Page: You are an active contributor to the e-zine of this site and the boards of this forum, as well as other sites around the Internet. It is uncommon to find a mature magician, with such a depth of experience as yourself, being so widely active on the Internet.

What was it that contributed to your ease of transition into this new form of communication?

Peter Marucci: I don't know is "ease" is the right word! After all, I am a total "technopeasant" when it comes to anything mechanical or electronic!

But it's probably because I am relatively isolated in a small town; if there were a magic shop just down the street and a gang of magicians who hung out there, it might be very different.

As it is, the Internet is a wonderful way for magicians to stay in contact and to broaden contacts around the world.

Different views, regardless of the experience of the person, always make for improvements of some sort.

And any of us can learn from anyone else. The rankest beginner may only know one trick, but it may be a trick that I don't know and that I can learn.

After all, nobody was born knowing all this stuff!

Page: I am very impressed with the photograph in your avatar. You seem a very friendly jovial type of person - what I would consider to be "everyone's favourite uncle"

Even still, I see that you perform bizarre magic. So, how do you effectively change from a friendly jovial character into such a role?

Peter Marucci: "Jovial uncle"? Me?

Now that is TRULY a scary, bizarre thought!

Actually, it's also a good question; for years, I had done comedy and it's only been in the past few years that I got into bizarre.

I have argued that bizarre doesn't always have to be ghoulish, ghastly, and ghostly; in fact, I have a couple of routines that start out very "heavy" and finish with a comedy line.

That said, I must point out that I don't think it's a good idea to try to combine the two.

Bizarre requires the setting of a mood and, to introduce comedy, usually breaks that mood and it has to be created again -- not an easy process.

So I tend to keep the comedy separate from the bizarre (with two or three exceptions, that happen to fit).

Thus, if I do kids' shows, I can be "the favorite uncle".

And, if I do bizarre for adults, I can also be "the uncle from Hell!"

If they want that!

But, again, I wouldn't mix the two.

Tspall: Your bizarre routines have always entertained me. I'd love to see one live. I'm curious as to how your interest in bizarre magic developed. Personally, I've always loved things such as horror movies, ghost stories, etc. How did you start towards it?

I read your article on Character Development, it was great reading and very informative. How do you know if you can develop the type of personality for that style of magic?

Peter Marucci: I assume, when you mention my articles on Character Development, you are referring to the pieces on Doug Byrd's wonderful website Bizarre Magick.com (www.bizarremagick.com).

While I never thought about figuring out if I was suited to the style, probably the best way is to just do it! That is, try it out a few times; if you -- and your audience -- feel comfortable, then you can do it. If you don't like it, they you probably shouldn't do it.

As for how my interest in the bizarre started, well it would be pretty much like yours: A fascination with horror movies, ghost stories, the occult, and such like.

But that doesn't mean that bizarre is only about the dark side; it can be done as comedy, too, as I have demonstrated in a couple of vampire-based routines in my monthly Bizarre Bazaar column in the e-zine Visions (www.online-visions.com).

I stress this point in my bizarre lecture -- that bizarre is simply story-telling magic that can touch the spectator more deeply than ordinary magic. If you can do this with comedy, rather than the spooky, then that's just fine.

And, by the way, thanks for the kind words and I'd love to have you see a live performance!

Sybilmagic: After many years in the magic community you must have some gripes that you wish to get of your chest.
What aspect of magic could we leave behind us and move onto better things. My basic question is why has magic been held back as an art compared to others we see around us?

Peter Marucci: Yes, I feel that in many instances magic has been either held back or left back, in relation to other art forms.

And the biggest problem here is a gripe that I've had for many years: bad performers.

Now, they are not alone to blame; they are often led astray by dealer ads that say things like "do it five minutes after you open the box," or "no skill required", or dealers who willingly sell equipment to people who come into the shop and say they have a show that night and they need something for it.

Every so often the debate over exposure rages, usually preceded by something like the Masked Magician appearing on television.

And yet far, far more damage is done every day to magic by those who go on unprepared, who have two tricks and a stack of business cards and figure they're ready to book shows, -- in short, the bad performer!

More magic has been exposed by poor performances than by all the TV "exposure" specials that have ever been aired.

An analogy: If you wanted to play the piano, you wouldn't learn the scales, have business cards printed, and then arrange for a concert at a major concert hall.

But many magicians do exactly that, with magic.

They learn a couple of tricks, get business cards printed (usually covered with cards, rabbits, top hats and an alphabet-soup of meaningless, to the public, initials), and go out and start booking shows.

And they are terrible. And the client will never book another magician. And the magician does two things: He blames his audiences for not "getting it", and he argues that magic isn't taken seriously by the public.

Unfortunately, he is unaware that he is to blame for both problems.

Magic, like ANY other art form, needs hard work, long hours, and real dedication to be polished and professional.

There's nothing wrong with being a part-time hobbyist; just as there's nothing wrong with playing a musical instrument for a hobby.

But if you expect people to part with their money to be in your audience, then you must be good enough to demand that money!

Sure, there are "bozos" out there who get by because they "know someone" or something like that; there are also musicians, painters, etc. who are in the same class.

But they are very few and far between.

The vast majority of artists -- whether the medium be painting, music, or magic -- are dedicated, hard-working professionally-minded people.

But, as long as we tell people that "magic is easy" we will have to suffer the "bozos" who believe that!

(And there is a world of difference between saying that "magic is easy" and doing "magic that LOOKS easy"!)