Nice Hat!!!!!
Did you purchase that in Clearwater?

Can't complain much about Clearwater- the restaurant HOOTERS was created there before expanding in FL and some other states.

I spent two weeks in Clearwater many many years ago. It was the first time I heard of a "Cuban sandwich." I knew what a turkey sandwich was and what a ham sandwich was. I was afraid to find out what a Cuban tasted like.

As far as the stunt goes, it seems a bit tame knowing his reputation. My prediction is that something will go "TERRIBLY TERRIBLY WRONG!!" with the stunt and the building will blow up "WITH CRISS ANGEL STILL INSIDE!!" After an appropriate period of time, he will appear smiling and waving from some improbable location (possibly from the helicopter itself?)

I am not personally a fan of his, but I can definitely appreciate that he knows his audience.

A little bird told me that Criss was going to try this David Copperfield style, but I shot that bird seeing that Criss is chained to a balcony and not put into a box.

Slartiblast, did you try the Cuban Sandwich? If you didn't like it, you should visit Ybor City next time you are down here from Illinois where anything Cuban is pretty much authentic.

Speaking of Ybor, half of it is historic Cuban culture and the other half if modern day clubs. With Criss' known passion for clubbing (as he is in one in almost every episode), I wonder if he'll hit the clubs there.

Anyhow, two more days, and we'll see.

It's going to be a blast!


Public viewing areas for Criss Angel's big beach blast:

look at website for map (of safety zone): tampabays10.com

Clearwater Beach, Florida — Traffic will stop and a swath of the south beach will be closed to the public when the vacant Spyglass hotel is demolished "live" on the nationally-televised Criss Angel Mindfreak show Wednesday night.

The city has set up a 500-foot "safety zone" that requires closure of South Gulfview Boulevard and Coronado Drive south of the Roundabout.

Pedestrians will not be allowed on a section of the beach in front of the Spyglass, and boaters also will be kept back from the shoreline, for their own protection.

South Gulfview will close between the Pier 60 parking lot at the Hyatt Aqualea from 7 a.m. Monday through 7 a.m. Friday. Only cement trucks and other construction vehicles working on the Hyatt Aqualea will get through. All other traffic will be routed onto Coronado Drive.

Coronado itself will close the night of the implosion between Hamden Drive and Third Street, from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.

All traffic from the Roundabout south to Third Street will be closed from 10:30 p.m. to about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The implosion is expected to occur toward the end of the Criss Angel Mindfreak program, which airs from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. on A&E.



While the best seat in the house to view the event may be your own in front of your TV, people who want to see the implosion in person will have some restrictions.

The city is closing off part of the south beach for some 500 feet around the Spyglass. People who arrive early should stay behind signs and fencing that will be in place, otherwise they'll be asked to move.

The U.S. Coast Guard will be on patrol near Pier 60, to keep boaters back from part of the gulf that falls within 1,000 feet of the hotel.

Two public viewing areas will be sent up south and north of the Spyglass.

The south area is near the south beach pavilion. The north area is near the Pier 60 parking lot. A large screen TV will be in place at the northern edge of the safety zone.

I have a gig that night or I would wait for him in the Cigar District ... Perhaps I will anyway?

I thought it was pretty well done!

There was the lamest **** I have ever seen. That is one hour of my life I will never get back. I have no respect at all for Criss Angel after that lame "dangerous and death-defying escape". It's pretty amazing how they recorded him "struggling" to "escape", and he just exits the building from the bottom floor and "magically" comes out from the rubble and survives the implosion.. ******. I can't believe all those people actually spent all day in the rain at Clearwater Beach waiting for this pathetic illusionist. Dangerous and death-defying, not a chance. Criss Angel does not come close to comparing to Houdini, Copperfield, or even Penn and Teller.

That's a little harsh don't you think? What did you actually expect? Did you really think he was in any danger? The problem is you know magic and you know what to look for and what to expect. He made the illusion of danger. I don't feel he would risk his Vegas show and his life for one time stunt.

It was nice to see Criss without all of the jewelry. It was nice to see him how I remember him. The way he looked and acted tonight is how he needs to be always....

Pre taped running upstairs while going down. I thought it was interesting how he could not pick the first lock but was aware of the timing he needed to get downstairs, so he busted the glass. All in all, picked a set of handcuffs (which anyone can do with the proper tools) and the other lock he picked. Who knows about the "3rd" door as nothing was shown to be locked there. er, I am not impressed.

I do think it would have been better if he would have actually done what he said he was going to do....

So there were Camera Tricks?

Ok so heres the deal, I was there on clearwater beach that night. I personally never wanted to go but 2 girls (friends of mine) thought I would like to and my uncle has a condo up there that we stayed at..... there were a LOT of people down there, I was suprised.... I saw a few buskers drawing crowds at the pier, but did not do anything myself. The lighting on the beach was terrible.... the building was lit up and we had a small screen to watch but you could not see more than 5 feet in front of you (it was 10pm but still).

About the actual stunt... everything abuot it was pretty bad except the building implosion.... Watching that was just a feat of such power that it was amazing to watch.

The funniest thing about it though was that right when the building imploded (and angel's fate was "unknown") The entire crowd erupted in cheering as it went down lol... then seriously seconds after that TONS of people just left. Nobody cared what happened to angel really lol, they just cheered for the collapse and started heading back to their cars.

From suffering through past angel stunts I knew he would supposedly be "inside the building" when it collapsed, but the ending still disappointed me completely. I thought it would have been 100 times better if he ended up at the end somewhere non-plausible such as the cranes that were building the new building in its place, which were in the vicinity... or actually inside the helicopter or something of the sort. When he came out of the "rubble" I just thought that was stupid for him and hurt the magic community as well.

But besides that and the horrible traffic (didnt get home till 2am), I had a great time at the beach as the atmosphere was great, and I thought that this stunt was a wonderful publicity event and had a great economic impact on the community and clearwater beach in particular.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask

Local Tampa station FOX 13 caught some footage that may explain how it was done (in their eyes)...myfoxtampabay.com.

He's friend's with the lead singer of Godsmack (they are collaborating this year), and they are performing in Orlando tomorrow night at the Hard Rock (their only performance in Florida this month). He said in his interview that he's staying in Florida till Sunday night, so since he's only two hours away from his friend, it makes sense that he will show up there. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Say no more.

Well, the Godsmack concert was incredible as always. No Criss, but all the members of the band were wearing the Criss Angel pendants. Hmmmmm....definitely something in the works.