Sword Swallower Dan Meyer

I had a blast at Ignite Cincinnati!

Ignite’s slogan: “Enlighten us, but do it quick!”

So for Ignite talks, you have only 5 minutes and 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds, which is about enough time to get in one sentence, before the slide advances to the next slide…

So I had about 3:56 to get in 4000 years of sword swallowing and 30 years of my life, and about a minute to swallow 3 swords. I was pretty nervous about trying to get everything in…

Here’s the video:

Wow! What an AWESOME weekend I had at YEC in Oklahoma City, OK!

I flew into Oklahoma City on Friday afternoon after only 3 hours of sleep. When I arrived at the airport, I called for my ride… They said, “Dan Meyer? We already picked up Dan Meyer this MORNING!”

I said, “That’ funny… I don’t remember it! I just GOT HERE!”

Come to find out, the sound guy for Britt Nicole is named Dan Myers, so they had picked him up about an hour earlier!

I later met him and he was a pretty cool guy! When I got to the Lloyd Noble Center in Tulsa, I enjoyed hanging out in the green room with my friend Illusionist Brock Gill, and Jason Dunn, lead singer for Hawk Nelson! They are both such great guys!… Both of them!

Then on Friday night I was privileged to open for Hawk Nelson by doing fire-eating and the Human Blockhead. Because I had a very short window of time, I kept it all pretty short, and I could tell the audience was pretty freaked out and wondering if I was ever really going to swallow real swords. I teased them and told them to come back tomorrow for some real sword swallowing. But it was fun and I heard lots of great comments from some of the 10,000 kids who were there that night! Then immediately following after me Hawk Nelson went on. Hawk Nelson was AWESOME and ROCKED THE HOUSE!

On Saturday, I finally got to meet one of my favorite Christian artists Britt Nicole! As it turns out, I use two of her songs in my show, and she sang BOTH of them live… JUST BEFORE MY SET! How cool is that? To follow Britt Nicole! As she was coming off stage, I asked her if she would be willing to pull a sword from my throat? “SURE!” she said! I was elated!

So I did a VERY quick version of my show where I swallowed a small sword, a hedge clippers, a giant straight razor, and a few other swords…

Then I asked the audience if they wanted to see Britt Nicole pull a sword from my throat… They loved it! So I called for Britt to come up on stage. She was so gracious and generous… You can tell she has been blessed with a wisdom and maturity well beyond her years!

When it came time to pull the sword out of my throat, I gave her all the details…. You should have seen the look on her face! I think she was a little freaked out!

Here’s video of Britt pullng out the sword!

Christian Artist Britt Nicole pulls sword from Sword Swallower Dan Meyer

Britt was a true professional, did a GREAT job, and was so gracious in not killing me! Thanks a million, Britt!

Then I put on my laser light gloves and did a laser choreography to Britt’s song “GLOW” Even though the haze fog was not too thick and the lights were still up fairly bright, the laser gloves and light saber still seemed to go over pretty well. The cameraman said he could see the light saber glowing through my neck and others said they could see it on the jumbotron!

Video:

If anyone got any photos or video of the show, and ESPECIALLY Britt Nicole pulling the sword out or the glowing sword, please, please PLEASE e-mail me! I really would like to see them and post them here if it’s ok with you!

I made so many great friends at YEC OK! I would LOVE to come back to YEC OK again sometime! If you were there, please follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook!

Had an AWESOME time at Cross N Dagger in Fort Wayne Indiana last weekend! I wasn’t sure what I was getting into performing for a few thousand bikers, and I’m sure THEY weren’t sure what they were getting with a sword swallower, but from the many hugs and tears and great comments I got from the bikers, it seems like it was certainly a perfect fit!

Life Bridge church is a REALLY COOL church - They had an AWESOME worship band that ROCKED, motorcycles up on the stage, they roasted a few hogs, and invited about 2000+ bikers to come in! And they had a weird sword swallower there as well! I guess Pastor Bill really DOES like to do things OUTSIDE the BOX!

After the second show, one of the bikers came back to talk to me. He said he knew there was a God, but he said that my show and message had put him “over the hump” into believing He was real and making a decision to follow Him! He was pretty choked up. So was I!

A few minutes later, I was relating this story to one of the pastors, and as I mentioned the man’s name and told the story, and a lady overheard me. She threw her arms around me and was sobbing in tears, and said she was the man’s wife and had been praying for him to know the Lord for years! She was SO overjoyed that he had made the decision that day, and she kept thanking me and hugging me and crying. It made quite an impact on me!

If you were there, please follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook!

Just getting ready to catch my flight to Amsterdam in the Netherlands in a few minutes.

If the volcanic ash is not too bad, I hope to land in Amsterdam on Saturday and spend the weekend there. Then on Monday, I will be traveling to the little Dutch village of Zeist, for a VERY special occasion!

I have been honored to speak at the 11th annual prestigious PINC Conference (PINC stands for People, Ideas, Nature, and Creativity). PINC is like a European version of the well-known TED conference, and the PINC board has invited me along with a small number of other speakers to speak on “out of the box” type topics… like SWORD SWALLOWING! What a HUGE honor! I am really looking forward to this trip and to meeting the other speakers!

Here’s a link to PINC.11

It looks like they have some other interesting speakers and entrepreneurs there as well! I am looking forward to meeting all of them!

After PINC, on Wednesday I will be heading to Rotterdam where I will be speaking at Erasmus University Medical Center with my friends Erwin Kompanje and Kees Moeliker, both fellow Ig Nobel speakers themselves. This should be a fun talk for the doctors and nurses in the area, as this is one of the aspects of my job that I really LOVE!

From Wednesday to Saturday, I will be visiting the Rotterdam Natural History Museum, the Rotterdam Zoo, the Kinderdijk Windmills, and the floating Noah’s Ark replica and museum that is on exhibit in Vianen in the Netherlands! And it looks like I will be doing some media interviews in various magazines, newspapers, and even the TOP Dutch TV show in the Netherlands!

Should be a fun trip!

If you’re on Twitter, please follow me for live updates: @Halfdan

Looking forward to keeping in touch with you, and if you’re in the Netherlands, I’m looking forward to meeting you!

Tot ziens!

Dan
http://danmeyer.tel

Check out some of the new Fluoroscope videos filmed at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville!

100 Feet of Steel to be Swallowed at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museums Worldwide

HARTSELLE, AL – Imagine sliding a steel sword down your throat! Now imagine 25 sword swallowers swallowing over 100 feet of solid steel down their throats! That’s just one of many unbelievable sword swallowing stunts in the works for the 4th Annual World Sword Swallowers Day at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! locations worldwide on February 27, 2010!

Sword Swallowers Association International (SSAI) President Dan Meyer proclaimed the 4th annual “World Sword Swallower’s Day” for the last Saturday in February, “National Swallowing Disorders Month”, with stunts occuring throughout the month culminating with World Sword Swallower’s Day on February 27. World Sword Swallower’s Day is co-sponsored by Ripley Entertainment, who with SSAI, is inviting sword swallowers around the world to put on incredible sword swallowing demonstrations at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! locations worldwide.

Dan Swallows a RED-HOT SWORD for the The History Channel

Dan just filmed an episode for The History Channel - The documentary is tentatively to be titled “The Most Amazing SuperHumans on the Planet” and features host Daniel Browning Smith, one of the top contortionists in the world!

The first segment was filmed at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, TN where Dan underwent some medical tests including several fluoroscopes (moving x-rays) so the doctors could see Dan swallow straight swords, a large forceps, a serpentine sword, a curved sword, and a stack of 7 swords at once! Big thanks to Dr. Edwin Donnelly at Vanderbilt, and Dr. Eric Mashburn of Hartselle!

The final segment of the episode was filmed on the farm in Hartselle where Blacksmith Ben Robbins finishes making a large 37 inch sword, and then heats it to RED-HOT over 1500 degrees Fahrenheit before lowering it down into Dan’s gullet!

Here are some behind-the-scenes shots filmed by my friend Josh Pittman:

Special thanks to Ben Robbins, Josh Pittman, Dr. Mashburn, Dr. Donnelly and everyone else involved! The documentary is tentatively scheduled to air all 32 episodes worldwide starting in February 2011. We’ll keep you posted on details when it airs in 2011!

I had a GREAT time performing this past week at the Eid al-Adha festival in Doha, Qatar in the Middle East! What a life-changing experience!

Let me take you a quick recap with a few photos (sorry I didn’t take many - I’m just learning to use the camera on my new Blackberry phone!).

Souq Waqif, Doha, Qatar

Here’s a quick video clip I shot of a skeptical sword shop owner who didn’t believe sword swallowing was really real. I had him remove the sword, and he BELIEVED! Ended up buying a cool curved shamshir sword from him at a great price!

Have Sword Will Travel:
Convincing a skeptical sword shop owner
in Souq Waqif Bazaar, Doha, Qatar

Wow! What an interesting week! We’ve been notified that new records were recognized by TWO different world record organizations this week, and two of them are being released in a new book!

URDB Recognizes 2 Records

URDB Record: Most Nobel Laureates to Remove a Sword

URDB Record: Underwater Sword Swallow in Sharktank

RHR Recognizes 2 Records

RHR Record: Most Sword Swallowers Swallowing Swords Simultaneously

RHR Record: Underwater Sword Swallow in Sharktank

And these new records are in addition to the three Guinness World Records, the Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, and the Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine that Dan already holds!

Here’s video of the 2009 Ig Nobel Awards Record:

And we’ve got even MORE fun new records in the works that we hope to be able to reveal to you in the next few weeks!… Stay tuned for developments!