Indeed, most magicians catch the bug as kids. My first audience was my family in Long Island. My first ‘assistant’ was my mother, whom I levitated on a broom in our living room.
I love the press; I even like the people that don’t like me. If it wasn’t for those people, no one would know who I was and I wouldn’t have a gig.
I want to ride my motorcycle up the side of the Luxor to the light and vanish.
I love develop as an artist, to push my envelope, to grow, to make mistakes, to learn from them and to try and be the very best that I can be while I’m on this earth.
Well, I had an immense respect for Cirque du Soleil when I first say them in the ’80s on a television show and just thought, you know, this group is really reinventing the circus, as you know. Because there wasn’t three rings. There were no animals.
The first time I thought about attempting a body suspension was after watching a documentary on rites-of-passage ceremonies from other cultures. I was completely intrigued by what these people put their bodies through.
When my father died in my arms it had such a profound affect on me that at that very moment when my dad passed I realized that I needed to face my own fears.
Well I have you know, several CD’s out; one of my best friends is Sully Erna from Godsmack – he is Godsmack, and we’re going to be working on an album together.
One of my inspirations, Harry Houdini, remains an icon of the art because he defied our primal fears. His demonstrations in the early 20th century, especially his escape from the Chinese water torture cell, represented triumph over suffocation, drowning, disorientation and helplessness.
I would love to be fooled. The innocence of child for the first time, seeing something and being in wonder is something that I long for because I’m tainted.
I’m able to do my television projects and movie projects that I really want to explore. For me, it’s not about the money, it’s not about the fame. I love creating.
If people are fans of ‘Mindfreak,’ they are going to be so excited with ‘Believe.’ They are actually going to see those illusions that people think can only happen with trick photography.
Life is but a series of memories you make.
You can’t please everyone and trying to do so is the kiss of death.
Sometimes my art is just an illusion – or is it?
I had an amazing childhood, lots of love. But my dad worked his tail off, getting up at 4 in the morning and going off at 5, 6 o’clock, yet he always had time to spend with his kids and his wife.
I have mentally overcome situations most of you would be terrified to ever attempt: heights, fire, needles, spiders, snakes, angry monkeys, being shot, being hit by a car, going blind – you name it, I have been in a situation where I have had to mentally overcome my inherent fears to do my job.
I have real TV studios. If I have an idea, I can go shoot it. I can experiment. If I choose to air it or not, it’s at my discretion. I don’t have to do it to somebody else’s time frame.
You can’t please everyone, and trying to is the kiss of death. I don’t care about Wayne Newton’s demographics. When I do, I’ll know that it’s time to quit.
I wish what I do was all real. Some of it’s real, some of it’s an illusion and I try to blur the line between both, but unfortunately I’ve got to be honest with you. Taking a $1 bill and turning it into a $100 – unfortunately it’s not real.
No one has the ability, that I’m aware of, to do anything supernatural, psychic, talk to the dead.