In every field of employment there are "heroes", or folks that set the standards that others attempt to live up to. Computers have Apple. Circus has Ringling Brothers & Cirque du Soleil. Well, in magic there are also those that have been pioneers and leaders in various aspects of magic and illusion.
In 1991, while watching a television special, "The World's Greatest Magic", mixed in with all of the big illusions, fog & wind machines, a man walked out onstage holding only a rope in his hands. Then, for the next 5 minutes he absolutely fried the brains of magicians all over the world. The way the rope melted together, the ends came right off and then magically jumped back on again, and the fluidity of his movements made for a lot of talk the next few weeks among my magician friends. He was doing things with a rope that no one had ever seen or done before. I said to my wife, "If he EVER releases that routine, I would pay a LOT of money for it." Thankfully he released it 3 years later, for under $50.00, and I have been performing it for the last 16 years.
To see that actual footage, click HERE.
To actually meet one of these "heroes" of magic is a real privilege. Last night, I was very privileged to spend almost 7 hours with Francis Tabary.
I drove to St. Paul, and from 5-7 PM I, along with 2 other magicians, had lessons from Mr Tabary. I showed him what I did with his routine, and he proceeded to teach me another 20-30 tips, tricks, effects and handlings for that routine.
To see the extra work he taught me, take a look at some more recent footage of Tabary, and watch how many amazing touches have been added to the routine.
Then at 7PM he began his magic lecture for 18 magicians from around the Midwest. It was fun to watch the facial reactions and audible gasps of those in attendance, as they watched Francis perform the routines he had just taught 3 of us.
I then purchased his book, that is getting more difficult to find all the time, and had him sign it.
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| DonB! - Tabary |
To top it off, 6 of us then went out to dinner with Mr Tabary and talked life, magic, and optical illusions. We then found out that Mr Tabary is also a specialty sculptor, creating real 3-dimensional versions of 2-dimensional optical illusions. He had two of them with him,so I snapped a couple of pictures. Amazing to see an "impossible object" live and in 3 dimensions.
Well, now I'm super tired, and I have a show at Bethel College this evening, so I'm going to go take a short nap.
God is good, all the time.
DonB!
