Walking Through the Town of Insurance

As I write this it's almost 7:30 pm on Friday evening in Hartford, CT. I'm here on business performing at a conference at the Hartford Convention Center in the heart of downtown Hartford. This is actually my first visit to this city and I gotta say it's very picturesque this time of year. Chilly breezes blowing off of the Connecticut River (which is around the corner from my hotel) that kick up the various colored fall leaves around my feet.

Being in the middle of downtown, I walk everywhere I need to go. Restaurants, the post office, the convention center itself. This morning before one of my scheduled performances, I decided to go get breakfast at one of the cafes I had remembered seeing after arriving in town yesterday. I had taken the initiative to check the weather for Hartford before leaving Southern California, and saw that it was going to be cold. The highs here have been in the low '50s. Not too terribly cold, but with the wind, it feels much colder. In preparing for the walk of several blocks to the restaurant, I thought that the sweater I was wearing with my jeans would probably be sufficient enough to keep me warm. the only jacket I had brought was my heavy leather jacket. Putting that on over my sweater, I thought, would be too hot.

Boy was I wrong...

I should have worn the jacket as the breeze kicked up and blew right through my previously "thick enough" sweater. To make matters worse, the restaurant wasn't where I thought it was and the walk took longer than anticipated, and me farther from my hotel, until I was just about prepared to walk into the next unlocked door I came to -- be it a restaurant, Andy Gump, or Church of Scientology just to get out of the friggin' cold.

Yesterday afternoon, with my trusty iPod clipped to my belt, I took a walk along the bank of the river and came across a plaque on the support of a bridge that I was walking under. The plaque was commemorating the three biggest floods in Hartford history by showing the three different water levels of each flood. I believe the highest one was thirty-six feet. "Holy Crap," I thought standing there and looking up at the water level mark. I looked at the trees and the buildings that were nearby thinking that all of these would have been wiped out. It was unbelievable. And two of these floods were within two years of each other in the 1930s. I think that that is when you start to really consider moving. Instead of moving, however, they built a dyke after the second flood.

Three big floods in Hartford's history. No wonder this town is known for it's insurance...

--Shawn

Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805) 480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com

In Search of Red Underwear

There is a routine that I perform in my act that involves me taking off my clothes onstage and standing in a Superman-type outfit. It's a powder blue unitard with a pair of red bikini briefs worn on the outside to round out the look. The time came recently for me to replace the costume, and I was eager to make some changes to my original design. The unitard still worked well, but the neckline had to be changed. On the original, the outfit had a small collar that would sometimes be seen before it was supposed to be. Granted, to the audience it would just appear as if I was wearing an undershirt, but the point was I didn't want it seen at all until the climactic moment of my act. The new costume I had made corrected that problem with the absence of a collar.

Along with the new costume I had to buy a new pair of red bikini briefs. Considering that I had to have special silk screened graphics put on the front of the specially ordered unitards I had just acquired, I thought that obtaining a new pair of briefs would be the least difficult part of my costume-replacing task.

I had no idea what I was up against...

First, purchasing an individual pair of briefs these days is out of the question. You can only find bikini briefs in packages ranging from the Walmart , Macy's, or JC Penney's packages of three on up to the Costco packages of ninety-two. I was not opposed to buying packages of three as long as at least one of the briefs was my desired color. What I found instead was a wide array of briefs in colors other than a simple red. You would think that red would be incredibly easy to find, wouldn't you?

No.

Instead I found briefs in Alizarin, Amaranth, Cardinal, Carmine, Cerise, Chestnut, Dark Pink, Fuchsia, Magenta, Maroon, Mauve taupe, Persimmon, Rust, Puce, Sangria, Terra cotta, and Vermilion.

Crimony, people! Can I JUST have a RED pair of underwear?! It shouldn't be that difficult!

Not only did I find every shade of red -- other than JUST red -- imaginable, I also came across a number of different wild patterns featured on these briefs that make me wonder just what is going on in the bedrooms of this country...and how I can learn more about it?! I saw more leopard spots than I think there are leopards left in the world. What exactly is it about the nature of the bikini brief that lends itself to leopard spots and other lascivious designs? In the underwear family it seems as if the brief is the lecherous "devil-may-care" pervert with flames originating from the "action area" and flickering upward toward the waistband, while the boxer comes off as the prudish and dull puritan who will be seen in nothing but paisley or dull earth tones. The wildest the boxer will willingly become -- when it is throwing all caution to the wind -- is polka dots or bottles of Tabasco Sauce.

One other drawback in my search was the actual search itself. I can't remember a time in my life when I've looked at more men's crotches in such a short period of time. If there was one, I'm sure I've blocked it out of my mind!

Finally, in the very back of a row in the men's department of my fourth Walmart in one day, there sat a package of underwear that had one solid red pair of briefs in it, and I now wear them proudly. Not just as the humorous ending of my act, but -- more importantly -- as the symbol of my triumph!

--Shawn

Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805) 480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com

America's Got Talent, but not on "America's Got Talent"

At the risk of offending fans of the show, I have to state right here and now how much I hate America’s Got Talent. I hate reality shows in general, but I think I hate this one with more of a passion because I’m forced to watch it. This is not one of those “guilty pleasure” things – I really AM forced to watch it. I write for a magic magazine, and magicians are on that show all the time. Therefore, I’m forced to sit through an agonizing 60 minutes – sometimes 90 if it’s a “special episode” – watching and keeping tabs on the magic men and women who appear and what they perform so I can report it for the magazine. I am, quite often, given inside information on what is about to happen on the show from sources I’m not at liberty to divulge, but, STILL, I have to watch the episodes to confirm all this information and to report anything else my sources may NOT have told me. Some of the magicians who have appeared in the past have been friends of mine, and yet I’m still praying for their early elimination so that my pain can end sooner.

With the exception of these magician friends, America’s Got Talent, for the most part, is a showcase of untalented people being judged by even less talented celebrities. I auditioned at one of the preliminary auditions for the first season of the show – before I knew what the show was all about – and thank God I wasn’t chosen. After the first season aired, I realized that my act wasn’t right for what they were looking for, and I’m glad they thought so too. I was spared the degradation of someone like David Hasselhoff telling me what he thought of the act that I have been making a living with for the last 15 years! No thanks. I don’t need Knight Rider and Jerry Springer critiquing my performances.

A perfect example is what happened to my friend Kevin James on the most recent season of AGT. Kevin is a very talented magician who has had his own show in Las Vegas for the last four years. He has performed all over the world and presents magic that no one else does. He invents all of his own tricks and is admired by his peers. On AGT he stunned the judges with his unique version of cutting someone in two. Stunned them. They were literally speechless. And when you take into consideration that one of the judges, Piers Morgan, can be pretty indifferent, and even rude, to most of what he sees, that’s saying something.

Well, due to time constraints in a later episode, Kevin was faced with performing a portion of one of his routines so that it fit into the show’s 70-second slot requirement. Therefore, it wasn’t as impressive to the judges as his past effects had been. Piers just tore into him, and even exposed the trick Kevin had just performed! It was totally uncalled for and entirely unprofessional.

In talking with Kevin after the fact, he explained that he was given the chance to reply to Piers’ tirade, which he did in a professional manner – resisting the temptation to tear into the guy, and explained how his style of magic was different from other magicians as he creates everything on his own. “It’s like the singers on this show writing all their own songs every week,” is what he told the audience and television cameras. None of his remarks were aired. Kevin even said that he talked with the producers of the show asking them to at least edit out the part where Piers exposed the trick. A trick that he performs for thousands of people every week in Las Vegas. No such luck. Kevin said he would have been satisfied if they had left in Piers’ conniption fir and didn’t air his comments as long as they edited out the trick’s exposure. Instead they did just the opposite.

Thanks, America’s Got Talent. Thanks for filling our airwaves with more mindless drivel that you try to pass off as talent, while the truly talented are mocked and trivialized.

--Shawn

Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
805-480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com

Old-Fashioned Freeze in a High-Tech World

So I'm craving Foster's ice cream earlier today. I'm driving around doing errands and keeping appointments, and I decide to go through the drive-thru at the Foster's Old-Fashioned Freeze near my home. Okay, technically it's my local El Pollo Loco. It's just that it has recently become one of those weird hybrid fast food places that combine two completely unrelated fast food chains together in a mass plot to kill the customer faster with twice as much unhealthy food. And the combinations never make sense to me. I mean a chicken joint that sells ice cream sundaes? Carl's Jr. and Green Burrito? What is happening? And what's next on the horizon? Arby's and Panda Express? Subway and Spudnuts? Starbucks and Albertson's grocery store? Wait a minute...

Anyway, I pull up to the menu board and prepare myself. You never know how this type of exchange is going to go in the first place. The speaker might be all crackly, the person on the other end might not hear me correctly and screw up my order -- although how hard can it be? I'm just ordering a small dipped cone. And on top of it, I remember as I'm pulling up to the sign to order that this location has been known to not have the capability of dipping my cone in chocolate from time to time, for whatever reason. I've never really asked why they can dip the cones some days and can't on others.

"Can I help you," is what I think came out of the speaker.

"Yes. do you have chocolate dipped cones?"

"I'm sorry?" the speaker squawks.

"Do you have chocolate dipped cones," I try again.

"You want a cone? A small one?"

"Well, yes...do you have chocolate dipped cones?"

"You want another one? Two?"

I'm beginning to debate whether the ice cream is really worth it.

"No," I answer, "just one small one."

"Okay drive to the window," comes my response.

Against my better judgement, I drive to the window and stop. The lady pops her head out of the window and says, "The ice cream is too soft for the cones right now. Would you like it in a cup instead?"

Isn't the ice cream at Foster's supposed to be soft? Wouldn't Foster's ice cream that is too soft for cones be Vanilla Soup? Well, at this point what are my options, really? There's a line of cars behind me, and I have ordered the ice cream. It's practically worth finishing what I started just to see what's handed to me.

"Sure," I say. "Put it in a cup."

She leaves to carry out this task, and, to her credit, I notice that she is putting the chocolate shell that she would have normally dipped the cone into over the top of the ice cream. But as I watch her doing this, another employee that has been standing by the window during this whole exchange leans toward me with a small plastic bag. As I take it from her, I see that it contains -- I kid you not -- a few napkins a spoon and an empty sugar cone!

I drove away eating my ice cream with a spoon while the cone that it was supposed to be in sat next to me, empty, on the passenger seat.

Okay...whatever. You guys do what it is you need to do. At least I got my ice cream.

--Shawn

Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805) 480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com

Living the SLO Life

I'm in San Luis Obispo, CA. I've spent the last three days up here performing, and I gotta say that every time I'm here I discover something new. I perform here about once a year, and every time I come back I realize just how much I love it here. The weather's nice and the people are very friendly, laid back, and interesting. They have a great morning jazz program on the local NPR station that I listen to while driving downtown sipping my coffee. Hell, even their mortuary looks inviting. Not that most mortuaries are gloomy places -- unless you have business there, of course -- and I know that the idea of a mortuary is to make the experience as comfortable as possible by being decorated in a homey manner, but SLO's mortuary actually looks happy...if that's possible. Brightly colored flowers and a cheery architectural style makes it almost look like a place you would want to go to and hang out in!

And you know something else I like about SLO? Their one-way streets are easy to navigate. Believe me, that's important for someone who spends as much time in a car as I do. Take Denver, CO for example. I love that town, but their one-way streets can suck. I don't know how many times I've driven past the same guy sleeping on a park bench during one of my visits to Denver. You know you're in a hopeless situation when a schizophrenic, homeless man who sleeps on a bench and wears his entire wardrobe all at once while pushing his worldly possessions around in a rickety Kings Grocery shopping cart begins to look at you with a critical eye and begins questioning your mentality.

But I digress. I love it here in SLO because of the atmosphere. It's the home to Cal Poly, so it's a town bustling with students and artistic people of all ages. Which, I guess, accounts for most of the laid back attitude. And the party atmosphere. The place really does come alive here at night. And again, not just with the students, but everybody. Walking down Higuera Street at 10:00 at night I pass young people out to dance, drink, and have a good time, a middle-aged couple laving an expensive restaurant and stepping into a quiet pub open to the sidewalk for a nightcap, and a lone gentleman picking on a banjo outside of a Coldstone ice cream store collecting coins from passersby.

Places like this just seem to inspire me all the more. A very art-conscious and spiritual community filled with accepting, friendly people.

Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805) 480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com

Angel Sighting

A couple of months ago, I wrote about my thoughts on David Blaine. I am constantly asked what I think of both he and Criss Angel, and in March I wrote about what I thought of Blaine. At that time I promised to write about Angel in the near future. Let’s do that now.

Geez, where do I begin…

Well, let’s start with an observation from a comedian friend of mine, John Bizarre. If you haven’t seen this man perform, you need to. He travels the world performing both for comedy club audiences, and, quite often, for our troops overseas. He’s a non-stop whirlwind of energy when he’s onstage. Hands down one of my top five favorite comics working today – and he’s in the top three of those. He also writes very passionately when he’s riffing on a topic. He had the opportunity recently to see an episode of Criss Angel’s Mindfreak show while on a plane. He felt compelled to write me about it. Here’s what he had to say:

By the way, I saw the Criss Angel show on the plane yesterday coming back from Erie. I wanted to get up and punch the TV. He is all style over substance, and that style sucks. He's like a flashy guitar player in a BigHair band that throws his arms around and jumps all over the stage, but only knows three chords.

Yes, Criss does tend to come off that way. And for the most part, I agree with John’s point on “style over substance.” It seems that the young magicians today are drawn to the quick, flashy, “MTV” style of performance. And, really, who can blame them in these attention-deficit times? It’s all they know. They are the TV generation. Actually, they’re not even the TV generation. They’re more along the lines of the Internet generation. Instant information in small, continuous bite-sized pieces. Mindfreak does have an avant-garde style to it, and I tend to like avant-garde. But when it gets in the way of the “meat” of what’s being offered, then there’s a problem. Criss’ show tends to suffer from this very problem. Don’t get me wrong. Some of the magic that he performs is solid stuff, and some of it I like. It’s when he gets into the “stunts” that I tend to lose interest. And I have the same problem with David Blaine.

Less endurance stunts, and more magic please. Endurance stunts aren't magic.

And did you hear that Criss has signed on with the Cirque du Soleil people to produce a magic show for the Luxor in Vegas slated to premiere in 2008? It will be interesting to see how he makes the transition from television to the live stage...

--Shawn

Fear and Loathing in New York

New York City -- Saturday Morning

The skyline of New York greets me through my open window presenting itself draped in sunlight and a cool nip in the air. It's gorgeous, and I'm glad to be here -- now that I finally made it!

You would not believe what it took to get here. I can't even believe what it took to get here.

My flight out of the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, CA was scheduled for 10:55 AM. I was flying Jet Blue. Up to this point, my only knowledge of Jet Blue was that it was the airline that got its front wheels stuck and was televised on every news channel as viewers waited for it to land and watch the wheels snap right off -- as every news analyst predicted. The pilot of that plane showed everybody up by making an expert landing and everyone on board exited unharmed. If that pilot didn't get a promotion, or at least a raise -- he was robbed. So...having never flown Jet Blue in the past, I figured I was in good hands. And to be perfectly honest, most of this wasn't Jet Blue's fault. It's just a shame that I have to associate their airline with this trip.

Upon my arrival at the Bob Hope airport I was immediately hit with a sign on the boarding pass machine informing me that my flight to JFK Airport would be delayed until 12:30 PM. All right, fine. I have work I can do on my laptop while I wait. I proceed through security. My bags get held up. My bags always get held up. I'm a magician. My case doesn't contain the normal stuff that most cases carry. And then I always get the slow and confused head upturn from the contents of the case to my face with a look of, "Could you please explain all the nonsense I see here in your carry-on?"

I finally get to my gate and work on the computer until our boarding time. Once on board, our captain informs us that our non-stop flight to New York would be making a stop in Salt Lake City, Utah. The reason was to re-fuel for safety's sake seeing as how JFK had to delay our flight due to heavy air traffic and weather. I'm still not sure I understand that, but I'm all for anything to keep me safe while I'm hurtling 590 MPH in a metal tube 35,000 feet above the ground! The bad part of it was that this meant we would be delayed even longer in getting to New York. We were originally supposed to be landing at 7:10 PM EST. Now, God only knew when we'd be touching down.

I hadn't eaten any real food all day, and during this flight I still didn't eat any real food. Nuts, cookies, and Doritos Cheesy Crunchy Mix (I don't even know if that's the right name for the concoction that awaited me when I opened the bag) made up my in-flight diet. Thank God for the bottled water and coffee. And apparently they didn't get extra rolls of toilet paper in Salt Lake when they gassed up, because toward the end of the flight each of the three lavatories had run out.

We finally land at JFK at 10:30 PM. After getting my bag, I grab a taxi to the Belvedere Hotel on 48th Street, where I'll be staying. Do I even have to mention the cab ride? It was expensive and too damned fast. I mean, I'm all for getting me to my destination quickly, but quickly and alive is what I prefer.

I arrive at the Belvedere at approximately 11:25 PM. About three hours later than I should have been there. I'm tired, I'm starving, and I want to unload my stuff in my room and get something to eat. I give my name to Julio at the front desk...and he can't find my name. He is on the phone with Hotels.com for, I'm not exaggerating here, 40 minutes until they were finally able to give him information pertaining to the room. Julio was very accommodating during the entire process. It was Hotels.com who dropped the ball.

By the time I had dropped off my bags, checked messages and e-mails that had come to me while I was in the air, and finally sitting in an all-night cafe eating a pastrami sandwich, it was 1:00 AM.

I really have been looking forward to this trip. Lots of good work will be coning out of it. Let's just hope the rest of the trip goes better than my first day.

--Shawn


Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805) 480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com

The Magic Castle of the North

It's Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting in my hotel room in Martinez, California. For those of you who have never been to Martinez, it really is a lovely place. Downtown Martinez is quaint and very in tune with their past history. The environmentalist John Muir is almost revered here as there is everything from hotels to auto repair shops named after him. His actual home, now a historical landmark, sits right across the street from where I'm staying. The reason I'm here, of course, is to perform. And the place I'm currently performing in is California Magic.

California Magic is a theatre that has just celebrated its third anniversary and seems to be growing stronger as the months go by. You can visit their website and get an idea of what the place looks like and is all about by going to www.calmagic.com. But let me just tell you, the place is great! It's a wonderful venue for live entertainment and has gained the reputation among magicians as the best place to perform next to the Magic Castle in Hollywood. And Gerry and Laura Griffin -- the owners of the place -- are always gracious hosts and are always making sure you have everything you need. I have a good friend who owned and operated a comedy club for 8 1/2 years. He is also a performing comedian. All of the comics that worked his club went out of their way to tell him how much they enjoyed performing there because he knew the performers' mentality. It was great, they consistently told him, that a performing comic was running the club rather than a business man disconnected from the stand-up comedy scene who was only in it to make a buck. My friend treated them differently because he was one of them and kept their needs in mind. Gerry and Laura are exactly the same. They know the needs of the performers who work their theatre (Gerry is a performing magician himself) and they go out of their way to make them feel comfortable.

Last night's show was great. It was a smaller crowd (the first slow night they've had in many months, Laura told me), but their responses to my show made up for the size. They were really receptive and I had a great time performing for them. And the thing is, I wasn't even supposed to BE HERE this week. I had just finished working the theatre in February and was booked for a return visit in September. However, last week Gerry called me and asked if I might be able to fill in for Woody Pittman, also a comedy magician, who had to cancel suddenly to go to Europe. Well, I was home preparing for a trip to New York the week following the week that Gerry needed me, so why not? I only had to bump a couple of minor meetings, and I was on my way.


The drive to Martinez, actually any drive north in California, is a beautiful one. First the beaches and the ocean which then give way to wine country. Nice and relaxing. It gives me time to listen to music and think through my show, possibly working on new ideas that can be included. And then once you arrive here and take in the scenery, well it just makes for a wonderful visit. And if the audiences are good -- which they usually are here -- so much the better. The difference between the audiences at places like California Magic and the Magic Castle and audiences in, say, a comedy club -- which I perform in from time to time -- is that the audience in a comedy club isn't necessarily interested in magic. It takes a skilled performer to grab their interest quick and make them enjoy what you have to offer. At the Magic Castle, and especially at California Magic, the audiences are here for one thing...Magic. Okay, maybe two things -- dinner and magic. The pressure is off in these situations. Granted, you still have to be a skilled performer and offer an enjoyable show, but you don't have to convince them to watch the magic. That's what they've come here for. They are always instantly accepting. And the dinner at California Magic -- which is included in the ticket price -- is superb. It' such a refreshing change to eat good food when you're on the road, and I look forward to hanging out after the show, dining with the Griffins and their staff. It's a good time.

Well, have to go and prepare for tonight's performance, which I'm told is close to sold-out capacity.

Until next time,

Shawn

Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805) 480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com

The Oscars of Magic

This past weekend (April 7th) was the "Academy Awards" of the magic industry. Held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, it is a black tie gala with a lot of celebrities both from the magic community and television and motion pictures. The event awards excellence in magic chosen from the many acts that appear yearly at the Magic Castle with the winners being voted on by the membership -- much like the Oscars. I had intended to go and had purchased tickets to the occasion months ago. It was only a few weeks ago that my editor at MAGIC Magazine found out that I was going and talked me into covering the event and writing one thousand or so words that could serve as a two page spread in our upcoming issue.

I realized that I would have to take my tux out of the closet. A tux that I hadn't used in a couple of years. Knowing full well that I had gained a few pounds over these last few years, I saved my self the indignity of trying it on, and just went straight to a men's clothing store to rent a tuxedo. I was going to rent a tuxedo! I don't think I've done that since my high school prom!

Two days before the big night, I pick up the tux and try it on. It's at that moment that I notice the coat has tails. Tails?! Did I order tails? And if I had, was I sober at the time? In thinking back to the picture in the book from which I had originally ordered the garment, I recalled admiring the way the coat "cut away" in the front on the model that was wearing my tux of choice. But that was the problem. I had only seen the jacket from the front. And nowhere in the book had I seen anything saying that the coat had tails.

Bottom line: Yes I had ordered the coat with tails, and yes, I had been sober.

I try on the whole shebang, and as the sales associate pulls the coat off the hanger to help me slip it on, he remarks,"Tails? I haven't seen anyone wear tails in a long time."

You know what, man? You're not helping.

"But," he continues before I actually have a chance to verbally reply, "it looks good on you."

I gaze at myself in the three-way mirror, and realize he's right. I look damned good.

The evening itself was a lot of fun. The awards show has had its ups and downs, accurately reflective of whatever current state The Magic Castle had found itself in in any given year. Currently, the Castle is enjoying a resurgence of popularity, as has the entire art of magic, and many A-list celebrity types are either becoming members or are happy to attend the awards ceremony as a presenter, of both. Steve Martin was present at this year's ceremony presenting two awards, as was Seinfeld's Jason Alexander. Both have been members of the Castle for many years, and Jason actually performed a magic act to sold-out crowds at the Castle this past year and killed the week he was there.

Jason did such a great job the week he was booked there that he ended up being nominated as one of the five finalists for Parlour Magician of the Year. And he took it! Jason Alexander won the award this past weekend, and can now add "Parlour Magician of the Year for 2006" on his already impressive resume.

One other great moment of the evening was when a very funny and talented magician whom I've admired for years, Mike Caveney, finally won Stage Magician of the Year. The reason I say "finally" is that every time he's appeared at the Castle -- in any capacity whatsoever be it lecturing or performing onstage or in the Parlour -- he has always been nominated. And he has always lost. He has been nominated 23 times, and has lost all 23 times. The running joke was that Mike was the "Susan Lucci of magic." But even Susan Lucci won an Emmy after 19 nominations! Mike finally won the award this weekend and accepted it to a standing ovation, which he richly deserved.

It was a great night. I finished the story about the ceremony for the magazine today and sent that off, and now I think I need to sign off here. Gotta return my tux tomorrow!

--Shawn

Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
(805)480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com

The Coney Island Wonder Worker

I had never met Todd Robbins before. Our communications had only been limited to just a few e-mail messages back and forth over the span of a couple of years. Literally a total of about seven or eight messages over approximately five years. And even then it was only to confirm some detail about a story that I was working on for my then electronic magic publication The Mandala or for MAGIC Magazine. We never really got to know one another any more than our scant electronic communications afforded us.

That was until two weeks ago when we finally met face to face at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. He and I had been booked to work the same week in the same room -- The Parlour of Prestidigitation. I was the early performer in that room, and he the late. Todd lives in New York and works Coney Island daily. He is very instrumental out there in keeping an American tradition alive -- namely the Side Show. Todd eats light bulbs, walks on broken bottles, sticks his hands into real animal traps, and blows up hot water bottles until they burst.

Basically, he's a freak. But one of the most charming freaks you'll ever meet. And one that I'm glad to say that I got to know a little better and now consider a friend.

Very nattily dressed in a jacket and vest with a watch chain, he endears his audiences with his comedic banter and then proceeds to invade their sense of good taste by biting into and chewing a real GE 75 watt light bulb or by hammering a nail into his nose.

This is exactly the same act that got him banned at The Magic Castle over 15 years ago when the Castle was booked by a different entertainment director that labeled Todd's act as "disgusting." Thanks to the foresight of the new entertainment director there, Todd's act was brought back and a new generation of audiences were able to witness something truly wonderful.

I know, you're thinking, "How could an act where a man chews glass and sticks things into his sinus cavities be termed 'wonderful?'" Let me assure you that it is. I saw his show five times that week, and enjoyed it each time. When Todd inquired why I was seeing it so many times, I had to explain to him that I felt his show was one of those shows that you want to see over and over again with somebody new each time. You just have to see their reaction and watch them experience the same feeling you felt the first time you saw it. Every night that week when I had guests in the club that had come to see my show, I took them to see Todd, saying, "I'm not going to tell you what he does...you just have to see it."

And so, I say the same to you. If you ever get the chance to see Todd Robbins, you just have to see him.

Shawn McMaster

Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
805-480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com

The Bain of Blaine?

One of the most common questions I get from people when they find out that I’m a professional magician is, “What do you think of David Blaine or Criss Angel?”

When David Blaine first hit the scene, there was a lot of animosity toward him within the magic community. And while it has lessened to a certain degree, some of it still lingers even today. For the most part, that malevolence is due to the fact that the magic Blaine performs, at least the magic he performed early on in his career, was not very technical and most of what he did took very little skill to accomplish. The hard-core sleight of hand guys were quick to point out his lack of polish and amateurish-looking performances.

But you know what? The home audiences loved it!

This is proven by the fact that Blaine has become the performer he is now, and by the fact that his first ABC special received very high ratings. Blaine’s idol is Harry Houdini – a man who has been dead for over 80 years, and yet people still talk about him. Houdini made a name for himself by performing all sorts of stunts – mostly escapes – and his motto was it didn’t matter what kind of publicity you got, just as long as they spelled your name correctly. And while that may not be the best approach at establishing your name and reputation, there’s something to be said for that level of tenacity. I have heard that the way Blaine secured his ABC deal was he just went out into the street and performed some tricks for strangers passing by while his friend video taped it. He then finagled a meeting with an ABC executive, showed him the tape, levitated in his office, and said, “That’s what I do.” The rest is history, and I think David is well on his way to gaining the type of fame Houdini has enjoyed.

The magicians that gave David flack then – as well as now – could, quite possibly, be jealous of his success. What they are not realizing is that David Blaine single-handedly brought close-up magic to a much wider audience than it had ever enjoyed up to that point. Until David Blaine, most people only thought of stage magicians and big boxy tricks when they thought of magic. Very few people had ever been exposed to magic up close, or in an intimate setting. Thanks to David Blaine the art of close-up magic has begun to receive the respect it deserves, and many close-up magicians are getting more work.

So what about Criss Angel? I'll have to talk about that next time. It's a lot more involved.

Shawn McMaster

Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
805-480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com