I get asked often if magic is my full time job, short answer, yes! I actually have two careers, besides jumping off roof-tops at a very early age, I started performing magic at the age of 10 for family and neighbors. I had my first paid gig at 13 at a local Pizza joint, at 19 I joined the Army, my job, Military Intelligence, RECON… Basically find the bad guys and make them disappear… That's kind of like magic right!
But let me back up so all this makes sense... I started racing motorcycles at a very early age. Every Friday night my dad would take me to Indian Dunes motorcycle park in California where huge name stars had their kids racing there as well. Soon I found myself hanging out with the sons of celebrities, stunt coordinators and directors, but I was 10, why would I care if my friend Chad's dad was Steve McQueen or my friend Reid's dad was the Second Unit Director / Stunt Coordinator on a HIT TV show, we were kids, we just wanted to play.
By the way, I was good at playing nerd or tough guy, depending on which gang I was hanging out with. I had my magic friends and stunt friends. One weekend I would be performing live stunt shows and the next weekend magic shows. Later we grew apart but we all stayed in contact and as the celebrity kids excelled in the stunt world, it's called nepotism, I joined the Army which is an entirely different blog.
Upon my honorable discharge, I saw an add in the newspaper for background extra work for the movie "Rocky III"; I was excited to be in in the motion picture business, so I thought! Little did I know, it was a going to be a rough road with lots of rejection but hey, I was a good actor-ish, I could take a hit. (Pun intended)
Between hustling for stunts and magic gigs, I had to eat and keep the lights on. I was a bouncer at a local club. Between checking ID's I would show the guests card tricks, what I really had was a built-in-following... Man it was fun, getting paid to check ID's and do card tricks... A young mans dream!
I lived in a garage that was converted into a small living space but it was close to the studios and the Magic Castle in Hollywood where I would later become a regular performer. I didn't sleep much, during the day, if I wasn't hanging out on set I would be rehearsing my show.
Fast forward to date, after 30 plus years in the motion picture business and semi-retired, because one does not retire from stunts, stunts retires you... And 52 years as a professional magician, there is a lot of work that most do not see, and I continue to get asked questions like, "Do you do magic for a living" or "You get PAID to get beat up"... YEP! But what one does NOT see are the long hours of hustling, writing and rehearsing, that's the real work not to mention the administrative side of the business; cold calling, sending out proposals and contracts. Someone once told me, you must treat your career like a regular job. If you are not on set or performing on stage, if you're not out there hustling or honing your craft, if you are just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring, you are not taking your job seriously.
Today, my lovely wife and I have moved to Nashville, Tennessee. We have created a small production company, Blindfold Entertainment where we "get to" perform for both corporate and private events as well as touring the world with our comedy & variety show
Operation Bravo entertaining the US Armed Forces, both local and abroad.
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