My name is "The Great Brandini", not a name I wanted however was a name I was given. I wanted to stay away from the "INI"-type name but I was about to perform my first paid gig and didn't have a name yet. Then a co-worker asked me if i came up with a name yet. I replied "NO", and he told me, "We're just gonna call you the The Great Brandini." Then shouted across the whole showroom floor of the Honda dealership I worked at, "Hey everyone, i want you to meet the Great Brandini, he is a magician ask him to do a trick, and yaddah, yaddah, yadda..........." So from that point on I had a name. My real name is Brandon hence the stage name.
I got the magic bug late in life, around the age of 26. I got my first paid gig after only 9 months, and countless of hours of practice. I actually did most of my early performances out of the Mark Wilsons Encyclopedia of magic, The Little Cyclopedia of Magic (bought from Barnes and Noble), and Michael Ammar. Armed with those 3 items and a few packet tricks I proceeded to challenge myself and see if I could get booked every weekend including Thursday throughout the X-mas season of my first since starting. It worked. And from that point on I performed at a nightclub everyother weekend which was in a Hotel so that lead to me getting gigs at the hotel for various functions and VIP's. Then got more gigs out in my county. Hung out at the Magic Castle almost every Wednesday night (member's night). I wasn't a member but had a coupla friends that were either associate, or magician members. Got to see some great performances. Johnny Ace Palmer being one of my favorites using livestock in a close-up environment. Then Dean Dill's "Explosion". Michael Ammar's version of signed bill in lemon. So many memories.
Moved to Vegas worked at a music store and gave up performing magic on a professional level, and focused my energies toward my first love, Music.
I still have a love for all things magic, and sproradically purchase Vids, books, etc, etc. My interest has bloomed again now that I'm in the Navy. For me nothing beats that look on a crowds face when you have just Begaggled them with something that just happened while you were wearing a wife beater t-shirt and a pair of shorts, especially the dissapearing and reappearing of a thousand grains of salt with out using a napkin or handkerchief
, then continuing the flow with the appearance -dissapearance of silk, then reappearance from mouth, all while in shorts and wife beater t-shirt. 
It makes me laugh while i think about when people say "You musta made a deal with the devil" or "Thats not supposed to happen". I love to put smiles on peepls faces, and thats why I do magic.
Boy I'm long winded and tired from all this talkin'. But it's been a while since I really thought about where I came from, been and going as a magician/entertainer. I look forward to posting my 3 Cents.
