The Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-10-09, Page 19ai
IS. N,HUNDEtio
Ala the ictall askked mle i
from a ' anne4Tout deck Q1
'explained that the deck
'treated:.after I'd memorized att lii�ed
my card to: the deck, he placed the •cards.
face down en a table and told me to b14w a '
hiiss.atthe card I'd;picked.
A bit embarrassed, I obliged. Midas the
Magician spread out the cards, I saw that
otic, card shared my embarrassment
bushing red from blue. I turned over the
paid to see mycard, the six of spades was
the'blushing one. Even though I hadn't
been wearing lipstick, the card bore red lip
prints.
This trick is one of many "close-up"
tricks 21 -year-old Mark Boudreau has
mastered since he received his first magic
kit 13 years ago. A native of Chatham, he
'recently moved to Goderich as an
employee of Champion Road Machinery
Ltd.
Magic mixed with music, comedy and
six Java white doves from India is a long-
time hobby for Boudreau who performs
under the title of Magic By Mareau.
"I like hearing little kids laugh and
people having a good time. Plus, magic's a
good sideline to get rid of your
frustrations," he says.
After mastering the magic kit Boudreau
received when he was eight, he read all the
books he could find on magic until he met a
few local magicians including Dickie Dean
from London who showed him a few new
tricks to work on. Dean also gave him the
address of a magic company in Calgary to
send away for more tricks and equipment.
"You have to prove yourself before you
get any help from magicians. When I was
12, I'd been doing magic for four years so I
would show them what I could do and they
would teach me something new. But, a lot
of kids get into magic for a year and don't
stay with it," he says.
When other kids were playing
basketball, Boudreau was spending all his
spare time working on effects and building
stages in his basement.
"My brothers are so sick of hearing,
'Pick a card,— he says smiling.
Creating an illusion for an audience is
hard work requiring much practice. It
takes hours of preparation to master
enough tricks to fill a half hour show. But,
when he masters an effect, Boudreau says
he feels a great sense of accomplishment.
Boudreau began working with doves in
1979. The original four doves multiplied to
—30 in no time and he was buying a 50pzound
bag of feed every two weeks to maintain
them. He soon decided to keep the six
doves he now uses in his act.
Each dove is trained for about three
months for a specific effect. For the first
few months, he handles the birds five out
of every seven days until they calm down
enough to begin training on a trick. It then
takes about a month to master the trick.
He says many people enjoy the tricks
involving the doves because they can't
figure out how they're done. One of his
most impressive and original tricks
involves a dove appearing in a burst of
flame in his hand.
Along with mastering the magic
techniques, Boudreau says he must spend
an equal amount of time working on his
presentation. He uses music while
performing a mime routine' and uses
comedy when performing for children all
the while keeping the enjoyment of his
audience in mind.
"You're there to entertain, not to show
off your skills. It can't come off as if I
fooled you because that's not
entertaining," he says.
Sometimes, his illusions work so well,
people ask if he has magic powers or can
read palms. Hut, he assures them his
illusions are all just trickery, not psychic
ability.
And, in every audience there are the
skeptics who won't laugh. Instead they
spend their time trying to figure out the
techniques
"The engineers. lawyers and teachers
are usually the hard cases, But, they're
usually the ones 1'1l pick on with my
tricks,' he sans.
Along with performing, Boudreau often
attends magic conventions with magicians
from all over North America, Australia
and Japan. some of them well-known such
as Doug Henning, Harry Blackstone Jr.
and David ('opperfield.
During a one week annual convention in
('nlon. Michigan. a conglomeration of
magicians meet to exchange ideas, buy
and sell tricks and entertain each other.
Since the town is the site of Abbott's Magic
Company. everthing in town is connected
to magic in some way.
"There's magic everywhere. You can
walk down the street and a guy will be
levitating a lady on a street corner. And, a
lot of the magic happens after the
seminars in the bars which don't close
until3 a.m."
"There's magic all night in the bars and
some of it is so refined, I don't have clue
how it's done even though 1 know a lot of
the techniques. Others have mastered the
techniques so well, it's phenominal."
Boudreau also belonged to two
international magic organizations—
Magical Youths International and the
Society of American Magicians.
Though he's just settling in the Goderich
area, Boudreau says he's interested in
performing his magic shows in area
schools or at weddings or stags. He has
already performed at a picnic for
Champion Road Machinery staff.
When people find out he's a magician,
they usually make the inevitable demand
of "Do a trick!" But, Boudreau's willing to
oblige.
Afterall, "you have to be a ham to be a
magician," he says.
Mark Boudreau, 21, has been performing magic for 13 years. His
act, called Magic By Mareau uses six Java white doves, music,
mime, close-up card tricks and comedy to entertain his audiences.
Though he only performs magic part-time, the walls of his apart-
ment in Goderich are decorated with the masters of his hobby in-
cluding Doug Henning and Harry Blackstone Jr. A recent implant
to town, he's interested in performing his magic locally. ( photos by
Susan Hundertmark )
Send flowers,
not bombs
to enemies
One of my favorite, commercials on TV
these days is a positive variation on an
_ old theme. Set in the old west, two gun-
fighters meet in the street, snarl at each
other and as the tension builds, you're
sure one of them will be shot in the
western tradition of problem -solving.
But, instead of drawing for his gun, one
cowboy reaches and draws for a bouquet
of flowers. The other cowboy is so sur-
prised and touched by the gesture, you
can see the tears well up in his eyes.
Because it's uncharacteristic for tough,
macho cowboys, their behavior is amus-
• ing. And, placed between two news clips
on the increasing tensions between Israel
and Egypt, it was a refreshing change of
behavior that started me thinking.
Ever since I can remember, I've been
horrified by the ongoing feud between
Israel and Egypt which is fueled by the
quenchless thirst for revenge by both
sides. Recent acts of violence on both
sides are not surprising. In fact, they on-
ly seem to carry on what hasbecome
business as usual in the Middle East.
Cycle of violence
The predictability and in some cases,
the approval of the violence is what
bothers me the most. I was disappointed
'to hear the United States come out in
favor of Israel's air raid on the PLO
headquarters in Tunis which killed more
than 50 people last week. And, I braced
myself for more violence when I saw
PLO leader Yasser Arafat walking grief-
stricken though the ruins.
Of course, this 'week, we learn of 10
Israeli civilians being killed in three
separate attacks. These killings are pro-
bably just an appetizer to a main course
bombing later on.
Israel has also announced that it has
launched a war against terrorist groups
like the PLO and all countries which har-
°'binthem: It doesn't seem4elrealize it is
b 'iifilti'i `' tereorlilroi<gan it rr el€
with its announcement.
It's both unbelievable and upsetting
that both sides can continue their cycle of
violence confident in the righteousness of
their actions. I keep expecting to hear
that either side has had enough and
wants to work toward a more peaceful
solution but it never happens.
Voice of sanity
The only voice of sanity comes from
the United Nations and countries suppor-
ting the United Nation's charters. But,
it's obvious that the United Nations has
little clout in such matters.
I'm not going to suggest, as you've pro-
bably been expecting since my descrip-
tion of my favorite commercial, that
either side drop a plane -load of flowers
on its enemy instead of bombs. The idea
of thousands of flowers falling from the
sky on either Israel or Egypt does have a
certain appeal, though. But, with the
war -like mentality of both, they'd pro-
bably think the gesture was a sneaky
way of participating in chemical warfare
or at least an attempt to litter their coun-
try's streets.
Sending flowers is an intriguing idea
but I don't think it's workable.
The message I got from the commer-
cial was to break out of old patterns and
actively work towards new, innovative
ideas for peace. It's a message that's
originally come from the peace move-
ment and I think it's a good one.
Break pattern
With the alternative being an ever-
increasing spiral of violence to the
ultimate destruction of all of us, agree-
ment with the peace movement is com-
ing from a wider base of people including
those belonging to the traditionally con-
servative groups in society.
Peace groups are springing up among
doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers,
nurses and business people. It's becom-
ing more and more common to see
pinstripe suits among the jeans and t -
shirts during marches and
demonstrations for peace.
A corporate lawyer in Toronto admits
that because lawyers are such a con-
servative bunch, the world is in bad
shape for lawyers to be involved, accor-
ding to a Toronto Star article on the
growing peace movement.
But, despite the bad shape the world's
in, I think the growing involvement is a
hopeful trend. With more and more
minds concentrating on innovative
methods to attain peace, suggestions
such as world government and a stronger
United Nations have a greater chance of
working. And, other ideas we haven't
even thought of yet have a greater
chance of happening.
I think the only chance of a lasting
peace is a break from the tradition of
demanding an eye for an eye and
answering violence with more violence.
If we can draw for our pistols and pro-
duce a bouquet of flowers instead of a
volley of bullets, we're on the right track.
i