Aug.04/06


Let me get straight to it. I first entered the exclusive world of magic after reading (the appropriately named) Exclusive Magical Secrets by Will Goldston, which I had ‘magically’ made disappear from my local library in 1982. The fact that absolutely none of the effects in this book could be performed or constructed without a season’s pass to Home Depot didn’t discourage me in the least and, at the age of 8 and armed with a hot glue gun, I went about my business of constructing ‘The Whist Playing Automaton’ (page 388- I still have it. The book, not the automaton). In the end it should have been titled ‘The Stuffed E.T. Glued To A Stick’ but, nevertheless, I was on my way.

Fast forward to present day as I’m taking a cab to one of my city’s most prestigious hotel ballrooms to perform an hour’s worth of walk around magic for the city’s cultural elite and I ask myself, ‘How did I get here? How did it happen?’ It sure as heck wasn’t with any help of Will Goldston, that’s for sure. Was it my classmate in Grade 9 the showed me a French Drop? Was it when I first made a coin dissolve into my elbow? It’s hard to say, or maybe not…

It seems that a lot of magicians I talk to performed their first professional gig at the age of three and by six had signed on to do some consulting for Copperfield who told them (through their agent) that he needed a hand with this ‘Statue of Liberty Thing’. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case in my situation. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been obsessed with magic from the time I could say Hocus Pocus, but the thought of seriously becoming a magician simply didn’t enter my head, despite my growing library ‘collection.’ Growing up in the middle of the Canadian wilderness, I had a better chance of becoming Yoda than David Copperfield. At least I could buy a plastic Yoda costume at the local Shoppers Drug Mart on Halloween or, at the very least, my mother could spray paint a paper plate green and glue two leaves to it for ears and tell me I looked like him (Yoda, not Copperfield.).

No, it wasn’t until I saw someone, who is now a very dear friend of mine, floor me with Jumping Gemini that I Knew. It must have been about six or seven years ago and it was positively shocking. Shocking not only because the trick itself was fantastic, which, it was, but also because I was struck with the epiphany that I, too, could learn it. I knew, instinctively & deeply that I could do it well. Take, for example, a Mozart symphony. Without ever having touched a piano I can hear the song but know that I probably won’t learn how to play it within, say, five million years. But there are people who can hear it once and know that they’ll play it one day. Just as there are people that can look at a car and know they can build one. They just Know. That Jumping Gemini was my ‘Know’ moment. It was then that I became a magician.

Since then, I’ve been obsessed, as most of us are, with everything magic. My life has been infused with cards, coins, and rubber bands. Many a sleepless night has been spent on Faros, Passes, and obscurely named sleights that could only have been thought up by a mania crazed enthusiast. Whereas friends of mine can tell you what Wayne Gretzky got for his fifth birthday, I’m rocking off the dates David Devant was at Egyptian Hall. I simply love every single aspect of the art and it’s artists. To be fair, it’s rivaled only by my first love, Oreos.

And I guess that’s why I am a magician. Not because I know Guy Jarrett worked as an assistant to Howard Thurston in the 20’s, but because I care that he did. Deeply.

Have A Great Weekend Everyone!

Your regular Magic Friday Column will return on Sep. 01. Feel free to PM me in the meantime with any thoughts, suggestions, or comments.

Jamie D. Grant