Balloon Guy Frequently Asked Questions.......

• How long have you been making balloons? I have been making balloons for 15 years, Rick Benbow and I operated the "Blowhole Bar" and I performed magic on the stage at Ocean Safari where the bar was located... during and between shows I gave out balloon animals.... I have since given out balloons and performed magic at various festivals , the Greyhound Track when they were open, the Cruise ship Le Mistral, and for the last 6 summers Blackbeards' patio....
• How did you learn to make balloon sculpture? A friend (Ray Wold) taught me the first few animals, from there I have learned from books and seminars. I get my balloons from TMyers Magic in
  Austin, Texas. T is also the inventor of the PumpO that I use and reccomend... see http://tmyers.com/
• How many different kinds of things do you make? dogs, cats, bears, monkies, hearts, hats, flowers, airplanes, fish, snakes, turtles, dinosaurs, lions and tigers and bears, Oh My!... oops!.... giraffs... horses, deer, mice, unicorns, parrots, swords, apples, bumble bees, dragon flies, butter flies.... so that's approaching 30 and I didn't name all the different kinds of dogs or hats etc.... so probably around 40 -50 different things.... Cool HUH!.......
• Do you work at other restaurants? I perform at private parties, which are sometimes held at other restaurants, but Blackbeards' is where you will find me most often.....

  Meet Amazin' Walter,

  The Blackbeards' Experience: The first time I crossed the causeway in 1978, I thought I was just visiting a friend for a few days and then heading back to resume my life as a....... ah... but that doesn't matter anymore... it's been 20 + years and I seem to be stuck in the sand... so to speak...

I was traveling with a couple of friends in a caravan of old and slow vehicles and had just left a music festival in Kerrville, Texas. Our first night in town we set up (jug band fashion) in the tiny bar area at Blackbeards'.... Fun was had!... it was just a few days after their grand opening party.

For several years I managed to visit my friend a couple of times a year but on one trip in about 1981 something changed... it came time for my ride to leave and I didn't go.... I had him drop me off at.... you guessed it... Blackbeards'.... me, my dog (only one of them at the time) and my guitar.

A generous friend loaned me an apartment for a couple of weeks and then I moved onto the sailboat with Atlee for a month or two and then took an apartment of my own (actually the very same apartment my friend had been living in, and I'm living in it today). Oh yeah... I started working at Blackbeards'. One afternoon some friends and I were jamming on the porch... the cook came out and ask if I could help make salads... a couple of days of dish washing and then about a year or so cooking 4 nights a week... then a year or so of bartending (before they had liquor)... yeah... I worked at Blackbeards'.

I was in denial... I was just visiting... I didn't live here... My "stuff" was in a storeroom in Dallas... then it wasn't... a couple of friends with trucks helped me move down here with my "stuff"... it had been about a year... I finally "LIVED HERE"... something I never thought I would do...

 And now the Millennium is upon us, it is 1999 and I still live here and can't imagine living anywhere else... And I'm still working at Blackbeards'... my job is considerably different than it was before... I see myself as the "Director of Fun"... I stand at the top of the southern entrance ramp, smile at and speak to people coming and going and offering balloon sculpture in exchange for dollars in my tip jar... not a complicated job....

  bring the family... come as often as you like... no really... there's no limit... you can eat at Blackbeards' as often as you like... at Blackbeards' Restaurant

on South Padre Island, Texas

in the summertime and sumothertimes

And being "stuck" in the sand has taken on new meaning for this would be "beach bum"...Sand has been very good to me... it has taken me all over the U.S. and as far away as Japan... let me teach you how to build a better sand castle....

 see the big red bike at work... arrange your lesson in the sand now!
 

The South Padre Island Parade of Lights Christmas parade... click here to see Blackbeards sponsored entry by Amazin' Walter... for info on the Monster Cruiser bicycle

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