Magic Show

For my next trick.

Many years before leaving high school, I was very interested in Magic. I loved it actually. I was obsessed with David Copperfield and Houdini the most. Before I learnt how to do these tricks, I believed, maybe just maybe that magic was real. This is the underlying power of magic. If you can believe in this crazy world that there is something special, something powerful that only a few people know, then anything is possible.

Imagine closing your eyes, feeling the wind on your face and then just thinking about floating. Your feet leave the ground, you are as light as a feather. You are defying gravity, you are defying everything that has been said to you that it can’t be done. You feel that warmth inside, that giggle? That’s magic.

If, you know the secret then that feeling disappears. But when you perform that trick for someone else, you see that feeling again in their eyes and once again you see and feel the magic. This is why we still have magicians today in this technological world. No matter how many iPhones and CGI you can’t create the feeling of seeing a magic trick right in front of your eyes. You know it’s not real, you know its technique and skill, but when you see that card produced or that coin appear. You can’t explain it.

That feeling in your stomach, your mind of wow, how did that happen? It’s almost a shock…That feeling is true magic.

I remember a few shows I performed, one for a great-uncle, one at my Dad’s engagement party and my final show. This show was the reason why I stopped performing.

See for me, I was obsessed with illusions. I wanted to buy the biggest illusions and saw people in half, make cars disappear and make doves appear from my hat. When I was younger i started working on this. See, I had a bit of a confidence problem as well, I don’t love talking in front of people. But when I am able to do something that no one else can do, then suddenly I have a power. Like a super hero. I can bend time, I can manipulate gravity. I can pass matter through other matter. This is an important part of a teenagers life. What happens in these moments can affect you for the rest of your life, If I can pass matter through matter and defy gravity, then I can do anything.

When I was about 16, my father was playing the role of Santa Claus at a work Christmas Party. My dad would arrive on the back of a Harley Davidson every year, sweating profusely under the white beard and waving to all the children. My Dad was actually performing in front of hundreds of people. Something that made me very nervous.

One year they asked if myself and my brother would perform a Magic show. We were thrilled, but we found out it was to be outside. We couldn’t take any illusions, we couldn’t take our doves. All we could take was our smaller tricks.

What happened next, would affect me for a very long time.

I stood up and there was a bit of silence.

(We had organized to do two 30 minutes shows)

I performed the first trick, I can’t even remember what it was.

(Small applause)

I performed another, and I immediately knew it was going well.

(I needed my big tricks, my illusions, I need my doves)

My brother performed a trick

(Cards I think, small trick and not good for a big audience)

We then announced that was the first part of the show.

We packed up and never performed again that day….

It took about 10 – 12 years to pass before I realised the mistake I made that day. I didn’t concentrate on the feeling of magic. All I cared about was the big tricks the big illusions. We didn’t have this, we didn’t have that.

See, it’s not what you have it’s what you can do with what you got.

I performed a magic show on Grand Final day recently. Granted, I had a few drinks but i used everyday objects, cards, coins, some rope. There was about 15 kids watching me. The feeling of magic was there. In their eyes and in their minds.

Parties I usually might do a trick or two, nothing big just a vanished coin or a quick card trick. People are amazed. They can’t believe their eyes. I can’t believe mine!

So maybe I didn’t become a ‘David Copperfield’ and maybe I didn’t saw people in half, but I did learn something life. Magic is everywhere around you.

Nothing is impossible, and it doesn’t matter if I had that failure so long ago. See it just pushed me in a different direction that’s all. So next time when you wonder where you are and what you are doing, look back on your experiences. Look back and learn from the mistakes and lessons. Use this hindsight we all love so much to try to manipulate your life now.

See, we can all bend time…we create what happens next

we can all manipulate gravity…we can go anywhere we want

and we can all pass matter through matter….letting mistakes flow right through us as we learn from them.

So, never ask how a trick is done, because if you do then it is what you think it is, a trick.

Just believe in magic and nothing is impossible….

Nothing.

~Brad.