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(Ed.
Note: This article originally
appeared in May of 2002.)
The 70 year-old man
said, "Are you sure you want me to build this for you? Where you
gonna work it?"
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The master craftsman had formerly been employed
by the Blackstone show, the show of 1001 wonders, an American
institution for more than 40 years. He was asking where a magician
worked large scale illusions since variety entertainment is breathing
hard these days.
I've had an unusual career. I've never been
formerly managed or guided by any of the top agencies , but two
great representatives:
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| Marty Hoberman, co-founded Creative
Talent Associates and later founded The Talent Connection. Marty
signed me after seeing my 1985 MTV-inspired film STEPS (directed
by Stephen Clarendon) at the debut screening at The Triplex,
a SoHo loft I performed at frequently. Marty brought Twisted
Sister to national fame and was the agent who booked The Doors
into the infamous Miami concert where Jim Morrison was arrested
for alleged public indecency. Marty booked me at colleges and
on TV and always said with a twinkle in his sad eyes, "eat
hearty but don't eat like Marty." Marty was a stocky fellow
who was as street wise as they come. |
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My other representative was Paul
Woerner. Paul was a self-made man by age 30, and had practiced
law in Switzerland after finishing his education at Oxford. He
came under the tutelage of Magritte's lawyer' Harry Torczyner
and returned to the United States to practice theatrical law.
Paul was the one who brought producer Cameron Mackintosh (Phantom,
Les Miserables, Miss Saigon) to the US. At Paul's memorial
in a Broadway theater, Director Mike Nichols told me, "After
all the fair deals Paul made for people, he didn't get a fair
deal." Paul died in his 30's; Marty at age 50. Both were
far too young and had so much to give the world. |
| So why did music business facilitators
handle a magician? Perhaps the rhythm of my performance is closer
to a musician's performnce than the quiet intensity or broad
comedy of most magicians. "Rhythm of performance?"
This is hard to describe, but probably has something to do with
my personality (most of my close friends are musicians). |
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| Since dancers also work with
rhythm, and therefore intrinsically understand music, then I
dance with my hands, fingers and mind. The transcendental quality
I seek to represent is illustrated in the rhythm of my work.
Yes, acting, writing, psychological manipulation and optical
principles play a large part in what I do. And somehow my training
from Buck's Rock Creative Work Camp for artistically inclined
teenagers fostered my talent for integrating arts. Later on,
in high school, I had my first opportunity to perform within
the confines of coffee houses. Later, in 1978 at Carnegie-Mellon
University and then at Connecticut College I spent a great deal
of time with musicians in the coffee house world. |
| I once asked my friend Marina
Belica (October Project) why I understood where a melody would
go. She replied, "because you understand the textures of
sound and rhythm of movement through your own work." As
a magician I don't just move, I move when the moment is most
propitious to delight and amuse. |
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| It is not what you do, but how
you do it, say the magic text books. |
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Above left: Prior
to a show of music and magic in 1977 I pose with my old friend
Marina Belica, our music teacher Carol Kolanay, and guitarist
David Fodaski. The program (one of those mimeographs kids used
to sniff when it was printed) is from a benefit performance we
did for the drug rehab clinic Phoenix House. The cloth I hold
has just helped me vanish an entire tray of college food. Below,
I 'm about to pull a handkerchief through a volunteer's arm ,
1980. Dig the red pants! |
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I've been fortunate to have been
produced by Lyn Austin's Music-Theatre Group. "Music Theatre"
being a term coined by the tenacious Ms. Austin herself when
she left the Broadway world (where she had been very successful)
to pursue developing artists whose work was generally unclassifiable. |
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Ms. Austin developed this term
to encapsulate the trends she developed in the emerging avant
garde beginning in the late 1950's. My one man show Out Of
Order was a surrealistic 55-minute landscape of my mind as
a magician. The score was written by Mark Bennett. Mark's music
was given a push by my illusions, and my illusions came to life
with his music. We received good notices in Lenox, MA in 1988
and then workshopped the production (under the title After
Magic?) at Theatreclub Funambules on the lower East Side
in New York City 8 months later. The cover photo is by Jim Moore.
Somehow, psychically I knew this would be the last live performance
of mine my mother would see me give. Unfortunately I was right.
She died less than a year later. |
| In 1993, during a late night
car ride from Connecticut to New York I met a guy I'd known 12
years earlier, Dan Seiden. He told me he played with a group
called The Round Band. I became the band's emcee and Dan booked
a lot of club gigs where we developed a mixture of rock 'n roll
and magic. Right: Dan's new CD. Click on pic for more info. |
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| From September 1993 to May 1995
we performed at all sorts of places finding out what worked and
what did not. Quick fire effects: yes. Audience involvement:
no. Left: an ad showing Clinton and Yeltsin sharing a smoke for
our April Fools appearance at New York City's club Under Acme.
The DJ who played, later joined STOMP and worked with
us at Lincoln Center. |
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