Green and pink footprints led to the Forum on Nov. 11 directing the Framingham State community to a show featuring Damian the Hypnotist. Approximately 80 people gathered to see the show, which SUAB sponsored. Damian has appeared on major broadcast stations such as HBO, BBS and Global Television Network and was featured at the 2003 World of Comedy International Film Festival. In addition, he has a brief cameo - as himself- in the upcoming comedic reality movie, “Two Pimps and a Dwarf.” Damian also participates in charitable causes, such as the Humane Society, of which he is an honorary member. According to his Web page, http://www.damianthehypnotist.com/, “The adventure of hypnosis is a wonderful, altered state of consciousness.” Indeed it was. Damian instructed the audience members through a “hypnosis test,” which consisted of clasping their hands together while keeping their pointer fingers two inches from each other. He counted down from three and told them to go into a double state of relaxation three times. Then, Damian invited those who had let their fingers touch on-stage. Seventeen people volunteered to go on stage and focused on a similar, yet more extensive, meditative speech by Damian. After several minutes, they were under hypnosis. To demonstrate that he had the volunteers hypnotized, Damian told them they were holding a bunch of helium balloons and that their arms were being lifted by the balloons. All but three of the volunteers raised their arms. Next, he played classical music and told them that they were master musicians. At his suggestion, they started to “play” the instrument of their choice. A handful of people were sent back to the audience to make the group smaller. He then threw several napkins on the ground. He told the volunteers that they were money and to grab them and put them somewhere where no one would find them. Damian then suggested that there was a giant thermometer on-stage and it became uncomfortably hot in the room. The volunteers reacted by removing their warm clothing. He followed by suggesting that it was freezing and encouraged them to snuggle up. Damian randomly chose some individual volunteers for the next part of his show. He told one girl that she would remember everything, but her name. She was then persuaded to think that she was on a show to win a million dollars and had to answer one question: “What’s your name?” Needless to say, she could not. She incorrectly thought it was “Ashley.” Another girl was told that she was Britney Spears and was told to “lip-synch like you always do.” She performed “Oops …I Did It Again” as Spears. Another volunteer performed as Joe Satriani, the guitar virtuoso who taught Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Counting Crows’s’ David Bryson how to rock. Later, Damian placed an inflated cow in the middle of the stage and told a volunteer, who was a “crocodile hunter,” to wrestle the cow. Carl Douglas’s “Kung Fu Fighting” played in the background. The cow, sadly, passed away, but was featured in the next part of the show. Damian told the volunteers that they were on “The Jerry Springer Show” and the aforementioned volunteer that the cow was his friend. A routine episode of the Springer show ensued with a mythical person named “David,” who apparently had relations with three girls on-stage, one guy and, of course, the cow. The show, albeit politically incorrect, was hilarious and in the spirit of good fun. Damian had the audience laughing throughout the entire performance. Freshman Erin LaFlamme thought the show was great. “It was funny,” LaFlamme said. Graham Robertson, a junior, agreed. “It was really funny and ... a good time,” he said. |