I have two short stories about Jon Racherbaumer and Jeff McBride I know you will enjoy, but before these stories, I wanted to begin with a diatribe to bang on a point I believe is an elephant in the room, I hope y’all will try and hear my point through all the rant and hyperbole.

Diatribe.

The ancients believed the Magi were Wisemen, royalty, and important.

It was a simpler time, when average people thought that there were more important things than just getting more toys and vain attention.

But that was a long time ago.

In our modern era we are perpetually bombarded with the notion that nothing is really enchanting in the world any more.

It's over, Science has saved us, we're all smarter now!

They say science has wiped away all the misleading nonsense, and told us we should live as cynical skeptics. They have given us their sterile tools of technology and told us we don't need magic any more, and that instead we should marvel at the hard sciences.

They tell us Magic is a scam and should be looked at as such.

So to help enlighten us, they have sucked all the child like wonder, fun, enchantment, and hope out of everything, and told us to marvel at the modern cold lifeless machines with their flickering lights.

They have told us, being human wont make us happy anymore. Buying stuff will.

It's no wonder that our audiences are jaded, heck us Magicians are even jaded now.

But when one thinks of a Wizard, the first thing that comes to mind is wisdom, then mystique.

Why is that?

Oh that's the part of us that is still human that sneaks out now and again when we aren't looking.

The fact is, it is our job as Magicians to bring back fun and wonder into real life again.

In order to do that, we will need to gain back our credibility and value.

Do you want to add credibility to your Magic?

Start by knowing what you're talking about.

Know other things besides just tricks.

Jeff

Once years ago I was researching the occult and its many systems, to figure out how it works and learn the lingo, I was doing this to better portray the bizarre magic I was doing at that time.

I did this, because I found much of my clientele was occult enthusiasts and I wanted them to know, that I knew what I was talking about.

One of my occultists friends lent me a book on Initiates and knowledgeable practitioners of Magik with a "k".

And low and behold, what did I find, amongst many famous occultists, there was a bio and pic of Jeff McBride and his own work on the subject.

Let that sink in,

He's so knowledgeable on the subject he's written for their industry!

Years later when I got to meet him at his school of magic, he took me aside from the other Magicians and confided in me that he practiced in this discipline.

I told him I already knew that, because I read about him in an Occult book.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not advocating indulging in the occult ,I have myself abandoned it, due to my own religious convictions.

What I am saying here is, if I have to work as a Ghost Tour Guide or as a Mentalist, I will know the lingo.

Knowing what you're talking about builds rapport.

Not only that, but it give us more ideas and material for our shows.

As a bonus, not only does this prevent hecklers, but it adds Suspension Of Disbelief in our audiences.

I can't tell you how many times this home-work has saved me, in my busking and with my gigs.

A word about Jon.

Many years ago in New Orleans I was working in a Magic Shop called Amazed And Amused, it was owned by my friend Warpo.

Warpo had a back room where Magicians would session in secret all day, out of view of the public.

As some old friends know, when I was a young man, before I started my career as a professional Magician, I was a writer. My friends were Beatniks (which by the way is a term they do not recognize or call themselves, I only use this term here for familiarity to those who are not in the know of the various counter culture sects).

Anyway,

My Beat friends were intellectuals and artists. Some were painters, anthropologists, poets, scholars, historians, professors, musicians, directors, and other Wierdos.

They were all held together loosely by the the beat generation/punk art and literary movements.

Most importantly none of them were Magicians.

I was sort of their glimpse into the Magic world, even though they knew me as a Writer and Abstract Performance Artist.

I never really did Magic for them.

Much like the Magic world they all thought I was sort of smart and interesting, but really kind of an idiot that you had to take with a grain of salt.

I was really more of a mascot than anyone you would take too seriously.

Most of them felt Magic was too conservative, commercial, and mundane.

I was always trying to convince them that Magic was an art-form and that it had its own depth, but they would only listen to me with suspicion.

One day a whole bunch of them came by the shop to visit me and check out this Magic thing I was into on the side, as it were.

Jon Racherbaumer just happened to be in the back room by himself studying and had mentioned to me earlier that he wanted to try out some stuff on some laymen.

So when my friends showed up, I brought them back there and introduced them.

It was just what the doctor ordered, they came back and he did some mind blowing card tricks, and then they hung out and talked with him for an hour or two.

Talking history, philosophy and art-forms, is something beatniks could do all day and all night.

When they were leaving, it occurred to me I hadn't mentioned who he was, so as we walked outside I told them he was The Master Magician for the city of New Orleans, and this blew their minds.

They said, "NO WAY! We thought he was one of us!"

Because of his in-depth knowledge of every subject discussed the historians thought he was a historian, the writers thought he was a writer, the musicians thought he was a musician, etc etc.

And of course he was these things, but the difference was, he was these things because he was a Magician.

Magic is simply the unknown.

He studied the unknown.

Jon didn't know a little bit, about a lot.

Jon knew A LOT, about A LOT!

Jon Racherbaumer passed away , but everyone who knew him, knew he was a Wiseman, a gentleman, and a true Magician.

I have much more to say about these great men, but that will be for another day.