Posted on Apr 10, 2011
“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.â€
— Oscar Wilde
Greetings All,
As I write to you from the mountains outside of Nagasaki, Japan, I am reminded of the first time I toured Japan. It was 1976 and I was the opening act for a famous Latin band called the Fania All Stars. I was 16 years old and this was my first exposure to Asian culture.
It was here that I first fell in love with the Kabuki Theater — the ritual, the costumes and powerful theatrics. Since then, I have studied many theatrical disciplines, and many of them have found their way into my show.  It is now my honor and pleasure, when I’m not on stage, to share my magic skills and the life lessons I have learned with all of our students here at the Mystery School, and at my workshops given around the world.
Who is the next “Worlds’ Greatest Magician?â€
While in Japan, I have been sharing time with one of Japan’s most talented young magicians, Hiroki Hara.  Hiroki is one of the rising stars in the world of magic — you can see him in the upcoming feature film documentary, “Make Believe.”
“Make Believe” chronicles the lives of four young magicians — from Africa, Japan, and the USA — as they ready themselves to compete for the title of “The World’s Greatest Teen Magician” at the The World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas.  You will laugh, and you will cry!  I did!  You’ll see why!
Jeff McBride on TV!
Eugene Burger and I are the featured magic teachers in this extraordinary film.  Don’t miss “Make Believe” on Showtime on April 12th and experience the magic!  Check your local listings for times.
What Did You Learn from Your Mistakes?
At a recent Teen Magic Seminar workshop, Eugene and I were surprised to learn that the teens felt that one of the most important lessons they learned from us was “Give yourself permission to make mistakes!”
Scott Adams encouraged mistakes when he said, “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.â€
How I Made a Million Dollar Mistake – and How You Can Make One, Too!
Often parents and teachers push students too hard toward perfection, robbing the student of valuable life lessons. You may know that the finale of my show is my famous “card bouncing off the floor.” Â BUT, did you know that it started out as a mistake? Â Yes! Â I was spinning cards across the stage at the SHOWBOAT Casino in Atlantic City and one shot down instead of up. Â The card ricocheted off the floor “by mistake,” and sailed over the showroom! Â I thought, “Wow. Can I do that again?”
I worked on this mistake for many years and learned an important lesson… Â Some of the greatest moments in my show started as mistakes! Â I call this kind of experience a “million dollar mistake!” The “GOOD kind of mistake,” that I encourage students to make! Â You can hear the entire story of how I evolved my card throwing, and learn many card spinning techniques on my DVD,
Zoom, Bounce & Fly!Tallulah Bankhead said it best,”If I had to do my life over, I would make all the same mistakes… just sooner!”
Wisdom from Wizards: “The Wizard’s Cornerâ€
Looking to get refreshing insights on how to enhance your life and magic? Â Tobias has a new weekly segment, featured on our
Mystery School Mondays Livestream broadcast. Tobias offers wisdom from his upcoming book on life lessons he learned from almost 30 years of working with real life Wizards.
You can get great inspiration and insight by joining Tobias and all of the Mystery School faculty and friends for the world’s first real-time global-interactive web TV magic program! The show is filled with news, reviews and special guest reporters from around the world.
New each week, it’s FREE — and there’s nothing like it! Join us every Monday night at 7PM Pacific time. Remember! Monday is a School Night!
Life in Japan
Before I go, I want to tell you that even though Japan is in the midst of a natural and human-made crisis, we all may have much to learn from the environmental challenges and human mistakes that are going on in Japan and around the world. Â Remember, there is immense beauty around us always, even in the darkest times. Nature helps remind us that life, death and rebirth are joined together by one great mystery. The Japanese have a poetic outlook towards life and death that is seen in the spring…. May you
enjoy the cherry blossoms my friends.
I will be home in Vegas just in time for the April 21st
WONDERGROUND! At this month’s show, I will perform many of the new magic pieces I’ve developed while in Japan. You can see the show live on
www.streetofcards.tv on the 3rd Thursday of every month.
See you later this spring my friends!
Jef-fu in Japan
From Tobias:
Just a couple of reminders for all of you: Don’t miss “Make Believe†on Showtime on the 12
th of this month. If you are in the North East, you can also catch Jeff in the company of other great magicians in one of the two shows on Easter Sunday at the Mohegan Sun, in Connecticut. He’ll also be presenting “The Jeff McBride Experience†in New Haven – a show, lecture and all new “Super Session†workshop on Wednesday and Thursday, April 27 & 28, sponsored by the local IBM Ring and our friend, the environmental wizard, Cyril May. After that, he gets to go home and pack for his upcoming trip to France, where he will be featured in the magic festial in Lille on May 5 & 6, then present a workshop in Paris on May 7. You’ll find links to all these events on
Jeff’s calendar.
Best to all for a magical spring!
Sincerely,
Tobias Beckwith
Our guest columnist this week is Bryce Kuhlman. Bryce is a longtime friend and magician who advises us on many matters and maintains our various web sites. He is also the creator of MyLovelyAssistant.com, the internet’s best resource for researching magic products. I know you will enjoy his insights below.