Dec. 17: Legacy

 With a title like Legacy, I should probably write something profound. Like, I should write about the legacy I hope to leave my son (not much right now unless he's really into used magic tricks and old magic books.) Unfortunately, the first thing I thought about when Stephanie Bissky gave me this title was the Art of Noise song, Legacy.


Although that video is colourful as all get out, it's pretty boring and it's a boring song to boot. There's nothing about Legacy that hooks the listener, even if the listener is an Art of Noise fan like I am. (I still believe the Art of Noise is the best ever name for a band.) The best Art of Noise songs are great because their subject matter emotionally connects with the fans because they are based on the Peter Gunn theme or Dragnet or Max Headroom or the Prince song, Kiss.

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John Denver, who might be one of the best singer/songwriters of the latter part of the 20th century, was once asked how he wanted to be remembered. The writer of Rocky Mountain High and Sweet Surrender said this: "My kids' dad."

I always liked that. It makes me feel pretty stupid about the way I was when I was a teenager and all I wanted out of life was to be really famous. I stupidly believed that would make me immortal. It doesn't. It just extends your shelf life, but not by much. This was driven home to me in October when I did a magic show for a classroom of Grade 6 students. In one of my tricks, I talk about people who I would invite to a barbecue at my house if I was allowed to invite anyone in history, living or dead. I mentioned the following:

- St Augustine

- Prince

- William Shakespeare

- Al Pacino

- Rita Hayworth

- David Copperfield

- Weird Al Yankovic

Get this. Not one of those kids had even heard of one of those people. 

Talk about legacies

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I guess I hope I'll publish at least one novel in my life. Either that or these lousy notes a day will have to serve as my legacy.

But hey, I'm my kids' dad and that's not something anyone can take away from me.

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