CHET HARRISON

when i set up this blog i set it up for those artists i believed were not getting the credit they deserved.

chet is definately one of these.

he is a master musician and a serious scholar of music and has been all of his life

I met chet in the 80's. he owned a swapa tape used record store.

me and my hoodlum friends used to go in there and sell used tapes and records that we had "aquired."

some of the best musicians in town would float in there and we would all hang out in the back room.

he educated me to music.

he has forgotten more music than most of the pros even know.

the picture does him justice, because he is a sage no question.

i had not seen chet for many years, when i stumbled on him in balboa park in san diego busking.

i would say most buskers no matter what artform will use theatrics and street tactics to get peoples attention.

this is a must, because the attention span of the passer bye is that of a gnat.

it has always been said that talent doesn't make a busker a living.

but, chet breaks all the rules here.

his technique is simple, he plays mind blowing music and people stop.

when you hear him play you know his music is on a skill level not heard on the radio.

he stops people because they know he is a virtuoso.

i have always looked up to chet, so seeing him working the street confirmed that i was in the right place in my life.

chet i want you to know that you have inspired alot of people in your love for music.

i'm magician not a musician, but i know you influenced my life and how i approach art.

and now it has influenced my son's life.

he turned to music and one day he and his friends came home thrilled,

telling me they met a guy named chet who was an increadable musician.

i just laughed because i felt the same way when i met you all those years ago.

i let them know i knew you and that they should watch you if they wanted to learn from a master.

thanks for your life's work chet.

your pal jimmy

here he is on his pitch in balboa;



here he is on stage doing a mini concert;



i would urge the reader to find chet if your ever in balboa park, he is well known in the magic world here in san diego as a master at what he does.

here he is on his pitch in balboa park.

UKULELE BOONE

I met Boone some years back in the gaslamp in san diego. i watched in amazement how he could just mingle with the passer by. he could start up a little party right on the sidewalk just by telling some jokes, playing a tune, or tellin a story.

people fell in love with him right off the bat.

he made it look easy, but i assure the reader san diego is the tuffest town to busk in.

boone has probably the highest respect out there on the street because he is true street. he is not a weekend warrior. he is every day.

this is a nice clip where he tells us a little bit about himself and what he does.

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Boone is from the same stock of free spirits that pioneered this country, in fact he has told me he is a decendant of the legendary Daniel Boone. it's not hard to believe after talking to him for just five mibutes.

boone is a good hearted, adventurer, a sage, and an artist.

he could pop up any where, i've seen him workin in the most unlikely places.
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he takes his art and the tradition of the street seriously.

i've seen him help out fellow musicians and street artists in need and people always seek his advice...i know i have.

it was honor hanging out with him and i always look for him when i'm out.
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one of my busker friends did a write up of him too and i would hope you'd read it too!UKULELE BOONE

Anibal Lautaro and Valeria Maside

WORLD PERFORMERS.

FROM; Buenos Aires, Argentina.

One day in Barcelona I was walking down Las Ramblas…as people do, and I saw a well-dressed couple set up and begin to tango.

As I watched, I was struck.

I am a magician and magic moves me, and this moved me.

My friends in brief, this is what they did.

They moved like two in an over whelming love that seemed to drug them into not caring who saw what they did.

The man was handsome, but with the look of a brute.

He was a big powerful and lumbering man when he stood waiting to begin.

So when he moved and moved gracefully it shocked us onlookers.

The woman, a petite and curvy beauty who when by herself for the brief moments, looked lovely and alluring, but in his arms looked helpless and almost struggling to cope with the cage and control he put her in by his mere size and power.

Yet, as you watched on, you realize it was a trick!

Because, she almost swam in his arms and loved it.

When she was in his space she shined…it was their struggle that made her beauty shine just a little bit more.

Once when she moved away from him, I saw him give a look of interest and slap her on the butt, and she slapped his face in response and then they embraced and moved again.

Wow.

Granted, it is hard to explain to my friends who are not Latin how much their performance touched me and the people of Spain, but I hope the reader will realize that I don’t usually talk in this manner unless it was amazing.

So much so that I saw this performance many years ago and still remember and get the same feelings.

When they dance they complement each other so perfectly it draws a crowd in seconds.
The audience is literally drawn and hypnotized.

they have several routine and dances you can watch them on youtube.

here's one i think really shows off their skills



they are also teachers and have won awards all over the world.

in Barcelona many of the performers hung out together and i got to meet them.

they are the nicest people in the world.

ROD CANNON

WORK TOWN: NEW ORLEANS.

i first met him in L.A. on venice beach's boardwalk.

years later i met him again in new orleans.

i watched his sidewalk table act and was inspired to go back to close up. he built a crowd with verbal bally and bottle caps "chink a chink" or as some know it as, "shadow coins", done with bottle caps.

in his hands it is a beautiful mystery indeed. he had a nice little act, and his manips were graceful.

it's a good act, but it's Rod's character that struck me enough to write about him here.

he didn't yell and scream like the rest of us do to get a crowd, he just let the magic speak for itself. people were drawn to him because they liked him and were genuinly interested in what he was doing.

when i first came up to him in new orleans he thanked me for inspiring him to follow his dreams all those years before and now he was doin what he loved.

and it showed, the audiences really loved him.

he's a legitimately a nice guy and he brings fun and happyness to the sidewalks.

he dares to do what so many other magicians working the streets won't dare to do.....

he does magic...lol....no really.

so many magicians feel they have to use cheap gimmicks like insulting the audiences, use harsh blue humor, or steal other performers "tried and true" acts to be a success.

Rod doesn't have too do these things, Rod is creative and talented, he belongs in this field of work.

Rod just does what he loves, on his terms.

He makes people feel good about themselves and believe in magic like when they were kids.

as far as the way he interacts with his peers;

he doesn't fight over pitches, or try and talk bad or down to other performers.

working around him was great especially in the gossip and competitive world of the new orleans busking scene.

when i went home to new orleans on my last trip, there was a lot of tension from some of the egotistical performers there and Rod made the the spots we were working an indurable place to work.

i chose to work around him and i felt like i learned a lot about our artform, how to present it, and how to behave around our peers.

So look for this guy if you're ever in new orleans i promise you his act will blow your mind and leave you with the feeling that there really is magic in the world.

great performer and a good friend.

thanks Rod.

you are a great example to us magi.

we all see how hard you work and how great magic can be when in the right hands of a proffessional.

your pal jimmy

GARY KNIGHTS

WORLD PERFORMER.

MAIN WORK COUNTRY: UK.

AKA: GARY ANIMAL

Magician, street performer and maker of the Gazzo cups and Animal cups.

Gary hand machines the best magicians cups in the world. every magician covets them.

gary is also one of the best cups and balls manipulators in the world...go figure.

he is also one of the funniest guys i have ever met and he has forgotten more magic than most of the guys in the industry.

A master?

No question.

i just met him at the saint wendall street magician's competition in Germany.

he showed up with a very small bag of funny bits and pieces he had found at a dollar store type of place on his way over.

but no cups and balls.

the master craftsman and worker of cups and balls didn't bring his cups.

he told me he left them home because he was sick of showing up to events and seeing 12 cup acts cued up. so he decided to show up and throw a show together at the event.....

....at a world competition.....no really.

the show he came up with involved killing a bannana as a finale......no really.

he won an award for best comedy.

why?

how?

because ladies and gentlemen he is a master.

gary could do a show with finger puppets and bring the house down.

he had NO table.

he had NO amplifier.

and yet he built massive crowds even while other, much larger acts, were playing all around him.

he built crowds in far off out of the way impossible corners of the town while huge acts were going.

he came up with stuff off the top of his head and structured it all as he went along.

it was increadable watching him work.

he did doorways, half circles, and full circles.

i was very intimidated when i first saw him, because of his huge reputation as a legend in the entertainment world, but he made me feel comfortable right away and i think we hit it off pretty good.

i think of him as a good friend now and always brag about being able to work on the same pitch as him.

he borrowed someones cups and showed us some of his moves, i got fooled a bunch of times, it was great.

Gary's a natural on the streets, truly in his own element out there and moves on his instincts.

many of the magicians out there only know him for his fine cups that he makes, but i assure the reader he is a world class performer.

his approach is always artistic and engulfed in thought out perfection, weather it be makin his cups or performance.

i know this after talking with him for hours on the subject and watching him work and seeing the cups he makes.

frankly i think he is not appreciated for the genius he is.....but i get it.

thanks Gary for puttin up with me.

thanks for your lifes work.

thanks for inspiring so many of us.

and thanks for everything you do, for all of us magi out here.

no really.

NICKEY FYNN

WORLD PERFORMER.

MAIN WORK COUNTRY; THAILAND

TEACHERS; KENNY LIGHTFOOT AND GENO DEVILLE

OTHER INFLUENCES; TOOT, JOHNNY FOX, ISTVAN....AND ME.

when i first got into magic i had only seen one magician i thought was real, Cardini (i had seen him on tv).

all the rest seemed fake, until i met doug conn, and from there i was introduced to more artistic and real ones like Cellini, Eric Evans, Tom Frank and the list now goes on to so many others i have been privledged to meet.

Nickey is one of those guys.

I think Nickey is the shining star in our faternaty's cap. when i started the instructional blog for street magi, Nickey was exactly the type of guy i was thinkin about.

someone from a small out of the way place in the midwest who had little to no contact with information or masters in the field, who was looking for a future in magic.

one day i got a letter from him telling me he had read my blog and began working in thailand after moving there on his own from the midwest of the u.s.

next thing i knew he just exploded on the scene. a huge success. he started out building a double decker bicycle and road accross asia and performed magic in cities and little villages.

he toured the sidewalks of europe and made a huge impact on the busking scene there.

came back to the states and worked here, while visitinbg family.

nickey is superman, nothing can stop him.

he is constantly on t.v. in asia and has met almost all of the masters.

in my opinion he is the biggest and quickest success story out there.

ironically he is the most humble of all the performers i know.




This guy can clean up with impeccable costuming and play t.v. and exclusive caberet/theater or he can throw on street costuming and work street plazas and squares or even little doorways.

he works for millionars and dignitaries and he works for 3rd world peasants. his show plays in any culture from asia to europe to the states....big city or small town u.s.a.

Nickey is the one the masters talk about.

he can work silent or spoken.





he creates his own routines and equipment and props.

he didn't copy someone elses show and go out there to hustle people like so many american performers do.

He didn't have to, he is pure talent and a real artist,

he just did what he was born to do and the universe handled the rest.

i am greatful that i got to see a man like this in my life time.

He re-establishes my faith in magicians and in our industry.

i don't think our industry knows how much we need guys like this and that's why i have posted this here.

the reason i have not posted this earier is because he was so humble he kept telling me he didn't think he deserved to be put up here.....the fact is i'm honored he even gives me the time of day.


thank you Nickey for your lifes work, i know you worked harder than most.

your pal jimmy

DEVIOUS

WORLD PERFORMER.

MAIN WORK TOWN: SAN DIEGO, CA.

MENTOR AND TEACHER: JOHN CALVERT.

OTHER INFLUENCES: HARRY MURPHY, OPIE HUSTON, AND GEORGE SANDS.

Devious can usually be found in the gaslamp, in down town san diego at night or at seaport village/embarcadero during the day.

He mainly works as a close up performer doing table magic in a doorway.

when i first met him many years ago, he was a successful local indoor/outdoor stage magician living and working in El Paso, Tx, when he wasn't on the road doing gigs.

As i searched around the internet for footage of him i was very disapointed to find anything that i felt did his work justice. the reader is welcome to look for themselves, but i would urge you to see him live on a sidewalk to get the experience i am about to describe.

many of the local street guys know him and have seen his show and all agree that his show is amazing in it's simplicity and directness.

His show is about atmosphere.

Everything he does seems to be possible through 1800's technology or some sort of wierd blavatsky phenomenon. It's reasonable and pleasantly disturbing.

his simple direct work, with hand made budda papers, is brilliant....finale material.

which shows his creativity.

being able to take an old Adams trick usually overlooked by the pros and turn it into an Annemannesque transformation, leaves a magician with warm fuzzy feelings.

For those of you non magicians wondering what i'm saying,

suffice to say, he's leaving us jaded magicians with the feelings we had when saw our first magic trick.

understand; Devious is not a "in your face" wild man on the sidewalk, he's a wizard you happen on.

like a proffessor in dissertation, the show is delivered as steampunk, phantom, hypnotic, believable,and playful.

excellent act and a wise and humble guy.

and because of this he knows most of the biggest names in magic.

he constantly contributes his knowledge and expertese on the net, and magician functions around the world, i would suggest any magician should make it their business to better themselves by becoming familiar with his theories.

he is also a prolifc inventor of diabolical gimmicks, of which i have seen with my own eyes in action.

i saw a dancing hankerchief fly around and jump to the top of a light post and dance well out of reach and with no strings, surrounded and outdoors, in plain daylight....really wild stuff.

he is the type of act that other magicians love to watch, because of the effect on the audience.

he is a real magician, because he believes in magic and believes in what he does and anyone who watches him understands this emediatly, the impact this has on audiences or anyone around him is crucial to our artform.

he's not out there for the money he's out there because that is who he is.

he has my respect and loyalty.

thank you devious for your lifes work.


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i could go on and on about him.

but i won't here's HIS BLOG