"Besides his terrific con man story and persistence, at this time he had a limo picking him up as an illustration of how rich he was -- probably a friend who drove it for a local hotel and was in cahoots with the scam. When he found out I worked in films he came to my room and played a tape of himself in performance (or what was reputed to be him) singing in a bad Sinatra way. He actually left collatoral for my final $20 "loan" (the second of two "loans") to him -- one of his sharkskin suits and his radio. I never did get the $40 back and was a damn pissed that I let myself be conned (I knew from the get go that was a real possiblitity), but in retrospect, the experience of the con, the guy sweating in his Sinatra suit, the straw pork-pie hat, the time he spent working his story and the limo picking him up, was almost worth the price of admission."

Hahaha. I just meet him at Peet's Coffee in the Ferry Building. He gave me the same story. I knew instantly he was full of shit. But who am I to judge so after urging him to "get to the point." I told him I would certainly give him $40 bucks to get his car out but I really did not want anything back and if he had money to give away then he should keep giving it to people who needed it. He even tried to give me his umbrella but I already had one so I said he should keep it. He then walked me to work signing Sinatra (I thought he was good!) and telling me a string of hilarious dirty jokes. He makes a more honest living then most of the people that work down town. Good on you, Midnight Magic :) Best $40 bucks I’ve spent in a while.

yeah so I'm drawing in Union Square and this guy comes up with two dell boxes on a dolly. He complimented my art, and we started a convo. He goes onto tell me that Spielberg, Lucas, and Burton are making a movie about him, starring Robin Williams in the lead role as him, Midnight Magic. He kept trying to make me feel that it was fate that he saw me and talked to me because now I had a chance to be in the movie. I'm a big enough movie buff to know that those 3 directors could never work together and Billy Crystal hasn't been in a movie in like 8 years (that's prob how long he's been telling this same scam story). He kept going on and on about how he's famous for helping people and that's why they're making a movie about him, for all the humanitarian work he's done. And now, "it's so weird" cause he needed my help. "This is hard" he kept saying as he built up the timid tension to ask me to help him because he left his wallet and id at home and he needed money to get his car out of the parking structure and get across the bridge. "If you cover the balance I'll meet you back here tomorrow and pay you back, and you can star opposite Robin Williams in this movie." I told him I can't help him and he was persistent. I had to tell him several times. He told me if I walked with him to his car he could prove to me that everything he said was true. When he got upset that he had told me all this in vain he kept saying something like "the boss will get you, I could prove it's true." That's when I told him the movie wasn't real, "yes it is" he said and shuffled off, mumbling to himself.

I met Midnight Magic last night. He was pretending to use the payphone outside of a grocery store on Mason and Bush. When I walked by he asked how I was doing and I said, "fine, how are you" He then asked me if I had ever seen him in my life. When I said no, he gave me the whole Midnight Magic helping the homeless story. When I cut him off and said I had to go, he told me I had my guard way up and needed to relax. I said, I was sorry and couldn't help him. He told me, I sure was sorry. I went inside and bought my pizza and when I went back out he started telling me that someday I was going to need help and no one would be there for me. I wished him a goodnight and he mumbled some more stuff to me.
When I got home, he stuck in my mind. I wondered if I should have given him some money. He did use the same $27 reference and showed me that he had some fives and ones on him. Maybe I should have been nicer. Well, I looked him up online and I found out his real story. He wasn't as charming to me as the stories in the other posts. He just seemed more bitter. He's very persistent and good at pushing buttons. Even now, part of me thinks I should have just given this poor guy a dollar. He may be a con artist, but he's still struggling.