I.B.M. Member Profile

Lewis D. Chaney

Your mind is my hat, your thoughts are my rabbits

About LEWIS CHANEY

 

“We buried my Pop Pop today”

“Do you do magic?” the man asked.

“Yes, I do,” I replied.

He explained that he was part of a large family group, about 20 people, but it was the young boy they wanted me to focus on. They had buried the boy’s grandfather that day, the grandfather who often did magic for this child. The man asked me to tell him “Pop-Pop” sent me.

The boy couldn’t have been more than 4 years old. I don’t have much I do for a child that small but I squatted down eye to eye and smiled, playing up everything I could for him. Laughter was abundant, and the wonder in his eyes brought tears to those in the family. I gave him a fist bump and moved on.

As the family was leaving, the little guy came up to me. “Hey, Mister,” he said. I turned to him. “You know, we buried my Pop-Pop today,”

I squatted back down. “Yeah, I know,” I managed to squeak out, my voice suddenly hoarse. I looked him in the eye, forced a huge smile and said “But, we had fun tonight, didn’t we?” He thought about it for a few seconds. Then the sadness melted away, replaced by a thousand watt grin.

“Yeeeaaaahhhh” he said, away he went, skipping out the door with his smiling family. I like to think Pop-Pop would have been smiling, too.

Why do I perform? This is why.

My primary field is Mentalism and my audiences are teens to adults, but by virtue of working in this environment, I do some stuff for the kids. I guess it harkens back to my first encounter with magic.

I was 7 years old when a cousin taught me how to vanish a coin but it would take me about another 30 years before I would learn about this organization.

I first walked into Nick Nackery in Evansville, in 2001, searching for the secret to an effect, and ran into Joseph Franklin who introduced me to IBM and Ring 56. He became my mentor.

I have been steadily working at the Main Street location for  the family owned Turoni's Pizzeria and Brewery in Evansville, Indiana, since 2013 and their Newburgh store since 2016.

The smiles, warmth and responses from the audience always puts me in a good mood and I give everything I have to the performance at each table. Sometimes what I do is so powerful it moves them to tears. 

We all have stories like the one above and it just exemplifies the need for this ancient and mystical art.

I am proud to be a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Ring 56 and hope to perform right up until the time comes to break the wand.