Greg Moreland has done magic for about 40 years, including more than two decades on cruise ships, and he annually puts together the Portland Magic Jam.
Carisa Hendrix, who goes by Lucy Darling in her magic act, will be a featured magician at the Portland Magic Jam.
Courtesy Photo: Portland Magic Jam
Greg Moreland has done magic for about 40 years, including more than two decades on cruise ships, and he annually puts together the Portland Magic Jam.
You know the old saying: “Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, well, you must be a magician.”
Actually, it’s not a saying, but it applies to the good magicians everywhere, who seemingly fool people into believing there must be some kind of sorcery involved — and not sleight of hand, technique, engineering, showmanship, mind reading and skills.
Greg Moreland, founder of Portland Magic Jam in 2009, the annual gathering of magicians in Portland, assures us: He is not a sorcerer, he is not a wizard, and he is not a psychic (especially not a fake psychic) and neither are the some 150 magicians who will be coming to Portland for the jam at Holiday Inn Portland Airport, 8439 N.E. Columbia Court, Friday-Sunday, March 17-19.
“Magicians really resent the fake psychics — ‘Hey, I can talk to dead relatives,’” said Moreland, a Salem resident and magician for more than 40 years, having spent 23 years on cruise ships performing for crowds. He has been to about 140 countries.
“They’re using the same tricks as us, but doing it for bad. We know how easily it is to fool people, and we see right through those (fake psychics).”
The Portland Magic Jam includes instructional lectures, shows, magic dealers, a panel discussion, a contest and camaraderie of fellow magicians, open to even aspiring magicians, as well as two nights of shows for the general public: Carisa Hendrix (stage name Lucy Darling), 9 p.m. Friday, and Joshua Jay and John Carney, 8 p.m. Saturday.
There are all kinds of magic, Moreland said, who likes his to be “funny” magic, “wanting it to feel good for people” watching closely, inquisitively.
“There is stuff in shows that fools people. I used to like to share (the magic) with people,” he said. “You do it 100 times in a row, they’re excited for a second and then disappointed. People are sorely disappointed, because it wasn’t really ‘magic.’ They see the wizard behind the curtains; it’s fun when the wizard is doing all the cool stuff.
“Does it fool to get (them) frustrated, or to enjoy it? I want them to enjoy it. I make it clear that it’s not a tool to make me more clever, it’s astonishment for the greater good.”
Of the featured magicians:
Hendrix, performing as Lucy Darling, was “booked on the recommendation of Joshua Jay and Andi Gladwin and, since then, every magician I’ve mentioned her name to, they go nuts. ‘She’s fantastic, great.’ Everybody raves about her,” Moreland said.
Jay is an author, lecturer and close-up magic great — cerebral, grounded. “He had a couple one-man shows on Broadway,” Moreland said. “He’s extremely engaging and he relies on storytelling, and embeds magic into the story. He’s one of the best.” And, Carney, engaging and funny, has been widely acknowledged as one of the finest sleight of hand artists by his peers. “He doesn’t use gimmick stuff,” Moreland added. “It’s a fine art. Magicians have looked up to him for at least 30 years.”
Gladwin, a close-up magician, also performs on Saturday night.
All levels of magicians attend Portland Magic Jam, from beginners to hobbyists to semi-professional to professional.
How long does it take to become proficient in magic?
“You can take a 10- or 12-year-old kid, and if he focuses on a couple tricks, he can do them well in a month,” Moreland said. “There are plenty of self-working tricks where the beauty is in the design. He’ll get good, to the point where the grandparents say, ‘That’s good.’
“And, I have a card move that took me two years. I do close-up magic with cards, rubber bands and rings. In the world of cards, it’s like kids who skateboard: You practice, and blow it and blow it and then get it right.”
“In our roles as news gatherers, reporters and editors, we have a responsibility to be informative, fair and entertaining, while also being clear and concise with our stories. In Portland, it’s all about delivering news that readers want to read about, while also covering news that needs to be covered.
“We also want to be competitive against other news media outlets, and provide Portland Tribune and Pamplin Media Group readers with quality stories they can’t read elsewhere — or do a better job on stories covered by our competitors. “With the Tribune’s Metro Life section, it’s our goal to publish stories and photos that not only catch the eye, but keep the eyes of readers while making them think and feel. Through our website and newspaper pages, we strive to do a variety of stories from many different walks of life. Human interest stories, we call them."
