I was cursed to be both too young and too old to be a Flower Child.  My Aunt and Uncle were, my children were in their teen years, but I... I was fated to be a polyester-clad, blow-dried, disco kid (brrrrr!).  I won't lie, I once had a horrible case of hippy-envy.   My elementary years were spent looking up to the "Peace & Love" generation, however the magicians I admired were mired deep in the traditional style developed in the 30's & 40's... tux, cape, hop hat, white gloves, pencil-thin mustache.   In fact, when I was considering performing, I was sure I wouldn't look right without at least a cape and top hat.  Yeah, squaresville style for a 10-year-old.  Luckily, one man was about to literally change the face of magic and teach me that what you wear doesn't make you a magician... however, being a hippy magician is cool. Style & talent-wise, Doug Henning was like nothing magic had ever seen.  A razor-thin, denim-c...

When one grows up in a small college town in the upper Midwest, exposure to magic is limited.  By the 1960's and 70's, any traveling magic shows that may have passed through in earlier years had either disbanded or were sticking to larger metropolitan areas.  So it's not surprising that my first exposure to magic came from a relative who could pull his thumb off and put it back on (a trick I've learned that every Grandfather needs in his routine).   It was more amusing than amazing, so it took a bit more mystery to reel me in.  That came from a jumping mummy. I'm not sure which uncle had bought the trick in the first place, but it had been passed down to my Aunt, who loved to fool me with it.  If you've never seen this miracle, here's what happens... a tiny plastic mummy will just fit inside an equally tiny sarcophagus, but unless you know the secret, he just keeps hopping out.  She drove me crazy with this little puzzle... I could NOT figure ...

I didn't expect the toughest part of my renewed journey down the magic road would be keeping secrets.  I mean, yes, of course keeping secrets is tough - learning a new trick without tipping off how it's done can be the real trick, but that's not what I'm talking about.  The TOUGHEST part of this magic trip is trying to tell you about it, without telling you what exactly I'm learning to do & what skills I'm working on.  Who knew explaining without explaining would be such a challenge? I can tell you, for example, that I've been learning new skills with playing cards, but I really can't tell you what those skills are.  I might be able to tell you that some of the cards are in one hand and the rest in the other, but how & why they are where they are is a secret.  I can further tell you that it frustrates the hell out of me when you see some of the cards (or worse, when they hit the floor), but I can not tell you why - well, except those on the...