DonB! Juggling DVD is here!

After teaching juggling to at least 700 people over the last 20 years, and being asked multiple times, "Why don't you just put out a DVD?", I've finally done it.

This DVD includes the entire step-by-step lessons I use to teach others to juggle.  It includes tips on learning other juggling equipment, such as balls, clubs, rings, spinning plates, etc.  It includes over 5 minutes of funny outtakes.  And the BEST PART is that it comes with a nice, quality set of juggling scarves.  You don't have to go out and buy ANYTHING; it's all here in one package.

Right now you can get them by either emailing me or calling my office (320-679-0060).

Price for the DVD and the set of quality juggling scarves is only $15.00. And I'll pay the postage within the United States.

If you've always wanted to learn to juggle, this may be your answer.

Stay tuned, because my other DVD is about ready too...

Summer has arrived. Finally.

Well, after a busy Spring, filled with show stuff, family stuff and of course, Easter, Summer is here.

----------1---------

The "Sens de Vie" show here in Mora was a success.  The 300+ people that came to the theatre for it all said it was a great show.  I loved it, and felt even more energy than usual, probably because of all the people I knew in the audience. 

Thanks to Harris III and his wife, Katie, for their willingness to put on the entire BIG show, regardless of how little money they would make.

Thanks to Emmanuel Baptist Church for helping cover the advertising costs, and for putting up posters all around the community and neighboring cities. 

Thanks to the folks that helped unload and re-load the truck, even into the late hours of the night.

Thanks to Danny & Matt for working so hard making us performers look great.  You guys ROCK!

Thanks to KBEK and WCMP radio stations for going the extra mile on interviews and radio spots.

Thanks to Kanabec Publications for putting together such a nice looking ad in the paper.

Really, thank you to all of the people that gave of their time, their finances and their resources to make it possible.  Without all of you, there would have been no show.

----------2---------

As I look at my calendar, I see that things are a bit slimmer this year, but by the grace of God, the phone still rings, and churches still invite me to be a part of the outreach to their communities.

As for calendars, my laptop hard drive took a nose dive 2 weeks ago, but the Apple care center took care of everything for me.  No cost, but I got a new hard drive installed.  And thankfully I was smart enough to back everything up onto an external drive that I had just purchased two days prior.  The only thing I haven't been able to completely restore is my calendar.  I am sorting through everything in my office making sure that I don't neglect showing up for a show this month.

----------3---------

Both of our kids, Dale & Deanna, have their birthdays in March.  Instead of buying expensive toys that break, or electronic gizmos that wear out, we did something completely different: We took a family trip.

We loaded up our car and headed to Chicago.  We had made reservations at a 4-star hotel (that we got for a 2-star price) right on the waterway of Chicago.  We were on the 17th floor, so we had a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline.

We purchased a $5 all-you-can-travel pass and toured around Chicago, including the Federal Reserve building, the Navy Pier and up & down the Magnificent Mile shopping area.  Most everything was too expensive for us, but we did find the Lego store, a huge Borders Bookstore and some coffee!

The finale of the trip was on Friday evening, when we dressed up and hopped on the e-train.  We arrived at the theatre, just in time to go see the Disney production of "Mary Poppins".  It was amazing!  The sets all folded out like large pop-up books.  Thanks to an illusionist I read about, many impossible things happened onstage that would be impossible otherwise, such as Mary pulling large things out of a small carpet bag and a human-sized doll coming to life from a tiny dollhouse.  We had a supercalifr......

We had a supercalifragile.....

We had a supercalifragilistic ex....

We had a great time.  The entire trip was a memory that no gizmo nor gadget could replace.

----------4---------

Well, I have to go outside and pack for my show tomorrow in Rochester, MN, at Evangel United Methodist Church.  It is my 6th appearance there over the years, and I look forward to seeing all of the great people there again.

May all your days be circus days...but without the sneezing.

DonB!

April 5th "Sens de Vie" Show in Mora, MN

It is official: the national touring show, "Sens de Vie", that I worked with last Fall is coming to the Mora High School Auditorium. 

April 5th, 2009

6 PM.

Featuring

Illusionist Harris III

Recording Artist Breanna Duren

Physical Comedian DonB!

For tickets call the national ticket line: 

(877) 720-8282

$8 - Adults

$6 - Kids under 12

I hope to see you all there.

DonB!

Busy Weekend

Busy Weekend PART 1

It is Sunday morning, March 1st. I am writing this while I fly to Fort Wayne, Indiana, at the beginning of the busiest period of time I've seen in over a year.

Friday night I performed at Camp Lebanon, near Upsala, Minnesota, for their Mega-Fun 2 event for 4th-6th graders. What a great bunch of kids and leaders! This was my 44th appearance at Camp Lebanon, and that is thanks to "Bobber Bill", the director of the camp for many years.

Over the years that I have been going there, I have watched their kids be born, grow up, and now 2 of them are off to college. It's hard to believe that I have been doing ministry entertainment for so long. This is the beginning of my 20th year. Wow. And I feel barely over 25. :)

Last night, with the help of my wife, Debbie, and our son, Dale, I did my biggest show, "Evan-tastic", in Milaca, Minnesota. Milaca Free Church, with the guidance of Tom Krauel, organized this night as an outreach event for the local community. They hung up posters, invited people by word of mouth and did radio advertising (I even did a 15-minute radio interview, topped off by performing a short magic illusion over the radio waves). It was a free event, and therefore had no idea if 20 or 200 people would show up. With the show starting at 7 PM, they were going to open the doors at 6:30, but there were already enough people waiting to get it that they opened the doors then. As I sat talking with the pastor prior to the show, people kept coming and coming and coming. By the time the show started the bleachers were 3/4 filled. The final count was over 300 people, and they were a GREAT audience. They laughed easily. They clapped enthusiastically. They participated graciously. All of these factors made my job really easy and enjoyable.

After the short intermission, I presented my own testimony and the Gospel presentation, and for the next 12 minutes people were coming forward to talk with the pastor, as well as the many folks from Milaca Free Church. There were kids praying, adults praying, and even an entire family praying along with the pastor. The show ran a full 90 minutes, and I was tired.

It always amazes me that God uses the most common of us (meaning ME) in ways that we can never imagine if left up to our own. I always pray that my part of the show will go as perfect as possible, but it also seems that the more troubles I have in a show the better the response to the message is. Well last night I was blessed in both ways: the show went great, and the response to the message was great. A double blessing.

Busy Weekend PART 2

Right after the show, as volunteers helped Debbie take down the curtain and pack the rest of the show, I packed what I needed into 3 suitcases and then drove down to Minneapolis.

I spent the night at my parent's home, and woke up at 5 AM to get ready. My dad drove me over to the airport and I boarded this morning at 7 AM.

I am now sitting in Chicago's famous O'Hare airport, waiting to take my final leg to Fort Wayne, where I will do 2 shows for an Upward Awards night at Fellowship Missionary Church. One show at 3:30 and then another at 6 PM. The weather in Chicago is as cold as it was back in Minnesota: Freezing.

Busy Weekend PART 3
The flight to Fort Wayne from Chicago was a short flight, and very few passengers. This allowed me to move into the exit row and straighten my legs out.

I arrived in Fort Wayne, but only 2 of my 3 suitcases made it with me. After a 30 minute fiasco, I was made aware that my suitcase was NOT in Fort Wayne. Anywhere. So Joe picked me up and we headed over to the church. It has been 2 years since I last performed at Fellowship Missionary Church, but the minute I walked in I remembered what a fun time we had last time (performing for the adult volunteer leaders). This time it was for 250 elementary aged basketball players and their families.

As the first show drew nearer and nearer to starting time, I was very nervous about how to do the show as best I could without the props in that 3rd suitcase. Sadly, that suitcase had parts for all 3 of my unicycles, so I knew I'd be unable to incorporate them at all into the show.

After all of the player introductions and a 10 minute season highlight video, the Upward leader, Robbie Sondag, looked over at me, and I gave him the thumbs up, telling him that I was as ready as I could be.

At that moment, I heard a scuffle behind me in the hallway, and running towards me was Joe and Jim, and they had my suitcase! Thank God for these guys, because as I started performing in front of the curtain, they actually assembled all three unicycles backstage, and as they were together, they would slide them through the curtain near my crates so that I could see that they were ready. About 3 minutes before it was time to start the unicycle routine, all three unicycles were there, assembled and ready for action.

The first show went great, but a little short due to the rest of the equipment still in the suitcase.

When the 2nd show started, I had on my nice pants, nice shirt and my favorite DonB! tie, all of which were in suitcase #3 during the first show.

Robbie told me to take 40 minutes for the 2nd program, so I did the whole show, and the audience was very responsive.

It is days like these that show me over and over again that any "success" from these shows is NOT based on me. God works through the details and makes it works REGARDLESS of me and my equipment. He places the right people, in the right places, at the right time, to hear the right message and respond in the right way.

FINAL NOTE: One guy did not believe that there were guys backstage assembling my unicycles, so he ran back and snapped two cell phone photos. As soon as I have those pics, I will post them here.

Busy Weekend PART 4

I am now in the Fort Wayne airport, waiting for my first connection through Chicago, back to Minneapolis. I had a great night of sleep, and was taken to a great pancake house for breakfast. Which reminds me: when we returned from breakfast, Jim, the guy that assembled my unicycles so quickly backstage, was there fixing the broken handle on my suitcase #3. Amazing guy he is.

I will be heading back to Indiana this Thursday for two more programs, so I'll see how much fun I can have on that trip.

Stay tuned...

"Sens de Vie" Show coming to Minnesota

Greetings everyone.

Last night, as I sat in on part of our church's board meeting, I was able to present to them some information about the show that I was a part of last Fall, "Sens de Vie", out of Nashville.  It was co-created by illusionist, BJ Harris and "Mark & Will" (of Audio Adrenaline fame).

I am happy to announce that the show will be coming to Mora, Minnesota, on April 5th, in the evening (time to be announced) at Mora High School.

Please pass the word on to everyone that might be interested is attending.  It really is the biggest theatrical-type stage show I have ever been a part of.

If, like last year, I have the same parts in the show, I will be doing 20 minutes prior to the show, as well as 2 of my acts in the show, and playing some parts in the rest of the show.

The beautiful curtain.  The amazing lighting. The cool illusions.  The great people I get to work with.  I think you will agree that it is an amazing show, one NOT to be missed.

I will post more details as soon as I get them.

Stay tuned...

DonB!

 

Back from the Bahamas

First, let me say that I love Minnesota.  I've lived in 4 of the United States, and Minnesota is still my favorite.  No contest.

However, it is REALLY COLD here right now.  It seems even colder due to the fact that I just spent 4 days on the ocean and in the Bahamas, where it averaged 68 degrees each day.

I had the honor of performing on the my 5th cruise with Premier Christian Cruises.  It really is the opportunity to "take a working vacation" that I could never afford to do otherwise.

I worked with Christian artists such as Third Day, Matthew West, Salvador, Nicole C. Mullen, Mandisa, Building 429, Sanctus Real, Brandon Heath, Phil Joel and the Annie Moses Band.  And it was a special reunion of the guys from 4HIM and also DeGarmo & Key.  Both reunion concerts were highlights for me.

I did one show on the cruise, but the highlight for me was doing the strolling entertainment for guests.  If people were waiting in line for autographs, I was there performing for them.  If they were waiting to get into the concert venues, I was there making paper roses for the ladies.  If they were sitting and waiting for concerts to start, I was asking them to "pick a card, any card".  i love the strolling because it gives me the opportunity to really meet the people and talk with them, find out where they are from, if this is their first cruise, etc.

Another thing that I worked harder on this time was the interaction with the wait staff around the ship.  I taught our two waiters some magic tricks they can use to raise better tips.  As I rode the elevator down to the first floor I met a waiter that likes magic, so he stepped off with me.  We stood around for almost 45 minutes talking about magic tricks, Christianity and his own life.

I taught 2 ladies in the Palladium how to make napkin roses for their customers.

One morning, I had planned on meeting our two evening waiters, to teach them a couple of magic tricks.  By the time I was done (about 20 minutes) there were almost 10 waiters around trying out the tricks for themselves.  I would imagine it gets tiring serving people day after day after day, so I only hope that they enjoy being served once in a while.  And I hope they actually use the tricks I taught them to make better tips on their future cruises.

On one of the past cruises, I felt sorry for the lack of business that some of the bartenders had.  I stopped and offered to show then a few magic routines, and by the time I was done 20 minutes later, almost 20 bar staff were standing around laughing and having a good time.

Another great thing about this cruise was that I actually had 9 other people sailing as part of our "group".  My parents came, my uncle was there, 2 great singers from our church, another couple that I've known since I was born, and one other lady friend of ours from Colorado.  The best part: my wife, Debbie, went along too. 

Here is the group photo, that I like to refer to as the DonB! fan club:

And here is the one of my beautiful wife:

Now THAT'S something to celebrate!

I leave you with this comment that one of the guests submitted after the cruise.  I remember this family, if only for the fact that the little girl was hanging a spoon on her nose, and I was jealous.  I've never been able to do it.  Out of sheer determination, I tried it, AND IT WORKED.

Here's the comment in its entirety:

Hello Janet,

My wife, myself and our two daughters most recently sailed on the KLove cruise with much satisfaction.  Thank you for assisting us with our arrangements. We would like to say the music was fantastic and fulfilling.

We also feel compelled to mention that the effort of Don B should not go unnoticed.  The man was constantly at work.  He approached us at our table, in line as we waited entry into the Palladium and we could not help but notice him at work inside the Palladium prior to the evening concerts.  Our daughters really enjoyed his performance in the lounge.

Please pass along this info if you think it may help for future events.

Sincerely,

Dr and Mrs Eric Castillo + "The Spoon Girls" Sarah and Brooke

I love my "job".  Blessings to you all.

DonB!

Patron Saint for Magicians?

One of my magician friends here in Minnesota, Geoff Williams, sent out this curious tidbit of information that you may find interesting. (Update note: this information is from Angelo Stagnaro and can be found in his book here).

PATRON SAINT OF MAGIC
There actually is a Catholic saint whose sphere of influence includes stage magic. January 31 is the day set aside on the Catholic liturgical calendar to honor ST. JOHN DON BOSCO ("Don" is simply the Italian honorific for a respected person, equivalent to our "Sir"). He was referred to as Don even during his life by both villagers and the
children for whom he cared.

Many people would wonder how it is that the Catholic Church and magic could get mixed up together. During the latter half of the 19th century, as Europe's poor were suffering from the effects of Industrialization, Don Bosco saw how most of the children in his village remained uneducated and unchurched. After Mass on Sundays, he would round up his little friends and relate the Bible stories he learned in church to them. To keep their attention he would use magic
tricks as he retold these stories.

As a young man, Don Bosco became a priest and directed his ministry solely to poor children. He needed a way to get kids interested in coming to church and to accept the aid he was offering. He used puzzles, riddles and juggling but it was the magic that most quickly caught the kids' attention. Stories that have come down to us from his
contemporaries include some specific tricks he used. He was said to be especially good at tying three ropes together to form one seamless rope in order to explain the mystery of the Christian Trinity. He also would pull coins from ears and change pebbles into money, delighting the children who were under his care. Don Bosco started a community of
Catholic priests, nuns and brothers who still to this day help street kids and youth in gangs throughout the world including New York City.

Catholic magicians in Europe still celebrate this day by performing benefit shows for children.

Off to the Bahamas

It's difficult to leave this neck-deep snow in Minnesota.

It's difficult to leave when the temperature is a balmy -12.

It's difficult to leave when I'm just getting used to 3 layers of clothing.

But someone has to do it!

I leave on Wednesday for my 7th cruise ship gig.  It is the second time I will have gone to Grand Turk in the Bahamas.

I will be working the same ship as Third Day, Matthew West, Building 429, Sanctus Real, Brandon Heath, mandisa, Rush of Fools, Salvador, Nicole C. Mullen, Denver & the Mile High Orchestra, 4HIM, DeGarmo & Key (reuniting on this cruise), illusionist Brock Gill, the 321 Improv Team, and of course Bob & Larry from the Veggie Tales.

It's a tough life, but someone's got to do it.

I'll send a full report when I return.

DonB!

Postcard Idea

So, tell me what you think of this new postcard idea:

Is the "Homer"/Humor shadow too subtle?  Other ideas?

A new "Homer" picture

This is my latest product of Photoshop:

Send me any comments you have.

DonB!

Laughter IS good medicine

The first thing I do when I meet someone with a grouchy attitude is to find myself thinking, "What could have possibly happened that was so bad that they act that way?"

Those that have known me for years know that I used to react in an exaggerated way when things upset me. I got extremely angry and outspoken. It was a terrible thing to be known for.

I would like to think that I now take a different approach to anxiety, frustration and other upsetting circumstances. Due to my own off-center sense of humor I tend to allow things to roll off my back much easier, and go on with life as it should be instead of how I want it to be.

Humor is a life-saver, and here are some great quotes I've found:

Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.
Leo Rosten

If you could choose one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor.
Jennifer Jones

A sense of humor... is needed armor. Joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.
Hugh Sidey

Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.
E. B. White

Enjoy life and all of the surprises it brings. Many times your two choices are to laugh or cry. Trust me, laughing will take you much further, and give you more, needed relief.

Happy almost New Year.

DonB!

An interesting thing happened on the way to school

Today, my daughter, Deanna, asked me to come into her history class and show a few of my favorite magic tricks.  It is only a half-day of school before Christmas vacation, and there really aren't any assignments being handed out or getting turned in.  Why magic tricks in a history class?  Because Deanna's history teacher also does some magic in the classroom, and when Deanna told him what I do for a living, he suggested she bring me in some time.  So I did.

Why do I tell you this?  Deanna feels challenged by this teacher on more than one level, mainly because of her faith.  But when Deanna told him I was a professional magician, he said "prove it", and bring me into class sometime.  

Apparently this teacher has also asked Deanna to defend her beliefs from time to time.  From Deanna's recollections, this teacher is not a Christian.

This teacher asked her "how can you believe in creation, when you can't prove it?"  She said he asks other similar questions, regarding God, Jesus, Christianity, etc.  Not because he believes, but more as if he's asking, "How can you possibly believe THAT?!"

My first reaction was to think, "How dare he question her belief system, when he can't prove his own beliefs, such as species-to-species evolution, entropy is regards to higher evolution and other small things like that."  But then, things changed.

In MY mind they changed.

I realized that the quote by Friedrich Nietzsche stating, 

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger"

 is true in this situation.  I think EVERYONE, regardless of what they believe should be questioned and challenged about WHAT they believe, WHY they believe it and what the BENEFITS of their belief system are. If you don't understand your OWN faith, then why believe it in the first place?

I think that if this teacher is simply challenging her to explain her beliefs, and not belittling nor condemning her for them, then I think it will deepen her understanding of her Christianity.  It's not going to kill her to be faced with those questions, so my hope is that it will MAKE HER STRONGER.

Does this mean I can explain every little nook and cranny of knowledge about God and Jesus and Christianity? Obviously not.  But neither can scientists explain every nook and cranny about how the universe came to be, how species evolved from one to another, how if the universe is slowly running down how can there be higher life forms "evolving" from lower ones.  I understand the evolutionary process involving "survival of the fittest", and how lions get to be stronger lions, giraffes get to be taller giraffes, but not how an iguana "evolved" into a dog.

I believe what I believe because 1) it makes the most sense to me, 2) it brings a hope and peace that I couldn't have if I trusted only in my own self for my survival, and 3) it has changed my life.  If studying evolution brings those things to someone else, that's wonderful.  For them.  For now.  But I hope he/she is ready to defend what they believe the same way that I am challenged to defend what I believe.  

In the end, I have put my hope in God and the promises that he has laid out before me in the Bible.  Am I an idiot?  Some people would say so. But I'm sticking with it.  

Oscar Wilde summarized it this way:

A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.

Think about it...

...and have a merry Christmas.

DonB!

Lio Comics

Merry Christmas everyone

Merry Christmas everyone!

Greetings everyone. As we get nearer and nearer to December 25th, lights go upon houses, stockings are hung, we eat too many wonderful baked goods, and the music programs become more abundant.

Our church musical, "Journey to Bethlehem", as well as the high school choir concert, were both postponed due to the frigid cold we had last Sunday. The church musical was presented on Wednesday instead and all went well, despite the music director being laid up at home in bed. The high school musical is rescheduled for next Monday.

This is the first in 6 years that I have not worked for UPS during the month of December, due the desire to get a lot of my own ministry tasks accomplished. I spent about 60 hours editing and reediting the church musical video segments. I've been learning more and more about PhotoShop and the fun ways to use it. I'd love to say that I've spent much of the time cleaning around the house, but...(insert laughter here).

I've been working on a couple of new routines for my shows, but I can't disclose what they are at this time until they are done and ready to try out on an audience. Watch for them: one has to do with fishing, and one has to do with juggling, but it's not by me. I also have started working on a bigger project that should be ready by Summer, and it will start showing up at corporate events by June (I hope).

Our family has chosen to spend less $$$ this year at Christmas time than in the past. One of the things we opted not to do is set up a Christmas tree (it was already December 6th). Deanna wasn't too happy about that, so she and 2 of her friends took the task upon themselves, and when we arrived home that weekend, we found this sitting in the living room:

It looks very Charlie Brown-like, and we love it. I think there are less than 100 total needles on the entire tree. We love it.

I want to encourage all of you, whether these are lean times or richer times, to simply think about all of the blessings that your family has experienced this year. Take a moment and thank God for his great love for us, and for the birth of his son, Jesus.

Merry Christmas everyone,

DonB! and Family.

For those who like words...

I was shown a website that generates word images based on blog feeds or internet sites.  So I tried it, and it generated this image:





Now try it with your own text. it would make a great logo or t-shirt printing.

DonB!

UPDATE: I forgot to give you the link to the site. Click HERE.

Bursell family involved with Pirates

I am so proud of my family.  They were all 3 involved with the Junior High production of the Pirates of Penzance Jr. at our local high school.

Click HERE to read about it, as well as see a nice photo of Dale as the Modern Major General.

Martin Luther's Wisdom

My good friend, Randy Christensen, sent this quote to me.  It reiterates the idea I've felt for so long that the Gospel, spoken in simple words and actions, is most easily understood by most people.

“Cursed be every preacher who aims at lofty topics in the church, looking for his own glory and selfishly desiring to please one individual or another.  When I preach I adapt myself to the circumstances of the common people.  I don’t look at the doctors and master…but at the young people and children.  It is to them that I devote myself.  Take pains to be simple and direct.”   

          - Martin Luther

Another fantastic "Sens de Vie" trip

I returned home from Dallas, Texas, yesterday, and I slept about 10 hours last night into today.  Needless to say, I am tired.

I flew into Albuquerque, New Mexico, and was picked up by a friend from Sandia Presbyterian Church, Mike Malony, who took me around Albuquerque until it was time for lunch.  We had some great Mexican food, and then he dropped me off at the hotel for a little rest.

The rest of the Sens crew showed up that afternoon, and we all got a good night's rest.

On Friday we did the show in Sandia Presbyterian Church to a very responsive group.

We then drove down to Ruidoso, New Mexico, arriving early in the morning hours.  I was able to get about 5 hours of sleep before heading over to the venue at noon to help with the set-up that Josh and Danny has begun at 9 AM.  This time the stage size was very small, but everyone agreed that we would do the full show on it anyway.  And we did it.  It involved a lot of lifting of illusions on & off the stage throughout the show, but the audience never knew the amount of work we were doing backstage to make it happen.

We chose to spend the night there in Ruidoso.  The next morning it was remembered that BJ was supposed to do a presentation in the church in Artesia that morning.  So with Josh at the wheel, we were able to make the drive in lightning speed, just in time for BJ to walk into church at 10:20 for his part.

While he performed at church, the rest of us went to the show venue and began the set-up.  Of all of the volunteers that helped us on this tour, the guys in Artesia were the best.  When the winch we use broke during load-in, two guys sat down on the floor and fixed it.  When the 2 big illusions that I am responsible for needed assembling, at least 6 guys jumped in to help, setting record time for complete set-up.  (Usually it takes about 1.5 hours to set-up the 2 big illusions.  This day we did both in under 25 minutes!)  

Here's an idea of what our day is like on the road:  I wake around 6:30AM, eat, shower and pack.  I start unloading by 9 or 10AM at the venue.  Unloading takes about an hour, depending on how many extra people help us. Set-up takes until about 3 or 4 PM, when we usually sit down to a quick dinner backstage.  The doors open at 6, with the show at 7 PM.  The show runs just over 2 hours.  We go out and meet the audience in the lobby for about 30 minutes, and then change I change out of my performing clothes.  Tear down takes about 90 minutes.  Loading takes another 60-75 minutes, and then we go for dinner somewhere.  I have been getting to bed by 12 midnight (at the earliest) and 2:30 AM at the latest.  The next day we do it all over again somewhere else.  IT'S A BLAST!  Really!

All 3 shows these days went really well.  Almost all of the technical and staging glitches were gone, and the audiences were so responsive.  All 3 shows ended with standing ovations.

When I think about the "Sens de Vie" show, it amazes me that with only 6 people on the road (and one dog), that such a large production can happen.  It is a HUGE show for 6 people to do, but it happens, and has done so for almost 10 shows now.

Please stay tuned to my blog here, or to BJ's website for future dates to be announced.  Or, join us in Dayton, Tennessee, on November 16th for this year's final "Sens de Vie" performance.

NOTE: Wonderful pictures to be posted here after this weekend.  I've seen them, and they are fantastic!

Whatever

Kids and cameras.

PC and Mac: DonB! now uses both!

After looking at laptop computers for 3 years, and wondering when I would actually get around to purchasing one, it finally happened.

Thanks to 2 generous gifts from supporters of DonB! Ministries, I went and bought a laptop.  The change for me is that it is a MacBook, and not a Windows-based PC.  So now I have two different computers, running two totally separate types of programs.  The good news is that I now can continue working even while I am on the road (which will be quite a bit in the next 5 weeks).

The reason that I went with a Mac is this:  I talked with graphic artists that I know, and ALL OF THEM said that if I plan to continue doing my own photographs and web photos, a Mac is more stable (no crashes) and runs much faster.  And they are right.  This computer loads fast, runs fast and is very "intuitive", meaning that if I don't know how to accomplish something, I experiment with what seems right to me, and I'm usually right!

So, next time you find me travelling, ask to see my newest baby, born only yesterday.

DonB!