Ricky Jay:
A Rogue's Gallery
April 10, 2009
Somerville Theatre, MA
by Mel Kientz
When I was relatively new to the business of magic, I had a chance to spend some time with Ricky Jay. It was my job to pick him up at the Oakland Airport along with Max Maven and Michael Weber. Michael was one of the featured performers for the 1994 PCAM Convention and the other two magicians were traveling with him. My partner Larry Wright and I had booked all of the convention talent and I pleaded with Larry to let me pick them up just so that I could spend the one-hour drive-time from Oakland to Concord with Ricky. (read more)
Working a major magic convention on a shoestring, I got distracted and forgot about these major magic icons waiting at the airport. You can just imagine Max, dressed all in black, pacing back and forth in baggage claim. After waiting - and waiting some more, they grabbed a cab. I realized my indiscretion while standing in the Concord Hilton Hotel lobby and seeing the larger than life three-some arrive through the front door. The blood actually drained from my face and if it was physically possible, I could have kicked my butt from Concord to San Francisco. Lost chances! After amends were made, I am still amazed that this one event has bothered me my entire life in the magical arts.
I first became aware of Ricky's talents while watching a video (the old PAL System) at Trevor Lewis' home in Holyhead, Wales. Trevor plopped the large cassette in the player and told me to have a look at this guy. It wasn't the magic that transfixed my eyes to that flickering screen - although the production of a live moth from thin air for a finish was pretty kool. It was the presentation, the patter line, the cadence of delivery, his voice and the sparkle of knowledge in his eyes that made me want to add him to my list of people to meet in this lifetime.
Ricky Jay brings his new show A Rogue's Gallery: An Evening of Conversation and Performance for an out-of-town tryout into the Somerville Theatre in MA, April 10, 2009
When asked what this show is about, he told Jon Garelick of the The Phoenix Media/Communications Group --
"It's an odd combination of visual and historical and magical and autobiographical and improvisational; the improvisation is the one thing that makes it really different. I call on people from the audience not just as participants in the sleight of hand but in steering the direction of the verbal material. Some of the choices will be determined by things I've collected over the years, such as posters. So their choices and those images will determine the material. . . I like the fact that these shows are smaller and more personal, and I think that audiences - I hope that audiences - will appreciate the difference. Not that there's a high technological aspect, but that there's a direct relationship between the audience and the performer. And six-story-high dragons are not necessarily a part of that. No helicopter will land on the stage of the Somerville Theatre." [from: Interview: Ricky Jay]
I would love to get him to present this show at the Dell Webb Center for the Performing Arts in Wickenburg, Arizona. I would even offer to pick him up at the Phoenix Airport!. . . and be there this time!
Below is a clip of Mr. Jay in action . . . what I want is the clip of Ricky and the Moth. . . I should call Trevor. . .
