The Small World of Magic

Sometimes I wonder what I will write about and a blog walks into the shop. That’s  exactly what happened yesterday.

A guy came into the shop with a friend. He was from out of town and seemed to know his way around magic. He had phoned in advance to see if we had certain items and we did so he got those items and others that caught his interest.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Phil was on his computer as usual. Not really as usual, as he bought a new computer and he was having a problem with it. It always happens with a new computer it seems. I was making invoices by hand like I did 40 years ago. These were invoices from 40 years ago with our old address on it and I had to hand write everything and figure out the taxes and it took time. So while I’m doing this Phil explains to the guy about his problems with the computer. He looks at Phil and says he looks familiar. Phil had no idea who he could be. Phil asked him where he lived and he said Toronto. However he was originally from Winnipeg.  He asked Phil if his second name is Matlin and of course it is.

He said, you lectured in Winnipeg in the 80’s. I was at your lecture and I remember it was really good. He showed Phil a move Phil had taught at that lecture and he says he still uses it today. That’s going back at least 25 years. Phil actually lectured there twice. He was so good the first time, they called him back again. Mel Stover had invited Phil to lecture. Then our visitor and Phil went through all the names of the people they knew in common from Winnipeg. Now Winnipeg is not just around the corner. In addition to Mel, there was Brian Glow, James Cielen, who performed at Magie Montreal in 1989 (see photo), Dr. Joe Koffert, Len Vintus, Bill Brace, Cary Tardi and others. It was amazing. As I said, magic is a small world.