Imagina Part 2
Journal of August 21
By Luis Vega
Saturday
9:00 am
I get up a little bit early for being saturday..well since I am going to breakfast with m good friend Aurora, then It´s ok...other saturdays I tend to get up at 10.00...it´s been a long week...as I get a shower I think about the events of yesterday..I never thought to met Jeff McBride...and other magicians..I´ve been a lone magician all this time..it´s amazing to met in just one day more than 20 magicians some of them near my city..
Ok..I forgot I got a gig today...with the owners of the Banco Del Bajio...ok, the magic show is at 9:00 and the gig at 5:00 so I got time to do the show, eat and socialize...I think is equally important the gig as the aftershow to positionate yourself as a great magician...
"So I see you tomorrow in the show...as soon as the show ends..come backstage,I´ll tell Tony you come with me!!" those words pounding in my head...since Jeff use them...and to even consider I wasn´t expecting going to the show..funny..
4:30
I arrive to the house..I am greeted by my good friend Alex..
"HI FABIAN!!" my real name...only my friends call me Fabian...(on a side note!! if you are reading this, you are welcome to call me Fabian...Luis Vega is just my persona...my full name is "Luis Fabian Vega Mendoza")
"Hi alex!! how is it going?"
"Great!! so do you want to eat first or prepare the show?"
"I think I´ll eat later, there are some things I have to arrange first"
"Ok!! as usual help yourself out..my father told his friends that the magic show is at 5:00..I know you will rock their socks!!"
I perform the show as usual...only this time is for more people and I used mentalism for the first time in my life..I can be certain that I am good at it...as I finish I sit with my friend and his girlfriend and just eat and chat a little...I have to leave...I wouldn´t like to be late to this show...at this moment I have no idea how it will turn out
Teatro Doblado
8:30
I go very quickly and I see there is a lot of people...I hope I can get a ticket..I am not sure if there any left
great!! I get a VIP pass!! it´s expensive but I hope is worth it, since this will be the only show of magic I get to watch in a long time...
I sit down with my new magic friends and silently await the start of the show, then I hear some peole cheering and I turn around and see Jeff McBride making bubbles for the audience...Amazing! this obviously puts everybody in a great mood!! and I just wish him luck with the show...
9:00
The show starts and the openers are some of the best magician´s in Mexico...although I am not impressed...they all do the same tricks that has been done in the last 10 years, doves, snowstorm, silks productions, the same friggin chinese linking rings,metamorphosis...I see a mentalist, but he dissapoints me with a very bad prediction when I could clearly see the assistant hidden behind a box writing it for him...and then he pretended he write it before the show...dissapointment
As I see the show..I realize I want to change all of this...I need to set a new standard....Mexico needs new standards...
Intermezzo..
I get up my seat and chat with my new friends and then I hear
"Luis!! up here!!" I look up and see the group of magicians I met a long time ago in the Cervantino
"Oh Pablo!!!" it is so good to see them again...and I mean it
we happily chat and then I hear the third call...everybody on their seats!! Jeff´s Show is about to start!!
all lights turn off and I see somebody standing in the middle of the stage...his eyes glowing..OMG!! is the Mask Routine!! as he goes on I realize that yesterday he was just saving energy...I cannot believe this guy is the same that yesterday, his vitality and energy has no parallels....
I must admit that while watching the show and the different routines..I think that to be a great stage magician doesn´t mean you need a big budget or big props..only imagination and dedication...
the show ends and I feel that sense of wonder I thought I lost so long ago...it´s good to feel like a little kid again...
Backstage
11:30
I go backstage without a problem and first I congratulate Jeff for the show..then I just stick around to see how some magicians dissassemble their props..Oh!! so that how the metamorphosis works!!
"Hello Luis Vega?"
"Yes"
"Hi! my name is Martin and I am Jeff´s friend..so listen, you are from here right?"
"Yes"
"great!! see...Jeff wants to go to have dinner and nobody else is from here..I was wondering if you could take us to a nice place to quietly have dinner...since he is tired and just wants to chat and eat...maybe you could.." while saying this he is interrupted by Tony....the organizer of the event
"Why would go somewhere else when I have a place set already!!, there is a place called Mambocafe, where they are going to set us tables in the VIP area, and we are going there to have a nice time..."
"Well..is that a quiet place?" Martin asks
"of course!! it´s a cafe" WHAT!! THAT IS A LIE!! Mambo Cafe is a place of salsa dance and is basicly the last place I would go now...but hey...it´s not my call this time
"OK!! I´ll tell Jeff we´ll go there!!"
"Ok I´ll get the Limusine!" Tony finishes...
Ok..I don´t like that place,but I would really like to spend more time with Jeff since I am learning a lot and maybe I could get more advice...also he is very cool!!
Mambo Cafe
1:00 am
This place is very noisy, I can barely hear my thoughts..well at least we are in the VIP area and I can see everything from here...I chat with my old friends about magic and other things, then I turn to see how is Jeff doing...he seems amazed by the way my friends are dancing...mental note..learn to dance Salsa
I just ask for a soda and stick around, chatting here and there..
"Luis?" I hear behind me
"Oh! it´s you Martin!! how is everything?"
"well good..but can I have a word with you?"
"ok..."I follow him to a mor quiet spot
"Listen...Jeff doesn´t want to be here, he is hungry and he would like to go to a more quiet place in this city, and I was wondering if you could take us to somewhere else"
"take you? like in my car?"
"No...see...Jeff is using the limusine, but we want to leave quietly by the backdoor of this place, we are going to send the limusine to the hotel, then you go out and wait for us in your car and Jeff and I will reach you in my van, can you do that?"
"Of course!!"
"thanks!! BTW don´t tell anybody about this...it´s only you and you only who is coming..meet you at the street in 10 min"
I return to my table...and my friends ask me where I was...I just answer that I was in the bathroom..
10 min later...
I turn around and see Jeff and Martin and a couple persons going to the emergency doors and I stand up quickly...and I feel kind of guilty so..
"Pablo listen up!!"
"what is it?"
"I don´t have time to tell you this, but I am going to have dinner with Jeff somewhere else, the rest of the people is going to follow the limo, but if you follow me and your friends we will have a private dinner with Jeff...so quietly follow me"
"Ok!! let´s go meet you at the front door..now!!"
I go get my car and I wait 5 min in the corner, waiting to see the van of my friends car...I think about this and I cannot believe it..I am actually going to have dinner with Jeff Mcbride!!
I see a van behind me and I get out of the car and it´s Martin and Jeff, they salute me...the real reason why I get out of the car is to see if Pablo and my friends are out, and sadly they are not, and I cannot make Jeff wait...
I get in the car and take them to dinner Tacos at Tacos El Pata...a nice place here in Leon to eat tacos and other types of mexican food...
Tacos El Pata
2:30 am
We order a table for 5 people and I see that the other people is actually Martin´s family and the brother of the organizer,Jeff Mcbride and Me!! this is awesome!! I am going to eat tacos with Jeff Mcbride!!!
The dinner goes great!! I actually teach Jeff to say "Chicharron de queso" and show him the different kind of tacos that exist in Mexico, he admits that he wasn´t expecting this kind of food, since Taco Bell is the only mexican food he has eaten before "we need more of this in USA" he says..
After what I think was one of the greatest time ever, he explains me a lot of things that I should do as a magician, he teaches me a great impromptu trick with a bill and I show him more tricks of mine...man I can hardly believe this is happening!!
Time´s up and we need to leave...
"so I had a great time eating tacos here"
"yeah me too...even though I am from here I don´t eat tacos a lot"
"that´s weird..ok, so tomorrow I was planning to give a little lecture for magicians...I hope to see you there"
"at what time is?"
"It´s at 11:00"
"mmm...I´ll arrive at 12:00 since I have a gig tomorrow morning.."
"it´s ok!! I guess you had you private lecture a mintes ago!! so I´ll see you tomorrow Luis and have a good night!!"
"Thanks Jeff you too!!"
we leave as I still don´t believe this is happening...
some photos!!
Journal of August 21
By Luis Vega
Saturday
9:00 am
I get up a little bit early for being saturday..well since I am going to breakfast with m good friend Aurora, then It´s ok...other saturdays I tend to get up at 10.00...it´s been a long week...as I get a shower I think about the events of yesterday..I never thought to met Jeff McBride...and other magicians..I´ve been a lone magician all this time..it´s amazing to met in just one day more than 20 magicians some of them near my city..
Ok..I forgot I got a gig today...with the owners of the Banco Del Bajio...ok, the magic show is at 9:00 and the gig at 5:00 so I got time to do the show, eat and socialize...I think is equally important the gig as the aftershow to positionate yourself as a great magician...
"So I see you tomorrow in the show...as soon as the show ends..come backstage,I´ll tell Tony you come with me!!" those words pounding in my head...since Jeff use them...and to even consider I wasn´t expecting going to the show..funny..
4:30
I arrive to the house..I am greeted by my good friend Alex..
"HI FABIAN!!" my real name...only my friends call me Fabian...(on a side note!! if you are reading this, you are welcome to call me Fabian...Luis Vega is just my persona...my full name is "Luis Fabian Vega Mendoza")
"Hi alex!! how is it going?"
"Great!! so do you want to eat first or prepare the show?"
"I think I´ll eat later, there are some things I have to arrange first"
"Ok!! as usual help yourself out..my father told his friends that the magic show is at 5:00..I know you will rock their socks!!"
I perform the show as usual...only this time is for more people and I used mentalism for the first time in my life..I can be certain that I am good at it...as I finish I sit with my friend and his girlfriend and just eat and chat a little...I have to leave...I wouldn´t like to be late to this show...at this moment I have no idea how it will turn out
Teatro Doblado
8:30
I go very quickly and I see there is a lot of people...I hope I can get a ticket..I am not sure if there any left
great!! I get a VIP pass!! it´s expensive but I hope is worth it, since this will be the only show of magic I get to watch in a long time...
I sit down with my new magic friends and silently await the start of the show, then I hear some peole cheering and I turn around and see Jeff McBride making bubbles for the audience...Amazing! this obviously puts everybody in a great mood!! and I just wish him luck with the show...
9:00
The show starts and the openers are some of the best magician´s in Mexico...although I am not impressed...they all do the same tricks that has been done in the last 10 years, doves, snowstorm, silks productions, the same friggin chinese linking rings,metamorphosis...I see a mentalist, but he dissapoints me with a very bad prediction when I could clearly see the assistant hidden behind a box writing it for him...and then he pretended he write it before the show...dissapointment
As I see the show..I realize I want to change all of this...I need to set a new standard....Mexico needs new standards...
Intermezzo..
I get up my seat and chat with my new friends and then I hear
"Luis!! up here!!" I look up and see the group of magicians I met a long time ago in the Cervantino
"Oh Pablo!!!" it is so good to see them again...and I mean it
we happily chat and then I hear the third call...everybody on their seats!! Jeff´s Show is about to start!!
all lights turn off and I see somebody standing in the middle of the stage...his eyes glowing..OMG!! is the Mask Routine!! as he goes on I realize that yesterday he was just saving energy...I cannot believe this guy is the same that yesterday, his vitality and energy has no parallels....
I must admit that while watching the show and the different routines..I think that to be a great stage magician doesn´t mean you need a big budget or big props..only imagination and dedication...
the show ends and I feel that sense of wonder I thought I lost so long ago...it´s good to feel like a little kid again...
Backstage
11:30
I go backstage without a problem and first I congratulate Jeff for the show..then I just stick around to see how some magicians dissassemble their props..Oh!! so that how the metamorphosis works!!
"Hello Luis Vega?"
"Yes"
"Hi! my name is Martin and I am Jeff´s friend..so listen, you are from here right?"
"Yes"
"great!! see...Jeff wants to go to have dinner and nobody else is from here..I was wondering if you could take us to a nice place to quietly have dinner...since he is tired and just wants to chat and eat...maybe you could.." while saying this he is interrupted by Tony....the organizer of the event
"Why would go somewhere else when I have a place set already!!, there is a place called Mambocafe, where they are going to set us tables in the VIP area, and we are going there to have a nice time..."
"Well..is that a quiet place?" Martin asks
"of course!! it´s a cafe" WHAT!! THAT IS A LIE!! Mambo Cafe is a place of salsa dance and is basicly the last place I would go now...but hey...it´s not my call this time
"OK!! I´ll tell Jeff we´ll go there!!"
"Ok I´ll get the Limusine!" Tony finishes...
Ok..I don´t like that place,but I would really like to spend more time with Jeff since I am learning a lot and maybe I could get more advice...also he is very cool!!
Mambo Cafe
1:00 am
This place is very noisy, I can barely hear my thoughts..well at least we are in the VIP area and I can see everything from here...I chat with my old friends about magic and other things, then I turn to see how is Jeff doing...he seems amazed by the way my friends are dancing...mental note..learn to dance Salsa
I just ask for a soda and stick around, chatting here and there..
"Luis?" I hear behind me
"Oh! it´s you Martin!! how is everything?"
"well good..but can I have a word with you?"
"ok..."I follow him to a mor quiet spot
"Listen...Jeff doesn´t want to be here, he is hungry and he would like to go to a more quiet place in this city, and I was wondering if you could take us to somewhere else"
"take you? like in my car?"
"No...see...Jeff is using the limusine, but we want to leave quietly by the backdoor of this place, we are going to send the limusine to the hotel, then you go out and wait for us in your car and Jeff and I will reach you in my van, can you do that?"
"Of course!!"
"thanks!! BTW don´t tell anybody about this...it´s only you and you only who is coming..meet you at the street in 10 min"
I return to my table...and my friends ask me where I was...I just answer that I was in the bathroom..
10 min later...
I turn around and see Jeff and Martin and a couple persons going to the emergency doors and I stand up quickly...and I feel kind of guilty so..
"Pablo listen up!!"
"what is it?"
"I don´t have time to tell you this, but I am going to have dinner with Jeff somewhere else, the rest of the people is going to follow the limo, but if you follow me and your friends we will have a private dinner with Jeff...so quietly follow me"
"Ok!! let´s go meet you at the front door..now!!"
I go get my car and I wait 5 min in the corner, waiting to see the van of my friends car...I think about this and I cannot believe it..I am actually going to have dinner with Jeff Mcbride!!
I see a van behind me and I get out of the car and it´s Martin and Jeff, they salute me...the real reason why I get out of the car is to see if Pablo and my friends are out, and sadly they are not, and I cannot make Jeff wait...
I get in the car and take them to dinner Tacos at Tacos El Pata...a nice place here in Leon to eat tacos and other types of mexican food...
Tacos El Pata
2:30 am
We order a table for 5 people and I see that the other people is actually Martin´s family and the brother of the organizer,Jeff Mcbride and Me!! this is awesome!! I am going to eat tacos with Jeff Mcbride!!!
The dinner goes great!! I actually teach Jeff to say "Chicharron de queso" and show him the different kind of tacos that exist in Mexico, he admits that he wasn´t expecting this kind of food, since Taco Bell is the only mexican food he has eaten before "we need more of this in USA" he says..
After what I think was one of the greatest time ever, he explains me a lot of things that I should do as a magician, he teaches me a great impromptu trick with a bill and I show him more tricks of mine...man I can hardly believe this is happening!!
Time´s up and we need to leave...
"so I had a great time eating tacos here"
"yeah me too...even though I am from here I don´t eat tacos a lot"
"that´s weird..ok, so tomorrow I was planning to give a little lecture for magicians...I hope to see you there"
"at what time is?"
"It´s at 11:00"
"mmm...I´ll arrive at 12:00 since I have a gig tomorrow morning.."
"it´s ok!! I guess you had you private lecture a mintes ago!! so I´ll see you tomorrow Luis and have a good night!!"
"Thanks Jeff you too!!"
we leave as I still don´t believe this is happening...
some photos!!
