Who was your biggest influence when you got involved in magic?

I grew up in the ‘70’s, when Doug Henning was the big star of magic.  Every kid magician copies his heroes and Henning was a good role model for me—because while I couldn’t copy his modern hippy persona, I loved the way that he performed his magic to be amazing, to “create a sense of wonder,” as he put it.

Tell us a little about the style of your magic show.  What part of your show means most to you?

I think there are some faint echoes of Doug Henning in my onstage character, someone who is basically saying, “Look, I’m going to show you some amazing things, and we’ll all have a wonderful time together.”  A lot of magicians focus on comedy magic—a natural choice, since a lot of magic is inherently funny.  While I tap into that natural humor in magic a lot, first and foremost I’m out to amaze and enchant.  In that sense, the part of my show that matters most to me is what happens in the audience’s minds afterwards on the drive home or at the water cooler the next morning.  I want that “Wow!” feeling to linger.

What is your favorite memory of California Magic Club since we first opened in 2004?

I love being at Cal Magic, so I’m constantly accumulating new “favorite memories”!  Here’s a recent one:

A few weeks ago, Cal Magic’s onstage headliner was Bobby Vegas (the alter ego of our own Robert Kane).  During his set, Bobby ran into a problem that could have utterly ruined part of his act.  But he instantly improvised a bold workaround on the spot, and, from the audience, the act looked exactly like it should have—to me, it all looked like “business as usual”.  After the show, when Bobby told me what had happened, I felt tremendous awe and respect for his showmanship and professionalism in that almost disastrous moment.  Getting to be a part of moments like that is one reason it’s such a privilege to be at Cal Magic.

What is the biggest challenge in developing a stage show?

Creating the experience of Magic for the audience (as opposed to mere “tricks”) is a challenge because all of the secret manipulations, machinations, and contrivances have to be completely invisible to the audience.  Doug Henning used to say that, in practicing sleight of hand, “the hard must become habit, the habit must become easy, and the easy must become beautiful”.  To create a good magic show, every single moment of deception must live up to that standard.

To put it another way, Gerry sometimes compares the performance of magic to a swimming duck;  i.e., looking at it from the surface, you see a bird gliding gracefully across the water.  But under the surface: little webbed feet, kicking like mad.

Tell us about the first magic trick you learned to perform.

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I think that one can “perform” and one can “Perform”.  When I learn the secret to a magic trick and master it well enough to fool an audience, I can certainly “perform” it and have fun with it.  But after I have “performed” a piece of magic many times before audiences, I can deeply understand the piece—all the differences that a one second change of timing or a half centimeter shift in finger position can make.  That’s when I’ve learned to “Perform” the piece.

So the first magic I learned to perform was the old “severed” finger in a box trick, which I learned from an oddball magic book in my school library(!) called Spooky Tricks (What can I say—I was a 7-year-old who liked monster movies).

The first magic I learned to Perform was probably the linking rings.  It took me about 20 years of performing it to learn to perform it.  And I’m still learning.

What do you think will change about the art of magic throughout the next five years?

I think that a good magician will always be entertaining and amazing to an audience.  But obviously, technology is changing everything, including magic.  In the world of high tech, we can see how hundreds of people are creating new “apps” for smart devices.  It’s not like twenty years ago, when most computer software came from just a few companies.  There’s a lot of creativity to be found in the iTunes marketplace for instance, and it’s not just from big music stars and entertainment companies.  So technology has made it possible for many, many new ideas in magic to be created and distributed on a level never seen before.

What’s your favorite quote and why?

From the great filmmaker Federico Fellini: “Life is a combination of magic and pasta.”  Aside from the fact that I love performing magic and a good plate of spaghetti, I like this offbeat way that he said, “lighten up a little…and don’t forget ordinary pleasures”.

My interest in magic started back in the late 60s. While my father and I were watching television, we saw an advertisement for “TV Magic Cards.” The trick blew me away, and I was hooked. Later on, I saw a fellow at the county fair selling the “Svengali Deck” of cards. As he performs, I realize this is just like the TV Magic Cards – must have watched the guy for two hours straight! I finally bought one of those decks, and have been in love with magic ever since.

Not too long after that, a television series called “The Magician” starring Bill Bixby aired. Much to my disappointment, this show ended after only 23 episodes, but it was a blast while it lasted. During this same time, Mark Wilson had his series of television specials called “The Magic Circus.” I was on magic overload by this point in time.

In 1975 my father passed on. He had always encouraged me to pursue magic, and now I was on my own. I had worked up a pretty good repertoire of magic, spending most of my Friday and Saturday nights at a nightclub in San Francisco called “The Magic Cellar” where I became acquainted with professional magicians – Slydini, Albert Goshman and Martin Lewis to name a few. I also got to know a gentleman named Vic Kirk, who later became a close friend and mentor.

I spent all my spare time pouring over magic books, and in those days there wasn't video tape, internet or anything like the resources we have today. Only the occasional television special. Fortunately, people like Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas all had shows with time devoted to magicians. That's where I saw performers like Dai Vernon, Derek Dingle and a bunch of others too long to list here.

Later in 1975, I went on a cross country trip. While stopped in Dallas, Texas, I visited a small nightclub where a magician named Derek Dingle was performing. Derek was, and still is, another legendary figure in the world of magic. I was lucky to have spent the afternoon with him, and for about three hours I saw some of the greatest card magic in the world. That was a pivotal moment for me, and from that point on, card magic was my greatest interest.

To be continued...

A short film with Magician Timothy James filmed this last weekend!

You'll be asking yourself just that this weekend after you meet our headliner Doug Kevilus. This mentalist is a club favorite, and you won't want to miss it. We stole a moment of his time for a few questions about himself and his love for the art of mentalism. To get tickets for this coming weekend, click here.

Tell us a bit about yourself? I’ve always enjoyed watching magic ever since I was a young boy. Whether it was watching my father perform magic or watching David Copperfield on television, I couldn’t get enough of it. As a teenager I joined the Society of American Magicians with my father and there my education in the world of magic took off. Now I enjoy performing for audiences just as much as I enjoyed watching it as a kid. Getting to see people light up and laugh when they experience something unexplainable feels great. I’m thankful that I’m able to bring some wonder and mystery into the lives of those that watch me perform.

What is mentalism? Mentalism is a branch of magic which deals with mysteries apparently produced by using the powers of the mind. Unlike a lot of traditional magic performances where the audience sits and watches, mentalism is very dependent on audience participation. Performances may include feats of telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, mediumship, mind control, memory feats and rapid mathematics.

How do magic and mentalism relate? While Mentalism is a branch of magic, it has its own special appeal. Mentalism represents a power or ability that has universal appeal with untold ramifications. Everyone has had a moment in their life when they thought that having the ability to read minds would be a life-changing force. When people watch magic, no one really believes that what they are seeing is real. They know there is a trick to it; they just don’t know how it was done. They know that the magician is only pretending to do real magic. When they watch a good mentalist perform the question they ask themselves is, “Did he really do it?” They don’t wonder about “how” of it, they just appreciate the power of it.

Do you think mentalism is performed differently today? Historically, I think mentalism was performed in a manner that was a bit on the dull side, almost like attending a lecture at a university. The performer would act as the “professor” and demonstrate these unbelievable feats of mind power. The time audiences would accept a performance like that has passed, and will not hold the attention of today’s audiences. Now audiences want to be entertained and intrigued, not just listen to someone speak. Most importantly the show has to be about the audience and making them the stars of the show. When you are able to impact your audience on a personal and emotional level you leave them with something that they will never forget.

What's the ideal atmosphere for seeing mentalism performed? Because mentalism has so much audience interaction you need to have an atmosphere where there are not a lot of distractions. At the same time people in the audience should be relaxed and feel like they can participate in the show without fear of embarrassment.

Have anything to say to the “I'm-not-convinced” readers? I would invite them to come see for themselves what can happen. I actually encourage people to be skeptical and to use their critical thinking skills when looking at any situation. I myself announce at the beginning of my show that what I do is not supernatural, but rather the result of years of practicing skills that anyone can develop. I don't try and change anyone's opinions, I just want to them to be entertained.

Who is your favorite mentalist or magician? How have they influenced you? My favorite mentalist would be Banachek. I have been fortunate to meet with him twice, and attend one of his lectures. Watching and learning from him has certainly made a change in how I perform in my show. He is one of the best performers I have had the privilege to watch and learn from.

Do you have a favorite Cal Magic memory? I think getting to know the members of the audience more intimately at Cal Magic than in other places I’ve performed make up many of my favorite memories. The very nature of Cal Magic allows the guests to meet with the performers in a way that isn’t always available. I remember one guest in particular even asking me to predict her upcoming due date.

Check out this fun video of Magician Alex Ramon! We are very excited he will be headlining our show this weekend. This performer has traveled all over the world with some of the greatest acts, and it's such great fun to have him with us on Friday and Saturday night. Read his bio and other cool info at www.alexramonmagic.com

Magician Timothy James

How did you get into magic? I was always into comedy variety entertainment. I'm a big Dick Van Dyke fan – he was always doing different crazy stunts and magic tricks. Then I saw David Copperfield on television, and I fell in love with that. I was always more into the jugglers, the comedians, and watching Johnny Carson even though I wasn't suppose to stay up that late. Magic just fell into that perfectly. I was on and off with magic for years until I borrowed a friend's magic kit and I didn't want to give it back. I finally got my own and it took off from there.

Are there any magicians that inspire you? There is a gentleman named John Carney, and I like him because he does really funny comedy with amazing magic. Usually you see a comedy magic show done in a tongue and cheek sort of way, but when John Carney is doing comedy magic, he's genuinely funny and the magic is amazing and skillful. The other magician is Eric Buss. He's incredibly creative, and I'd love to step inside his brain for five minutes and walk around.

What part of your show means the most to you? Probably the raccoon. A lot of people do the Rocky bit but I have my own way of doing it that is completely different. There's other stuff I am more proud of like bending spoons with my mind, which is a lot more difficult and I've spent more time working on it, but I've done Rocky for a long time. It's really evolved and I've added a lot to it. I am working on a couple other things I am really excited about.

Do you have a favorite California Magic Dinner Theatre memory? Yah, I do! One night there was a group patrons that spoke Japanese, and I pulled one girl up on stage for a trick that didn't really speak English. I know a little Japanese, not a lot, but I've been working on it, and I've been told that what I do know, I speak fluently. So, I started speaking to her in Japanese, and it became a whole new trick for everyone in the room! That was a really cool moment.

How did you meet Gerry? He sold me my first set of multiplying billiard balls which is still one of my favorites. That was at his old magic shop in Pleasant Hill, and I was probably twelve years old. He's been a great mentor.

Is there something about magic you'd like the public to know? Don't think so hard. I get so much joy out of seeing magic performed well, and it's less about the secret or how it's done. It's about the experience of being astonished. So many people are hung up on how it's done, but the secret is such a small part of that. Sit back and enjoy the experience of it.

Magician David Hirata - ThingsImpossible.com

Tell us about yourself as a magician. In my offstage life, I'm a pretty quiet, shy person, so it's kind of amazing I ever became a magician. But I can't think of anything else I'd rather do! There's a quote by Emerson that I learned in high school: “men love to wonder, and that is the seed of our science.” That was true for me as a kid, so I went to school, studied biology, and eventually became a field ecologist. But my days in science were numbered—I actually opened my very first research talk by tossing a silk scarf into the air, where it turned into a cane that I then used as a pointer (That part went over great, far better than the presentation that followed). I still “love to wonder”, but I just have more fun creating wonder with magic, and it seems that people would rather watch me do magic than peer through a microscope.

What peaked your interest in magic? I think that almost all young boys get interested in magic, and I was no exception. I received a magic set for my 7th birthday, and started learning magic from books in the public library. Then, when I was 9, one of my classmates performed a trick at school for show and tell—it was the classic “Cups and Balls”. Now, I thought I knew a lot about magic, but that kid fooled the #@%#!! out of me! That was the moment when I really understood the effect that great magic can have, and that—just maybe—I might be able to do that, too.

What's your favorite trick to perform? What is your favorite to watch? That's a tough one…I guess I have to say it's my rope routine, which I call “The Rope Factory”. If I'm booked to perform only one routine, this is the one I pick; in fact, it's what I chose for my first TV appearance. The magic is fun to do, and my audiences have fun watching it. I spent a long time writing the script for “The Rope Factory”—much longer than I spent actually mastering the sleight of hand involved. And that routine is a good piece of self expression for me—it says a lot about who I am, my style of magic, and has a few of my own wry observations about the world sprinkled in.

Picking a single favorite trick to watch is just as hard, so I'll just have to cheat and name three: Harry Blackstone, Jr. performing the “Dancing Handkerchief”, Rudy Coby‟s “Puppet Boy”, and Arthur Trace's “Postmodern Art”. Watching all three pieces, I see fantastic magic that is unique to each of these performers; all three give you the sense that you're watching something special.

Name a magician who has inspired you most, and why? I've been lucky enough to meet and work with some excellent magicians (many of them here at California Magic), but Eugene Burger, a close-up magician from Chicago, stands out as someone who has strongly influenced my magic and even my life in general. Eugene is also an excellent teacher and writer, and he's one of the kindest people I've ever met. His magic is such a perfect blend of humor, elegance and pure amazement, and he taught me the importance of precision in the performance of magic. Precise attention to detail is what creates the experience of magic, as opposed to mere tricks or puzzles.

What's your favorite style of magic to perform, and why? I especially love stage magic. Stage magic is really a form of Theater, which is about creating a whole new world and inviting the audience in to share the fun. In today‟s wired world, there's something especially wonderful about a live magic performance, making it possible for a roomful of living, breathing human beings to share a miraculous experience.

What's your favorite magic memory to date? There are so many good memories! Every audience is different, so every show is a new experience. I have a piece in my show I call “Tableau for Three”—a simple illusion with a small cloth bag and two volunteer helpers. I love performing that piece, no matter where the show. Developing “Tableau for Three” was a real joy, too—I learned it by studying the works of some of magic‟s great masters. So when I perform it, it's like the spirits of Max Malini, Charlie Miller, Harry Riser and Harlan Tarbell are up there with me. That's a great feeling.

What's the most important thing about magic you'd like the public to know? People expect magic to be an entertainment for children, or a glittery Vegas production, but it can be so much more. Teller (of Penn and Teller) has a neat way of looking at magic: “it's this wonderful playground where you can sort of relax and go, 'Oh boy—it's really hard to understand the world'.” When it's done well, magic can be funny, thought provoking, profound, or even beautiful. I love magic, and I want everyone else to love it, too.

Get to know magician Jeffrey Korst! For more than 30 years, Korst has been performing magic all over the world. We sat down with him this weekend for a few of the most popular questions asked by you, the readers. Enjoy the article! Have another question? Leave a comment, and we'll get right back to you.

Q: Please tell us about yourself as a magician:

A: Unlike many magicians who got a magic set as a child, I started a bit later. Just after starting college, I bought a copy of “Now, you see it, now you don’t - Lessons in Sleight of Hand” by Bill Tarr.

Not long after that I was hanging around the local magic shop so much that they offered me a job. The magic shop was in Old Chicago—the worlds first indoor amusement park. That job led to my first stage experience.

Q: Tell us about your first performance as a magician?

A: My first time doing a magic show on stage wasn’t as myself. I was hired as part of the cast of a theme park show. I played “Charlie Baffle” Magician and Mayor of Old Chicago. He was a costume character – big, plastic head and shoes – and with a cast of four, we did four magic shows and four puppet shows a day for about three years.

In 1985, I was in Lake George, New York doing four shows a day as myself in an ice show. The same act I do on stage at California Magic, I did on ice skates. I performed in ice shows at state fairs, hotels, shopping malls—even a cruise ship.

The last ice show I worked was a six month run at a hotel in Atami, Japan.

Q: Name a magician that has inspired you the most and why?

A:  Cardini-the epitome of the silent manipulation act. In fact, he invented many of the techniques still in use today.

Shimada – a wonderful Japanese magician – was one of my earliest influences as I developed my act.

Eugene Burger – I know Eugene from my time back in Chicago. One of magic’s most influential teachers, he taught me that if I don’t present my magic as important, the audience won’t feel it’s important, either.

Q: What is favorite style of magic to perform ?
 
A: My favorite type is a kind I don’t get to perform much anymore. Called “Manipulation,” it’s an act based entirely of sleight of hand, often set to music, producing objects such as cards, coins, balls and (once upon a time) cigarettes. It’s great that California Magic has a stage suitable for this act!

My other favorite is close-up magic. Everything happens right under the nose of the spectator – sometimes even in their hands!

I get an enormous charge from performing close up at private parties – mingling with the guests, hearing the laughter and the gasps, seeing the jaws drop, having one guest grab another and say, “You’ve got to see this!”

Q: What is your favorite magic memory to date?

A: Having been performing since 1980, there are too many to pick just one. Some of them are: being asked to perform for Francis Marshall’s celebration of her 50th year in magic; the first time I performed at the Magic Castle in Hollywood; my first standing ovation – which was at a magic convention in Toronto with Dai Vernon in the audience; getting to spend six months performing at a hotel in Japan; having Harry Blackstone Jr. call me when he arrived in Chicago for a show to find that his birds had not made the same flight. I was the one they called to borrow replacements.

Q: What's the most important thing about magic to you that you'd like the public to know?

A: I’d like people to know that magic is not just for children. It has an inherent deeper meaning. The fact that the separate can be joined; what is lost, can be found; what has been destroyed can be remade.

It is the fault of magicians that magic has been stereotyped as “just for kids.” Too many times, magicians seem afraid of the magic. Rather than performing miracles, they treat magic as being unimportant – tossing in a joke that just kills any moment of astonishment they may have created.

He even does a card trick! Who could have guessed?! ;)

To see the article on the Patch website, view [ here ]

Have you met magician Steve Goldstein?

A: When I first became interested in magic, I was influenced quite a bit by the card work of Martin Nash. He performed what to me was the ideal type of card magic: sitting at a table, surrounded by spectators, doing intelligent, mind-blowing routines. And now, although it may sound odd coming from someone who does card magic exclusively, I would have to say that my biggest influence is mentalist Derren Brown. Interestingly, in his younger days Brown used to do card magic — and he had quite the chops — but it is his current, modern thinking on how the mind is fooled, and how real people react to mental manipulation, that has come to inform much of my own thinking, especially how it applies to magic with cards. I believe Brown is the most lucid voice on what mentalism in the 21st century should look like, and beyond that, on what it takes to accommodate modern audience perceptions of what “magic” should, and can, be.

Q. What is your favorite style of magic to perform?

A: Darwin Ortiz has said that “magical style is the product of a strong philosophy of magic, a strong aesthetic theory, and a strong individual vision of what good magic should be.” Said more simply, a performer’s style should reflect his or her personality, which incorporates the entire range of that individual’s attitudes and beliefs about the subject. For me, my magic indeed comes from who I am: generally easy-going, not overly funny but yet quick to laugh, determined to ensure that while my audiences are delighted — often with pleasant and amusing narrative effects — they are nonetheless always aware of the seriousness of the magic that underlies the experience. The area of card magic, specifically, invites much thought and introspection for the development of a magician’s style: just the image of a solitary deck of cards on a green felt table conjures up (pun intended) strong visual associations; the skillful card magician exploits these to create astonishing experiences for spectators. Further, there is always the persistent dilemma that card magicians must continually grapple with: is card “magic” possible at all? That is, if the skillful control of the cards is necessarily always the modus operandi of card effects — whether in gambling demonstrations, where such control is admitted, or in card “tricks,” where it is hidden — then where is the “magic”? How magicians reconcile this issue in their own minds informs the approach they take to their own performances.

Q. What is your favorite magic memory to date?

A: It’s hard to pinpoint just one, so here are three that stand out for me. 1. Richiardi, The Village Gate Theater, New York, 1979: he sawed a woman in half; blood, guts, and everything — including the scent of hospital ether permeating the entire theater. Grotesque, yes, but unforgettable. 2. René Lavande, the Magic Mansion, San Francisco, circa 1985. A one-armed sleight-of-hand artist, who creates the most beautiful, poetic experience with cards imaginable — yes, with one hand. You can’t make this up. 3. Jonathan Pendragon, California Magic, Martinez, 2007. The most amazingly magical presentation of the Himber rings that I have ever seen. There were tears in the audience’s eyes after the effect. And in mine. In virtually no other effect that I have seen before or since, could I more truthfully utter the words: “that was magic.”

Q. What is the most important thing about magic that you’d like the public to know?

A: In an era of iPhones — of instant “everything” in the palm of your hand — what is “magic” today? Isn’t it enough that we point our remotes at the TV or computer and control them? How does that work? When, as Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey said, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” how can our profession continue to be relevant? Indeed, in the context of our hyper-technical world, can the Ambitious Card really be magic? That, quite simply, is our challenge as magicians. The key is that the human mind is as susceptible as always to being deceived — advanced whiz-bang gizmos or not. Ours is a performance art that uses deception in the name of entertainment — just as it has for a thousand years. It is up to us to continue to develop that art, for as long as there are two human beings left, and a pack of cards between them.