Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
#sleightofhand #magician #dansperry #infectedmushroom
From the age of 12 to about 18 I was really obsessed with classic Stage Magic and Sleight of Hand manipulation with big inspirations coming from guys like Neil Foster and Cardini. I would eventually learn of Chavez and obsess over my correspondence course materials, practicing the lessons and routines for hours in front of the TV watching WWE with a bowl of playing cards, billiard balls, fake cigarettes and such on my lap in front of me. I eventually got to the point I could do it (but not nearly as good as) with gloves on like Cardini.
The Chavez wrist exercises and warm-ups with the weight on a string and the stick were never fun, by the way.
Eventually I phased it out of my act and pretty much out of my show entirely. But about 4 years ago I got a bug up my ass to start working on it again so I dug out all my old gear and "got the band back together". I took my equipment on a tour I did and just worked on it and re-wrote it backstage and in my dressing room - never doing it on stage. I debuted it on my first big national tour of Germany in 2018 and was nervous as hell about it because this magic is NOT easy...and I'm not even doing the hard stuff! I would open the second half of my show with it, cold opening return coming right out of intermission, so I could get it out of the way and over with haha.
Now I actually look forward to doing it and continue to tweak it here and there - as weird as this sounds it reminds me of a different time and the memories I have of that time...being 13 years old in my Dad's basement, sitting on the couch with a bowl of playing cards, billiard balls and fake cigarettes in my lap, cracking my wrists with a stick, staring at old photo copied black and white pictures of Benny Chavez while Ric Flair is Wooo-ing on TV, Bret Hart is applying the sharp shooter and I'm occasionally inadvertently inhaling whiffs of the faint cloud of fanning powder that always hung in the air as if it was all taking place in some old speakeasy. I did this for 3 hours a night every Monday and Thursday for years.
Its not Cardini or Norm or Neil level, but I'm cool with that.
#sleightofhand #magician #dansperry #infectedmushroom
From the age of 12 to about 18 I was really obsessed with classic Stage Magic and Sleight of Hand manipulation with big inspirations coming from guys like Neil Foster and Cardini. I would eventually learn of Chavez and obsess over my correspondence course materials, practicing the lessons and routines for hours in front of the TV watching WWE with a bowl of playing cards, billiard balls, fake cigarettes and such on my lap in front of me. I eventually got to the point I could do it (but not nearly as good as) with gloves on like Cardini.
The Chavez wrist exercises and warm-ups with the weight on a string and the stick were never fun, by the way.
Eventually I phased it out of my act and pretty much out of my show entirely. But about 4 years ago I got a bug up my ass to start working on it again so I dug out all my old gear and "got the band back together". I took my equipment on a tour I did and just worked on it and re-wrote it backstage and in my dressing room - never doing it on stage. I debuted it on my first big national tour of Germany in 2018 and was nervous as hell about it because this magic is NOT easy...and I'm not even doing the hard stuff! I would open the second half of my show with it, cold opening return coming right out of intermission, so I could get it out of the way and over with haha.
Now I actually look forward to doing it and continue to tweak it here and there - as weird as this sounds it reminds me of a different time and the memories I have of that time...being 13 years old in my Dad's basement, sitting on the couch with a bowl of playing cards, billiard balls and fake cigarettes in my lap, cracking my wrists with a stick, staring at old photo copied black and white pictures of Benny Chavez while Ric Flair is Wooo-ing on TV, Bret Hart is applying the sharp shooter and I'm occasionally inadvertently inhaling whiffs of the faint cloud of fanning powder that always hung in the air as if it was all taking place in some old speakeasy. I did this for 3 hours a night every Monday and Thursday for years.
Its not Cardini or Norm or Neil level, but I'm cool with that.
