Nothing Is Impossible: The Real-Life Adventures of a Street Magician by Dynamo Read Free Book Online

was, as ever, obsessively working on my magic. Back home, I’d been getting those bookings most weekends. I was securing by financially and, slowly, my name was starting to gain some momentum, if only in local magic circles. But magic never seemed like a realistic career. I had no idea that I could make it a full-time job; as far as I was concerned, I was having a year in the US then I’d return home, go to college, and get a ‘real’ job. As it turned out, I never went back to college.
    Following each dog show there would be an ‘after-party’ of sorts. It might not have been Jay-Z’s idea of VIP, but among thetea and sandwiches, it turned out that people were always up for checking out the magic that a little English kid had to offer. The word among the dog circles spread and I performed in tents after the dog shows. I even visited the infamous Magic Castle in LA, an exclusive magic members club, where I saw lots of jobbing magicians who appeared to be making a decent living. It helped to make me see the possibility that a career in magic might not be such a daft idea. If all these guys could do it, maybe I had a shot.

    WHEN I FIRST went to the US, Nana and Martin were living in Virginia. After a couple of weeks, we moved to Memphis where there were more opportunities for dog breeders. I can’t say that I got to see loads of the city. I didn’t know any kids my own age and Nana Lynne wasn’t about to go out raving all night with me. But from what I did get to see, Memphis was a great city. It’s down in the South, in Tennessee, so it’s all slow talking, soul food and sweaty summers. It also has an incredible musical heritage. Everyone from Elvis to Johnny Cash and Justin Timberlake grew up in the city, and to this day you can always find a bar or club, day or night, pumping out live music.
    A lot of magicians played in the city too. Being in Memphis was really the first time that I saw other people do magic. Over the years, I’d watched Gramps, but I didn’t go out and watch magic. I’d read practical magic books, but I had very little knowledge of the history of the art. It didn’t seem relevant to the type of magic that I was interested in. One day, Grandpa got us tickets to see David Copperfield film a TV special. Copperfield is renowned for his extravagant sets and I remember being blown away not only by the scale and spectacle, but also by his incredibly compelling stage persona. It was amazing. On a whole different level.
    I bought the DVD box set at the end of the night, which was a compilation of Copperfield’s greatest moments. It showed me how vast his career was and how far he took magic. This is the guy who has made the Statue of Liberty disappear, who levitated over the Grand Canyon, and who walked through the middle of the Great Wall of China, not to mention sawing Claudia Schiffer in half. I had huge respect for David Copperfield, but for me, a working-class kid from Bradford, his world of magic seemed so far from mine. I didn’t want a glamorous assistant and a suit; I wanted to do close-up magic wearing my trainers and cap. But who would be interested in that?
    While I was in Memphis, I heard that Daryl the Magician was coming to town. Daryl is a legend and an absolute genius. He was the World Champion Card Magician at FISM (Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques), which is like the Olympics of magic. He has won every magic award that’s ever been created, and he continues to work as a creative magic consultant. He made his money from owning the company that makes and distributes 90 per cent of fancy-dress costumes in America. He was already rich, so for him magic was never about the money: it was his passion.
    A friend of mine who was part of the Memphis Magic Ring had invited Daryl to talk at a magic night he had just started up. He rang me excitedly to tell me the news. ‘The problem is, Steven, it’s at a nightclub, so it’s for twenty-one-year-olds and over. I