I’m extremely flattered to find that what was supposed to be a mere sidebar appearance in this month’s issue of Hartford Magazine has in fact blossomed into a full two-page spread, complete with a stunning photograph by Eric Tetreault!

The article – titled Performer Roderick Russell knows how to attract attention - is a question and answer format interview and, though there were some liberties taken in transcribing the very long phone conversation – necessitated by space no doubt – the overall fidelity is quite good and the article does indeed represent me well. Many thanks go to the author, Mara Dresner, for not only doing such a great job, but for allowing me to take up so much space in the magazine!

I love it when people send me messages letting me know of the places that they’ve seen me. It’s endlessly flattering and, as I often don’t know myself where my image will be splashed, exciting and humorous to discover all the new places that I’ve been spotted. So, in the interest of shameless self-promotion, I’m writing to tell you about the latest place I’ve been seen…:

On a billboard!

The last fun sighting affiliated with Magic Hat was in a storefront window in Manhattan, spotted, photographed and sent along by Bethany Boles. This billboard – also for Magic Hat – was spotted in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Quite odd, as I am currently sitting in Burlington, VT, home of Magic Hat, though I actually live not too far from Scranton! Love the coincidences…

Any more sightings? Ads, television appearances, magazines… Send them along!

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It’s now the last week of August and here I sit, in one of my favorite cities (and old home town), Burlington, VT sipping coffee in my favorite cafe, reflecting on the whirlwind tour of shows that was summer, 2008. There’s technically only one week left in the summer touring season and I have only a few shows left in the Northeast before I make my way back to Pennsylvania.

At this point in the year I’d normally be eagerly looking forward to a couple weeks of downtime following Labor Day, but it’s not to happen this year. My usual time off the road has quickly booked up and, between September and October alone, I’m looking at a run of 49+ shows. No rest for the weary I suppose – or is that the wicked?

Sword swallower and mind reader Roderick Russell will be appearing at the Pennsylvania College of Technology for a show that is completely free and open to the public. (sponsored by PCT Student Activities)

WHEN: Saturday, April 19th
WHERE: Klump Academic Center Auditorium on the PCT Campus (W. 3rd in Williamsport)
TIME: 8:00 pm
PRICE: FREE!!!

The theater is a beautiful little performance space with 561 seats that I first worked in back in, oh, 2004 or so. We’d like to fill the space and have a great time. If you’re in the area be sure to come on out, and bring your friends!

Hope to see you there!
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Many thanks to all who turned out for the book signing this past weekend at Borders Books in central PA. Not only did we have a capacity crowd, the store also sold out of their entire stock of the book!

The current edition of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not will soon go off the shelves to make room for the upcoming edition, so if you’d like to see me at a store near you, make sure you drop me a line soon or have your bookstore contact me!

The Take a Picture, Get a Poster promotion is still running, but again, if you want to participate you better do so quickly, as the book won’t be around much longer!
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After a long journey through the postal system from Germany to the United States, along with time spent being forwarded within the US itself in an attempt to find me while I travel, the March issue of Matador Magazine, Germany’s best-selling GQ-style magazine, has finally made its way into my waiting hands.

A bit late perhaps – the fault being entirely mine, as I’m currently away from home – but the spread looks great, making it well worth the wait.

Alongside the usual gear reviews found in men’s lifestyle magazines (audio equipment, auto news, gadgets), how-to lists and entertainment news, you’ll also find an interview with Charlize Theron, a profile of Shaun White, and a list of bands with the guru’s they adore. Amy Winehouse apparently works one-on-one with David Sye, while the Beach Boys go in for the more 60’s commercial message of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. And of course there’s also the stunning spread (oddly not the cover) of Sabrina, aka Miss Matador. What men’s lifestyle magazine would be complete without a Miss Magazinename?

I love hearing from fans of the show. I get incredible letters from all sorts of unexpected places, and sometimes, they let me know that I’ve been spotted in unexpected places.

One of the most recent messages was from Bethany Boles, a fan from Connecticut. She was recently visiting New York City and while in downtown Manhattan she spotted me as part of the Magic Hat ad campaign. (for those who don’t know, I lent my image to Magic Hat Brewery for a series of commercials and print ads run throughout the country)

Naturally I was flattered that someone even noticed me amidst the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, and I was thrilled that Magic Hat had placed ads throughout the city. What I didn’t realize was the extent of the presence!

I’ll be on the road for the next seven weeks and will be making some public appearance stops along the way. Here’s one to watch out for:

Roderick Russell : Sword Swallower
Appearance and Book Signing
Borders Books and Music
300 Lycoming Mall Circle
Pennsdale, PA 17756

DATE: April 12, 2008
TIME: 1 pm

I’ll be on hand to sign copies of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not : The Remarkable… Revealed and will be giving a close-up performance, a brief sword swallowing demonstration and a Q&A session to follow.

Hope to see you there!
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Germany’s most popular men’s lifestyle magazine, Matador (think GQ for those stateside), will be running a full-page article about me for their popular series How does it feel… In this case, naturally, to swallow a sword.

The article was written by Stephan Bernhard, a freelance journalist who writes regularly for Matador and has authored several books, among them No Limits – a book on rare and extreme sports – and a separate text on the famous climbers Alexander and Thomas Huber (known for, amongst other things, their free ascents and speed records).

Bernhard’s last How does it feel… article for Matador featured Tom Sietas, the free diver who in 2007 set a free diving world record for holding his breath underwater for 9 minutes and 8 seconds.

The upcoming feature will also include a new sword swallowing x-ray image, a preview of which can be found on my personal Flickr account.

Two New Guinness World Records Name Sword Swallowing and Roderick Russell

The Guinness World Records organization recently announced the official release of the records for Most Swords Swallowed at Once as well as the Most Swallowed Sword, and my name appears on both records.

Technically these records were “set” in years past, but the Guinness organization has finally issued the certificates for both.

Nine Sword Swallowers - Fifty-Two Swords
The record for most swords swallowed at once was set in 2005 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and is a collaborative record held between myself and eight other sword swallowers, who simultaneously swallowed a total of 52 swords during the 4th Annual Sideshow Gathering. The record attempt – and success – was sponsored by the Sword Swallowers’ Association International, the organization which I co-founded in 2001/2002.

Each year the management of the Connecticut Renaissance Faire solicits votes from the community to hand out awards to independent acts, merchants and cast members of the production. With such a huge group of dedicated individuals working together year-round to create the month-long production, it’s difficult to recognize everyone that deserves to be recognized - and the show wouldn’t be the same without even one of the vast crew.

Though there are many acts that deserve the attention just as much as I do, I am happy to report that my hypnosis show generated enough enthusiasm, massive crowds, laughter and buzz to have been noticed by pretty much everyone, and thereby secured the award for Best Independent Act of the 2007 show.

Autumn in New England is a beautiful time of year. With the changing color of the leaves, the hot apple cider and cool nights by the warm wood fire with a book, you couldn’t be more relaxed unless you were hypnotized – and now is your chance to do just that!

The first weekend of the Connecticut Renaissance Faire has just concluded and, by popular demand, I was pleased to present my hypnosis show on the main stage for all to enjoy – and what a fabulous success it has been!

We’ve never presented it in this venue before, but as it turns out it’s ideally suited to the audience. With such creative, imaginative people in attendance, how can you go wrong?

Capitalizing on the success of my sword swallowing show and its history of setting attendance records, we blew all of those records out of the water with packed-to-the-rafters crowds and a level of enthusiasm unseen at any other show.

What better way to kick off the new semester than to tie a guy up, light him on fire and shove swords down his throat? That’s exactly what the students at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA did last Friday with me, and what a show it was!

An amazingly interactive, fun and outgoing group they are, and they turned out in droves to completely pack the venue!

Never was I short of volunteers (actually had to turn some away!) or enthusiasm, and they were kind enough to give me a standing ovation at the end of the evening.

The funniest part? Well, there were many, but the guy who threw his clothing on stage after the sword swallow takes the cake. Some things you expect. That one I didn’t.

“We’re just in a band. That dude swallows swords!”

listen to the audio clip

I’m a very far cry from what you’d call a country music aficionado – I don’t think that Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies count – but for various reasons I can sometimes be found associating with people affiliated with the industry, and as a music-lover in general I can certainly appreciate great musicianship, regardless of genre.

More than that, I appreciate when someone does something nice, and “nice” does not begin to describe the country music band Whiskey Falls and how they gave up a huge portion of their own promotional appearance on the Bill Breakfast Show (Bill Country, 95 FM, a Clear Channel station) to plug me, my work and my website a few weeks back.