Dec. 17: How I fell in love with conjuring
Whenever I read a magician's biography (usually on their website) I
know I'm probably going to read about how they found a magic set under
the Christmas tree when they were nine or ten. "From there, I was
hooked."
That wasn't the case for me. My friend, Matt, got a magic book for Christmas and I got a box of space Lego. Matt didn't care for the magic book and I didn't care for the space Lego. So we switched. Today I am a magician and he designs spaceships.
I'm 41 (almost 42) and I am happiest when I am performing magic.
-
My favourite memory of high school was the magic show I did for my English class on the last day of school. Everyone was so excited that they asked if they could invite their friends into the class too. This baffled me. I'd always thought that my classmates didn't like me and wished me nothing but failure. Now here they were - not just consenting to being entertained by me but actually looking forward to it.
-
When I was 14, I competed in my first magic contest. There were five of us competing and each of us got to compete for one day on the Buckshot show, which was a kids' show on CFCN in Calgary. I was the last to perform and I thought for sure that I would win. I was the oldest, I had the most confidence, and I was the president of the city's chapter of the Society of Young Magicians. I thought for sure I'd place first.
But I didn't. I lost.
I asked my mentor why I lost and he said it was because rather than perform my own routine; I just copied another magician's version of that same routine. It was like I had done a poor line drawing of the Mona Lisa and then tried to pass myself off as DaVinci.
Lesson learned.
-
When I was in my late 20s, I wrote a satirical piece called Diary of a Nitwit Magician. It was diary written by a guy who wanders into a magic store on Monday, buys a few tricks, and decides he's good enough to start performing magic shows by the end of the day. There are plenty of people like this in the world (they used to anger me but now they just bemuse me) and I thought it would be funny to write a diary from the perspective of one of these aspiring magicians. I wrote it, put it on usenet, and then forgot about it for about 10 years. Then I found it in my files, got a chuckle out of it, and decided to repost it on a few magician discussion groups.
And I got accused of plagiarism. Apparently, some other magician (who now lives in Peterborough) saw it on usenet and started passing it off as his own work. Being accused of theft when you're not a thief is no fun and I had to spend considerable amounts of time and energy proving to my accusers that I was innocent.
-
Talked to a fellow magician the other day who told me that he grew up in comedy clubs. He was grateful for that because comedians value originality; magicians don't.
He said that if you steal another comedian's bit, you're likely to be blacklisted. In magic, if you steal another magician's bit, you're likely to be applauded.
My friend in Peterborough knows what that's like.
-
There are not a lot of female magicians.
The late Canadian magician, Gary Ouellett, once said that's because little girls aren't showoffs the way little boys are. I think I agree with that. Most magicians probably get bitten by the magic bug when they are in grade school.
-
My friend owns a magic store in Calgary. I visit him whenever I'm in town. Once I told him that I don't think magic store owners like magicians very much; I think they prefer magic enthusiasts.
What is the difference?
A magician sees magic as an art form. He is selective about the effects he chooses to perform, constantly wondering if such and such a routine will fit his style. He will reject 80 per cent of what he sees as "unsuitable."
A magic enthusiast just wants something to show the grandkids or to impress the ladies or to wow the boys at the company meeting. These are the dudes who will plunk down a hundred bucks for something flashy.
My mentor used to refer to these magic tricks as "toys." He would say that a good close up magician can entertain a roomful of strangers for one hour with just a deck of cards.
And wouldn't you know it? I was on an airplane trip and I was flying home because I had a magic show to do the next day and that gosh darn airline lost my bag, which just happened to contain my complete magic act. Did I panic? No sirree. I just went to the store, bought two brand new decks of Bicycles, and I did my show with those. And it was a darned good show and I emailed my mentor that night and told him about my success and he said that he was proud of me.
-
Just because my audience is delighted after I perform a magic trick does not mean I will be.
If I do a trick and the audience looks at my props and says: "How does that work?" then I have failed. I did not instill a sense of wonder in them. All I did was present them with a puzzle.
It's better if they say "how did you do that?"
-
I tend to be hard on myself. I guess I don't like myself very much.
But I do like myself when I do magic and I think my audience likes me too and maybe that's why I love being a magician.
That wasn't the case for me. My friend, Matt, got a magic book for Christmas and I got a box of space Lego. Matt didn't care for the magic book and I didn't care for the space Lego. So we switched. Today I am a magician and he designs spaceships.
I'm 41 (almost 42) and I am happiest when I am performing magic.
-
My favourite memory of high school was the magic show I did for my English class on the last day of school. Everyone was so excited that they asked if they could invite their friends into the class too. This baffled me. I'd always thought that my classmates didn't like me and wished me nothing but failure. Now here they were - not just consenting to being entertained by me but actually looking forward to it.
-
When I was 14, I competed in my first magic contest. There were five of us competing and each of us got to compete for one day on the Buckshot show, which was a kids' show on CFCN in Calgary. I was the last to perform and I thought for sure that I would win. I was the oldest, I had the most confidence, and I was the president of the city's chapter of the Society of Young Magicians. I thought for sure I'd place first.
But I didn't. I lost.
I asked my mentor why I lost and he said it was because rather than perform my own routine; I just copied another magician's version of that same routine. It was like I had done a poor line drawing of the Mona Lisa and then tried to pass myself off as DaVinci.
Lesson learned.
-
When I was in my late 20s, I wrote a satirical piece called Diary of a Nitwit Magician. It was diary written by a guy who wanders into a magic store on Monday, buys a few tricks, and decides he's good enough to start performing magic shows by the end of the day. There are plenty of people like this in the world (they used to anger me but now they just bemuse me) and I thought it would be funny to write a diary from the perspective of one of these aspiring magicians. I wrote it, put it on usenet, and then forgot about it for about 10 years. Then I found it in my files, got a chuckle out of it, and decided to repost it on a few magician discussion groups.
And I got accused of plagiarism. Apparently, some other magician (who now lives in Peterborough) saw it on usenet and started passing it off as his own work. Being accused of theft when you're not a thief is no fun and I had to spend considerable amounts of time and energy proving to my accusers that I was innocent.
-
Talked to a fellow magician the other day who told me that he grew up in comedy clubs. He was grateful for that because comedians value originality; magicians don't.
He said that if you steal another comedian's bit, you're likely to be blacklisted. In magic, if you steal another magician's bit, you're likely to be applauded.
My friend in Peterborough knows what that's like.
-
There are not a lot of female magicians.
The late Canadian magician, Gary Ouellett, once said that's because little girls aren't showoffs the way little boys are. I think I agree with that. Most magicians probably get bitten by the magic bug when they are in grade school.
-
My friend owns a magic store in Calgary. I visit him whenever I'm in town. Once I told him that I don't think magic store owners like magicians very much; I think they prefer magic enthusiasts.
What is the difference?
A magician sees magic as an art form. He is selective about the effects he chooses to perform, constantly wondering if such and such a routine will fit his style. He will reject 80 per cent of what he sees as "unsuitable."
A magic enthusiast just wants something to show the grandkids or to impress the ladies or to wow the boys at the company meeting. These are the dudes who will plunk down a hundred bucks for something flashy.
My mentor used to refer to these magic tricks as "toys." He would say that a good close up magician can entertain a roomful of strangers for one hour with just a deck of cards.
And wouldn't you know it? I was on an airplane trip and I was flying home because I had a magic show to do the next day and that gosh darn airline lost my bag, which just happened to contain my complete magic act. Did I panic? No sirree. I just went to the store, bought two brand new decks of Bicycles, and I did my show with those. And it was a darned good show and I emailed my mentor that night and told him about my success and he said that he was proud of me.
-
Just because my audience is delighted after I perform a magic trick does not mean I will be.
If I do a trick and the audience looks at my props and says: "How does that work?" then I have failed. I did not instill a sense of wonder in them. All I did was present them with a puzzle.
It's better if they say "how did you do that?"
-
I tend to be hard on myself. I guess I don't like myself very much.
But I do like myself when I do magic and I think my audience likes me too and maybe that's why I love being a magician.
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