“The underlying purpose of magic in its many aspects is to help people approach life and the cosmos in a state of wonder”. — from Art and Magic by Sam Sharpe, published by Miracle Factory After reading Mr. Sharpe’s quote I realized that I am in fact, living in the “state of wonder”: Nevada. There is more art and wonder in Nevada than anywhere I have ever lived. Between creating our magical art at the annual Burning Man Art festival, all the Vegas magic shows, the visiting magicians, and the events we host here at the center, we live in an almost constant state of wonder! I keep many of Sam Sharpe’s books near my desk. I often open one and read a few passages to keep me inspired and deep in thought about my art. Sam thought deeply about the art of magic and his works are wonders, written from his heart. Having a few days at home, Abbi and I are catching up on our reading. If you’ve been to our home you know that we never watch television programming (who wants to be programmed?). In fact, we have no antenna or cable, no satellite either — and our television is only a monitor to watch tapes of students or to review our practice sessions. Although the occasional cool movie like EXISTO or One Giant Leap (find these movies!) or instructional magic performance DVD finds its way if company drops over and just needs a TV fix. At home, we are mostly listening to CDs of our friends’ music, or making live music. Many of our friends are i ncredible musicians who make their own CDs of their music, so we hardly ever buy “pop” music! Abbi has been studying the Kora, an African harp. Her teacher is Toumani Kouyate, from Senegal, and he is one of the stars of Cirque du Soleil’s show “O”. Late at night, Abbi plays her music. Harpstrings fill the air with sound and mix with champa incense (our favorite) and I practice my magic routines and improvise to her sweet melodies….. ah, a few days at home… bliss!
I started my magic career at 8 years old doing shows in my living room. Today, even though I perform in huge theaters for thousands of people, I still do many shows in my home theater for our visiting friends. When we have friends over to our home, Abbi, Eugene and I often perform our “home-theater” show. Eugene and I thought it would be great to hold a special weekend to share our practical ideas on how you can, very simply, set up a home theater and do shows for small groups of friends or even paying guests. Join us and learn the art of creating your very own intimate magic theater. We will explore the world of storytelling magic with a special focus on how to transform your home or room into a more intimate and mysterious magic theater.
“Artist, you are a priest: Art is the great mystery… Artist, you are a king: Art is the true empire… Artist, you are a magician: Art is the great Miracle…” -Josephine Peladan (1858-1918), L’art idealiste et mystique Bravo Dakota Rose and Jayson Morrison for getting 1st and 2nd place inthe IBM stage competition. Jayson was also awarded “The PeoplesChoice” award. I have been coaching Jayson for over 4 years and each time the act gets more refined. Keep up the good work Jayson and Dakota! You will be seeing a lot more of these two up-and-coming magi in the near future…or you can read about all of the winners on our “WINNERS CIRCLE”
On the top of my reading list is the inspirational magic book ART AND MAGIC by Sam Sharpe. I had the pleasure of getting to know Sam a bit when I was in London years ago performing at the London Mime festival. Sam was an inspiration to many of us at The Mystery School. His words of wonder still ring in our hearts. Here is one of my favorite quotes from his last book. “If magic art is to be raised beyond mere prosaic puzzles and vulgar deception bordering on charlatanism, it must be used as a material magic mirror in which to reflect images of supernatural phenomena drawn from psychic and spiritual worlds. The magician should aim at keeping the existence of these planes of phenomena before the public consciousness without claiming to be an actual exponent of the occult sciences. That is to say, he should be a magic artist, his high purpose being to evoke the sublime primary feeling of wonder in a world of cynicism and materialistic outlook.”
Jeff is out of the country and before he left, he gave me permission to draft the next Muse-letter. So here we go… CONTENTS: No More Card Manipulation? Selling Underwear on eBay Jeff McBride: Dove Act McBride & Burger in Drag The Masks Take Over Pendragon vs. Randi NO MORE CARD MANIPULATION? Quoting from a recent email from Jeff: “Hi B, you;re in chrge of tyhe nexy muse-lettr I fell it needs a bit more color..perhaps a inspiriational quote. Call me in the AM J( typing with a cut finger…it’ds a pain)” It seems Jeff sliced his finger open while packing for his trip to Holland. His typing skills have obviously been affected. I’ll bet he can still pull off those split fans flawlessly, though. SELLING UNDERWEAR ON EBAY OK, we stopped at the underwear, but you can buy some of his old costumes: pants, shirt, boots, hat, belt and mask on eBay. The auctions close April 5th. JEFF MCBRIDE: DOVE ACT We recently received this email from our dear friend David Parr: “Hey Jeff. Remember the Magic Magazine? It was sold on newsstands in the mid-’70s, and I remember walking up to the grocery store several blocks from our house and buying it along with Mad and Cracked and Spider-Man comics. Well, I recently ran across a few old copies of the Magic Magazine, and was paging them with nostalgic amusement when, in the December ’75 issue, I suddenly realize I’m looking at you! What makes this particularly amusing is the spelling of your nom de theatre: ‘McBride the Magnificant.’ Dude, that rocks! I’ve attached the scan as a JPG image. Enjoy!” See the photo MCBRIDE & BURGER IN DRAG To be technically correct, this was me and my wife Jen “in drag” as Jeff & Eugene for Halloween circa 1997. Good thing the party consisted of mostly magicians (though the ones who weren’t just thought I was Gene Simmons of KISS). See the photo THE MASKS TAKE OVER Most people just think the mask thing is part of Jeff’s act. No, no, no. They come out and play at Jeff’s house and sometimes even take possession of the wearer. We call this one “Joaquin Banana” PENDRAGON VS. RANDI I’m ending this on a serious note. This is NOT a joke. This is for real. Controversy exploded on CNN when debaters Jonathan Pendragon and James Randi went head to head, arguing the recent exposure of Houdini’s “Metamorphosis” illusion in the new Houdini museum display in Appleton, WI. The debate ended with James Randi, who is a controversial spokesman for the skeptical movement, conceding to Jonathan Pendragon’s persuasive views on the subject of exposure. Yours in better magic, Bryce