie will get their turn in early August.

February 2010

Well only four days until the 2010 season really kicks of at the Arizona Renaissance Festival, and that's just the beginning.

2010 is going to be a busy year. I started the year Down Under at the Taste Festival in Hobart, Tasmania and the year will see me overseas again in the spring with dates in Belfast Northern Ireland and possibly some more dates in the UK.

Also new this year will be an eight week run at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival, this is a stop I am very excited about. Here's why; it is a renaissance festival that I have never been to and it is home to some very old friends that I haven't seen in forever, take all that and couple it with the fact the festival is about two hours from home and you've got a happy sword swallower!

So far Ottawa and Sault Ste Marie or on deck for Canada, but more may be in the works so check back often.

And don't forget you can now keep up with me on both FaceBook and Twitter.

December 2009

Howdy Strangers!

Well I guess I slacked off on updates during 2009 pretty well, sorry about that.

2009 was an interesting year; I had great fun in Canada and then do to a cancelation of a major contract, I spent most of my summer at home. But that was great because it let me spend tons of time with the family.

Right now I am getting set to head Down Under for some dates and then will return for the Arizona Renaissance Festival in February, See you there.

That's it, but I promise to do a better job of keeping you informed in 2010!

January 2009

How I Spent My Christmas Vacation
 
Just before Christmas Eve dinner at my ex-wives parents house (because we all get along and are one big wacky modern American family), in front of my ex-in-laws, my children, my ex-wife, my wife and my mother-in-law who was visiting from Arizona; I managed to stab myself in the thigh.
Five minutes after arriving I gave my ex-mother-in-law a gift. She un-wrapped it and she handed it to me for me to take it out of the impenetrable plastic that everything is packaged in these days. It wouldn’t pull open, so she went and got a utility knife (which she put a new blade into).
Those of you that have been paying attention to the shows over the years may know that I love ABBA and Neil Diamond, have an irrational fear of birds and am incredibly squeamish; this of course includes a full blown phobia of being cut. (I know, what are the odds, a quirky sword swallower)
So I was very careful opening the package…
Until the very last cut when I held the package right over my leg and when the plastic gave way the knife plunged into my thigh.
Off to the emergency room I went, driven by my ex-father-in-law.
Once in the E.R., I was taken to the triage nurse who needed to get the details.
“What Happened?”
Without thinking I replied, “I stabbed my leg while opening a knife sharpener.”
She looked at me with a “look” in her eyes, and that’s when the true irony of all this began to hit me.
The gift I had been opening was a knife sharpener!
The sharpener was a gift from me to the ex-mother-in-law because I do a lot of cooking at their house for family BBQs on the weekends that I am home in the summer and all of their knives are dull. I had given it to her before dinner so we would have a sharp knife to cut the Christmas roast.
That’s right; I had stabbed myself with a very sharp knife in the leg while attempting to open a knife sharpener for a household with no sharp knives!
Next up the admissions nurse asked for my employment information. This is when the subtle look became open guffawing.
It was all so perfect.
8 stitches later (3 inside my leg and 5 outside) and three hours later I was back at their house which was now filled with all of the other guests, only to find that dinner had been held, but not kept it warm, until my return.
I was so embarrassed.
And for the rest of the evening my ex-wife had a look on her face that said:
Sword Swallower Who Fears Cuts, Stabs Leg While Opening Knife Sharpener! Read all about it!
Are you familiar with the term IDIOT!?
This all tied into a series of other family medical events in the past few months that conspired to make this my first Christmas home in 5 years. I am so looking forward to 2009.

Here's wishing us all a super fine '09!

October 2008

The Carolina Renaissance Festival got off to a great start! Wonderful weather and record crowds! I just hope it holds.

I found out that Dickens on the Strand is on for this year, and that is welcome news indeed. I am sure it will be a much smaller event than in the past, but I think it is important for the city to continue its traditions.

I have agreed to wave my performance fee, but I will still be passing my hat after shows. However, all money after expenses will be donated to local charities to help Galveston get back up  and smiling.

September 2008

The weather is cooling down so it must be time to head to North Carolina!

I am really looking forward to the Carolina festival this year. I have some new things I will be working on in the show and a new schedule has given me 45 minutes for each show, which will give me plenty of time to play with new ideas.

Earlier this month I was in England for the Shrewsbury Street Arts Festival and had a wonderful time. One of the highlights was doing a show inside of a fifteenth century market hall in the town square. Having started my performing career at renaissance festivals all I could think as I was doing my show was "this is the real thing".

Coming in at second place on the highlight list is probably drinking pints in a thirteenth century pub (that was haunted).

Normally my next annual event after North Carolina would be Dickens on the Strand in Galveston Texas. Sadly with the devastating effects hurricane Ike I doubt that the event will take place.

I have seen pictures of the Strand area of Galveston and it looks like it took on about 6 feet of water, what a shame. I was out of the country when Katrina hit New Orleans and I had not spent much time in that city, so I didn’t feel as personally involved. But I have spent the first week of December in Galveston every year since 1991 and many of the businesses I have seen destroyed in pictures are places I know and love.

But rest assured that if Dickens does happen, I will be there (and I will plan on donating all of my hat money to local charities).

Once again this year I will be headed Down Under to perform at the Taste of Tasmania in Hobart. Hobart just might be my favorite town on earth so I am very excite.

That is for now, I’ll try to update after the Carolina Renaissance Festival starts and let everyone know how well (or poorly) the new stuff is going.

August 2008

Where oh where has my summer gone?

I can't believe how fast this summer went by but here we are in mid-August and I am getting set to head of to jolly old England for the Shrewsbury Street Theater Festival.

This will be my second trip across the pond this summer. In July I went over to Killarney Ireland for a busking festival and had a wonderful time. In case you've never been to Ireland, it is in fact very green. Suprise.

June 2008

SwordSwallowing.com has been completely redone just in time for Thom Sellectomy's summer busking tour!

I had the web site pictures taken in April by Evan Young, a fellow street performer that moonlights as a photographer. I really like the way they came out and would recommend him to any other performers.

Summer 2008 will have me in Ireland and the UK as well as my home away from home...the land of my favorite sport...CANADA!

I am sorry to say that I will not be returning to the Georgia Renaissance Festival in 2009. Although I have truly enjoyed performing there the past two years I have decided that spring is a time that I would like to spend more of at home.

I think that catches us up. I will try to add to this page monthly.