Mystery & Unexpected Transformation

You mentioned magic experiences with the shamans and other people that had a great deal to offer. Were these discoveries made during your travels? And is this what contributed to you losing your “cockiness?” I think what led me to that quest was disappointment. I was supposedly at the pinnacle of my career. I was headlining in the Vegas Hilton “Bel de Moulin Rouge.” I was...

The Magician’s Wand, Part 4

THE WAND OF THE CONJUROR During the middle ages, conjurers began using wands to imitate their religious counterparts. They began assigning great powers to their instruments. Magic wands were commonly used by European conjurers by the 15th Century. In fact, a gaffed wand, loaded with a rolled-up playing card, was first mentioned in 1740. Since the 19th Century, tarot cards featured early...

Sound Advice, Part 4

SOME EXCEPTIONS Thus far we have discussed the sound system needs of solo magicians working for audiences with 50-500 people. The “portable PA” systems by Anchor and Apollo are excellent. I also shared two wireless remote music systems: one based on a simple switch and a Sony Walkman purchased through Radio Shack and another professional mini-disk system, Remote Commander IV by...

The Power of One Coin

What was the first magic trick you remember? If you’re like most people, it was probably a favorite uncle pulling a coin from your ear. Do you remember how you felt? For many people it is clearly a key experience – they remember it all their lives. Recently, I put “The Aerial Mint” back into my platform show – and was astonished at the reactions it got. When I went...

Imagination, Solitude and Creativity

Selecting the topics for these [articles] hasn’t been an easy task. But I’ve been guided in the selection by some of the questions that typically are asked by the magicians who attend the seminars that I’ve conducted. I began doing small seminars in January of 1983. I suppose in large part because l had lost faith in the educational value of the traditional magic lecture format...

“Inside Magic” by George Boston with Robert Parrish

Years ago Eugene Burger loaned me a book by an author I’d never heard of. It was Inside Magic by George Boston, a wonderful portrait of magic and magicians in the early part of the twentieth century, a time when Chicago was often at the center of magic in the United States. I devoured every word and thoroughly enjoyed it. There was just one problem: Eugene wanted his book back. After sadly...

The Magician’s Wand, Part 3

THE WAND OF THE WIZARD Several thousand years ago, the ancient Druids of Great Britain carried wands, usually made from a hazel or mistletoe branch, with a pine cone attached on one end in honor of Dionysus, the god of the vine or trees. This wand was later called the Priapic wand, named after Priapus, the Roman god of procreation. Priapus was often equated with Pan, the nature deity of Greece....

Sound Advice, Part 3

THE PROFESSIONAL $500 OPTION: REMOTE COMMANDER IV I am very, very impressed with Majiloon’s Remote Commander IV. In a few brief words: simple, reliable, flexible, high-quality and professional. WHAT IS IT? The Remote Commander IV is a small FM radio frequency transmitter, receiver and, in my case, a mini-disk (MD) player for performers, DJs, and audio technicians. The MD player allows you...

Good Directors Cut!

Few things are more enduring than the Zen thought “less is more.” In the creation and brainstorming period of a new piece, nothing gets edited; everything is put into the heap. I tend to overload each new piece with many layers of esoteric symbolism in an attempt to make it more profound. One day, I was rehearsing a routine in my studio. After many disappointing attempts to get the...

Looking Beyond the Trick

When I was a beginner in magic, one of the things which I firmly believed was that in a magic performance everything centers on the strength of the magic trick. Among beginners — and sometimes even among those who have been involved with magic for a long time –specific magic tricks are often referred to as “reputation makers” or “show stoppers” or even...