by misterblack » Feb 11th, '07, 21:08
Hi. I wasn't going to write an intro as it's not really my sort of thing, but posts elsewhere have led me to believe it's considered good etiquette here. So here goes.
I'm in my mid-thirties, English, but now live in the USA. Like many people, I got interested in magic as a kid when Paul Daniels was king. A department store in my home town had a magician in the toy dept on Saturdays, and before long I was buying loads of the Paul Daniels tricks. I remember the awe I felt when I finally bought one that was colour-coded 'purple' for difficult.
I also used to purchase stuff from the 'Mad Hatter' range, which we could only find when on holiday on the Norfolk coast. I recall going to a 'Mad Hatter Magic' convention in London, and also a bizarre trip with my parents to the home of Jack Hughes. My brother and I were perhaps 11 and 7 years old, and here we were on Jack Hughes' doorstep as if we had hundreds of pounds to spend on disappearing dove cages! However, Mr Hughes was extraordinarily friendly and accommodating and showed us a lot of stuff.
Anyway, that's ancient history. Magic back then, to me, was all gimmick tricks and something that I lost interest in as I entered my teens - although I always still enjoyed watching it if a magician popped up on television.
My renewed interest began about nine months ago when my wife and I were on our honeymoon in Manhattan. Just outside the Empire State Building, a street magician approached us and did some neat coin and cigarette tricks. It was a lovely little thing to happen on one's honeymoon, but more than that the experience of close-up magic really tickled me and as chance would have it this magician wasn't out for tips but was giving out flyers for a new magic shop in the city.
We didn't make it to the store during that trip, but a few months later moved close to New York City and I took a trip to both that store (Fantasma) and Tannens. Eyes lit up, and I spent a long time poring over DVDs, books, gimmicks, etc.
I bought 'Royal Road', volume one of Ammar's 'Modern Card Miracles' and one packet trick 'NFW'. Learning and performing a few tricks with sleights has been incredibly rewarding, especially pulling them off under my very smart wife's nose and a few other acquaintances.
I'm hooked....