I am not making this up. When Mary and I were still in the mail order business and sending out magic tricks across the country, we had several customers who insisted we not send items to their actual home addresses. Instead they wanted us to send items to the homes of their neighbors. Why? Because they had arrangements with the neighbors to quietly get the packages without their wives finding out about it (that is

“Magic is evil. You should stop doing magic. It is deceiving.” “Don’t you know the Bible forbids doing magic?” “Even if the Bible does not forbid magic, illusions are deception and no Christian should be involved in deception!” I recently made a Facebook post asking gospel magicians and Christian illusionists to share topics they would like me to write about. I must admit, I was surprised by the response. More than anything else; I was

I continue to investigate the entertainment world to better understand show business and success as a magical performer. A few weeks ago I came across an article written by Angela Mastrogiacomo. I do not know anything about the lady other than she works with musicians and seems to know what she is talking about. She had fascinating and helpful things to say about getting more bookings. Her insight led me to rethink how I am

Here’s an idea I have found to be wonderfully helpful. I do not remember sharing it before. I hope it will be as useful to others as it has been to me. Whenever possible, I play “pre-show” music. I don’t push too hard on this, but I do make a reasonable effort to convince clients to let me play my own music rather than theirs. This is done for two reasons.  First of all; clients

Note: This is a presentation concept for you to use with your magic when doing educational and/or inspirational programs. I developed the routine in context of a Christmas-themed trick where a feather plume changes color.  However, I think you can use the concept with any trick where one thing changes into another. The message is for a school show setting, but can be adapted to other circumstance. I hope you take time to read it and

A simple truth about show business is this: If you can’t handle uncertainty and insecurity, get out! As a full time, self-employed entertainer, I get no sick pay and no paid vacation. No company pension plan awaits me if and when I decide to retire. As an entertainer, my wife and I do a lot of ministry work. For us, ministry is the same situation. We have no organization which sponsors us. We have no one who

Recently I was preparing for an upcoming lecture and considered a magic routine I particularly like. I thought, Maybe I should share this in the lecture and explain how it is done. The next thought to come to my mind was, “No, there is no point in showing it because it is too hard to learn. Most of the people in the lecture won’t be interested because of the degree of difficulty.” This awareness bothered me. It

While doing internet research I came across an interesting article written for those who have their own bands. The author is Evan Zwisler, a New York City based musician. He writes for Soundfly, which is a web publication focused on the modern music scene. The article was written for performers who already have some success. The intent was to help them achieve more success. This premise immediately caught my attention. What do you say to performers who are

What do you say at the end of a magic trick? I am tempted to say “I am amazed at how many magicians do not seem to have thought through to the final words they will use in a routine,” but I actually am not amazed. It took me years to become personally aware of this same issue. When I was younger, and less experienced in magic, my focus was on doing a trick properly and

Every church, and every church leader, faces challenges.  Often we believe that if we were in a different size church, a different denomination, or worked with a different demographic our problems would go away.  As illusionists, we wish we could make all of your church problems disappear.  Unfortunately, we just do illusions - not miracles.  :)  However, we can reassure you that many of the challenges that you face in your church are the same