The Departed...

 The last year or so has been rough for magic to say the least. The world is eating our workers and I want to talk about one of them.

An Amazing Guy

 I met Young Fred Gwynne Thom Peterson early on after moving to Vegas. He and his awesome wife Annabel was visiting and we chatted a bit at McBride's Wonderground. He was from MN and had moved to the UK so it was a rare sighting.

Right before the plague ship rolled into the USA, they had decided to move back to the states (good timing right?) and I got to see them a lot more, but looking back now, not nearly enough for my tastes. 

Now you might be asking yourself, "Who the $%^#& is this guy?" and you'd be right to do so. Aside from being in another country, he was a worker. That means sometimes no one knows who you are because you are so busy doing private gigs and corporate work you don't get to show off publicly too much. He was underground in plain sight. His lecture was full of original ideas and presentations, great magic, and clever comedy. (He created a topit that allowed you to access your pockets and have it reset again for Anubis' sake and no one knows about it!)

Thom and Annabel moved to LA for a change but when you ask the universe for that, you need to be VERY specific or it might change your world for the worse. Back in March, Thom succumbed to something wicked that came his way leaving behind a grieving widow and a legacy of unknown and amazing magic (as well as the memories of a great funny smart guy).

I'd been meaning to write a post since the day he shook off his mortal coil but never found the right mood. I mourn not only the loss of his physical form, but the ideas that will never be, the laughs never to be had, or the late nights discussing the unforeseeable future.

A future that is a lot less amazing for those that knew him.

End of an Era...

 

While everyone is on social media talking about knowing Amazing Johnathan, let's talk about the man himself shall we?

For those who might not know, he recently passed away and it sent a shockwave through the Las Vegas magic world. Most know him for his stand up comedy and magic. A lucky bunch of us got to know him on a personal level. Unlike other celebrities in our profession who kind of hide away and keep to their own little inner cliques, AJ was very giving with his time and information. His circle of friends and family grew every year because he liked to have fun and do silly things with silly people. 

Since he left this mortal plane, many of us have been talking about his legacy and what he has left behind. His body of work was vast and while he has been stolen from by countless hacks, no one has ever really been able to follow in his footsteps. I think the reason for that is that no one could. He was a truly unique animal that came into the entertainment world at the right time and place. 

His biggest influence on the world of magic was that he gave permission to all of the rest of us who wanted to do something different. His material spoke to many of us and said, "It's ok to be weird and do outlandish things in the name of fun! Magic is a tool and doesn't have to the be the focus.". 

For all of us touched by his noodley appendage, I think it's our duty to keep that going and let future performers know it's ok to take the piss out of magic and be a little over the top, even when the world might not embrace it at first.

 The world is a little less Amazing now, but that's doesn't mean it has to stop...

 

 

 

JTMMC...

Today was the Johnny Thompson memorial in Las Vegas. It was chocked full of nuts magicians from all over. The outpouring of respect and love for him was impressive to behold.

For me the most depressing thing is that we will never have another person with his kind of career because we live in different times. Oh sure, there are a handful of knowledgeable magicians still alive but no one will ever have the arc he did. The lack of venues, respect for live performance, and the rise of the internet are a few of the reasons for this.

The generation after Johnny who looked up to him have been dealt a hefty blow for sure. My generation has a little bit more to go before we lose someone of his magnitude that we watched growing up as kids. It makes me curious who the current generation will look up to and learn from down the line.

I know I have spoken quite harshly of the most recent crop of kids on the internet doing social media magic. It's not because I don't like them but more what they are doing (or not doing). I just want them to be better. None of us made good decisions in our youth. The difference is we didn't have a world stage to parade our bad decisions around on. I can't tell you how much I hope to see the likes of Julius Dean or Jibrizy wise up as they get older and become great. To rise above their mistakes and become iconic performers future generations look up to and learn from. Basically I just want to be wrong.

It could happen...

Don't do it for me. Do it for Johnny.

Social Disease...

The past week, (hell the past few months), have been rough on magic. A lot of magicians are in a period of mourning and if you don't know why you might just need to look into it.

I could do one of my usual waxing poetic posts about who we lost like I have in the past and I still might but today I decided to do an experiment... a social experiment.

I thought to myself, "I wonder if any of the high profile social media guys have posted anything about any number of the people we have lost."

Did I find anything you ask?

Male, female, none of the people whose social media I slogged through said word one about Johnny, Dusheck, Sonny, Denny, or any of the others who have recently passed. Actually, I take that back. One person mentioned Johnny. So that means I could find 7 whole words across 4 platforms about one of them.

Why is that you ask? Could it be because the current crop of people using magic to garner attention couldn't be bothered to acknowledge that which has come before them and pay respects to the shoulders of those who they are treading all over?

Most of their pages are just a glut of "LOOK AT ME BUY MY STUFF LOOK AT ME!" To be fair I didn't see EVERY page they post on. Some have their personal FB profiles hidden well (or don't exist). However, you would think that even on their "official" pages they would mention the passing of SOMEONE to the public out of respect. I don't care if you have millions of invisible fans or won a TV show competition, you should take your blinders off and look around sometime.

Acknowledge the knowledge that has gotten you this far.

Blood makes noise...

Passion breeds many things. Love, education, sadness, and even anger (especially anger). I cannot think of one person more deserving of the word "passionate" than Denny Haney.

The highest compliment I can give Denny is that even my wife liked him.

I only got to truly meet him within the last decade when I lectured at his shop in Baltimore. After that, any chance I got I would stop by and visit just to hear stories and talk shop and gossip a bit. Him and I saw eye to eye on many things (even if he was shorter than me). His magic shop contained a wealth of knowledge and with his passing that shop has got a lot less of that knowledge in it.

I have mentioned before how we are losing our greats slowly and they are NOT being replaced. It's like a sports tournament bracket. (or the Highlander if yer nerdy like me) We are slowly being whittled down to the last man standing.

My prediction that has been in full view the entire time...

I'm not trying to be dire or come off as one of those idiots who like to claim "magic is dying". I'm not that delusional. We are however seeing a definite decline in magic of those who know any history of the art or how to perform. The worst part is the ones who are dipping their taint in the well will be long gone before the damage they are doing fades away.

There are very few of us who care enough to try and inject some knowledge into the lives of magicians at large. The fewer there are, the fewer there are that can be helped. I personally have no idea how to reach those who need to be reached on a macro scale. The ones who need it don't want to hear it and you can't really give it away for free because no one will value it. You can't even put it on social media so the people who really need it will see it.

I stole this from Shaun Robinson on Memes for Magicians

I think I am a mix of excited and terrified to watch the next decade of magic unfold. I want to see who will step into the light to rise up and take over the mantles of those whose hearts were too full and just had to give some of that passion and love away to those who wanted it. If you are very lucky you might one day become that person. Someone people will look up to and travel just to learn from and hang out with. If you are really REALLY lucky, one day some weirdo might even talk about you on the internet in their magic journal for 3 people to read.

Farewell you magnificent bastard.

Let's talk about death shall we?

Magic has been hit hard the last few years. We lost a slew of people in the industry including Tom Mullica, Eugene Burger, and today Harry Anderson (Spoiler Alert).

Here is my thoughts on today's news. For those wondering, I did not start wearing a fedora because of Harry. I was doing it before I even knew he wore one. My introduction to him was from Night Court. I never saw him do much magic til' later. (aside from what he did on TV)

When I was in 7th grade I bought his version of needle through arm and performed it. (My parents were hippies and pretty open minded) Flash forward MANY years later, I got to meet and hang out with him at his magic shop in New Orleans. He was pleasant and put up with us just hovering around when not street performing. I have heard various stories from he was great to he was terrible and a bit in between. One thing I know for sure is he was a sharp guy who had some great ideas, was an excellent performer, and had the fucking WORK on magic square. (I hate magic square but I can admit when it's good)

Do yourself a favor and get his Penguin Magic lecture and watch it. It's a lot of stories and some good thoughts on tricks.

There was no one else like him was there?

Now in a more general sense, we are losing our legends and no one is stepping up to take their place. Magic as a performance art is slowly taking it in the neck from all of these youtube kids. They can do great tricks, but can't entertain an audience and I wonder what will become of the art form when those guys fall away to get real jobs. The world does not embrace the unique or talented like it used to so it's not being fostered. What are we going to say in 20 years? "Man remember that one guy who had all of those Youtube hits? Wasn't he great?"

The answer is no... no we won't.