Real Magic - 5-29-09

A young heavy metal singer, who I didn't recognize, came up to me after the show and asked if I could teach him magic to enhance his concerts. "I'd like to do that floating girl thing, like you did, and a bunch of other stuff."

Googling him, I found he was a known recording artist, with several videos, and an active tour schedule. Barely out of his teens and already experiencing success, I figured he must be keenly intelligent or at least a talented artist.

At our next, and last, face to face; I asked about his usual performing conditions, rehearsal time, budget, and so on. "Never mind that bullshit. Can you teach me a little magic right now?" I started to teach him how to make a coin vanish, just a simple bit of beginner's sleight-of-hand.

He really surprised me when he said, "That's cheating. Come on, I want to learn real magic. I want to learn to make a coin vanish in my bare hands for real, like you did. I don't want to learn this fake stuff." I tried to convince him that magic is done with sleight-of-hand and other clever techniques but to no avail. Unbelievable. I thought he was a savvy show-biz professional and he's expecting to vanish coins and float girls without the use of trickery...

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