Russ Towne's A Grateful Man

I have a friend named Brent who is blind. He is also a magician. He calls himself The Great Blindini.

Here are some snippets from a recent newspaper article about him:

Magicians often don a blindfold at some point during their shows. For Brent Gifford, aka “The Great Blindini,” a blindfold would be redundant. Sightless since he was 11, Gifford has been amazing and entertaining folks with his comedy magic shows across the nation for more than 40 years.

His sense of humor is immediately apparent in one of his favorite sayings: “Now you see it, now I don’t.”

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Gifford performs at libraries, schools, corporate parties, children’s parties, night clubs and pretty much anywhere he’s asked. He has performed at a monastery in New Mexico and at a nudist retreat.

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Gifford has spent most of his life pushing through fear to live a life full of adventure and accomplishment.

“Everything you do comes down to love or fear,” he said. “I do things because I’m a teacher. I’m trying to forge the way for other people. I try to be an example to other people. That’s what keeps me from giving up and staying home all day.

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While attending a school basketball game in his home town in Maine at age 11, Gifford’s vision loss hit suddenly. He stood to cheer when a friend scored for the first time and instantly became completely blind.

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“I was really shy before I lost my sight,” he said. “I got over that somewhere along the line.”

At the young age of 14, the future Great Blindini made it his quest to live and perform in all 50 states. He has succeeded in living and working in 49 so far, with just Hawaii needed to complete his goal.

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Here are a URL and/or link to the article:

http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20120716/LIFESTYLE/307160001?fb_ref=artsharetop&fb_source=other_multiline

WAY TO GO, my friend!

Russ