I have a magic bucket list, filled with magicians to see and magic places to experience first-hand before the bucket tips.  So far I've been lucky enough to experience David Copperfield, Dan Sperry, Jeff Hobson, Shim Lin, and several others on that list live, and I've also visited the Magic Castle in LA and Eclectica magic shop in Rome. Still, I have so many to see, so many places to be. Visiting Magicopolis in Santa Monica would mean two ticks off the list, as the incredible Steve Spill holds court there.   Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Steve's theatre packs 'em in for a magic show only he could do, because there's nobody quite like Steve.  I'd give you more of his background, but honestly he does a much better job than I ever could in his book, I Lie For Money , which anyone who has even a passing interest in magic, comedy, and the entertainment industry must read.  Suffice to say, he's been there, done that in entertainment, and man...

Answers are seldom simple.  A question like, "Did you feed the cat?" could have a complex answer, like, "My day consists of hours toiling at a job, which I receive compensation for bi-weekly.  This compensation is directly deposited into my bank account, via a complex series of secured technologies, thus enabling me to have access to said compensation, which allows me to purchase goods at any number of retailers.  One such retailer specializes in products for a wide variety of pets, including felines... So yes, through a combination of labor, economic alchemy, and shopping, I do feed the cat!"  On the other hand, the answer might be, "No. Did you?" Like answers, Edward Underwood is a complex man.  He is most certainly a magician, and a great one at that, but that is only part of his puzzle.  He's a musician, composer, comedian, writer, thinker... With a heavy emphasis on "thinker."  He and his lovely wife Karen perform various sh...

As someone with a bit of Peter Pan syndrome,  I'm a little envious of children.  Kids simply do things - they see a can, they kick it & it turns into a game. They see a pile of Legos, they build a house/space ship/dinosaur.  They get a magic set for their birthday, they become a magician. As we grow-up, "simply do" is replaced by, "something more important to do."   Some mornings, I'd like nothing better than to simply jump on my bike and ride away to some secret place and read comic books all day.  My adult reality is, A: I no longer own a bike, B: the comics I still own are "collectible" and under plastic, and C: I have to go to work, make money, pay bills. It's a wonder my interest in magic survived young adulthood at all.  I raised 3 kids, built several careers (radio, advertising, writing, voice-over/audio production), and moved across the country more times than I'd like to think about.  The fact that there was room for ev...

I had planned to begin a series of blogs this week, then Death decided to work overtime on people I admire, and I find that I'm stumbling a bit.  First there was Glen Campbell, the "Country Act" who was so much more.  Then there was Broadway Star Barbara Cook, a gifted actress who was the original "Marian the Librarian" in the Music Man, among hundreds of other memorable roles. One loss, however, hit me in the heart of everything I am attempting to do today.  His name was Eugene Burger. If you're not a magician, I won't be appalled if you don't know his name.  If you are a magician, you know that to our world, Mr. Burger's passing is devastating.  There are some Stars who quietly shine outside of the spotlight, and while he had a very successful career as a magician, he wasn't a household name... unless you have a magician in your household. There have been endless wonderful words written about the man the past few days.  As a perform...

The reality of what I'm trying to bite off has set in.  It's not a comfortable feeling.  I'm loving every second of it. I suppose I'm that guy, always jumping into everything sideways.  I've already mentioned that I more or less started in magic in a bubble; I had no peers or mentors to turn to other than the books I read and magicians I saw on TV, so I stumbled my way into performing tricks. Much the same can be said about my professional career.  I was a theatre major who started working part-time at a local radio station, which led to a career in broadcasting.  I liked doing silly voices, which got me in the production room as a Production/Creative Director.  I wrote countless scripts and goofy memos to the rest of the staff about production techniques, and that landed me a monthly columnist gig in a radio trade, which I've now done for nearly 25 years.  I could go on, but the bottom line is that everything I've done professionally has not c...