Discourse in Magic has been killing it lately with their series of podcasts and interviews with interesting magicians. In a recent discussion, musician, actor, and magician, Rob Zabrecky, gave some strikingly candid thoughts on his creative process, and the long, unforgiving road to performing magic good enough to warrant being called art.
Zabrecky had already found success as a musician with his band Possum Dixon, when a chance encounter in a magic store introduced him to the world of magic. Going from a successful musician to a somewhat less successful magician was difficult, as he recounts in the soundclip above.
“It was a little bit like a funeral director doing magic,” he quipped.
Zabrecky credits his side-job as an actor with improving his magic performances, saying that everything he learned in his acting career – which includes appearances in numerous TV commercials and shows including GLOW and CSI – was directly applicable to his magic career.
Personally, seeing that another creative feels the need to, “slip into character,” to create is reassuring. A working “persona” can be the difference between success and obscurity for lots of artists in a lot of different mediums. The old cliche says creative work has to come from the heart. It doesn’t specify whose.
You can listen to the whole podcast here.