Ask Me About Magic - Page 4

Henning was well before my time, but I imagine I would have had the same issues I have with Criss Angel. If you substitute skulls and goth-lite for hippies and new age nonsense you can see that. And after looking at some images of both I can't tell which performer dresses more poorly. I think the best magician out there is English performer Derren Brown. His work has had quite an influence on me and my magic, and he has attained a pretty high level of fame and success while retaining a lot of integrity. He has a magnificent sense of theatricality and style that you can see in not just the magic but his scripts, timing and wardrobe. (Yes he's gay...no he's not single)

Very loaded question and yet I share similar sentiments. I think I already addressed Criss Angel so let's get to the second bit. Magic attracts a unique brand of social misfit - you have to be awkward and lonely enough to spend ungodly amounts of time learning this stuff but enough of an attention whore to want to get up and perform for people. This is absolutely understandable, even charming in a young kid but becomes disastrous if it persists past adolescence. A lot of people cal it the sort of ultimate "nerd's revenge" Here is an area where you have power, you can do things that the jocks can't do - and magicians get carried away. Fortunately most magicians aren't like this, but there are enough out there to sour everyone to the concept. Still every single person I perform for I feel I'm doing my part to portray magic as a serious and resonant art. (like I said, the whole getting girls thing is it's own issue. Magic can actually be almost creepily useful when it comes to dating...but most people who are drawn to this this are exactly the hopeless nerd's we've so exorciated.)

He is an actor from Vegas named Val Valentino and I personally have no issues with him. Overall I think it was good for the art to have magic in the public eye like that. He did really piss off the magic status quo - which is almost a good thing in my book. Blackstone was the consummate professional. Set a very high standard in old school performance. Burton is a fine performer of the classical tradition and I hope to see his act live some day. Despite years of research and study, this is a dilemma that goes well beyond my understanding of the Dark Arts. These gentlemen may be the best equipped to help you.

More and more as I advance as a magician. I would say right now I'm doing about %70 original material and %30 other peoples. MY goal is more like %90 mine %10 others. It is quite difficult to create original, strong magic but it is also much more rewarding to perform. No trick will suit your character and dramatic premise better then one you create. Especially as I move more in to mindreading and hypnosis there is much room for creativity and original magic.

The structure put forth in the prestige was very accurate in terms of Magic Theory. i'm not sure if that was the exact parlance they used but Ricky Jay, probably the most knowledgeable magic historian alive, advised for the film, so the degree of historical accuracy is actually higher then one might expect. The techniques of the con artist are of course very similar to that of the prestidigitator and many of my strongest tools come from con men, not magicians. Let's just say both in general magic and my personal career there has been much cross-pollination and leave it at that....

Shhh......



Ahh. You are thinking of Levar Burton, not Lance, the accomplished Vegas illusionist. To my knowledge the former Burton has never dabbled in magic, but you'd be surprised at some of the celebs that have. Jason Alexander from Seinfeld, the late great Johnny Carson, Neil Patrick Harris and Woody Allen in fact.

Easily some of the best magic of our generation. Teller has also almost contributed some very valuable scholarship and theory to the magic literature. I was lucky enough to do a sort of meet and greet with Teller just prior to the premier of his Macbeth at the Folgers in DC, and he has such an impressive knowledge of not just magical, but cinematic and theatrical history, it's no wonder there act is as good as it is.