talkmagic.co.uk

Hope this is the right part of the forum. Just curious how all of you got into illusions and how long you've been at it?

I got into magic when I was about 6. This was about 93/94 when they were doing all those specials on TV and magic was pretty popular among kids my age. My uncle got me the cup and ball trick and from there I was hooked! I love cards and have invented a couple of my own decent tricks. What really got me was when I got the reaction from the first trick I invented. i was scarred to do it because I thought it was so obvious. I had two old Vegas decks of card (my family is from Sin City) and I doubled each card of Diamonds and Spades up then forced a card and had the mate in my friends car. She started to scream when I didn't tell her how I did it and accused me of black magic I cracked up! But it is so much fun to keep people guessing! (she wasn't really mad at me)

Also my family has deep history in Vegas. My grandad was the gaming commissioner of Nevada for a long while and I learned how to play poker before I could read lol magic just goes with the galmour and mystery of the city!!

What about all of you?

ooh vegas, well for me i always been intrested in magic since i was young, got one little book that i never really got down and read, only learned the hindu shuffle and the hindu shuffle force and i think one self working trick. but last augest my cousin showed me some penguin magic samples and instant downloads and i was hooked. it's amazing how much i learned in 9 months

I got into magic when i was a child. People like Paul Daniels started me off. I continued my studies and here i am now

how long? er 10 years ish since a kid at school showed me a trick! however its only been 5 years been doing it seriously as i was reintroduced on a crusie watching a magiction do a trick and a little voice in my head said
"wow i can do that"

and here i am sitting on my bed with a pack of cards and a sword!


PcWizMe

This seems very familiar... we need to do something about those bunnies comeing over here and replicating their posts

I got my first Magic Set for Chrsitmas 1963 along with my first puppet... it was a Mark Wilson "Alakazam" Magic Set and the puppet of course was Lambchop... I was four years old.

I started doing "shows" (of a sort) at age six, my big trick being the Vanishing Beagle but, by the time I was nine the gears shifted just slightly as I was cast to play Christopher Robbin in an Illusion-Puppet review program promoting a children's clothing line. The project never hit major profile for one reason or another, but it kept me working as one of the youngest stage illusionists on earth for several years... my only "competitor" was Gregg Wilson (son of Mark & Nani, the very people that got me interested in the stuff to begin with).

At 18 I thought I'd try my hand at becoming a "real man" (as my father would say) so I joined the Navy... that didn't work too well so I ran away and joined the circus (well, they let me leave with a medical discharge... something about my working high explosive and having black out episodes made them nervous... I still don't understand why)...

At 20 years old I was working with Carnival legends Ward Hall and John Meah in both, the WONDERCADE and Cirucus Unique shows... assisting Roy Houston in Wondercade and serving as an escape artist and psychic in the side show (and ocassionally target for the knife thrower).

At 21 I was in L.A. a member of the Castle and working as a warehouseman for Abb Dickson and Harry Blackstone which ultimately lead to my working with Kirk Kirkham and several other people of note, not all of whom were involved with magic. For instance, I worked with Raschu's Prop Warehouse, one of the largest prop facilities on the West Coast.

Though I performed with some sense of frequency my main reputation was that of technician an logestics man; if you needed something I could probably find it for you and it seemed, at least for a while, there was no limit as to what I could track down. I even found the original Nicola Spike Cabinet.... it's at the bottom of teh Indian Ocean...

In the early 90s I worked with Ken Whitaker as he was getting the Creative Illusions company off the ground but I and his other partner didn't see eye to eye on things... like giving people credit for their contributions to things. So I politely left about $100,000.00 worth of his equipment in the middle of the Nevada desert with a note saying he could come and pick it up if he wanted.... not that I'm vindictive or anything, I just don't take kindly to fast talkers and selfish people. I had a family to support at the time and he had a coke habit... in his mind the coke habit was far more important to support... but I'm getting way off topic here...

Though Illusions were my main thing for years I specialized in the "Macabre" side of the field kind of like Richiardi, which allowed me to include bits of mental magic in the performances as well as what many would call "Bizarre" magick. Though I'd experimented with shows that were 100% psychic or paranormal in theme I really didn't become comfortable with it until the early and mid-90s. Ironically, a series of evens would unfold that would place me 100% into this niche, all the big stuff being given to this and that friend or sold off as my health and sanity seemed to go into decline.

I still perform but only on a very limited basis, personal health challenges preventing me from evern returning to a solid pro sechedule. I of course work on call as a Reader and invest a good chunk of my time guiding and helping several young people that want to develope their abilities in magic... I think this has been one of my greatest pleasures, especially when I hear from some of these guys and see what they are doing today.

As many of you know I've been writing for over 4 years now for VISIONS On-Line and am a semi-regular contributor to TOP HAT over at the Bunny Hutch. I also have a few books already in circulation with about four more coming out this year, most all going through Loren Tendall's MEVPro shop.

So...that's the Reader's Digest version of my life in magic... not touched upon is who Kirk Kirkham is/was and some of the other key "Mentors" in my like such as Peter Pit, Dick Oakley and a handful of others you've probably never heard of

Craig Browning wrote::twisted: This seems very familiar

Indeed it is! Not only from the Hutch - but from TM too!

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic8496.p ... ight=magic

There's obviously an echo in here, in here, in here.....

I have been a Magicians Assistant for 6 years going on 7.
I had taken a little over a year off when I was pregnant. I just couldnt figure out how to fit into my tricks! But I got right back into it as soon as I lost all the wieght and then some.

I'm one of the Derren Brown "How does he do that?" Babies, so 2-3 years.