09/15/2020
The entertainment industry has been hit hard, and magicians have lost the personal interaction side of performing. To see the face of a young kid when he or she gets picked to assist a magician on stage, is priceless. You see the magic we provide goes way farther than just the tricks or illusion we perform, it touches hearts. We create wonder and amazement as the art, but we also create memories and a chance to escape reality. In this time of uncertainty, I believe we can all agree we could use some amazement. I have been fortunate to perform thousands of shows in my time as an illusionist, and personally knew some amazing people in the industry such as Doug Henning, Harry Blackstone Jr., Billy McComb, and more, and with each discovered they did not perform for the money (although they would probably have told you it helped), but the did it because of the passion they found for making people happy and occasionally having the opportunity to blow your minds.
I want to give a special shout out to some magicians that I know are struggling because they've been unable to be on stage in a large setting for seven months, and what's worse is, have no income and still not knowing when things will return to normal. They're all probably in therapy, because keeping a professional magician off stage for longer then three weeks is like taking your cell phone away for seven months. This includes Noah and Heather Wells, Jay Mattioli, and Dale Scott among others. They don't have some long term contract to perform at Caesars' Palace, their own Learjet, or own an island in the Bahamas. They are the backbone for everyday Americans to experience that wonder and amazement as ordinary people. We may see them at a local theatre, performing at a county or state fair, or headlining a corporate event. While they don't have their own TV special, they touch more hearts and provide more experiences annually then some main headliners do in a decade.
So the next time you hear a magician is coming to town or to your area, go experience the magic that's out there. And if it happens to be one of the names I mentioned (not the first group because they are all deceased) tell them hello for me.
Keep the magic everyone. We'll get through this.
