Magic Words At Work

"Illuminating"
Female/45

"...Brought me to another level"
Female/40

"Very unique"
Male/45

Audience! I tried "Magic Words: A show of magical poetry" for the first time on a gig audience tonight, and it worked. I'm so happy- you have no idea how happy I am. I've been wanting to cast this spell on an audience for so long, and it worked. They dug it. It was just me, and them, in close-up sit down show setting, and they dug it! They felt it. I felt it. It clicked, as if the marriage between my poems and my magic was supposed to happen this whole time. I just never had the courage to put them together like this. And they melded! It was a crazy fusion- just the feeling of the entire room zooming in on me like a vaccum as I spoke in strange, imaginative dialogue and whimsical rhyming patterns while flowing through my normal sleight of hand sequences was amazing, and so much more artistically fulfilling then performing magic in the traditional fashion. I always knew this kind of expression through the art of magic could be achieved, I just didn't have the courage to try it. The poems in my show are poems straight out of my chapbooks, and have little to nothing to do with the routines in my existing magic repretoire. But I discovered a shred of relevance in each one. For example, "Cafe Awesome", a poem I wrote about a beggar in a cafe eating bread, was paired with a routine where I produce a cheeseburger from a flaming napkin. It's good, audience- it's good to finally see my artistic visions finally come to fruition. It's "Magic Words: A show of magical poetry". Hit me up at antinoart@yahoo.com to bring it to your next event! And check out the rest of the House at events near you- http://www.hofc.webs.com/ for our full performance schedule. Looking forward to all of it



-the antidote



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Also, if you want to check out my work, I have poetry books available for sale. $10 a piece + $2 for shipping, or $8 a piece plus $2 for shipping if you buy two or more books. Email me at antinoart@yahoo.com with your mailing address, and I'll give you the address you can mail payment to.





















Book 1: Wandering Magician




















Book 2: Skies and Scholars





















Book 3: Mayday























Book 4: Himala

Freestyling

Antino on Musashi

You figured it all out. The magician knows all his secrets, right? Magic, on the contrary, reveals your secrets. In practicing it, you practice yourself into mastery of the mystery- in a way, it's a way. The swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, said to have never lost a duel, practiced until he carved enlightenment out of the wood his sword was made from. That's the mystery- to polish all the dark mysterious spots of your universe until soul clarity is reached. The practice of magic to me has been kept this way to me- a way of polishing mirrors and clearing smoke, until all the secrets that I've kept tucked and sleeved and palmed from my consiousness is revealed. I'm learning to be teachable, to take the advice and critiques of others to make my performance as clean and water-clear as it can be. I'm learning to listen, and hearing that I'm very set in my ways much as an old man is- deaf and oblivious. And the worst student is the one who calls himself master and stops learning. I'm learning to smile- smiling is simply light, so why hide it. In a good performance, a performer that smiles makes for an audience that glows- smiling is contagious that way. I'm learning silence- I speak too much, and impose my ideas and thoughts and philosophies on my stupid audience. And yes, they're lovingly stupid, but I'm the fool- who am I to impose my thoughts on them. If I stop thinking, they can feel it, the astonishment- uninterrupted and pure and thoughtless. I'm learning to be patient, and take them step by step through each effect I do, so that each piece might be savored like pie. I've been practicing magic for more than 8 years, I feel new at this. Every duel with my audience is a new day, a step closer to mastery of the mystery. And until I get to that, I'll love everything that gets in my way.

-the antidote

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Catch us next Saturday at the Hollywood Artspark from 6pm-8pm. visit http://www.hofc.webs.com/ for full performance schedule