Magic in Sebastopol

Tonight I saw an amazing array of entertainers in our little town and for the price of only $12. I hardly know where to begin. I will make a plug for the venue- Aubergine Vintage Emporium & Cafe and the town- Sebastopol, only 7,000 people but open to a wide variety of artistic outlets.

Think of an era without modern advertising, without the Internet and without any form of eletronic media. It was an era of person to person entertainment. The formal structures of theater and musical performance have existed as long. Yet these entertainment forms have a air of antiquity, unlike music and theater. Even more so these forms of entertainment appear on verge of being lost unless another generation takes on the duty of performing "magic". I say magic and I think of Robinson Davies "Fifth Business". This world we have almost left behind, except (sad to say) in venues like Las Vegas.

Frank Oliver, the juggler

Frank was the booked star of the show. He feigned incompetence with juggling, and jokes. He enticed innocent audience members into far more collaboration than they had planned. He had very funny patter accompaning all his stitchs. He began the second act as an eight foot drag queen. Hmmm, I am not sure drag queen is the correct term, but he was certainly eight foot. He performed acts on a unicycle, did an audience participation nutcracker, performed card tricks and scary juggling involving knives, flames and tazars. Only a highly practiced professional could pull off what Frank Olivier did at this show. (Frank's Promo Video)

Tom Noddy,the bubble man

Tom Noddy creates beautiful and complex bubble structures with only a bubble wand and some smoke. The beauty of his act is the simplicity of the materials as well as the delicacy and complexity of the shapes. I remembered his name from a long time ago and so I looked him up on the web. He has been doing pretty much the same act for thirty years. (on David Letterman)

Bob Hartman, the puppeteer

This man makes great puppets. He has a gentle voice, a gentle philosophy and an underplayed sense of humor. I loved this part of the show. My two favorite puppets were the baby, philosophizing on what it was like being a baby and the stand-up wolf comedian, shyly playing to a crowd of humans. Puppeterring to adults would make us gentler, less aggresive people especially if Bob is at the controls. (some San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteer History

Jay Alexander, the mentalist

Jay was the youngest of the group and perhaps the hippest. He sports a manicured beard and wears an outfit that makes him look like he is studying to be a rabbi. He was facinating. He performed some amazing card tricks. But what I found most amazing was that he guessed a woman's ATM password and told the audience how he did it. He told her to lie at first so he could hear how her "lying voice" and "body reaction" was different than when she told the truth. Then he had her answer the question: "Is it a one?" with a "no". "Is it a two?" with a "no", and so on until he guessed each of the four digits correctly with no mistakes. He also performed an amazing phone book trick. (Great card trick by Jay Alexander)

I am still a lover of magic and all four of these performers created magic for the audience. These days it appears that Las Vegas and children's birthday parties are the only places we get to come in contact with this kind of entertainment. I fear that it is going by the wayside in this media and Internet age. Here I send out an appeal to young people to take on one of these artistic forms and keep the fire of magic alive.