Read a Book!

My mother used to say that to me all the time.

“Read a Book!”

“Go outside and play!”

Anything to prevent me from being sucked into the television.

Of course now I read all the time.

I’ll bet you do to. After all, you’re a magician. Your reading books and pamphlets all the time right?

But what else do you read?

If you had to stop and think about that one, then you may be having the same revelation I had not long ago.

Before I got involved in magic I read all the time. I read Science Fiction and Fantasy mostly. The occasional Horror or Mystery. I read them all for pleasure.

Then I got into magic and gradually I was reading fewer and fewer novels and more and more magic books, magazines and instructions. I got pretty darn good at all the stuff I spent time with as well.

But what use have I for telling the story of ‘Sam the Bellhop’ or ‘Diamond Jack’?

Don’t get me wrong. These are good stories and for the right performer they are hysterical. I remember watching Doc Eason do his version of ‘Sam the Bellhop’, which just killed me. But I digress.

So I was learning more and more magic and I ran across this thing called ‘Bizarre Magic’. I was at that stage where I was just absorbing everything I could, so I checked into it and I found that it really appealed to me.

Okay, so I wasn’t sure about some of the darker aspects that the whole field seemed to be filled with. I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with all the ghosts and goblins and stuff. I don’t believe in that stuff, but I knew that I had read some really good books about it. Like there was this one..... but I digress.

Well, I found, after some open minded digging, that the real goal of Bizarre Magic is story telling. Good story telling, and I knew that I liked a good story. There was this movie that I saw not to long ago..... but I digress.

So there you have it. The trick is story telling. I liked that a lot. I sat down at my computer with a deck of cards, determined to write a story using some particular new card sleight I had just learned.

My brain locked! I couldn’t write a word. I had no referent to work from.

No books, short stories, recent movies. Nothing.

I had so completely immersed myself in magic books and magazines that I had lost touch with popular culture and just didn’t know what to write. I hadn’t developed a character, I just knew that I wanted to write stories for my effects.

After all, what audience would really want to hear a story about how I learned to do a “Luben Gearing Pass”? (Thanks for teaching me that one Mr. Mruzik.)

What is a “Luben Gearing Pass” you ask? Well I could tell you, but then I would be digressing.

And then the voice of my mother came flooding back.

“Read a BOOK!”

Not a magic book. A novel. A story. Mystery. Fiction. History. It didn’t matter. Just something other then magic.

So what’s the connection?

Check out a Bizarre Magicians reading list sometime. You’ll find that unlike most other magicians, the Bizarrist is reading books about history, culture, mysticism, religion and a fair amount of trivia as well.

The Bizarrist is getting ideas. He/She is collecting them from all kinds of places.

Check out the music a Bizarrist is listening to as well. You’ll probably find lots of interesting stuff there.

The point is this: Immerse your self in more then just magic books, videos and magazines. You aren’t going to find stories there.

You’ll find them in music and movies and novels.

You’ll find them in history, science and religion.

You’ll find them in popular culture.

In other words: “GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!”

“READ A BOOK!”