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
After our time in Bali, we boarded the World Cruise ship and traveled to Malaysia, the Philippines and Hong Kong. You must realize, these audiences are on the ship for 108 nights, and there is a different show every night. By the time we got on board, they had already seen sixty shows! Because our magic is so unique, the audiences find us to be a breath of fresh air — something new that they haven’t already seen before. We had a lovely time touring through Indonesia, meeting new friends and seeing new places.
It’s been quite a month, and I wanted to let you know some of what we’ve been up to! We’ve just returned home from our tour of Indonesia. We spent four days in Bali, shooting “McBride in Bali”, which will air on Balinese television soon. I was working with Balinese magician Deddy Cobruzier to create a brand new “Burned Alive” effect in which both of us were engulfed in flames. It was a lot ofwork and a great deal of fun, too. We even had some time for some sightseeing, and enjoyed going to Ubud, the village of the mask-makers and wood-carvers. The people in Bali, generally, do not have the cynical, know-it-all, seen-it-before, quasi-boredom attitude toward magic. They believe the magic is real. This can be a good thing for us, coming in and manifesting magic wish bubbles and plucking rainbows from thin air. Though for some magicians who perform mind-reading or other mentalism effects, people become genuinely frightened by the magic and begin to think of the magician as dangerous and evil. We found ourselves walking a thin line between disturbing the comfortable, and comforting the disturbed.
Many of my close friends know that one of my main passions in life is researching the art of Alchemy. Often at our events here at the Magic School, I am asked, “Just what does alchemy have to do with thep erformance of stage magic or close-up magic?” One of the many definitions of alchemy is that it is the “spiritualization of matter.” At our workshops, we have an exercise where we ask our students to select something very mundane, perhaps a simple magic effect, and combine it with some of their personal experiences. Be adding these personal elements of our lives — our strength, will, love and imagination — we can transform the most ordinary “trick” into a sensational piece of magical theater. I grew up in Rock Hill, New York — up in the Catskill mountains. I spent a lot of my youth exploring the woods. Ever since I was a kid, I enjoyed transforming ordinary places into extraordinary magical spaces. It all started with my earliest magical installation: my walk-in closet/haunted house. Then on to my magic show theater setups in the basement and continuing on to my participation in creating art installations and ritual theater events at The Mystery School, Mysterium, Desert Moon Circle, Firedance, Burning Man, The Wonderdome…. There is a mysterious creative force within me that wants not only to perform magic, but to create enchanting, magical spaces as well. Now that we have finally opened the Magical Arts Center we have over 5000 square feet of free space for our magic company and all of our friends in the magic community to create and transform their inspiration into art, their lead into gold!